When the second Masters Ranking got out, it created a huge commotion. Nobody expected Ye Chen to take the first place. After all, the previous first and second ranked, Axe Master Lin Ruhai and Earth Sword Master Xu Yuan, were not to be looked down upon. And to think a young man who wasn't even thirty years old could suppress them was simply too exaggerated.
If being ranked one on the Masters Ranking seemed exaggerated, then the title of Sword Master was simply absurd. If it were just the title itself, people could have accepted it somehow. But, the problem was that an organization as big as the Knowledge Pavilion actually unanimously agreed on this point. If this was not absurd, then what else could be?
As a result, many people were beginning to doubt the accuracy of the Knowledge Pavilion. As for whether their suspicions would be proven true or not, it would be known soon. The Sword Artists, who had been heroes of their own eras, would not be indifferent toward the title of Sword Master. Ye Chen would be soon subjected to some severe challenges.
…
By the time Ye Chen arrived at the Murong Clan, Murong Qingcheng had left seclusion a few days ago, completely recovering from her injury. Although her injury made her go into closed-door cultivation for half a year, it wasn't without any benefit. Since the injury was due to bearing demonic essence, it strengthened her demonic body to another level upon recovering in turn, attaining the third step of the demonic body. By solely relying on body, her defenses had become much stronger than Ye Chen's third step spirit body.
Apart from this, she had also refined the demonic essence, allowing her cultivation base to soar. She had already broken through into the late Sea of Soul realm, beating Ye Chen.
However, after this breakthrough, the demonic essence remaining in her body was not much. It was only enough to let her break through into half-step Life and Death King. Following that, she would have to depend on herself. The demonic essence was scarce in True Spirit Continent, and thus, her difficulty of reaching the Life and Death realm would be several times higher than others'.
With her demonic body reaching the third step and cultivation base breaking through into the late Sea of Soul realm, her strength had doubled. Demonic Finger, which used to put a tremendous strain on her body, could now be used a dozen times non-stop without any trouble. Moreover, her breakthrough into late Sea of Soul realm had allowed her to experience the state of one with the heavens for a brief moment, cultivating several profound martial skills to eighty percent completion, and Dark Sky Curtain to hundred percent completion.
She had already begun to think about creating her own profound martial skill.
…
A black ocean stretched indefinitely, its surface surging with waves and tides. The islands were scattered on its surface like stars in the sky. At each interval of a few hundred li or a thousand li was an island. If one looked down from above, the islands would appear to be concentrated on the black ocean several times more compared to its surrounding waters. On some of the islands, one could even see people mining vigorously.
On the southern islands, the miners wore clothes with a huge, veined dragon embroidered. Meanwhile on the northern islands, the clothes of the miners had all sorts of insignias, including black octopus, whirlwinds, whirlpools, and a huge eagle. Their cultivation bases were not high at all, all being more or less at the Condensing Reality realm.
Shua Shua Shua!
In the south, numerous figures flew in one after another.
From afar, one could clearly see that they all wore black-robes with a huge dragon insignia on it. The people who lived here were very clear who these people were: they were members of the Dragon God Celestial Palace's Azure Dragon Hall, which was the most powerful of the palace's five great halls.
"Halt!"
The leader was a tall and sturdy person with tiger-like eyes and dense eyebrows, carrying a huge machete on his back. He was the deputy head of Azure Dragon Palace, Hu Wenhai. His cultivation base was at the peak of late Sea of Soul realm. The reason he'd arrived here with several hundred people under his command was because of the information about hostile forces. The members of Whirlwind Sect were escorting a batch of resources and would pass through this region. Their aim was to kill the enemies and claim the resources.
"Spread out and prepare for the ambush! Attack on my command…Don't let a single one escape!" Huwen Hai said loudly.
"Understood!"
The group had more than thirty Sea of Soul realm experts; among them, fifteen were at the early Sea of Soul realm, ten at mid Sea of Soul realm, and seven at the late Sea of Soul realm. The remaining people in the group were all Astral Reaching experts. Such a force was enough to wipe all the sixth grade sects of South Rudra Region.
"Deputy Hall Master Hu, will there be any danger?" Beside Hu Wenhai, a cold and gloomy looking middle-aged man walked out. This man was actually that deputy head of Yellow Dragon Hall—Yao Yifeng.
After being caught by Zhang Zhenguang, he was sent to Dragon God Celestial Palace. However, due to Dragon King being in seclusion at that time, the higher-ups decided to let him redeem himself through earning merits, and dispatched him to the Blood Battle Ocean. Of course, aware of the possibility of him harboring malice toward the Palace, apart from removing his Yellow Dragon Sealing Art, they also exerted a restriction technique on him. Under this restriction, his strength would remain unaffected; but if he dared to rebel, the restriction would immediately activate and kill him.
