"Y-You are not crippled!"
The words tore from his throat before he could restrain them.
Shock and disbelief.
A flicker of fear.
The rumors had spread widely across the Desolate Heaven Empire.
Though he had never witnessed it personally, the stories were abundant-of how Bai Zihan slew Great Ascension Realm demonic cultivators as if cutting weeds.
He had dismissed them as exaggerations, though he didn't completely think they were lies, seeing how many people were talking about it.
He had even heard it from soone who personally witnessed it.
However, he assud that Bai Zihan should have struggled and that he should have had help from others.
But the three Void Refinent subordinates-
Erased.
His breathing grew heavy for a fraction of a second.
He had thought that it was going to be easy work because Bai Zihan, even if the rumors were true, was crippled now.
Then-
He forcibly composed himself.
He was not alone.
Three flying ships.
Hundreds of subordinates.
He himself stood at the Great Ascension Realm.
Even if Bai Zihan wasn't a cripple-
So what?
Those Great Ascension demonic cultivators he killed might have been weakened.
Moreover, he believed that he too could have done the sa to them if he had been the one there.
"Go!"
His voice thundered across the battlefield.
"Kill him!"
The Sky Pirates hesitated for the briefest instant.
Then they roared in unison, suppressing their unease.
Figures surged forward once more.
The three pirate ships shifted positions simultaneously, their spiritual cannons recharging.
If Bai Zihan wished to fight-
Then they would crush him with numbers.
Below-
Bai Zihan did not move.
He simply looked up.
His gaze was calm.
He tried to see whether he could control these Sky Pirates like he did with Han Sha and the others back at Heaven Sword Sect.
But it looked like none of these Sky Pirates had yet practiced that technique.
(Tsk! A pity!)
He could have instantly subdued them and gotten important information from them without much resistance.
The charging pirates had barely advanced a dozen ters-
"Fate Severing Slash!"
SLASH!
The sky itself seed to split along its path.
The charging Sky Pirates froze mid-flight.
Their bodies passed through the line-
And separated.
No blood.
No scream.
They were cleaved so cleanly that even their consciousness did not have ti
to register what had happened.
It reached the first flying ship.
Its defensive formation flared instinctively-multiple layers activating in rapid
succession.
They shattered instantly.
Like mist before sunlight.
The hull-
Split!
Cleanly in two.
The second ship attempted to defend.
Too weak!
The slash passed through.
The third flying ship also t the sa fate.
The three flying ships hung in the sky, motionless.
Then slid apart silently.
No thunderous explosion.
No dramatic collapse.
Just severed existence.
Fragnts drifted downward, dissolving into the clouds.
The Sky Pirates-
Gone!
Erased along with their vessels.
Silence descended.
Only wind remained.
Above-
The Sky pirate leader stood alone in the sky.
His face had gone pale.
His aura wavered uncontrollably for the first ti.
Three fully ard flying ships.
Hundreds of cultivators.
Destroyed.
With one slash.
"This-"
His voice caught in his throat.
No matter how much he wished to deny it-
There was no denying it.
He had witnessed it with his own eyes.
The rumors were not exaggerated at all.
Not to ntion-
The aura he now sensed clearly from Bai Zihan was not Spirit Severing.
It was-
Void Refinent Realm!
The pirate leader's pupils trembled.
He had gathered intelligence before this operation. Every report stated Bai
Zihan was crippled.
At best, Spirit Severing prior to that.
But this-
This was Void Refinent cultivation.
Below-
Bai Zihan tilted his head slightly.
"Oh ho?"
He had expected the Yun Mo Kou Sky Pirates leader to flee the instant his
strength was revealed.
Yet-
The man remained.
He did not retreat.
He did not seem to be enraged over his destroyed fleet or subordinates.
He did not appear paralyzed by fear either.
Perhaps- He still possessed the pride of a Great Ascension Realm expert.
Perhaps he still believed that he could win against Bai Zihan.
Or perhaps he simply refused to accept reality.
Either way-
This was better.
Bai Zihan did not particularly enjoy chasing prey across the sky.
"You didn't run away?"
His lips curved faintly.
"I comnd your courage, at least."
His tone carried unmistakable arrogance. The Sky pirate leader stared at him for a long mont.
Then-
He laughed.
Low at first.
Then louder.
"Hahaha... So it's true. They said you were arrogant."
His gaze sharpened.
"And they were correct"
He lifted his chin slightly, pride reasserting itself in his posture.
"Do not think you have already won."
