"Ye Chen!"
Releasing out his soul power, Xia Houzun could sense that it was indeed Ye Chen who had been breaking through walls as well. After sensing his killing intent, Xia Houzun was even more angered.
There had been rumors about how Ye Chen was the most likely martial genius who could replace one of the top five young warriors. In other words, once he made it, then one of the top five young warriors would have to step down. It was an unofficial rule, but it was based on the fact that there had been a top young warrior in the middle of the Sky Martial Region as well as another four top regions, which perfectly made up five of them. This had been an unspoken rule throughout history.
In Xia Houzun's opinion, Ye Chen had no chance of moving up at all. At least before the top five young warriors reached forty years of age, there was no possibility of that happening whatsoever. And right now, Ye Chen daring to display this level of killing intent in front of him was an obvious disrespect toward him. It was something that he could not tolerate at all.
Boom!
The tiny rocks jumped in the air as the tough tunnel walls were torn apart. It looked like the massive mouth of a demon that was directly connected to hell.
The sword qi had been pouring out as a human figure had appeared in front of Murong Qingchen.
The second Ye Chen appeared, Murong Qingcheng's body softened and her black bat wings quickly shrank down and disappeared back into her body while she fell onto the ground.
Holding her up with his hands, Ye Chen said quietly, "Have you been using your demon power essence?"
"Yeah…I was planning to use my Sky Demon Finger attack to wound him badly, but his Void Shattering Finger Attack was very fast. It managed to block in front of my attack, which canceled out half of the attacking power."
The finger power shot out with her Sky Demon Finger was extremely destructive, a demon race martial art passed down through her bloodline. But, Xia Houzun's Void Shattering Finger contained the space profound, which when trained to the extreme, could allow the trainer to ignore physical distance, making it naturally just as fast as her Sky Demon Finger attack; it might even be slightly faster. If there were no delay due to the Void Shattering Finger, that finger attack could definitely worsen Xia Houzun's wounds by a couple of times.
Ye Chen nodded and looked at Xia Houzun coldly, "Alright! Although it was earlier than I had planned, I do not care for it. Let's just battle here and now."
"Battle? With me? You?"
Ye Chen was able to break through the walls that easily was indeed a shock to Xia Houzun, but his mind was so fixed on the idea that the former was nowhere near his level.
"What? Is it really that unbelievable? I can assure you that you will not be able to leave here safely today. There will be blood." Ye Chen looked calm, but his voice could clearly send chills down anyone's spine.
"Stop messing around. This is literally the funniest joke I have ever heard." Xia Houzun laughed hysterically, looking very arrogant and ignorant. He obviously did not care for Ye Chen at all.
Then, his tone changed drastically as he said creepily, "Jokes aside, I am indeed angered by you. I will not kill you, but I will shatter every single bone of yours. I will show you how tough your bones really are, and test to see whether they are tough as your mouth right now."
"You will see when you try. Obviously, that is under the condition that you have the power to get there."
Ye Chen held his Thunder Disaster Sword and was ready to go.
"Cut the crap! Today, I will show you the gap between you and I."
Shoo!
A beam of gold light flashed once as Xia Houzun shot out toward Ye Chen. Outside his body, strings of gold light spread out, leaving tiny cracks in the wall.
"The gap is not decided by you. Don't worry…I will show it to you."
Leaning forward, Ye Chen's whole body shot closer to the ground as he held onto his sword with his right hand. A part of his sword was already in the air.
"Surreal Emperor Finger!"
The gap between the two were decreasing drastically. Xia Houzun's gold robes danced in the air as he pointed out a finger at Ye Chen's forehead. As that finger was thrown out, millions of emperor level warriors' shadows appeared behind him.
Chin!
Taking out his Thunder Disaster Sword, Ye Chen shook his right hand, and that electricity like sword body shook twice in the air. With that, a crossed sword light clashed with the incoming finger power.
Shoo!
That powerful finger was shattered under Ye Chen's precise movement. Of course, his sword light had been burnt out as well.
"Using power to shatter power? I see! But, I wonder what you are going to do now."
His body shot out in a tilted manner as Xia Houzun flicked out all ten fingers from both of his hands, forming countless broken shadows. In the next second, beams of finger power had been shot out. That bright starlight spread out in the whole area, dyeing the whole tunnel with a bright color.
Ye Chen jumped backward, and before his feet landed onto the ground, five fingers of his left hand flicked out as well, forming countless shadows. The lotus heart sword qi welcomed the incoming finger power.
Pooh! Pooh!
The lotus sword qi shattered one after another. Xia Houzun's finger art indeed contained the powerful starlight profound, which was extremely fast and powerful. Meanwhile, the lotus heart sword qi was still not a profound sense martial art. And even with the enhancement from the sword intent, it was still nowhere near the power of Xia Houzun's finger attack.
However, one lotus sword qi not being as powerful as the falling star finger power was okay, because there was always the second beam, and the third beam. There would be enough to compete with them. Right then, Ye Chen's five fingers had disappeared completely while endless sword qi shot out, madly canceling out the falling star finger power.
"How can he shoot out this many within such a short period of time?" Xia Houzun could not help but change his expression. His finger art was already fast enough, but somehow, Ye Chen managed to shoot out even faster and way more numerous sword qi, which did not even seem to run out at all.
Indeed, Ye Chen's lotus sword qi did not need to regenerate at all since it was already stored inside his dantian, countless of them. That massive green lotus was like a sword qi manufacturer, tirelessly creating more and more sword qi.
"Come Finger Attack!"
