Chapter 436 – Battling Ming Xiao

Li Guanqi’s aura made everyone shudder. The sheer pressure of it even stole their breath briefly.

Ming Xiao sensed the change, and his gaze grew solemn. Xuan Lin had been the only person he’d ever taken seriously on the Soaring Heavens Continent. It seemed he had to add one more to the list.

Boom!

“Ghost King, Heavenly Massacre!”

Ming Xiao let out a low growl. A terrifyingly sharp sword intent shot skyward, and his already invisible blade became even more unpredictable.

He flicked his wrist upward ever so slightly.

Li Guanqi’s eyes widened. He leaped three chi sideways.

Not fast enough. The strike sliced through his robes at the left shoulder, carving away a large chunk of flesh.

A loud rip followed as a long gash tore through the air, extending from where Li Guanqi had stood to a point dozens of zhang in front of Ming Xiao.

Li Guanqi circulated his vital force and stopped the bleeding instantly. He squinted at Ming Xiao’s hand.

The sword... became longer!

He was right. For that instant, Ming Xiao’s blade had extended to over twenty zhang. That was how the strike had reached him from a mere flick of the wrist.

Li Guanqi licked his lips and murmured, “Is this the Soul Dissolution ability of that sword?”

Ming Xiao likely possessed an incredibly powerful sword spirit void too.

Whoosh!

Ming Xiao suddenly turned into a cloud of black smoke, disappearing into thin air.

Li Guanqi’s divine consciousness poured outward in all directions. Ever since merging with the Heavenly Lightning Orb, it had grown at tremendous speed, likely surpassing even an alchemist half a step into the Illusory Refinement Realm.

“Gotcha!”

He whirled and lunged, thrusting his sword at a point ten zhang away.

Clang!

Ming Xiao materialized ten zhang to Li Guanqi’s side, raising his hand just in time. The Red Lotus Sword’s tip collided with the Shadowless Sword.

Intense power erupted from the clash. Ripples tore across the sky, scattering the thick gray clouds overhead. The other cultivators raised vital force shields against the shockwaves.

Li Guanqi and Ming Xiao locked eyes. Each saw the fierce fighting spirit burning in the other.

There was a dull boom, and they were both blasted back a dozen zhang. They stabilized themselves in mid-air at nearly the same instant.

The moment they did, they charged again.

A deep hole formed in the space beneath Li Guanqi’s feet. Ming Xiao’s strength was not to be underestimated.

Both used sprint techniques to achieve maximum speed, making them impossible to track with the naked eye. Only powerful divine consciousness and battle instinct could follow them.

Sword lights flashed like lightning. Li Guanqi’s attacks rained down on Ming Xiao like a relentless storm.

Ming Xiao’s expression darkened as more and more gashes opened across his body. His Ghost King Physique granted strong regeneration, but he was burning dozens of times more energy than usual just to suppress Li Guanqi’s lightning power and twin heavenly flames. Both terrified him.

He moved in a ghost-like, unpredictable fashion. Despite Li Guanqi’s aggression, only a third of his strikes landed, with the rest narrowly missing their mark.

But Ming Xiao was feeling suffocated by Li Guanqi’s speed.

Ming Xiao’s eyes flashed coldly, and Li Guanqi’s hair stood on end. A chill shot down his spine.

Li Guanqi, who had been rushing toward Ming Xiao, planted his feet firmly against the ground and abruptly propelled himself a zhang away.

Pfft!

Li Guanqi looked down. His chest had been pierced. Cold sweat broke out all over him. If he had been a little slower, his injury would have been far worse. However, looking at his wound, he now had an estimate of the sword's length.

Twenty-two zhang.

That was likely the Shadowless Sword’s limit.

Disappointment flickered in Ming Xiao’s eyes. He hadn’t expected Li Guanqi to react so quickly, dodging even at such a close range.

Whoosh!

The afterimage of Li Guanqi gradually dispersed. Ming Xiao’s eyes widened.

Then, eerie black flames erupted around him.

Poof!

To Ming Xiao’s horror, a strange flame had appeared in his dantian. It was eating up the yin hell power in his body.

Several terrifying sword lights hurtled toward him. Without hesitation, Ming Xiao ran away, dissolving into black smoke and weaving through the sword domain.

Bursts of black yin hell force erupted from him. Black qi spread until it blanketed half the sword prison.

Ming Xiao released his Yin Hell Domain and accelerated further, forming mysterious seals with both hands. Violent yin hell force exploded outward, sealing off Li Guanqi’s Yin Hellfire.

He barely had time to exhale before Li Guanqi appeared behind him.

“Shadow Demon Slash, Dark Night!”

Boom!

Sword light burst forth. The world seemed to dim as if all light had been devoured. Only a single flash of lightning sword light remained.

Ming Xiao was shaken to his core. He twisted and swung his sword upward with both hands on the hilt.

Power erupted from him. The Shadowless Sword extended to its maximum length.

“Myriad Ghost Devouring Technique, Hell Pavilion!”

As he swung, a pitch-black pavilion materialized behind him. Its doors flew open, and millions of ghosts poured out, roaring with fury. A ray of black sword light shot forth. Wind howled. The land shook. The surrounding peaks exploded.

Every cultivator in the area watched with bated breath.

Li Guanqi’s eyes widened. He slashed without hesitation, flipped mid-air, landed on his feet against nothing, and swung again.

“Heavenly Destruction Sword Technique, Crouching Demon!”

Boom!

Blinding sword light wrapped in the Lightning Dragon Flame shot out, burning every screaming ghost in its path to nothing.

Ming Xiao’s eyes widened. All he could do was release copious amounts of yin hell force.

“Kill!”

Boom! Boom!

His sword light shattered. Ming Xiao fell weakly to one knee mid-air.

Li Guanqi’s sword light pierced through his body.

Disbelief filled Ming Xiao’s eyes as he looked down. His wound burned with Li Guanqi’s heavenly flames.

“I... I lost...”

Li Guanqi panted heavily. His robes hung in tatters, revealing black wounds across his chest, including two that went clean through.

He walked up to Ming Xiao and raised his sword.