Chapter 1544: Supreme Elder Xi Wuxian

The six had divided into four positions and completed their deployment, surrounding Lan Daolin from every direction.

Floating alone in the void with his eyes closed, Wu Chang slowly opened them, then closed them again and devoted his entire mind to sensing and controlling everything within the Boundless Demon Domain.

Kunlin Shu watched the target intently for a moment.

With a hum, flames suddenly ignited around his body.

The instant firelight appeared, Lan Daolin, vigilant in every direction, snapped his head toward it. A massive fire dragon burst through the mist and came crashing toward him with a thunderous roar.

Lan Daolin stood proudly in place. One hand remained behind his back while the other struck out. An almost tangible wave of force surged forth.

Boom!

It smashed through the fire dragon with overwhelming power.

Lan Daolin flashed forward without fear, charging straight through the flames toward their source.

Suddenly a torrent of purple qi roared in from his left like the sweeping tail of a purple dragon, cutting across his path.

From the right, a streak of black light shot toward him like a sword of light trying to cut him in half at the waist.

Behind him, a thunderous palm-force came chasing after him like a great wave smashing against the shore.

Lan Daolin's body moved like a ghost. He slipped free of the interlocking attacks, then charged toward the source of the flames again from another angle.

Yuan Cong, Ao Feng, and Wang Zun were shocked. For a moment they almost thought their eyes had deceived them. Only then did they realize Lan Daolin's evasive speed was simply too fast. Their three-pronged attack had accomplished nothing.

What were they supposed to do now?

For an instant, none of the three knew.

Kunlin Shu struck out with one palm, sending another fire dragon surging forward to intercept Lan Daolin. Abandoning the previous arrangement, he reached back with his other hand, caught Yuan Gang, and charged out along with the raging fire dragon, almost as though the two of them had plunged into the flames themselves.

"..."

Zhuge Chi was left momentarily dumbfounded by Kunlin Shu's unscripted move.

Seeing the fire dragon coming again, Lan Daolin shattered it with one palm.

Then he saw people hidden inside the flames.

The two sides met face-to-face in an instant.

As far as cultivation was concerned, Lan Daolin feared no one beneath Heaven. He had no idea who these two sneaking around in the flames might be, nor did he care. With a turn of his hand, he struck out another overwhelmingly powerful palm, utterly confident he could sweep aside anything before him.

Inside the flames, Yuan Gang's eyes were cold as lightning. The vital force surging through his body was almost unbelievable. Spirals of air rose from the acupoints across his body and actually forced the surrounding flames away.

Kunlin Shu was just about to push him forward with a palm when, before he could exert any strength, his own body abruptly recoiled backward as though he had been blasted away.

Lan Daolin's palm had not sent him flying.

Yuan Gang had suddenly launched himself from Kunlin Shu. He drew up both legs and planted his feet against Kunlin Shu's body as he kicked off.

"Mm..."

Kunlin Shu gave a muffled grunt. A thin trace of blood sprayed from his nostrils.

He had seen the battle opportunity appear without warning and improvised, grabbing Yuan Gang and bringing him forward ahead of schedule. Yuan Gang had likewise seen that the opening would vanish in an instant and had acted without considering anything else, catching Kunlin Shu completely unprepared.

Yuan Gang had attacked first, and that kick had accidentally injured Kunlin Shu.

Fortunately, Yuan Gang had drawn his legs in and pressed his feet against Kunlin Shu only to generate force. Had he given a full-force violent kick instead, Kunlin Shu would have been badly injured on the spot.

Even so, Kunlin Shu was deeply shocked. He had never imagined Yuan Gang could unleash such destructive strength in a single burst. He had been caught off guard, yes, but his Nascent Soul cultivation had still been broken through with ease by Yuan Gang's raw physical power. It far exceeded what Kunlin Shu had expected.

He could clearly sense that Yuan Gang possessed no spiritual cultivation whatsoever. For sheer brute strength alone to reach this level was astonishing.

Man and saber launched together.

A blade of saber-light flashed like lightning toward the almost solid palm-force crushing down on him.

"ROAAR!"

