Chapter 46: Technique Grandmaster
On the vast expanse of water, a stone platform a hundred meters wide stretched across the entire body of water, covered by a thin layer of the surface. Su Xiao and Huishenshi stood facing each other on it.
Ding~
Su Xiao's left index finger lightly tapped the blade. The two buff states of "Silver Moon Blade" and "Spirit Blade" were applied to the sword. Without any further words, a thunderous boom sounded beneath his feet as a spray of water was blasted away by the sheer kinetic force. He vanished from his spot, turning into an afterimage that shot straight toward Huishenshi.
Wherever Su Xiao passed, the water surface suddenly surged. The next moment, he appeared in front of Huishenshi, his longsword tearing through space and carving out a black scar aimed directly at Huishenshi's neck.
Huishenshi's gaze remained calm. As Su Xiao launched his assault, he had already raised his right hand. Just as the longsword was about to strike him, his hand pressed forward in the air.
Boom!
A shockwave of air exploded outward, and Su Xiao's attack came to an abrupt halt. The longsword stopped just over ten centimeters from Huishenshi's neck, the wind pressure from the slash ruffling Huishenshi's hair and collar.
Behind Su Xiao, a black shadow appeared. This shadow matched his physique, clothing outline, and even the weapon in his hand, mirroring his movements perfectly. It was this shadow that had suddenly halted his attack—this was Huishenshi's Puppet ability.
Crack, crack, crack~
The black shadow behind Su Xiao rapidly crystallized. The Aoge ability was not merely for defense.
With a snap, crystal fragments scattered in all directions. Su Xiao's aura exploded outward as blood energy surged toward Huishenshi. At the same time, he swung another slash.
Clang!
Sparks flew as a metal staff blocked Dragon-Slaying Flash. More precisely, it should be considered a sword-staff.
A phantom appeared behind Huishenshi. This phantom had no lower body, seemingly connected to Huishenshi's back. It wore a Silent Bird mask and materialized into solid form. The arm holding the sword-staff, though bearing some feminine softness in its lines, also exuded a resolute sense of power.
Clang, clang, clang!
The crisp sound of metal clashing rang out repeatedly. Several consecutive slashes were all blocked by Huishenshi. Huishenshi was no slouch in close combat; his puppets were not lacking in technique-type ones. With his ability's enhancement, these Soul Puppets could engage Su Xiao in direct melee.
Taking advantage of Su Xiao's slashes being continuously blocked by the Soul Puppet, Huishenshi raised his finger toward Su Xiao. A straight black line materialized.
The moment Huishenshi's finger pointed at Su Xiao's brow, a sharp pain stabbed into Su Xiao's forehead. Just the "Perceived Pain" reached this level—if this attack landed, it would likely shatter his skull, ending the battle.
The black line between Huishenshi's finger and Su Xiao's brow solidified. Almost simultaneously, Su Xiao tilted his head to dodge.
Boom!!
A dark beam as thick as a fist flew past Su Xiao's ear. On the opposite side, Huishenshi's palm aimed at Su Xiao.
Thud!
A dull roar filled Su Xiao's ears as a tremendous force slammed into him from the front, like a dark barrier crashing violently into him, blasting him backward over 30 meters.
Water splashed as Su Xiao's feet plowed across the surface. When he finally stopped, he was crouched on the stone platform, droplets of water dripping from the tips of his hair. His entire body felt as if all his bones were about to fall apart.
Several dozen meters away, Huishenshi appeared relaxed, but that was far from the truth. The Soul Puppet behind him was evaporating into black smoke. After just a few exchanges in close combat, a Technique Grandmaster-level Soul Puppet had been rendered useless—like a goddamn dream.
Huishenshi, with his dark-golden pupils narrowed, knew that the only way to win this situation was to plunge deeper into the Abyss. He had long prepared for this.
A shockwave spread outward from Huishenshi as the epicenter, enveloping him in black smoke. The smoke dissipated in an instant, revealing Huishenshi floating half a meter above the water. His height had increased to over 1.95 meters, and his bare upper body was more muscular than before.
