The battle between Su Jinyuan and Youshang was reaching its climax when Su Jinyuan brought out some weird pearl that shot a suspicious radiance at Youshang’s eyes. 

At the final moment, Youshang wielded his spear with one hand while raising his sleeves to cover his eyes. Unfortunately, the radiance was a lot stronger than Youshang’s clothes. With a low ‘clang’, Youshang spat out a ball of golden light at the last second to scatter the radiance.

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“Hehe, Brother Su, that’s a wrong path you’re going down if you’re trying to comprehend your martial intent.” Youshang seemed composed after stopping Su Jinyuan’s sneak attack. Not a trace of panic could be heard in his voice. Instead, he sounded like a completely different person.

Su Jinyuan wasn’t disappointed that his sneak attack failed. Instead, he chuckled casually, “Heh, I nearly fell for your schemes. Our battle had been going on for a while now. I’m afraid I’ll soon be besieged on all sides. Moreover, it’s not like I gained nothing with my previous attack. At least now I know that you’ve been hiding your identity. Looks like you don’t have good intentions either.” 

Youshang didn’t bother with whatever Su Jinyuan said at the end. Instead, he replied sarcastically, “Brother Su, you’re confusing me. This is the Mnayu Continent and as the Master of the East, you have both the geographical advantage and the support of the people. Why would you be besieged on all sides? Unless… You’re hiding a secret…” 

Shang Xia’s heart trembled slightly when he heard what Youshang said. From what Youshang was saying, he seemed pretty sure that Su Jinyuan wasn’t a member of the Manyu Continent. He wondered if Youshang managed to confirm that Su Jinyuan was one of the members of the mysterious third faction because of what he said when they first met.

Shang Xia experienced a large-scale battle against the experts of the Manyu Continent when he arrived. After that, there was an exchange with Ren Bainian. He was familiar with the aura of experts from the Manyu Continent but he couldn’t feel any difference coming from Su Jinyuan.

He didn’t know how Youshang managed to determine that Su Jinyuan was a foreign cultivator but all of that didn’t matter. Shang Xia had been gathering energy the whole time he was ready to launch his sneak attack once the opportunity came.

The situation got worse after their short conversation. They didn’t stop fighting even as they talked earlier and the battle became even more dangerous and intense.

The two of them might be fighting in mid air, but the shockwaves of their battle greatly affected the mountain range below. Dozens of miles around their battlefield, the mountain peaks that used to exist had been flattened completely.

Without a change in expression, Su Jinyuan spoke, “What are you talking about? I don’t understand. Right now, our Manyu Continent is on the verge of destruction and the foreign powers are waiting to divide our assets. All of us can’t do anything but wait to be devoured by the others. We’re a pile of scattered sand at the moment. There’s no advantage for me to make use of it any longer.” 

Youshang hissed in response, “Brother Su, why are you trying so hard to defend yourself? Your explanation is just making it more obvious.” 

After he spoke, Youshang didn’t bother with the sword qi around him. Pushing forward with the giant vortex at the tip of his spear, he charged straight at his opponent.

Su Jinyuan’s sword revealed itself again as it clashed with the approaching Youshang.

At the same time, he pointed at the pearl he brought out earlier. It emitted a resplendent ray of light that shot at Youshang’s head.

This time, he didn’t really bother if the light ray the pearl emitted struck Youshang. Instead, he casually retrieved another ornament from his belt and tossed it into the air. The ornament turned into a battle axe that was 3 feet long and it cleaved down at Youshang without mercy.

Youshang was clearly able to handle the sneak attack from the pearl even under the assault of Su Jinyuan’s sword. However, the axe this time seemed a lot more powerful than the ray of light. Even if Youshang was prepared to charge forward with everything he had, he changed his decision at the last second and chose to protect himself.

A sneer appeared on Su Jinyuan’s lips as he gestured to the air. With his weapon controlling art, his sword and battle axe flew at Youshang.

