Splitting the Heave

Everyone barely had time to blink since Shang Xia entered the range of their divine perception. In a short amount of time, Feng Chenyi was killed, immediately changing the situation on the battlefield.  

Shang Xia predicted everything that would happen the moment he emerged. He anticipated how Feng Chenyi would react and took into account all possibilities before appearing. He was also extremely confident that Shang Pei’s actions perfectly complemented his actions. Throwing out his rank four talisman to hold Duan Liufeng back, Shang Xia circulated his explosive Four Constellation Qi to unleash the exquisite strike. 

Naturally, releasing such a powerful attack came at a price. Shang Xia’s divine perception and aura experienced wild fluctuations. He was comparable to a third layer Martial Extermination Realm expert when he released the strike earlier, but due to the expenditure, he couldn’t maintain his frightening strength.

Even so, his combat abilities remained in the realm of Martial Extermination Realm experts.

With the user of the Hexagonal Lantern dead, the fog started to close in. The advantage Yu Hanglong and Duan Liufeng had disappeared quickly.

Only after the death of Feng Chenyi did Duan Liufeng manage to finally nullify Shang Xia’s Golden Sun Inferno Talisman. After feeling Feng Chenyi’s aura fading away, Duan Liufeng discovered that he used up a lot of inner qi in order to stop Shang Xia’s talisman from injuring him severely. A feeling of light-headedness started to overwhelm him. He quickly understood that the situation had changed and they were royally fucked.

Earlier, they failed to take down the leader of the Youyan Stronghold despite fighting her three-on-one. Her backup arrived, and this didn’t seem to be ordinary backup. The expert who came to assist her displayed terrifying strength by killing one of them not too long after arriving. Now that Yu Hanglong and Duan Liufeng were left, they weren’t confident in their abilities to fight their two opponents.

The Taihang Swordsman, Yu Hanglong, also reached the same conclusion.

“Master Duan, we won’t be able to get what we want today. We’ll make our own retreat!” Yu Hanglong’s voice barely left his lips when he drew a horizontal line in the void before him. A frightening wave of sword qi tore through the dense fog to force Shang Pei back.

“Don’t let them escape!” Shang Pei roared. Going all out, she wanted to stop Yu Hanglong from running away even if it meant that she had to suffer a lot of injuries. 

“You crazy bitch!” Yu Hanglong cursed angrily, but facing her ferocious assault, he couldn’t turn to run. He could only continue to fight.

As the battle dragged on, Yu Hanglong felt the pressure on him increasing and he quickly changed his tune. “Master Duan, Hai Pei is going crazy! Please help me to get rid of her so we can break out of this damned ambush!” 

Despite his loud yell, Duan Liufeng’s reply never came. Yu Hanglong maintained the last bit of hope in his heart that his companion would help him out at the last second, but he couldn’t feel the slightest fluctuation of heaven and earth qi even after some time.

The master of the Jingxiu Peak, the respected Duan Liufeng, ran away!

As the fog around them rose and fell as the battle raged on. Shang Xia locked on to Yu Hanglong’s aura within the chaos and accurately sent a Celestial Disruption Spear into the mix. A multitude of spear lights surrounded Yu Hanglong, giving Shang Pei a chance to catch her breath.

At that moment, Shang Pei seemed to have lost control of her emotions from the death of Fourth Brother Zeng. When Shang Xia’s spear light appeared, she wasn’t appreciative at all. Instead, she snapped at him, “Why did you let Duan Liufeng get away?!” 

Noticing the strange energy fluctuation around Shang Pei, Shang Xia could tell that she was on the verge of experiencing cultivation deviation. He quickly sent a voice transmission to her with his divine perception. “Third Aunt, we’ll kill Yu Hanglong before dealing with Duan Liufeng!”

With a torrential wave of energy entering her mind along with Shang Xia’s divine perception voice transmission, her clarity soon returned.

That was one of Shang Xia’s secret techniques he learned after comprehending the Man and Heaven Synergy Chapter. He was able to attack his opponent’s mine directly, but it could also act as a life saving method. When he allowed Shang Pei to calm down earlier, he took away the threat of experiencing cultivation deviation.