Normally, transforming into a combat form would take a few seconds, but Huishenshi completed it in the blink of an eye. This was to minimize any chance of Su Xiao charging in and slashing him mid-transformation.
A twisted black energy field appeared around Huishenshi, and cracks like shattered glass spread through the surrounding air. This was the true presence of Huishenshi absorbing Abyssal Force—the earlier exchanges were merely probing.
Huishenshi looked toward an empty spot. Baha, hiding in the alternate space there, felt his breath catch.
"Damn it~"
Baha had just opened his mouth when he suddenly felt excruciating pain all over, followed by a sense of restraint. By the time he reacted, Huishenshi had already grabbed his head with one hand and squeezed.
Crack.
Baha split open—his skull cracked. Barely escaping with a spatial shift, Baha landed dizzily on Su Xiao's shoulder, blood trickling from his beak and nostrils.
"Boss, that move just now... too... too sudden. I didn't sense anything. It wasn't spatial ability."
With bloodshot eyes, Baha said this before fading back into the alternate space.
A hundred meters away, Bubu Wang, who was providing a buff aura from hiding, instinctively held his breath. He was terrified at that moment.
Thump, thump!
Two black spikes shot up from beneath Su Xiao's feet. He leaped backward repeatedly, causing a large number of tracking black spikes to appear along his path.
These spikes were spiral-shaped, black with a gray metallic texture, formed from a mixture of Abyss energy and some substance. Being hit by them would not only cause piercing wounds but also bring devastating debuffs.
Su Xiao stopped his backward leaps as the wind noise ceased. He made a slashing motion in the air.
"Blade Path: Azure Demon."
Zheng~
A blue-green slash over three meters in diameter shot out diagonally. This slash was unstoppable, carrying a whistling wind as it hurtled toward Huishenshi.
Floating low in the air, Huishenshi pressed one hand forward. With a crack, the Azure Demon shattered a few meters in front of him, breaking into fragments of blue-green slash that flew past him.
At that moment, the faint red glow in Su Xiao's eyes shifted to light blue. The Azure Demon fragments scattered behind Huishenshi suddenly reversed direction. These were not mere slash fragments—they were the Azure Demon splitting into numerous smaller slashes just before being dispersed by the dark energy.
Under Su Xiao's control, these mini Azure Demons slashed back, cutting into Huishenshi's back.
And then... they failed to break through his defense. Damn! Trash!
"..."
Huishenshi frowned, sensing something was off, and remained wary of any follow-up from these mini Azure Demons. In truth, he was overthinking it.
After the initial exchange, Su Xiao had roughly assessed Huishenshi's combat style. His opponent favored mid-range combat, with decent but not sustained close-combat ability.
That said, Huishenshi had multiple anti-close-combat measures. Just that Dark Impact alone was enough to give anyone a headache, and each time Su Xiao was hit by his abilities, he accumulated Dark Marks.
Once a Dark Mark was applied, all life recovery effects were forcibly reduced by 50%. Moreover, if the mark stacked to 10 layers, it would detonate.
After the Dark Mark exploded, a "Reincarnation Puppet" would appear behind Su Xiao. This puppet's effect was to synchronize a target's mobility, forcibly immobilizing them for 3 to 5 seconds.
This ability was not mental control, nor even a control-type ability per se—it was a synchronization of mobility. Thus, it could not be resisted by various passive immunities.
In the heat of battle, even being immobilized for 1 second could end the fight, let alone 3 to 5 seconds.
The good news was that Su Xiao could counter this with his Aoge ability by crystallizing the Reincarnation Puppet, but that required 0.6 to 0.8 seconds.
This brief period of restraint was extremely dangerous. Huishenshi's "Dark Finger" ability could easily blow Su Xiao's head off during that window.
As for Huishenshi's ability to suddenly pull someone toward him—don't be ridiculous. Huishenshi would never use that on Su Xiao.
Additionally, the 45 puppets Huishenshi summoned at the start of the battle were especially troublesome. They had already formed an encirclement, trapping Su Xiao within.
