Chapter 340: Azure Void True Qi, Primordial Demon Qi
Around the dragon tomb, a strange force permeated the air, blocking the powerful water pressure from the river. Therefore, although Yan Siming was dead and no longer had the protection of his protective celestial armor, his body was not crushed by the water pressure.
Seeing that corpse lying at the bottom of the water, the martial artists of the Black Market were all greatly shocked. Yan Siming had made a name for himself five years ago and was one of the leading figures of the younger generation in the Black Market. Yet, no one expected that he would be killed with a single sword strike by a young woman.
When had the Inner Palace Academy of the Martial Market Academy cultivated so many young experts?
One Zhang Ruochen was already terrifying enough, and now there was another.
If she had not obtained the dragon blood, Huang Yanchen and Yan Siming would have been evenly matched, roughly equal in skill.
As for now, Huang Yanchen's martial arts cultivation was already a realm higher than Yan Siming's, and her talent surpassed his, so killing Yan Siming was naturally not difficult.
Di Yi, seeing Huang Yanchen wreaking havoc in the distance, his eyes turned cold, and he was about to rush over to suppress and kill her.
"Shua!"
Zhang Ruochen's figure flickered, and he stood opposite Di Yi, blocking him, and said, "Di Yi, your opponent is me."
"Zhang Ruochen, you do have some skill. I underestimated you before," Di Yi said.
Di Yi clenched his ten fingers tightly, suppressing the anger in his heart, and tried hard to control his emotions.
Zhang Ruochen was no ordinary opponent, and Di Yi dared not underestimate him. If he was careless, he might capsize in a ditch.
The two faced off, staring unblinkingly at each other's every subtle movement, fully releasing their spiritual power, their momentum continuously rising.
The true qi within their bodies surged from the tops of their heads, like two towering peaks rising from the ground.
Almost simultaneously, they both took a step forward, slowly approaching each other.
"Boom!"
Di Yi took a step, and the earth shook, the water waves rolled, and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth vibrated violently with him.
This was because the true qi within his body resonated with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. When he moved, heaven and earth also shook violently.
Zhang Ruochen also took a step, not with the same powerful momentum as Di Yi, but his footwork had an extremely subtle rhythm, revealing no flaws.
When their cultivation reached their level, the key to victory often depended on their state during battle.
When in a bad state, they might be defeated by an opponent of the same realm within just a few moves.
It was precisely because they both valued each other so much that they were cautious, trying to force the other to reveal a flaw first. As long as the opponent showed a flaw first, the other could seize the initiative and gain the upper hand.
While Zhang Ruochen and Di Yi were facing off, the combined attack formation formed by Si Xingkong, Chang Qiqi, Duanmu Xingling, and Chen Xi'er had already clashed with the Thousand Blades Star Net Grand Formation formed by 236 Black Market martial artists.
Among the 236 Black Market martial artists, there were 18 Heavenly Extreme Realm initial stage experts, and the rest were all Earth Extreme Realm Great Perfection cultivations.
With so many strong people gathered together, 236 beams of light immediately shot out from the formation, and the power of everyone seemed to converge toward the center of the light beams.
"Thousand Blades Windfall!"
Within the Thousand Blades Star Net Grand Formation, the 236 Black Market martial artists all shouted in unison, continuously pouring their true qi into the formation jade. One by one, formation inscription patterns gathered together, condensing into thousands of qi blades.
Some of these qi blades were over ten zhang long, like waves of blades; some were only three inches long, like white light flying daggers. All the qi blades gathered together, forming a river of blades, slashing toward Si Xingkong and the other three.
Si Xingkong stood at the center of the formation, holding a golden short blade, combining the power of the four, fully activating the inscription patterns within the golden short blade.
"Break!"
Raising his arms, he swung them fiercely.
The golden short blade transformed into a giant blade several tens of zhang long, slashing toward that river of blades, breaking the attack of the Thousand Blades Star Net Grand Formation.
Chen Xi'er was overjoyed: "Continue attacking, tear the formation apart."
Si Xingkong, Chang Qiqi, Duanmu Xingling, and Chen Xi'er were also first-rate experts among Heavenly Extreme Realm martial artists, each comparable to a master of Jinchuan's level.
The combined attack formation they formed took on a flat, oval shape, like a huge millstone, continuously rotating, crashing into the Thousand Blades Star Net Grand Formation.
"Hua!"
Si Xingkong continuously slashed with the golden short blade, bringing out the power of the tenth-rank True Martial Treasure to its fullest.
The Black Market martial artists in the Thousand Blades Star Net Grand Formation were also not weak, each being a master, continuously striking out qi blades, fighting Si Xingkong and the other three in a chaotic battle.
Zhang Ruochen and Di Yi were also quite tense, as the outcome of the battle between the Black Market martial artists and Si Xingkong's group would also affect their decisive battle.
If the Thousand Blades Star Net Grand Formation defeated the combined attack formation set up by Si Xingkong and the others, then the Thousand Blades Star Net Grand Formation would continue to come over, helping Di Yi suppress Zhang Ruochen.
If the combined attack formation set up by Si Xingkong and the others defeated the Thousand Blades Star Net Grand Formation, then the four of them, including Huang Yanchen and Zi Qian, would also come back to help Zhang Ruochen, surrounding and killing Di Yi.
Therefore, the direct clash of those two formations would likely determine the life or death of both sides.
"Boom!"
After a moment, a loud crash came from the area where the two formations were located.
Under the fierce attacks of Si Xingkong, Chang Qiqi, Duanmu Xingling, and Chen Xi'er, the Thousand Blades Star Net Grand Formation finally shattered, and the Black Market martial artists were all sent flying backward.
