Still No Match

Take my sword!

Lu Ren's gaze sharpened. He activated the Spirit Burst Secret Art, merging the spiritual energy of five Spiritual Apertures. The Fire Spirit Sword swung madly, its shadows like a stormy downpour, crisscrossing the void at extreme speed as they swept toward Tang Hao.

Tang Hao's face changed drastically. He hurriedly raised the ghost sword in his hand and unleashed Shadow Sword to block!

Bang bang bang!

Their sword shadows collided continuously, but Tang Hao only felt an unimaginable force crashing into him. His body was once again struck as if by lightning, and the ghost sword flew from his hand.

He himself was sent flying violently. He crashed to the ground and spat out a mouthful of blood, his aura instantly becoming weak and sluggish.

"How can your strength possibly be this great?"

Tang Hao's eyes were filled with utter shock.

After all, he had opened ten Spiritual Apertures. Among martial artists in the Aperture Opening Realm, he was unquestionably considered a top genius. Within his generation, there could not possibly be another person capable of opening ten Spiritual Apertures.

Yet from their exchange just now, he had clearly sensed that Lu Ren's strength far surpassed his own. Only someone who had reached ten Spiritual Apertures could possess such formidable power!

How could a Scrap Bloodline possibly break through its limits and open more than seven Spiritual Apertures?

"Is that all?"

Lu Ren shook his head and sneered. "I'm the trash your senior brother spoke of, yet I crushed a genius like you beneath my feet!"

Lu Ren's words were like a heavy hammer smashing brutally into Tang Hao's chest. Tang Hao's face turned pale, and he spat out another mouthful of blood.

"You dare humiliate me? I'll fight you to the death!"

Tang Hao's eyes brimmed with rage.

His fingers frantically tapped ten places across his body.

Bang bang bang bang!

Those ten spots directly burst open into bloody holes. At the same time, the aura around him began to surge wildly.

"He actually blew up all ten Spiritual Apertures within his body?"

Xu Fu was utterly shocked.

This was an extremely powerful secret art. It allowed one to detonate their Spiritual Apertures in exchange for a brief burst of immense strength.

Blowing up one's Spiritual Apertures would not necessarily result in death, but with all ten apertures destroyed, one's foundation would be severed. Opening them again would become extraordinarily difficult.

It could be said that Tang Hao was truly risking his life against Lu Ren.

"Lu Ren, I never expected your strength to be this great, but the one who dies today will still be you!"

A trace of madness appeared on Tang Hao's face. The ghost sword in his hand erupted with violent sword shadows, leaving no way to flee and nowhere to hide.

From a distance, those sword shadows resembled a Sword God dancing wildly, leaping through the air without end and shrouding Lu Ren.

Tang Hao now held nothing back, pushing the fifth sword of the Ghostly Sword Style to its utmost limit.

Whoosh!

Lu Ren tapped the ground with his foot, his body moving like a nimble spirit cat as he effortlessly evaded Tang Hao's strike.

Now that he had cultivated the Qi Nourishing Body Tempering, his body had not only grown stronger, but also lighter and more agile. His speed had increased considerably from before.

"It's useless. You can't stop me!"

Tang Hao roared.

"Even after blowing up your own Spiritual Apertures, you're still no match for me!"

Lu Ren's expression remained calm.

"I won't lose to a Scrap Bloodline like you. Never! Die!"

Tang Hao shouted furiously, his face twisting with savagery.

As he spoke, he grew even more frantic. His longsword swung continuously, terrifying sword shadows raging across the sky as they tore toward Lu Ren.

"It's true that I have a Scrap Bloodline, but this Scrap Bloodline of mine is more than enough to slaughter a Ghost Sword Successor like you!"

Lu Ren sneered.

The spiritual energy within his six Spiritual Apertures all condensed into cyclones, erupting at once. His aura became even more powerful than Tang Hao's.

Then he swung his sword fiercely toward Tang Hao.

A single sword swept forth a violent tempest that blanketed heaven and earth. Accompanied by a fierce howl, it surged forward in a mighty torrent, crushing ahead like a tornado.

Crack.

The violent sword radiance filling the skies shattered beneath that tempest in an instant, crumbling like rotten wood, utterly unable to withstand a single blow.

The tempest then advanced with unstoppable force and slammed brutally into Tang Hao's chest.

Boom!

Tang Hao's chest was torn open by the storm, leaving one horrifying wound after another. His upper clothes were ripped into shredded scraps, while blood sprayed endlessly from his mouth as he was instantly hurled away.

"What?"

Everyone who saw this scene was stunned.

Tang Hao had used a secret art, paying the price of detonating all ten of his Spiritual Apertures to launch a fierce attack on Lu Ren.

Yet Tang Hao had still been defeated.

Lu Ren had used just one sword strike—a sword strike like a tempest—to destroy all of Tang Hao's attacks and defeat him.

Outside the cave dwelling!

The entire valley fell deathly silent at the sight.

Everyone's eyes widened as they stared at Lu Ren in disbelief. None of them had expected Lu Ren and Tang Hao to actually fight one-on-one inside the cave dwelling, much less for Tang Hao to be so easily defeated by Lu Ren.

This genius cultivated by the Ghost Sword King, the genius who had declared that he would obtain the Tuoshe Ancient Emperor's Legacy, had actually been defeated by a Scrap Bloodline.

"Damn it!"

Gu Yifan's face turned ashen. With Tang Hao defeated, Lu Ren would likely not spare him. His master's plan of so many years was about to go down the drain again.

"How can this trash possibly be so strong?"

Xie Kuang was likewise shaken by Lu Ren's strength.

He had assumed that this Scrap Bloodline would not improve much, but now Lu Ren had actually defeated Tang Hao, who had opened ten Spiritual Apertures, and had even displayed all kinds of powerful martial techniques.

A Person of Divine Enlightenment was far too terrifying. Once Lu Ren changed his bloodline, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Of course, the most shocked person was Yun Qingyao. She had taught Lu Ren Wind Sweeps Clouds, yet he clearly had not managed to cultivate it before. Now, however, he was using it with consummate mastery, even more skillfully than she could.

"You little brat, just how many secrets are you hiding from your master?"

After returning, Yun Qingyao intended to interrogate this disciple of hers properly.

"How... is that possible!"

Tang Hao's face was pale, his hair disheveled, and he looked incomparably wretched. He muttered to himself, still unable to believe that he had lost to a Scrap Bloodline.

At the age of sixteen, he had opened ten Spiritual Apertures. No one knew how much pain he had endured to achieve that.

But Lu Ren was only a Scrap Bloodline. He had entered the Qingyun Sect only a few months ago—how could he possibly be so strong?

"Tang Hao, the victor has been decided. Go die!"

Lu Ren flashed forward and arrived before Tang Hao, then slashed down at him with his sword.

Tang Hao raised his sword to block, but a powerful force surged into his body and sent him flying away. He fell to the ground and vomited several mouthfuls of blood.

As Lu Ren walked toward him step by step, Tang Hao's pupils contracted. He shouted, "Whoever can block this Lu Ren for me and kill him, I will offer a high-grade spirit artifact weapon and allow them to enter the Ghost Sword Gate to obtain the Ghostly Sword Style!"

The instant Tang Hao spoke, the entire place fell silent.

Immediately afterward, towering killing intent erupted throughout the cave dwelling. Numerous gazes locked tightly onto Lu Ren.

Every single gaze contained icy killing intent.

At that moment, the entire cave dwelling became incomparably cold. Killing intent surged through it, as though winter itself had descended.