The Eye of the Gods detection was ineffective against Huishenshi, blocked by some piece of equipment. With his extensive combat experience, Su Xiao sensed that Huishenshi's current combat system was not complicated—it was similar to his own: simple and brutal.
Su Xiao's fighting relied entirely on his blade. Huishenshi, on the other hand, was now deeply attuned to Abyssal Force. His "Extreme Dark Domain," "Dark Finger," and "Dark Impact" might seem simple, but abilities honed to their peak were the most troublesome and terrifying—high power, wide range, and short cooldowns.
Su Xiao's perception field gradually contracted. He lowered his stance slightly, his longsword pointing diagonally at the now-clear water surface.
Zzzt~
Black threads spread across Huishenshi's arms, connecting to the 45 puppets. Their eyes gradually regained life—some filled with reluctance, others with anger, but most with resignation.
At Huishenshi's command, the sound of puppets stepping on the water came from all around.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Three large dark-blue fireballs shot out, the heat approaching Su Xiao from his right.
"Blade Path: Devour."
Whoosh—a dark red chain of light slashed out, dispersing the three fireballs. As he delivered this slash, Su Xiao smoothly sheathed his blade and performed a 0.12-second ultra-brief draw-and-charge.
"Blade Path: Ring Break."
A circular blade aura expanded outward. But the charging puppets were no pushovers—some braced against it, some leaped forward, and a short-haired girl even executed a slide.
The short-haired girl pressed her hand to the water. With a bang, white smoke rose, and several pus-covered three-headed dogs emerged from it—an enhanced version of the Summoning Technique.
The three-headed dogs lunged at Su Xiao. He held his longsword horizontally in front of him. The Blade Domain might be ineffective against a big boss, but it was perfect for dealing with these puppets.
The Blade Domain expanded, covering over a hundred meters around him. Streaks of light-blue slashes shot out one after another.
Zheng, zheng, zheng...
Flesh and blood splattered. When the Blade Domain's effect ended, large chunks of meat and bone fragments littered the stone platform. Blood fell like rain, dyeing the water around Su Xiao red.
Huishenshi stood across from him, unmoving. The defense layer around him, covered in slash marks, shattered.
The moment all the puppets were destroyed, their flesh and blood turned incandescent red and exploded.
Thud!
The explosion did not spread outward but, defying physics, surged toward Su Xiao, stripping away the crystal layer on his body layer by layer.
When the explosion ceased, steam dissipated. The crystal layer on Su Xiao's body was in tatters. A black Reincarnation Puppet synchronized behind him, rapidly crystallizing while also binding his mobility.
The sound of wind rushed toward him. A deathly dark ray grew larger in Su Xiao's vision, aimed straight at his brow. Unavoidable. He activated Dragon Shadow Flash, piercing through space.
His entire body ached from the explosion, but Su Xiao still surged forward. Dragon Shadow Flash covered 35 meters in an instant. A loud bang came from behind him—the Dark Finger he had dodged. If he hadn't evaded it, he would have been headshot.
Su Xiao charged at full speed, slashing out several blade auras to try and slow Huishenshi.
Zzzt!
A black-purple laser swept past. Su Xiao narrowly dodged. Wherever this black laser passed, chain explosions occurred instantly.
This black-purple laser slowed Su Xiao's momentum. He noticed an eye floating above Huishenshi had fired it.
"Blade Path: Azure Demon."
The Azure Demon slashed through, cutting the Abyssal Eye in two. But Su Xiao immediately regretted it—the eye regenerated instantly, splitting into two Abyssal Eyes.
Dodging the sweeping black-purple lasers, Su Xiao successfully closed in to a few meters from Huishenshi. In their fight, getting this close meant a chance to beat Huishenshi down hard.
Huishenshi, on the other hand, could often hit Su Xiao, but Su Xiao's survivability was high, allowing him to endure.
If their stats were ranked from E to S:
Huishenshi: Knockback Ability - S, Survivability - A+, Close Combat - A+, Mid-Range Attack - S, Luck - A (Temporary).
