Star Odyssey

Chapter 1313: Peerless Battle Technique

Qiu Shi let out a long breath. She had killed the Xia family’s scion. This would create a powerful enmity between her Cosmic Sect and the Xia family, but there was no other way. The Cosmic Sect had long since coveted the Xia family’s inheritance.

Lu Yin stared at Xia Jiuyou from the distance, watching as his runes disappeared. Was Xia Jiuyou really dead? The Nine Clones Secret Technique had been Progenitor Chen’s invincible battle technique, so was it really possible that it did nothing else aside from raising the user’s cultivation realm?

Suddenly, Xia Jiuyou, who had been lying dead on the ground, opened his eyes. His rune lines instantly recovered as he stood up and slapped at Qiu Shi with a palm.

Qiu Shi was completely unable to react, and the palm attack squarely hit her in the back, sending her flying. After that, another Yōu Reinforced Palm fell down from above, but at the last moment, Qiu Shi used Star Transference. However, this time, it did not succeed. Xia Jiuyou had used the Xia Secret Art: Nullify once again. Qiu Shi twisted her body, and her shoulder was struck by the Yōu Reinforced Palm. It smashed her to the ground and froze her.

This sudden reverse shocked everyone once again.

Xia Jiuyou’s throat had been pierced through by a sword, and the Celestial Sword’s sword qi must have ravaged his body. So, how could he still be alive? He even looked as if he had never been injured—even the paleness present on his face earlier had disappeared. What the hell had happened?

Lu Yin frowned—this had to be related to the Nine Clones Secret Technique. This was too freakish.

Shang Qing’s expression grew serious; was this the true power of the Nine Clones Secret Technique?

Xia Jiuyou wiggled his fingers and glanced around. The true power of his Nine Clones Secret Technique had finally been exposed. There were nine clones, and each clone that he merged with provided him with an extra life. When he died, one of those lives would be consumed, but he would not truly die.

Successfully cultivating the Nine Clones Secret Technique allowed one’s cultivation realm to rise much faster, and it also allowed one to master a wide variety of battle techniques, as the techniques and skills of every clone could be used by him after merging. Still, the greatest benefit was having nine lives.

The Nine Clones Secret Technique did not improve one’s talent or make them invincible. But then, how could having nine lives be enough to guarantee victory?

The reason why Progenitor Chen’s Nine Clones Secret Technique had been heralded as invincible was because all of Progenitor Chen’s clones had been unbelievably powerful. Xia Jiuyou’s clones could not compare at all, as his strongest clones were Xia Tian and Xia Jiuyou himself.

Still, the technique was already terrifying to other people.

A while ago, Mu En and the others had mentioned that the Nine Clones Secret Technique became more terrifying as one progressed further. This was because each clone encountered their own opportunities and practiced their own techniques. After merging together, their overall quality would rise sharply—this was the true power of the technique.

There was a bang as the ice shattered. Qiu Shi emerged in a panic, gasping for air as she stared at Xia Jiuyou while blood dripped down the corner of her mouth.

Xia Jiuyou’s mouth curled into a smile. He had revealed his Nine Clones Secret Technique’s ability, and just like Shang Qing, Xia Jiuyou had become everyone’s enemy. It was a pity that he had not merged with Xia Luo as well, as he would have improved even further. What a pity.

“Can’t accept it?” Xia Jiuyou said.

Qiu Shi felt helpless. She had been thoroughly defeated, but she could not accept it as she was still in a state of shock at witnessing the horror of the Nine Clones Secret Technique. This technique was truly worthy of being one of Progenitor Chen’s invincible skills. It was quite possible that no one aside from Shang Qing was capable of defeating Xia Jiuyou.

As he looked at Xia Jiuyou, Lu Yin remembered Nightking Zhenwu. Lu Yin had already fought against an opponent with multiple lives.

Outside Zenith Mountain, Xia Meng was stunned to discover that not even she had been privy to the true secrets of the Nine Clones Secret Technique.

The Chief Justice, however, was not surprised. The Hall of Honor was the master of the entire Fifth Mainland, and all of them knew cryptic secrets far beyond the Xia family’s ken, even if the Nine Clones Secret Technique was passed down in the Xia family.

Qiu Shi had been defeated, but she was still one of the top ten.

The next match was Yao Xuan versus Wu Taibai.