A tremendous tiger roar exploded through the air.

Yuan Gang and his saber plunged directly into the nearly tangible palm-force.

"ROAAR!"

Yuan Gang twisted and swung his arm, exerting force again.

A second tiger roar rolled like muffled thunder across the Nine Heavens.

Lan Daolin had seen the man charge straight toward him without dodging and had wondered what sort of idiot he was facing. Then he saw Yuan Gang's figure seem to stall, apparently swallowed by the tremendous pressure of his palm strike.

Yet in the next instant, Lan Daolin sensed something wrong.

The seemingly frozen figure appeared almost to shimmer, like an image shifting in place.

Lan Daolin immediately realized the situation was abnormal. Danger struck his instincts.

For that split second in which he had stood there dazed, a trace of inexplicable regret flashed through him.

His palm-force had plainly struck the man, yet there had been no sensation at all of the attack slowing against anything. Instead, the force seemed to have been split open by something, flowing smoothly around both sides.

Lan Daolin flashed away in urgent retreat.

But in the instant he moved, he dimly saw the seemingly frozen saber-light disappear. The upper half of the charging man's body seemed almost to separate from its own form and spirit, as though it slipped free for the briefest instant.

Lan Daolin felt something flash past.

His evasive movement was extraordinarily fast.

Whatever had flashed past him seemed faster still—far faster.

Whoosh!

Yuan Gang burst from the sea of flame, gripping the saber in both hands, body bent forward as he flashed clear. He was breathing violently.

Behind him, lit by the flames, a long spray of blood droplets scattered through the air.

Lan Daolin's body likewise flew tumbling from the sea of fire, spinning as though it had lost all control.

His eyes were wide, his face filled with shock and disbelief.

Within the darkness, Wu Chang's eyes snapped open.

His tiger-like gaze seemed able to pierce every layer of mist. For the first time, shock appeared across that eternally unchanging face.

"Roaaar..."

Only now did a lazy tiger roar seem to sound directly beside everyone's ears.

It was not especially loud. Instead, it felt like a fierce tiger had been sleeping unnoticed beside one's body all along, only to awaken the instant one turned one's head.

The sound sent a chill through the soul.

Lan Daolin's tumbling body suddenly separated diagonally into two halves, as though torn apart by that lazy tiger roar arriving a step late.

Zhuge Chi had witnessed this once before and recovered quickly. At most, the phenomenon merely startled him again.

He flashed toward Yuan Gang, who was falling freely through the air, and caught hold of him. Yuan Gang was still breathing hard.

Yuan Cong, Ao Feng, Kunlin Shu, and Wang Zun looked as though they had just witnessed something horrifying beyond imagination.

They were completely stunned.

One slash?

One slash had killed Lan Daolin?

Earlier, they had only heard Zhuge Chi say Yuan Gang had killed Yuan Se with a single slash. Hearing it had given them no true sense of what that meant.

Only after witnessing this did they understand what "killing Yuan Se with one slash" actually meant.

Wu Chang looked around his Boundless Demon Domain in shock.

That terrifying tiger roar had shaken his mind badly. It seemed almost to possess the power to drive away demons, and the Boundless Demon Domain under his control had been pushed to the verge of collapse.

A thought flashed through him.

Not good!

With his control disturbed, Du Wuxu, who was still flying, had already reached the very edge of the Boundless Demon Domain. There was no time to shift the formation back into place.

Wu Chang vanished in a flash, rushing to intercept him.

He absolutely could not let Du Wuxu escape.

...

What was that sound?

Du Wuxu abruptly stopped flying and looked rapidly around him.

He had no idea what that tiger roar had been, only that it had shaken his mind. Alarmed, he became intensely vigilant in every direction, fearing it might be some killing move Wu Chang had prepared for him.

And it was precisely because of that instant's hesitation that he missed a once-in-a-lifetime chance to break out of the Boundless Demon Domain.

He missed the opening Yuan Gang had unknowingly created for him.

...

"What was that sound?"

On the mountaintop, Hei Shi stared uncertainly at the black clouds above, looking as though he had seen a ghost. The tiger roar had been genuinely terrifying.

