"Xia Yonggang, so it was you. Did the Great Elder send you?"
The dark figure remained silent.
"I understand. The clan chief must have known, too."
Xia Yu focused on his opponent, the power of his small world racing through his body.
A cultivator at the fifth level of the Origin Command Realm stood a full major realm above him.
He absolutely could not let his guard down!
"I have to admit, you're clever. Unfortunately, clever people never live long!"
Xia Yonggang planted his foot and lunged at Xia Yu.
Clang!
A cold gleam lit up the night sky.
Sword radiance flared, its light tearing through the darkness and enveloping Xia Yu.
Xia Yonggang held nothing back, opening with a killing move.
He had never dared underestimate Xia Yu. Over the past few years, Xia Yu had led the Xia clan's younger generation into battle, and his ferocity had made Xia Yonggang deeply wary.
Without a word, Xia Yu mobilized all his Origin Force and thrust his sword out in turn.
Clang!
At the sharp ring, Xia Yu grunted and staggered backward.
"The Cloud-Riding Sword?"
Discarding the broken half of his sword, Xia Yu's expression grew grim.
The Cloud-Riding Sword was the Xia clan's guardian treasure, a high-grade spirit weapon that only the clan chief had the right to wield.
Weapons were divided into spirit weapons, king weapons, emperor weapons, saint weapons, and the legendary imperial weapons.
Each weapon rank was further divided into low, middle, high, and supreme grades.
The sword in Xia Yu's hand had merely been a mortal weapon-an ordinary iron sword.
Even reinforced with origin energy, it could not withstand a high-grade spirit weapon.
"To think my full-strength strike couldn't kill you! You really are a scourge. You must die!" Xia Yonggang said coldly, inwardly alarmed.
Xia Yu lowered his head and looked at the sword wound on his chest without a word.
In truth, he was also deeply shocked.
By all rights, Xia Yonggang's strike should have split him open and left him utterly dead.
Yet when the Cloud-Riding Sword struck his chest, Origin Force had surged wildly out of his small world and shielded him.
The strike had only wounded him.
Although the wound was deep enough to expose bone, it was a far cry from having his belly torn open.
Xia Yu also discovered that the Origin Force from his small world had gathered over the wound, slowly healing it.
This...
The Ancestral Dragon Boundless Art really was incredible!
In an instant, confidence filled Xia Yu's heart.
So what if he stood a major realm higher?
So what if he wielded a high-grade spirit weapon?
Xia Yu clenched his fists!
"Die!"
Just then, Xia Yonggang sprang into the air and swooped at Xia Yu like an eagle striking across the sky.
The Cloud-Riding Sword in his hand showered down a swath of sword light.
Sword technique, Cloud-Riding Thirteen Swords!
Thirteen linked strikes, each chasing life and hounding the soul.
As the Xia clan's former young chief, Xia Yu naturally knew this sword technique.
He knew its strengths and weaknesses, too.
Xia Yu did not retreat. He knew doing so would only put him in greater danger.
Once the thirteen strikes linked together and reached their final, most powerful blow, he would never be able to withstand it.
"Kill!"
Xia Yu roared. Rather than retreating, he charged straight into the sword light.
Throwing caution to the wind, he hurled a punch at Xia Yonggang.
Ancestral Dragon Fist!
Boundless!
Boom!
With a thunderous crash, Xia Yu was driven back thirty feet, his clothes torn in more than a dozen places.
Yet the dozen or so wounds of varying depths did not bleed. Instead, they slowly healed.
Fortunately, it was night, and Xia Yonggang could not see them. Otherwise, he would have been utterly stunned.
Xia Yonggang also staggered backward, retreating more than ten feet as blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.
"What fist technique is that? It's so powerful. Our Xia clan has no such technique."
Xia Yonggang was startled.
Despite standing a full major realm higher and using his strongest sword technique, Xia Yu had driven him back. It was terrifying.
"The fist technique that will kill you!" Xia Yu said in a low voice.
"Hand over that technique, and I'll spare your life," Xia Yonggang said coldly.
If he could obtain that technique, he was certain his strength would rise to another level.
In a few years, the position of Xia clan Great Elder would unquestionably be his.
Although the Great Elder had already promised him that position before he set out tonight, nothing was more secure than improving his own strength.
"Heh..." Xia Yu laughed.
"What are you laughing at?"
"Do I, Xia Yu, look like a fool to you?" Xia Yu asked.
Xia Yonggang said no more and immediately attacked with his sword.
What he could not obtain, he would naturally destroy!
At that moment, however, Xia Yonggang did not intend to kill Xia Yu. He would capture him alive, force him to reveal the fist technique, then kill him.
Without his killing intent, Xia Yonggang's Cloud-Riding Thirteen Swords lost much of their power.
Xia Yu, on the other hand, unleashed his Ancestral Dragon Fist with everything he had.
The Ancestral Dragon Boundless Art was the ancestral dragon's cultivation method. Its power was easy to imagine.
Although Xia Yu could not yet unleash its boundless might, he repeatedly forced Xia Yonggang back now that his opponent was no longer fighting to kill.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Xia Yu used the same punch over and over-Boundless!
