Splitting the Heave

The aura Zhu Ying radiated reached another level.

Shang Xia felt as though the weight of a mountain was pressing down on his shoulders as the space around him became slightly more viscous. He was no longer able to move about as easily as before.

For someone like Shang Xia who wasn’t foreign to Martial Intent Realm experts, he knew that he was currently locked on by a Martial Intent Realm’s divine sense!

It hadn’t been long since the battle in the stone chamber. Even though Zhu Ying was in the Martial Extremity Realm back then, he managed to enter the Martial Intent Realm after escaping from Shang Xia!

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Even though Shang Xia was taken aback, he didn’t feel excessively shocked by Zhu Ying’s improvement.

After all, Shang Xia managed to comprehend his Yin Yang Sword Formation! If he was able to do something like that, it wouldn’t come as a surprise that Zhu Ying could advance to the Martial Intent Realm.

The only thing Shang Xia had to admit was that Zhu Ying’s luck was indeed extraordinary.

After all, cultivators would have a higher success rate of entering the Martial Intent Realm if they comprehended their martial intent at the Martial Extremity Realm and entered the grand completion stage. Zhu Ying’s plan to comprehend his martial intent was thwarted by Shang Xia when he appeared in the stone chamber. Yet, Zhu Ying was able to step into the Martial Intent Realm smoothly.

It was the same when he entered the Martial Extremity Realm. He didn’t comprehend his martial intent in the Martial Realm, but he was still successful in breaking through to the Martial Extremity Realm. It seemed as though the Liu Clan gave him quite a bit of help.

That was probably the reason behind Zhu Ying’s decision to bring Mu Qingyu with him into the Coral Forest. He planned to use her as his cultivation furnace to comprehend his martial extremity intent, but his plot was shattered by the sudden appearance of Shang Xia.

Due to his failure to comprehend his martial intents before breaking through, his strength suffered somewhat of a great hit. Unlike Shang Xia who received a comprehensive increase in strength, Zhu Ying’s improvement was barely acceptable.

Of course, no one could deny that a Martial Intent Realm expert was a true powerhouse. His divine sense was frighteningly powerful.

Staring at Shang Xia’s fluctuating expression, Zhu Ying felt extremely proud in his heart. He couldn’t conceal the joy he felt and he sneered, “Are you afraid now? It’s too late! If you kneel and kowtow right now, I might be generous enough to leave you alive!” 

Shang Xia sighed softly while shaking his head.

Happiness blossomed in Zhu Ying’s heart as he felt that Shang Xia was finally accepting his fate. “Hah. I bet you regret everything you did! Kneel and repent! If you beg me hard enough, I’ll allow you to live!” 

Shang Xia raised an eyebrow and stared at the delusional man. “Hey, hey, hey, where did you get your confidence from? Do you really think that you’re stronger than me now that you entered the Martial Intent Realm? I haven't said a word and you’re running your mouth off. Hah. Did you forget what happened when you challenged me in the past?”

In the Tongyou Institution, Shang Xia managed to defeat Zhu Ying even though Zhu Ying was one realm ahead of him. Zhu Ying’s defeat in the battle had been his greatest humiliation. Not even Mu Qingyu’s breaking of their engagement came close to the shame he felt!

After the battle, Zhu Ying decisively entered the battlefield between the two worlds to look for his own opportunities. He even disdained traveling with the rest of the disciples.

His appearance allowed Liu Jitang to bring forward his plans of entering the Coral Forest. Liu Jitang’s desire for the Zhu Family Inheritance was clear for all to see. Zhu Ying’s appearance allowed him to accelerate his actions.

Everything would be alright if Shang Xia didn’t bring up the humiliating battle, but how could he allow Zhu Ying to blabber on as he wished? A flash of hatred crossed Zhu Ying’s eyes and he roared, “Since you wish to die, I’ll grant your wish!” 

A short blade appeared in Zhu Ying’s hand as soon as he spoke. It was the mid–grade weapon he wanted to use in the battle back at the institution.

As soon as his blade emerged, his divine sense started to gather around him. A large knife formed from heaven and earth qi gathered in the air above Shang Xia as it threatened to destroy the space around him.

“Do you really think that the same thing will happen again? Hah! The gap between cultivation levels will only increase as we grow stronger! The ability to use divine sense is a fundamental transformation for cultivators who reached the Martial Intent Realm! I can suppress anyone at a lower cultivation level! Hah! Now, you won’t be able to avoid my strike! Have a taste of a Martial Intent Realm expert’s divine sense!” Zhu Ying roared. Ever since entering the Martial Intent Realm, everything he did became faster, including speaking! In the short span of time it took the blade to fall, he managed to spout so much bullshit! 

The power of the strike wasn’t bad at all! It contained the power of fire and ice, and it was comparable to the Triple Strike Shang Xia experienced in the past!

With his divine sense to supplement his strike, it became even more powerful than a martial intent comprehended by ordinary Martial Extremity Realm experts!

Shang Xia was no fool. He wouldn’t take on an attack like that head-on! He wanted to use his Irregular Steps to avoid it.

However, Zhu Ying’s divine sense did a great job at restricting his movements. The blade in the air chopped accurately towards him.

