Chapter 960: Fierce Battle with Ji Hanfeng
Yun Che was like a heretic created by heaven in the mortal world. His appearance always shattered people's perceptions time and time again. It was so on the Tian Xuan Continent, so in the Huan Yao Realm. Now that he had arrived in the God Realm, it was still the same.
This sword strike of Yun Che seemed to slam into the hearts and souls of everyone present, leaving them stunned and speechless for a long time.
His defeat of Li Mingcheng was already unbelievable to everyone, and now, his profound strength had actually increased again, and with a single sword strike... he forced Ji Hanfeng back!
Ji Hanfeng was a formal disciple of Cold Snow Hall, and had been training there for nearly twenty years. That he was qualified today to preside over Cold Snow Hall's new disciple assessment was enough to demonstrate his strength and seniority in Cold Snow Hall. Yet he was forced back by a single sword strike from someone who had just taken the Cold Snow Hall assessment and whose profound strength was only at the Lord Xuan Realm, Level 5!!
The impact of this scene was indescribably immense. Almost everyone felt a dazed sensation as if they were in a dream.
Ji Hanfeng, who had hastily dodged, rolled back to a point a hundred zhang away. Even as he landed, that lingering sense of heart-palpitation remained. While it shocked him, it also filled him with immense humiliation. He had actually been forced back by a single sword strike from someone he had previously regarded as a joke... What an absolute joke!!
But no matter how unwilling or incredulous he was, he no longer dared to underestimate Yun Che, because the terror of that sword strike was right before his eyes.
Ji Hanfeng gritted his teeth, reached out, and pulled out a silver spear from his space ring. The spear was nine feet long, its entire body shimmering with a snowy, frosty silver light. The moment the spear appeared, it was accompanied by a resonant dragon's roar.
"Collapsing Dragon Spear!" several Cold Snow Hall disciples exclaimed in shock.
As a formal disciple of Cold Snow Hall and the overseer of this assessment, he had actually pulled out the Collapsing Dragon Spear when facing Yun Che. Clearly, Ji Hanfeng had become wary of Yun Che!!
"Yun Che, were you pleased with that sword strike just now?" Ji Hanfeng's eyes were dark, his voice carrying a gnashing tone. "I will... repay you tenfold immediately!"
"No matter how much trash from the lower realms struggles, they are always just trash!!"
Amidst the venting roar, Ji Hanfeng grabbed the Collapsing Dragon Spear. Instead of leaping into the air, he advanced with steps like arrows. With almost every step forward, the spear's light increased by a fraction. Then, with a loud shout, he stomped heavily and thrust the Collapsing Dragon Spear at Yun Che.
In that instant, the ground beneath his feet directly turned to powder. The Collapsing Dragon Spear released an extremely loud dragon roar, and the entire spear seemed to transform into a silver true dragon, charging at Yun Che with boundless dragon might.
Under this dragon roar, all the profound practitioners present felt their own blood and profound energy stir slightly, and their hearts suddenly contracted.
Ji Hanfeng, combined with the Collapsing Dragon Spear, the power of this thrust was actually so terrifying!!
The same thought flashed through everyone's mind: How could Yun Che possibly withstand such an attack!
Yun Che's brows furrowed, the veins on his arms bulging. Under the awe-inspiring momentum that stunned all the profound practitioners present, he not only didn't retreat half a step, but suddenly forced himself forward, swinging the Heaven-Defying Demon-Slaying Sword to directly collide with the Collapsing Dragon Spear.
Crack!!
The spear and sword clashed, the metallic explosion ringing through the entire main hall of Cold Snow Hall. Centered on where the two stood, the divine stones under their feet were all violently flung up and shattered.
Both of their feet sank deep into the ground, yet neither took a step back. Ji Hanfeng gripped the Collapsing Dragon Spear tightly, his eyes filled with disbelief several times stronger than before. "You... you actually..."
This thrust carried the anger and humiliation from having been forced back by Yun Che's sword strike earlier. Not only had he revealed the Collapsing Dragon Spear, but he had also struck with full force, holding nothing back, hating that he couldn't directly smash Yun Che into powder.