The move looked utterly ordinary, but its power was considerable.
Xia Yu only advanced, never retreating, his might unstoppable.
The longer Xia Yonggang fought, the more alarmed and frustrated he became.
Finally, after taking another punch from Xia Yu, Xia Yonggang decided he could no longer hold back.
The Cloud-Riding Sword suddenly blazed with sword radiance, enveloping Xia Yu.
The final move of the Cloud-Riding Thirteen Swords, Soul-Chasing Spirit-Seizing Strike!
Thud!
The Cloud-Riding Sword pierced Xia Yu's lower abdomen, right where his dantian should have been.
In the next instant, Xia Yu froze.
Having landed his strike, Xia Yonggang felt completely reassured.
"Hand over the fist technique. If I save you now, you can still live," Xia Yonggang said coldly.
Xia Yu slowly raised his head, a strange expression on his face.
He said slowly, "All right. The fist manual is inside my robe. Save me."
"That's more like it."
Xia Yonggang sneered inwardly. Save you? Once I have the fist manual, I'll give you a quick death.
The thought of the fist manual set his heart ablaze.
He stepped forward and reached into Xia Yu's robe.
Suddenly, a fist appeared beside him.
The punch was both swift and vicious!
Xia Yonggang's expression changed drastically, and he tried to jerk his head aside.
But it was already too late!
Bang!
The entire right side of Xia Yonggang's skull caved in.
"Impossible! The Cloud-Riding Sword clearly pierced you!"
Lying on the ground, Xia Yonggang's face was filled with disbelief.
Xia Yu sneered. "You forgot. I have no dantian."
"Even without a dantian, it pierced your abdomen. How could you be unharmed?"
"Take a guess!"
Xia Yu raised his foot and stomped Xia Yonggang's head apart.
After searching his body, he shook his head. The fellow had nothing to his name. What a pauper!
In truth, when the sword pierced him, Xia Yu had also thought he was doomed.
Yet he had never imagined he would emerge completely unharmed.
It turned out that the Heaven-Incinerating Furnace had directly refined the Cloud-Riding Sword.
Afterward, Xia Yu had even sensed the Heaven-Incinerating Furnace shake dismissively, as though it disdained the sword.
This...
After a long while, Xia Yu gave two dry coughs.
"Brother Furnace, how about we discuss something?"
The Heaven-Incinerating Furnace gave no response.
"Ahem, here's the thing. I know you can refine all things, and I also know you need enormous amounts of spiritual energy to repair yourself. Right?"
The Heaven-Incinerating Furnace still gave no response.
"Then it looks like I guessed right!" Xia Yu chuckled and said, "I also noticed that when I activate the furnace, it absorbs quite a bit of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy, but it still isn't enough or fast enough. Right?"
"Then how about this? We split the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy absorbed during normal cultivation equally! As for me, I'll find other things containing Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy for you to refine. You give me a share of the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy you extract. How does that sound?"
Several breaths later, the Heaven-Incinerating Furnace suddenly shook.
Xia Yu was instantly overjoyed.
The furnace had agreed.
"Then how about this? For the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy refined from things I find, I get eighty percent, and you get twenty. All right?"
The Heaven-Incinerating Furnace trembled violently!
"Seventy for me, thirty for you!"
The Heaven-Incinerating Furnace continued trembling madly!
"Sixty for me, forty for you!"
"Fifty-fifty! Half each should be fine, right? Any less, and I'm out. Think about it. The higher my cultivation realm and the stronger I become, the more good things I can obtain and the more Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy I can absorb. You'll recover faster!"
"If you won't give me anything, how am I supposed to grow stronger quickly? Fifty-fifty, or the deal's off!"
Xia Yu spoke irritably.
After a moment of silence, the Heaven-Incinerating Furnace shook once.
It had agreed!
Secretly delighted, Xia Yu said, "Good. Then give me half the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy from that Cloud-Riding Sword first."
Before his words had faded, the Heaven-Incinerating Furnace swayed slightly, and a wisp of incomparably pure Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy rushed into Xia Yu's body.
Xia Yu immediately shuddered all over.
An indescribable feeling of comfort spread throughout his body.
Although there was little of this spiritual energy, its quality was exceptionally high.
Even the small world he had activated was frantically absorbing that wisp of spiritual energy.
Xia Yu stood where he was, savoring the sensation for a long time before letting out a long breath.
Looking toward the Ten Thousand Demons Forest, Xia Yu laughed heartily, patted his lower abdomen, and declared proudly, "Little Furnace, I'll take you to strike it rich-no, to strike it rich in spiritual energy."
The Heaven-Incinerating Furnace trembled violently in fierce protest!
It was the Heaven-Incinerating Furnace, the Great Dao Furnace, not some little furnace!
Bang!
With a dull crash, blood splattered everywhere.
A demon wolf's head burst apart, leaving it utterly dead.
Xia Yu bared his teeth and sent a demon wolf charging from his right flying with a sideways kick.
Spinning sharply, he hurled a punch at the demon wolf behind him.
Before you continue