"Feels... wonderful."
Lu Shaoyou's voice was very soft, yet it was like an invisible heavy hammer smashing viciously into Xue Yutang's chest.
The crazed smile on his face froze in that instant.
Wonderful?
What did he mean?
He stared at Lu Shaoyou, at that "demon" standing at the heart of the Blood River Array, the only one unaffected by it, who had even slaughtered thousands of martial artists in return.
For the first time, a trace of alarm and doubt arose in his heart—one he had not even noticed himself.
Impossible.
Xue Yutang violently shook his head, driving that ominous premonition from his mind.
With the Blood Drinking Demonic Blade in hand and the vital blood of thousands of martial artists as sacrifice, his strength had already shattered its shackles and reached the unprecedented realm of the Xiantian Peak!
Looking across all of Azure Province, over the past two hundred years, scarcely anyone had reached such heights.
Even his father, Xue Cangqiong, the sect master of the Blood Saber Sect, was no more than this.
With the Blood Drinking Demonic Blade in hand, he was now the number one man in Azure Province!
No matter how monstrous Lu Shaoyou's talent was, how powerful his body, or how strange his cultivation technique, he was still only one man.
What gave him the right?
What gave him the right to say "wonderful" before power that rivaled Gods and Devils?
A bluff! It had to be a bluff!
After so many consecutive battles, after forcefully enduring the siege of experts from every major sect, his true qi was already like a spent crossbow. He was merely putting on a calm front to frighten him away!
Having figured this out, Xue Yutang regained his confidence.
As he looked at Lu Shaoyou, that lofty air returned to his eyes, even carrying a trace of pity and appreciation, like a cat toying with a mouse.
"Lu Shaoyou, I admit it. You are the strongest young man I have ever seen, and the greatest variable in my chessboard, the most brilliant stroke."
Holding the Blood Drinking Demonic Blade, which was still humming and trembling, Xue Yutang slowly paced about as though admiring his own masterpiece.
"You are very interesting, and you possess potential worthy of standing beside me. Now, I will give you an opportunity."
He paused, then said in a bestowing tone, "Kneel and acknowledge me as your master. I can spare your life."
"After I unify Azure Province, you will be the foremost among those beneath me."
"In the future, you and I will divide the world between us. How about it?"
He had painted an enormous pie, one enough to drive any ambitious man mad.
He believed no one could refuse such temptation.
Yet what he received was a derisive snort.
"Divide the world? Are you even worthy?"
Lu Shaoyou looked as though he had heard the funniest joke in the world.
He could not be bothered to waste any more words on this self-righteous fool.
With a thought, Lu Shaoyou issued an order to the system.
"System, consume eighty thousand Slaughter Value and upgrade Dragon-Elephant Prajna!"
Ding! Slaughter Value -80000.
Dragon-Elephant Prajna upgrading...
Boom—!!!
An indescribably terrifying power detonated within Lu Shaoyou's body without warning!
If the previous Four Dragon-Elephant Power had been a surging river, then this power was the Milky Way of the Ninth Heaven bursting through its banks, divine lightning tearing apart the firmament!
Crack! Crack!
In an instant, the winds and clouds changed color, and heaven and earth were shaken!
Centered on Lu Shaoyou, a golden wave of qi soared into the sky, directly tearing apart the blood-red miasma atop the cliff and piercing through the clouds.
His muscles and bones erupted with crackling sounds like beans popping in a pan. Every inch of flesh, every meridian, underwent an earth-shattering transformation beneath this newborn power.
The most astonishing change occurred within his dantian sea of qi.
The golden true qi that had originally been gaseous was compressed by this immense power to its limit, beginning to condense, compress, and transform at an inconceivable speed!
One drop, two drops, three drops...
Drops of liquid true qi, like molten gold, emerged from nothingness!
True qi liquefaction!
This was another leap in the level of life after acquired inner force transformed into Xiantian true qi! It was the mark of a martial artist stepping from the Xiantian realm into a higher level—the Transcendence Grandmaster!
As the power within Lu Shaoyou surged, the winds and clouds over all of Soul Severing Cliff changed color!
Above, the originally clear sky abruptly gathered thick leaden clouds. Lightning flashed and thunder roared within them, as if heavenly gods were enraged.
