Fight to the death

"Come! Let me see how your Yuan Demon Clan differs from the Spirit Demon and Heart Demon clans."

At that moment, Yun Mo's killing intent soared into the sky. Black-and-white vortices erupted around him, blurring space and time and lending him an ethereal air.

Yuan Huai watched Yun Mo with a grim expression, recalling several rankings maintained within their Saint Clan.

One was the Great Thousand World Potential Rankings. Everyone listed on it was a young person from the Great Thousand World under a hundred years old, an outstanding talent who had endured the baptism of the front lines. Their presence on that list signified terrifying potential, marking them as people to watch closely on the battlefield and kill whenever an opportunity arose.

Yun Mo was on that list.

There were plenty of people Yun Mo's age on the rankings, but he possessed Spacetime Secret Power and had boldly slain the young clan lords of both the Spirit Demon and Heart Demon clans in a head-on battle, fighting two against one. That had drawn the attention of certain people in the Saint Clan.

After all, the Thirty-Two Great Clans held an almost supreme position within their Saint Clan.

As the young clan lords of the Thirty-Two Great Clans, those two had possessed terrifying potential and strength. They had entered the battlefield merely to earn merits and consolidate their positions, never expecting to die there the moment they encountered Yun Mo.

Yuan Huai extended his hand, and a battle halberd slowly materialized. With a solemn expression, he said, "I never expected to encounter you here. If I kill you, I'll earn the friendship of the Spirit Demon and Heart Demon clans, too. That will make my position as the Yuan Demon Clan's young clan lord all the more secure."

"Hah, your position as young clan lord? You're nothing but a sacrificial offering!"

Yun Mo wasted no more words. He stepped through the air and appeared before Yuan Huai and the others in an instant, bringing his battle halberd down upon them with boundless might.

That hazy aura became clear in that instant. The mysteries of space and time made his movements elusive, seemingly slow yet truly swift.

The moment Yun Mo struck, Wen Qingxuan and her two companions shot forward without hesitation.

Having entered this space, they had no retreat left. They could either smash their cauldrons and sink their boats, committing themselves to the fight, or surrender and sit waiting for death. But as they had said, the worst they faced was death.

Wen Qingxuan's golden spear shone brilliantly. Together with her crimson dress adorned with golden armor, it made her resemble a phoenix kindling the flames of rebirth amid the darkened world. Now, she held nothing back.

Wu Ling roared. His black war staff transformed into a demonic dragon, while the colossal ape that battled heaven and earth appeared behind him once more. Its roar unleashed boundless fighting spirit as he blasted straight toward one of the enemies before him.

Wu Yingying put aside her headstrong, willful ways. Her essence, energy, and spirit rose to their peak, and a longbow appeared in her hands. She put her full strength into every arrow, as though determined to pierce straight through the member of the Extraterritorial Evil Clan.

Facing Yun Mo's battle halberd, Yuan Huai's features twisted viciously. He led the other five forward to meet the blow.

He knew perfectly well that, given Yun Mo's battle record, dealing with someone at his cultivation level would be no great difficulty. He was not foolish enough to fight Yun Mo alone; he had personally viewed a recording of Yun Mo's battle back in his clan.

Boom!

Seven battle weapons collided with a tremendous roar. Their overlapping fighting spirit sent waves of force sweeping across heaven and earth, tearing up vast stretches of ground and grinding them to dust.

Everyone put their full strength into this collision. None had any intention of testing the waters.

Yuan Huai and the others each retreated two steps, while Yun Mo was blasted away outright. Ultimately, he was fighting six against one; gaining the upper hand in a direct clash of strength was no easy task.

Yun Mo wiped the crimson blood from the corner of his mouth, allowing the droplets of Spacetime Rain drifting down from the sky to fall upon him. Killing intent raged in his icy eyes. He had no path of retreat.

"Again!"

Time Intent merged with his battle halberd, and mysterious black-and-white light slowly interwove. Holding the halberd, he brought decay to his surroundings. With an angry shout, he unleashed sky-filling killing intent from its blade.

That killing intent condensed into tangible crimson spears that shot toward Yuan Huai and the others.

Yuan Huai snorted coldly. They had nothing to fear from a contest of pure strength, but after their first collision, Yun Mo had used the force to pull away, preventing himself from being surrounded.

It was already obvious: without sufficient confidence, Yun Mo would not choose to clash with them head-on again.

"Charge! Fight him up close!"

With a furious howl, Yuan Huai employed the Yuan Demon Clan's unique movement technique. His movements combined dominance with finesse as he dodged the spears and charged toward Yun Mo.

But Yun Mo's spears of killing intent were far less simple than they appeared.

These spears contained the mysteries of space, crossing hundreds or thousands of feet in an instant. Everyone except Yuan Huai paled.

The Extraterritorial Evil Clan maintained an extremely strict hierarchy.

Ultimately, they were merely a group of guards. They could not even be considered disciples of their clan, so how could they possess movement techniques as profound as Yuan Huai's?

Left with no choice, they swung their battle weapons, doing everything they could to block the crimson spears brimming with killing intent.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The shrieks of objects tearing through the air rang out incessantly. One man made a careless move, and a spear pierced his arm, drawing a muffled grunt. Then, as though the spear carried a deadly poison, his wound began to decay, threatening to drain away his vitality.

"Spacetime Poison!"

This was a special technique Yun Mo had comprehended after returning from the battlefield to Azure Wood Academy, while sitting and watching the sun rise and set.

