"Who is it, playing hide and seek?"
The grey-haired old man's face changed. His surprise didn't come from the hand's might. The move just now was merely a casual strike of him. What truly made him apprehensive was the counterpart's amazing concealing ability. He was completely unable to detect the latter's presence. He spread out his soul power, and eventually sensed a ripple ten li away.
Rustle!
The slender water screen crumbled down. This water screen was colorless and incorporeal, almost purely molded out of the void. If one were to look with naked eyes, it would seem like there was nothing in that spot. Even the spirit power would be absorbed by the water screen, and one wouldn't be able to detect any fluctuations. Only if one were to release soul power to their utmost limits would they be able to sense something. How could the grey-haired old man have known that the expert behind Ye Chen would have such a frightening concealing ability? He never cared about the latter that much in the first place.
As the water screen crumbled, a dignified woman who appeared to be in her thirties appeared in the vision of Ye Chen and grey-haired old man.
"Sect Master Long."
Ye Chen felt relieved. Three years earlier, he had guessed that the owner of sky covering hand was Rudra Sect's sect leader, Long Biyi. His guess was correct after all.
Long Biyi threw a suspicious glance towards Ye Chen. For some reason, she was confident that the grey-haired old man had not discovered her presence at all. Instead, Ye Chen seemed to be aware. Could it be her misconception? After all, regardless of how strong an Astral Reaching expert happened to be, they couldn't have enough accomplishments in soul power to be able to see through her movements.
'Perhaps I'm overthinking it.'
Long Biyi dispelled the doubt in her mind.
However, she ended up miscalculating this time. Ye Chen had really sensed her fluctuations. If not for that aura which was not one bit different from the hand covering sky that time, he wouldn't have ignored the grey-haired old man's warning and killed the three of them.
'The grey-haired old man had not sensed her presence. His soul power is evidently below mine. Seems like I have underestimated the strength of my soul.'
Soul was the fundamental essence of an individual. It was something difficult to get a grasp of. Ye Chen knew that his soul wasn't inferior to Sea of Soul realm experts, but as to what degree, he had no idea. After comparing himself with the grey-haired old man, Ye Chen discovered that his superiority was even more than he had imagined.
"Who are you?"
The old man had never seen Long Biyi before, so his gaze narrowed.
The latter said in an indifferent tone, "You don't need to know of my identity. You may leave now. Go back to where you came from."
"Hmph! I don't really care who you care. This kid killed three elders of my Floating Mountain. Even death wouldn't atone for his crime. You're playing with fire here." As the supreme elder of Floating Mountain Sect, the grey-haired old man ruled over millions. If he were to be scared by Long Biyi's line, he would be seen as a joke.
"Let the slaughter within Astral Reaching realm be dealt by those in Astral Reaching realm. You and I are at the Sea of Soul realm. Meddling in the affairs of Astral Reaching realm is inappropriate. If you continue to meddle, I'll be forced to chase you away."
Although Long Biyi was a woman, her aura was boundless like a sea. Her calmness carried a trace of exceptional dominance.
"Chase me away? I'm afraid you don't have the qualifications to do that. I've been itching to test the might of my Pulse Crack. How nice of you to come for me."
The old man laughed heartily. The sound of his laughter rang like muffled thunder, heavily shaking the nearby barren hills. Without ceasing his laughter, the old man raised his hand and struck in the direction of Ye Chen, "Today, nobody will be able to save you, not even she. Accept your death!"
He intended to exchange blows with Long Biyi, but only after killing Ye Chen.
Rumble!
A greenish black Qi cloud suddenly appeared before Ye Chen. It formed into a huge millstone disc, which rolled towards Ye Chen at a lightning fast speed.
"Since you insist on being stubborn, there is no point in wasting words."
Long Biyi crushed the disc with a pat of her hands. At the same time, a soft force acted on Ye Chen's body, pushing him ten li away.
"Courting death!"
The old man bellowed. His long hair flew upwards and his two arms flailed as dense, white-colored wind blades condensed one after another, floating ten meters away from his body. These winds blades were not ordinary. If carefully inspected, one would see numerous slender wind blades circulating within. In other words, one wind blade was made up of several smaller wind blades. It was already beyond the scope of wind mentality, and only wind profound sense would be able to arouse such wind blades and raise their might to a much more frightening level.
