# Chapter 748: Gathering of Heroes
Carrying the power of the five elements, Zhang Ruochen pressed his palm upward. In an instant, the spiritual energy ribbons formed by the five forces revolved rapidly around his arm, creating a massive vortex.
"Boom!"
The next moment, two palm imprints collided, erupting with a powerful wave of force.
Immediately, a series of explosive sounds rang out within the Scroll World. The hundreds of characters suspended in the air shattered on the first impact, transforming into clusters of spiritual mist.
As the characters shattered, the miniature world formed by the scroll became quite unstable and began to shake.
Had Lin Yue already been suppressed?
Countless eyes gazed at the miniature scroll world on the Book Mountain, but all they could see was a patch of spiritual mist enveloping Lin Yue's body, making it impossible to discern the outcome of the battle.
The Demon Sect's Little Saintess's talent was not inferior to Lin Yue's, and her cultivation was a full realm higher. With a supreme technique like the "Eight Desolations Seal Technique," she could probably cripple Lin Yue.
"Whoosh!"
Suddenly, five ripples of energy surged out from the scroll, transforming into five layers of giant waves of different colors that rushed toward Mu Lingxi.
Zhang Ruochen stood at the center of the five energy ripples, his posture straight as an arrow, like an unshakable mountain.
The Eight Desolations Seal Technique, being one of the Demon Sect's ten great supreme techniques, naturally possessed boundless power and was not so easily broken.
Mu Lingxi's arm swiftly retracted, then struck down again with even greater speed.
"Boom!"
Her palm became enormous and filled with freezing cold energy.
Eight beast-mark imprints emerged from her palm, emitting a faint cold light. As sacred qi poured continuously into them, the eight beast marks flew out from her palm, transforming into eight massive beast shadows that pressed down toward Zhang Ruochen.
The eight beast shadows were: the Cold Ice Python Dragon, the Cold Ice Winged Dragon, the Cold Ice Heavenly Spider, the Cold Ice Silver Wolf, the Cold Ice Mysterious Turtle, the Cold Ice Giant Kun, the Cold Ice Snow Tiger, and the Cold Ice Ancient Phoenix.
These eight beast shadows were eight beast souls.
Each beast soul was at the Half-Saint level.
For other Fish-Dragon Realm cultivators, refining even a single Half-Saint-level beast soul into their palm would be as difficult as reaching the heavens.
Only Mu Lingxi, with her Ice Phoenix Ancient Saint Body, could rely on her Ice Phoenix bloodline to suppress eight barbarian beast holy souls and unleash the full power of the Eight Desolations Seal Technique at the Great Perfection level.
"If you don't use your sword, you'll lose!" Mu Lingxi said.
Mu Lingxi knew very well that the reason Zhang Ruochen had only been using palm techniques against her was that he couldn't bear to draw his sword against her.
In the past month, Mu Lingxi had broken through to the eighth transformation of the Fish-Dragon Realm and had cultivated the Eight Desolations Seal Technique to Great Perfection, greatly increasing her strength. Compared to Zhang Ruochen, the gap was probably not that wide.
If Zhang Ruochen used his sword, at a critical moment, he might not be able to control his strikes.
If he couldn't control his sword and something unexpected happened... the consequences would be unthinkable.
Zhang Ruochen looked at the eight beast shadows pressing down on him, remaining calm and composed. He merely furrowed his brow slightly, but in the end, he gripped the Golden Snake Sacred Sword tightly.
With a swing of his arm, a golden sword qi surged out, drawing a massive circle on the ground.
"Sword Two."
Zhang Ruochen executed the first level of Sword Two: Yin-Yang Alternation.
This level emphasized defense over offense.
As the sword technique unfolded, with Zhang Ruochen at the center, a massive circular disk formed within a radius of ten miles. Within the disk, night and day alternated continuously, and streams of sword qi shot toward the eight beast shadows.
Chen Tianpeng, one of the three heirs of the Eastern Domain Saint Prince Mansion, praised, "Lin Yue truly is a sword dao prodigy. He's already cultivated Sword Two to the first level. In the past thousand years, not many have possessed such sword dao talent."
Chen Kai shook his head and said, "But I've heard that Lin Yue has already cultivated Sword Two to the second level."
"Although the Demon Sect's Little Saintess's Eight Desolations Seal Technique is formidable, anyone with discerning eyes can see that Lin Yue's strength surpasses hers. If Lin Yue were to unleash the second level of Sword Two and go on the offensive, he would have a good chance of defeating her."
"It is indeed strange. Why is Lin Yue only using defensive moves instead of attacking?"
"It's not necessarily that Lin Yue doesn't want to attack. It's very likely that his sacred qi is running low, and he can't unleash the second level of Sword Two. After all, he's already fought over a dozen experts on his way up the mountain."
"That's right! Even an iron man can be drained. Moreover, Lin Yue is only at the seventh transformation of the Fish-Dragon Realm, so the amount of sacred qi he possesses naturally can't compare to cultivators at the eighth or ninth transformation."