He changed the style of his finger art as Xia Houzun brought out more power and got more focused. The comet finger attack was more powerful and like a massive comet which covered a massive area. Ye Chen and everything within would be under its attack.
"Gold Pattern, break!"
As his feet landed onto the ground, Ye Chen's both legs pushed onto the ground, bouncing his body into the air. At the same time, his thunder disaster sword was waved out as well. That beautiful gold pattern spread out, shattering the finger art in half immediately. The gold pattern's power did not decrease; instead, it spread out toward Xia Houzun while the time itself seemed to have slowed down.
"How come his power progressed this quickly?"
Xia Houzun was shocked. He was aware of Lan Xieqing's power, which did not concern him at all. Ye Chen managing to beat the latter within ten attacks was not something alarming for him. Even if he were twice as powerful as he let out, it would not be a problem for Xia Houzun after all. But, what he did not expect was that Ye Chen's power was not just twice as powerful—it was way beyond that
"Draw attack!"
He shot out his finger power again as he drew around his body. With that, a layer of space barrier appeared between him and the gold pattern.
Swoosh!
The gold pattern had an extraordinary damaging power. The space patter had just been formed before it was attacked aggressively. It then broke in two halves, with the edge being abnormally smooth. It looked like it was done after a long time, since there was not a single flaw in it at all.
"Break!"
After throwing out a causal finger attack to shatter the gold pattern that had most of its power burnt out, Xia Houzun looked extra gloomy.
"Alright…you do have some kind of ability…I see that now. But, do not celebrate yet. I will win against you within a heartbeat with this next attack."
Xia Houzun took a deep breath. His Zhen yuan was like water rushing through a broken dam, pouring out endlessly with a great impact. His right index finger shone with a dim starlight which seemed very vague, to the point that one could miss it without looking closely.
"Star Nuclear Finger Attack!"
Earlier on when Xia Houzun and Murong Qingcheng were battling, those Star Nuclear Fingers had only been performed casually, since she was not Bai Wuxue. It would be impossible for her to make him use all of his power easily. However, in this finger attack, he had used one hundred percent of his power. The horrifying Star Nuclear Gravity appeared out of the blue as if there were countless strings straggling Ye Chen, pulling him back.
"Do you not know that I am a sword artist?" A sarcastic smile appeared on Ye Chen's face as he ignored the effects that happened on his body and Zhen yuan while waving out a sword horizontally.
As that sword was waved out, the rest of the Zhen yuan had been pulled out as well, forming a blue light ball ten meters in front of Xia Houzun. But, some parts of his Zhen yuan had been poured into his thunder disaster sword forcibly, forming sword qi before being thrown out.
Swoosh! The blue light ball that included the Star Nuclear Gravity looked like a broken balloon, with qi leaking out from within.
"How is this possible? How could my Star Nuclear Attack be shattered this easily?"
He had no idea that Ye Chen's sword intent was even more powerful than one of the top five young warriors, Lu Shaoyou. Normally, Lu Shouyou should not be afraid of Xia Houzun's Star Nuclear Finger Attack, and neither should Ye Chen. After all, the reason that the sword intent could increase attacking power was because it could make the sword qi denser. If the other people's sword qi was metal, then Ye Chen's would be diamonds.
Therefore, no matter how powerful his Star Nuclear Gravity was, he could not fully match this high-density sword qi, which was why his finger power had been shattered immediately.
Of course, it was not like his Star Nuclear Gravity power had no effect at all; at least when Ye Chen was activating his Zhen yuan, some of it had been pulled over already to form that blue light ball. It was already because Ye Chen had his sword intent to protect him; otherwise, this sword attack would be even more powerful, which would have messed up Xia Houzun even more.
In conclusion, Xia Houzun's finger art could not handle Ye Chen's sword qi at all, neither could it transform the sword qi completely into pure energy.
After breaking through Star Nuclear Gravity, Xia Houzun backed out immediately. Removing most of the sword qi around him, he could not look more horrible at this point.
Murong Qingcheng saw the battle between Ye Chen and Xia Houzun getting this intense from far away and could not help but get amazed. She had guessed that Ye Chen's power might have reached a level that could even compete with the top five young warriors. But, even though she had guessed it, it was still different when she saw it with her own eyes. She had already prepared for it: the second Ye Chen displayed any signs of losing, she would join forces with him to help beat Xia Houzun, even though it might mean worsen her injuries to an irreversible level.
But obviously, Ye Chen's power had reached the next level.
Shoo!
Xia Houzun was still one of the top five young warrior after all. Although Ye Chen's power was incredible, it was still not enough to push him into the corner. A cold light flashed past his eyes as he stomped on the ground with his feet. With that, the bright gold light splashed in the air as he jumped at Ye Chen at an extreme speed.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The two clashed, and it became a close quarter battle.
"Void Shattering Finger!"
Tilting his body, Xia Houzun suddenly pointed out a finger attack: it was indeed his most powerful Void Shattering Finger Attack. Even if it were Bai Wuxue, he would have to use all of his power to escape out of this one.
At this close distance, normal attacks would require highest reflexes, not to mention the fact that it was the Void Shattering Finger attack carrying the space profound.
Boom!
The gold finger power landed right onto Ye Chen's protective Zhen yuan while a cold light appeared on Xia Houzun's face. During the past half year, his Void Shattering Finger had reached the next level; it was already ninety percent complete. Its attacking power was way more powerful than when he was in the battle with Bai Wuxue.
"Spiritual Sword!"
Ye Chen did not care for the fact that he was hit with head on as he waved out his sword attack, and that gentle sword wind immediately affected the other.