Chapter 496: Chapter 278: Slay

"The swords of the Purple Sun Sect are truly formidable!"

A fierce glint flashed in Xu Yang’s eyes. This technique, Eternal Night Descending, was like Mount Tai crashing down—ferocious and unparalleled, completely lacking the usual grace and agility of sword techniques.

BANG!

The earth beneath his feet exploded as he wrenched his legs free. Just as he was about to strike Liu Qingyuan down, a sky full of sword light rained down like a storm, completely enveloping him.

Each beam of sword light held the power to pierce metal and shatter stone, condensed with astonishing Sword Intent, and tore through the air with piercing shrieks.

Xu Yang’s fighting spirit surged. The Blood Prison behind him thundered, and waves of blood raged to the heavens.

BOOM!

He gripped his saber with both hands and slashed out. The golden saber light instantly erupted to a length of ten feet, its razor-sharp Sword Intent threatening to tear apart the very heavens.

Many of the sword beams shattered from the force of his Sword Intent before they even landed, and a gaping hole was torn straight through the sky-filled barrage.

The golden saber light descended, slashing at Liu Qingyuan with world-sundering force.

Liu Qingyuan was both shocked and enraged. He never imagined that even after risking so much to unleash Eternal Night Descending, he was still no match for Xu Yang. His opponent’s mastery of Saber Techniques was even more profound than his own.

He had no choice but to unleash his own sword light to block the descending saber light.

RUMBLE...

A deafening collision echoed through the mountains and fields. The dissipating Power of Heaven and Earth and Vigorous Energy surged outward in all directions like a tide, peeling away layers of the earth and unleashing a visible shockwave that tore everything to shreds.

SQUIRT!

Liu Qingyuan’s body trembled as blood gushed from two wounds simultaneously, dyeing his robes red. The razor-sharp Sword Intent seized the opportunity to burrow into his body.

"Damn it!" Liu Qingyuan roared, his voice laced with fury and desperation.

The repeated loss of blood had left his face pale, and his aura was steadily weakening. Xu Yang’s ferocity far exceeded his imagination.

Xu Yang had actually charged through his rain of swords just to land another blow, giving him no time to even breathe.

"Kill!" Xu Yang bellowed, his killing intent scorching hot.

His Protective Gang Yuan had been torn apart by the sword light, and his clothes were riddled with countless cuts, revealing skin that looked as if it were cast from gold. In the end, Liu Qingyuan’s Eternal Night Descending had failed to breach his defenses.

His Martial Dao Imagery shook the heavens and earth, frantically absorbing the Power of Heaven and Earth. Xu Yang moved with the agility of a dragon. Ignoring the roiling of his own blood and energy, he strode forward and slashed out once more.

CLANG! CLANG...

The sound of clashing steel was incessant. In a flash, the two had already exchanged more than a dozen techniques.

This continuous, desperate battle, where every move was forced despite his churning blood and energy while constantly channeling the Eight Ferocious Hidden Dragon Strength, was taking its toll. Even with Xu Yang’s formidable physique, he now felt a deep ache throughout his body. His bones and muscles screamed in protest, and the light from the Jade Water Saber in his hand grew ever dimmer, as if it would soon turn to scrap iron.

He could feel that the Spirituality of this Spiritual Soldier had been greatly dissipated by the repeated collisions. Its ability to draw upon the Power of Heaven and Earth was severely diminished. He estimated that the Jade Water Saber would be destroyed after ten or twenty more clashes at most.

’But it’s almost over!’

He looked at Liu Qingyuan across from him, his face a mask of killing intent.

Right now, Liu Qingyuan’s face was ashen. With each clash, blood gushed from his wounds, which were torn wider and wider by the Sword Intent. His body was already swaying unsteadily.

His aura, once far superior to Xu Yang’s, had now plummeted to the same level, perhaps even slightly weaker.

"Xu Yang, you can’t defeat me, and I can’t defeat you," Liu Qingyuan said. "Why don’t we stop here? Let’s call our grudges even, and from now on, we can go our separate ways. What do you say?"

In truth, his condition was far worse than what Xu Yang could see. It wasn’t just the problem of constant bleeding.

