Chapter 1404: Sky Measuring Step
Xiang Shaoyun's nine stars might have been crippled by Daoist Wudao, but his astral cosmos sea had remained, and he could still store things inside it. Thus, his astral cosmos sea was still working fine.
He had thought that the destruction of his stars would cause the energy in his astral cosmos sea to slowly fade away as well. But he found that all the different energies in his astral cosmos sea were still there. Of course, they had remained stagnant and had not grown.
Because of that, he attempted to draw the primal inception energy during his moment of crisis. Sure enough, the primal inception energy did not disappoint him. He could still utilize it, and he instantly dealt a heavy blow to his two opponents.
At this moment, Xiang Shaoyun, Lei Wuqing, and Hua Ruren were all heavily injured. However, the latter two had suffered much heavier injuries than Xiang Shaoyun. After all, the primal inception energy was too destructive. It was much more terrifying than the emotionless sword dao. After being damaged by the primal inception energy, the two were having a hard time even recovering their life force.
Xiang Shaoyun roared with laughter and said, "And now, both of you will die!"
Once again, he drew out the primal inception energy and swung the Yin Mother Sword. Lei Wuqing and Hua Ruren were greatly frightened and hurriedly started fleeing at the cost of igniting their life essences.
Xiang Shaoyun first swung his sword at Lei Wuqing. This fellow had been most insistent on pursuing him. He definitely wouldn't allow this fellow to flee. Meanwhile, Gui Qi was in charge of pursuing Hua Ruren, disturbing him with soul attacks to prevent him from fleeing farther away.
Although Lei Wuqing had used a saint-grade medicine to quickly heal, he still had difficulty moving due to losing half his body. The primal inception energy mercilessly chased after him, killing him and destroying his saint soul without even giving him a chance to beg for his life. With that, the Emotionless Sword perished.
After Xiang Shaoyun killed Lei Wuqing, Xiang Shaoyun's gaze landed on Hua Ruren. He ignored his injuries and, leaving several afterimages behind, hurriedly caught up. Hua Ruren was already half-crippled. With Gui Qi's constant interruption, Hua Ruren had no way of escaping. If it wasn't for the fact that his strength was far beyond Gui Qi's, he would have already been killed.
When Hua Ruren sensed Xiang Shaoyun's approach, he panicked and hurriedly pleaded, "S-spare me!"
Xiang Shaoyun sneered and said, "Why didn't you consider sparing me earlier?"
He then raised his sword.
Hua Ruren said, "I-I'm an important official in the Dusk Dynasty. My master is the grand teacher of the state. If you kill me—"
The sword landed before he could finish his words, ending his life. The master painter and calligrapher, Hua Ruren, had perished.
As the three Saints died one after another, dark clouds gathered in the sky. A red rain poured down, alarming all the beasts in the area. They all hid in fear. The deaths of Saints had caused even the heavens to weep!
The red rain poured on Xiang Shaoyun's body, washing off the blood and cleansing his mind, allowing him to understand that to survive, he had to aim for the peak of martial strength.
In the Fox Range, Hu Detian and the other fox elders were thoroughly shocked when they sensed everything that had happened in the sky. They had not imagined that Xiang Shaoyun would be so powerful. Not even the demonic foxes could pose a threat to him. If he really went against them, their only hope would be to awaken their grand elder.
"Looks like this kid can't be underestimated," said Hu Detian with a sigh.
"Patriarch, why don't we take this chance to kill him. In his current condition, he won't be able to last long against us," proposed an elder.
"Absolutely not. If we fail, we will be bringing disaster to ourselves. It hasn't been easy for the fox race to survive until today. We can't afford to be hit with another disaster," said Hu Detian. "We'll think of what to do if he remains stubborn."
Hu Detian did not dare to look down on Xiang Shaoyun. In fact, he appreciated Xiang Shaoyun's talent. It was truly unfortunate that this kid was a devil. Devils would not be allowed to live in the dominion. He did not want to turn the entire fox race into a public enemy.
As Xiang Shaoyun floated high in the sky, Xiang Shaoyun's wounds were healing rapidly, and he was becoming more and more disheartened. The constant battles had greatly exhausted him in both body and mind. He wondered if he could survive the next round of assault. He recalled that his master had promised to handle everything for him. Why did it seem like nothing had changed? He took out the Sky Measuring Ruler and swung the Yin Mother Sword at it.
Clank!
With a bright spark, the old cracks on the Sky Measuring Ruler enlarged. With another swing of the Yin Mother Sword, the ruler broke. Just like that, Xiang Shaoyun destroyed a weapon equivalent to a great saint-grade weapon.
The instant the Sky Measuring Ruler was broken, a clump of radiance hovered out. Numerous ancient characters floated out of the clump, joining into a sentence: To measure the immensity and height of the sky, to measure the width of the heavens, to measure the depth of the cosmos, to measure the boundless universe...
Xiang Shaoyun fixed his gaze at the ancient characters, imprinting every single one of them into his mind. The moment he memorized them, the characters vanished into nothingness.
As Xiang Shaoyun shut his eyes, the characters appeared in his mind again and again. He seemed to see a certain figure taking a walk. With one step, that figure crossed a massive river. With another step, they traversed a mountain range. With one step, the world was measured. Nothing could stop that step, not even the world itself. Only the boundless universe was worthy of being measured by that step.
After an indeterminate amount of time, three characters were left in Xiang Shaoyun's mind: Sky Measuring Step. This was a footwork technique, a top-tier god-grade technique. He could see that this technique was even better than the Overlord's Nine Nether Steps he practiced during his previous life. After all, the Overlord's Nine Nether Steps was more than just a footwork technique, whereas the Sky Measuring Step was a pure footwork technique. The two were different in essence.
In his previous life, he had managed to master the first two stages of footwork intent. With this Sky Measuring Step, he would be able to reach the final stage, the so close yet worlds apart stage.
Xiang Shaoyun started walking. With one step, it was as though the gap on the ground beneath him was shortened. At the same time, it also seemed like he was moving with the wind. He moved at an incredibly fast speed, yet he wasn't satisfied. He mustered all his strength and continued walking.
One step. Two steps. Three steps. Each step was faster than before, and each step crossed a wider distance than before. Xiang Shaoyun looked incredibly carefree, as though he was riding the wind itself. Nothing in the world seemed capable of stopping his advance. At the same time, he also seemed to be measuring the height of the sky and reaching the horizon with one step.