# Chapter 2: Seeking Stability and Retreat, Ultimately Either Dying at the Hands of Spellcasters or Being Forced to Go to the Eternal Light World and Die Under the Siege of the World-Destroying Clan
Is this still a choice? No, it isn't. In whose life hasn't there been one or two forced decisions, let alone in a place like Reincarnation Paradise where lives are gambled.
Crack~
Su Xiao crushed the potion bottle in his hand. The blood-like viscous potion seeped into his skin and was quickly absorbed by his body.
[Dragon Blood Potion (Ninth Rank)]
Effect: After use, maximum health increased by 20%, physical strength increased by 15%.
Tip: This potion's effect lasts for 800 seconds.
...
With the dual-blade state active and the soul core switched to [Swift Soul Core], the center of Su Xiao's pupils emitted a blue light representing extreme speed.
With a bang of spatial explosion, Bubu Wang, Baha, and Holy Poem appeared. Actually, Bubu Wang had also arrived, but the moment the spatial teleportation was completed, it merged into the environment.
"White Night, is this the final strong enemy you mentioned? I feel..."
Before Holy Poem could finish her sentence, the ring on her fair index finger exploded with a snap. This caused her pupils to contract to their smallest, because the enemy was so strong that the early warning equipment had exploded.
Holy Poem raised her hand and threw over a dozen light orbs that sank into Su Xiao's back, then she retreated to the very edge of the battlefield. Undoubtedly, this was the fastest she had ever applied buffs.
"Amu."
"Moo!"
Holding the Dragonheart Axe, Amu charged forward like a bull, rushing toward the Betrayer. Wherever it passed, large patches of frost marks were left behind.
As per usual, Amu went up to get beaten... cough, went up to test the enemy's abilities, creating an opportunity for Su Xiao to gain the first strike advantage.
With the activation of the charge ability, Amu's running speed increased sharply, getting faster and faster. When it was just a few meters away from the Betrayer, Amu leaped up, gripped the axe handle with both hands, and brought the axe down in an overhead cleave.
Clang! The Dragonheart Axe struck the blade that was raised horizontally to block. The Betrayer's swordsmanship was simple and condensed, without any flashiness, displaying the style of a master.
The impact from the blade and axe clash spread. Before Amu could steady its breath, it felt the axe handle in its hands pressed down by a force of ten thousand jun. The force transmitted from the enemy's blade made it instinctively tense all its muscles, leaning forward as if to engage in a contest of strength.
Just as Amu used all its strength, the force on the blade in front suddenly disappeared, causing Amu's center of gravity to lurch forward. But this feeling lasted less than 0.5 seconds before a vast slashing force pressed down from the Dragonheart Axe.
Slap!
Amu, seemingly locked in a contest of strength with the Betrayer, had its body penetrated by force from various points, resulting in dozens of wound-like cuts appearing on its body. Blood splattered spectacularly in all directions.
Amu only saw a blur of red before its eyes, barely able to make out the silhouette of the Betrayer. On the other side, the Betrayer swept his long blade, sending the Dragonheart Axe flying with a clang.
Amu's combat experience was exceptionally rich. After losing the Dragonheart Axe, it covered its entire body with a layer of ice.
Seeing this, the Betrayer didn't slash at Amu's neck. Instead, he flipped the blade in his hand, changing to the spine of the blade facing outward, and slashed diagonally downward at Amu's knee.
Bang!
Although the blade spine had no edge, it had greater crushing force and armor-breaking ability. With one slash, Amu's right leg went numb, its leg bone shattered, causing it to kneel on one knee. The force vibration from this blade spine strike caused the ice layer covering its entire body to explode. The ice layer was like that—strong against slashing, but against blunt force, once one point broke, it shattered entirely like tempered glass.
Without any visible movement from the Betrayer, his long blade had already changed to a forward grip, slashing at Amu's neck. If this blade struck, Amu would surely die on the spot.
The blade edge cut through the air, leaving a black mark that split space. A long blade wrapped in blue crystals met the Betrayer's Law-Destroying Blade. The two blades clashed.
Clang!!
The crystal layer on Dragon-Slaying Flash shattered, but the powerful slashing force it carried made the Betrayer, with his imposing figure, take half a step back.
The impact from the clash lifted a layer of the weathered rock ground on the battlefield. The rock fragments had just flown up when they were shattered into powder by the subsequent shockwave and scattered.
If it were a normal clash, Su Xiao would definitely be the one knocked back. But after his battle with the Sand King, Su Xiao was deeply impressed by the memory of being struck by the [Abyss Fall] heavy sword. Therefore, he paid special attention to this technique of greatly increasing weapon weight through highly compressed crystal layers, using it to gain an advantage in the initial clash.
It seemed to work well, but it could only be used once per battle. Once the opponent was on guard, this technique could become a weakness.
Being knocked back by Su Xiao's blade, a flash of surprise appeared in the Betrayer's eyes. But this surprise was immediately replaced by sharp killing intent. He stepped forward and slashed down with force, swift and powerful. Though it seemed simple and unadorned, it was actually the ultimate refinement of this slash.