After calming down, she realized that she was acting too hastily earlier. If they split up earlier, they might not be able to kill any one of them. 

Not to mention the fact that she was an arrow at the end of its flight. Even if she went all out and risked her life, she might not be Yu Hanglong’s opponent. It would be great if she managed to stay alive when fighting him alone.

Shang Xia wasn’t doing too well either. After his initial burst, he wasn’t able to display the same fighting strength in a short period of time. As such, it was a much better choice to work together to kill one of the two before hunting down the other.

Shang Xia didn’t make a random choice to kill Yu Hanglong instead of Duan Liufeng. He did so because he had no choice!

During the exchange earlier, he determined that Duan Liufeng was the weaker of the two. As such, Shang Xia wanted to rally Shang Pei to get the easy kill before moving on to Yu Hanglong. He didn’t expect Duan Liufeng to be such a decisive wuss. After hearing Yu Hanglong’s yell, he didn’t hesitate to flee.

Shang Xia couldn’t chase too far either. As he remained close to the battle between Shang Pei and Yu Hanglong, Duan Liufeng quickly left the range of his divine perception. Quickly making up his mind, Shang Xia returned to help Shang Pei.

With Shang Xia entering the battle, Shang Pei was finally able to catch her breath and calm down. He took the pressure away from the battle as she composed her rampaging extermination origin. While doing that, she quickly raised her vigilance towards her surroundings as she reminded Shang Xia softly, “Be careful! Duan Liufeng might return to catch us off guard.” 

A smile appeared on Shang Xia’s face as he fought. “Aunt Pei, relax. He really ran away.” 

Shang Xia didn’t say that blindly. Also, he didn’t wish to brag, but his divine perception could reach much further than Martial Extermination Realm experts of the same level. He would be able to detect a sneak attack if Duan Liufeng returned.

After he was done, he turned his attention back to Yu Hanglong and chuckled, “Brother Yu, do you think he’ll come back and save you?” 

Yu Hanglong’s expression was as ugly as could be. When he heard the mockery hidden in Shang Xia’s voice, he gnashed his teeth and growled, “I don’t care about that. I’m more interested in your identities!” 

Shang Xia snorted in contempt. He wouldn’t bother giving Yu Hanglong a proper reply as he continued to suppress the Taihang Swordsman with his exquisite spear art.

He hadn’t trained in any rank four martial arts, but the Shang Clan’s inheritance wasn’t to be trifled with. 

It was especially so when he unleashed his seventh, eighth, and ninth moves. When Shang Xia developed those moves, he was able to threaten a Martial Extermination Realm expert when he was merely at the peak of the Martial Intent Realm. Those moves could even be said to be comparable to ordinary rank four martial arts.

Along with his third martial intent, the Divine Killing Spear, Shang Xia’s combat prowess was no joke. Even though he could only fight with the strength of an early-stage Martial Extermination Realm expert, it was enough to hold his own against an experienced cultivator like Yu Hanglong. It was especially so when his third martial intent had the ability to target one’s divine perception directly. After he entered the Four Constellation Realm and deepened his understanding of his Man and Heaven Synergy Chapter, he started to get a feel for which direction he should start developing his rank four martial arts.

It also went without saying that the development of any technique required a platform of practice. Yu Hanglong couldn’t be a better candidate for Shang Xia’s whetstone.

The only thing Shang Xia wasn’t satisfied with was the strange feeling of incompatibility between his Four Constellation Qi, his spear, and the last three moves of his Nine Providence Spear.

Even though the might of the moves grew along with his cultivation level, Shang Xia felt a little uncomfortable when using them. The feeling was unlike the time he was in the Martial Intent Realm where his spear flowed according to his will.

He had a feeling his Four Constellation Qi wasn’t truly suited for using spear arts and that meant that it would be nearly impossible for him to walk the same path as his grandfather. Shang Bo created his technique after comprehending 7 moves of the Providence Spear Art, and Shang Xia comprehended 9. Even then, he might not be able to develop his rank four martial arts with his Nine Providence Spear as his foundation.

Yu Hanglong was no newbie cultivator. He had tens of years of experience roaming the Taihang Mountains and he could easily tell that Shang Xia wasn’t comfortable using his techniques.

