Chapter Thirty-Five: Breaking the Army

  "What is this thing, and how can its power be so great!" The plateau exclaimed in incredulity. That blue light, even if he had seen it before, still gave him a feeling of horror.

  "Third-grade treasure."

  "Impossible! How can a third-grade treasure have such power?" Zhou Mengjuan directly denied, the one she was using now was also a third-grade treasure, and its power was less than half of this.

  Lin Chao sighed, "Ordinary third-grade treasure naturally can't, but this third-grade treasure has been stimulated by a special secret method to burst, and it will automatically deteriorate within a month. This is sacrificing the treasure's lifespan, and what's gained in return is that its power is extraordinary, and this Nie Xiao actually also excels at sword arrays, which makes the treasure's power increase by 30%."

  As soon as this was said, everyone was shocked. Damaging a third-grade treasure just to gain more power, they had never made such a resolute decision before! And what they thought earlier, that Nie Xiao only wanted to teach them a lesson, was probably just an illusion. Destroying a third-grade treasure just for the sake of teaching a lesson, even a fool wouldn't be so wasteful.

  Lin Chao looked at the protective shield rising on the martial stage, silently sighing. It was still possible to stop before the trial, but now that the trial had begun and the shields were up, they too would have to turn back heaven's power.

  Shen Cong looked at the blue light around him, the holes on his arm had already explained the power of this light, he raised his head to look at Nie Xiao, "Brother, is this your intention to let me die?"

  "My junior brother says with a smile, how could my senior brother have such thoughts. But fists and feet are blind, now even more so with the sword in motion, some injuries are inevitable." Looking at the broadsword in his hand, Nie Xiao felt a pang of regret in his heart, but thinking of the final reward, he steeled himself to be resolute.

  Seeing Shen Cong draw out the Dragon Sparrow Knife, Nie Xiao sneered, "Younger brother, don't struggle too much, or older brother might not be able to hold back his strength. The injuries you suffer may become even more severe. Endure a bit of fleshly suffering and give up resisting, I can spare your life!"

  Shen slightly shook his head, the Dragon Sparrow Knife in his hand trembling lightly. "I also want to let Master Brother make an exception, if Master Brother doesn't allow it, then I'll have Master Younger Brother come and cut open this net himself!"

  "Foolishness!"

  Nie Xiao's eyes narrowed slightly, the broadsword in his hand shone even brighter, while the blue lines surrounding Shen Cong's body suddenly contracted. At the same time, a thin line quietly pierced towards Shen Cong's wrist.

  "Bang!"

  A soft sound, the Dragon Bird Knife directly cut through that thin thread. Nie Xiao's eyelid twitched, his true energy poured into the broadsword, and the threads in the cage began to multiply, one by one, until there were six threads flowing inside.

  The dragon bird knife danced and rose, but the movable position had been restricted here, and the fine lines were so many. Even if the dragon bird knife was thick and wide, it could not block all attacks. However, in a moment, Shen Cong's body had many more injuries, and a thread of blood stained his clothes, looking particularly miserable.

  Gao Yuan and others are watching from the outside with great urgency, but there is no way to do anything. Now Shen Cong is barely holding on, but once his strength is exhausted, he will inevitably suffer a crushing blow. No matter how you look at it, the one who will ultimately fail and be seriously injured is Shen Cong. He has not lost yet, only because the time has not come yet.

  Zhao Wu's mouth curled up in a cold smile as he gazed at the scene, and with each wound Shen Cong sustained, he felt a thread of comfort in his heart, as if the pain in his dantian had lessened. He glanced at Nie Xiao, who seemed to sense something, and caught a glimpse of Zhao Wu outside the arena; the two exchanged a knowing smile.

  The blue light is getting faster and faster, Shen's blood is flowing more and more, it has already dripped onto the floor, wiping out trails of bloodstains, which makes people feel especially heart-wrenching.

  "Kneel down and admit defeat, voluntarily withdraw from being a formal disciple, and I might spare your life!" Nie Xiao's words entered Shen Cong's ears.

  Shen Cong had been keeping his head down, but suddenly looked up and smiled at Nie Xiao, "So it was the formal disciple identity that Shifu had in mind, but now I'm afraid it's something that can't be achieved in this lifetime. It's a bit regrettable for me as your junior!"

