Chapter 695: Blood Rose Blossoming!
The two Great Horned Immortals who'd been guarding the DIvine Gateway were the sons of the Great Horned King himself, who now dreamt only of vengeance.
With a thunderous roar, he slammed into the Primordial Pagoda, setting it quivering with the force of his rage. Behind him, a torrent of Great Horned Immortals and assorted demons and devils surged like a flood toward Divine Dawn, pressing her back into the distance!
Clearly, the enemy’s tactic was to isolate these two young monsters and destroy them separately!
At the same time as Divine Dawn was swept away by the tide of demons and devils, Yun Xiao's situation was similarly dire. The Great Dao Celestial Army and Free Immortals that faced him made up more than 70% of the enemy force, proving even more challenging to combat.
The Penglai Sage was his primary adversary.
"I have to be careful of Lu Fan too. He doesn't care the slightest about the lives of his followers. He's surely lurking in the shadows, waiting for the perfect opportunity to deliver a fatal blow to me and Lil Xi!” Yun Xiao was cautious, yet undaunted.
BOOM! He and Divine Dawn were thrust into two swirling vortexes of combat, each filled with over 500 Immortal combatants. Particularly on Yun Xiao’s side, a barrage of distant attacks from Sword Souls and Life Sigils were relentless.
“Lil Xi's style is that of a Martial Immortal, simple and crude. She's more afraid of ranged attacks."
Yun Xiao’s techniques, however, were far more numerous. So, he was quite pleased with the enemy's primitive strategy.
“We've been skulking around and lying low in the Celestial Court for so long. Now that everything's come to a head, let’s fight with all our might!” Yun Xiao exclaimed as his eyes narrowed. His fused form a blur amid the crowd and howling wind, his murderous intent a wild storm.With a rip, the eyes of the Nian appeared beside his face, its nerves aligning with Yun Xiao’s, expanding his field of vision twofold and greatly enhancing his reactions.
WHOOSH! In his right hand, the Heaven Burial Sword Soul with its 30 Sword Prisons swept the air, its potent death energy condensing into an azure storm that revolved around the blade!
In Yun Xiao's left hand, the Prison Warden Sigil transformed into the Runic Umbrella. Its 32 Rune Prisons swirled into a violet vortex around the canopy.
A sword in one hand and an umbrella in the other, Yun Xiao walked through the cloud. His long hair billowed, blood mist swirling, his platinum white armor unstained by blood.
“Damn, he's so cool…” Gu Suwan, maneuvering her Azure Rain Sword Vessel from afar, gazed at the young man amid the myriad enemies, her eyes moistening.
“That girl…” Yue Yin glanced at the corpse beside her in a crystal coffin, still amid chaos.
Just moments before, she had watched Yun Xiao kiss the girl’s red lips, then drain her dry; the scene was so horrific that if not for Yun Xiao’s instructions to safeguard this corpse, they might have thought this damsel was slain by Yun Xiao!
“What in the world are they?” Gu Suwan’s voice trembled.
“I don’t know,” Yue Yin inhaled deeply. “My best guess is that the Seventh Princess is his true consort?”
Gu Suwan paused for a moment, then looked again at the man and woman in white, back to back, moving as if their minds were linked. She couldn't help but sigh. "This pair, they are truly a match made in heaven, perfectly matched in strength and temperament. They're so alike!"
Yue Yin glanced around in alarm and exclaimed, "Where's Pale Revenant?"
"She must be waiting below the battlefield for her cloud-born Immortal to prepare her meal," Gu Suwan said with a laugh.
"We're the only ones without any special qualities," Yue Yin said with a mixture of laughter and tears.
"But... facing the Chaos Sovereign, I'm still worried about them," Gu Suwan added.
"We can only watch!" Yue Yin clenched her fists, her eyes heavy with concern as she stared at the battlefield. Their breathing grew heavier.
In their view, the man and woman, two streaks of white, were deeply ensnared in the vortex of Lu Fan’s elites, constantly facing hundreds of deadly attacks!
Even Yue Yin would be vaporized instantly if she were caught in this assault!
But what they saw was the tiny figure of the Seventh Princess, possessing a strength mightier than Pale Revenant. She was more agile and ferocious, coupled with her mastery of both celestial and magic techniques, making her a formidable warrior in every aspect!
Under her command, the two massive Primordial Doom Stars moved as swiftly as lightning and as fiercely as meteors, shifting and flickering across the battlefield. Wherever they went, bodies exploded into blood and gore!
Demons and Great Horned Immortals, under the onslaught of these Primordial Doom Stars, were blown into pieces!
The Seventh Princess, like a white phantom, flitted through the crowds, untouchable in the short term, with the agility of a cat and the strength of a tiger!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! One after another, huge clouds of blood mist exploded, the scene gruesomely spectacular!
In contrast, Yun Xiao's battle was not as viscerally explosive and brutally simple; rather, it resembled an art form.
The young man in white, wielding the Runic Umbrella, walked as if he were entering a downpour. The raindrops, made of Flying Swords, Life Sigils, and magic treasures, either missed him as he casually sidestepped, or were blocked by his violet umbrella!
He truly seemed to dash through a torrential downpour without getting wet!
Yet, his swordplay was like that of a venomous snake—whether it was a Flying Sword or a Palm Sword, he struck seldom, but when he did, it claimed a life!
And each life was at least comparable to that of Cao Sheng!
PUFF! PUFF! PUFF! The youth wandered the bloody battlefield, his slender fingers plucking as if playing a harp. With a flick of his hand, a Flying Sword pierced through!