"Wind Blade Wave, go!"
With his roar, the wind blades shot out simultaneously. The distance of several li seemed nothing as they moved.
Ye Chen exclaimed in wonder. Wherever the wind blades passed, densely-packed vacuum cracks opened in the void like tears in a piece of cloth. Even more terrifyingly, the space surrounding the wind blades distorted, as if it couldn't endure the piercing.
To warp the space itself, what kind of astonishing destructive power was this?
"Five Caltrop Rattans!"
Long Biyi's face remained unchanged. As she slowly extended her left arm, the water waved and surged before combining into a pyramid at an unimaginable speed, safeguarding Long Biyi inside. It was facing horizontally with sharp edge pointing towards the wind blades.
Blob Blob….
The wind blades didn't bounce off when they struck the transparent pyramid; instead, they sank inside it. Their speed plummeted by ninety percent, rendering them incapable of exhibiting their original might.
The ricocheted wind blades fell on the island with half their original power, causing the entire island to tremble, and opening ditches of unseen depths in the ground. As these ditches extended, the island seemed to be nearing its collapse, and lake water gradually started pouring in.
"What a powerful low grade defensive profound! It actually obstructed my Wind Blade Wave."
Even though the grey-haired old man hated Long Biyi to the core, he had to admit that the defensive low grade profound martial skill she used was extremely powerful. Wind Blade Wave was not a technique he had created himself. It was created by a senior of the Floating Mountain Sect. It was an offensive low grade profound martial skill that made use of tiny wind blades circulating inside wind blades to amplify its destructive power to frightening levels.
"You should face my move, Soaring Cloud Dragon Hand."
Supporting the Five Caltrop Rattans with her left hand, she rotated her right hand into a circle. The water quaked and rippled as a huge, mountain-sized hand pressed on the old man. The hand was too vast, covering the sun and shrouding the sky. Even the hand lines on the palm were clearly visible.
"Face your move? No problem."
The old man was completely confident. His whole body shook as his Zhen Yuan spread out and formed a vague shadow image of some sculpture. Its clear structure was formed seamlessly and without a gap. Furthermore, it shone with a greenish black radiance like a crystal.
"This Crystal Protector of mine is one of the three defensive profound skills of the Rock King. Although its grade is low, its defense is not what you can normally see. Back in the day, Rock King's reputation among ordinary Life and Death Kings was precisely based on his powerful defense."
With his defensive profound skill, the old man didn't fear for a second that Long Biyi would be able to break through his defense. Once the latter showed an opening, it would be his time to counterattack.
Fierce gales arose as the enormous hand struck on the shadow image. A ginormous ripple spread out, covering dozens of li. The lake water rose to more than a thousand meters like a huge wok with the island lying at its base.
As for Ye Chen, who stood behind Long Biyi, he even felt himself getting unsteady and about to be blown backward. Obviously, the repercussions of the battle between these two were too frightening.
Kacha!
Suddenly, a crack appeared on the sculpture's shadow image and gradually extended throughout.
"Impossible! How is Crystal Protector not able to endure a single strike from her?" The old man roared and retreated. The enormous hand chased him out for dozens of li before losing its power and abruptly dispersing away.
"Very well, you have the qualifications to make me use Pulse Crack. Regardless of how powerful your defense is, it will be broken once I use this move."
With his face ashen, the old man let out a long hiss. His Zhen Yuan, like an erupting volcano, frantically poured into his right arm. His withered right arm rapidly swelled like an air balloon and turned as thick as a matured person's waist. His clothes instantly burst open, exploding into pieces.
"Pulse Crack!"
Issuing a pulse strike packed with a frightening might, the old man's body retreated three steps from the impact. A circular crease appeared in the space ahead, propagating further rapidly and becoming increasingly quicker and stronger. In the rear, the crease appeared as a stripe that could burst at any moment.
