Chapter 262: Ambush

Out of the blue, Shang Xia discovered that he had strayed from the spatial tunnel leading towards the institution.

Behind him, a soft rustling sound ran through the forest as something rushed towards him.

Twisting his body, his Jade River Sword appeared in his hand. It stabbed straight towards the incoming object.

It struck accurately at a black light that came from the thickets nearby.

The black light exploded in an instant. Shang Xia finally managed to see the appearance of the item and discovered it was a black iron arrow. Flying in the other direction from the recoil of the blast, it tore through one of the tree trunks nearby.

Shang Xia didn’t hesitate. He charged in the direction of the fired arrow, and a frosty light flashed in his eyes.

A loud roar rang through the skies as a ferocious wave of energy rushed towards him. The heaven and earth qi in the surroundings turned into an arrowhead and a terrifying gust caused the surrounding greenery to sway violently.

The arrow that flew at him earlier wasn’t the true killing move. Instead, it was the heaven and earth qi that it brought along with it.

When Shang Xia deflected it earlier, he could tell that the person who sneak attacked him was in the Martial Intent Realm or higher!

Facing the incoming energy wave, Shang Xia wasn’t surprised. He destroyed the incoming wave, and the remnant energy rushed against the surroundings. One of the tall trees nearby was stripped bare by the energy wave, and the bushes below suffered the same fate. Shang Xia saw a black robed figure running in another direction.

At the same time, a massive explosion happened nearly seventy feet away from him. A tree was blown apart as a massive figure wielding a giant axe leaped at him. Releasing a loud roar, an ape-like phantom that was created with heaven and earth qi could be seen behind them man.

“Bloodline technique? You’re from the Azure Spiritual World!” Shang Xia’s expression changed and he roared in astonishment. The sword in his hand drew a beautiful arc through the skies and smashed heavily against the axe.

He didn’t even have the time to think about why members of the Azure Spiritual World had appeared in their Azure Origin World!

The collision between their weapons caused a giant outburst of heaven and earth qi in the skies above. As the shockwave tore through the lands, giant swathes of forestry were destroyed. Trees were uprooted and debris filled the skies. The region around the two cultivators became a barren wasteland.

“What the fuck! This guy didn’t just break into the Martial Intent Realm!” The massive cultivator who wielded an axe took three steps back and bumped into one of the fallen trunks. He yelled in fright to remind his teammate, and a trace of resentment was contained in his voice. There was also a hint of fear.

Shang Xia also retreated towards wherever had the most cover and he growled, “This guy’s divine sense definitely completed its third transformation! He’s strong!”

With Shang Xia’s experience in the battlefield between the two heavens, he was familiar with the fighting style of those from the Azure Spiritual World. He knew how those bloodline fighters fought, and looking at the expert before him, he was sure that his opponent came from the Azure Spiritual World. However, he wasn’t part of the four great races that made up the Four Spiritual Peak.

Due to the sudden attack and his lack of understanding of his opponent, Shang Xia decided that retreating was the best course of action. Moreover, they were able to affect and infiltrate the region controlled by the institution. Adding on the fact that the axe wielding cultivator was freaking strong, it wasn’t a bad idea to make a tactical retreat.

Retreating due to the backlash, Shang Xia wanted to use the chance to disappear into the forest surrounding them. However, another black iron arrow flew towards him with impeccable accuracy.

A roar echoed in Shang Xia’s ears as the axe wielding cultivator rushed in his direction once again.

They were clearly unwilling to let him escape easily.

Naturally, Shang Xia wouldn’t be played by their stalling tactics. His sword slashed backwards and a ball of reddish gold lightning exploded. Lightning bolts that were as thick as a man’s arm zapped all over the place and one of them slammed into the arrow while shattering the energy wave if brought along with it.

Unleashing his Irregular Steps, Shang Xia’s speed increased at irregular bursts. He would step towards his right and left in a seemingly weird rhythm, and it caused the archer to be unable to lock on to him.

He opened up the distance between himself and the axe wielding brute behind him too.

Seeing as he was about to disappear into the thick forest, a pale-faced cultivator appeared from a giant boulder not too far away.

A mocking smile could be seen on the newcomer’s face as he drew his blade from his back. A giant phantom of a praying mantis appeared behind him. He welcomed Shang Xia with a downward slash of his blade.

With his eyes widening in shock, a trace of terror appeared in Shang Xia’s eyes for the first time since their encounter.

His body trembled in mid air as he released seven slashes with his Jade River Sword. The sword qi released by all seven slashes fused in mid air and Shang Xia unleashed his famed technique, the Seven Laceration Sword!