Facing this incoming slash, Su Xiao could only block horizontally. It wasn't that he didn't want to dodge, but as the slash came, the surrounding aura and space were all swept up by it. If he tried to evade, the most likely outcome would be being decapitated in astonishment.
Clang!
The slashing force transmitted from Dragon-Slaying Flash numbed Su Xiao's right arm. The impact from the slash sent him flying backward uncontrollably. But this was exactly what he wanted. His left hand, wrapped in a metal arm guard, reached out and grabbed Amu, who was kneeling on one knee and in a state of shock, and they flew backward together.
Baha silently appeared behind the Betrayer, its sharp eagle claws aiming for the back of the Betrayer's neck. The Betrayer seemed not to notice, allowing Baha to approach.
Suddenly, the Betrayer's long blade tilted to one side, and a resonant sound erupted from the blade.
Clang!!
A sound wave carrying dark ripples enveloped Baha. Baha felt that not only were all the cells in its body vibrating, but even its soul was affected by this vibration. This ruined its control over distance and speed to an extreme degree, making it difficult to even continue flying. It swooped past the Betrayer's ear, its claws grabbing nothing.
"Damn it!"
Baha fled at full speed, trying to get away from the Betrayer. But hearing its curse, which was clearly not a good word, the Betrayer's empty left hand struck backhandedly.
With a slap, only a few broken black-blue feathers and blood droplets were left in the air. Baha had broken through the speed limit of its life, turning into a straight line flying toward the tree wall on the side.
With a rumble, dry broken wood splattered everywhere. Baha was slammed into the tree wall, its deformed wings twitching twice before it stopped moving.
At the very edge of the battlefield, Holy Poem had already summoned the [Holy Song Knight Legion]. All 12 knights had removed their armor, shields, and other equipment, discarding their ranged weapons as well. They drew the twin blades from behind their waists, each blade showing bloodstains and measuring over 1.2 meters in length, looking both crimson and sharp.
Under Holy Poem's command, the 12 twin-blade mad dogs charged fiercely at the Betrayer. Although Holy Poem didn't expect them to hold off the Betrayer for long, at least it would buy time for their main force, White Night, to catch his breath and stabilize the nearly collapsing situation.
The 12 twin-blade mad dogs rushed to the Betrayer's vicinity, looking as if they would tear him to pieces. But in the next second, a ring-shaped slash carrying black flames suddenly spread outward.
Whoosh! A ring-shaped black flame slash with a diameter of 100 meters swept through. The 12 twin-blade mad dogs all disappeared. More precisely, they turned into minced meat and weapon fragments, clattering to the ground.
Seeing this, Holy Poem's breath caught in her throat. Watching Su Xiao fight the Betrayer, she hadn't felt a strong sense of pressure. But now, directly engaging the Betrayer, she truly experienced this unparalleled pressure. Just one slash, and all her combat methods were gone.
The Betrayer looked toward Holy Poem. His calm eyes, filled with cold killing intent, made Holy Poem's heart suddenly stop, contracting to the extreme. It felt like an invisible hand was gripping the back of her neck.
At that moment, a black shadow appeared behind Holy Poem. This shadow held a crystal curved scythe, slashing at Holy Poem's neck. This slash, though it wouldn't harm Holy Poem's physical body, would sever her soul.
With a bang, the sound of a side-swinging fist came from behind Holy Poem. Amidst the scattered black smoke, Holy Poem felt a hand grab the back of her neck, crushing a crystal shell that had appeared there without her knowledge. Her heart, which had contracted to its limit, began to beat again.
[Tip: You have avoided this soul severance.]
[Tip: You have received the debuff effect of Abyss Gaze. For the next 48 hours, your willpower is temporarily reduced by 50 points, maximum health reduced by 20%, weak to soul damage, weak to abyss damage.]
...
Seeing this prompt, Holy Poem suddenly felt a bit wronged. Recalling her experiences since arriving in this world, first Nightmare Island, meeting the Candle Woman and the Nightmare King, then fighting the Radiance God, then dealing with the Sand King, and now facing the Betrayer, Shaman Archid. These enemies were each more absurdly strong than the last. She was just a newly promoted ninth-rank healing type. The more she thought about it, the more wronged she felt.
Holy Poem turned her head, looking at Su Xiao with both indignation and resentment. Just as she was about to say something, she noticed blood dripping from Su Xiao's sleeve onto his long blade. A gold-green light mass appeared in Holy Poem's hand, healing Su Xiao. This healing action immediately made her feel the Betrayer's gaze focus on her again, and she quickly retreated.
The battle had just begun. Baha was severely injured, Amu's mobility was greatly reduced, Holy Poem had nearly been soul-severed, and Bubu Wang, lurking at the edge of the battlefield, was absolutely terrified.
Black-blue smoke drifted from the Betrayer's body. Although he had only made three slashes since the battle began, he gave off an unimaginable sense of pressure. Now he stared at Su Xiao, his brow furrowing slightly for some reason.
"You don't even know how to use the Blade Demon Spirit. Foolish."