"Through the mysteries of space and time, manifest the intent of deprivation and disperse your boundless vitality."

The man struck by the spear turned deathly pale. Sensing the mortal danger, he had no choice but to swing his battle weapon at his own arm. Only then would he have a chance to survive.

Slash!

His arm flew off. Within a few breaths, it had weathered into dry bones. The sight chilled everyone to the marrow.

Shock and fury surged through Yuan Huai's heart. Gritting his teeth, he continued charging toward Yun Mo.

Watching Yuan Huai fly toward him, Yun Mo snorted coldly. He spun the battle halberd in his hands and engaged Yuan Huai in a fierce battle.

Their halberds clashed, the ringing impacts resounding through this stretch of heaven and earth like thunder bearing crushing might.

"Young clan lord, take the Origin Weapon!"

The men on the ground, left in a wretched state by their efforts to dodge the crimson spears, saw that their young clan lord was still unable to defeat Yun Mo. They slit their wrists to perform the Blood Sacrifice Ritual.

Their blood gushed forth, spilling half their bodies' vital essence into the sky, where it gradually fused into a long blade of origin energy.

This was the foundation of the Yuan Demon Clan's standing among the Thirty-Two Great Clans. Through the power of blood sacrifice, they condensed a Law-Breaking Origin Weapon. No matter how pure the spiritual energy within an opponent's body might be, it would collapse in an instant upon contact with the Law-Breaking Origin Weapon. It was the natural bane of the Great Thousand World's spiritual energy.

A cruel smile appeared on Yuan Huai's face.

He took the Origin Weapon and pointed it straight at Yun Mo. "It seems I'll need only this one move to take your head. After that, I'll slaughter these companions of yours!"

Without spiritual energy to support you, how will you fight me again?

Yun Mo stood between heaven and earth and let out a long breath, looking toward the others still locked in fierce combat.

For Wen Qingxuan and her two companions, this was their first encounter with the Extraterritorial Evil Clan, and their first time fighting its members directly.

Yet their determination to fight to the death without retreating was truly praiseworthy. Moreover, as time passed, they were even able to use the advantage offered by the rain of time to trade life for life and gain the upper hand.

He turned back, holding his battle halberd upright before his chest. The coldness in his eyes reached its utmost as he looked at Yuan Huai. "Do you think those two young clan lords who died at my hands never struggled?

"In fact, they were just like you are now, believing they had everything under control. But in the next instant, what awaited them was being ground to dust, with not even their bones remaining!"

As he finished speaking, the battle halberd in his hands began to turn insubstantial, as though the baptism of space and time had made it omnipresent.

All the strength in his body and all the Spacetime Secret Power surrounding him gathered in his hands. He opened his mouth and chanted slowly:

"Heaven and earth crumble to sand, the world overturns, yet space and time alone endure; the cosmos shatters, the universe dissolves, yet the long river alone flows eternal."

"Great Void, first form: Yin-Yang Dusting!"

In that instant, the battle halberd became solid again. Beams of black-and-white light burst from it, stripping heaven and earth of color and turning all things to dust. Even the supposed spiritual energy and evil energy no longer retained the slightest trace of their strife.

Terror filled Yuan Huai's face. Horrified, he tried to raise the long blade of origin energy, only to discover that the Origin Weapon had lost its usual luster. Even when he desperately drove it with his blood and vital energy, his efforts were like a clay ox entering the sea-utterly futile.

At this sight, everyone stared in horror at Yun Mo's battlefield. They had never imagined that they would witness a battle like this, one that shattered the shackles of heaven and earth's limits.

Yuan Huai's Personal Guards who had been fighting Wen Qingxuan and her companions immediately flashed to his side to support him.

The eight Personal Guards wore ghastly expressions. They voluntarily dispersed the formation, causing the formation banners to reappear in their hands. Then each spat a mouthful of blood essence onto a banner, raising barrier after barrier at the very front in an attempt to block those utterly terrifying beams.

"Young clan lord, retreat now!"

Yuan Huai's face grew increasingly savage. But as the Yuan Demon Clan's young clan lord, he possessed a pride the others lacked. Like his Personal Guards, he spat a mouthful of blood essence onto the long blade of origin energy, making it pulse once more.

"Yun Mo, take this! Origin Demon Bone-Erosion!"

The beams and the blade edge collided abruptly, but the gulf between their powers was immense.

The beams swept through everything like a force crushing rotten wood. Anything they touched became dust between heaven and earth in an instant. The blade edge decayed the moment it met them, vanishing without a trace.

Next, the beams shone upon the barriers formed by the formation banners, melting straight through them.

With no other choice, Yuan Huai hurled away the Origin Weapon in his hand and detonated the battle halberd he carried. At the same time, all eight Personal Guards spat out blood essence once more and shielded him with their bodies.

Buzzz!

At last, the black-and-white radiance slowly faded, revealing the tragic figures of the Extraterritorial Evil Clan members.

One of Yuan Huai's arms had vanished beneath the beams. Of the eight Personal Guards, two had disappeared completely, while the remaining six now had aged faces and hunched bodies.

"Cough, cough."

Blood spilled from Yuan Huai's mouth. Gravely wounded, his eyes were filled with blood as he glared hatefully toward Yun Mo and said through gritted teeth, "Yun Mo, I'm afraid you're disappointed. I'm not dead yet! This fight is still undecided. We'll fight again at the Wu Clan Ancestral Hall!"