Chapter 311: Bitter Battle (cont)

It was one of the rare times when Shang Xia had been forced into a corner!

If Shang Xia were to sum up his entire experience of the battle, he could probably do it in one word, ‘pitiful’!

Li Tianshou, a direct disciple of the White Deer Paradise, seemed to have a good grasp of the Shang Clan’s Spear Art! With the other four, they severely restricted his fighting style! The only move they hadn’t broken was his fifth move, the Woundless Spear!

Even though the Providence Spear Art allowed members to create and comprehend moves of their own, the principles behind them were pretty similar.

Each cultivator would develop their moves based on the principle of the Providence Spear Art and their own cultivation. For example, Shang Xia’s first three moves were somewhat related to his first martial intent, the Chaos Essence Lightning Palm.

After his second divine sense transformation, his next set of three moves seemed connected with his martial extremity intent, the Seven Laceration Sword.

It was all the more obvious with Shang Xia’s sixth move, the Flow Recompensation Spear. Of all his moves, that was also the most powerful strike.

As long as one looked into Shang Xia’s past cultivation, they would be able to deduce the type of techniques he could use! For a colossal existence like the White Deer Paradise, it wasn’t difficult for Li Tianshou to dig out everything he required.

However, that begged the question. Was the White Deer Paradise aiming for Shang Xia specifically? He was a mere cultivator in the Martial Intent Realm. No matter how eye-catching his performance was, he shouldn’t be able to affect their grand plan. He couldn’t understand why the White Deer Paradise had set their eyes on him.

That wasn’t what Shang Xia was brooding over anyway. It was true that his Shang Clan Spear Art was special and there were many seniors of his family who trained in it. They managed to uncover a small part of the Providence Spear’s secret, and only core members would be able to know the intricacies behind it. How in the world did the White Deer Paradise learn of it?!

From how Li Tianshou was behaving, he seemed exceptionally familiar with Shang Xia’s Providence Spear Art. Shang Xia even suspected that he was a hidden member of the Shang Clan!

As the encirclement became smaller, the pressure Shang Xia faced grew larger.

His moves were blocked with great efficiency through the cooperation of the five of them, and despite his best efforts to break out of his predicament, he failed.

When he used his third move, Flashing Meteor, he discovered that the energy contained in his spear would be pulled in different directions. The speed he was so proud of became useless and his spear moved as slow as a snail.

As for his fourth move, Void Evasion, it failed to hit anything despite it being the most unpredictable. As long as anyone caught on to the rhythm of his attacks, they would be able to avoid it effectively.

With the formation closing in on him, things started to seem bleak.

Shang Xia’s spear shot towards someone’s chest, but due to a sudden interference, he only managed to scrape his target’s left hand.

He realized that there was no point in using the techniques he knew any longer. Even his sixth and strongest move was deemed useless before the five of them.

The only attack that could actually hit anyone was the Woundless Spear, but the only problem with that was that he would injure himself every time he used it.

With five of them as his opponents, he would end up killing himself before seriously wounding anyone!

If things were to continue down the same path, he would eventually exhaust himself and fall into their hands.

“Young Master Shang, what’s the point? Can’t you see that everything you do is useless? Just give up obediently and save yourself from the pain. As long as you agree to work with us, you will be able to stay alive. Even your Shang Clan would be spared! In fact, you might even benefit greatly from our cooperation!”

Li Tianshou tried to shatter Shang Xia’s mental defense. He spoke extremely seriously, and it seemed as though he would fulfill any one of Shang Xia’s requests if he agreed.

Even his four companions were shocked by his words. They stared at each other in confusion, wondering if what Li Tianshou said was true.

However, Shang Xia remained silent. The spear in his hand continued to dance, and the power contained in his strikes seemed to increase. Even though the battle had dragged on for some time and his inner qi was depleting, he refused to give up.

Shang Xia was like a cornered beast. He fought with everything he had, and the battlefield had already shifted some distance away from where they once started. Even though he couldn’t break out of the encirclement, he refused to give up.

