One Against Seven

Facing the strongest sword strike condensed from True Man Songyue's lifelong cultivation and life itself, a trace of gravity finally appeared on Lu Shaoyou's placid face.

This sword strike was very strong.

That sword intent of annihilation and sinking into ruin had already surpassed mere martial techniques.

If he took it head-on, even his body, now difficult for blades and weapons to harm, would likely be injured.

He could retreat. With the profundity of Lingbo Weibu, he could completely evade the edge of this attack, wait until True Man Songyue's oil ran dry and his lamp guttered out, then easily take his life.

But that was not his style.

A martial artist's cultivation was inherently a journey against the heavens, and one should possess the bearing to press onward without hesitation. Constant retreat would eventually dull one's edge and leave a flaw in one's heart.

Besides... he still had a trump card.

"Interesting. At last, something that can make me get a little serious."

Lu Shaoyou's thoughts raced, yet a fervent fighting spirit curled across his lips instead.

"System, consume 10,000 points of Slaughter Value to upgrade the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Skill!"

Ding! Upgrade successful. Current progress: Dragon-Elephant Prajna Skill Eleventh Layer (10%), Three Dragon-Elephant Power!

A force far more majestic and pure than before erupted like a volcano, instantly filling every inch of his limbs and bones.

The golden true qi within him seemed to turn into surging rivers at that instant, letting out a thunderous roar.

His sinews and bones rang in unison, his flesh and blood swelled, and his entire aura climbed steadily higher!

Three Dragon-Elephant Power!

What a terrifying force that was!

"Break... for me!"

Facing the blood-colored waning moon descending upon him, Lu Shaoyou advanced rather than retreated, brazenly stepping forward into that annihilating sword intent.

He gripped the Qi Mei Cudgel with both hands and poured the surging Three Dragon-Elephant Power within him into it without reservation.

"Dragon-Elephant Demon Suppressing Cudgel—Suppress!"

This strike contained neither the tyrannical might of sweeping through a thousand armies nor any intricate, shifting tricks. It had only one word—suppress!

With absolute power, suppress everything!

A golden cudgel shadow shot into the sky. No longer illusory qi force, it condensed almost into substance, like a pillar propping up the heavens, viciously smashing toward that blood-colored waning moon.

In an instant, heaven and earth fell silent.

In everyone's eyes, only that desolate yet beautiful blood moon and that golden divine pillar, tyrannical enough to dominate heaven and earth, remained.

The two collided with a bang!

There was no earthshaking explosion, only an instant of dead silence.

Time seemed frozen at that moment.

The next instant.

"Crack..."

A faint sound of shattering rang out, like a signal.

Beginning from the point where it had met the golden cudgel shadow, a barely perceptible crack appeared in that blood-colored waning moon, which contained all of True Man Songyue's life and power.

Then, like a spiderweb, the crack spread across the entire moon disk in an instant!

"Boom!"

The blood moon exploded with a bang!

It turned into scarlet motes of light that scattered through the air.

Yet the golden cudgel shadow did not lose any momentum. Crushing through everything in its path, it descended with irresistible force precisely onto True Man Songyue's head.

"No..."

On True Man Songyue's face, twisted by burning blood, there was only time for a flash of utter horror and despair.

A soft sound rang out, like a watermelon being smashed.

True Man Songyue, head of the Qingcheng Sword Sect and wielder of that supreme Xiantian Late-stage strike, along with the already shattered Songyue Sword in his hand, was smashed from head to toe into a puddle of flesh by that cudgel.

Body and soul were utterly destroyed!

Slaughter Value +8000.

The summit of Soul Severing Cliff once more sank into deathly silence.

The wind stopped, and even the clouds froze. Several thousand martial artists stood like several thousand stone statues, staring blankly at the blue-robed figure standing on the arena with cudgel in hand, their minds completely blank.

He was dead?

True Man Songyue, the pillar of Azure Province's martial world, the respected head of the Qingcheng Sword Sect—his strongest strike, unleashed by burning away his life—had simply... been blown apart by one cudgel strike?

This was no longer martial arts. This was mythology! A devilish miracle!

"Martial... Martial Uncle!"

"Sect Leader!"

After the brief dead silence, waves of mournful howls erupted from the Qingcheng Sword Sect and the camps of the other major sects.

"Demon! This fiend has completely become a devil! We cannot coexist with him!"

"Kill him! Avenge True Man Songyue! Rid the martial world of this scourge!"

"Fellow comrades! Against such an evil devil, there is no need to speak of jianghu morality! Let us attack together and tear him into ten thousand pieces!"

A flash of delight passed through Xue Yutang's eyes. This was precisely the moment he had been waiting for!

He abruptly rose from his grandmaster's chair, drew the blood-colored saber at his waist, and raised his arm in a shout, his voice filled with grief, indignation, and resolve.

"Well said! Avenge True Man Songyue! Exterminate demons for Azure Province! Blood Saber Sect disciples, heed my command—follow me... kill!"

Before his words had faded, the ground beneath his feet exploded. Like a cannonball fired from its barrel, he was the first to charge at Lu Shaoyou.

Blood light flared brilliantly from the long saber in his hand, transforming into a terrifying saber aura more than thirty meters long that cleaved down at Lu Shaoyou's head.

His movement seemed to ignite a powder keg.

"Kill!"

"Avenge Sect Leader Zhou!"

"Uphold justice and eliminate demons—today is the day!"

"Mount Tai Sect, attack!"

"Hengshan Sect, attack!"

The experts of the major sects, who had earlier been cowed by Lu Shaoyou's divine might, were now completely swept away by fury under their shared hatred and Xue Yutang's incitement.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Figures surged onto the arena like crucian carp crossing a river, charging forward without fear of death.

