novelraw Chapter 1332: The Rise of the Three Deadly Stars
Chapter 1332: The Rise of the Three Deadly Stars
"If those few servants of Mu Hanyan had a bit of spine, they might still help her block a few moves, but... what a pity, what a pity..." someone kept sighing nonstop."I said long ago their luck has run out. Not only have they shown their true colors, they’re going to get Mu Hanyan killed as well." Of course, there were also people laughing gloatingly.
The Competition Platform, ten zhang to a side, could by no means be called small, but for cultivators of this level, it was only a few steps away. In just the blink of an eye, Qin Ba and the others’ figures were right in front of them, four streaks of Sword Light sweeping down toward Mu Hanyan.
Yet Mu Hanyan only looked at them calmly, hand on her hilt, with no intention of drawing her sword at all.
Another wave of shocked cries rose from below the stage. No one doubted that under the four of them joining forces, even if Mu Hanyan barely managed to block, her strength would be greatly depleted, and Jing Jianjue’s final killing strike might well be the one to behead her on the stage.
But with things already at this point, she still wasn’t drawing her sword. What on earth was she thinking? Had she been scared stupid by the sudden surge in the five’s strength? But judging from her performance in the previous two matches, she didn’t seem like someone with that little courage.
Very soon, they got their answer.
A tall, straight figure leapt out from behind Mu Hanyan. It was one of those servants of hers whom no one had ever looked at properly. If they remembered correctly, he seemed to be called Huayue.
"Thunder Sound, Sky Swinging!" With Huayue’s cold, sharp shout, his Sword Light chopped out in a long arc to meet Qin Ba’s overbearingly unmatched Sword Light.
Courting death! Seeing Huayue’s headlong charge, the same thought rose in everyone’s hearts. In their eyes, Huayue clearly meant to use a mutual-destruction strike to help Mu Hanyan block the blow.
Although they had previously looked down on Huayue’s strength, his loyal, protective heart for his master moved them all, and their impression of him changed greatly. It was just that the gap in strength was so huge that he didn’t even have the chance to drag Qin Ba down with him—he was simply throwing his life away.
But very quickly, they realized they were wrong.
"Boom!" When the two swords clashed, there was actually a thunderous explosion, and a shockwave centered on the meeting point of the blades rapidly enveloped the two of them.
Both their bodies shuddered violently and they were actually jolted back, flying backward at the same time.
The entire martial arena fell into a brief silence.
How was that possible? A dignified Eighth Rank Sword Master expert had actually been forced back by a single strike from a Fourth Rank Sword Master. And everyone could see that among the people at Jing Jianjue’s side, Qin Ba’s sword technique was the most powerful in terms of attack; if it came to a head-on clash, even the others wouldn’t be his match.
Yet with the strength of a Fourth Rank Sword Master, Huayue had forcefully blocked his all-out blow and even sent him flying backward. How could that be?
If the facts weren’t right before their eyes, they would have suspected there was something wrong with their vision.
Their shock wasn’t over, because right after, another figure rushed up to meet Liang Qian—it was Jiang Yuzhe.
Among the people by Jing Jianjue’s side, Qin Ba obviously had the strongest offensive power, while Liang Qian was the fastest. That sword as swift as a shooting star and as quick as lightning was almost too fast for the naked eye to track.
But facing such a rapid, almost indiscernible thrust, Jiang Yuzhe neither dodged nor evaded, charging straight forward.
This time, however, no one thought he was throwing his life away. After witnessing that strike from Huayue, no one dared look down on anyone at Mu Hanyan’s side anymore.
Sure enough, just as they’d anticipated, at the instant Liang Qian’s tip was about to pierce Jiang Yuzhe, his figure suddenly vanished into thin air.
"Concealing the body? A petty trick." Liang Qian snorted coldly.
This sort of Barrier that concealed one’s body wasn’t unique to Jiang Yuzhe; some other families or the Holy Court had similar secret techniques, only the methods of casting them differed.
But no matter how they were cast, these Barriers all had a fatal weakness: while hidden, one could not attack, and the moment of revealing oneself to strike was also the moment when one’s strength was at its weakest.
Liang Qian had more than enough confidence that with his fast sword, he could completely kill Jiang Yuzhe in the instant he appeared.
He pulled back his Sword Force, focusing his entire being, ready to unleash a killing blow.
"Really? People who are too full of themselves usually die miserably." Jiang Yuzhe’s mocking voice suddenly rang in his ears.
Immediately after, the light shifted before his eyes and three identical figures appeared in front of him and to his two sides, three swords stabbing toward the vital points of his Heart Meridian from different angles.
"Clone, Illusion Destruction!" Along with the three figures, a cold shout rang out in unison.
Liang Qian’s expression changed drastically. No matter how fast his sword was, it was absolutely impossible to kill three opponents at once. The other side’s strength was weaker, but not so weak they could be slaughtered at will.
Liang Qian knew very clearly that only one of the three figures was Jiang Yuzhe’s true body; the other two were Clone Illusions. But in such a rush, how could he tell which was real and which was false?
In that instant, his Divine Sense surged to the limit. Finally, relying on a realm four tiers above Jiang Yuzhe’s, he detected the more condensed Sword power aura on the clone to his left and thrust out a sword.
"Ssst!" A spray of blood blossomed from Jiang Yuzhe’s left shoulder, and the two Clone Illusions vanished at the same time.
But at the same time, Jiang Yuzhe’s longsword—custom-made for him, even thinner and longer than a normal Swordsman’s Sword—pierced through his thigh, trailing a streak of blood behind it.
With a muffled grunt, the two of them clutched their wounds, the Qi on the other’s sword forcing them to fly back simultaneously.
This scene once again left everyone dumbstruck, and an even greater shock was yet to come.
At the same time Huayue and Jiang Yuzhe made their moves, Zirong also attacked.
Facing Lu Zhenhuan’s ever-changing sword shadows, Zirong moved lightly, charging straight into that sea of sword shadows, his pair of Devil Eyes shining with a strange light.
Countless sword shadows swept past his body, but they always missed by a hair’s breadth. At this moment, Huayue was like a bizarre Ghost, flickering left and right, forward and back, and the distance between him and Lu Zhenhuan was rapidly shrinking.
"Demon Sword, Heart Kill!" Zirong’s sword finally struck.
In days to come, Demon Sword Zirong, whose name would resound across Anyun, finally used his signature Ultimate Skill.
This sword came from an angle so twisted it was grotesque. To avoid those myriad sword shadows, his body was contorted into a grotesque posture—back bent, torso turned to the side, like a boneless fish—while his longsword thrust out diagonally from between his legs.
Seeing the spot the blade grazed past, every male spectator present felt a chill surge between their legs and instinctively clamped their thighs together.
But obviously, they weren’t the ones suffering most—the one suffering most was Lu Zhenhuan, because the direction this sword was thrusting from was aimed exactly at the vital point below his waist.
A man has to be cruel to himself. Seeing the angle and position of Zirong’s sword, thinking of the risk he himself was taking, that sentence suddenly flashed through Lu Zhenhuan’s mind.
However, he had no time to think too much.
Although Zirong’s sword was still that obscene, that shameless, no one could deny that the angle, speed, and power of this strike had all been honed to the extreme.
Zirong poured all of his Mental State into this one sword. This was precisely where the name Heart Kill came from.