Sustaining his Martial Dao Imagery for so long had consumed most of his Heart Spirit. His head throbbed with a piercing, needle-like pain, as if it were about to split open, and he could barely maintain his focus.

Constantly channeling the Eight Ferocious Hidden Dragon Strength to amplify his combat power placed a terrifying strain on his physical body. If this continued much longer, his body might very well disintegrate.

"People like you trample on the weak and curry favor with the powerful, seeking revenge for the smallest slight," Xu Yang said, his gaze burning. "You want to kill me just because I didn’t save your nephew. If you don’t die today, I’ll never be able to rest easy."

’Unable to defeat him? If I were truly unable to defeat him, he wouldn’t be begging for a truce.’

In that instant, he understood. Liu Qingyuan was at the end of his rope.

’Even my body can barely withstand fighting this long while channeling the Eight Ferocious Hidden Dragon Strength. Liu Qingyuan’s condition can only be worse than mine.’

"I can ask the Sect Leader and the Master of Li Fire Peak to act as guarantors! I promise I won’t cause you any more trouble. We’re both members of the Purple Sun Sect. If we take each other out, it’s just a loss for the Sect! I haven’t even really hurt you, there’s no need for this to be a fight to the death!"

Liu Qingyuan said frantically, as another of Xu Yang’s saber strikes sent a fresh spray of blood from his body.

He wanted to escape.

But he understood that the moment he turned and exposed his back to Xu Yang, he would be met with a death blow from the Great Success Blood Prison Heart Blade Scripture.

"A fight to the death? You think far too highly of yourself!"

Xu Yang’s voice was glacial. Killing intent erupted in his eyes as the Blood Prison behind him began to surge. The sea of blood churned, and a tinge of crimson began to appear within the golden saber light.

BOOM!

An intangible Sword Intent erupted from his body. A blood-red saber shot into the sky, its sharp Sword Intent seeming to cleave the heavens and causing the Martial Dao Imagery behind Liu Qingyuan to distort.

"Blood Prison Breaker!" Liu Qingyuan’s face fell.

As an Elder of the Purple Sun Sect, he had studied the Blood Prison Heart Blade Scripture and was naturally familiar with it.

The Blood Prison Heart Blade Scripture was a Supreme Technique for cultivating the Heart Spirit and condensing Sword Intent. Strictly speaking, it had no actual techniques.

However, if one were to be precise, it did have a single Killing Move called "Blood Prison Breaker."

Blood Prison Breaker was the technique used to shatter one’s own Blood Prison upon reaching the Perfection stage of the Blood Prison Heart Blade Scripture. He had no idea what its true destructive power was, but he knew it was absolutely immense.

The golden saber light was now mixed with a crimson glow, and the Sword Intent, saturated with the aura of death, seemed powerful enough to split the heavens.

The Blood Prison thundered as towering waves of blood churned frantically behind Xu Yang.

Liu Qingyuan felt a terrifying pressure wash over him like a tide. In an instant, it felt as though he were trapped in a mire, unable to move, while his Martial Dao Imagery teetered on the brink of collapse.

A Blood Prison seemed to solidify from the void, trapping him within its confines.

"AHH!" Liu Qingyuan roared, knowing this was Xu Yang’s true Killing Move. He was at the precipice of life and death.

While desperately pushing his Martial Dao Imagery to its limit to fight back against the Blood Prison, his Gang Yuan erupted as he tried to break free from the terrifying pressure.

RUMBLE...

The two Martial Dao Imageries clashed, and the surging Power of Heaven and Earth pulverized everything in its path. The ground tore itself apart in a series of explosions, sending plumes of dust and smoke into the air.

Xu Yang’s killing intent raged, his bones thrumming as he poured every last ounce of his strength into the Jade Water Saber.

SWOOSH!

A light interwoven with gold and blood flashed. The saber light erupted, transforming into a piercing shriek.

This slash was unbelievably fast. It held only death and slaughter, filled with a sharp Sword Intent that could cut through anything, and it exploded like a burst of starlight.

Before the blade even arrived, the Sword Intent had already shredded the Martial Dao Imagery behind Liu Qingyuan, and his Protective Gang Yuan began to crack.

’This slash can kill me!’

"AHH!"