Upon joining the Azure Dragon Palace, Yao Yifeng didn't cause any trouble, and instead fought fiercely, slaying many enemies, It relieved the higher-ups of the palace quite a bit, Originally sent as a part of the honor guards, he had already been promoted to their leader. This made the higher-ups of the palace completely relieved, and he could even be promoted to vice head of a palace if a vacancy arose.
Hu Wenhai waved his hand, "This movement is an absolute secret, and we have information ahead of time. They only have about five people. Rest assured, it will be absolutely safe."
This kind of secret mission was only known to the Hall Master and a few Deputy Hall Masters. Even Yao Yifeng didn't have the qualifications to know.
"That's good! Our Dragon God Celestial Palace has suffered miserably in the recent times." A cold light flickered in Yao Yifeng's eyes before he exclaimed.
"They will pay a disastrous price." Hu Wenhai's face turned vicious.
The preparations of the ambush were swiftly executed. In a few moments, not one member of the Azure Dragon Hall could be seen.
Wind blew, and the ocean water surged as time went by slowly. After a while, the members of Azure Dragon Hall hidden in the sea or on the island started to get anxious.
"Why haven't they arrived yet? Could it be that they know?"
"Don't jinx it!"
"Come on, I'm just joking!"
A few moments passed again.
Suddenly. A screech sounded.
"Not good, we've been reverse-ambushed!"
In the sky and in the ocean, numerous figures were rushing in from every direction. Roughly looking, the combined sum of people from every direction was three times their number. If they were to be completely surrounded, not a single one among them would escape.
"Impossible! How did they know?"
Lying in ambush, Hu Wenhai couldn't lightly spread out his soul power. Otherwise, it would be the same as telling the targets about their position. Therefore, he only spotted them when they were just a few dozen li away. Almost subconsciously, he spread out his soul power.
Every single direction in his vision was filled with enemies from Whirlwind Gate, Black King Gate, Sky Eagle Cult, and also Water Wave Sect. Their speed was extremely fast. In a blink, they had already arrived within twenty li.
"Operation Failed! Break out with all your strength." Hu Wenhai promptly decided and bellowed.
The members of Azure Dragon Hall immediately converged together and charged south like a combined blade.
"You think you can run? Die!"
An ominous glint flashed in the eyes of assailant's leader. He waved his hand, and countless attacks poured down on the fleeing Azure Dragon Hall members like rain.
The speed of the attacks was much faster than that of flight. In the next moment, the outermost members of Azure Dragon Hall were torn apart; the number of casualties was more than fifty. And this was merely the first wave of attack. If a few more such waves were to occur, the result would be simply disastrous.
"Kill your way out!" Hu Wenhai's eyes turned crimson as he charged straight into members of Water Wave Sect.
"Kill!"
Bang Bang Bang!
The eyes of Azure Dragon Hall members turned crimson. The outermost members each had their shield raised high, blocking the attacks from back, left, and right. Then, all members simultaneously aroused their Zhen Yuan and issued their attacks toward Water Wave Sect ahead.
"Formation, Water Curtain!"
The majority of Water Wave Sect members cultivated water-attributed battle skills. Thus, in the ocean, they seemed invincible. Seeing the head forming a seal with both hands, the rest of the members behind also followed his movements unanimously. In the next moment, a huge water curtain was formed on the ocean before them; it was several kilometers long and high, and a hundred meters thick.
While the water screen was tattered from the incoming attacks, it was being mended at the same time, standing without fail at all times.
"Yao Yifeng, Zhuo Heng, Xiang Yihui...You six, come with me and break through the water curtain. We'll kill amidst their ranks." Hu Wenhai knew that only if they slaughtered the enemies from within would they have any chance of making out. Otherwise, they would be crushed to the last one sooner or later.
"Yes!" A few several voices severely replied.
"Wave Strike!"
"Inferno Spear!"
Seven attacks landed onto the water screen, and it eventually exploded with a bang. Millions of water droplets sprinkled down in every direction.
"Charge out!"
Hu Wenhai took the lead and charged out. The huge machete in his hands slashed with huge beams of bright white light crisscrossing around him.
"Hehe…Hu Wenhai, you're dead this time for sure!"
The Water Wave sect members pooled together, disdaining the attempt of Azure Dragon Hall members. If they were unable to kill the latter even in these circumstances, they'd better kill themselves.
Rumble!
A huge water sphere condensed and shot toward Hu Wenhai and the others behind him. Right at this moment, Yao Yifeng, intentionally or unintentionally, dashed to the right, avoiding the water sphere.
Peng!
The combined assault of Water Wave Sect's hundreds of members was too fierce, and the first to fall was Hu Wenhai. Furthermore, a third of Azure Dragon Hall members behind him also fell. As for the remaining, they were also whittling down slowly by the combined assault from the other three sides.
"Follow me out."
Yao Yifeng led the other dozens of remaining members and charged to the right of Water Wave Sect's encirclement. Losing half of the members, he actually succeeded in leading the survivors out.