novelraw Chapter 781 - 780 - Looming Fear
Chapter 781 - 780 - Looming Fear
Xian was a powerful warrior but not an arrogant idiot. He knew it was fine to be afraid of things stronger than himself and admit he needed help but the tribulation guard he had joined seemed pointless at first until an extreme feeling of threat came from all around him!
He saw black clouds rolling in like grim death and he knew instinctively not to get in their way at all! How could a fresh Immortal bring down such a terrifying tribulation?
He had heard the emperor had planned for widespread devastation but the first part seemed more like a celebration from Heaven. He had felt his sliver react and reaching the shard tier did not seem so far fetched.
Laws he struggled to advance suddenly seemed so easy! He was grateful to be there for that if nothing else.
Yet now, he felt Lind Frey had undersold the danger. How terrifying was it to be so widespread that it was coming from far beyond their perimeter?
Still, he straightened his leather vest and tensed his exposed muscles to prepare to move as he flew in the sky. The desert was thin on Qi but he used his body more than Arts so it was not a problem to fly for a bit and then use a pill or elixir to recover.
He was about to resume his patrol over his barren stretch of desert when he felt something odd. He tried to focus on it but the rumbling sky was making things difficult.
Qi was swarming into the desert like a flood also so it made things even harder but then his own eyes saw movement where there should be none.
He narrowed his vision and focused to see 2 figures flitting around but he frowned. He knew those figures.
He was about to dismiss it as simply them being over excited when something in his instinct told him to go look.
He had lived in places most cultivators died in less than a day but were home to him. He landed and pushed off as flying that far was unwise in the current chaos.
[This is Xian, I am investigating something I can only see. My senses are blocked off due to the chaos.]
He hoped it got through but it was unlikely. He moved quickly as the desert blurred.
He was a body cultivator so his strengths were hardly bothered by the current situation. As he got closer his visage became grim.
He swept his black and white hair behind his skull into a leather tong. He also condensed his Qi in his blood. It was not playful sparring ahead, but real battle.
He also came across several dead cultivators. They were killed in 1 slash of a sword but he could not tell what kind.
It was odd because he had seen more than enough wounds in his long life to normally identify them, but these were very odd due to the lack of blood.
No weapon could do that.
The only things that could made him angry. They were vile Arts, techniques, or artifacts. None of those should be anywhere near that area!
He examined the robes in passing and was even more disturbed. They were all Divine Sword Sect and peak Sun Tiers with a few Immortals.
There was no way they were caught off guard. He recognized a few as long veterans of the war with the Fiends so sneak attacks were not easily done.
Who could do that to them with only 1 slash and no blood?!
He sped up and clouds of sand were left in his wake but the battle ahead was obscured by its own cloud. His heart raced as he finally got close only to find a few more Immortals but now they were from the Hellfire Sect!
Again, 1 slash killed them and no blood was left behind! What was going on?!
Xian began to glow as his newly enhanced sliver actually made his Impenetrable Body Art work much better than before.
He felt like he could take on a Shard Tier!
The dusty air made him blink but that was all as he saw something impossible.
Kilna, the slim demoness, was missing an arm and looking bloody murder at Aldar. The old man was bleeding as well but had all his limbs. His sword was drenched in demonic blood. Its blue tine was clear even to Xian.
"Ah, you are just in time, my friend. This woman has betrayed us all. Unfortunately, I cannot land a decisive blow." Aldar was still looking as ancient as ever but the Living Blade was without equal even then.
Xian would normally take him at his word but the situation was not something to simply take at face value. Both their swords were drenched in blood but Kilna's pink and violet hair was also covered in blood.
It was red.
He had seen no blood on the way and Aldar was not that bloody, so where had it come from.
"I am going to ask 1 question. If either of you lie to me, I will kill you where you stand." The odd standoff let the sand settle. The 3 of them had been friends for 100s of thousands of years, yet now they were in a fight to the death.
"How did those other cultivators die?" His question made both look briefly at him in surprise. It was at that moment that Xian attacked Aldar.
A sword light flashed but Xian's fists swatted it aside as if it was nothing. A slight pain came to his fists but that was all.
"What are you doing?! Kilna has betrayed us all to the Fiends! She plans to–" Xian did not listen. He no longer needed to.
At the moment he saw their reactions, he knew the truth.
"You are the Living Blade, Aldar, but you are a god awful liar. Yet now, you simply reacted with surprise while she reacted with despair. Kilan never despairs." It was true. She was a flirtatious woman with Aldar and other worthy warriors but she was rarely negative about anything.
He had never known her to lose her arm, ever, either. Aldar and she fought for real on several occasions, but she had never been overpowered to such an extent.
Why was she now missing an arm?
Xian still kept her in his sight, but Aldar's reaction was wrong. He did not seem bothered by the deaths at all while Kilna was simply giving up!
"She is playing you, Xian! Do not fall for her trap!" Xian kept swinging his fists but Aldar was a legend with a sword. He seemed to deflect or try to use an opening, yet Xian had not lived for so long without learning a few tricks.
"If she is playing me, then why am I alive?" His back was exposed and he could not stop her from killing him. Further, she could attack Aldar, but she did not. It was obvious Aldar was the aggressor here.
Aldar actually smiled.
"Xian, you have a good grasp of battle as always but I was not lying. She really betrayed you, but so did I. We are always together." Xian frowned but did not stop. His left leg disappeared for a moment to slam into Aldar's ribs.
The old man barely budged! It was not possible!
"Ah, well, I suppose I should stop hiding my cultivation at this point." Aldar sneered as a Shard Tier aura emerged! He had broken through!
"Why?! Why hide that?" Xian was caught off guard. Yet, he continued his assault, but Aldar just sneered more.
The sword flashed like lightning and blood began to fly, yet it flowed into the blade!
"Little Xian, he can recover from your blood. Avenge me." Kilna suddenly keeled over emaciated! What had happened to her?!
"Ah, she finally gave in. Stubborn but I truly regret killing her. I loved her. My mistress, however, gave me an explicit order. I have no choice." Xian raged. His fists and legs became blurry but he could no longer get through at all.
He had survived so many things but the oppressive feeling of Aldar left him weak! He was reluctant to die!
Eventually, he realized Aldar was using some technique to endure as Xian felt his body lagging.
"I enjoyed our friendship, Xian. You were a true friend but I have my orders." He felt Aldar's aura spike but he never stopped. Death would come but he refused to bow to it!
His fist suddenly snaked through and Aldar's eyes widened. Thunder rumbled as Storm Fist smashed into Aldar's ribs!
The crack of bone was heard clearly but Aldar acted like he felt nothing!
"I am stunned, truly. You are a master of your Arts. A pity." Aldar vanished and then a pressure was felt in Xian's chest.
The blade of the broadsword pierced his heart but all the blood was taken into it.
"Did you know, Fiend techniques can be put into a weapon? I found it most helpful for my mistress to keep myself free but hide such things in my sword. I make sure to satisfy her in exchange for her gift." Xian felt darkness closing in but then a massive roar was heard.
His vision snapped back as Aldar was sent flying!
The black clouds had struck him.
"Tck, I will have to act fast!" An artifact flew from his ring and zoomed towards Lind! Xian wanted to stop it but he collapsed as the last thing he heard was infuriating. "Live a little longer, old friend. We will meet again."
Darkness closed in and that was the last Xian knew.