# Chapter 712: Battle Against a Half-Saint
Qi Yun was less than a hundred years old, which was considered quite young among Half-Saints.
A Half-Saint's lifespan was at least two hundred years, and some with profound cultivation could even live to two hundred sixty or two hundred seventy years.
Above Qi Yun's head, there was a white sacred cloud. From that cloud, a long river of sacred Qi surged forth, condensing at the forefront into a fist imprint.
The fist force flew across the sky, immediately bringing with it a powerful energy surge, causing the air within dozens of miles to tremble violently.
Qi Qiankun nodded, showing an expression of approval, and thought to himself: "Qi Yun did not underestimate his opponent just because the opponent's cultivation was weak. He struck with full force from the very start. His temperament is quite steady."
Not underestimating an enemy was a good habit.
Qi Yun was executing a Ghost-grade mid-rank martial technique, the Soaring Cloud Fist, condensing ten percent of his fist force. Just the fist wind alone sent tombstones weighing hundreds of thousands of jin flying into the air.
"The power of a Half-Saint is truly terrifying."
Zhang Ruochen's expression turned solemn. He took a deep breath and continuously infused the sacred Qi in his body into the two Golden Snake Sacred Swords. Instantly, the inscriptions within the swords fully emerged, emitting two dazzling beams of sword Qi.
The full power of the two sacred swords was unleashed.
Before breaking through to the seventh transformation of the Fish-Dragon Realm, he had never been able to unleash the complete power of the Golden Snake Sacred Swords. Therefore, he was quite looking forward to the outcome of this battle.
"Break for me!"
On the surface of the two Golden Snake Sacred Swords, golden snake phantoms dozens of feet long appeared respectively. Hundreds of sword Qis revolved around the golden snakes in flight.
Then, Zhang Ruochen executed the Sword Control Art, sending both swords flying out simultaneously, striking the fist imprint above and Qi Yun respectively.
With a thunderous roar.
The power of the Golden Snake Sacred Swords was astonishing, actually breaking through the fist force.
Seeing this scene, everyone present was shocked.
A mere cultivator at the seventh transformation of the Fish-Dragon Realm could actually unleash such tremendous power?
Qi Yun showed a surprised expression and said, "I understand now! It was you who blocked my sword wave earlier."
Although quite unexpected, Qi Yun had no time to think further. Because the other golden sacred sword had already flown before him.
"Heaven-Sealing Seal."
Qi Yun extended one hand and struck forward.
Immediately, an icy cold power rose from the ground like water mist. At the same time, a pillar of lightning poured down from the sky, surrounding Qi Yun.
In Qi Yun's palm, a crimson flame pillar shot out.
The three massive forces of ice, flame, and lightning formed three circular seals ten zhang in diameter, overlapping each other, appearing before Qi Yun's palm.
The Heaven-Sealing Seal was a Ghost-grade high-rank martial technique, possessing not only powerful defensive capabilities but also devastating offensive power.
"Boom!"
The Golden Snake Sacred Sword struck the center of the Heaven-Sealing Seal. The powerful ice defense layer shook violently, then cracked open.
Qi Yun's expression changed slightly. He hadn't expected Lin Yue's strength to be so formidable, actually penetrating the first layer of ice defense.
Zhang Ruochen's palm struck forward through the air, sending a surge of sword intent power into the sword hilt, causing the Golden Snake Sacred Sword to continue thrusting forward fiercely.
With a "boom," the second layer of flame defense of the Heaven-Sealing Seal shattered.
Clusters of fist-sized flames flew in all directions, creating large craters on the ground.
Shengshu Cainü's clear eyes emitted a bright radiance, and the corners of her mouth involuntarily lifted slightly. She thought to herself, "This guy's strength is actually this powerful. At the seventh transformation of the Fish-Dragon Realm, he can contend with a Half-Saint. Truly remarkable. In the four realms of martial arts, he must have reached the Supreme Extreme Realm at least twice, possibly even three times."
In this battle, even if Lin Yue couldn't defeat Qi Yun, as long as he could exchange three or five moves with Qi Yun, he would surely make the front page of the "Eastern Region News" and become one of the hot topics of the Sword Discussion Assembly.
Shengshu Cainü's two slender jade fingers gently stroked her hair ends. She was finally beginning to look forward to this battle. She really wanted to know how many more surprises Lin Yue could bring her.
"Quite capable, aren't you."
Qi Yun's eyes blazed. Both palms struck forward simultaneously, and sacred Qi surged continuously from his Yin Wei and Yang Wei sacred meridians.
The Heaven-Sealing Seal spun rapidly, erupting with a powerful force that sent the Golden Snake Sacred Sword flying away.
"Rise!"
Qi Yun's hands lifted upward, raising the Heaven-Sealing Seal to a height of a hundred zhang above the ground.
Then, his hands pressed downward, sending the Heaven-Sealing Seal crashing down toward Zhang Ruochen.
The three forces of the Heaven-Sealing Seal were like three enormous wheels, completely enveloping Zhang Ruochen, seemingly intending to crush him within.
Zhang Ruochen only felt the pressure on his body growing heavier and heavier. The sacred Qi in his body flowed back toward his Qi Sea, and even his breathing became extremely difficult.
"Such powerful force. If it strikes my body, I would surely die." Zhang Ruochen thought to himself.
Zhang Ruochen clenched his teeth. The Sword Intent Heart between his brows spun rapidly, emitting a powerful sword intent.
The sword intent was like countless solid swords, making a rustling sound as they flew out from between his brows, converging toward the Golden Snake Sacred Sword and overlapping with it.
"Sword One."
He thrust out a single sword strike. The powerful sword Qi pierced through the aura of the Heaven-Sealing Seal. Zhang Ruochen and the Golden Snake Sacred Sword simultaneously attacked Qi Yun, transforming into a shuttle of sword light.