“Fellow cultivator, how will you deal with this now?” Su Jinyuan roared with laughter. For the first time, he finally moved as he stepped in Youshang’s direction.

Unfortunately for him, the heavens above seemed to explode the moment he took his first step. Whatever he wanted to say next was drowned in the deafening rumble that came next.

Raising his head, a reddish-gold lightning bolt tore through the heavens and appeared right above him.

“How daring…” Su Jinyuan snorted coldly but he didn’t panic.

The pearl that was used against Youshang appeared above his head the next moment to greet the lightning bolt that was striking down. Surprisingly, the pearl only managed to stop the lightning bolt for a moment before it was sliced in two.

“Who’s there?!” Su Jinyuan’s expression finally changed when the pearl was split in two. He immediately realized that the lightning bolt that fell on him wasn’t Youshang’s doing. Instead, it came from someone hiding in the thunderclouds.

Also, the reddish-gold lightning bolt that fell didn’t just contain the power of lightning. Its flashy appearance only served to hide the terrifying blade light beneath!

With the lightning bolt and blade light still descending on him, Su Jinyuan raised his palm in front of his chest. With a loud cracking sound, another object cracked and a barrier of light appeared around him.

“Bang!” The lightning bolt slammed into the barrier and scattered in all directions. It failed to do a thing to the barrier but the lightning wasn’t what Su Jinyuan was concerned about. He was defending himself against the hidden blade light that was concealed in the lightning earlier.

That was Shang Xia’s Lightning Awakening, a move in the series of his Twenty Four Solar Terms. 

Su Jinyuan might have defended against the blade light that appeared out of nowhere, but it cost him dearly. Most of his attention was drawn away from Youshang and the pressure lessened immediately.

By the time Su Jinyuan had dealt with Shang Xia’s strike, Youshang roared as his Ancient Copper Spear slammed heavily into the battle axe and sent it flying. Without caring if his weapon would be damaged from the violent way he was using it, he closed the distance even more as he struck a heavy blow on Su Jinyuan’s sword. Now that he was closer to his opponent, he didn’t hesitate to stab his spear at the man again.

“With your strength, there’s no way you’re a nameless figure. Why do you have to hide and launch sneak attacks?” Su Jinyuan yelled in the direction Shang Xia was hiding before dealing with Youshang’s new assault.

This time, he tossed out a talisman that turned into a wheel of light that spun rapidly to approach Youshang.

A rank four talisman was obviously unable to stop an expert at Youshang’s level for long. Su Jinyuan also didn’t expect his talisman to do much. He only wished to use it to buy some time for himself to catch his breath after receiving Shang Xia’s hidden attack.

The moment Shang Xia made his move earlier, both sides knew that the situation had shifted.

Shang Xia’s grasp on the battle to launch his blade light at the most opportune moment, along with his ability to sense the flow of battle, in addition to the strength he exposed, Su Jinyuan understood that determining a victor against Youshang and the other party wasn’t going to be his main problem. Whether or not he would be able to escape was the issue at hand!

Youshang also realized what happened and the moment Shang Xia made his move, he, who had been suppressed all that time, didn’t take the chance to catch his breath. Instead, he risked it all to close the distance between himself and Su Jinyuan in order to prevent him from escaping immediately.

No matter what, Su Jinyuan was terrifyingly strong. From the treasures he had used so far, it was also obvious that he wasn’t poor at all!

He used a rank four talisman to buy him a moment from Youshang and he quickly tossed out another talisman. The second talisman turned into thin smoke that surrounded him. With the second talisman, his evasion arts became 30 percent more effective and it increased his chances of escaping by 30 percent.

Using the talisman was one thing, but increased chances didn’t mean that he would definitely be able to escape!

The thunderclouds in the air shattered suddenly and Shang Xia, who had been accumulating the power of lightning the whole time revealed himself. He turned into a streak of light that could cross dozens of miles in an instant.

He might be moving extremely quickly, but there was something even faster. Shang Xia released a refreshing slash that seemed to sunder the shackles of the world. 