A Rank 2 Supreme General had not even seen Yun Xiao himself when a Flying Sword suddenly burst from the void, piercing through his mouth!
SLASH SLASH! SLASH! A flash of azure light swept over his body!
With a whoosh, the azure light flashed by, and for a moment, the Supreme General's body seemed unaffected. But in the blink of an eye, his body disintegrated, collapsing into exactly 9,999 pieces of flesh and bone, each piece carved with a face—Divine Dawn's delicate visage.
"This is for you. May it last a long time," Yun Xiao declared, sweeping up the pieces carved with faces and sending them flying towards Divine Dawn in the distance.
"Get lost," Divine Dawn retorted, shocked yet intolerant of such a morbid gift.
It was a detail only she could fully appreciate. To anyone else, it merely showed the young man's precise control with his Flying Sword!
Despite being in a life-and-death struggle, Yun Xiao seemed as casual as if he were merely strolling, and still he found time for flirtation?
The 500 assailants around them exploded in fury.
"This kid, his power spikes every time he blinks! What kind of world is this, where even the blink of an eye doesn't grant respite from obliteration?"
From the initial explosive encounter at the Divine Gateway, to the assassination attempt in the Thunder Department, and now a full military suppression… Ever since Lu Fan first encountered Yun Xiao, his attempts to eliminate this rival had been rapid and relentless.
Yet with every failure to suppress him, Yun Xiao surged in power!
The terror of Yun Xiao’s talent grew the more one understood, stirring deep fears even in veterans like the Penglai Sage. He was breathless from his first encounter, his respect for Lu Fan now transformed into a deep dread of this youth—a dread he would never admit.
"Move aside!" The Penglai Sage bellowed, forcefully clearing the obstructers in his path.
He had thought that numbers would wear Yun Xiao down, but all it did was leave them as mere fodder, their attacks as trivial as slicing through vegetables. They fought fiercely, yet not a single drop of blood stained the youth’s white clothing!
In contrast, Divine Dawn’s garment was soaked with blood, her figure stained crimson!
"Penglai Immortal Island, descend from the heavens!"
Above Yun Xiao, the Penglai Sage shouted, hurling his Divine Lai Life Sigil into the air. It transformed through magical incantations into a vast, mist-enshrouded celestial island, plummeting down to lock Yun Xiao beneath its oppressive weight!
At the same time, the Penglai Sage grasped his sword. The waves of the Heaven Peng Sword Soul surged, rolling up thousands of storms into a formidable sword stance. With every droplet heavy as steel, they bombarded Yun Xiao!
With the power of mountains and seas, the Penglai Sage had crushed countless foes to pulp over the years. Though aged, he remained one of the Celestial Court’s most lethal Immortals.
Now, with the celestial island bearing down and the sea swirling around him, Yun Xiao was forced to halt, trapped between these colliding forces of nature!
He could certainly feel the immense pressure descending from Penglai!
"Die!" The Penglai Sage, like a deep-sea leviathan, roared and shook the heavens and earth. He stared intensely at Yun Xiao, his eyes blazing with the fury of a storm, ready to crush the young man before him.
"A mere wild Immortal eking out survival in the wilderness, and you dare claim to be free?" Yun Xiao taunted.
As the sky seemed to collapse, Yun Xiao stood amidst the tempest, slightly raising an eyebrow, his look of disdain directed squarely at the Penglai Sage.
Suddenly, the young man laughed, his left arm revealing strands of silver tendons that transformed his arm and shoulder into a gleaming silver dragon.
With this arm, he propped up his Runic Umbrella, forcefully holding up against the descending Penglai Immortal Island!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Around Yun Xiao, the earth shattered and the seas and mountains churned wildly!
Yet there he stood, umbrella in hand, unmoved.
His frame was not imposing, but in that moment, he possessed the strength of a colossal beast, his physical power seemingly surpassing even that of Divine Dawn.
Such a scene stunned the Penglai Sage into disbelief. His heart quivered violently, tears streaming uncontrollably as he struggled to accept the existence of such a monstrous being.
At that moment, even the sword in his hand lost a third of its power, no longer possessing the unstoppable force of the Heaven Peng Sword Soul.
"My turn." Yun Xiao, holding the Runic Umbrella with one hand, extended just two fingers to pinch his azure Sword Soul.
SIZZLE! Strands of devilish blood wrapped around the azure Flying Sword, turning it colder, more lethal.
This Flying Sword instantly became the focal point of the battlefield.
"No!" The Penglai Sage, sensing a dreadful omen, cried out in horror and stumbled back.
"Emperor Fan, save me!" he screamed in agony.
In that instant, Yun Xiao casually flung the Flying Sword.
SIZZLE! The sword, crackling with azure and blood-red currents, with a phoenix and a dragon entwined around it, erupted in the sky. The deafening sound of thunderous explosions shook the heavens, and the surrounding space shattered violently. The fragments coalesced into countless blood-red roses, swirling towards the Penglai Sage!
BOOM! The Penglai Sage, seeing no escape, turned and slashed with his Heaven Peng Sword Soul. The sword cut through, sending a vast oceanic surge crashing against the Flying Sword!
"Heh." Yun Xiao chuckled coldly, flicking his wrist. The shattered space expanded tenfold, and a giant blood-red rose suddenly opened its gaping maw, swallowing the Penglai Sage in an instant!
BUZZ! The sword's light swept through, and the Penglai Sage vanished.
Only a delicate blood-red rose of flesh remained, swaying in the wind.
Yun Xiao laughed, then turned to the young girl in white, battling fiercely in the distance. "This rose, can it perhaps earn forgiveness?"