The burly man coughed up blood once again, and he could feel his life slipping away.
With death so close, the burly man wanted to know one thing. Looking up at Xi Shen in his mask, he wondered what this person look like as he said, “Let me know one thing, that Daoist Magic you use to conjure those Sword Qi with your Soul Sense, have you really been using it to its full limit?”
The burly man was no fool, after seeing Xi Shen’s physical strength, he could sense that this masked man had willingly allowed him to get close to him. He refused to believe that a person that specialized in long range wouldn’t have some methods up their sleeve to avoid close-quarters combat, even if this masked man had great physical strength, even he could see the strain it placed on him when he used it.
Something seemed to flip in Xi Shen’s mind upon hearing the burly man’s question, and smirking a little he said with boastfulness that couldn't be disguised by his distorted voice, “This technique is actually named the Ten Thousand Myriad Qi Creation Art.”
Xi Shen almost seemed to puff out his chest after saying that.
The burly man, however, had his barely beating heart tremble.
“You-why is the technique name like that?” The burly man forced out, but he was dreading the answer he might get.
Chest slightly puffed out, Xi Shen only said, “That’s simple.”
He then motioned to the large Sword Qi hovering over the burly man, and the deep blue color slowly transformed into a crimson red color and suddenly began giving off immense heat. However, it didn’t finish and soon it gained a green color with it radiating calmness and vitality.
After that, the Sword Qi took on the properties of the six elements in turns.
The Sword Qi transforming and gaining the Fire Element shocked the burly man to no end, and he could sense that if Xi Shen had used this before his attacks would have been more devastating, but his eyes immediately bulge out of his head when he saw the Sword Qi change to the other elements.
‘N-no, impossible. Just how is there such a Daoist Magic in the Righteous Faction?! It allows one to create Sword Qi of all six elements?! The power and destruction capable are beyond comprehension! The person in possession of this Daoist Magic would practically become nay invincible in any given realm!!’
All of a sudden, the burly man’s heart grew cold.
‘This person must die, he must not live a second longer to mature. The Demonic Cult will gain another terrifying adversary if he were to truly master this Daoist Magic.’
The burly man’s eyes flickered with murderous intent, and he forcefully held onto the last flame of his life to ensure his Demonic Cult will not face another Top Chosen.
Unbeknownst to the dying man’s intentions, an oblivious Xi Shen was busy explaining that his technique got its name because he can form them from all the six Qi in the surrounding world, instead of a plain old Sword Qi.
An enthusiastic Xi Shen was so deep in his explanation that it took a full three seconds for him to realize the horrendous amount of Demonic Qi building up in the burly man’s abdomen.
“Huh?” A dumbfounded Xi Shen looked down at the burly man to see a twisted look on his face.
“DIE!!!”
The burly man bellowed out and using the final bit of life he had left, he detonated his Golden Core.
The power of a Core Formation detonating his Core was no joke. Someone in that cultivation realm has an enormous amount of energy that was at least more than ten times the amount of a Peak-stage Foundation Realm cultivator. The explosion was completely terrifying.
“Waahhh!!”
A pitiful scream came from Xi Shen as the explosion knocked him away.
*Boom* Boom* *Boom*
The cavern wall the burly man was leaning against was blasted into pieces, and that side of the cavern collapsed completely.
Several pavilions were demolished, but as for the two large pavilions, numerous runes appeared around them to protect them. Though they barely manage to keep the Pavilions intact before being destroyed.
Dust and rubble filled the entire cavern, causing visibility to drop.
*Crack* *Crack* *Crash*
Even after a few minutes since the explosion occurred, pieces of the cavern ceiling and walls were still crumbling down. All the crates that were scattered about were smashed, destroying any contents that were in them for good.
Out of the large pavilion, the Crown Prince from before poked his head out from the exit and looked around the cavern.
His clothes were ruffled and he was trembling a bit. The explosion had impacted the pavilion while he was still inside. He thought he was going to die.
Escape before was impossible, since his presence would have been detected by that masked man or the burly man. If either of them had, it would have been the end of him.
But if he had to choose he hope that burly man was killed by that masked man so his involvement with the Demonic Cult would die with him. However, who would have thought the outcome would be this great?!
Both of them had killed each other, this couldn’t be more than the heavens wishing him to keep on living!
Sadly, the goods were destroyed in that explosion.
*Tsk*
The Crown Prince clicked his tongue as he fully exited the pavilion.