The lazy rumble still humming around his ears, Niu Youdao tightened both hands around the hilt of the sword planted before him.

He too was growing tense.

The moment he heard the sound, he knew Yuan Gang had drawn his saber. That meant Yuan Gang had met the enemy head-on.

Yun Ji looked upward and swallowed nervously.

Chicken bones lay scattered around Yin'er's feet. A chicken leg remained clenched between her teeth as she stared blankly at the rolling clouds overhead.

At last, something had happened dramatic enough to distract even her from eating.

All around the mountaintop, the people of Tianmo Sacred Land looked uncertain and alarmed, exchanging uneasy glances.

The shaken people of Qiyun Sect were no different. Taishu Feihua and the others were so frightened they scarcely dared breathe.

Birds in the distance scattered chaotically in terror.

Small animals fled wildly in every direction.

Insects and ants poured from cracks in the earth and crawled everywhere.

The giant flying birds patrolling in the distant sky seemed to go out of control. Their riders shook their summoning bells again and again without being able to steady them, clinging on with spiritual power as the birds tossed and wheeled through the air.

Taishu Feihua looked around blankly and murmured, "Is this the power of the Nascent Soul Realm?" A trace of yearning appeared on his face.

The first tiger roar had thundered magnificently.

The second rolled deep and muffled.

The third seemed to awaken right beside the ear.

Behind a stone door, inside a cavern, an old man seated cross-legged upon a stone platform suddenly opened his eyes.

A sharp light flashed through his clouded gaze.

He murmured to himself, "The Crouching Tiger has awakened... Like illusion, like dream. Is my heart mistaken? Is this a dream?"

Rumble!

The stone door opened.

A figure flashed out and stood upon the steps.

His beard and hair were snow-white, his face bronze, yet he wore a robe of brilliant red.

The wind came. Beard and hair drifted. Robes fluttered.

He gave the impression that at any moment he might ride the wind away and ascend as an immortal.

The Qiyun Sect disciples standing guard outside had been staring anxiously toward the distant disturbance. At the sound behind them, they turned and were shocked.

Why had this man, already practically one of the dead, come out?

The guards immediately turned and bowed deeply in perfect respect.

"Supreme Elder Xi Wuxian!"

The old man asked slowly, "My heart-mind is nearing extinction, and stray thoughts seldom arise. I should not have imagined that sound. What happened?"

One disciple reported, "Supreme Elder, it seems people are fighting within our Qiyun Sect..."

Those stationed here had remained guarding this place and did not know exactly what was happening outside. They could only report honestly what little they knew.

...

"Extinguish Life!"

Wu Chang's deep voice rolled through the black clouds.

The gigantic palm-shadow of the Demon-Flame Extinguish-Life Palm slammed toward Du Wuxu.

"Hmph!"

Du Wuxu gave a sharp cold snort.

In an instant, his entire body seemed to burst with ten thousand rays of light.

Jagged black radiance stabbed straight into the incoming palm-shadow.

Boom!

The giant palm shattered.

Wu Chang swept one hand outward and retreated. Looking down, he saw more than a dozen wounds across his body where the black light had pierced him, all of them bleeding.

More terrifying still, the black light seemed to possess a corrosive power. Smoke hissed from the wounds as they slowly widened.

Wu Chang had finally stopped hiding and shown himself. How could Du Wuxu let him go?

He charged after him without hesitation.

Wu Chang was somewhat surprised. This fellow had been on the verge of escaping the Boundless Demon Domain, yet had actually stopped.

Now that Du Wuxu had failed to get out, Wu Chang had already stabilized the Boundless Demon Domain again. There was no reason for him to keep trading hard blows pointlessly.

He vanished in a flash, disappearing once more into the black mist.

Du Wuxu charged into the fog only to find the man gone again.

His anger surged.

He had no idea what game Wu Chang was playing. The bastard suddenly appeared to trade one blow with him, then immediately ran away again.

What the hell was that supposed to mean? Was he being toyed with?

Du Wuxu immediately roared, "Wu Chang, you rat! Get the hell out here!"

[End of Chapter 1544]