The flames of hope rose in his heart as he tried to look for an opportunity to break through Shang Xia’s offensive. Unfortunately, it was much harder than he had thought as the youngster before him was much stronger than he expected.

It was especially so when the youngster grasped a way to attack his divine perception directly. Every time he tried to escape, his plans would be disrupted by a sudden blow to his divine perception.

Only after several failed attempts did Yu Hanglong realize what Shang Xia was doing. The blows to his divine perception seemed to grow stronger and stronger, and his opponent was obviously using him to train himself.

The moment his technique takes form… Shit! I can’t drag this out anymore.

Yu Hanglong knew that it was impossible for him to leave unscathed. In order to escape from the two Martial Extermination Realm experts before him, he would have to pay a heavy price.

With his mind made up, Yu Hanglong’s sword started to dance in mid air as the void started to shatter…

“Bear’s Sword!” 

The void shattered in a tyrannical manner as sword qi filled the air. A ray of sword qi that contained raw power sailed through the air. 

Shang Xia was naturally unfazed. He unleashed his Startling Moon Spear as the spatial fractures in the air became even more chaotic. After that, he sent a Piercing Sun Spear straight at the incoming sword. No matter what, he decided to break Yu Hanglong’s sword art before trying anything else.

Yu Hanglong didn’t stop there. After releasing his Bear’s Sword, he followed up with another move.

“Tiger’s Sword!” 

Another terrifying strand of sword qi emerged to greet Shang Xia’s Piercing Sun Spear. As they clashed in mid air, they quickly nullified each other.

Yu Hanglong acted the same way Shang Pei did earlier. He went all out in an attempt to look for a gap in Shang Xia’s offensive.

“He’s trying to escape!” Shang Pei saw through his intentions and yelled to remind Shang Xia. She might not have suppressed her internal injuries, but she leaped into action. She raised her spear and released a barrage of attacks in Yu Hanglong’s direction.

Obviously, Shang Xia understood that he couldn’t retreat even the slightest bit at that moment. His Scarlet Star Spear flashed through the air like an arc of lightning as he circulated his inner qi to its limit. A four colored extermination light appeared in the air and formed a giant spear phantom that shot at Yu Hanglong to stop him.

Shang Xia didn’t stop there. He slammed his divine perception into Yu Hanglong.

“Dragon’s Sword!” Yu Hanglong could feel danger closing in on him and he had no choice but to release the strongest of his moves. 

Like a giant dragon that swept through the lands, a sword qi that contained a terrifying might emerged from the tip of Yu Hanglong’s blade. He leaped into the air and rose into the skies while riding on the dragon-like sword qi.

The Cloud Water Gorge seemed to possess the ability to suppress flight, but it couldn’t do a thing to the sword qi that emerged.

With the assistance of his sword qi, Yu Hanglong managed to break through the encirclement.

“Hahaha!” As he shot through the air, Yu Hanglong imagined the helpless look in their eyes. He heaved a sigh of relief and roared with laughter, “Fellow cultivators, we’ll meet again! I won't forget what happened today and you better… What? Oh no! Argh!”

Before he could finish speaking, he felt as though someone had driven a burning spike into his sea of consciousness.

He managed to shake the feeling off eventually, and his figure trembled unsteadily in the air. Fortunately, he didn’t fall off his sword qi and his escape attempt wasn’t really affected.

When he finally cleared his mind, he was greeted with an unbelievable scene. Shang Xia rose into the air with the Scarlet Star Spear in his hand. A four colored extermination light surrounded him as his figure shot through the air to arrive in front of Yu Hanglong. He didn’t waste any time. The moment he arrived before Yu Hanglong, Shang Xia unleashed his third martial intent, the Divine Killing Spear!

Question marks filled Yu Hanglong’s mind.

How can he fly?!

How can he locate me so accurately a thousand feet away?!

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How… How did he overcome my Dragon’s Sword?!

Those questions remained in his mind as he fell slowly towards the ground below. Shang Xia’s sneer rang in his mind as he fell. “Dragon’s Sword? You just copied the geography of the Taihang Mountains when coming up with that move. No matter how majestic it might seem, the Taihang Mountains is limited by the Eight Passes at the end of the day.”