258: Chapter 258 Battle

Mu Jiu made the first Move. With a flick of his wrist, the Xuanyou Spear traced a pitch-black arc in the Void Realm, and wherever the spear tip passed, space silently split open a slender fissure.

His figure shot out like a bolt of black lightning, the spear tip heading straight for Elder Cangwu's throat.

This strike carried no probing intent; the moment he made his Move, he went all out.

Spiritual energy at the Peak of Tribulation Transcendence condensed onto the spear shaft into a nearly substantive dark golden light flame. Before the spear blade even arrived, that ultimate sharpness had already locked off all paths of retreat around Elder Cangwu.

"Well timed."

Instead of retreating, Elder Cangwu advanced. He swept his right-hand sword finger horizontally in front of him, and that pale cyan sword glow suddenly surged, transforming into a zhang-long sword aura that met the tip of the Xuanyou Spear head-on.

The moment sword and spear intersected, a deafening clang of metal echoed across the sky above Huaiyang City. A visible shockwave swept out in all directions with the two of them at the center; the shop doors on both sides of the street were completely blown off, the bluestone ground cracked inch by inch, and gravel splattered around like a rainstorm.

The watching Cultivators hurriedly stimulated their spiritual energy to protect themselves, while the Loose Cultivators with slightly lower cultivation bases were shaken back repeatedly by the aftermath, their faces turning pale.

The two figures separated the moment they touched.

Elder Cangwu retreated half a step, a few thin marks cut by the spear wind appearing on his cyan robe, but his expression remained as calm as ever. The sword glow on his right-hand sword finger not only did not dim, but instead condensed a bit more.

Mu Jiu, on the other hand, was blasted flying back several zhang, plowing a deep groove into the bluestone ground with the Xuanyou Spear before barely steadying his figure. The webbing of his hands throbbed faintly, and stormy waves churned in his heart.

Elder Cangwu's sword strike just then hadn't used a Magical Artifact at all; merely the Sword Intent condensed on his sword finger had fought his all-out spear strike to a standstill.

This Kunlun Elder's attainment in the Sword Dao was far higher than he had anticipated.

"Together!" Mu Jiu let out a low shout, no longer overconfident.

Mu Zhanye responded first. With a fierce roar, his tower-like body lunged forward violently, every step stamping out a deep footprint in the bluestone ground.

The giant axe in his hand swung into a dark golden light wheel, carrying the violent power to split mountains and cleave rocks as it hacked down directly toward Elder Cangwu's head.

Where the axe blade passed, the air was compressed into visible white waves surging to both sides, emitting a sharply piercing sonic boom.

Elder Cangwu shifted his figure, his sword finger sweeping upward from below. The pale cyan sword glow collided with the dark golden axe blade once again, splashing sparks all over the sky.

This time, Elder Cangwu frowned slightly. Although Mu Zhanye's cultivation was only at the Late Stage of Tribulation Transcendence, the pure power contained in that axe strike was actually a bit heavier than Mu Jiu's spear momentum, obviously following the path of breaking all laws with sheer force.

Just at the moment when Elder Cangwu and Mu Zhanye clashed head-on, Mu Qigu made her Move.

She tapped her dragon-headed walking stick three times consecutively in the Void Realm. Countless purple runes gushed out from the dragon eyes at the head of the staff; those runes automatically arranged and combined in the air, transforming into a huge sealing formation diagram that descended over Elder Cangwu's head.

The formation diagram rotated slowly, every rune exuding an ancient aura capable of imprisoning all things, and the surrounding air turned as thick as glue at a visible speed.

Elder Cangwu only felt his entire body sink, the flow of his Sword Intent actually suppressed by three tenths by that sealing force.

Meanwhile, Mu Jiu had steadied his figure and thrust out the Xuanyou Spear once more. This time, the dark golden light condensed on the spear tip was even more blazing than before, and the Void Realm trembled slightly wherever the spear blade passed.

Two experts at the Peak of Tribulation Transcendence, one attacking and one sealing, cooperated seamlessly.

