Chapter 753: Holy Sh*t!

Dugu Chou, who was watching from the side, applauded secretly. Ling Xiaozui's countermeasure was absolutely brilliant! If it were to be him fending against this one style, Dugu Chou thought that while he might not be at a losing end, he would never be able to cope with it better than Ling Xiaozui did. The split second of difference when the latter had deflected the attack was so precise that it was simply remarkable!

It was so close.

Ling Xiaozui, who had successfully overcome the threat, lamented inwardly. He had been forced to utilize eighty percent of his skill by the young fellow before he could seek the chance the escape! It would be horrendous if this went on - the child might force his entire lifetime's worth of cultivation base out. That would be utterly embarrassing - and Dugu Chou was watching aside too...

He had embarrassed himself too much today.

Just as this thought birthed inside his head, he felt another wave of menace tiding over him as he turned around. The danger he felt was an unprecedented one. Even when he, Dugu Chou and others had been ambushed by explosives during the Four Seasons Tower's siege, it had not felt so direly perilous.

Ling Xiaozui dared not be careless. Drawing up a mouthful of basic Qi, he turned around swiftly only to be met by the sight of a large gate before him!

The doors were inky, large, wispy wraiths billowing outwards like a brewing storm. The gate felt realistic, the type where one would bid farewell to the human realm once one entered.

"This style is... Door of Life and Death Opens!"

Saber light streamed out from the door of life and death like a phantom dragon before it dispersed into a sky, full of killing intent! It filled up the entire space - as long as one came into contact with the slightest bit of it, it was akin to entering the gate of death!

Ling Xiaozui broke out in cold sweat upon witnessing this style and brought his power up to ninety percent without hesitation, vowing silently, 'Friendly match? I'm not exchanging any skill with this freak in the future! Advise him... Whoever's willing to do so, please go ahead.'

'I've made up my mind. This great honor shall belong to Dugu Chou alone from now on!'

Prevailing over this style, Ling Xiaozui felt his head thrumming and pulsing, like his entire being had been dug empty.

Of course, it was not necessarily hazardous as Yun Yang would definitely stop if the elder was really exhausted to the brink. Furthermore, he would not be injured so easily, no matter how embarrassed he had been. He still had his cultivation base suppressed, after all, he could grit his teeth through the ordeal by removing his self-imposed restriction if things were to come to the worst.

It was just that the mental pressure was too much!

It was not good for his personal mental realm to simply push through; one's mental state needed some grinding, but blindly drilling into it would only cause a backlash!

"This is the last style." Yun Yang's voice wafted over.

Yun Yang was not doing so well now either. Each style of the Destiny Blade caused an extremely huge depletion of energy. If it had not been for Emmie's support, he might not be able to exert all four forms and eight styles!

Ling Xiaozui drew in a deep breath and sprang up into the air. The air lacked a solid leveraging platform, but the room to evade and spin was relatively larger. There was no fault in being better prepared when facing Yun Yang's exquisite saber forms.

"Eighteen Levels of Hell!"

Ling Xiaozui heard the name as expected. Then, he was surprised to realize that the door of life and death that had materialized previously had vanished. Replacing it was six palaces that appeared out of the blue - six ghastly, graceful and majestically tall palaces!

Each gate to the palace was flung wide open with hundreds of thousands of ghosts inside howling and shrieking, clamoring to charge out. From afar, there seemed to be countless strange ancient torturing devices inside the six halls. Mountains of sabers, boiling pots of oil, searing seals, thousand of slicing tools... it was a macabre galore of everything!

An ordinary person would be traumatized by just a single glance!

Ling Xiaozui could predict that the power of this current style would only be much stronger than the combination of the earlier strikes from this small hint. With this conclusion, he roared as he unleashed his complete skillset without hesitation. Pushing it higher, he went all out, exerting more than he could possibly afford to, to fight once and for all.

Embarrassing? He couldn't care less about it now; he would be even more embarrassed if he did not go all out!

...

Witnessing such an intense battle, Dugu Chou stood up promptly with shock written all across his face.

Ji Lingxi, who was also watching, had her mouth agape, gazing at Yun Yang's battle in the air with a dumbfounded expression. She was frozen like this for a while now, thoroughly doused with genuine shame.

'Such saber forms... I - how will I be able to block them...'

'Here I am 'practicing' with him daily and winning - he was going easy on me...'

'I would have died eight hundred times and more if I were to encounter these styles!'

However, she had overestimated Yun Yang here. Previously, she was more than a dozen levels higher than Yun Yang in terms of cultivation base. Even when Yun Yang could counterattack with the divine saber forms, he would hardly have been able to overcome Ji Lingxi's overwhelming coercion.

Of course, how could Yun Yang ever make use of such lethal styles on Ji Lingxi, even if he could? What if - what if he were to harm that pretty little face?

Plop!

Ling Xiaozui and Yun Yang landed at the same time.

Yun Yang gasped, drawing in gulps of air, drenched as if he had been fished out of the water.

This was Yun Yang's first time unleashing these five forms and ten styles without any reservation against an opponent whose standard was similar to his own. He need not worry at all about harming his partner; he was only required to focus on his attacks. He did not even have to worry about the opponent's sudden retaliation; like the rock amidst the ocean's ravaging waves, his opponent remained passive, no matter how much havoc Yun Yang wreaked!

The feeling of unleashing his full potential felt utterly gratifying!

"I can't anymore - I'm out..." Yun Yang panted, sweat lining his head and face, dropping down in strings. In spite of this, he looked as if he was in a state of utter bliss, "Nonetheless, it feels great! It's so satisfying!"

Right as he said that, the saber slipped from his hand and landed on the ground with a loud clang. Then, he lost the strength to hold himself up as well and fell onto the ground with a stagger. Besides his soaked clothing, he had struck 'eggs' against the rock again! Heh!

A certain someone was thoroughly exhausted right now. Otherwise, he would not have lost his composure.

On the opposite end, Ling Xiaozui was also sweating profusely but he was faring much better than Yun Yang. Despite that, his eyes bore holes into Yun Yang, unable to cast his glance away like he was looking at a monster.

Strictly speaking, Ling Xiaozui had lost half of the last style. The black robe he wore that was almost his signature appearance was adorned with six gashes slit by a blade. His inner garments were peeking through some of the rents in his robes.

Even with Ling Xiaozui's pinnacle skills, he could not fully evade the last style - he had been struck by all six strikes as well!

If he had not been able to avoid them in time, it would be more than his clothes that were gashed.

Dugu Chou strode forward hurriedly and stared wide-eyed at the slits on Ling Xiaozui's robe. For a long time, he did not speak but the tremor in his gaze had spoken enough for him.

"What a marvelous saber truth - I have never known there are such saber forms in this world until today! It's more than a lifetime of luck that I got to witness this." Ling Xiaozui finally caught his breath and chuckled humorlessly. Shaking his head, the sweat on his head splattered.

Dugu Chou nodded with strong agreement. "Brother Ling, you're at least four ranks higher than Yun Yang. We both know the result of this battle."

Dugu Chou, as an unencumbered bystander, evidently had his judgment about Yun Yang's current actual capability.

"I feel it." Ling Xiaozui nodded with a dry laugh. "I'm lucky it's so much higher than his. Or else, what you see now may perhaps be a corpse named Ling Xiaozui."

Dugu Chou let out a humorless chortle as well. Both men turned simultaneously to look at Yun Yang. Their gazes right now mirrored each other; one of 'holy sh*t', like they had seen a ghost!