But his own full-force thrust had actually been blocked by Yun Che... and it was a completely straightforward block, without any tricks!
"Haaaah!!"
With a venting roar, Ji Hanfeng withdrew the spear and then suddenly swung it back in the opposite direction. Yun Che's sword blade also sharply swept upward.
Zheng!!
The Collapsing Dragon Spear and the Heaven-Defying Sword clashed again. With a heaven-shaking roar, both were knocked back by the immense force. Yun Che's body lost its balance, but Ji Hanfeng twisted in mid-air, and his spear light swept down with polar freezing cold.
"Snow Burial Wind and Sand!!"
A heavy sword was naturally far less flexible than a spear. Moreover, Yun Che could not perfectly control the reborn Heaven-Defying Demon-Slaying Sword. Before Yun Che could even turn the sword blade sideways, he was heavily swept by the spear light. He flew backward close to the ground. Forcing down the surging blood and energy throughout his body, he abruptly planted the sword tip into the ground, coming to a quick stop amid the piercing screech of the sword tip plowing through the earth.
And almost the moment he stopped his body, Ji Hanfeng had already pounced into the air above, his spear body like a dragon, smashing straight down.
Yun Che did not look up. His arms instantly swelled to three times their normal thickness, his joints crackling and popping. He swung the Heaven-Defying Demon-Slaying Sword upward with full force, the catastrophic roar it produced completely overwhelming the dragon roar of the Collapsing Dragon Spear.
Yun Che had just been swept away by his spear thrust. Even if not heavily injured, his blood and energy would be in chaos. His pursuit was as fast as lightning. Ji Hanfeng could never have dreamed that Yun Che, having barely stabilized himself, could immediately counterattack, and the approaching sword might was not at all weaker than before.
Boom!!
The ground beneath Yun Che's feet shattered again, his legs almost completely sinking into the earth. Meanwhile, Ji Hanfeng, with no leverage in the air, was like a leaf caught in a gale, flying backward in a somersault.
Yun Che did not pursue. Instead, the sword suddenly lowered and struck the ground. It took a while before he lifted it again. His breathing had finally become heavy.
Ji Hanfeng landed heavily, staggering back more than ten steps from the residual force, looking rather disheveled. His blood and energy were churning endlessly. But seeing Yun Che's condition, he instead laughed: "So that's it. You're completely relying on that sword... Heh, that sword is very heavy, isn't it? I wonder how many more times you can hold out!!"
Yun Che: "..."
Ji Hanfeng's words indeed struck directly at Yun Che's weak point.
The gap in profound strength between Yun Che and Ji Hanfeng was truly too vast. It was not merely a difference in major realms, but a chasm of the divine path. Even with the amplification of the Evil God Art and his far-from-ordinary physical strength, he still could not compare with Ji Hanfeng at Divine Origin Realm Level 6. It was only by relying on the powerful sword might of the Heaven-Defying Demon-Slaying Sword that he could briefly hold his ground.
But after Hong'er devoured the Eternal Night Demonic Sword, although the Heaven-Defying Demon-Slaying Sword's power surged, its weight also surged. At nearly ten million jin, it was simply not something Yun Che could control at present. Even under normal conditions, lifting it was extremely difficult. Even in his Purgatory state, swinging it thirty times in the air nearly reached his limit.
Moreover, this was an all-out life-and-death battle at hand.
Although he had only swung three times just now, it had already made Yun Che's arms slightly numb and his breathing heavy.
"Let's see... how much longer you can struggle!"
Ji Hanfeng quickly calmed his blood and energy, then pounced forward.
Clang! Boom!
Boom!!!
The ground exploded, stones flying everywhere. The entire hall was trembling faintly. The sound of spear and sword clashing was like a divine bell continuously ringing between heaven and earth. And each boom felt like a strike on everyone's hearts.
All the newly admitted disciples who had just passed the assessment had already turned pale. They kept backing away, step by step. Because they faintly sensed that if they didn't move farther away, just these deafening roars containing divine might would cause them internal injuries.
That Ji Hanfeng was this powerful, they could accept. But Yun Che... was actually powerful to this extent as well.