Yao Xuan had expended too much energy during the battle royale, and he had also been severely injured by both Wang Yi and Shang Qing, causing his entire body to turn somewhat transparent. In contrast, Wu Taibai had managed to physically overpower even Yuhua Mavis, which meant that Yao Xuan’s only chance of victory was his spiritual force. He could only hope that Wu Taibai did not also have the means to overcome his spiritual force.

Yao Xuan faced Wu Taibai and raised a hand. The void visibly twisted as a sphere of spiritual force appeared right in front of Wu Taibai’s eyes. “Force Explosion.”

Bang!

Earlier, during the chaotic free-for-all, Yao Xuan had unleashed a powerful spiritual energy explosion that had affected everyone. It had even caused many people further down the mountain to faint and collapse—very few people could endure this attack.

Wu Taibai did not react, and he allowed the Force Explosion to explode right in front of him without making any moves.

However, the other nearby cultivators were affected, and even Shang Qing was shocked. Yao Xuan had the greatest spiritual force out of everyone in ZENITH, and no one could compare to him in this aspect.

Because of his severe injuries and desire to not drag this fight out, Yao Xuan had not held back in the slightest. This was the most powerful attack that he was capable of unleashing at the moment. Even Lu Yin had to rely on his Inception Array to stabilize his spiritual force while the others, like Yuhua Mavis, Liquor Hero, Xia Jiuyou, and the rest, went pale—they had only been affected by the aftershocks.

As for Wu Taibai, who had taken the attack head on and up close, nothing happened to him at all. The complete lack of reaction left Yao Xuan dumbfounded.

How could this be?

Lu Yin was similarly shocked; how could this be? How had Wu Taibai ignored Yao Xuan’s attack?! This should not be possible. Lu Yin had already known that Wu Taibai was powerful, but Yao Xuan was a powerhouse who had reached the finals of ZENITH, so the gap between them should not be this large!

Elsewhere, Wang Yi was staring intently at Wu Taibai. He had never heard of people from that place who could ignore spiritual force attacks. This spiritual force attack had not been weak, so could Wu Taibai have possibly already reached that level?

Wu Taibai lifted a hand. “Unfortunately, you’re facing me.”

After he spoke, a strange energy rolled out from his body. All five fingers moved, and the Mountains and Rivers Imprint was unleashed.

There was a bang as his attack smashed Yao Xuan down to the foot of the mountain. The same sensation struck Yao Xuan once again; it was just like when Wang Yi had stabbed him through and inflicted his worst injury yet. But Wu Taibai’s secret technique struck Yao Xuan even harder. He spat out blood, and his body transformed into countless tiny bats that flew out.

One by one, the bats flew back to the top of the mountain. Wu Taibai looked at the swarm of bats, specifically staring at one of them. He curled his fingers and then flicked them out.

A small but powerful wind blasted out. Its rune lines were enough to even make Lu Yin feel fear, and the attack shot through the void, leaving behind a black channel in its wake as it shuttled towards the bat.

All of the other bats disappeared, and the one that Wu Taibai had targeted had fearful eyes as it suddenly transformed into a human figure that looked exactly like Yao Xuan. However, this Yao Xuan was no longer made of materialized spiritual force. This was his true body.

Yao Xuan attacked with a technique that Lu Yin was very familiar with—Skybeast Claw.

The sound of an ancient beast’s roar echoed through time and space, and a massive, illusory claw descended. It swept aside the strange energy emanating from Wu Taibai’s body as the claw fell.

Wu Taibai smiled casually. “That’s right, spiritual force is useless against me.”

With that, he raised a leg and kicked out at the descending image of the claw.

Lu Yin was stunned as he watched the fight nearby; wasn’t that the Skybeast Claw? How had Yao Xuan learned this technique? Not to mention, this attack was far more powerful than what Lu Yin was capable of using.

Everyone in the universe believed that the Celestial Demons’ bodies were formed from spiritual force, but in reality, they also had physical bodies. Their usual state was merely a form of external protection that essentially rendered them immune to physical attacks, but once their body of spiritual force armor had been broken, they had to fight with their physical bodies.

Yao Xuan had been severely injured by the clone of Progenitor Chen that Shang Qing had summoned along with Wang Yi’s attack.

Wu Taibai had simply ignored Yao Xuan’s spiritual force. Thus, the crown prince could only fight with his body.

Wu Taibai was the first opponent who had managed to force Yao Xuan to bring out his physical body.

