Chapter 705: Unparalleled
After the blood froze, all the baleful aura infused into the sword Qi without any of it leaking. When that sword chopped down, the poisonous gas floating in the air turned into a white mist and scattered.
The scarlet sword light looked dazzling in the white mist, giving off an eerie feeling.
Indeed, as a loose cultivator, this middle-stage Superior Grade Martial Monarch had his own trump cards. This person was rather capable, taking an alternative approach and managing to raise the might of this attack from that of an Earth Ranked Martial Technique to the level of a Heaven Ranked Martial Technique.
However, this attack was ultimately an Earth Ranked Martial Technique. Compared to a true Heaven Ranked Martial Technique, it was still inferior.
Hidden Dragon in the Depths, Soaring Dragon!
“Bang!” An intense explosion rang out, and the murky water split open to reveal a pitch-black crack. Xiao Chen turned into a True Dragon and merged with his saber, looking like a True Dragon taking to the skies.
Auspicious-looking clouds appeared in the sky, and a boundless aura erupted out. Xiao Chen felt his body fill with the power of a True Dragon, and he naturally soared.
The True Dragon roared, and the scarlet sword light of the black-robed loose cultivator suddenly shattered, turning into spots of scarlet light and scattering. “Ka ca!”
“Bang! Bang! Bang!” The scarlet lights landed on the swamp and blasted out deep pits. Murky water and mud shot up into the air.
“Die!”
The aura of the True Dragon had not ended yet. When Xiao Chen chopped with his saber, he was like a True Dragon swinging its claw in rage. The strike was unparalleled and unblockable.
The black-robed loose cultivator’s Quintessence shield broke, and blood flew everywhere as he got chopped in half.
Xiao Chen sheathed his saber and stood upright. Then, he checked his Quintessence and found that only slightly more than a third remained.
“Soaring Dragon…indeed, it is flying up to the skies in one breath, unparalleled. However, it requires too much Quintessence as well. Furthermore, this is not the completed Soaring Dragon, which will probably draw even more Quintessence in the future.”
Xiao Chen did not feel that excited about killing the black-robed loose cultivator. He merely analyzed the flaws of Soaring Dragon calmly.
After seeing people like Shui Lingling, the Passionate Young Master, and An Junxi, no matter how proud Xiao Chen was of himself, he would not reveal it.
He took the spatial ring of the black-robed loose cultivator, then continued looking for Earth Essence Fruits.
The strange fruits were very rare in the depths of Python Swamp. At least four times scarcer than in the periphery. However, without exception, they all would be at least a hundred years old. It was not unusual to find two- or three-hundred-year-old ones, either.
“I found it. There is a strange fruit about five kilometers ahead and a three-hundred-meter venomous python in front of it. I hope my luck is not too bad.”
Xiao Chen withdrew his Spiritual Sense and quickly rushed over. In the time it took to brew a pot of tea, he found his target. If the other hard-working people found out about Xiao Chen’s efficiency, they would be angry enough to vomit blood.
“Rumble…!”
The swamp in front bubbled actively, seething with piping-hot gas. When the bubbles burst, corrosive poison filled the air.
Feeling leery, Xiao Chen stopped. He stood to the side and saw a familiar-looking body lying prone.
“Could it be him?”
Xiao Chen had a vague suspicion in his heart. He sent out a palm wind to turn over the corpse, and the water splashed. Indeed, it was the infamous Huang Qianren.
Looking into the distance, Xiao Chen saw that the actual Death Marsh was right ahead—the place were departed spirits formed when Emperors died.
The souls of the Emperors had already reached an incredible level. When their physical bodies died, their souls would not scatter that easily.
However, during the war of the Emperors, lost in the mists of time, countless Emperors fell. The moment their souls left their bodies, they were shattered into thousands of pieces.
After a long time and with the unique environment here, the shattered pieces of souls formed departed spirits that retained the Martial Techniques the Emperors once wielded.
However, these departed spirits had lost their intelligence, becoming malicious spirits that only knew how to kill, cruel and violent.
An Junxi had already intended to enter Death Marsh to find an Emperor departed spirit to temper his Martial Technique. Huang Qianren had chased after him all the way and eventually died at his hands.
“This person is really strong. Even someone like Huang Qianren died at his whims.”
When Xiao Chen realized the gap between himself and An Junxi, he felt even more motivated, prompting him to speed up significantly.
After a while, he arrived at his destination. When he saw the three-hundred-meter python, he did not hesitate to charge over.
Many experts wandered this area, and many knew Heaven Ranked Martial Techniques. Xiao Chen did not need to hide his here. Furthermore, he could take advantage of this situation to familiarize himself with Soaring Dragon. Hence, he no longer had to hold back when fighting.
He exhausted a third of his Quintessence and paid a small price in the form of light injuries to kill this venomous python.
Xiao Chen waved his right hand, and before the fruit reached him, the Spiritual Energy was already assaulting his nose. He rejoiced and checked it. Indeed, it was the Earth Essence Fruit.
Furthermore, this Earth Essence Fruit was almost two hundred years old. It could save him half a year of cultivating.
After Xiao Chen put away the Earth Essence Fruit, he somewhat extravagantly took out a Spirit Gathering Pearl to quickly replenish his Quintessence. Then, he continued on his relentless treasure hunt.
Time slowly went by. Soon, Xiao Chen had already stayed in the depths of this Python Swamp for seven days, appearing in various places there.
He had a bountiful harvest, obtaining twenty Earth Essence Fruits more than a hundred years old, five that were over two hundred years old, and one that was three hundred years old.
Furthermore, the name White Robed Bladesman had gone around here, becoming known as a ruthless person. Initially, when people saw that Xiao Chen was only a Medial Grade Martial Monarch, they had tried to give him trouble.