They believed that even if they drained all their profound energy at once and released it completely, they could not produce such terrifying power. Yet Yun Che, sword strike after sword strike... what secret technique had he used, or what kind of monster was he, to actually unleash such frightening divine might from a body at only Lord Xuan Realm, Level 5.
Especially those profound practitioners who had been in the same assessment group as Yun Che. In their shock and pallor, thinking that they had previously regarded Yun Che as a joke from the posture of being strong, and had even laughed out loud several times, they all felt somewhat ashamed.
Mu Xiaolan, who had always regarded Yun Che as a weakling from the lower realm, was completely stunned. For a moment, she could not speak at all. Because even she found it difficult to block Ji Hanfeng's full-force Collapsing Dragon Spear. Yet Yun Che had blocked it time and again!
Mu Fengshu's expression changed again and again. The anger in her heart had long been replaced by growing shock. At the same time, she began to realize that Li Mingcheng's sneak attack on Yun Che first... might not have been an unfounded accusation.
"Zhi Mo, what exactly happened before? Tell me everything in detail!" Mu Fengshu suddenly called out to a Cold Snow Hall disciple on her right side.
The Cold Snow Hall disciple named 'Zhi Mo' trembled inwardly and quickly replied, "Reporting to Chief Palace Master, earlier... earlier in the Ice Profound Realm assessment, Yun Che achieved first place. Li Mingcheng questioned Yun Che's cheating and proposed a spar to verify. The result... the result was that Li Mingcheng lost. Then... then..."
Zhi Mo paused for a moment, gritted his teeth slightly, and continued, "Then Li Mingcheng suddenly launched a sneak attack on Yun Che, and even thrust his sword directly at a vital point. Unexpectedly, Yun Che turned around..."
"You bastard!" Mu Fengshu's face darkened as she cursed. Zhi Mo quickly lowered his head: "Please calm down, Chief Palace Master."
"Regardless of the reason, since he dared to injure Mingcheng to this extent, he must pay with his life!" Mu Fengshu muttered with extreme gloom.
Boom!!!
Another loud explosion. Two immense forces burst in the air. The two figures simultaneously flew back from the center of the storm. Yun Che landed far away, his body suddenly going limp, and the Heaven-Defying Sword also heavily stabbed into the ground.
Yun Che supported himself on the sword blade, drenched in hot sweat, panting like an ox. After exchanging twenty sword blows with Ji Hanfeng, under the immense burden of the Heaven-Defying Sword, his entire body had become limp, his arms completely numb. That last sword strike had nearly drained his last strength. As his body fell, he could barely even lift the Heaven-Defying Sword again.
"Ha... ha... ha..." Ji Hanfeng's panting was equally heavy, his chest heaving violently. But his remaining strength far exceeded Yun Che's. Seeing Yun Che's current state, his eyes widened and he let out a mad laugh. Giving Yun Che no chance to catch his breath, he gathered all his strength into the Collapsing Dragon Spear and thrust it straight at Yun Che's forehead.
"Damn!" Mu Sushan clenched his fists, his expression abruptly changing.
Because this thrust of Ji Hanfeng's was clearly a killing move with no mercy!
And Yun Che was clearly exhausted; it was impossible for him to block it.
"Die!!"
Almost seeing his spear piercing directly through Yun Che, Ji Hanfeng's heart surged with intense pleasure. But at that moment, following the direction of the spear tip, he saw Yun Che slowly raise his head, a sinister grin curling at the corner of his mouth.
An inexplicable chill suddenly struck his heart and soul, causing his entire body to stiffen, and his movements to slow.
Boom!!!
A violent wave of air suddenly exploded from Yun Che's body. Ji Hanfeng, who was about to close in and driving all his profound strength, trembled violently. He was directly knocked back by this wave, hastily retreating. Looking up in terror, he saw Yun Che slowly stand up, both hands gripping the hilt of the vermilion giant sword, crimson profound energy swirling around him violently. His eyes were actually showing a frightening blood-red color.
In his ears came Yun Che's voice, as sinister as a demon: "I've already crippled one... I don't mind crippling another!!"
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(End of this chapter)