Cang Song let out a cold snort, his figure cutting in diagonally as the Zhenyue Sword brought up a thick, silvery-gray sword aura, slashing towards Mu Jiu's spear momentum from the side.

This sword strike of his was unpretentious, without any flashy changes, yet it carried the heavy pressure of a collapsing mountain.

Mu Jiu had no choice but to divert a portion of his spear momentum to parry this sword strike. The moment spear and sword intersected, Mu Jiu's expression changed slightly.

Although Cang Song's Sword Intent was not as sharp and fierce as Elder Cangwu's, it was as heavy and concentrated as a mountain, carrying an unshakable sense of massiveness with every sword slash.

After continuously clashing head-on with Elder Cangwu's Sword Intent and Cang Song's heavy sword, the dark golden runes on the shaft of his Xuanyou Spear had begun to tremble slightly.

Mu Xuanji also moved. The instant the long sword at his waist was drawn, no one could see the appearance of the sword body.

They only saw an extremely thin and faint sword light flash and vanish in the Void Realm, and by the time it appeared again, it was already three inches in front of Cang Song's throat.

This sword strike was fast to the extreme, and hidden to the extreme. The timing of the strike was even more tricky to the extreme, choosing precisely the split second after Cang Song clashed head-on with Mu Jiu when his old strength had just faded and his new strength had yet to be born.

Cang Song's pupils shrank slightly. While violently retreating, he swung the Zhenyue Sword back to parry, the spine of the sword barely blocking that stream of sword light.

With a crisp sword hum, Cang Song retreated several steps, a shallow bloodstain appearing at his throat. Although it was only a flesh wound, it made a layer of cold sweat seep out from his back.

However, at the exact same instant Mu Xuanji drew his sword, Elder Jianchi, who had all along been sitting cross-legged, opened his eyes.

The pitch-black long sword on his lap had completely left its scabbard at unknown timing; no one saw his action of drawing the sword, as if that sword had been held in his hand from the very beginning.

His figure remained sitting cross-legged, but with a gentle turn of his right wrist, a pitch-black sword light silently slashed toward Mu Xuanji.

This stream of sword light was the complete opposite of Mu Xuanji's sword strike just then—it was not fast, and could even be said to be excessively slow.

But Mu Xuanji's expression became extremely solemn in that instant, because he discovered that no matter how he dodged, that pitch-black sword light locked onto him like maggots clinging to bones.

Mu Xuanji crossed his sword to parry. With a muffled collision, he was shaken back seven or eight steps, the webbing of his hand holding the sword split open, and fresh blood dripped down the hilt.

On his gentle and refined face, a look of shock surfaced for the first time. Elder Jianchi's sword strike, though seemingly gentle and slow, was actually heavy to the extreme.

Soon, Elder Cangwu's trio and Mu Jiu's quartet fought into a chaotic melee above Huaiyang City, and seven Undergoing Tribulation auras bloomed simultaneously like seven blazing suns of different colors.

Every collision blasted out a circle of visible spiritual light ripples, scattering the clouds within a radius of several thousand miles completely.

The commoners in Huaiyang City had long been organized by the City Lord's Mansion to evacuate into underground shelters. On the streets, only some daring Cultivators remained watching from afar, yet none dared to approach within a hundred miles of the battle group.

Mu Jiu's Xuanyou Spear traced pitch-black cracks in the Void Realm, every thrust carrying the sharp intent of piercing through the Void Realm.

His spear technique followed the path of ultimate penetrating power, and wherever the spear tip passed, space was torn apart layer by layer like thin paper.

But Elder Cangwu's sword finger remained calm and collected, the pale cyan sword glow flowing freely at his fingertips. Every parry accurately intercepted the exact point where the spear momentum was strongest, breaking force with skill and dissolving Mu Jiu's offensive into nothingness.

Mu Zhanye's giant axe swung like heaven and earth being split apart, the dark golden axe blade dragging a long trail of light in the Void Realm, and every axe chop carried the heavy feeling of a mountain pressing down on the head.

His fighting style was extremely simple and crude, without any fancy Move variations—only the purest power and speed.