"Come well!"
Qi Yun remained calm despite the change. He brought his hands together in a clasped fist posture.
Immediately, behind him, a flame giant nine zhang tall stood up. The flame giant wore battle armor, its entire body wrapped in chains, its arms thicker than pillars, and its whole body exuding an aura of power.
The flame giant also assumed a clasped fist posture, striking forward, chopping down toward Zhang Ruochen's head.
"Sacred Blood Battle Shadow."
Zhang Ruochen felt somewhat suffocated. He hadn't expected Qi Yun to go this far.
He dared not confront the flame giant head-on and immediately stepped to the left, shifting thirty zhang horizontally to avoid the flame giant's attack.
"Boom!"
The flame giant's fists struck the ground, smashing the thousands of corpses on the riverbank into pieces and tearing a huge gap in the corpse river.
A wave of flame energy surged from the fists, striking Zhang Ruochen's body, causing his blood Qi to tremble violently. He was sent flying several miles before finally landing back on the ground.
Zhang Ruochen immediately activated his cultivation technique, circulating Qi through all the meridians in his body, striving to stabilize his aura.
The Sacred Blood Battle Shadow was a technique that only Half-Saints could execute. By burning a drop of sacred blood within the body, blood Qi and sacred soul merged into one, unleashing twelve percent of one's attack power.
A Half-Saint burning one drop of sacred blood could only unleash one strike.
To deliver a second strike, they would have to continue burning sacred blood.
If too much sacred blood was burned, even a Half-Saint would suffer severe damage to their vitality. Therefore, unless absolutely necessary, Half-Saints would not use such a technique.
But the situation now was somewhat different.
Qi Yun wanted to end the battle quickly, which was why he used the Sacred Blood Battle Shadow.
Burning a few drops of sacred blood would cause him no harm at all.
Shengshu Cainü sneered coldly: "A Half-Saint fighting a Fish-Dragon Realm cultivator still needs to use the Sacred Blood Battle Shadow? Is this all the Half-Saints of the Qi Clan are capable of?"
"Lady Cainü's words are mistaken. As long as one can achieve victory, what difference does it make what method is used?" Qi Qiankun stroked his beard and smiled.
In truth, Qi Qiankun was also quite shocked. He had never expected Lin Yue to be this strong.
However, Lin Yue's powerful strength was actually a good thing for him.
As long as he captured Lin Yue, he could negotiate properly with the Liangyi Sect. He believed the Liangyi Sect would not give up such an outstanding talent.
Qi Yun had already used the Sacred Blood Battle Shadow. How many more moves could Lin Yue evade?
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
...
Qi Yun burned sacred blood, controlling the Sacred Blood Battle Shadow to continuously attack Zhang Ruochen.
The more he fought, the more shocked Qi Yun became.
The power unleashed by the Sacred Blood Battle Shadow was indeed extremely fierce, forcing Lin Yue to only dodge, never daring to confront him head-on.
However, Lin Yue's speed was utterly abnormal. He could always escape from under the Sacred Blood Battle Shadow's fists. According to Qi Yun's calculations, Lin Yue's speed was actually faster than his own as a Half-Saint.
A cultivator at the seventh transformation of the Fish-Dragon Realm being faster than a Half-Saint—even if he told others, no one would believe it.
After attacking nineteen times in succession, Qi Yun had burned nineteen drops of sacred blood.
Although consuming this amount of sacred blood was not enough to harm Qi Yun's vitality, if the battle continued like this, who knew how much sacred blood he would have to burn before capturing Lin Yue?
Qi Yun withdrew the Sacred Blood Battle Shadow back into his body, panting heavily.
The consecutive attacks had consumed a considerable amount of his sacred Qi.
Qi Yun began to grow cautious, thinking to himself: "In the Fallen God Tomb Forest, there is no natural spiritual Qi, making it impossible to quickly recover sacred Qi. If I continue to drag this out, it will be very disadvantageous for me. I must change my tactics."
Only now did Qi Yun truly realize that this cultivator at the seventh transformation of the Fish-Dragon Realm seemed to genuinely have the strength to fight him.
Zhang Ruochen brushed the dust off his clothes, looked toward Qi Yun, and said, "So this is the legendary Half-Saint? Nothing more than this."
Qi Yun sneered coldly: "The greatest advantage of a Half-Saint is the ability to mobilize large amounts of natural spiritual Qi for their own use. If we were outside the Fallen God Tomb, I could reduce you to ashes with a single strike."
Zhang Ruochen said: "Is a Half-Saint also making excuses for failure? To be honest, your strength has truly disappointed me."
In truth, Zhang Ruochen had also been using his full strength just now, and on two occasions, he had barely avoided Qi Yun's attacks.
He said this not because he truly looked down on Qi Yun, but because he wanted to anger him.
Qi Yun's state of mind had originally been quite stable.
But after a prolonged battle without victory, he too became somewhat enraged from humiliation.
A dignified Half-Saint being ridiculed by a Fish-Dragon Realm cultivator—even with the best state of mind, Qi Yun would now be thoroughly furious.
"Young junior, let me show you the true power of a Half-Saint."
Qi Yun's brows revealed his Divine Martial Mark.
A flame sacred blade flew out from his Qi Sea through the Divine Martial Mark, slashing toward Zhang Ruochen.
The scorching heat wave emitted by that sacred blade illuminated the entire heaven and earth in crimson. The corpses on the riverbank all caught fire, forming an extremely eerie scene.
Zhang Ruochen's expression also turned serious. He mobilized all the sacred Qi in his body, sending both Golden Snake Sacred Swords flying out simultaneously to meet Qi Yun's sacred blade strike. (To be continued.)