Free Web NovelChapter 354: Chapter 354: A Waste of a Big Guy
Mystic Scale trembled violently, his knees cracking the bluestone floor into a spiderweb of fissures. The gill slits on his throat flared uncontrollably, spewing a foul, bloody foam.
"Penglai Pavilion’s Sea Guardian Envoy, Mystic Scale?"
Xu Yunfan stepped forward slowly. With every stride, unrefined Exotic True Qi seeped from his pores.
A wisp of crimson Dragon Tiger Gang Qi had just escaped from a gap between the shifting leaves of his Dragon Scale Armor when he snatched it with a backhanded grab, crushing it back into his body as if it were a living thing.
Mystic Scale watched in horror as the forcibly contained True Qi transformed into slithering serpents of light beneath Xu Yunfan’s skin, only to be completely digested in an instant.
Xu Yunfan’s gaze was electric as he sized up the prostrated Mystic Scale with great interest.
The merman’s ten-foot-tall frame was trembling, and his battle-form, clad in Deep Sea Xuan Iron Scale Armor, emitted a series of faint clicks.
The sound came from the scales on his body clattering against each other out of sheer terror.
"I didn’t expect Penglai Pavilion to keep Demon Fiends..."
A wisp of unrefined Exotic True Qi coiled around Xu Yunfan’s fingertip. His tone was playful. "What’s in your body? Is it True Qi, or Demon Qi?"
Mystic Scale’s gill slits flared violently, and a gurgling tremor escaped his throat. "T-to answer my lord... it’s Demon Qi. Pure, deep-sea Demon Qi!"
He deliberately emphasized the words "Demon Qi," his scaled palm digging deep into the bluestone floor.
The scene from moments ago—of the beautiful female Chief Steward of Penglai Pavilion being drained dry by the Ten Extremes True Qi—flashed before his eyes.
’That voluptuous body had shriveled and withered before his very eyes, becoming nothing more than a skeleton draped in magnificent robes.’
’What was even more terrifying was that Xu Yunfan had performed this bizarre, evil technique with the casual ease of a man strolling through a courtyard.’
’Heavens above, the Ten Extremes Martial Arts hadn’t been so vicious and evil in the hands of Dugu Jiu.’
’According to the Sect’s records, the legendary Celestial Sword Dugu Jiu had used the Ten Extremes Martial Arts to manifest the "Ten Extremes Celestial Sword." When drawn, it was like an inverted river of stars, its cold Sword Aura splitting the very sky.’
’Wherever that Three-foot Cyan Blade passed, the masters of the Six Great Sects yielded. The Sword Master of the Sword Pavilion had his Lifebound Sword shattered with a single strike; the Sect Leader of the Jiuyao Sect was annihilated by the blade’s light before he could even unleash his Great Sun Glaze; and the Profound Daoist Sect’s Dragon and Tiger Dharma Aspect crumbled like paper before its Sword Momentum.’
’Dugu Jiu’s Sword Dao had reached the realm of "Ten Thousand Qi Return to the Blade." An opponent’s True Qi would be forced to dissipate by his piercing Sword Intent before it even got close. Why would he ever need to plunder it by force like Xu Yunfan?’
’During that battle on The Eight-Hundred-Mile Desolate River Ice-Plains, the Six Great Sects lost more than half of their Sect’s Divine Weapons, yet they failed to dull the edge of Dugu Jiu’s blade in the slightest.’
’But now, Xu Yunfan had twisted this supreme Martial Dao into a Demon Skill.’
’His Ten Extremes True Qi was like the maw of a Taotie, devouring the lifelong Cultivation of its victims. Wherever he went, Ninth Realm Grandmasters were reduced to withered bones, their very souls seemingly consumed by that grotesque True Qi.’
’As the True Qi surged in his palm, Dragon Tiger Gang Qi, Sword Spirit’s Sharpness, and Buddhist True Gang were all forcibly refined, becoming serpents of light that slithered beneath his skin, ultimately mere nourishment for his Ten Extremes Martial Arts.’
’Such demonic might... Where was even half a trace of the righteous Sword Intent of the old Celestial Sword Dugu Jiu? All that remained was this horrifying Absorption Evil Technique, enough to send a chill down anyone’s spine.’
Mystic Scale risked a glance around. Nine Ninth Realm Grandmasters, each a titan in their own right, now lay strewn across the ground like harvested grain.
Some had caved-in chests, others had shattered skulls, but the most chilling sight was the few "empty shells" who had been drained of all their True Qi.