  "What did you just say?!" Nie Xiao glared at Shen Cong, then burst into fury. "You want to die? I'll help you achieve that! No, I won't let you die, but instead make you wish you were dead for the words you spoke today!"

  "You must be responsible for what you say!" Shen Cong let out a low laugh, and Nie Xiao's heart couldn't help but feel a chill, the light in his hand growing more intense, almost completely obscuring Shen Cong's figure in blue light.

  "The Blood Wind Blade Technique, how can it be bloodless! Now I'll use my own blood to exchange for your blood, shatter!" The murmuring voice was initially inaudible, but by the end it was like a thunderclap.

  Everyone was unaware that Shen Congben could have used his true energy to protect himself, but he didn't. He even deliberately let the blood flow, just to observe the wonders of this sword formation, and now he has already seen through it.

  A flash of red suddenly appeared in the blue light, blood-red like fire and prison, but it made people feel unusually upright, as if it were a holy spirit. Nie Xiao's heart was involuntarily stirred, and the broadsword in his hand burst out with dazzling light, completely engulfing the two figures within.

  The broadsword urged to the extreme, all light rushed forward. It was like a raging torrent, and anything that stood in front would be destroyed. Nie Xiao's heart had an extra thread of comfort, but this mood had just arisen when a red glow flashed in front. At first it was small, but in just a moment it spread across his eyes.

  "What's going on!" Nie Xiao was shocked in his heart, how could there still be red appearing in such a situation.

  Suddenly a knife tip pierced through the blue light, and all the blood colors were summoned by this knife tip, as if the Holy King had descended.

  Nie Xiao's face turned pale, all the blue light gathered in front of his chest, forming a thick energy that created an extremely strong defense. Nie Xiao was confident that as long as he could hold on for this moment, everything would return to his control.

  The blue light flickered, and the blood color changed in an instant. In the blink of an eye, the blood color began to shrink, suddenly concentrating on the tip of that knife. The crimson turned into dark red, and the dark red finally became black, as if it was going to drag all living things into a nightmare-like blackness, making people fearful, making their hearts throb.

  "Blood Wind Blade Technique, Break the Army!"

  No explosion, after two completely different energies came into contact, the black light spot was like a surgical knife, accurately cutting into the blue light. The seams were enlarged and destroyed one by one, Nie Xiao could only watch in horror at the changes before his eyes, unable to react until the black light spot landed on his chest.

  Dark light spread instantly, turning into thousands of threads, piercing into Nie Xiao's blood vessels and bone marrow. In just an instant, one-tenth of the blood in Nie Xiao's body disappeared, and two-tenths of his vital energy was lost. The Dragon Bird Knife flipped over, its back slapping directly onto Nie Xiao's body, sending him flying far away, crashing into the protective shield, and sliding down like a lump of mud.

  "Pffft!"

  A mouthful of blood spurted out, and the color was no longer bright red, but instead presented a sickly pale hue. No one noticed this point, they just stared blankly at Shen Cong, who now stood alone with his sword.

  Did he win? The one who won wasn't the one with the loudest voice, Nie Xiao, but rather Shen Cong. Even though Shen Cong looks unwell at this moment, he's still standing there after all. On the other hand, Nie Xiao has completely passed out by now. Moreover, in the end, Shen Cong only used the back of his knife to slap Nie Xiao, not a direct thrust with the blade.

  At this critical moment, even if they killed the enemy, they wouldn't feel anything. But Shen Cong's actions made them have a greatly improved impression of this newly entered inner disciple. How could they understand that Shen Cong had already done the most ruthless thing and extracted Nie Xiao's life essence? If there were no accidents, Nie Xiao, who was originally not talented, would find it even more difficult to cultivate in the future. This injury needed to be carefully nursed for several years, and whether he could recover or not was a mystery.

  Shen Cong walked down from the martial arts arena, and Lin Chao and others went up to welcome him. Everyone was smiling with joy, except for Zhao Wu, who had an incredulous look on his face. Despite all the planning, they still failed. Is this Shen Cong really just a newly admitted inner disciple? A hint of resentment, a hint of unwillingness, but deep down, there was a kind of shocking fear, shocked by Shen Cong's strength.

  Several fellow disciples cheered loudly, delighted for Shen Cong. Not only did he uphold the reputation of formal disciples, but he also emerged with no major injuries, which was completely beyond their expectations and far exceeded them.

  "What about the last knife method?" Lin Chao suddenly asked out of curiosity after some small talk.