Su Xiao: Charge Ability - S, Survivability - S, Close Combat - S+, Luck - E.
Su Xiao turned into a blood shadow, charging to Huishenshi's front. Floating half a meter above the water, Huishenshi's aura contracted, then expanded.
Boom! Waves of Dark Impact surged forward continuously. Su Xiao raised his crystal arm to block, crouching low to lower his center of gravity while reverse-gripping his sword and stabbing it into the ground.
The spine of Dragon-Slashing Flash carved a groove over ten meters long into the stone platform before Su Xiao stopped retreating.
The longsword cut through the air, leaving a wind scar. This "Flow" slash was utterly seamless.
The wind scar passed, and a bloodstain appeared on Huishenshi's chest. The sword-staff in his hand snapped in two. He discarded the broken weapon, and a black spiral spear formed from Abyssal Force appeared in his hand.
Clang! The spiral spear clashed with the longsword. Huishenshi, in his floating stance, was knocked back and landed on his feet.
Clang!
The longsword came at him again, this slash feeling straightforward, swift, and powerful.
Huishenshi's arm holding the weapon throbbed with pain, but his close-combat skill was no joke. Among eighth-rank fighters, few could match Huishenshi in melee—though Su Xiao was not among them.
Originally similar in height to Su Xiao, Huishenshi's dark form now stood nearly two meters tall. Leveraging his height advantage and the close range of their locked weapons, he clenched his left fist, reinforced with dark energy, and punched at Su Xiao.
Wind pressure rushed toward him. Su Xiao's left arm was free, so he clenched his fist and met the punch.
With a crack, Su Xiao's left arm shattered, throwing him off balance. The edge of his longsword scraped past the spiral spear, unable to hold off the enemy's weapon.
Seizing the opportunity, Huishenshi prepared to press the attack. But a gust of foul wind hit him—the crystal arm he had shattered had turned into dozens of 20-centimeter-long, razor-sharp crystal spikes aimed at his face. If hit, he would be blinded if not killed.
Huishenshi raised one hand to block his face while swinging the spiral spear horizontally with the other. In a sense, Huishenshi was now also a technique-type fighter, having temporarily mastered Spear Grandmaster through twelve Soul Puppets. Quality was lacking, so quantity made up for it—he was assimilating the souls of twelve Spear Grandmasters from their past lives.
The sweeping spear aura came at him. Su Xiao advanced instead of retreating. Huishenshi's close combat was decent, but in Su Xiao's eyes, it lacked "soul." His mid-range combat was the real threat. Before Huishenshi's Dark Impact recovered, he couldn't push Su Xiao back.
Su Xiao stepped forward, holding his longsword at his side. The newly formed crystal arm pressed against the blade's spine. This move was called "Immovable: Firm," a common technique among blade users, simple but specifically designed to counter sweeping attacks.
Clang!!
The sweeping spiral spear was deflected. Huishenshi, with one hand blocking his face, felt his other hand go numb, as if he had struck an immovable mountain.
With a crackling sound, crystal spikes hit Huishenshi's blocking hand. Combined with his deflected sweep, his defenses were wide open. Fortunately, his Dark Impact had just come off cooldown, allowing him to push Su Xiao back and resume his preferred mid-range combat.
Just as Huishenshi showed signs of using Dark Impact, Su Xiao's pupils slightly contracted. He found a long-lost feeling.
"Opening!"
Su Xiao delivered a straight kick, hitting Huishenshi square in the abdomen.
Thud~
It didn't produce the usual loud bang, as this was a kick aimed at an opening, focusing on penetrating force.
Sure enough, Huishenshi's lower back bulged for an instant as the force passed through. The water behind him exploded dozens of meters high.
Huishenshi felt numbness throughout his body. Instinctively, he supported himself with one hand, dropping to one knee.
"Blade Path: Extreme."
The longsword slashed at Huishenshi's neck. The blade cut through flesh, reaching the bone. Dozens of scale-covered claws appeared, trying to grab Dragon-Slashing Flash, but they were taught a lesson in sharpness as the scaled fingers were severed.