The Mount Tai Sect Leader, Xiantian Early-stage!

The Hengshan Sect Leader, Xiantian Early-stage!

Along with the sect leaders and elders of several other first-rate sects...

In the blink of an eye, six Xiantian Early-stage experts and Xue Yutang, a Xiantian Mid-stage expert whose strength was unfathomable, surrounded Lu Shaoyou from every direction.

Saber light, sword shadows, fist auras, palm winds...

All kinds of ultimate techniques, condensed from the lifelong cultivation of Xiantian experts, crashed toward Lu Shaoyou at the center of the arena like a violent storm covering the sky and earth!

What a terrifying formation!

Seven great Xiantian experts joining forces to besiege one man! This had never occurred in nearly a hundred years of Azure Province's martial history!

The martial artists below the stage, who lacked the qualifications to go up, watched with boiling blood and trembling hearts. They believed that under such a terrifying siege, even a true immortal descending to the mortal world would be blasted into flying ash!

Yet faced with this certain-kill situation, not the slightest trace of panic could be seen on Lu Shaoyou's face.

There was even some... impatience.

"A pack of chickens and dogs, how noisy!"

He snorted coldly, shifting his footwork as he pushed Lingbo Weibu to its limit.

His entire body seemed to transform into a wisp of insubstantial blue smoke, strolling leisurely through the airtight web of attacks.

Those attacks capable of splitting mountains and shattering rocks could not even touch the corner of his robes.

"I'll kill you first!"

Lu Shaoyou's figure appeared ghostlike at the side of the Mount Tai Sect Leader.

The Mount Tai Sect Leader only felt his vision blur, followed by a lethal sense of danger shrouding his heart. Without a second thought, he unleashed his ultimate technique, Mount Tai Eighteen Twists, all at once, using his mighty palm force to protect his entire body.

Yet Lu Shaoyou did not clash with him head-on at all.

Dragon Claw Hand!

A phantom golden dragon claw reached out from thin air, ignoring layer upon layer of palm shadows and precisely locking around his throat.

"Crack!"

With a crisp snap, every sound and movement from the Mount Tai Sect Leader came to an abrupt halt.

Slaughter Value +5000.

Having succeeded in one blow, Lu Shaoyou did not pause. His figure flashed again, and he was already behind another elder. It was still the same simple Dragon Claw Hand.

"Pfft!"

Another Xiantian expert fell.

Slaughter Value +5000.

He was like Death strolling through a field of flowers. Every appearance, every strike, was inevitably accompanied by the death of a Xiantian expert.

Lingbo Weibu's movement technique placed him in an invincible position.

The strange and tricky Dragon Claw Hand allowed him to kill without leaving a trace.

And the Dragon-Elephant Demon Suppressing Cudgel he occasionally swung was even more tyrannical beyond compare. Any resistance before it was like a mantis trying to stop a cart.

"Clang!"

The Hengshan Sect Leader's sword was smashed into fragments filling the sky by one cudgel strike. The violent cudgel force surged through his arm and instantly shattered every one of his meridians, bones, and joints.

Slaughter Value +5000.

In merely a dozen or so breaths, three of the seven great Xiantian experts besieging him had already died miserably on the spot!

A monstrous wave surged through Xue Yutang's heart!

He knew Lu Shaoyou was strong, but he had never imagined he would be strong to such an outrageous extent! One against seven, yet he could still carve through them like slicing melons and vegetables? Was this even human?!

But the more shocked he was, the more intense the wild joy on his face became.

Die! All of you, die!

The more deaths, the better!

He could clearly feel the tremors beneath the arena growing increasingly violent. A concealed and evil power was frantically drawing in the essence blood and resentment released after the deaths of these Xiantian experts from deep underground.

Soon, it would be soon!

"Everyone! Do not be afraid! His true qi consumption is enormous; he is already an arrow at the end of its flight! We can wear him to death!"

Xue Yutang roared once more. The blood-colored long saber in his hand danced even more wildly, every slash aimed at Lu Shaoyou's vital points, while he continued to urge the remaining people on.

The remaining three Xiantian experts had long been scared out of their wits, but they were now riding a tiger and could not get down. They could only grit their teeth, frantically circulate their true qi, and join Xue Yutang in besieging him.

Just as Xue Yutang had said, facing so many experts at once while also using Lingbo Weibu, such a peerless movement technique that consumed an extreme amount of true qi, Lu Shaoyou's true qi was indeed being depleted at an astonishing rate.

But he remained utterly unafraid.

"An arrow at the end of its flight? Then let me show you what true despair is!"

A cold glint flashed through Lu Shaoyou's eyes as he once again locked onto a blood-soaked elder.

"System, consume another 10,000 points of Slaughter Value to upgrade the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Skill!"

Ding! Current progress: Dragon-Elephant Prajna Skill Eleventh Layer (20%), Four Dragon-Elephant Power!

Boom!

A force even more terrifying than before exploded within him! In that instant, his depleted true qi was not only completely restored, but became several times more vigorous than at his peak!

Four Dragon-Elephant Power!

Lu Shaoyou felt that he could now blow apart an entire mountain with a single punch!

"Die!"

He bellowed, and the Qi Mei Cudgel in his hand smashed toward that elder with a shriek that tore through the air, in a manner utterly beyond reason.

The elder only felt an irresistible aura of death envelop him. Before he could even react, that cudgel smashed both him and his sword into a cloud of blood mist.

Slaughter Value +5000.

Instantly killed by one cudgel strike!

The entire battlefield stalled.

Xue Yutang and the remaining two Xiantian experts all stopped their movements as though they had seen ghosts.

They could clearly feel that Lu Shaoyou's aura had not weakened in the slightest. Instead, it had become several times more terrifying than before!

What... what kind of monster was this?!