"Lin Yue must have expended a great deal in his previous battles. In this fight against the Demon Sect's three Saint Body-level experts, he's probably going to lose."
...
Rat and Snake Two stood beside the one hundred and eight king seats, looking down and watching the battle between Zhang Ruochen and the Demon Sect's three top experts.
A lecherous gleam appeared in Rat's eyes as he fixed his gaze on Mu Lingxi and laughed, "The Little Saintess's cultivation speed is truly astonishing. She's already able to contend with Lin Yue."
Snake Two crossed her arms over her chest, occasionally flicking her crimson tongue out of her lips, and said, "The Little Saintess has only just broken through to the eighth transformation of the Fish-Dragon Realm, so there's still a gap between her and Lin Yue. However, for some reason, Lin Yue doesn't seem willing to go all out against her. He's holding back in every move. There must be a story between Lin Yue and the Little Saintess."
"Whether there's a story or not doesn't matter. As long as the Little Saintess can defeat Lin Yue, she'll preserve the prestige of our sect. Moreover, the Little Saintess will become famous throughout the world through this battle."
Rat's gaze shifted from the battlefield to Huang Yanchen, and he let out a cackling laugh. "No matter how strong Lin Yue is, he's just a guard. If we can take care of the main guest, that would be the real way to pull the rug out from under them."
With that, Rat's figure flickered, transforming into a streak of black light that shot toward Huang Yanchen below.
Sensing the dangerous aura coming from above, Huang Yanchen immediately drew her sacred sword and struck with lightning speed, thrusting forward.
"Shashasha!"
In an instant, dozens of sword qis surged from the sacred sword, converging at a single point and striking the black figure.
"Boom!"
Rat extended a palm and directly caught the sacred sword, staring at Huang Yanchen up close, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth as he chuckled, "Little beauty, your reaction speed is quite fast. Too bad your cultivation is too low. Your sword striking this old Rat's body can only tickle me."
Rat was naturally lecherous by nature, and seeing an ice-cold beauty like Huang Yanchen only made him want to tease her.
But just as Rat reached out a hand toward Huang Yanchen, a cold voice sounded from behind him: "Her sword can't hurt you, but what about mine?"
Rat felt his neck grow stiff, clearly sensing an iron sword pressed against his nape. The cold air emanating from the sword had nearly frozen the blood in his upper body.
Rat immediately stopped his hand, his expression turning quite cold. "A Le! What are you doing?"
A Le stood behind Rat, his rusted iron sword pressed against Rat's neck. "Take your dirty hand off."
"You..."
Rat's face twisted with fury.
Although Rat wasn't afraid of A Le, he didn't want to provoke him either.
After all, there was a legend within the Demon Sect: "No one can kill A Le, but everyone A Le has set his sights on has already died."
Who would want to provoke such a person?
Rat said in a deep voice, "If you want me to let her go, you'd better give me a reason."
"No reason," A Le said.
"Whoosh!"
The edge of the iron sword was extremely sharp, already piercing through Rat's defenses and leaving a bloody gash on his neck.
One could imagine that if A Le's hand twitched even slightly, Rat's head would fly off.
"Rat, let her go." Ouyang Huan personally gave the order.
Although Ouyang Huan didn't know why A Le was helping Huang Yanchen, he understood A Le well enough to know that A Le had his own reasons for everything he did.
Though unwilling, Rat eventually released his grip on the sacred sword.
Huang Yanchen withdrew her sacred sword and glanced at A Le, a look of great confusion in her eyes.
In the end, she clasped her hands and said, "Thank you."
A Le withdrew his sword from Rat's neck, stabbed the tip into the book page, pressed both hands on the hilt, and said coldly with unfocused eyes, "Don't thank me. I won't harm you, but I won't let you and Lin Yue continue climbing upward either."
Then he added, "I also advise you: Lin Yue has killed people from the Divine Sect, and the Divine Sect will surely punish him. It's better for you not to accompany him. If you want to sit on a king's seat, I can be your guard and help you secure a position."
A Le's words carried no emotion, but they caused a huge shock among everyone present.
"What's going on? Who exactly is Huang Yanchen?"
"Lin Yue willingly became her guard, and now this Demon Sect death sword expert is also willing to be her guard?"
"That death sword expert is said to take orders from no one. Even Ouyang Huan doesn't treat him as a guard."
"What charm does Huang Yanchen possess to have two sword dao prodigies guarding her?"
...
Not only were the onlookers shocked, but even Huang Yanchen was quite surprised. She had never expected that this powerful young swordsman would say such words.
"Could he also have some connection with me?" Huang Yanchen thought to herself.
Just as everyone was still discussing in confusion, another young figure climbed up from below the Book Mountain, shouting words that left everyone utterly astounded.
"There's no need for the Demon Sect to curry favor. I can be Princess Yanchen's guard and help her secure a king's seat."
On the steps, Bu Qianfan, clad in golden armor and holding an eighteen-foot-long halberd, with his long hair cascading down both sides of his face, advanced with overwhelming momentum, fighting his way up the Book Mountain.