"Dark Repulse."
Huishenshi finally used Dark Impact. That kick and slash had nearly killed him on the spot.
Boom!
The impact came from the front. Su Xiao's black hair flew back, and the tears in his leather coat widened. Bloody wounds appeared on his body from the incoming force. His crystal left arm had transformed into a dragon-wing-like crystal claw, deeply embedded in the stone platform to prevent being blasted away.
The stone platform, tougher than metal, was gouged as debris flew. Su Xiao endured this Dark Impact, only being pushed back a few meters. The special crystal left arm shattered, reforming into a normal crystal arm.
Blood dripped from Su Xiao's chin as he stared at Huishenshi like a hunting beast. Noticing Su Xiao's ferocious gaze, Huishenshi's cheek twitched.
"Ha!"
Huishenshi pushed forward with one hand, enduring the backlash from his cracked organs to forcibly use Dark Impact.
Boom! Su Xiao was finally blasted back dozens of meters. Huishenshi then spat out a large mouthful of black-red blood. Getting close to Su Xiao had left him beaten like a goddamn dream.
Under Huishenshi's control, spiral spikes shot up from the ground or rained down from above.
Su Xiao seemed heavily injured from enduring two consecutive Dark Impacts, moving slower than before. He was hit repeatedly by the spiral spikes, piercing his abdomen and thigh, blood pouring out.
The Dark Marks on Su Xiao reached 10 layers. A Reincarnation Puppet appeared behind him, immobilizing him instantly, though the puppet was also rapidly crystallizing.
Huishenshi pointed at Su Xiao from a distance. Twisted marks appeared on Su Xiao's neck and face—Dark Marks, materializing out of thin air.
Three Reincarnation Puppets appeared behind Su Xiao simultaneously. Huishenshi's energy consumption spiked, his face paling slightly. He controlled a black-red spiral spear to shoot toward Su Xiao's head. If it hit, death was certain.
Su Xiao was completely immobilized. Four Reincarnation Puppets total appeared behind him. Crystallizing all of them would take at least 2 seconds. If he did nothing during that time, his headless corpse would be on the ground in 2 seconds.
With a loud bang, Su Xiao's head was shattered by the black-red spiral spear. The four Reincarnation Puppets behind him vanished. Blood spread beneath Su Xiao's headless body. Due to his immense vitality, he didn't die immediately after his head was destroyed, slowly raising an arm.
Huishenshi was stunned for a moment. Though he hadn't received a kill notification, Su Xiao's state suggested he wasn't completely dead yet, but it was close. His blood energy was steadily weakening. Had this man, whom he considered his lifelong nemesis, really... died?
Pfft!
A longsword suddenly pierced through Huishenshi's back, the bloodstained tip emerging from his chest. This slash was too sudden, coming from a spatial rift.
It was Su Xiao, piercing through space, delivering this strike. He had used blood energy, soul energy, and part of his life force to create a "False Death Body"—this wasn't his first time doing so.
Huishenshi's heart was pierced. He instinctively raised his hand to press against the blade protruding from his chest. Su Xiao, behind him, flicked the longsword upward, cutting it out from Huishenshi's shoulder.
"You..."
Huishenshi dropped to one knee, weakened, pressing his hand to his spurting chest. Amid his incredulous gaze lurked a barely detectable calm.
Behind Huishenshi, Su Xiao gave him no chance, preparing to slash off his head. But as the blade descended, a strong sense of palpitations struck him, making him abandon the strike and instead deliver a straight kick, sending Huishenshi flying.
Huishenshi broke through a wave of air, landing on the water in the distance, plowing up a large spray. As he stood up, his spine, bent backward by the kick, cracked and popped as it realigned.
A 10-centimeter-tall black mist puppet, shaped like a Teru Teru Bōzu, detached from Huishenshi's chest. If Su Xiao had beheaded Huishenshi, it wouldn't have been Huishenshi who died, but Su Xiao himself.
This was Puppeteer Huishenshi. Don't be fooled by the simple, brutal abilities he was using now—his signature techniques were all insidiously cunning.