The Betrayer, holding his long blade with one hand, pointed it diagonally at the ground. Black-blue smoke drifted from the blade. Seeing this, Su Xiao looked puzzled. He couldn't understand why, so early in the battle, the opponent had directly activated the Demon Blade.
The black-blue smoke emanating from the Law-Destroying Blade quickly formed a black mist figure.
At the center of this black mist figure's chest was a slowly beating crimson heart core. It held a crystal long blade in its hand. From the center of its back, a finger-thick smoke rope extended, connecting to the end of the handle of the Law-Destroying Blade in the Betrayer's hand. It was obvious that this black-blue smoke rope could stretch very long and thin.
Whoosh!
The Blade Demon Spirit suddenly charged out. Not only was it fast, but it was also extremely erratic. In an instant, it was in front of Su Xiao, but was blocked midway by Amu.
Cold air spread. A large ice shield was constructed, held by Amu with one hand to withstand the crystal long blade slash of the Blade Demon Spirit. But unexpectedly, the crystal weapon in the Blade Demon Spirit's hand quickly transformed into a crystal war hammer with a head as thick as a bucket. With full force, it smashed down.
Bang!
The ice shield was smashed to pieces. Amu was forced to lean back due to the impact. But unexpectedly, the Blade Demon Spirit, which had just smashed down with the hammer, didn't endure the corresponding reaction force. It was made of black-blue smoke and could ignore reaction force through temporary atomization. So it swung another hammer, hitting Amu's shoulder.
Bang!
Flesh fragments splattered everywhere. Amu's strong arm holding the Dragonheart Axe flew off. Not only was its right shoulder smashed, but half of its torso was also crushed. Moreover, after the Blade Demon Spirit delivered a swift and powerful side kick, Amu flew in a straight line, crashing into the tree wall, very close to Baha's position.
Were Amu and Baha playing dead? Of course not. They were now breathing out more than in, barely kept alive by the recovery effects of potions.
Seeing Amu being pummeled, Su Xiao naturally wouldn't just watch. His blade cut a black mark through the air, carrying Azure Steel Shadow energy, dual soul-severing effects, blood energy enhancement, and various passive bonuses. He slashed once across the Blade Demon Spirit's neck. Then, nothing happened. This Blade Demon Spirit took no damage at all!
Clang!
The Blade Demon Spirit slashed at Su Xiao. The two blades clashed. What was even more astonishing was that this Blade Demon Spirit not only ignored all damage, but its attack force was also exceptionally swift and powerful. This thing had high attack, high agility, multiple attack states, and finally, it didn't take any attribute-based damage.
Clang!
Another clash with the Blade Demon Spirit. But in the next instant, a gust of wind hit Su Xiao's face. The Betrayer and the Blade Demon Spirit suddenly swapped positions. The Betrayer's slash came.
Clang! The impact from the clash spread outward. The tree walls around the battlefield were very special. Even steel should have been shattered by such an impact, but the tree walls absorbed the kinetic energy, only scattering large sparks.
Su Xiao had just blocked the Blade Demon Spirit's slash. His old strength was spent, new strength not yet born. Now he took another heavy slash from the Betrayer. He almost couldn't hold onto Dragon-Slaying Flash. Cracks appeared on his right arm under his sleeve, and blood seeped out.
Clang!
The Betrayer slashed down with force again. Su Xiao blocked with all his might. This surprised the Betrayer. In his estimation, this slash should have made Su Xiao drop his blade and fall.
The blade was indeed blocked, but the sound of breaking wind followed immediately. With a dull thud, while Su Xiao was holding up his blade to block, a 1-meter-long slender crystal cone arrow pierced through his chest and abdomen. Looking at the source of the attack, it was the Blade Demon Spirit holding a bow made of energy and crystal.
"Ha!"
The Betrayer let out a loud shout. His imposing aura pressed forward. After slashing Su Xiao back, in this opening, the Law-Destroying Blade in his hand emitted a deep blue glow. This caused the smoke rope connected to the end of the handle to tighten. The Blade Demon Spirit was pulled behind the Betrayer, as if overlapping with him.
The Betrayer slashed down again. Although he didn't use any flashy sword techniques, every slash he made gave the feeling of the sky pressing down, unavoidable, forcing one to endure the crisis.
Clang, clang.
Tight consecutive sounds came. It wasn't that the Betrayer had slashed twice at high speed, but that the Blade Demon Spirit attached behind him gave his single slash the force of two slashes. This was a block-breaking divine technique.
Su Xiao felt his right arm go numb. The long blade clashing with the enemy was knocked away by this secondary slashing force. A crystal layer immediately covered his chest and abdomen.
Bang!!
The Betrayer delivered a straight kick, sending Su Xiao crashing into the distant tree wall. This wasn't the end. The Blade Demon Spirit detached from the attachment state, and the crystal great bow in its hand fired repeatedly.
Bang, bang, bang.
Three arrows shot out simultaneously. Su Xiao, half embedded in the tree wall, raised his hand.
'Blood Smoke Cannon.'