However, after he taught several people bloody lessons, no one dared to cause him trouble anymore. When they saw that white figure, they immediately went away.
This was how Xiao Chen had always been. He maintained his own principles in this cruel world. He would not try and snatch the treasures of others.
But if anyone tried to cause him trouble, he would not show them any mercy. He would chase them to the ends of the world, paying any price in order to kill them.
Thus, Xiao Chen’s reputation for ruthlessness spread.
On this particular day, Xiao Chen did as he usually did, searching for Earth Essence Fruits. As time went by, the Earth Essence Fruits became harder to find.
However, he was in no rush. He had already collected enough Earth Essence Fruits. He was merely collecting extras just in case or to sell for Spirit Stones.
About a kilometer in the sky behind Xiao Chen, a group of cultivators in the Ximen Clan’s uniform was watching him from afar.
Compared to the last time, the group had an additional youth with sharp eyebrows. Aside from Ximen Ye, the rest maintained a certain distance from this person, acting very cautious around him.
“Cousin, that is the person who defeated Ximen Jian.” Ximen Ye pointed to Xiao Chen in the distance.
This new person was the arrogant Ximen Bao. His strength seemed unfathomable. He was a late-stage Superior Grade Martial Monarch who looked like he could break through to half-Sage at any time.
Ximen Bao had a flickering sharp look in his eyes that deterred others from making direct eye contact. He smiled and said, “This is good timing. I have completed my Heaven Ranked Martial Technique to seventy percent. I shall go and take a look, see if this person is as powerful as you guys say, see if he can block a few moves from me.”
After killing a venomous python, Xiao Chen picked the strange fruit behind it. After checking the fruit, he found it to be a poisonous fruit. So he casually tossed it into his Universe Ring and prepared to continue on his way.
Suddenly, Xiao Chen detected some killing Qi. Using his Spiritual Sense, he tracked down the source of the killing Qi. Soon, a certain scene appeared in his mind.
He saw a sharp sword Qi glittering with a crystalline light flying through the sky, cutting through the turbid air.
“Dang!”
The sword Qi moved very fast, not giving Xiao Chen much time to think. He spun around and held his saber against his chest.
A crisp ‘clang’ resounded, and the force contained in the sword Qi exploded out, pushing him back five hundred meters. A deep, fifty-meter-wide pit appeared where he previously stood.
The left hand holding the saber scabbard went numb. Xiao Chen looked up and discovered a group of people from the Ximen Clan descending from the sky.
Then, he noticed Ximen Bao, whose strength was much higher than the rest, within the crowd. So he raised his guard.
“You are quite capable, to be able to withstand my sword Qi. Unexpectedly, you are not even lightly injured.”
Ximen Bao landed on the swamp and looked at Xiao Chen. He smiled coldly and said, “However, that is still not enough to survive injuring someone from my Ximen Clan.”
“Pu ci!”
Without any warning, Ximen Bao flicked his wrist, moving his sword from down to up, and sent out a curtain-like sword Qi at Xiao Chen.
The curtain-like sword Qi was as thin as cicada’s wings and more than fifty meters tall. As it flew at Xiao Chen, it easily sliced the swamp in half, appearing to cut through the air as well.
The sword screen moved in a flash, arriving before Xiao Chen in the blink of an eye. It looked like it would cut him into two.
A saber light flickered as Xiao Chen instantly drew the Lunar Shadow Saber. He did not dare to be careless at all, so he unleashed his Great Perfection saber light without holding back.
Suddenly, Xiao Chen’s aura billowed up. His unparalleled, earth-shaking Quintessence surged and infused into his slender saber.
At the same time, his immortal state of thunder formed thunderclouds in the sky above. They flickered with boundless electric light, and thunder rumbled just like the snarl of an immortal thunder god.
Xiao Chen held his saber with both hands and blocked the sword Qi just as it arrived.
“Bang!”
The saber edge and the sword Qi clashed, and a resplendent Quintessence shock wave erupted. The horrifying force surged out, blasting four or five meters off the top of the marsh.
The sword Qi’s might did not diminish, continuing to push against the saber edge and pushing Xiao Chen back step by step.
Endless explosions came from both sides. The mud shot straight into the sky like tall streams of water.
Ximen Bao seemed somewhat astonished. His seemingly casual attack was not as simple as it looked.
He had not only used seventy percent of his strength but had also infused in his sixty-percent-comprehended sword intent. Apart from not including his state, he had exerted most of his power.
Despite all that, Ximen Bao had failed to injure Xiao Chen, only pushing him back.
Seeing that Xiao Chen was unscathed, Ximen Ye suggested, “Should we attack together?”
Ximen Bao smiled arrogantly and replied, “There is no need. Just surround him, and don’t let him run. If I cannot even deal with someone like him, my name shall not be Ximen Bao anymore.”
“Xiu!”
The force behind the sword Qi did not stop as Ximen Bao soared up like an arrow. He moved very fast and arrived before Xiao Chen in the blink of an eye. He thrust his sword towards Xiao Chen’s eyes.
A sword light appeared, giving off a cold radiance. This attack made use of the time when Xiao Chen could not withdraw fast to attack his eyes. It was extremely insidious.
Xiao Chen’s eyes flickered with scarlet light, and the state of massacre merged into his saber. Then, he swung with both hands, and a scarlet light filled the air, shattering the sword Qi.
After that, he managed to pull back and swing his saber up, deflecting Ximen Bao’s insidious attack.
Using his momentum, Ximen Bao sent an attack at Xiao Chen’s midriff. He had keen reactions and rapid motions, which made it hard for anyone to make out his moves.
Swinging his saber, Xiao Chen could only continue blocking. The vast Quintessence in the sword benumbed his arms, and he retreated another ten meters.
