Chapter 79: Decisiveness

Chapter 79: Decisiveness

"What audacity!" Right then, another furious roar echoed from nearby.

Immediately afterward, Bian Liancheng, one of the other martial paragons stationed in the capital, soared through the air and stepped onto the battlefield. His gaze swept over everyone, focusing intently on Lyu Jianfeng and Jiang Sheng.

Even though they were fully armed and their faces were hidden, Bian Liancheng identified them immediately. "Do you intend to rebel?!"

"As expected..."

"I knew the royal family still had hidden martial paragons!"

The two grandmasters spoke, yet they showed no signs of abnormality. Instead, they turned their gaze toward Yaoguang.

What happened next would be the most critical juncture of the battle. Could Yaoguang kill these two royal martial paragons? It was a matter of killing, not merely defeating. If he succeeded, the upcoming operation would surely end in a grand victory. If he failed, as long as the martial paragons remained, the Liao royal family would endure.

None of the nine aristocratic families could withstand the retaliation of a martial paragon hidden in the shadows; if either survived, all of their core members would be assassinated.

"They finally arrived," Yaoguang said calmly. Holding his sword in one hand, he crouched slightly.

Along with a burst of jin from beneath his feet, he shot forward like an arrow released from a bowstring.

"Then I will settle this all at once," he said.

"Presumptuous!" Bian Liancheng let out a sharp cry that thundered through the air. His qi rose rapidly during the shout, as if it were manifesting into a physical force to crush Yaoguang.

Had it been anyone else, they would not have remained unaffected by such a daunting display of qi.

It was much like an ordinary person holding a firearm; even though they knew they could inflict fatal damage on a tiger, they would still feel an instinctive fear when the tiger roared and lunged at them, their spirit cowed by its presence.

However, the number of daemons with martial-paragon-tier combat power that had died at Yaoguang’s hands could no longer be counted on one hand.

𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Furthermore, even a psychic-will martial paragon like Ji Pingtian could not suppress his qi by even half a measure. Did a mere ordinary martial paragon truly think he could seize the initiative with a loud shout?

As Yaoguang lunged forward, his blade did not falter for a single moment. Like a point of cold light, it instantly pierced through the void, thrusting directly at Bian Liancheng. The speed of the sword was as swift as a bolt of lightning.

"Liancheng, be careful!" Liao Zhenguo barked a low warning. He lunged forward as he once again moved to intercept Yaoguang.

"Waning Moon!" Bian Liancheng let out a roar.

Facing the sword light that Yaoguang brought down like a lightning strike, Bian Liancheng did not dodge. His saber, resembling a moon, instantly tore toward Yaoguang’s blade.

As he swung the saber, Yaoguang felt for a fleeting moment as if he truly saw a clear, cold moonlight illuminating the night sky, threatening to make one lose themselves in it.

This is an illusion!

Yaoguang thought.

The saber in Bian Liancheng’s hand was clearly a divine weapon that naturally generated illusions when swung. Moreover, its illusory effect was even more exquisite than that of Divine Shadow Sword, possessing a soul-shaking quality. It was on par with the psychic will of a martial paragon.

In other words, by relying on this saber, Bian Liancheng was capable of fighting a psychic-will martial paragon. Although he could not compare to a true psychic-will martial paragon in the application and burst of jin, he could hold his own in a brief frontal confrontation if supplemented by secret techniques.

As he slashed out with his saber, Bian Liancheng signaled his ally. "Zhenguo!"

Beside him, Liao Zhenguo instantly guessed his intention. Without a moment’s pause, he quickly closed up the distance, arriving in front of Yaoguang.

Taking advantage of the moment when Yaoguang’s psychic mind was distracted by Waning Moon, Liao Zhenguo clenched his gloved right hand into a fist and struck out. The fist jin smashed through the air, forming visible ripples that spread outward and causing a series of cracks in the void that sounded like exploding firecrackers.

However, before the moonlight could fully capture Yaoguang’s psychic mind, a brilliant sun rose to shine upon the world, instantly pulling him out of the cold moonlit trance.

Yaoguang’s eyes were clear. The power of the Divine Shadow Sword thrusting from his hand surged violently.

Using Star Ignition, his blood, qi, and jin, which far exceeded those of a newly ascended martial paragon, filled every fiber of his body like a flooding torrent.

With another burst of force from his feet during his rapid stride, his speed surpassed the limits of an ordinary martial paragon. Man and sword became one as he slammed into Bian Liancheng.

"Crap!" Bian Liancheng sensed something was wrong the moment he realized Yaoguang’s psychic mind was unaffected. The saber light he had swung out flashed back into a defensive position, moving like a bolt of silk to strike at Yaoguang’s incoming blade.

Such a reaction was fast enough to exceed the limits of what almost any grandmaster could capture. Yet, that saber strike, as spectacular as it was, passed directly through the length of Yaoguang’s sword. It struck only a blur and hit nothing but empty air. It was an illusion produced by the Divine Shadow Sword!

As his strike missed, Bian Liancheng’s scalp went numb, and an unprecedented sense of crisis exploded from the depths of his soul. Before he could make another move, his wrist was pierced and violently torn apart. The Divine Shadow Sword drove straight through the forearm he used to hold his saber.

At that same moment, a violent fist jin swept past his body, and the erupting jin exploded behind him. This was the roar of Liao Zhenguo’s fist jin as it struck the empty air.

When two martial artists joined forces, it did not necessarily mean that one plus one equaled two. Without seamless coordination, facing two people was no different from facing one. The cooperation between Bian Liancheng and Liao Zhenguo was actually exquisite. They required very little communication and could grasp each other's intentions with a simple glance.