'Hmph! Pulse Crack is my own creation and cannot be more compatible with me. Wind Blade Wave and Crystal Protector are, after all, skills created by others. I can't use them to their limit. Only the technique created by oneself can be the most appropriate for one. Let's test how powerful it is.' The old man thought.
Standing before the incoming attack, Long Biyi's brows creased faintly. She had sensed the frightening might it contained. Distance didn't pose any hindrance to it, and rather, it allowed its might to superimpose. If it ran into an external force, it would burst crazily. The Five Caltrop Rattans wouldn't be able to endure it.
As she had expected, the Five Caltrop Rattans immediately crumbled as soon as they made contact with the energy of Pulse Crack, and the exploded water directly went ten thousand meters high in the air. She herself retreated for more than ten steps before finally dissolving the impact.
"This move is good indeed. A pity that it can't supplement for the distance between you and me… Reverse Chop! "
Without a trace of panic on her face, she straightened her palm like a blade and chopped at the extremely condensed energy of Pulse crack.
Creak!
As soon as the blade energy made contact with Pulse Crack, the latter was directly cleaved into two, and the water screen-shaped blade energy swiftly chopped the old man's body.
Puff!
The old man spurted out a mouthful of blood upwards. The shadow image outside his body completely crumbled as he flew back for dozens of li.
"It's over!"
Watching this scene, Ye Chen had realized that the old man and Long Biyi were at completely different levels. There wasn't much suspense remaining. It was hard to imagine that the sect leader of the seemingly ordinary Rudra Sect was an almighty Sea of Soul realm expert. She was an existence that stood at the same level as the four great sect leaders, including the sect leader of Floating Cloud Sect. It seemed ironical.
"I'll remember this palm. Someday, I'll certainly visit to return the favor "
The old man no longer dared to engage with Long Biyi, so he left behind a threat before shooting off into the distance. In a few flickers, he was already dozens of li away.
Long Biyi's voice propagated out, "You don't need to visit me. I'll make a trip to Floating Mountain Sect soon myself. You can tell that to Sikong Ba for me."
Indistinctly, Ye Chen seemed to have seen the old man's figure stumble slightly.
"Who is it, playing hide and seek?"
The grey-haired old man's face changed. His surprise didn't come from the hand's might. The move just now was merely a casual strike of him. What truly made him apprehensive was the counterpart's amazing concealing ability. He was completely unable to detect the latter's presence. He spread out his soul power, and eventually sensed a ripple ten li away.
Rustle!
The slender water screen crumbled down. This water screen was colorless and incorporeal, almost purely molded out of the void. If one were to look with naked eyes, it would seem like there was nothing in that spot. Even the spirit power would be absorbed by the water screen, and one wouldn't be able to detect any fluctuations. Only if one were to release soul power to their utmost limits would they be able to sense something. How could the grey-haired old man have known that the expert behind Ye Chen would have such a frightening concealing ability? He never cared about the latter that much in the first place.
As the water screen crumbled, a dignified woman who appeared to be in her thirties appeared in the vision of Ye Chen and grey-haired old man.
"Sect Master Long."
Ye Chen felt relieved. Three years earlier, he had guessed that the owner of sky covering hand was Rudra Sect's sect leader, Long Biyi. His guess was correct after all.
Long Biyi threw a suspicious glance towards Ye Chen. For some reason, she was confident that the grey-haired old man had not discovered her presence at all. Instead, Ye Chen seemed to be aware. Could it be her misconception? After all, regardless of how strong an Astral Reaching expert happened to be, they couldn't have enough accomplishments in soul power to be able to see through her movements.
'Perhaps I'm overthinking it.'
Long Biyi dispelled the doubt in her mind.
However, she ended up miscalculating this time. Ye Chen had really sensed her fluctuations. If not for that aura which was not one bit different from the hand covering sky that time, he wouldn't have ignored the grey-haired old man's warning and killed the three of them.
'The grey-haired old man had not sensed her presence. His soul power is evidently below mine. Seems like I have underestimated the strength of my soul.'
Soul was the fundamental essence of an individual. It was something difficult to get a grasp of. Ye Chen knew that his soul wasn't inferior to Sea of Soul realm experts, but as to what degree, he had no idea. After comparing himself with the grey-haired old man, Ye Chen discovered that his superiority was even more than he had imagined.