A few drops of blood inside the small black mist puppet evaporated—Su Xiao's blood. Huishenshi had collected it somewhere.
The darkness behind Huishenshi converged, quickly forming a giant eye. But at that moment, double vision hit him. The approaching Su Xiao became blurry.
With a splash, Huishenshi fell, collapsing sideways onto the water. Blue arcs of electricity emerged from his heart—the Cyan Steel Shadow Energy Su Xiao had left there when he pierced his heart, now detonating.
It seemed Huishenshi had entered a weakened state, but in truth, this old yinbi's acting was explosive.
A dozen meters away, Su Xiao wiped the blood from his chin and stepped toward Huishenshi. His own condition was poor—multiple organs were displaced or ruptured. The repeated Dark Marks had reduced his recovery ability to below 5%. The regeneration from Undying Shadow and recovery potions was negligible.
Su Xiao vanished from his spot, reappearing beside Huishenshi. He reverse-gripped his sword and stabbed downward at Huishenshi's head.
Blood splattered. The stab missed, hitting the stone platform beside Huishenshi's head. As a Blade Grandmaster, such a mistake shouldn't happen. But as he stabbed, spiral black spikes burst out from within his torso, like a giant sea urchin exploding inside his chest. For anyone else, this would have been fatal.
Missing his stab, Su Xiao followed up with a side cut. This seemingly unremarkable slash was coated with a layer of crystal—a strike enhanced by Azure Shadow King.
The blade cut across Huishenshi's face, nearly slicing through half his skull. He floated backward in a retreating posture, leaving a trail of blood. His mind buzzed, his sense of direction faltering. This plain slash had cost him half his life.
Huishenshi realized that Su Xiao's flashy moves—like the blue-green blade aura or the large domain slashes—were actually mediocre. The domain slashes in particular were like scraping. But the ordinary-looking slashes, seemingly just basic attacks, were terrifyingly powerful.
"Haah, haah~"
Su Xiao's breathing gradually steadied. His blood energy erupted slightly, blasting out the spiral black spikes piercing him from the inside out. He pressed one hand to his chest as several Spirit Shadow Threads entered his body, prioritizing the stitching of his pierced heart.
A dozen meters away, Huishenshi was in bad shape too. He couldn't understand one thing: logically, having embraced the Abyss, he should be the boss faction, with Su Xiao as the challenger. But the reality was that the challenger was tankier than the boss. Huishenshi felt stifled as a boss, but thinking of the 43,000+ mana points the guy had, he had nothing to say.
Darkness spread around Huishenshi. His killing move was ready—it was time to settle this.
Darkness surged toward him. Su Xiao sensed Huishenshi's aura growing more terrifying. This was clearly a final showdown.
"Blade Path: Blood Shadow."
Su Xiao vanished into a blood shadow, reappearing in front of Huishenshi. He swung a slashing motion in the air.
Whoosh—a dark red chain of light cut through. This slash was sudden, but Huishenshi was prepared. Darkness erupted from him in all directions.
"Blade Path: Time."
The domain of Time advanced against the darkness. Though it didn't disperse the darkness, it slowed the incoming impact.
On the opposite side, Huishenshi's dark-golden eyes gleamed with a captivating light.
"Puppet: Thunder Guide."
Boom! Black lightning poured down, engulfing Su Xiao.
Within the black lightning, Huishenshi held a scepter from the Abyss. He only needed to aim it at Su Xiao, and all the black lightning would surge into Su Xiao's body before detonating. This strike was a guaranteed kill...
Zheng~
A blade aura cut through the black lightning. Huishenshi's left arm went numb—it had been severed. He had researched much of Su Xiao's data, but he wasn't omniscient. Few knew Su Xiao could use World Lightning, as most who did were dead, so few knew of his high lightning resistance.
This black lightning wasn't Huishenshi's only trump card. Sensing its poor effect, he switched from offense to defense, using the continuous black lightning to temporarily suppress Su Xiao's mobility. Seizing this chance, a black shadow appeared behind Huishenshi.
