Falling into the Barrier Together (Thanks for the Gifts)
But the next second
Zhao Yan's blood and spiritual energy intertwined wildly, forming a huge energy vortex. It was as if something inside him had shattered, and something else was being reborn. A terrifying aura far surpassing that of Martial Venerable suddenly erupted.
He actually managed to break through at this critical moment of life and death.
"Breakthrough successful, awesome!" Zhao Yan laughed wildly, his movements incredibly fast as he dodged Tie Kuang's giant axe and swung his blade in a backhand strike.
The broken blade, accompanied by a whooshing sound, hurtled straight towards Tie Kuang's neck, its power several times greater than before.
Bai Xuan's eyes were filled with disbelief, and an ominous premonition welled up in his heart.
Zhao Yan's combat power is overwhelming at this moment. Although he has just entered the Martial Venerable after his breakthrough and his foundation is not yet stable, he is fearless in the face of death.
The cold blades flashed, each move a desperate struggle, actually forcing Tie Kuang back and blocking Bai Xuan's spirit blade.
"Hey kid, aren't you going to help?"
He knew in his heart that this forceful breakthrough couldn't be sustained for long; if it dragged on, they would be the ones to die.
Lin Yu gritted his teeth, bit his fingertip until it bled, and made a hand seal to activate the array set up at the cave entrance.
The Spirit Jade in the crevice of the rock wall suddenly lit up, and several Spiritual Power energy blades shot out from the darkness, aiming straight for Bai Xuan and Tie Kuang's backs.
Although the formation wasn't top-tier in power, its advantage lay in its surprise attack, forcing the two to hastily retreat and abruptly interrupting their offensive, giving Zhao Yan a chance to catch his breath.
However, the two were ultimately powerful beings at the Heavenly Pivot Realm of the Upper Realm.
Even though they were suppressed by the Two Realms Barrier and forced into a sorry state by Zhao Yan's desperate fighting style, they were by no means someone that Zhao Yan, who had made a temporary breakthrough, plus Lin Yu, who had launched a sneak attack using the formation, could contend with.
One should press on with one effort, but the momentum will wane on the second and be exhausted on the third.
The longer Zhao Yan and Lin Yu delay killing Bai Xuan and the other two, the more powerless they become.
Zhao Yan's fierce momentum after his breakthrough gradually weakened in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea. The speed at which he wielded the cold blade slowed down, and the flaws in his moves became more and more apparent.
Lin Yu kept activating the formation, but his energy was also being depleted very quickly. In just a short while, no more blood was flowing from his hands.
The power of the light blades weakened, failing to break through the two's defenses and becoming merely a harmless nuisance.
"Damn it!" Zhao Yan cursed angrily as Tie Kuang's giant axe swept across his shoulder, causing him to stumble and crash into the rock wall.
The two stood shoulder to shoulder against the cold stone wall, their eyes filled with melancholy.
I've broken through, but I still can't beat them.
The madness in Zhao Yan's bloodshot eyes had faded, leaving only exhaustion.
Lin Yu's breathing became disordered; the backlash from the formation caused his internal organs to churn.
In contrast Bai Xuan and Tie Kuang, though sweating and their clothes stained with blood, remained steady in their breathing. Clearly, Zhao Yan's all-out attack, while putting considerable pressure on them, had not fundamentally damaged them.
Bai Xuan slowly stepped forward, a mocking look in his eyes. "An ant is just an ant. So what if it manages to break through by chance? It's nothing but a flash in the pan."
"Once you're in the Underworld, you can brag to Jin Potian that a mere martial artist from the Lower Realm could make us, at the Heavenly Pivot Fourth Stage, look so pathetic."
The intense offensive launched by Zhao Yan and Lin Yu just now really gave him the illusion that he had been caught off guard and his ship had capsized in a ditch.
Tie Kuang, carrying his giant axe, roared with laughter, "Senior Brother, stop wasting time talking to him! Kill these two bastards, and the Spirit Vein will be ours!"
Their Spiritual Power surged once more, their killing moves poised to be unleashed, and the shadow of death gradually enveloped Zhao Yan and Lin Yu.