A magnificent heavenly might blanketed the summit of Soul Severing Cliff, making every living creature tremble from the depths of its Divine Soul.
This was a heavenly phenomenon!
"What is happening?!"
"H-Heaven... is Heaven falling?"
"That demon... look at that demon!"
The surviving martial artists pointed in terror at Lu Shaoyou in the center of the arena, their eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.
Golden light blazed around Lu Shaoyou, dazzling like a blazing sun. Behind him, dragon roars and elephant trumpets rang out without end.
Faintly, a full twelve lifelike dragon-elephant phantoms could be seen roaring toward the heavens!
Twelve Dragon-Elephant Power!
His aura shattered the barrier of late Xiantian, broke through the shackles of the Xiantian Peak, and continued to climb madly upward with utterly unreasonable force!
A terrifying pressure beyond the scope of Xiantian spread from his body.
"Is this... is he about to break through into Transcendence?!"
Upon the distant solitary peak, the Golden-Masked Man, who had been calmly watching the battle, abruptly changed expression.
For the first time, his usually tranquil voice carried shock and urgency.
"My lord! Under the Sky Locking Array, if someone forcibly breaks through into Transcendence, it will surely draw the full investigation of the Demon Sect."
"Demon Sect experts may even descend upon Azure Province at any cost! When that happens, our identities will be exposed, and the dynasty's plan will be completely ruined!" The Grey-robed Elder's face had gone deathly pale, and even his voice trembled.
A flash of struggle and resolve passed through the Golden-Masked Man's eyes. "We cannot let him break through! Prepare to act and forcibly interrupt him!"
However, just as he was about to move, that terrifying aura, on the verge of punching through the heavens, abruptly stopped.
Warning! The host's current location is abnormal and sealed by an array, isolating heaven and earth's vital essence. If the host forcibly breaks through into the Mortal Transformation Realm, it will attract the descent of contemporary experts. Please proceed with caution!
Almost at the same moment the heavenly phenomenon appeared, the system's prompt was like a basin of cold water poured over Lu Shaoyou's head.
Contemporary experts?
An array?
Stormy waves rose in Lu Shaoyou's heart.
He was confident, but not arrogant.
Since the system had used the word "warning" and mentioned contemporary experts, it meant the risks involved were beyond what he could currently bear.
As his thoughts raced, Lu Shaoyou made a decisive choice and forcibly suppressed the power that was about to burst from his body.
Better to play it safe!
With a thought, the violent Twelve Dragon-Elephant Power no longer assaulted a higher realm. Instead, like a hundred rivers returning to the sea, it all withdrew into his body, tempering his flesh and liquidated true qi over and over again.
The phenomenon in the sky slowly dispersed.
That pressure beyond the boundary also stabilized once more at... the Xiantian Peak!
"Phew..." On the solitary peak, the Golden-Masked Man watched the phenomenon dissipate and let out a long breath. A layer of cold sweat had already formed across his back.
"He stopped... thank goodness, thank goodness he stopped." The Grey-robed Elder also felt lingering fear.
Below the arena, Xue Yutang's expression was more vivid than if he had seen a ghost.
He stared blankly at Lu Shaoyou, sensing that terrifying aura from him—one not the slightest bit weaker than his own and even greater in sheer oppressive force. His mind went completely blank.
How was this possible?!
Why had his aura also surged to the Xiantian Peak in a single instant?!
Was he not at the end of his tether?
"A Secret Technique! It must be some forbidden Secret Technique that burns one's life!" Xue Yutang roared madly in his heart, desperately seeking a reasonable explanation.
Yes! It had to be so!
He had burned his life to gain this brief peak power! As long as he dragged things out until the Secret Technique ended, he would be nothing but trash at the slaughterer's block!
Thinking this, Xue Yutang's heart settled once more. Looking at Lu Shaoyou, a cruel smile returned to his face.
"Is a dying struggle meaningful? How long can power gained by burning your life possibly sustain you?"
"You sure talk a lot."
Lu Shaoyou's reply was simple and direct.
He tightened his grip around the Qi Mei Cudgel, feeling the unprecedented vast divine strength within him, as though one swing could pierce the firmament. Twelve Dragon-Elephant Power erupted!
"Dragon-Elephant Demon Suppressing Cudgel—Suppress!"