“Go to hell!” Zhu Ying roared as he released all the pent-up anger he had in his heart. A sneer appeared on his face as he thought about how Shang Xia would die a horrible death. In fact, he seemed to have already seen Shang Xia’s mutilated corpse after his blade had fallen.

When his blade finally fell, Zhu Ying stared at Shang Xia with a trace of anticipation in his eyes. The person who had humiliated him was finally going to die! 

Oh, how wrong was he… The look of desperation he wanted to see on Shang Xia’s face was nowhere in sight. Instead, a look of ridicule was plastered on Shang Xia’s face.

“Is that it?” 

His voice rang indifferently in Zhu Ying’s mind as flames of rage rampaged in the depths of his heart.

“How dare he… How dare he act like this?! He should be begging me to let him live!” Zhu Ying’s face twisted in anger. However, a look of terror soon replaced it. 

His giant blade formed from heaven and earth qi seemed to be devoured by a massive ball of sword light.

Even after absorbing the giant blade, the ball of light didn’t seem contented. A ray of sword light emerged and dragged Zhu Ying into it.

“How is this possible…” Zhu Ying stammered.

When the sword light finally dissipated, an extra corpse could be seen under Shang Xia’s feet. Blood could be seen flowing out from the back of the corpse’s head.

“Nice. At least I didn’t turn him into mush this time…” Shang Xia heaved a sigh of relief.

The sound of clattering could be heard as Zhu Ying’s blade fell to the ground. It stabbed pretty deep and Shang Xia couldn’t help but sigh. “Hmm, this brat wasn’t wrong. It wasn’t easy for me to jump ranks and defeat him. The gap between higher cultivation realms gets larger indeed… When I was in the Martial Realm and he was at the Martial Extremity Realm, it took me one move to get rid of him. Now that I’m at the Martial Extremity Realm and he’s at the Martial Intent Realm, it took me a move and a half!”

Shang Xia casually stepped forward to pull the blade out from the ground.

“Rumble…” 

Even after getting his hands on a mid-grade weapon, not a shred of joy could be seen on Shang Xia’s face. Instead, he stared at the ground that had been sliced open by the blade intently.

He saw that the runes that had been part of a large formation had already been severed.

The moment he pulled the knife out earlier, the flow of heaven and earth qi in the surrounding changed. The tiny mountain that was hovering in mid air trembled violently.

A wisp of heaven and earth qi emerged from the formation, forming a spatial door. The instant it formed, a massive roar caused Shang Xia’s heart to shake.

Looking through it, Shang Xia saw a figure clad in black robes with a sunken face. That was Dongfang Daying of the Rose Party, and he spat out a mouthful of blood as a punch landed on him.

The rank five undead corpse that used to be the patriarch of the Zhu Family, Zhu Tong, was fighting the mighty Martial Extermination Realm cultivators!

On the other side, Shang Xia saw Ji Wenlong’s blade cutting down towards the freakish creature.

Every time his blade fell, a giant blade formed from heaven and earth qi would fall with it. It would increase in strength ever so often, and by the time Ji Wenlong’s blade reached its target, the power contained in the giant blade had already increased by four times!

Ji Wenlong wanted to make a decisive strike on the rank five corpse, but he didn’t expect it to injure Dongfang Daying so quickly!

Everything happened in the blink of an eye. By the time Dongfang Daying fell, Shang Xia could see that the rank five undead corpse was moving towards Ji Wenlong.

However, the figure of the undead corpse paused for a second. It ignored the blade falling towards it and it turned around to stare straight into Shang Xia’s eyes through the spatial door.

Ji Wenlong saw the bewildered expression on Shang Xia’s face too.

“Run!” That was the only word he could say before his voice was drowned out by a heaven-shaking roar from the undead corpse.

The rank five undead corpse’s withered arms reached towards Shang Xia. The distance between them seemed nonexistent as the undead corpse threatened to grab Shang Xia through the spatial gate.

Jumping in fright, Shang Xia realized that he had no idea what to do! 

He wasn’t affected by divine sense, and he wasn’t suppressed by any sort of aura. However, he felt as though the world was collapsing before him. Shang Xia’s body froze as he stared at the arm reaching towards him.

His awe-inspiring behavior when he killed Zhu Ying earlier was nowhere to be seen!

Just as he was about to close his eyes and wait for death, Ji Wenlong’s blade struck the undead corpse’s back.

Rumble…

Shang Xia didn’t know how much damage Ji Wenlong’s strike would do to the undead corpse, but he noticed that the arm had paused for one second. He seemed to regain some sort of ability to move and a ray of divine light flashed through his mind.

Shang Xia released the blade in his hand and it stabbed into the ground below.

“Buzz…”

The space around him started to shift again as the heaven and earth qi returned to their original flow.

The spatial door disappeared immediately, and the killing intent Shang Xia felt dissipated. The only disturbance left was the ripples in space created by the rank five undead corpse when it reached towards Shang Xia earlier.

Shang Xia fell butt-first into the ground, and he gasped for breath. His clothes were completely drenched with his perspiration, and he forced himself to raise his head to look at the tiny mountain hovering in mid air. Now that the blade had returned to the ground, it seemed as though everything had returned to normal.