Facing certain death, terror seized Liu Qingyuan’s heart. He let out a great roar and frantically executed the Sun-Eroding Sword Technique.

But he was being suppressed by the Blood Prison Imagery. His Heart Spirit was unstable, his Gang Yuan had stagnated, and the power of his Sword Technique was a pale imitation of its usual might.

The saber light, a blur of interwoven gold and blood, was as fast as lightning, grazing past his Spiritual Soldier as it hacked down.

Liu Qingyuan’s soul nearly fled his body. He could only watch, paralyzed, as the razor-sharp saber light struck his Protective Gang Yuan and sliced through it as if it were tofu.

SQUELCH!

The razor-sharp saber light tore through his Protective Gang Yuan and cleaved into his mortal flesh with unstoppable momentum. The peerlessly sharp Sword Intent pulsed, and the body Liu Qingyuan had spent years tempering—a body that could withstand a blow from a Half-Spirit Weapon—was sliced apart without the slightest resistance.

A spray of blood erupted as scalding hot lifeblood gushed forth. Liu Qingyuan let out a bloodcurdling scream, his face a mask of horror and agony as he watched the saber light slice through his flesh, sever his spine, and cut him clean in two at the waist.

"Ahhh..."

A wretched scream echoed through the mountain wilds. Liu Qingyuan’s face was a canvas of pure terror. He felt the world spin as his torso rapidly separated from his legs, toppling to the ground and kicking up a cloud of dust.

"I can’t accept this..." An expression of utter disbelief crossed his face as he watched his own legs, now without a torso, also collapse to the ground.

He had never imagined he would die at the hands of Xu Yang—a disciple who had only joined the sect four years ago. Even less did he imagine that the person he had so casually stepped on just to curry favor with Li Chuyang would be the one to end his life.

HUFF!

Xu Yang let out a long, ragged breath. His body felt like it was on fire, and he was instantly drenched in sweat as a wave of profound soreness washed over him.

’Killing Liu Qingyuan was far more difficult than I’d imagined,’ he thought. ’But at least this great enemy is finally dealt with.’

Blood stained the ground red where Liu Qingyuan lay in two pieces. The tenacious Life Energy of a Celestial Essence Martial Artist meant he didn’t die immediately.

"Any last words?"

Xu Yang ambled over as the Blood Prison behind him slowly dissipated.

’Last words?’

Liu Qingyuan opened his mouth, but just as he was about to speak, Xu Yang’s foot came stomping down.

’This bastard! Toying with me even as I die!’

Liu Qingyuan’s eyes widened, but he could only watch as the foot came down on his forehead.

CRACK!

With the crisp sound of shattering bone, Liu Qingyuan’s head exploded like a watermelon, splashing a mixture of red and white everywhere.

Xu Yang bent down to search the body. There were some silver banknotes, but they had been shredded by his Sword Intent. He picked up Liu Qingyuan’s Spiritual Soldier and returned it to its sheath. After a quick scan of the battlefield to ensure he hadn’t left any clues to his identity, he put his human-skin mask back on, and his figure shot into the sky.

He did not return to the gorge.

Although he was tempted by the birthday gift intended for the leader of the Haisa Sect, it had probably already been taken away by Sun Tao’s group, and it would be difficult to find them now.

’If Sun Tao weren’t with them, I could have slaughtered everyone and taken the gift without a second thought,’ he mused. ’But since he’s there, I can’t possibly kill him.’

Along the way, he completely suppressed his aura, not leaking the slightest trace.

Although he had acted in secret and it was unlikely anyone would suspect him, he knew he had to be cautious. The Master of Beast King Peak, Lu Tianchen, was a formidable tracker, capable of finding even the hidden strongholds of the Demon Sect.

「A quarter of an hour later」

Xu Yang arrived at Cyan Yang City. He didn’t immediately return to the Purple Sun Sect. Instead, he first took a lap around the city, allowing his aura to blend in with the bustling crowds, before finally departing.

He didn’t bring Liu Qingyuan’s sword back to the Purple Sun Sect. Instead, he buried it outside the sect grounds. Only after taking care of every last detail that could possibly expose his identity did he nonchalantly stroll back into the Purple Sun Sect.

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