The Blood Smoke Cannon shattered one crystal cone arrow.
'Blade Path Sword: Azure Demon.'
A blue-green slash flew out, striking the second crystal cone arrow and knocking it away. When Su Xiao prepared to deal with the third, he had no chance.
With a bang, his left shoulder went numb. A crystal cone arrow had pierced through his shoulder, sticking into him.
Dozens of meters away, the Betrayer's pitch-black eyes glowed blue. At the same time, the barbed crystal cone arrow stuck in Su Xiao's body also lit up with blue light.
Boom! Boom!
The two crystal cone arrows piercing Su Xiao's shoulder and side waist exploded, creating two bloody holes. In a very short time, a large pool of blood appeared under his feet.
"Hoo~"
Su Xiao steadied his breathing, feeling the healing ability from Holy Poem. The bloody holes in his shoulder and side waist were healing at a visible rate.
Su Xiao walked out from the smoke and dust. Several crystal cone arrows flew at extreme speed.
'Blade Path Sword: Time.'
With a thud, the impact of Time spread, slowing down the incoming crystal arrows. Su Xiao turned into a blood shadow, passing between these crystal arrows, and launched a surprise attack in front of the Betrayer.
'Blade Path Sword: Extreme.'
With a rumble, the two long blades clashed again. Sparks scattered across the entire battlefield. The edges of the two blades cut and rubbed against each other, making cracking sounds. On the side, the Blade Demon Spirit had already nocked an arrow and drawn the bow, the sharp arrow tip aimed at Su Xiao's neck.
A blood energy phantom over ten meters tall appeared above Su Xiao. A blood soul sank into his back. The blood energy phantom pointed at the Blade Demon Spirit.
'Super Blood Smoke Cannon.'
Thud!
The Blood Smoke Cannon blasted the Blade Demon Spirit into the distant tree wall. This attack was actually effective. The black-blue smoke on the Blade Demon Spirit's body scattered a bit.
Detecting this situation, Su Xiao felt somewhat speechless. There was only one way to attack this Blade Demon Spirit: attack it when it entered its physical form during an attack. Other than that, physical, energy, soul, and other attribute attacks were all ineffective against it.
Temporarily suppressing the Blade Demon Spirit, Su Xiao's long blade slashed repeatedly. Amidst the clanging of metal and scattering sparks, a blood soul sank into his back.
'Blade Path Sword: Slay.'
Su Xiao slashed diagonally. With a whoosh, a blood-colored chain slashed out. With the blood soul enhancement, the blood-colored chain slashed out by [Slay] appeared dark red, filled with scattered sparks.
But unexpectedly, the Betrayer on the opposite side shifted his body, barely dodging this dark red slashing chain. Not only that, he also counterattacked with a slash at Su Xiao.
Pfft~
Blood splattered. The blade cut into Su Xiao's chest, the wound extremely deep. Fortunately, he had a healing type behind him. A large mass of gold-green energy flew toward him.
Suddenly, the Betrayer disappeared. Su Xiao instinctively placed his long blade behind him. With a clang, he used the momentum of this slash to leap forward, turning in mid-air to face the Betrayer as he landed.
Because Su Xiao and the Betrayer had nearly swapped positions, Holy Poem's healing ability flew toward the Betrayer. Seeing this, Holy Poem wasn't concerned. Her healing abilities were all used based on the life fluctuations of the recipient, meaning they healed according to the person. Even if the Betrayer intercepted this healing ability...
Black mist climbed onto the Betrayer's hand. He grabbed the healing ability with one hand and absorbed it.
Before Holy Poem could react, a crystal cone arrow had pierced through her abdomen, pinning her to the tree wall.
[Warning: Your health has dropped to 5.9%.]
[Warning: You have entered a near-death state.]
[Your self-healing ability [Divine Regeneration] has been activated.]
[Your health has been restored to 100%.]
...
Boom!
The crystal cone arrow piercing through Holy Poem's abdomen and pinning her to the wall exploded.
[Warning: Your health has dropped to 3.1%.]
[Warning: You have entered a near-death state.]
...
Holy Poem didn't even see the last two prompts. She only had time to apply a slow healing ability to herself before her vision went black and she fainted.
With two dull thuds, Su Xiao slashed and exploded two crystal cone arrows flying toward Holy Poem. Although their healing type had fainted and couldn't provide treatment for now, they couldn't let the enemy kill her. Otherwise, this battle would be completely unwinnable.
Su Xiao and the Betrayer stared at each other from dozens of meters apart. After a brief exchange of glances, the Betrayer actually shifted his gaze to an empty spot at the edge of the battlefield. In reality, Bubu Wang, who had merged into the environment and was lurking there, was frozen with fear. This was truly the first time it felt what it was like to be stared at by an enemy in battle. It was now certain that this strong enemy could see it.
Suddenly, Bubu Wang saw a dark blue in front of its eyes. It vaguely saw a phantom appear in its vision.
Bubu Wang disengaged from the environment. Black-blue smoke drifted from its entire body. Its eyes turned pitch black. This was clearly being invaded and controlled by the Blade Demon Spirit.