Up till now, the fighting had been extremely fierce, but Yao Xuan had never once been forced to reveal his physical form to fight.

Lu Yin had not expected that the opponent he had been fighting against all this time had only been using half of his strength. Yao Xuan deserved his title as crown prince of the Celestial Beast Empire.

Yao Xuan and Wu Taibai rushed towards each other at the same time, and the resulting impact created a shockwave that tore the ground apart. Yao Xuan’s true body was that of a bat, but his physical strength was not lacking in the least, and he stopped several of Wu Taibai’s attacks. However, the member of the Daosource Three Skies possessed a physical strength that had even suppressed Yuhua Mavis, and Yao Xuan vomited blood after being struck by Wu Taibai’s strange energy. In the end, the crown prince could not endure the punishment, and he retreated.

Yao Xuan gasped for air, but then he suddenly turned his head to stare at Star Devourer, who had fallen down to the first layer below the stairs. The massive astral beast seemed to be unconscious, but Star Devourer’s back suddenly went cold. Something was staring at him, but there was clearly nothing. What was going on?

“Secret Technique: Assimilation,” Yao Xuan growled, and Wu Taibai suddenly appeared before him.

“It’s over,” Wu Taibai said as he raised his hand. The mountains and rivers fell, but Yao Xuan suddenly let out a tremendous roar as he raised his right fist to throw a punch.

At this moment, the void shook, and twilight drummed the morning bell¹ as Zenith Mountain trembled. Lu Yin’s pupils shrank; how was this possible? Yao Xuan’s punch contained an unfathomable power unlike anything before. Wu Taibai’s Mountains and Rivers Imprint was shattered by Yao Xuan’s one punch, and Wu Taibai’s entire body was thrown back a thousand meters. If not for his secret technique taking the brunt of the blow, this punch would have left Wu Taibai in terrible shape.

Wu Taibai was shocked. Where had this strength come from?

Yao Xuan stepped forward with his right foot before rushing forward to punch Wu Taibai again. Wu Taibai frowned, and he also took a step forward. This time, he spun to dissipate the force of Yao Xuan’s punch while also lifting his right arm to strike at Yao Xuan with an elbow. The punch barely missed Wu Taibai’s head by a centimeter, as Wu Taibai had shifted Yao Xuan’s extended arm with his elbow and thrown the punch off course. Wu Taibai followed up with a kick, and a martial print could be seen on the bottom of the foot that he used to attack. The kick sent the Celestial Demon flying.

Yao Xuan was not kicked far away, and he spun his body around to charge at Wu Taibai once again.

No one had thought that Yao Xuan could erupt with such a formidable physical strength. He was clearly no weaker than Lu Yin, Yuhua Mavis, Wang Yi, or any of the others. If anything, he had somewhat surpassed them—otherwise, it would have been impossible for him to shatter Wu Taibai’s secret technique with a single punch. This level of physical power had only been shown by Star Devourer throughout all of ZENITH.

Star Devourers were the most physically gifted of all unique lifeforms.

No one could understand just what Yao Xuan had just done.

In the Neoverse, Arch-Elder Zen looked serious. As the master of the Hall of Honor, he had experienced things beyond the imagination of ordinary people. At this moment, his gadget beeped with an alert, and the Highsage Grandmaster appeared on the display with a solemn expression on his face.

Arch-Elder Zen calmly looked at his gadget.

Highsage Grandmaster solemnly asked, “Did you see it?”.

Arch-Elder Zen sighed. “Progenitor Wushang’s legendary secret technique. If one can successfully cultivate it, then they can transform into any astral beast with full control over its innate abilities.”

“Yao Xuan assimilated the physical power of that Star Devourer in order to overpower Wu Taibai. I did not expect Progenitor Wushang’s secret technique to reappear here. I thought that his entire inheritance had already disappeared,” Highsage Grandmaster commented.

Arch-Elder Zen stared in the direction of the Astral Beast Domain. Disappeared? He had never thought that that rumor was true. After all, there was a certain individual in the Astral Beast Domain, and nothing could be hidden from him.

At the top of Zenith Mountain, Wu Taibai launched a fierce assault on Yao Xuan with his martial print and strange energy. There were many people who could no longer even understand the battle.

[1] Another Chinese expression. A daily call to religious life with the morning bells and evening drums; timely exhortations to virtue and purity. A evelation/keenly aware of something. In this particular case the vibrations shook everyone to their core. ☜