“Young Master Shang, is there a point in continuing? You’ll just use up all your inner qi. Are you trying to preserve your reputation by losing to us eventually using the excuse that ‘you slipped’? Or are you trying to console yourself by fighting to the bitter end?” Li Tianshou continued and he sounded like he was pitying Shang Xia.

“Or… Are you planning something and thinking that you still have a chance to escape?” Li Tianshou snapped all of a sudden as his sword stabbed outwards. He blocked Shang Xia’s spear from harming one of his junior sisters, and he continued playfully. “Hmm… Are you trying to stall for time? Young Master Shang, do you have backup coming? Wow. Is it possible that you’re behind the extermination of those from the Azure Spiritual World?”

“Why don’t you guess?” Shang Xia, who had been silent this whole time, finally spoke. His tone sounded incomparably relaxed all of a sudden.

A bad premonition filled the hearts of those from the White Deer Paradise. Li Tianshould might not know what Shang Xia was up to, but he gave the rest a warning. “Everyone, be careful! He’s a spent force! Don’t act recklessly and let him use up his energy.”

As soon as the words left his lips, Shang Xia’s grunt entered their ears. “We’re finally here.”

Here?! Where’s here?! Is there something wrong with this place?

Li Tianshou was slightly taken aback and he stared around him suspiciously. The feeling of unease in his heart became even stronger.

Soon, he caught sight of a massive boulder. It was the boulder they discovered was stopping the leak from the underground river.

Everything clicked in Li Tianshou’s mind in that instant. He wanted to warn the others, but it was too late.

Shang Xia tossed out a rank two talisman he made the other day.

Light filled the skies as a wave of energy tried to shove everyone away. Other than Li Tianshou, everyone nearly burst out laughing.

They thought that Shang Xia was truly messing with him. With their strength, a rank two talisman wouldn’t affect them in the slightest! They found Shang Xia extremely stupid to think that something like that could affect their fighting formation.

With a trace of mockery in their eyes, they shattered the wave of energy rushing towards them. However, Li Tianshou’s voice boomed through the air. “Watch out, he’s trying to escape!”

Watch out?

Escape?

The four of them could stop the energy wave with their eyes closed. What was there to watch out for? Also, they had him completely surrounded. There was nowhere to run!

When the light finally died down, a solemn look could be seen on Shang Xia’s face as he released his sixth move, Flow Recompensation!

However, they were confused the next moment. Who the hell was he aiming at? The five of them knew where each other was, but Shang Xia’s attack didn’t seem directed at any of them!

Finally, they realized that Shang Xia’s act of throwing out the rank two talisman was purely to distract them. The only thing they didn’t understand was the target of his attack.

Following his stab, their gazes landed on the giant boulder not too far away from him.

What’s he doing?

“Stop him!” Li Tianshou’s voice brought them back to reality, but by the time they started moving, it was too late.

Shang Xia was fighting like a cornered beast earlier in order to drag the battlefield towards the giant boulder! All of them were mistaken. When he released his strike earlier, he wasn’t aiming for the boulder. Instead, he stabbed towards the ground under the rock!

Boom!

With the opening widened, even the boulder couldn’t resist the strong pressure coming from underground. A giant pillar of water shot into the skies, causing the boulder to tumble away.

Without anything to stop the water from escaping, a giant geyser that was several times larger than when Shang Xia killed Lin Yi appeared. The water that fell back to the earth eventually soaked everyone present.

The pile of rocks nearby that hid the Spiritual Extermination Gourd scattered, revealing the treasure. Affected by the sudden gust of wind that appeared along with the eruption of the geyser, the Spiritual Extermination Gourd flew into the air.

Of course, mere water wasn’t enough to harm anyone in the surroundings. In fact, it didn’t seem to change anything. Shang Xia was still surrounded by the members of the White Deer Paradise.

As the Spiritual Extermination Gourd returned to the earth, a huge amount of extermination mist emerged from its opening.

Without the gourd to absorb the mist emitted by the water, the smokey screen billowed out from the ground.

In the blink of an eye, thick mist filled the air and everyone lost the ability to see more than three feet away!