"Roar!"
Bubu Wang let out the most imposing roar of its life, then was forcibly controlled by the Blade Demon Spirit to charge at Su Xiao. But before it could run a few steps, a crystal wall appeared in front of it. The Blade Demon Spirit immediately tried to control Bubu Wang to dodge, but Bubu Wang, once it started running, had very poor obstacle avoidance ability. It immediately slammed headfirst into the wall, then sat there with a confused dog face.
Bubu Wang's foolish behavior earned a wave of disgust from the Blade Demon Spirit, which immediately prepared to detach from Bubu Wang's body. But having just possessed Bubu Wang, it was difficult to detach immediately. It would take at least half a minute to detach. So it seemed that Bubu Wang had actually controlled the Blade Demon Spirit.
Clang, clang, clang...
The two long blades clashed repeatedly. Su Xiao switched the soul core back to [Swift Soul Core]. Although a prolonged battle was to his advantage—he could clearly feel that the Betrayer, due to aging and weakening, wasn't as imposing as at the start of the battle—the problem was that two technique-type fighters really couldn't fight a prolonged battle.
Plus, the Betrayer's strong pressure on Su Xiao gave him no opportunity to use his luck attribute to summon world thunder.
Clang!
The Law-Destroying Blade slashed down with force and was blocked. The rock ground under Su Xiao's feet cracked and sank. Ignoring the burden on his body, he slashed back.
'Blade Path Sword: Absolute Darkness.'
In the Betrayer's vision, the surrounding world suddenly turned pitch black. Only three incoming slashing marks remained in his eyes.
Thud~
Space itself twisted. The surrounding world became even darker. The three blue slashing marks in front of the Betrayer suddenly split apart, turning into a large area of slashes.
The Betrayer's aura contracted. He turned sideways and thrust his blade forward. With a crack, the darkness and slashes in front all shattered. The surrounding world returned to normal. This blade first pierced through Su Xiao's left forearm, then through his left shoulder, the tip emerging from the back of his shoulder.
Crack, crack, crack~
A crystal layer climbed onto Su Xiao's left forearm and left shoulder. His left forearm twisted upward with force, while his left shoulder tilted in the opposite direction. Using the torsion formed by the two, he fixed the Betrayer's Law-Destroying Blade. Then, the long blade in his right hand slashed upward.
Pfft.
Blood splattered. The Law-Destroying Blade was pulled from Su Xiao's shoulder and forearm, making the wound larger. The tip of Dragon-Slaying Flash slashed across the Betrayer's throat, barely cutting through the black-blue crystal layer and flesh.
Azure Steel Shadow energy invaded the Betrayer's wound. Not only did nothing happen, but the Betrayer also slashed twice in succession, knocking Su Xiao back several steps.
'Blood Smoke Cannon.'
Boom! The Blood Smoke Cannon was dodged by the Betrayer as he sidestepped. He also raised his hand and made a grasping motion toward Su Xiao. A millstone-sized pitch-black claw appeared behind Su Xiao, striking at him.
Su Xiao sidestepped to avoid it. But before he could land, he suddenly felt a pulling force coming from in front of him. Looking at the source of the suction, it was a dragon-eye-sized, radial dark light ball behind the Betrayer. The strong suction affected everything around. Broken rocks were sucked in and instantly devoured.
Su Xiao lowered his stance, stabbing Dragon-Slashing Flash into the ground. But after resisting the suction for a moment, he chose to actively move forward.
Using the suction in front, Su Xiao made a heavy slash. But just as he was about to slash, the dark core's suction stopped, replaced by a repulsive force.
After this reversal, Su Xiao almost twisted his waist. He immediately abandoned the slash, resisting the repulsive force coming at him. He lowered his stance, his left hand climbing with crystals to form a claw, and stabbed it into the ground beside him with a slap. But just as he exerted force to resist the repulsive force, it suddenly disappeared, turning back into suction. This combat-type Devouring Core was too shameless!
Because Su Xiao was resisting the repulsive force, his strength was forward. This sudden suction instantly brought him in front of the Betrayer, meeting a forceful slash.
Boom! Blocking this slash, the ground under Su Xiao's feet cracked. On the other side, the Betrayer delivered a straight kick.
Thud!
Su Xiao turned into a blur, flying backward into the tree wall behind him, smashing splintered wood everywhere. The Betrayer approached in a few steps. Though his pace didn't seem fast, a few steps covered a hundred meters as if it were just a few meters.
Zheng, zheng, zheng!
Several slashing marks cut through, leaving interwoven black-blue slashes in the air. The tree wall opposite was slashed through with a rumble.
Amidst the surging smoke and dust.
'Blade Path Sword: Blood Blade.'
Su Xiao turned into a blood-colored blur, a thrusting slash at extreme speed.
Clang!
The impact scattered. The Betrayer blocked this blade, exerting force on his long blade. With a screech, the blade edge cut through, and Dragon-Slashing Flash was knocked away.
Clang!! Clang!! Clang!!