The final moment of despair was frozen on their withered faces, as if their very souls had been devoured by that grotesque Ten Extremes True Qi.
’Just one glance was enough to haunt his nightmares for a lifetime.’
"A pity. Since it’s not True Qi, I’ll let it be."
Xu Yunfan chuckled softly, and the Ten Extremes True Qi in his palm began to subside.
Within the True Qi swirling around him, one could faintly see nine distinct streams of energy blending and refining together.
This was the lifelong Cultivation of the nine masters he had just slain.
The ferocity of the Dragon Tiger Sect, the sharpness of the Sword Pavilion, the profundity of Mituo Temple... all of it was now the finest nourishment for his Ten Extremes Martial Arts.
Hearing Xu Yunfan’s faintly regretful tone, Mystic Scale inwardly sighed in relief. He was just about to speak.
A trembling plea for mercy had just begun to form in his throat when his pupils abruptly contracted.
Xu Yunfan’s lowered right hand had risen silently. The Ten Extremes True Qi in his palm swirled like an abyssal vortex, pulling all the lingering Dragon Tiger Gang Qi and residual Sword Spirit’s Sharpness from the air and into his skin.
The serpents of light erupted, coalescing between Xu Yunfan’s fingers into a pressure as heavy as a mountain.
"What a waste of such a large frame."
Before Xu Yunfan’s soft sigh finished, his palm descended like the heavens themselves were falling.
Mystic Scale’s ten-foot-tall merman frame buckled. His armor exploded with a thousand cracks, as if the weight of an entire mountain had suddenly crashed down upon his spine.
He could clearly hear his own bones groaning under the unbearable load. His organs twisted and warped under the pressure of the terrifying True Qi, and even the core condensed from his Demon Qi was crushed to the verge of collapse.
The last thing he saw was the chaotic mass of Ten Extremes True Qi in Xu Yunfan’s palm.
The True Qi was like the world’s sharpest blade, tearing through Mystic Scale’s protective Demon Qi as easily as it would flesh and blood. The crisp sound of his scales flaking away mingled with the wet pop of bursting flesh, flooding his ears.
In his final moments, Mystic Scale suddenly understood why the faces of the Grandmasters who had become desiccated corpses were frozen in such despair.
The thought to struggle had barely formed when he felt an icy touch on his Skull. Xu Yunfan’s palm had rested nonchalantly on his head.
BANG!
Like a Heavy Hammer shattering a Glazed Cup, Mystic Scale’s vision plunged into darkness.
His kneeling body remained frozen in its pleading posture, but from the top of his skull to his waist, he had been flattened into a thin sheet. The merman’s unique, azure Demon Blood didn’t even have a chance to splash before the Ten Extremes True Qi vaporized it into a crimson mist.
As Xu Yunfan withdrew his hand, the stone platform beneath him trembled and fractured into a spiderweb of cracks. He simply brushed the blood mist from his sleeve as if he had just crushed a common ant.
The only one left was an old Senior Steward, slumped in a corner, having lost control of his bladder. A pungent liquid soaked his trousers, and his cloudy eyes were wide with frozen terror.
His withered fingers dug into the cracks between the bricks, as if this could somehow shield him from the demon’s gaze.
But Xu Yunfan’s gaze merely swept over him with indifference, as if he were nothing more than a speck of dust.
The lingering power of the Ten Extremes True Qi still flowed around Xu Yunfan. The unrefined Exotic True Qi coiled around his arms like living creatures: the crimson Gang Qi of the Dragon Tiger Sect slithered like a fiery serpent; the piercing Sword Aura of the Sword Pavilion condensed into fine Ice Crystals; and the golden Buddhist aura of Mituo Temple dissolved into floating motes of light.
He casually raised a hand and crushed a wisp of Penglai Weak Water True Qi that was trying to escape. The resulting burst of azure light reflected in his pupils, making them as deep and dark as an abyss.
Though Xu Yunfan appeared calm on the surface, his Ten Extremes True Qi churned within him like an abyssal sea. The plundered Exotic True Qis were rampaging through his flesh and blood like caged beasts.
Twisted lines occasionally bulged beneath his skin, as if countless serpents of light were tearing and struggling within his very flesh.
A wisp of Nine Luminaries True Qi suddenly shot out from between his fingers, exploding into fine, golden-red motes of light. Immediately after, a remnant of Gang Qi from the Profound Daoist Sect’s Dragon and Tiger Dharma Aspect seeped out from behind his ear, dissipating into a puff of cyan smoke.
