God Emperor

With the power of the five elements, Zhang Ruochen pressed upward. The five powers instantly turned into a band of Spiritual Qi. It spun around his arm quickly, forming a huge vortex.

Boom.

The next moment, the two handprints crashed, creating huge shockwaves. A string of pops burst from the scroll world instantly. Hundreds of words hovered in the sky. They quickly shattered into balls of spiritual fog.

As the words broke, the micro-world formed by the scroll turned unstable. It started shaking.

Had Lin Yue really been repressed? Countless eyes stared at the micro-world on Scroll Mountain. They could only see the fog shrouding Lin Yue’s body. They couldn’t see the battle clearly at all.

The Demonic Saintess wasn’t any weaker than Lin Yue and her cultivation was a level higher too. She’d used the Eight Barren Print Consummate Skill. She might disable Lin Yue.

Whoosh!

Suddenly, five rings of energy waves surged out of the scroll. They turned into tidal waves of five colors and crashed towards Mu Lingxi.

Zhang Ruochen stood upright in the center of the rings. He was like an undefeatable mountain.

The Eight Barren Print was one of the Demonic Sect’s top ten Consummate Skills. Naturally, it was extremely powerful and couldn’t be destroyed so easily.

Mu Lingxi quickly withdrew her arm. Then she slapped down even faster.

Boom! Her palm enlarged greatly and was filled with icy Qi.

Eight beastly prints emerged from her palm. They glowed faintly with icy light. As divine Qi filled them, the beastly prints flew from her palm. They transformed into eight huge beastly shadows that pressed towards Zhang Ruochen.

The eight beasts were the Ice Python, Ice Winged Dragon, Ice Sky Spider, Ice Silver Wolf, Ice Tortoise, Ice Whale, Ice Snow Tiger, and Ice Phoenix. The eight beastly shadows were beast souls. Each beast soul was at the Half-Saint level.

It was practically impossible for other Fish-dragon Realm Monks to cultivate a Half-Saint beast soul into their palms. Mu Lingxi had her Ice Phoenix Saint Body. Thus, she could use her Ice Phoenix lineage to repress these eight aggressive beast souls and release something as powerful as the Eight Barren Print.

“If you don’t use your sword, you’ll be defeated!” Mu Lingxi said.

She understood that Zhang Ruochen was only fighting with his handprint because he couldn’t bear to use his sword on her.

In the past month, Mu Lingxi had reached the Eighth Change of the Fish-dragon Realm and completed the Eight Barren Print. Her abilities had increased greatly. She wasn’t much weaker than Zhang Ruochen.

If Zhang Ruochen used his sword, Mu Lingxi might not be able to block him at the critical moment. If she couldn’t and something happened…the consequences would be unimaginable.

Zhang Ruochen looked at the eight beastly shadows pressing down. He was still unfazed and just furrowed his brow. Finally, he tightened his grip on the Golden Snake Divine Rapier.

Waving his arm, a beam of golden Sword Qi burst forth. It drew a huge circle on the ground.

“Sword Two.”

Zhang Ruochen had released the first realm of Sword Two: Alternating Yin and Yang. The sword techniques in this realm were mostly for defense rather than attacks.

As the sword techniques unfurled, a huge disc, dozens of miles wide, formed with Zhang Ruochen as the center. Night and day kept alternating within it. Beams of Sword Qi shot towards the eight beastly images.

Chen Tianpeng, one of the three heirs of the East Region Saint Mansion, complimented, “Lin Yue is indeed a genius of the Tao of the sword. He’s already cultivated Sword Two to the first realm. Few have done this in the past millennium.”

Chen Kai shook his head. “I heard that Lin Yue has already cultivated Sword Two to the second realm.”

“The Demonic Saintess’ Eight Barren Print is powerful, but anyone can see that Lin Yue is stronger than she is. If he activates Sword Two’s second realm and attacks, he can defeat her.”

“It’s strange, indeed. Why is he only defending instead of attacking actively?”

“Maybe he wants to, but he doesn’t have enough Holy Qi anymore and he can’t activate the second realm. After all, he’s already defeated a dozen strong fighters along the way.”

“Right! Even the strongest can be exhausted. Furthermore, Lin Yue is only in the Seventh Change of the Fish-dragon Realm. He can’t have as much Holy Qi as a Monk in the Eighth or Ninth Change.”

“Lin Yue must have depleted himself in the earlier battles. This time, he’s against three members of the Demonic Sect with powerful Saint Bodies. I’m afraid he’ll be defeated.”

