Faced with the sharp sword energy that was rushing towards him, Wang Hao shrank his entire body behind the huge, Shameless Greatsword, using it as a shield to block it.
The blade of the Shameless Greatsword was extremely wide, measuring seven feet seven inches long, three feet wide, and one foot thick—it was about the same size as even the largest square shield.
That's right, he was simply going to defend.
There was no way around it; the refined man's deadly strike was far too powerful, and the sword energy within it was extremely refined. Even if he could shatter the sword energy within, he would still be pierced through by the fragments of sword energy that exploded outwards.
Even with his current strong skin, he couldn't withstand that level of sword energy, so he could only defend.
"Clang!"
The extremely condensed sword energy struck the Shameless Greatsword, penetrating half a foot deep, but was ultimately blocked there and could not advance an inch further.
However, Wang Hao was also pushed back several feet by the force of the sword energy, but he ultimately managed to withstand it.
And so, Wang Hao, wielding the Shameless Greatsword, faced off against the refined man. However, Wang Hao didn't seem to be focusing all his attention on the refined man; he gripped the hilt of the Shameless Greatsword tightly with both hands, as if preparing for something.
"You can do it like that?"
Elder Chu stared in disbelief at Wang Hao's response; it was the first time he had ever seen someone respond to Sacrifice Life for Righteousness in this way.
Sacrifice Life for Righteousness is a deadly move that Li Haoran comprehended from Confucian School classics. Its power is extremely strong, enough to fight opponents of higher levels.
Even someone as refined as him would have to take a serious approach to such a move, given the man's cultivation level; yet Wang Hao managed to block it in this way.
"That kid's... hmm, his swords aren't all forged from Profound Iron, are they?"
Wheel-Turning King's face twitched again, staring speechlessly at the sword in Wang Hao's hand... well, let's just call it a sword for now!
He originally thought that the sword was just exaggerated in design and of average quality, but now it seems that the thing is made entirely of Profound Iron.
Only Profound Iron could withstand that attack.
But if they were all made of Profound Iron, then they would weigh at least tens of thousands of kilograms!
That kid wielded a weapon weighing over ten thousand pounds and fought fiercely for nine Tokiomi, yet he didn't seem particularly tired.
What kind of beast is this?!
Both Wheel-Turning King and Li Haoran turned their gazes to Elder Chu, hoping the old man could provide an explanation, after all, that kid was the old man's last disciple!
Unfortunately, their glances were wasted, because even Elder Chu hadn't expected Wang Hao to be this monstrous.
Although he knew that Wang Hao had cultivated the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Art, and this Esoteric Sect's guardian technique was indeed known for its strength, it was unprecedented to be able to cultivate such divine power at the Super-First-Rate level. So he was also puzzled!
"Snap!"
Suddenly, a crisp cracking sound rang out, and the three of them immediately turned to look.
The tangible sword energy that the refined man had condensed finally gave way, cracking all over its surface before shattering in front of everyone's eyes.
All the sword energy, under the control of the refined man, shot out towards Wang Hao's direction, but unfortunately, Wang Hao blocked it all with his Shameless Greatsword.
In the end, it only left countless tiny scratches on the blade of the greatsword, which was no problem at all compared to the thick blade.
However, the refined man had a joyful expression on his face. Although he had exhausted his true energy and suffered severe damage to his meridians after this incident, he had broken through the bottleneck that had troubled him for a long time. He only needed to go back and cultivate diligently before he could step into the Half-step Innate realm and become an existence like his master.
"It's time for me, Master Hao, to retaliate! Two Armies Facing Off!"
After the sword energy subsided, Wang Hao suddenly stood up, pulled out the Shameless Greatsword stuck in the ground, and slashed upwards at the refined man who had exhausted his true energy and was powerless to resist. He used the first move of the Ten Stances of Bloody Battle, " Two Armies Facing Off ".
Moreover, the power of the Two Armies Facing Off and even the entire Ten Stances of Bloody Battle has been upgraded to a higher level than before. If you look at Wang Hao's attribute panel, you can see that the progress of Ten Stances of Bloody Battle has reached the maximum value of one hundred points from the original ninety points.
After all, the experts from the Five Mountains Sword Sect Five Mountains Sword Sect just displayed all of their sword techniques, including the newly created sword moves from the last hundred years, which greatly benefited Wang Hao.
Furthermore, the Vast Righteousness Sword Instruction that the refined man had used in the previous battle was also a Half-step Innate skill. Wang Hao naturally used his True Spirit Sword Intent to Insight it, and then integrated its essence into the Ten Stances of Bloody Battle, filling in the last bit of progress.
In this way, the power of the Ten Stances of Bloody Battle will naturally increase!
"How dare you!"
Standing to the side, Li Haoran couldn't hold back any longer. He leaped down and thrust his sword at Wang Hao, his own sword condensing a sword aura that seemed almost tangible.
Compared to the refined man, the Vast Righteousness Sword Qi that Li Haoran condensed was far more vast and masculine, and its power was far more terrifying. The two were not even on the same level.
"I've been waiting for you, you shameless old man, to explode!"
Unexpectedly, Wang Hao seemed to have anticipated Li Haoran's attack. He turned his Shameless Greatsword around and slashed at Li Haoran, letting out a ferocious roar and shouting "Explode!"
That's right, what he used was not a simple Two Armies Facing Off, but a perfect fusion of the Explosive Force power of the Nine-Character True Art with the Two Armies Facing Off.
Under Wang Hao's immense strength of 100,000 jin, the Shameless Greatsword weighing 10,000 jin slashed upwards, carrying a fierce force like a volcanic eruption.
"Clang!"
The two swords, one large and one small, clashed together, producing a deafening metallic clang. The sword energy that had been gathered on Li Haoran's sword exploded first, followed by a crack appearing on the sword itself.
