Boom!
Shockwave spread all over the sky as if a bomb just went off on the spot. Someone was seen zipping past was none other than Luo Ying.
The crone did not even bother covering for Luo Ying when she was busy fighting against Lu Xuan.
However, it was not that she did not want to cover for the younger woman, but that the terrifying burst of power from her own power item meant that she had to put all of her focus into defense, which in turn meant that she had no time nor energy to cover for Luo Ying.
Luo Ying dropped from the sky and kept emanating burst of Spiritual Qi to cushion her fall.
A burst of sword aura rained from the sky just as she was about to hit the ground, blasting her squarely like a bolt of lightning.
Pfftt!
That blast of sword aura punched through her chest, rupturing all over her internal organs in an instant.
“How is this possible?”
Luo Ying’s eyes were filled with utter shock. Lu Xuan sent that blast of sword aura at her by only pointing his finger while he was still airborne, and that blast of sword aura was more than enough to take her life.
That move was hardly more difficult than simply stomping down on an ant.
Her powers were still far too inferior when compared to that of Lu Xuan.
Luo Ying knew right there and then that she had miscalculated. She knew that Lu Xuan hated her to the guts, but she never expected her enmity to reach such an extent. The crone had only shown a very slight opening.
Yet, that opening was more than enough for Lu Xuan to kill her.
“Aarrrgghhh!!” The crone roared in rage. She did not actually care whether Luo Ying lived or died. However, what Lu Xuan did was tantamount of slapping her right across the face, and that was an insult she was unable to stomach.
Her fury within burst right there and then.
That huge snake in the sky conjured a terrifying gust of shockwave, launching itself straight at Lu Xuan.
Lu Xuan did not even bother looking at the dead Luo Ying. She had managed to escape all the time in the past due to her being too cautious, so much so that she never actually showed herself whenever she schemed against him.
While he had no idea what made her change her mind, Lu Xuan nonetheless saw her appearance to be a chance that he was unable to afford to miss.
Lu Xuan felt the weight on his shoulders being lifted off after he killed that woman that he saw to be a vile, scheming b**ch. He then looked at the huge snake being launched at him and again pointed his finger, bringing out blasts of sword aura so tight, that a tightly woven web of sword aura was seen in the sky.
That huge snake that materialized from that snakehead staff was actually unable to close in on him, acting as if it was completely blocked off by that huge web.
That crone then chanted her words as she continued to grow the size of that huge snake, which then continued to breathe frighteningly toxic gases. The gas was then molded into poison arrows, which were sent flying at Lu Xuan’s vital parts.
Lu Xuan, on the other hand, made his defense completely airtight by just manipulating his sword aura.
Among those present was Watanabe Kenjiro, a master of Kendo, and he was completely dazed with the move pulled by Lu Xuan.
The likes of him had been pursuing and honing their art of the sword, and they had yet to see swordplay that was so intricate and extravagant.
The blasts of sword aura from Lu Xuan’s finger looked like a complete mess at first glance, as if he was throwing blasts after blasts without any thought. However, any master of the sword would have been able to tell that the moves were at the cutting edge of mastery of the sword.
It was only at Lu Xuan’s level that one could truly be called a grandmaster among grandmasters, where simple, casual moves could trump over elaborate techniques.
All manner of unreal, fantastical sword techniques were being showcased, and there was simply no predicting the patterns of which they were brought about.
Those with keen enough eyes were even able to tell that what Lu Xuan pulled actually contained techniques from no less than ten top-notch arts of swordsmanship.
Those moves and the arts themselves, were originally very different from one another, so much so that some could even be considered complete opposites, actually melded unnervingly well when Lu Xuan pulled them.
The merging of moves was so harmonic that there was not a tinge of anything being out of place.
That was what made them all so bespectacled and dazed. Lu Xuan’s level at the art of the sword had clearly surpassed the level of mere techniques. In contrast, despite being masters, those who watching from below still had the key of their mastery based around techniques.
They saw just how Lu Xuan was able to fend off and even repel that huge snake, just by bringing about moves that looked messy and awkward almost entirely.
“We’ll know who’s going to win soon enough.”
Zhang Fashan, the old Celestial Master from Longhu Mountain, commented all of a sudden, just when the masters of the sword continued to be dazzled by the moves, and the rest of the spectators still looked extremely tense.
“Aren’t they evenly matched?” Zhang Ao, who was standing by Zhang Fashan’s side, asked right away after hearing what his master said.
Those around them turned their gaze to the two right away, being puzzled as to why Zhang Fashan said what he said.
“Just look at the body of that snake,” Zhang Fashan said as he pointed at the huge snake in the sky, which was wriggling about like a dragon.
Those of keen eyes quickly discovered that the snake was actually riddled with all manner of gashes all over it.
Any blast of sword aura from Lu Xuan was able to leave a huge injury on the snake itself.
While the web of the sword blasts from him earlier did not look like it was doing much against the snake, the moves were actually doing severe damage to it.
A lot of them gasped in fright. That huge snake was not a true creature of flesh and blood. It was simply a construct materializing from a power item, and that fact itself was a testament to its physical resilience.
Yet, such a frightening piece of artifact actually ended up being so severely damaged all over.
The spectators then saw, unsurprisingly, that the snake kept being pushed back. Despite all that tremendous pressure and might emanating from it, it was still unable to defend itself against the web of swords from Lu Xuan.
The crone was being continuously pushed back as well. She was actually being pounded on in the air, by attacks that Lu Xuan was throwing so casually and without thought.
Boom!
A rumble was heard before long as the spectators saw the snake explode in the air, then fizzling all over the place as tiny chunks of metal.
All of them were able to see that it was a snake-shaped spirit that resided within that staff, at the very instant that it exploded.
Even the spirit residing within was unable to escape in that instant, being reduced to nothing with a single swing of the sword.
Pfft!
The crone spewed blood from afar. That snakehead staff was anchored to her lifeforce itself. It was a power item she forged personally using a spirit she crafted out of a snake type beast that she hunted down ages ago.
Her status and powers were such that she hardly ever needed to use the staff in the first place, running over whoever she fought against with ease when she actually brought it out.
What happened before was something that she never saw coming. One could only imagine just how great of a loss she suffered, when that snakehead staff exploded.
“So that’s all you got, eh?”
Lu Xuan looked at the crone and added, “So, that was all Yan Han taught you then? Gosh, that’s quite a disappointment, I must say.”
A tinge of shock was seen on that crone’s face, feeling rather surprised that Lu Xuan actually knew that the young master that she served, was none other than Yan Han.
It became obvious that Lu Xuan went out of his way to learn about the Taichu Path before.
It was rather absurd to see instead, that they of the Taichu Path, had seen Lu Xuan to be little more than an insect and never bothered to find out more about him. They simply thought that when the world permitted the likes of them to advent in the future, their powers would have definitely made them nigh-invincible.
None of them actually expected that a dragon actually managed to emerge from shallow waters throughout the ages.
“You insolent brat. You dare to insult my young master! I shall have to pay for your sins with your blood!”
The crone shouted.