After the Betrayer's three heavy and forceful slashes, although Su Xiao blocked them all, the force surging into his body made him spit out a large mouthful of blood.
Before the blood hit the ground, Su Xiao grabbed it with one hand, turning it into blood energy and throwing it out.
"Roar!"
Several mini versions of Blood Beast appeared. The Betrayer's wide sleeve blocked them. The mini Blood Beasts exploded one after another, and blood smoke that could block perception scattered.
With a whoosh, the Betrayer's wide sleeve flicked, and the surrounding blood smoke all dissipated. The 'Super Blood Smoke Cannon' blasted over.
Thud!!
The Betrayer was blasted back. After landing calmly and steadily, he flicked the blood off his blade, stepped forward with one foot.
"Ha!"
The Betrayer let out a loud shout. With this stomp, a dark light pillar erupted from the ground, just meeting Su Xiao charging forward. The blade light in the darkness caused large cracks in the long leather coat on his body, and multiple blood marks appeared on him.
Clang, clang!
Two slashes with overwhelming pressure came. Su Xiao was forced to block horizontally. But just as he blocked these two slashes, his body still numb, the Betrayer on the opposite side had already constructed a black light ball in his grasping hand, pulling it out with one hand.
'Dark Surge.'
Su Xiao twisted his body with all his might. A funnel-shaped, continuously expanding energy cannon blasted past, causing his left ear, which was close to it, to ring, and multiple afterimages appeared before his eyes.
The Betrayer's aura pressed forward from the front. Although Su Xiao was still in a state of shock, he had already drawn the Dead Silence Extinction and fired five consecutive shots at the Betrayer.
Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!
Five Extinction Bullets left the muzzle in succession. This made the Betrayer's expression become serious, and his aura suddenly surged. He slashed four times in succession, exploding four Extinction Bullets. The last one hit his chest. The area it hit immediately dried up, became woody, and fell off as withered residue.
Taking this opportunity, Su Xiao stepped forward and delivered a straight kick with full force.
Wind pressure hit his face. The Betrayer's slightly turbid eyes instantly regained sharpness. Everything around him slowed down. Unlike [Time], this technique of the Betrayer didn't slow himself down together with everything else.
Slap, slap!
The Betrayer used the end of the blade handle. The first strike hit Su Xiao's calf, the second hit Su Xiao's chin, causing Su Xiao to lose his center of gravity and crash to the ground with a boom, lying in a stone pit.
The Betrayer flipped his long blade, holding it in reverse grip and stabbing downward. Su Xiao, lying in the stone pit, immediately turned his head to dodge. But unexpectedly, after the Betrayer stabbed down, he followed up with a forward slash.
Su Xiao's neck went cold. Ignoring his injuries, he slapped the ground beneath him with one hand, using the reaction force to launch himself into the air. While airborne, he blocked the Betrayer's forceful overhead slash, causing him to fly out and crash into the tree wall dozens of meters away.
Su Xiao got up from the pit in the tree wall, holding his neck, which was spurting blood. Spirit Shadow Thread pierced through the flesh, stitching the wound, then pulled tight. The wound forcibly healed due to cell-level suturing.
Seeing this, the Betrayer's eyes showed some surprise. He indeed hadn't thought that the deep development of Azure Steel Shadow energy could have such a wonderful use. He pulled his hand, and several energy threads emitting black light appeared at his fingertips.
"Not bad."
Zheng!
The Betrayer slashed out an Azure Demon. Su Xiao slashed once, dispersing the incoming Azure Demon. The corner of his eye twitched almost imperceptibly.
A potion appeared in Su Xiao's hand. It was [Honor Recovery Potion (Ninth Rank)]. He crushed it, and the potion liquid seeped into his skin. His health quickly recovered. He couldn't enter the third stage now because he could easily be killed by the Betrayer in two slashes.
The discomfort in his body completely receded, but Su Xiao had no sense of security. Facing the Betrayer, this restored 100% health was just a matter of a few slashes. This strong enemy in front of him seemed to have no flashy or spectacular ultimate moves, but in reality, every normal slash was at the ultimate move level.
A badge appeared in Su Xiao's hand. It was [God Cult Badge].
[God Cult Badge: Aid (Active). Activating this effect will summon the Holy Song Legion or the Wolf Knight Squad (50% summoning probability each).]
Su Xiao activated it. The next second, a total of 30 Holy Song Legion members appeared behind him, including Holy Heart One.
This Holy Heart One held a spiral long spear in one hand. The spiral long spear was slender and sharp. The armor on Holy Heart One was made of golden scales and red fabric. Unlike the hardness of armor, it gave a sense of beauty while also possessing strong defense against both physical and energy attributes.
However, this big sister of the Holy Song Legion was a head shorter than the other 29 members, but her aura was several times stronger. It was unknown which generation of Holy Heart One this was.
"Hmph~"
Holy Heart One snorted coldly at Su Xiao. The other 29 Holy Song Legion members all turned into energy and merged into Holy Heart One's body. This was the peak state of the Holy Song Legion.
