Chapter 6463 Starry River Nine Flashes
Chapter 6463 Starry River Nine Flashes
Lu Ze had never imagined Fei Shuang could use the Star Cloud Steps. What shocked him even more was that the familiar movement differed entirely from Bing Yi’s version.
As Lu Ze was sent flying through the air, starlight flared behind him. Fei Shuang appeared like a ghost, her fingers curving into claws that raked toward his back.
“The Star Scar Claw?!” Lu Ze exclaimed, astonished.
Having fought Bing Yi several times, Lu Ze recognized it.
This was a technique that Bing Yi had specialized in, but this version was different. Bing Yi’s Star Scar Claw was fierce and lacked flexibility, resulting in some flaws in her control. In Fei Shuang’s hands, however, the technique balanced hardness and flexibility to perfection, making it flawless.
Suppressing his shock, Lu Ze spun around and lashed out with a kick aimed at Fei Shuang’s abdomen. It was a vicious counter meant to force her on the defensive. It was ruthless and ferocious. Just from this move alone, everyone could tell Lu Ze was someone who would use any means necessary to achieve his goals.
But to everyone’s surprise, Fei Shuang didn’t dodge. Instead, her palm reached into the air as though seizing something unseen.
The void suddenly tore apart like a piece of fabric. Space itself twisted.
“What?!” Lu Ze was shocked. This was a move he had never seen before.
It felt as if the ground had been ripped from beneath him, as though he were standing on a rug suddenly yanked away. His body was sent tumbling forward uncontrollably.
In that instant, Fei Shuang’s fist smashed into his back. Blood sprayed from his lips as he let out a furious roar and countered with an astral claw.
This astral claw tore through the sky, ripping five black lines in the void. However, Fei Shuang was already gone.
When she reappeared several hundred meters away, a thin line of blood traced across her neck. Fresh blood trickled down.
“Big Sister Fei Shuang!”
The experts of the original devil race cried out in alarm. She had clearly held the upper hand, yet that one counterattack had almost decapitated her.
The power behind Lu Ze’s astral claw was terrifying. Had she reacted even a heartbeat slower, she would already be a corpse.
Fei Shuang, however, didn’t spare the wound a glance. The cut was simply caused by the astral claw’s spatial shockwaves. It was nothing.
Others would have trembled after such a narrow escape, but Fei Shuang was unaffected. She had faced countless life-and-death battles, so her will was as firm as stone. And after fusing with Bing Yi’s Astral Arm under Long Chen’s guidance, she had grown even steadier. Now, her mindset was no different from the battle-hardened Dragonblood warriors.
Death didn’t frighten her. It merely cleared her mind. Her gaze sharpened, predatory—like a cheetah stalking prey in the dark.
Slowly, she crouched and reached for the hilt of her sword. Heaven and earth instantly froze. A cutting aura locked onto Lu Ze with suffocating precision.
“How can this be?!”
Lu Ze’s mind reeled. How could the original devil race wield astral energy simply by obtaining Bing Yi’s Astral Arm? More infuriatingly, Fei Shuang’s astral energy felt even stronger than Bing Yi’s. Bing Yi had never been able to lock him down like this.
Fei Shuang muttered, “Long Chen said that every powerful opponent you meet is a gift from the heavens. Beating them is how you strengthen yourself.”
Stars flashed deep in Fei Shuang’s eyes, giving them a cold glint. Suddenly, she shot into motion, vanishing and reappearing to the right. Starlight lingered in her wake like a starry river.
With every flash, her aura swelled. After three flashes, the astral runes on her body ignited in full brilliance.
“The Starry River Nine Flashes! You shameless little thief!” shouted Lu Ze.
A chill crawled up his spine. He launched forward, desperate to stop her before it was too late. The Starry River Nine Flashes was one of the nine star line’s highest-level secret arts—an ability granted only to Heaven-tier heirs under special circumstances. Even among them, only a few could cultivate it successfully.
The Starry River Nine Flashes connected the user directly to the stars. With each flash, their astral power doubled. It could be used up to nine times, hence its name.
However, the requirements for using this technique were exceedingly harsh. Even the most gifted nine star heirs only dared use up to six flashes; any more risked instant death as their bodies collapsed under the strain.
Bing Yi had once reached the fourth flash—that alone made it one of her deadliest techniques.
Yet, this technique carried a fatal weakness. If interrupted, its power would rebound violently, crippling or even killing the user.
That was why Bing Yi had never dared to use it against Long Chen—his combat sense was too sharp. He could easily disrupt her buildup and turn the technique against her.
Lu Ze knew that risk better than anyone. He had once withstood Bing Yi’s fourth flash head-on. Though he’d ultimately defeated her, the backlash had injured him so severely that he’d spent half a month recovering.
So when Fei Shuang reached the third flash, he panicked. Then, he shot forward with his astral claw, planning on stopping the fourth flash.
His astral claw was nine feet long, looking like a pole tipped with talons. This was a rather unique Divine Sovereign magical item of the nine star line. The astral runes carved onto it allowed Lu Ze to unleash his maximum astral energy.
The strange claws tore through the air, slashing across the path Fei Shuang would need to take to complete her fourth flash. However, the starry river twisted—arching upward and flowing past Lu Ze.
“What?!” Lu Ze’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets.
The path of the Starry River Nine Flashes is supposed to be fixed. How could she alter its trajectory?
However, he didn’t know the truth: the technique’s path wasn’t fixed by nature—it was Bing Yi’s rigidity that had made it so. Her astral power lacked flexibility, locking her into one direction. Lu Ze himself had never cultivated the Starry River Nine Flashes, so he had assumed it could only move straight.
As for Fei Shuang, after she had merged her original devil power with astral energy, her energy was flexible enough not to have such a restriction.
At this moment, a river of starlight unfurled beneath Fei Shuang’s feet. As she landed, the ground shimmered with stars and then exploded upward as a column of astral light surged into the sky.
Fei Shuang swung her broadsword. The power that gathered made the world tremble.
“Damn!” Lu Ze cursed through clenched teeth.
The fourth flash had formed.
With a furious roar, Lu Ze summoned his Star Battle Armor, his essence rune blazing on his forehead as his astral claw erupted in radiant light.
“Come, let me see how much astral energy a little thief like you can possibly wield!” Lu Ze roared as he entered his strongest defensive state.
BOOM!
With the might of countless stars, Fei Shuang’s broadsword crashed down onto his astral claw.