His entire body was sent flying backward, clearly indicating that even with his cultivation level, he was unable to withstand Wang Hao's divine power.
However, Wang Hao on the other side was also in bad shape. He was also sent flying backward and his body was almost riddled with holes by Li Haoran's countless sword energy fragments.
"You brat, you deserve to die!"
Having regained his footing, Li Haoran's eyes widened in fury as he saw the new crack on his sword. With a roar, he prepared to continue his attack on Wang Hao, determined to annihilate him completely.
On the other side, Wang Hao had fallen to the ground in a sorry state, endured the pain all over his body, picked up a piece of broken stone next to him, and threw it with the power of Survival in Desperate Straits tide from the Ten Stances of Bloody Battle, aiming it directly at the elegant man who was lying on the ground not far away and unable to resist.
Although Wang Hao was severely injured by the countless sword energy fragments, the rubble he flung out still carried tens of thousands of pounds of force.
Such immense force could shatter even a piece of Hundred-Forged Refined Iron, let alone the flesh and blood of a refined man.
This is precisely a tactic of "besieging Wei to rescue Zhao"!
As expected, upon seeing this, Li Haoran could only temporarily stop and unleash a sword aura to intercept the piece of rubble.
Meanwhile, Wang Hao stomped his foot hard on the ground and used his Lightning Straight-Line Step stepping technique to rush into a pond not far away.
This was the retreat route he had prepared long ago, and the main reason why he chose this residence of the Grand Secretary as the battlefield.
This pond is connected to the moat, with a hidden inlet and outlet, so it contains flowing water. After Wang Hao entered the outlet, he blasted it down, which was made of piled stones.
That wasn't all. Wang Hao moved forward at high speed, completely collapsing the entire water outlet channel and cutting off any possibility of Li Haoran pursuing him.
" Xiao Mengmeng, are you sure the entrance to that Great Yuan Treasure is here?"
As Wang Hao swam forward while holding his breath in the passage, he asked himself this question.
Indeed, the place he wanted to go to was the Great Yuan Treasure that Prince Dula had mentioned.
On the very day he returned to the capital, he had Xiao Mengmeng activate the system's Treasure-Seeking Function to search for the whereabouts of the Great Yuan Treasure. However, in the end, Xiao Mengmeng pointed the entrance to the treasure to the mansion of the current Grand Secretary.
There were many experts inside the mansion at the time, so to avoid exposing his identity, he did not sneak in. Instead, he kept them in mind and secretly gathered information about the current chief minister and the mansion in the Blood Robe Tower, thus gaining a general understanding of the situation.
That mansion dates back to the Yuan Dynasty. It is said to have originally been the residence of a prince. It has survived to this day and has undergone many renovations, but the pond still exists.
The reason for choosing this battlefield today is to take the opportunity to enter the Great Yuan Treasure, and also to use it as a way out.
"Uncle, swim another hundred meters or so and you'll reach it. The entrance is in the wall on the left."
The Xiao Mengmeng in the System Space responded quickly.
Wang Hao held his breath and swam forward for a hundred meters. He stopped when Xiao Mengmeng called for him to stop. He looked at the wall on his left and, sure enough, heard a faint echo.
Without bothering to find any mechanism to open it, Wang Hao kicked it down, revealing a passage behind it.
The water that was originally in the outlet channel was poured in, bringing in a relatively fresh air.
"The air is fresh; it seems there's ventilation inside!"
Taking a sniff of the relatively fresh air, Wang Hao made a rough assessment of the situation inside. Clearly, there was ventilation equipment inside, and it was still in operation.
With a thought, Wang Hao continued forward a distance to the other end of the water outlet, then quickly blasted the outlet down, finally retreating into the treasure vault's passage.
This way, we can completely prevent others from tracking us and avoid being exposed here.
Upon entering the treasure vault passage, Wang Hao collapsed to the ground, panting heavily, his face deathly pale.
He's not in good shape right now. Although he shattered Li Haoran's sword energy with the move "Two Armies Facing Off - Explosion", he was also pierced through the body by fragments of the opponent's sword energy.
The most fatal thing was that these sword energies didn't just pass through him; they remained inside his body and continued to wreak havoc.
It's only because he has a strong physique and the Bloodline Power that he has a powerful regenerative ability; otherwise, he would have died long ago.
But I've reached my limit now and must stop as soon as possible to heal my injuries.
Fortunately, he had consumed a large amount of medicinal food beforehand, and with the bottle of Jade Snail Pill that High Person Longxiang had thrown over, it was enough for him to heal his injuries.
Leaving aside Wang Hao, who was silently healing his injuries, Li Haoran outside saw Wang Hao dive into the pond, followed by a muffled rumbling sound, and immediately knew what was going on.
Damn it!
This scene filled Li Haoran with rage and indignation, but he was powerless to stop it.
This was the first time in his life he had been completely outmaneuvered by a junior, and most importantly...
Looking at the cracked sword in his hand, Li Haoran felt a chill creep into his heart for no reason.
The power that Wang Hao had unleashed earlier was terrifying, and most importantly, his opponent also possessed Sword Intent that was not much inferior to his own.
That was Sword Intent that was almost at its perfect state; one more step and it would be able to touch the realm of the Innate Realm.
He had cultivated diligently for decades to reach this level, but that kid was only a young man, and his current cultivation was merely at the peak of the Peak Super-First-Rate.
To cultivate Sword Intent to near perfection at the Super-First-Rate level is something even figures like Zhang Sanfeng Damo couldn't achieve!
It is foreseeable that if that kid survives, he will definitely be an even more terrifying being than Damo or Zhang Sanfeng.
Is it truly the right choice for Confucian School to portray such individuals with extraordinary potential as mortal enemies?