There were no flourishes, no probing attacks. The moment he struck, it was his strongest killing move!
That unremarkable iron staff seemed to transform into a divine pillar supporting the heavens.
Golden light surged. The staff shadow tore through the air, crashing down upon Xue Yutang's head with a thunderous roar!
This strike was as different from before as heaven and earth!
"Good! Blood River Overwhelms the Heavens!"
Seeing Lu Shaoyou actually dare to attack first, Xue Yutang was delighted rather than alarmed. He possessed absolute confidence in his current strength!
With the Blood Drinking Demonic Blade in hand, he dared to fight even a legendary Transcendence Grandmaster!
He poured all his cultivation into the demonic blade. A hundred-zhang blood-red river manifested out of thin air, carrying the wails of countless wronged souls and resentment capable of defiling the Divine Soul, flowing upward against the current to meet that golden divine pillar.
He could practically see Lu Shaoyou and his staff being corroded into a puddle of rotten blood by his Blood River saber technique.
Yet reality was cruel.
Boom—!!!
Before everyone's eyes, the golden divine pillar and blood-red river collided violently.
There was no imagined deadlock, no evenly matched confrontation.
Only an instant passed.
That blood-red river, upon which Xue Yutang had placed such high hopes, containing all his cultivation and the demonic blade's savage might—
The moment it touched the golden staff shadow, it was like paper, split in two by that pure, tyrannical, irresistible force, instantly torn apart and shattered!
"Pfft—!"
Xue Yutang only felt an irresistible, terrifying force pass through the demonic blade and smash brutally into his chest.
His protective Inner Force shattered instantly.
His breastbone broke inch by inch.
He spat out a mouthful of blood and flew backward once again like a kite with its string severed—farther than before, falling even more miserably!
Had the dense blood light erupting from the Blood Drinking Demonic Blade not protected his heart meridians at the final moment, that single strike would have blown him apart on the spot!
"No... impossible! This is absolutely impossible!"
Xue Yutang struggled to rise from the ground, his hair disheveled, looking like a mad demon. His eyes were filled with utter horror and disbelief.
He had lost?
With the Blood Drinking Demonic Blade and strength at the Xiantian Peak, he could not even receive a single move from his opponent?!
This was not a Secret Technique!
There was no Secret Technique in the world capable of such terrifying power!
"I refuse to believe it! I refuse to believe it! Ahhh!"
Xue Yutang completely lost his mind. The vital blood within him burned frantically as he poured it into the Blood Drinking Demonic Blade without regard for his life.
"Blood Demon Disintegration! Blade Soul Possession!"
He roared toward the sky, and his entire body began to merge with the demonic blade in his hand.
His body shriveled, while the demonic blade emitted unprecedented, overwhelming blood light that seemed ready to dye the entire sky red.
An evil aura far beyond before erupted with a roar.
"Die!!"
Xue Yutang, now one with his blade, transformed into a streak of bloody light that tore through heaven and earth, charging once more at Lu Shaoyou.
This was his strongest attack, and also his final attack.
Yet Lu Shaoyou merely raised the iron staff in his hand again without expression.
That power shook the surrounding lands.
The summit of Soul Severing Cliff began to tremble violently before that power. Massive cracks spread from the arena in every direction.
The surviving martial artists were like fallen leaves in a gale beneath the shockwaves of their clash, sent flying as they vomited blood, their fates unknown.
The remaining survivors scrambled and crawled toward the mountain below, hating only that their parents had not given them two more legs.
"It is over."
Lu Shaoyou murmured softly.
Twelve Dragon-Elephant Power poured into the staff without restraint.
Dragon-Elephant Demon Suppressing Cudgel—Break!
As this staff swung out, every sound and every color between heaven and earth seemed to be utterly stripped away at that moment.
Only that golden staff shadow remained—pure to the extreme, tyrannical to the extreme, enough to bring even Gods and Devils to annihilation.
Crack—!
A crisp sound, like glazed glass shattering, rang through the clouds.
The streak of bloody light shattered inch by inch the instant it met the golden staff shadow.
The Blood Drinking Demonic Blade, fierce and infamous, having devoured the vital blood of thousands of martial artists, along with Xue Yutang's final life and will—
Was smashed by that single strike into dust that filled the sky!
Before you continue