"Who are you?"
The old man had never seen Long Biyi before, so his gaze narrowed.
The latter said in an indifferent tone, "You don't need to know of my identity. You may leave now. Go back to where you came from."
"Hmph! I don't really care who you care. This kid killed three elders of my Floating Mountain. Even death wouldn't atone for his crime. You're playing with fire here." As the supreme elder of Floating Mountain Sect, the grey-haired old man ruled over millions. If he were to be scared by Long Biyi's line, he would be seen as a joke.
"Let the slaughter within Astral Reaching realm be dealt by those in Astral Reaching realm. You and I are at the Sea of Soul realm. Meddling in the affairs of Astral Reaching realm is inappropriate. If you continue to meddle, I'll be forced to chase you away."
Although Long Biyi was a woman, her aura was boundless like a sea. Her calmness carried a trace of exceptional dominance.
"Chase me away? I'm afraid you don't have the qualifications to do that. I've been itching to test the might of my Pulse Crack. How nice of you to come for me."
The old man laughed heartily. The sound of his laughter rang like muffled thunder, heavily shaking the nearby barren hills. Without ceasing his laughter, the old man raised his hand and struck in the direction of Ye Chen, "Today, nobody will be able to save you, not even she. Accept your death!"
He intended to exchange blows with Long Biyi, but only after killing Ye Chen.
Rumble!
A greenish black Qi cloud suddenly appeared before Ye Chen. It formed into a huge millstone disc, which rolled towards Ye Chen at a lightning fast speed.
"Since you insist on being stubborn, there is no point in wasting words."
Long Biyi crushed the disc with a pat of her hands. At the same time, a soft force acted on Ye Chen's body, pushing him ten li away.
"Courting death!"
The old man bellowed. His long hair flew upwards and his two arms flailed as dense, white-colored wind blades condensed one after another, floating ten meters away from his body. These winds blades were not ordinary. If carefully inspected, one would see numerous slender wind blades circulating within. In other words, one wind blade was made up of several smaller wind blades. It was already beyond the scope of wind mentality, and only wind profound sense would be able to arouse such wind blades and raise their might to a much more frightening level.
"Wind Blade Wave, go!"
With his roar, the wind blades shot out simultaneously. The distance of several li seemed nothing as they moved.
Ye Chen exclaimed in wonder. Wherever the wind blades passed, densely-packed vacuum cracks opened in the void like tears in a piece of cloth. Even more terrifyingly, the space surrounding the wind blades distorted, as if it couldn't endure the piercing.
To warp the space itself, what kind of astonishing destructive power was this?
"Five Caltrop Rattans!"
Long Biyi's face remained unchanged. As she slowly extended her left arm, the water waved and surged before combining into a pyramid at an unimaginable speed, safeguarding Long Biyi inside. It was facing horizontally with sharp edge pointing towards the wind blades.
Blob Blob….
The wind blades didn't bounce off when they struck the transparent pyramid; instead, they sank inside it. Their speed plummeted by ninety percent, rendering them incapable of exhibiting their original might.
The ricocheted wind blades fell on the island with half their original power, causing the entire island to tremble, and opening ditches of unseen depths in the ground. As these ditches extended, the island seemed to be nearing its collapse, and lake water gradually started pouring in.
"What a powerful low grade defensive profound! It actually obstructed my Wind Blade Wave."
Even though the grey-haired old man hated Long Biyi to the core, he had to admit that the defensive low grade profound martial skill she used was extremely powerful. Wind Blade Wave was not a technique he had created himself. It was created by a senior of the Floating Mountain Sect. It was an offensive low grade profound martial skill that made use of tiny wind blades circulating inside wind blades to amplify its destructive power to frightening levels.
"You should face my move, Soaring Cloud Dragon Hand."
Supporting the Five Caltrop Rattans with her left hand, she rotated her right hand into a circle. The water quaked and rippled as a huge, mountain-sized hand pressed on the old man. The hand was too vast, covering the sun and shrouding the sky. Even the hand lines on the palm were clearly visible.