Just then, Zhao Yan suddenly dropped the half-broken blade in his hand, turned to Lin Yu, and whispered, "Kid, we might really be going to die here."
"But I have one more trick up my sleeve. If this trick still doesn't work, I'll take these two bastards down with me. You just need to find a chance to run away and don't worry about me."
Before he finished speaking, he pulled out a piece of top-grade Spirit Jade jade the size of a pigeon's egg from his pocket and stuffed it into his mouth without saying a word.
Click, click
The crisp sound of his teeth crushing the Spirit Jade was particularly jarring in the silent cave. He swallowed the Spirit Jade, which was crushed by his copper-mouthed, iron-toothed mouth.
Lin Yu looked at his crazy actions and could hardly believe it.
Tie Kuang's eyes widened, his face completely bewildered. "Senior brother, has he gone mad? Eating spirit stones raw? Only those mindless demonic beasts would do that, how could he dare!"
The spiritual energy within the spirit stone is extremely violent. Even cultivators from the Upper Realm need to use their cultivation techniques to slowly guide it when refining it. Eating it raw will only cause the violent spiritual energy to shatter the meridians, resulting in the body exploding and death!
Bai Xuan's expression changed drastically; he finally realized something was wrong and shouted sharply, "Stop him!"
His body erupted with white light, and his spiritual blade condensed into a several-foot-long sword of light, piercing straight into Zhao Yan's heart.
But just as he reached the halfway point, Zhao Yan swallowed the last bit of Spirit Jade fragments. His previously weak aura suddenly surged, and a more violent power than before exploded from his body, instantly returning him to his peak, even surpassing it.
He lunged at Bai Xuan with a sinister grin, his bare hands actually managing to withstand the light sword. Wherever his fist passed, spiritual energy surged, shattering the light sword into pieces.
"Again!"
As Zhao Yan fought, he pulled out Spirit Jade from his robes and stuffed it into his mouth one piece after another, the crunching sound echoing incessantly. With each piece he ate, his momentum increased.
The cave was filled with mountains of Spirit Jade, and he could grab any of the finest quality stones at random. He pushed the power within his body to its limit by consuming spirit stones raw.
What shocked the two even more was that, as the fight progressed, Zhao Yan's aura surged once again, and the energy around him was even stronger than before.
Despite his frenzied state of life-or-death struggle and consuming spirit stones, Zhao Yan managed to break through another level.
Even so, Zhao Yan still struggled against two cultivators from the Upper Realm at the fourth level of the Heavenly Pivot Fourth Stage.
His fighting style was all about trading blows, and he ended up with more and more wounds on his body, his clothes soaked in blood.
The consequences of consuming spirit stones raw were beginning to show. His meridians were riddled with holes from the rampant spiritual energy, and his consciousness was starting to blur. Only a single, unwavering will sustained him.
He knew he couldn't hold on much longer.
Spirit Jade's power eventually came to an end, and his body also reached its limit.
"Boy!" Zhao Yan roared with his last ounce of strength, his voice hoarse.
"Remember this: avenge me!"
Bai Xuan and Tie Kuang were terrified and struggled desperately, but Zhao Yan's strength was astonishing at this moment. He actually dragged the two of them and crashed into the barrier that was shimmering with soft light.
Bai Xuan's pupils constricted sharply as he frantically channeled his Spiritual Power, trying to break free. "Madman! How dare you!"
The light suddenly intensified, then subsided in an instant, and the Two Realms Barrier returned to its previous calm, as if three figures had never entered.
Inside the cave, there was a deathly silence.
The crystals scattered on the ground gleamed with a lustrous light, the blood pools on the ground were still steaming, and half a cold blade and a few pieces of Spirit Jade that hadn't been eaten yet were lying on the ground.
Lin Yu stood before the Two Realms Barrier, his fingertips still in the gesture of forming a hand seal.
After a long while, he slowly squatted down, picked up the broken blade, the blade still stained with Zhao Yan's blood.
"System, I know you can hear me. Is this your reason for insisting that your physical body come here?"
Lin Yu sat alone to one side, asking questions into the void.
The next second, a servile, slightly obsequious mechanical voice rang out in Lin Yu's mind without warning.
[Hehe, you found out!]