  "Shanggu dao pu, from which I gained some insight." Shen Cong said in a low voice.

  As soon as this was said, several people couldn't help but quiet down. The knife spectrum had only been taken away for two months, and it actually truly understood the knife method, and it was extraordinary. Tie Yang patted Shen's shoulder, laughing: "Still need to thank Third Brother, it was he who strongly pleaded for you at the time, and Master agreed. Now thinking about it, Third Brother's vision is still the most brilliant, seeing that Little Brother has an extraordinary understanding of knife methods!"

  "It's true! At first, I thought it was a bit too early to hand over the knife spectrum to my younger brother. Now it seems that it was just right, otherwise there wouldn't be such a great victory today! Third Brother is the one who made the first achievement, Second Brother you should thank him." Zhou Mengque said with a smile.

  Shen smiled slightly and turned to look at Zhao Wu, "Of course I must thank Third Master. If not for finding a suitable day, I will personally go to Third Master's residence to express my gratitude properly?"

  "How dare you, how dare you! What I did that day was right!" Zhao Wu's heart was shocked and his face turned pale. With a guilty conscience, Shen Cong had become so powerful now, Zhao Wu wouldn't dare let him come to the door even if he were beaten to death.

  Everyone found Zhao Wu's reaction strange, and only Shen Congyi smiled, looking at Zhao Wu's reaction. Today's affairs were indeed related to him. That can't be said for now, but I'll have to find a chance to go to his place and "thank" him properly!

  While everyone was chatting, Shen Cong's token suddenly shook, and a message entered his mind. It turned out to be Ge Luobang summoning him. Looking at the other senior brothers, there was no special reaction, it seemed that only he was summoned.

  Find a head, Shen Cong left the original place. Looking back at the martial arts arena, most people had dispersed, and Nie Xiao had been supported away by someone. Losing so much blood and essence, Nie Xiao wanted to walk on his own, but he would have to wait for several months. Evil has its retribution, if it weren't for being in the martial arts arena, if it weren't for being fellow disciples, Shen Cong would have killed him with one knife, why would he spare his life?

  Wearing new clothes, Shen Cong walked into the main hall of Jian Wang Peak, while Gai Luobang was already sitting on the upper seat waiting for him.

  "Disciple Shen Cong has seen Master."

  Gai Luobang shifted his gaze, seeing that Shen Cong's body was not seriously injured, and a look of surprise flashed in his eyes. With sixth-grade cultivation, he had already sensed the fluctuations in the energy during the battle in the arena. Even if the energy fluctuations were not within Gai Luobang's expectations, with Shen Cong's cultivation, it shouldn't have been resolved so easily.

  Upon closer inspection, however, Gai Luobang discovered that Shen Congxu had already reached the peak of two-stage combined power without him realizing it, and was only waiting for an opportunity to easily break through to three-stage universal power. Three-stage universal power is enough to stand firm within the inner sect. Gai Luobang looked at Shen Congxu with a sudden sense of wonder, this disciple's innate talent was originally average, how did he grow so quickly in his cultivation? Even more strange was that during their previous battle, it seemed as though he had been completely in control, which was completely beyond Gai Luobang's expectations.

  "May I ask Master to tell us about today's events?" asked Gai Luobang in a soft voice.

  Shen Cong bowed, "Disciples also have many doubts, and naturally want to ask for guidance from their master!" Shen Cong recounted the events that had occurred earlier, without any emotion, just stating the facts objectively. Of course, he also mentioned his cultivation and computer matters, which Shen Cong would not mention. Gai Luobang was expressionless, quietly listening, occasionally asking a few questions, and letting Shen Cong continue speaking.

  "It's just like this." Shen Cong said lightly.

  Gai Luobang nodded, but his eyebrows were furrowed in deep thought. Even Shen couldn't evaluate the situation. This cultivation speed, was it really just due to mediocre innate talent? And that knife technique, actually showing progress in just two months, this was truly...

  Gai Luobang didn't know what words to use to evaluate, Shen Cong was like this, really making people puzzled. Fortunately, such a good material is now his own disciple, just so, it's enough.

  "Diligence and hard work are worthy of reward. Today's task, done satisfactorily, is even more encouraging. Tell me, what do you want your teacher to give you?"

  "Disciple wants to make a trip to Jade Maiden Peak, hoping Master will permit it!"