It was another move he developed with the inspiration from the 14th Solar Term, Fiery Demise!

The talisman Su Jinyuan used earlier was vaporized under Shang Xia’s blade.

Staying calm, Su Jinyuan knew that he still had the barrier of light around him and would be able to block one of the two strikes headed his way.

Tapping the air in front of him, the battle axe that was sent flying by Youshang earlier started to make its way back to him.

As the axe was returning, Shang Xia arrived. With a flip of his wrist, Shang Xia revealed a rank four talisman in his hand. That was his last Divine Restraint Talisman and it didn’t seem to be a waste to use it on an expert like Su Jinyuan. 

Due to the extreme chaos that was happening all around, Su Jinyuan failed to notice the strange aura around the talisman in Shang Xia’s hand. The next moment, a burst of light blinded him and his thoughts froze for a second.

In the split second Su Jinyuan’s thoughts froze, Shang Xia’s Abyssal Blade made a horizontal slash that sent Su Jinyuan’s sword flying.

Without the sword in his way, Youshang released a roar and his blood exterminations condensed at the tip of his spear. As they converged, there were signs of them fusing. Now that Shang Xia had sent the annoying sword flying, his spear stabbed directly into the barrier of light around Su Jinyuan.

Alas, Su Jinyuan’s cultivation at the large completion stage of the Martial Extermination Realm wasn’t for show. He recovered in the blink of an eye and he no longer bothered with his weapon he recalled earlier. Biting down viciously on his tongue, he spat out a mouthful of blood onto the light barrier around him.

When he didn’t run away immediately after using his talisman, allowing Shang Xia to destroy it with his blade technique, there was only one way things would turn out. With escape no longer an option, it was a battle to the death.

His blood landed on the barrier at the same time Youshang’s spear arrived. 

Youshang’s spear landed on a pretty tricky spot as it stabbed straight into the point Shang Xia’s blade light landed earlier. A piercing scrape rang in the ears of everyone present and layers were scraped off Youshang’s Ancient Copper Spear. However, he managed to break through the barrier eventually as his spear stabbed straight for Su Jinyuan’s body.

The calm and collected Su Jinyuan moments ago was nowhere to be seen at the moment. He was forced to retreat by Youshang’s spear and he looked to be in an extremely sorry state. He couldn’t even hold his weapons properly!

He might have suffered some light disadvantages from their joint attack, but Su Jinyuan didn’t dare to turn and run. He noticed that Shang Xia was waiting for him at the side. It seemed as though the young cultivator was waiting for him to run so that he could launch another devastating blow and he quickly decided against showing his back.

At the moment, there was only one option left for him since he couldn’t run. He if held on desperately against their combined attacks, it would be a matter of time before he was exhausted.

“Why are the 2 of you making things difficult for me? Even if you can kill me, you’ll have to pay a huge price to do so!” Su Jinyuan still held on to the last bit of hope that they would let him go.

The only reply he received was Youshang’s frenzied attacks. The barrier of light around him shattered completely and he knew that there was nothing else left to say. He unleashed a maniacal offensive of his own.

Shang Xia, who had been waiting for his chance, made his move again.

As his Abyssal Blade rose into the air, a flurry of blade lights emerged and it fell like snow around Su Jinyuan. They formed a massive cage that tried to box him in.

That was a move Shang Xia used previously against another enemy, Lesser Snow.

“AHAHAHA!” Releasing a burst of crazed laughter, the last hope of leaving alive evaporated from Su Jinyuan’s mind. He could only give it his all and hope that he heavily injures his opponents before leaving the world of the living. He rushed at Youshang with all his might but he caught sight of a strange frosty glow not too far away. 

In the next instant, he realized that he had chosen the wrong target and despair filled his heart.

When Shang Xia unleashed Lesser Snow, he didn’t stop when the blade lights fell. Instead, he used all his might to throw his divine weapon at his target!

Who would have thought that Shang Xia would treat his divine weapon like a common concealed weapon and toss it at his enemy?!