With a boom, Holy Heart One disappeared from her spot, turning into a gold-red sharp light, charging at the Betrayer. This Holy Heart One had a fiery temper. When she reached the Betrayer, she thrust her spear straight forward.
Clang!!
The Betrayer blocked with his blade. After taking this hit, he took a step back, judging Holy Heart One's strength.
'Sacred One: Ascension Blood Song!'
Holy Heart One's fishbone braid came loose, and golden hair flew. Just as they engaged, she used an ultimate-level ability right in his face. This showed how fiery her temper was. As for why Su Xiao didn't come forward to suppress the Betrayer, it was because this Holy Heart One was completely indiscriminate. Around her, one would lose 5% health per second, due to an ability called [Blazing Sun Judgment: Polar Day].
A loud noise came. Holy Heart One, at 1.5 meters tall, erupted with the imposing aura of 51 meters. Gold-red light enveloped the surroundings.
'Abyss, Banishment.'
Within the gold-red light, the Betrayer made a simple horizontal slash, cutting a pitch-black crack in front of him. This crack erupted with a strong abyss aura, and suction came from within.
After a dull sound caused by the strong suction, Holy Heart One and the spreading gold-red light disappeared, banished to an unknown place.
As a price, the Betrayer's aura weakened a bit. Whether it was an illusion, his figure also seemed to have withered somewhat.
Su Xiao turned into a blood shadow, appearing in front of the Betrayer, slashing diagonally downward. But in the next instant, the Betrayer in front of him turned into the Blade Demon Spirit, blocking Su Xiao's slash with a crystal long blade.
At this moment, the Betrayer was in a weakened state. Su Xiao naturally couldn't give up this opportunity. This was his only chance to win this battle. He used Dragon Shadow Flash to penetrate space, appearing beside the Betrayer, slashing once across the enemy's neck. But he didn't feel the sensation of cutting into a physical entity, because the opponent had also penetrated space.
Space fluctuations came from behind, and then Su Xiao's back went numb. Amidst scattering crystal layer fragments, he was slashed across the back.
Su Xiao slashed back, but hit nothing. He didn't immediately look at the Betrayer, who was over ten meters away, but at the Blade Demon Spirit, because that thing was gathering power there, about to use some ability.
If something was gathering power in battle, it must be interrupted. An ability that needed to gather power, once used, definitely couldn't be blocked by a long blade.
Clang!
The two long blades clashed. Su Xiao, intending to charge at the Blade Demon Spirit, was stopped by the Betrayer. Su Xiao took the opportunity to deliver a straight kick. But the Betrayer seemed to have foreseen it, thrusting his blade forward.
Thud!!
The Betrayer was kicked with a straight kick, falling to one knee, his body numb.
Su Xiao, on the other hand, had his neck pierced by this tricky angled thrust. Continuing forward would be suicide. He could only take a big step back, letting the enemy's long blade pull out of his neck.
When he completed this and prepared to slash at the Betrayer, the Betrayer had already recovered from the numb state. A forceful horizontal slash knocked the advancing Su Xiao back.
'Blade Path Sword: Flow.'
An elegant wind mark cut across the Betrayer's chest, leaving a very deep blood mark. The Betrayer didn't retreat at all, raising his blade high for a forceful overhead slash.
Clang! Su Xiao countered with a slash, knocking back this overhead slash. But as soon as he did this, he sensed something was wrong. The danger of this slash wasn't in hitting the enemy, but in deliberately making the enemy block, then using force penetration to damage the enemy's internal organs.
The organs in Su Xiao's chest cavity churned violently. He felt like his heart was about to jump out of his throat. This experience was extremely unpleasant.
Before Su Xiao could catch his breath, the Betrayer on the opposite side made another forceful overhead slash. Seeing this, Su Xiao naturally wouldn't take it head-on. But unexpectedly, the Betrayer directly disappeared, swapping positions with the Blade Demon Spirit, which had finished gathering power. This ability was truly unsolvable in one-on-one combat. The Betrayer himself clashed with Su Xiao, while the Blade Demon Spirit gathered power dozens of meters away. After completing the gathering, the Betrayer and the Blade Demon Spirit swapped positions. The Blade Demon Spirit instantly appeared in front of Su Xiao and released an ability that had been gathering power for over ten seconds.
"Roar!!!"
The Blade Demon Spirit let out a roar carrying layers of black ripples. The moment he was affected by this roar, Su Xiao's entire body went numb. Although this was only a brief control lasting 0.8 seconds, it was equally fatal.
The Betrayer and the Blade Demon Spirit swapped positions again. A gathered diagonal slash.
Whoosh! The left half of Su Xiao's body was caught in the black flame chain slashed out by this blade. His left arm was immediately severed. The long leather coat on his body turned into strips and scattered. His torso was covered with slashing marks deep enough to reach the bone.
With a thud, Su Xiao fell to the ground. The Betrayer, who had made this slash, seemed to have overdrawn his strength and didn't choose to pursue.
Lying on the ground, Su Xiao raised his long blade. A blood soul climbed onto Dragon-Slashing Flash. He pointed Dragon-Slashing Flash at the Betrayer from afar.