While brushing off his slightly dirtied golden robes and fixing his attire, he said in disgruntlement, “That foul bastard, why couldn’t he have blown himself up more accurately? Now all the supplies are wasted.”
The Crown Prince looked around the partly demolished cavern and said again, “Well, whatever, I should leave this place. Maybe that masked person was actually lying and the Academy Alliance had already sent disciples to investigate this place.”
With that, he turned around to hurriedly leave, but suddenly…
“Ugh!”
The sound of someone groaning entered his ears, and his body immediately went rigid.
Then stiffly turning his head in the direction of the sound, he saw someone crawling out of some stone rubles several meters away from him with a blue Sword Aura encapsulating his body.
A cold chill went down his spine when he recognized the person to be the terrifying masked man from before.
‘He isn’t dead?!!’
Xi Shen groaned painfully as he shook off the dirt in his hair and what was left of his tattered and burnt robes.
“God damn Demonic Cultivators, the bastard didn’t even let me finish before trying to blow me up along with him. All of them are said to be crazy lunatics that would detonate their cultivation base to take down their enemy if they saw that they would lose. To think I would encounter one of them, what bad luck.”
As Xi Shen mumbled his complaints, the Crown Prince behind him frantically looked left and right for a place to hide, before he inevitably decided to enter back into the pavilion through an open hole in its walls.
Xi Shen's back was to him, so he tip-toed towards the hole as fast as he could. But suddenly…
*Swoosh*
A blindly flash of blue light wheeze past his neck, below his chin, severing a few strands of his hair that was swaying at the side of his temple.
The Crown Prince's body immediately stiffened like a wooden post, and he almost felt his soul leave his body in that instance.
“Where do you think you're going?” Xi Shen said with his back still to the Crown Prince.
The Crown Prince's mouth felt dry as he opened it and said, “Highly respected sir, I-I-I was just heading to report the presence of the Demonic Cult in my City. I was kidnapped and my family was threatened, so I was forced to cooperate with them. I sincerely thank you sir young hero for coming to my rescue!”
The Crown Prince turned around and deeply bowed his head to hide the panicked look on his face.
Still bowing, he said, “To show my gratitude for saving my life, I’m willing to bestow young hero a substantial amount of Spirit Stones!”
‘Dammit!’
The Crown Prince cursed internally, as he felt his heart begin to bleed. He didn’t want to give up any of his accumulated Spirit Stones, but this person was from a cultivation background. To try and get out of this situation mortals' gold won’t tempt someone like him, so he had to use Spirit Stones.
While the Crown Prince was still bowed, he heard Xi Shen snorted and said, “You don’t seem to be someone who was held captive here, do you think I’ll fall for your tricks?”
A Sword Qi materialized behind Xi Shen’s back and was aimed directly at the Crown Prince.
Frightened by Xi Shen’s words, the Crown Prince looked up and his face turned ashen when he saw the Sword Qi directed at him.
Feeling his life hanging by a thin thread, the Crown Prince frantically yelled, “N-no, young hero! I would never! That’s not the case! I was truly kidnapped! Despite my reputation, I would never cooperate with the likes of the Demonic Cult. Even I know how unforgivable a sin that is! Please believe me young hero, I…”
“You talk too much.”
*Pitua*
As Xi Shen said that, the Sword Qi shot out and stabbed itself between the Crown Prince's eyebrows.
He didn’t even have time to react, his soul and consciousness were instantly destroyed.
With a soft thud, his lifeless body fell to the ground.
Xi Shen continued to brush off his robes a bit more before he completely ignore the Crown Prince’s corpse and turned his attention to the second large Pavilion.
While he was in the middle of a battle with the burly man, he realized that he was mistaken.
True, the aura he felt coming from this pavilion was a Core Formation Realm level power, but as he felt the burly man’s own he realized this one felt rather… how should he describe it, lifeless? Or maybe inactive was the right word.
Xi Shen never felt this type of aura before, and he was curious about what was in that pavilion as he approached it.
Opening the door, which immediately fell off its hinges and made a loud bang as it fell to the ground, Xi Shen climbed the stairs that lead to the top floor, where he sensed the energy emanating from.
Before long, he came in front of a room door after following his sense.
Xi Shen immediately opened the door only to come upon an empty room that only had a small stone altar in the middle of it.
Fully entering the room, he walked closer to the stone altar to see what was placed on it.