164: Fourth Generation: Overlord (Sixty)

“How is this possible?!”

As the light dissipated, seeing the Purple Gold Imperial Shield still standing tall and Xu Yuan behind it, whose face was only slightly pale and whose aura remained steady, the madness in Boljin’s eyes was instantly replaced by boundless shock and disbelief!

He had paid such a massive price, even overdrawing his life force in exchange for that ultimate strike, yet... it was still blocked by the opponent?!

Boljin’s mind was shaken. In the moment his old strength was exhausted and new strength had yet to arise, his flaws were completely exposed!

A cold light burst from Xu Yuan’s eyes!

“Now!”

He shouted coldly in his heart, without the slightest hesitation.

Enduring that strike just now was certainly to test his defensive limits, but even more so, it was to create this fleeting opportunity for a counterattack!

“Slash!”

Xu Yuan’s Divine Sense stirred, and the national fortune canopy, which was closely linked to the Great Shang military formation below, suddenly surged!

Xu Yuan pressed his fingers together like a blade and thrust them forward!

The purple-gold light, gathering the majestic National Fortune and the power of the military formation, condensed wildly at his fingertips, transforming into a purple-gold Blade Aura only about ten feet long, yet refined to the extreme, as if it could pierce through the Void Realm and annihilate all evil!

This Blade Aura didn't seem large, but the sharpness and Imperial Authority contained within it made the distant, distracted Boljin feel his soul leave his body in terror!

However, at the same instant Xu Yuan’s blade was about to fall and heavily wound Boljin—

Behind him, in that chaotic corner that seemed empty, filled only with raging energy and flying dust, a void-like shadow moved!

Fast! Fast to the extreme! Beyond the speed of light! Beyond perception!

An extreme, dark dagger shadow, condensed with boundless killing intent and the aura of death, silently pierced through layers of spatial barriers without causing the slightest energy fluctuation, as if it were meant to appear there, at the most fatal moment when Xu Yuan’s focus wavered slightly while gathering Spiritual Qi to wound Boljin in one blow!

At the tip of the dagger, a speck of dark red blood-light flowed. That was Xietu’s natal killing weapon—the "Blood-Drinking Dagger," specifically designed to break Protective Aura and dharma shields, and even more capable of devouring essence blood and Divine Souls!

The icy touch of death had already reached the skin on the back of Xu Yuan’s neck!

The timing of the strike was ruthless and cunning to the extreme!

This was exactly the killing blow opportunity Xietu had been waiting for, the moment when Xu Yuan’s defense and mind might show a slight gap!

This was the true death trap!

All of Boljin’s frenzied attacks were, from the beginning, for the purpose of creating the opportunity for this single strike!

The one who struck was the Gold Tier Assassin of the Shadow Tower, at the Peak of Foundation Establishment Perfection—Xietu!

However, at this critical juncture—

Facing the fatal blow that had already touched his skin at the back of his head, instead of any panic, a faint smile played on the corners of Xu Yuan’s mouth, as if everything was under his control.

“Finally... I’ve been waiting for you!”

His heart was as calm as an ice mirror, without the slightest surprise.

Long before the battle began, Xu Yuan had a faint premonition.

Boljin was strong, but he was by no means a brainless brute. Knowing that Xu Yuan had shown the strength to instantly kill a Late Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator, he still dared to initiate a duel; he must have had something to rely on!

Coupled with that lingering, extremely sharp and deathly Karma of malice, he was certain that a powerful expert was hidden in the shadows, waiting for the chance to launch a thunderous strike!

Therefore, from the moment he stepped onto the Blackwind Gobi, while he seemed to be dealing with Boljin with all his strength, the string in his heart never loosened. He always kept a part of his mind alert, using the Purple Zenith Imperial Fate Art’s keen perception of Karma and Luck to watch for that hidden viper!

His enduring Boljin’s life-risking strike, and even the slight "flaw" he exposed while gathering the military formation’s power for his "all-out" counterattack, were all carefully calculated baits he had intentionally offered!

Everything he did was to lure out this deepest-hidden viper and deliver a fatal counterattack at the very moment the enemy thought they had seized the best opportunity and were most certain of success!

“Buzz—!”

A faint yet incredibly profound ripple emanated from the depths of the Purple Extremity Vast Heaven Foundation within Xu Yuan’s body.

Time seemed to be infinitely stretched at this moment.

The Blood-Drinking Dagger, which should have easily pierced Xu Yuan’s skull, seemed to hit an invisible, intangible, yet incredibly tough barrier when it was only a hair’s breadth from his skin!

No, that wasn't a barrier!

That was... a shift in Karma!

It was the interference of Luck!

The Purple-Gold Imperial Fortune Qi around Xu Yuan, which had seemed to dim slightly due to his "all-out counterattack," suddenly erupted with unprecedented light!

It wasn't for defense, but for—distortion!

Using his own Imperial Dao Luck, he forcibly distorted and deflected the Karma of the "death tribulation" about to befall him!

At the same time, Xu Yuan’s left hand, which had been held behind his back, had at some point formed a strange hand seal, and a tiny, almost imperceptible spatial ripple quietly spread from his fingertips.

A jade Talisman already held in his palm, engraved with complex silver patterns, quietly shattered!

That wasn't an attack Talisman, but a life-saving item from the Wang Family—a Small-Scale Space Displacement Talisman!

This Talisman couldn't send him thousands of miles away, but it could perform an extremely subtle micro-distance shift within a small space!

“Shift!”

Xu Yuan chanted silently in his heart, and nearly thirty percent of the spiritual power in his body was instantly drained by that silver Talisman!

In the next moment, under the gaze of Xietu’s pupils, which were as frozen as ten-thousand-year-old ice and now suddenly constricted, the Blood-Drinking Dagger aimed at the back of Xu Yuan’s head seemed to be subtly pulled by an invisible force, and its trajectory underwent a minute yet fatal deflection!

And Xu Yuan’s figure blurred like a ripple on water, and in the blink of an eye, he moved sideways... by only three feet!

“Squelch—!”

The slight sound of a Sharp Weapon cutting through flesh was heard.

The Blood-Drinking Dagger, carrying an eerie blood-light, grazed past Xu Yuan’s ear, severing a few strands of flying hair.

Xietu’s long-premeditated, sure-kill strike had actually... missed?!

“What?!”

This sudden turn of events caused Xietu’s mind, which was usually as calm as still water and certain of the target's death, to shake violently for the first time. A crack seemed to appear on his eternally cold mask, revealing an expression of disbelief!

He could he have dodged?!

How could he have anticipated his killing blow?!

And even... made such a precise evasion in advance?!

This completely exceeded his understanding of Foundation Establishment Cultivators!

Even a Foundation Establishment Perfection cultivator couldn't have reacted like this under his full-stealth, sudden assassination!

Xu Yuan spun around abruptly, his cold gaze like two sharp swords, instantly locking onto the blood-red figure that was forced to reveal a blurry outline from the void because the strike had missed and its aura had momentarily fluctuated!

“You rat, hiding your head and showing your tail...”

Xu Yuan’s voice was bone-chillingly cold, carrying a piercing killing intent that echoed through the sky.

“I’ve been waiting for you for a long time!”

“Since you stabbed me with a dagger, then take a blade strike from me as well!”

Before his voice had even faded, that purple-gold Blade Aura, refined to the extreme and seemingly able to pierce the Void Realm and annihilate all evil, let out a deafening hum in the air and slashed down violently!