The fused sword qi struck the blade qi that was aimed at him, and the two released their divine senses at the same time. The world around them was thrown into chaos from the collision of their attacks and their divine senses.

Shang Xia’s martial extremity intent was unable to overwhelm his opponent at all!

“Grand completion stage of the Martial Intent Realm!” Shang Xia’s expression turned ugly to the extreme. His hand trembled violently as he tightened his grip on his sword.

The reaction of the cultivator who stopped Shang Xia was similar. His expression was one of shock and fright as he couldn’t understand how they reached a draw. He was an existence who had touched upon the gates of the Martial Extermination Realm!

He didn’t hold back in his previous strike. Even so, it was stopped by his opponent! That was the greatest humiliation he suffered in a long time!

Without waiting for the chaotic heaven and earth qi to settle down, he charged towards Shang Xia and started his second round of attacks.

The axe wielding cultivator also arrived by that time, and they pincered Shang Xia from the front and back.

Without giving him a chance to catch his breath, another black iron arrow flew towards Shang Xia.

Helpless, Shang Xia could only stop the arrow that was an immediate threat to his life. Striking the arrow and shattering the energy it contained, he turned to face the other two.

There was no escaping it. He had to fight them head on! Pushing himself to his limit, he resisted their strikes before being thrown into the air.

The archer on the other side was no amateur. He took the chance to fire another shot at Shang Xia when he was in mid air.

“We want him alive!”

Barely deflecting the arrow this time, the energy contained in it sliced a gash across the left side of Shang Xia’s face.

It was the worst state he had ever been in.

At the critical moment, his head cleared up and the entire situation became obvious.

With two extremely strong cultivators to hold him down and another hidden archer to hinder his movements, it would be nearly impossible for him to escape.

From the location and time he was attacked, there had to be an elaborate plan covering the entire assault. Moreover, they seemed to understand his strength really well. To put it simply, it was a scheme aimed at Shang Xia alone!

However, that begged another question. Why was he the target?

Even though he was someone with some sort of background, he felt that it hadn’t reached the level where the Azure Spiritual World would set their sights on him.

𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

A chill ran through his heart when he thought up to that point.

Even if they managed to tear open the spatial barrier, they wouldn’t be able to hide their actions from an expert at Kou Chongxue’s level. If the patriarch didn’t appear when Shang Xia ran into such a dangerous situation, there was only one possibility. Kou Chongxue wasn’t faring much better!

That made sense. If the Azure Spiritual World could ambush Shang Xia on his way back, they wouldn’t leave Kou Chongxue alone.

For the cultivators of the Azure Spiritual World to infiltrate deep into their territory, there was no doubt about it. There was a damn traitor in their midst. After all, Kou Chongxue’s location was supposed to be a guarded secret. Even though the cultivators could enter the Azure Origin World without detection, they wouldn’t be able to discover Kou Chongxue’s hiding spot! Since things had come down to that point, anyone with half a brain would be able to narrow down the traitor to be someone in the Tongyou Institution.

“You guys are really fearless alright. Aren’t you afraid that you’ll have to leave your lives here forever?” Shang Xia gasped for breath as he asked. He tried to suppress the rampaging inner qi in his dantian. He felt a trace of killing intent close to twenty feet behind him as he spoke.

Just as he was about to stretch his divine sense in that direction, it was stopped by another powerful divine sense. He was unable to locate the hidden attacker and he was forced into a passive situation.

“Since we’re able to come here, we can definitely leave. As long as we capture you, no one can do anything to us!” The axe wielding cultivator roared with laughter.

“He’s trying to stall for time. Yuan Gang, don’t give him a chance to catch his breath. We’ll take him down right now!” The blade wielding cultivator snorted .

As the two of them closed in on him once again, Shang Xia made up his mind. There was no escape. If he didn’t give it his all now, there wouldn’t be a chance for him to give anything anymore.

Several talismans appeared in his hand and he tossed them towards the duo mercilessly.

The four talismans he threw out at them turned into brilliant rays of light and displayed their terrifying might. They either turned into tyrannical rays of sword qi, or they split into several smaller ones. A giant scissors that emitted dense flames on top of a bed of frost also appeared, and there was another giant ray of sword qi that glowed a weird black and white. Everything flew towards the two cultivators.

“Be careful! All of them contain divine sense!” The blade wielding cultivator roared. It seemed as though he knew his stuff, but he was deceived by the power they contained. Those were talismans created by Shang Xia and despite their special attributes, they should be unable to heavily injure cultivators at the level of the blade and axe wielding experts.

When the two of them shattered the attacks from the four talismans with all their might, they wasted a breath of time. That was Shang Xia’s goal to begin with. With the two of them distracted, he rushed towards the hidden archer.

“Yin Lian, be careful!”