His aura surged outward violently. The clouds within several kiloters trembled.
Spiritual pressure descended like a collapsing mountain.
Great Ascension Realm-
Fully unleashed. "You forced my hand."
His voice deepened. The air trembled.
Then-
Sothing changed.
Bai Zihan's eyes narrowed.
The Sky pirate leader's aura-already at the Top of Great Ascension-did not
simply expand.
It swelled violently.
His cultivation surged upward in abnormal waves, like a tide ignoring the laws
of heaven and earth.
The clouds above darkened unnaturally, spiraling inward as if drawn toward
him.
Cracks began to form across the surrounding space.
Heat followed.
At first, it was rely warm wind.
Then-
Flas erupted.
These flas were crimson-black, tinged with faint strands of violet lightning.
They coiled around his body like living serpents, devouring the spiritual energy
in the air.
His robes burned away instantly.
His skin, however, did not char.
The surge did not stop.
It climbed.
Higher.
Higher.
Bai Zihan's brows lifted slightly. "Oh?"
He could clearly sense it now.
This was no ordinary Great Ascension pressure.
It had surpassed it.
Not fully stepping into the Immortal Realm-
But extrely close.
Half a step.
Or perhaps-
A forced imitation of it.
The pirate leader's laughter echoed again, but now it sounded distorted,
layered with sothing inhuman.
"Do you still think you can defeat ?"
The flas intensified.
The space around him began to warp visibly, bending under the strain of his
presence.
Bai Zihan watched calmly.
His expression did not change.
But his mind moved. (Now, where have I seen this before?)
It was pretty similar to what he had seen before, though not the sa.
Well, anyway, it was certain that the Sky Pirate Leader's confidence wasn't completely unfounded.
He still had such a trump card. No wonder he wasn't too scared.
The pirate leader stepped forward.
The sky beneath his foot shattered like glass.
Each movent left streaks of fire in the air.
He raised a hand, flas gathering into a blazing spear of condensed spiritual
fire.
"Let show you-what true overwhelming power looks like!"
BOOM!
His aura exploded outward again.
For a brief instant-
The pressure felt almost indistinguishable from the Immortal Realm.
Not true transcendence.
But close enough to blur the line.
Bai Zihan finally straightened slightly.
His robe fluttered gently in the rising inferno winds.
Interesting.
His lips curved faintly. "Good!"
His eyes sharpened.
"At least you're worth one more slash."
The Sky pirate leader moved first.
The flaming spear in his hand expanded violently, compressing layers upon
layers of spiritual fire until even space began to distort around its tip.
Then-
He thrust.
The spear descended like a falling sun.
The air scread.
Below, the flying ship trembled. Defensive formations flickered instinctively
under the pressure.
Within it, Bai Xueqing and the others felt the suffocating heat press down upon them.
Bai Zihan did not move.
He did not dodge.
Instead-
The Eternal Spirit Sword appeared in his hand.
"Eternal Flowing Water Sword!"
The blade shimred gently, its aura calm and endless-like a river that had
flowed since the dawn of ti.
He raised it.
The flaming spear collided.
BOOM!
Fire swallowed the sky and sea of clouds alike.
The impact shattered the surrounding space in concentric rings. Flas surged
outward violently-but were split in half by a thin veil of flowing sword intent.
The spear ground against the sword's surface, unable to advance even a single
inch further.
Bai Zihan's sleeves fluttered violently from the force.
His feet sank half an inch into empty air-
But he did not retreat.
He did not allow the spear to pass.
Because behind him-
Was the flying ship.
If he dodged, even slightly-
The aftershock alone would tear through the vessel.
Bai Xueqing and the others would suffer.
Above-
The Sky pirate leader's lips curved.
"Oh? You don't dare move?"
His eyes flashed.
Then he twisted the spear violently.
Flas erupted outward-not toward Bai Zihan-
But around him.
Angles calculated.
Trajectory precise. Every attack forced toward positions where-
If Bai Zihan evaded-
The ship would be struck.
The Sky pirate leader was not stupid.
Even with that unstable power surging through his veins, his mind remained
sharp.
He obviously wouldn't waste such a good chance.
Bai Zihan blocked again.
And again.
And again.
Fire rained down like teors.
The Eternal Flowing Water Sword transford each impact into ripples,
dispersing force into the void.
Yet the strain was visible.
The void around them fractured repeatedly.
The sky howled.
The Sky pirate leader laughed.
"So that is your weakness!"
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