The moment this shadow appeared, the sky darkened. The clear water around them turned black again. Countless wandering souls took shape on the black water, forming outlines. In an instant, the vast water surface was filled with various figures made of black water—some like giants, some one-eyed and headless, some resembling war ghosts. Among them was even the figure of the Ghost Clan Queen, though her features were blurred.
All this happened in an instant. The black shadow behind Huishenshi merged into him, turning his right arm black and his eyes pitch dark.
Boom! The ground beneath Huishenshi's feet cracked. In the blink of an eye, he was in front of Su Xiao, his right hand transformed into a claw aimed at Su Xiao's face. It felt as if the darkness of the entire world was rushing toward him. Without an iron will, one's mind would collapse on the spot, leaving no chance to resist.
Wind pressure hit him. Su Xiao, having narrowed his perception to the limit, sensed the threat of life and death. He judged that this attack was a finishing move—if it touched him, there would be no chance.
"Blade Path: Time."
The domain of Time expanded, slowing everything around him. Su Xiao didn't intend to clash ultimate moves with the enemy. Victory in battle sometimes came down to capturing a single moment—life and death in an instant was no joke.
Everything around Su Xiao vanished from his perception. The splashing water droplets disappeared, the surging dark energy vanished. In his perception, only Huishenshi's claw, wreathed in black smoke, remained. Guided by his perception, Su Xiao slashed diagonally. This slash felt slow to him but was as fast as thunder to Huishenshi.
Swish—the longsword severed Huishenshi's right arm. Drops of blood splattered. This slash was clean, sharp, and supremely elegant. This was a Technique Grandmaster.
After delivering this breathtaking slash, Su Xiao sidestepped slightly, dodging the flying black arm. He didn't want to be touched by it.
Then, Su Xiao followed up with a straight kick to break the opening. Thud—Huishenshi was kicked to one knee, his entire body numb and immobile. The darkness in his eyes rapidly faded, but his gaze remained resolute.
Dark-blue smoke clung to Dragon-Slashing Flash. The Demon Blade ability activated. Su Xiao gripped the sword with both hands and slashed across Huishenshi's chest.
Pfft!
After the slash, blood splattered. The Abyssal Force within Huishenshi visibly peeled away. His height and physique gradually returned to normal. The countless black water phantoms on the surrounding water collapsed, reverting to clear water.
All the darkness and Abyssal Spawn were driven back by this Demon Blade slash. Huishenshi, on one knee with both arms severed, had a diagonal cut across his entire torso, from which dark-blue smoke slowly drifted.
Huishenshi lay on his back, looking at the cloudless sky. "What a good day to hit the road," he said with a smile.
The light in his eyes rapidly faded. To some extent, Su Xiao was Huishenshi's nemesis. The Demon Blade ability was highly effective against Huishenshi's core Puppet ability, "Soul Body Reincarnation." With his soul and consciousness being severed, this ability naturally failed.
Finally, Huishenshi's eyes completely lost their light, a smile still on his face. There was no fear of death, only acceptance—because he could afford to lose.
Huishenshi was dead, slain here by the last Shadow of Law Destruction, the Eighth Rank Hunter of Reincarnation Paradise.
Nearby, Su Xiao flicked the blood off his blade and slowly sheathed it. After confirming no other enemies were around, he sat down. His injuries were too severe—he was lightheaded and on the verge of death.
Fighting Huishenshi, Su Xiao had been unable to recover health throughout the battle. His life recovery effect had been reduced to just 1.75%. Drinking a bottle of [Vitality Concentrate] restored a little over 1.5% of his health. Bubu Wang's recovery aura was practically fake.
[Notification: You have killed High-Risk Violator No. 120012.]
[You have obtained Scarlet Card (★★★★★★★★).]
[You have obtained Proof of Honor (can be used to exchange for any item in the Honor Shop, ignoring its price).]
...
Sitting near Huishenshi's corpse, Su Xiao pulled out a bloodstained cigarette and lit it. He looked up at the sky—just as Huishenshi had said, it was indeed good weather.
Huishenshi, slain.