'Super Blood Smoke Cannon.'
The Blood Smoke Cannon blasted into the Betrayer's chest, creating a bowl-sized hole on the spot. But the Betrayer didn't even frown. He slashed at Su Xiao from afar.
Pfft~
Amidst splattering blood, Su Xiao was slashed and sent flying. After flying over ten meters, he landed, sliding several meters on the ground, leaving a large blood trail. Then he stopped moving.
Click, click~
Sounds like a clock ticking came. Su Xiao used the blade handle to crush the wooden box beside him. This was the insurance measure he had obtained through Kaisa.
The wooden box shattered, revealing an old clock. When this clock pointed to 0, five threads emerged from inside, piercing into the backs of Su Xiao, Bubu Wang, Amu, Baha, and Holy Poem. Space fluctuations erupted. The five threads contracted, pulling the five of them toward the exploding clock. Space movement had been activated.
Zheng!
A dark blue slashing mark passed by, cutting through the space thread connected to Su Xiao's back. This caused Su Xiao to freeze in mid-air. Only Bubu Wang, Amu, Baha, and Holy Poem were forcibly pulled into the space vortex. Before disappearing, Bubu Wang's gaze was extremely terrified, and tears involuntarily welled up.
The space vortex disappeared. Su Xiao fell to the ground with a thud. His crystal left arm crushed the potion bottle in his hand. But before the [Vitality Essence] potion liquid could seep into his skin, it was evaporated by the black flames that ignited.
With a slap, Su Xiao's crystal left hand propped up on the ground. Blood continuously dripped from his chin as he got up from the ground. Not dead yet meant not defeated.
'Blade Path Sword: Blood...'
Bang!
Su Xiao only had time to place his long blade horizontally at his side before he was kicked flying by the Betrayer's side kick. Just as he crashed into the tree wall, several crystal cone arrows shot by the Blade Demon Spirit stuck into him, then exploded, blasting his chest into a bloody mess.
Su Xiao's vision went dark intermittently. He supported himself against the tree wall and stood up. Due to severe injuries, his perception distance had severely decreased. Using his blurry vision, he found the Betrayer and charged forward fiercely.
Zheng~
The long blade slashed past Su Xiao's ear. He ducked to avoid this slash, then pierced through the Betrayer's chest. But the next second, the Betrayer delivered a straight kick to his chest, sending him flying straight back, crashing into the tree wall again.
Wind pressure appeared. The Blade Demon Spirit, holding a crystal war hammer, charged over. It swung the bucket-sized hammer head, smashing at Su Xiao's head.
With a crack, the crystal war hammer shattered before hitting Su Xiao's head. Then, the Blade Demon Spirit blurred, unable to maintain its human form, and finally returned to the Law-Destroying Blade in the Betrayer's hand.
Su Xiao took a deep breath, preparing to charge forward. Over ten meters away, the Betrayer pushed forward with one hand. A dark giant claw appeared, slapping Su Xiao into the tree wall behind him.
When the dark giant claw disappeared, Su Xiao fell at the base of the tree wall. He used his last strength to get up but couldn't. He could only lean against the tree wall behind him. He tried to raise his right arm holding Dragon-Slashing Flash, but his right arm felt like it was filled with lead. He could only lift it a fraction before losing strength and letting it drop. He changed to raising his crystal left arm. Although he succeeded in raising it, when accumulating the Blood Smoke Cannon, it went very poorly. Eventually, the blood energy scattered, blasting off a small half of his crystal left arm.
Su Xiao's vision went dark intermittently. With blurry vision, he looked at the Betrayer over ten meters away. He knew that this time he had lost. In his life-and-death battles with strong enemies, he had never lost, which was why he had survived until now. But this time, he had lost.
Holding the Law-Destroying Blade, his loose robe somewhat tattered, the Betrayer walked toward Su Xiao. Whether it was because Su Xiao was severely injured and seeing things, he actually saw the Betrayer on the opposite side stagger sideways a few steps, barely steadying himself by supporting his knee with one hand.
The Betrayer vomited a large mouthful of blood with a "wa" sound. Panting heavily, he took steps toward Su Xiao. But before he could take a few steps, he vomited another large mouthful of blood. His aging became more severe, his skin becoming somewhat loose and saggy. He could only use the Law-Destroying Blade in his hand as a crutch to walk step by step toward Su Xiao.
After a full half minute, the Betrayer finally reached Su Xiao. His withered left hand, which had little warmth left, pressed against Su Xiao's face. He raised his trembling right arm, seemingly about to stab down. But after a few seconds, he still couldn't bring the blade down. Even more astonishingly, the Betrayer's life flame was rapidly extinguishing.
With a thud, the Betrayer fell beside Su Xiao. The Law-Destroying Blade also fell to the ground. The light in the Betrayer's eyes quickly dimmed, eventually losing all luster. The large sparks floating over the battlefield also all extinguished with the Betrayer's fall.
Before Su Xiao's vision went completely black and he lost consciousness, he received a prompt.
[Tip: You have killed Abyssal Shadow, Shaman Archid.]