…

Captain Rat and Snake Two stood beside the 108 King Seats. They looked down, focusing on the battle between Zhang Ruochen and the three from the Demonic Sect.

Captain Rat’s eyes shone with demonic light as he stared at Mu Lingxi. “The little Saintess’ cultivation speed is shocking. She’s actually on Lin Yue’s level now.”

Snake Two crossed her arms before his chest. Her small red tongue poked out from her lips. “The Saintess has only recently entered the Eighth Change. There’s still a gap between her and Lin Yue. But for some reason, Lin Yue seems unwilling to go hard on her. He keeps letting her off easy. There must be something between them.”

“It doesn’t matter. As long as the Saintess can defeat Lin Yue, she’ll preserve our sect’s reputation. She can also make a name for herself with this battle.”

Captain Rat moved his eyes from the battlefield to Huang Yanchen. He sniggered. “No matter how strong Lin Yue is, he’s only a guard. If we take care of his client, it’ll be the most effective and drastic move.”

Immediately afterward, Captain Rat flashed. Transforming into a beam of black light, he charged towards Huang Yanchen.

Huang Yanchen felt the dangerous aura above her. She immediately unsheathed her holy sword and stabbed upward as fast as lightning.

Whoosh, whoosh! Immediately, dozens of Sword Qi attacks surged outward. They converged at one point and hit the black shadow.

Boom!

Captain Rat reached a hand out and grabbed the holy sword. Looking at Huang Yanchen from the close proximity, he leered, showing his yellow teeth. “Pretty girl, you react quite quickly, but unfortunately, your cultivation is too low. You sword is only a scratch for me.”

Captain Rat was perverted so he obviously wanted to tease such an ice beauty like Huang Yanchen. But just as he reached towards Huang Yanchen, a cold voice sounded behind him.

“Her sword can’t hurt you, but what about mine?”

Captain Rat’s neck stiffened. He could clearly feel a metal sword propped against his neck. The coldness coming from the blade practically froze half of his blood.

His hand immediately stopped as his eyes grew cold. “Le! What are you doing?”

Le stood behind Captain Rat, pressing his rusted sword against the other’s neck. “Move your dirty hands.”

“You…”

Captain Rat’s expression changed, twisting in extreme anger. He didn’t fear Le. He just didn’t want to anger the man. After all, it was rumored within the Demonic Sect that no one could kill Le, but everyone who he’d had his eyes on was dead.

Who would voluntarily fight with someone like that?

Captain Rat muttered, “You should at least give me a reason to let go of her, right?”

“No reason,” Le said.

Whoosh! The metal sword was extremely sharp. It had already gone through Captain Rat’s defenses and left a cut on his neck. One could imagine that if Le’s hands moved at all, Captain Rat’s head would fly off.

“Captain Rat, let go of her,” Ouyang Huan ordered personally.

He didn’t know why Le wanted to help Huang Yanchen, but he understood Le. He had a reason for everything he did.

Captain Rat was unwilling, but in the end, he still loosened his grip on the holy sword. Huang Yanchen retracted her sword and glanced at Le. Her eyes were filled with confusion.

Finally, she cupped her hands. “Thank you,” she said.

Le moved his sword away from Captain Rat’s neck. He stabbed it into the book page and rested his hands on the hilt. With unfocused eyes, he said coldly, “Don’t thank me. I won’t hurt you, but I won’t let you and Lin Yue take another step up.”

He continued, “And let me warn you. Lin Yue killed someone from the Divine Sect. They’ll definitely punish him. It’s best not to travel with him. If you want to go to the King Seat, I can protect you and help you keep your spot.”

Le’s words were monotone but shocked everyone present.

“What the heck? Who exactly is Huang Yanchen?”

“It’s fine if Lin Yue is willing to be her guard, but how come a swordsman from the Demonic Sect is willing, too?”

“That swordsman apparently doesn’t listen to anyone. Even Ouyang Huan can’t make him his guard.”

“What does Huang Yanchen have that can make these two sword geniuses want to protect her?”

…

While everyone present was shocked, Huang Yanchen was shocked, too. She would have never expected that such a powerful and young swordsman would say something like that.

Does he have a past with me, too? she thought.

While everyone was discussing animatedly, another young figure started climbing up from the foot of the mountain. He yelled something that multiplied everyone’s shock.

“No need to bother the Demonic Sect. I can be Princess Yanchen’s guard and help her get a King Seat!”

On the steps was Bu Qianfan in golden armor. He carried a 28-foot-long lance and his long hair spilled down his shoulders. His aura was extremely domineering. He seemed to fly as he charged up Scroll Mountain.