"Face your move? No problem."
The old man was completely confident. His whole body shook as his Zhen Yuan spread out and formed a vague shadow image of some sculpture. Its clear structure was formed seamlessly and without a gap. Furthermore, it shone with a greenish black radiance like a crystal.
"This Crystal Protector of mine is one of the three defensive profound skills of the Rock King. Although its grade is low, its defense is not what you can normally see. Back in the day, Rock King's reputation among ordinary Life and Death Kings was precisely based on his powerful defense."
With his defensive profound skill, the old man didn't fear for a second that Long Biyi would be able to break through his defense. Once the latter showed an opening, it would be his time to counterattack.
Fierce gales arose as the enormous hand struck on the shadow image. A ginormous ripple spread out, covering dozens of li. The lake water rose to more than a thousand meters like a huge wok with the island lying at its base.
As for Ye Chen, who stood behind Long Biyi, he even felt himself getting unsteady and about to be blown backward. Obviously, the repercussions of the battle between these two were too frightening.
Kacha!
Suddenly, a crack appeared on the sculpture's shadow image and gradually extended throughout.
"Impossible! How is Crystal Protector not able to endure a single strike from her?" The old man roared and retreated. The enormous hand chased him out for dozens of li before losing its power and abruptly dispersing away.
"Very well, you have the qualifications to make me use Pulse Crack. Regardless of how powerful your defense is, it will be broken once I use this move."
With his face ashen, the old man let out a long hiss. His Zhen Yuan, like an erupting volcano, frantically poured into his right arm. His withered right arm rapidly swelled like an air balloon and turned as thick as a matured person's waist. His clothes instantly burst open, exploding into pieces.
"Pulse Crack!"
Issuing a pulse strike packed with a frightening might, the old man's body retreated three steps from the impact. A circular crease appeared in the space ahead, propagating further rapidly and becoming increasingly quicker and stronger. In the rear, the crease appeared as a stripe that could burst at any moment.
'Hmph! Pulse Crack is my own creation and cannot be more compatible with me. Wind Blade Wave and Crystal Protector are, after all, skills created by others. I can't use them to their limit. Only the technique created by oneself can be the most appropriate for one. Let's test how powerful it is.' The old man thought.
Standing before the incoming attack, Long Biyi's brows creased faintly. She had sensed the frightening might it contained. Distance didn't pose any hindrance to it, and rather, it allowed its might to superimpose. If it ran into an external force, it would burst crazily. The Five Caltrop Rattans wouldn't be able to endure it.
As she had expected, the Five Caltrop Rattans immediately crumbled as soon as they made contact with the energy of Pulse Crack, and the exploded water directly went ten thousand meters high in the air. She herself retreated for more than ten steps before finally dissolving the impact.
"This move is good indeed. A pity that it can't supplement for the distance between you and me… Reverse Chop! "
Without a trace of panic on her face, she straightened her palm like a blade and chopped at the extremely condensed energy of Pulse crack.
Creak!
As soon as the blade energy made contact with Pulse Crack, the latter was directly cleaved into two, and the water screen-shaped blade energy swiftly chopped the old man's body.
Puff!
The old man spurted out a mouthful of blood upwards. The shadow image outside his body completely crumbled as he flew back for dozens of li.
"It's over!"
Watching this scene, Ye Chen had realized that the old man and Long Biyi were at completely different levels. There wasn't much suspense remaining. It was hard to imagine that the sect leader of the seemingly ordinary Rudra Sect was an almighty Sea of Soul realm expert. She was an existence that stood at the same level as the four great sect leaders, including the sect leader of Floating Cloud Sect. It seemed ironical.
"I'll remember this palm. Someday, I'll certainly visit to return the favor "
The old man no longer dared to engage with Long Biyi, so he left behind a threat before shooting off into the distance. In a few flickers, he was already dozens of li away.
Long Biyi's voice propagated out, "You don't need to visit me. I'll make a trip to Floating Mountain Sect soon myself. You can tell that to Sikong Ba for me."
Indistinctly, Ye Chen seemed to have seen the old man's figure stumble slightly.