However, they could not overcome the fact that Yaoguang was simply too strong.

By utilizing Star Ignition to burst forth with speed that surpassed the limits of a martial paragon, Yaoguang had created an advantage for himself, forcibly tearing apart the seamless coordination between the two men.

As he lunged forward, Yaoguang used his body as a weapon and collided violently with Bian Liancheng's chest. The man felt as if a wrecking ball had struck him, and he was thrown backward.

The savage force of the impact did more than just shake his entire frame and cause his internal organs to churn; it made him lose his balance completely, leaving him unable to mount any further reaction.

In contrast, Yaoguang did not falter! The moment he sent Bian Liancheng flying, his footwork did not stop for a single heartbeat. As the floor beneath him shattered, he surged forward again, quickly catching up to the retreating Bian Liancheng.

"Stop!" Amidst Liao Zhenguo’s terrified roar, the Divine Shadow Sword in Yaoguang’s hand moved like a flash of lightning. It struck with incredible speed through the night, instantly piercing Bian Liancheng’s throat.

It was a certain kill!

Sent tumbling and struggling desperately to regain his balance, Bian Liancheng’s eyes suddenly widened. He stared fixedly at the Divine Shadow Sword that had pierced his throat.

Even though every martial paragon existed as a being that had broken through human limits, a fatal injury like that wasn't something he could come back from.

After killing a martial paragon, Yaoguang did not pause for a second. He instantly withdrew the Divine Shadow Sword from Bian Liancheng’s neck and, carrying the momentum of his forward charge, he suddenly executed a sharp 180-degree turn. The sword light of Divine Shadow Sword whipped up a flurry of afterimages, cutting toward the space behind him.

Behind him, Liao Zhenguo, who appeared to have activated some life-risking secret technique in his rage, had already closed the distance. His fierce fist jin, powerful enough to shatter rocks, was less than a meter away from Yaoguang’s back.

Clearly, the previous collision and the lightning-fast exchange just now had made Liao Zhenguo realize that the youth before him possessed unprecedented strength. If he did not risk his life, activating his secret technique, he would surely die in today’s battle.

The sword light tore through the air with a swish

.

Like a general sweeping through ten thousand soldiers, the Divine Shadow Sword slashed in front of Liao Zhenguo. However, as the martial paragon shifted from a fist to a palm, his glove seemed to release an astonishing suction force. It actually forced Divine Shadow Sword, which was originally aimed at his throat, to land directly in his palm.

It looked as if Yaoguang had intentionally delivered the sword to Liao Zhenguo. Specifically, because the trajectory of the blade was forcibly altered, Yaoguang's body changed position involuntarily, leaving his defenses wide open for a split second.

Seizing this chance, Liao Zhenguo let out a low growl. He spread the five fingers of his other hand wide and clawed viciously toward Yaoguang’s skull.

Within that single palm strike, a profound mystery belonging to the heavenly being realm, similar to Ji Pingtian’s Dragon-Elephant World-Suppression, surged forth. The sense of space seemed to be muddled at that moment.

It did not seem as though Liao Zhenguo was reaching out to seize Yaoguang’s head, but rather that Yaoguang was proactively offering his head to the other man’s palm, allowing his life or death to be dictated.

This was Liao Zhenguo's killing move: Lord of the Torrent!

With his massive palm and the cold metallic glint radiating from the glove, Yaoguang’s skull would undoubtedly be crushed into powder if he were caught.

"You have practiced this well, but unfortunately...it's gonna be useless," Yaoguang said.

In the next instant, a formless ripple emanated from Yaoguang as the center, and the profound sensation of dominating all living things in heaven and earth was instantly dispersed.

Almost simultaneously, Yaoguang pinched his left fingers together to form a sword and thrust forward.

No, it was not a finger-sword! Nurtured by Formless, the Chengying Sword had already slid down from his sleeve. Shadowless and formless, it stabbed out.

The blade pointed straight at Liao Zhenguo’s palm!

"This is?!" Liao Zhenguo keenly felt an eerie sharpness at the center of his palm. But it was too late!

The moment his heavenly-being-tier fist art, Lord of the Torrent, was broken, the outcome was already decided.

As the tip of the Chengying Sword pierced into Liao Zhenguo’s palm, the incredible sharpness instantly tore through the muscle fibers of his hand and wrist. It then drove through the gap between the ulna and radius, and finally, with the force of a thousand thunderclaps, it pierced through his forehead.

"I..." Liao Zhenguo’s pupils dilated.

The sword was withdrawn with a squelch, and Yaoguang retreated!

In the final remnants of this Liao family martial paragon's consciousness, he could clearly see Yaoguang withdrawing his sword and turning his gaze directly toward Liao Shanhe, the king of Dayu, without pausing at all.

He strode like a shooting star and acted with lightning speed! He was decisive and ruthless without the slightest hesitation! It was as if he had not killed martial paragons who could change the landscape of a nation, but rather insignificant nobodies.

How could a nineteen-year-old youth possess this kind of formidable power, absolute will, and incredible skill?

And the Liao family, to curry favor with the Rebirth Society, had not hesitated to act as their dogs. For that, they had stood against such a powerhouse with a boundless future, someone who was destined to become a high-level cultivator!

As his vision gradually dimmed, he seemed to see raging flames incinerating every high-ranking member of the Liao family. The fire dragged the four hundred years of the Liao family’s glory down into the darkness, toward its curtain call.