Among the 236 Black Market martial artists, at least twenty were killed by the blade qi of the golden short blade slashed by Si Xingkong at the moment the formation shattered, their bodies cut apart by the blade qi, turning into pieces of limbs.
After the formation shattered, Si Xingkong, Chang Qiqi, Duanmu Xingling, and Chen Xi'er immediately rushed out, striking out martial techniques one after another, beginning to clear out the Black Market martial artists, preventing them from gathering again to set up a formation.
No one expected that Zhang Ruochen's group would be so formidable, each one a remarkable expert, and in just a short while, they had dismantled the killing formation that Di Yi had meticulously arranged.
It was as if every one of them was a peerless genius from the Saint Academy.
Seeing the Thousand Blades Star Net Grand Formation broken, Di Yi's heart sank, and he cursed the waste. A formation of over two hundred martial artists couldn't even hold off four people. If that wasn't waste, what was?
Now, Di Yi was completely at a disadvantage.
He had originally set up a heavenly net and earth trap, hoping to easily eliminate these students of the Martial Market Academy, but he never expected Zhang Ruochen to so easily break the killing formation.
Without the formation, the Black Market martial artists had no power to resist in front of Si Xingkong and the others.
In just a quarter of an hour, nearly a hundred Black Market martial artists' corpses were left on the open ground below the hill.
The river water had turned blood-red, and the bottom was covered with broken limbs and corpses, as if it had become a terrifying Shura world. Anyone with a weak psychological endurance would have fainted long ago upon seeing this scene.
Zhang Ruochen keenly sensed a fluctuation in Di Yi's state of mind. At that moment, Zhang Ruochen rushed forward, reaching Di Yi in an instant, and slashed his sword at Di Yi's legs.
Coming fast.
Di Yi knew he had lost the initiative and did not clash head-on with Zhang Ruochen. He decisively retreated, dodging that sword strike.
"Shua!"
Zhang Ruochen followed up with consecutive moves, advancing three steps, and slashed out another sword, aiming for Di Yi's neck.
Di Yi extended his claws forward to block.
"Bang!"
The nearly seven-thousand-jin heavy Abyssal Ancient Sword struck the fist gloves, sending Di Yi flying backward.
To change his disadvantage, Di Yi had to counterattack.
"Ghost King Dharma Seal."
Di Yi clenched his middle finger, forming a dharma seal, and struck out with a claw, creating a four-meter-long black claw mark, shooting toward Zhang Ruochen.
That claw mark did not look like a human hand; it was like a dragon claw, a ghost hand, a demonic palm.
This was a move from the Hell Ghost King Claw technique.
A light spot appeared on Zhang Ruochen's brow, and the Sword Intent Heart in his Qi Sea continued to spin, releasing a wave of sword intent power, controlling the Abyssal Ancient Sword.
"Break for me!"
Zhang Ruochen joined his index and middle fingers, forming a sword seal.
The Abyssal Ancient Sword turned into a shuttle of light, flying out, crossing ten zhang, piercing through that black hand claw, and stabbing toward Di Yi's chest.
"Primordial Demon Qi."
Di Yi stood still, spreading his hands, and a mass of black demonic fiend qi continuously surged out from his pores, forming a spherical demonic domain with a diameter of ten zhang.
Looking from afar, it seemed like a huge black ball enveloped Di Yi's body. The surface of the black ball displayed strange demonic patterns, continuously rotating, emitting a wuwu sound.
"Hua!"
The Abyssal Ancient Sword came into contact with the Demonic Domain, as if sinking into a swamp, its speed continuously slowing down.
The Abyssal Ancient Sword hovered within the demonic qi, its blade body continuously spinning, emitting a piercing sword cry, step by step breaking through Di Yi's Demonic Domain.
The two forces clashed, emitting bursts of flame light in the water.
Di Yi cultivated the "Heavenly Demon Primordial Diagram" from the "Heavenly Demon Stone Inscription." When he reached the Heavenly Extreme Realm, he had already converted the true qi in his body into "Primordial Demon Qi."
The so-called "Primordial Demon Qi" still belonged to the category of true qi.
However, Primordial Demon Qi was also several times more powerful than the true qi of other martial artists of the same realm. Once released, it could easily crush an opponent.
Only martial artists who cultivated extremely advanced techniques could cultivate more powerful true qi.
For example, Zhang Ruochen, who cultivated the "Nine Heavens Bright Emperor Scripture," had already cultivated Spirit Fire True Qi when he reached the third layer.
Now, Zhang Ruochen had reached the fourth layer of the "Nine Heavens Bright Emperor Scripture," "Taiyi Azure Void Heaven," and the true qi he cultivated was even more powerful, called "Azure Void True Qi."
Of course, the true qi of a Heavenly Extreme Realm martial artist, in the Qi Sea, had already condensed from qi to liquid, turning into true yuan. Only when it flowed out of the Qi Sea did the true yuan turn back into true qi.
Liquid form is "true yuan," gaseous form is "true qi."
It could be said that Zhang Ruochen's Azure Void True Qi and Di Yi's cultivated Primordial Demon Qi were forces of the same level.
"Break for me."
Zhang Ruochen charged forward, breaking into Di Yi's Demonic Domain, and struck the sword hilt with his palm.
Azure Void True Qi surged out from his palm, like a waterfall of azure true qi, entering the sword body, causing the Abyssal Ancient Sword to pierce through the Primordial Demon Qi, emitting a "zheng" sword cry, stabbing toward Di Yi's brow.