Chapter 466: Chapter 451: Strike Down the Golden Core Again!
Ba Yan’Er had never thought before that a Purple Mansion Stage Cultivator could be so difficult to deal with.
Indeed, he was injured, and he had lost almost all of his frequently used magical artifacts.
But he still had a Tier Five Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact, and he was a genuine Third-Layer Golden Core Cultivator!
Who would have thought that he, a Third-Layer Golden Core Cultivator wielding a Tier Five Artifact, could be evenly matched with a Seventh-Layer Purple Mansion Cultivator, exchanging over a dozen moves without taking down even a Seventh-Layer Purple Mansion Cultivator?
Zhouyang’s strength completely surpassed his understanding of Purple Mansion Stage Cultivators.
If it weren’t for Zhouyang never having unleashed any Tier Five Artifact, Ba Yan’Er would have suspected he was a "Fake Golden Core" cultivator.
"Young one, your ability to resist until now indeed exceeds my expectations. A Purple Mansion Stage Cultivator as formidable as you, I haven’t seen in years. You must be the core heir cultivated by a major sect within the Anti-Light Alliance?"
After another failed attack, Ba Yan’Er couldn’t help but pause his offensive, with a gloomy expression he looked at Zhouyang and began to inquire about his background.
"You guess!"
Zhouyang formed a hand seal, quickly reconstructing the sword array scattered by Ba Yan’Er, responding to Ba Yan’Er’s inquiry with a bright smile on his face.
Seeing the smile on Zhouyang’s face and hearing this mocking reply, Ba Yan’Er’s face twitched, his anger surging even more.
A flash of fierce light in his eyes, as if he had made some sort of decision, a twisted smile appeared on his face: "Fine, today I’ll pay some price and slay this Anti-Light Alliance genius to eliminate a great enemy for the younger cultivators of the Great Brightness Immortal Palace!"
Before the laughter faded, he struck his chest heavily with his palm, and with a "wow," spat out a mass of essence blood onto the golden curved saber.
Then he softly recited a few spells, and the essence blood on the golden curved saber coagulated into strange blood-red runes imprinting on the blade. Immediately, the aura of the saber surged several levels due to the appearance of these blood-red runes.
"Forcing me to expend essence blood and use this Sacrificial Blade Technique, your death is worth it!"
With a ferocious expression on his face, Ba Yan’Er growled at Zhouyang, and with a wave of his hand, the golden curved saber imprinted with blood-red runes swung toward Zhouyang once again.
Fast, extremely fast!
The golden curved saber’s speed suddenly doubled from before, the blade flash swept through, shattering the two sword arrays Zhouyang set up, and continued its momentum toward him.
"Azure Dragon’s Fang, break it!"
With eyes wide open, Zhouyang roared furiously, tensing his muscles and bringing his right hand into a tight fist to punch forward. In an instant, a mass of cyan-golden spiritual light erupted from his fist, directly colliding with the golden curved saber.
"Arrogant! Even a Golden Core Stage body cultivator wouldn’t dare to face my blade activated by the Sacrificial Blade Technique with bare fists, let alone..."
Witnessing Zhouyang’s actions, Ba Yan’Er’s face was full of sneers, ready to see Zhouyang being cut into two halves, his body lying lifeless on the ground.
However, the next scene he saw made him widen his eyes in disbelief.
"Impossible!"
He stared at Zhouyang with his eyes bulging, almost popping out in shock.
Incredibly, Zhouyang, whom he thought was doomed, not only wasn’t sliced in two but actually punched the golden curved saber away!
"No, this can’t be true!"
"Not even a True Inheritor Cultivator from the Golden Body Fighting Sect could block my blade at the Purple Mansion Stage with mere flesh fists!"
Ba Yan’Er gaped at Zhouyang, his face filled with incredulity, yelling in disbelief.
The scene before him had surpassed his understanding.
Having lived for five or six hundred years, he had never seen a creature like Zhouyang.
Yes, a monster!
Ba Yan’Er could not believe a cultivator’s flesh could be so strong, he could not believe a Purple Mansion Stage cultivator could withstand his Sacrificial Blade Technique with mere flesh fists!
Zhouyang was not a body cultivator, this was evident from the adept sword array techniques he used earlier in battle.
Moreover, even a body cultivator could not possibly block his Tier Five Artifact with flesh fists at the Purple Mansion Stage.
The core inherited cultivation technique of the Golden Body Fighting Sect, one of the six top sects in the Anti-Light Alliance, the "Golden Body Battle Technique," was a dual cultivation technique of body and method, and the cultivated "Combat Golden Body" was no weaker than the physique of any same-tier body cultivator.
Ba Yan’Er had once faced off against cultivators from the Golden Body Fighting Sect, so he could confidently say that even a Purple Mansion Stage cultivator of the sect could not face his blade using mere flesh fists, even if the blade had been weakened by breaking two sword arrays.
And now, this impossible event has truly occurred. How could Ba Yan’Er not be utterly astonished and incredulous!
But today, things that shocked Ba Yan’Er would not stop at just this.
After Zhouyang blocked Ba Yan’Er’s attack using the "Sacrificial Blade Technique," seizing the moment when Ba Yan’Er was in shock and dazed, Xu Song, hidden within the "Spiritual Treasure Token" at Zhouyang’s waist, suddenly emerged and directly drove the Bone Clone taken out by Zhouyang from his Storage Ring, charging at Ba Yan’Er.
"Ghost Cultivator! It’s a Golden Core Stage Ghost Cultivator!"
Ba Yan’Er stared wide-eyed and jaw-dropped at Xu Song, who suddenly appeared beside Zhouyang, feeling that nothing in his entire life had been as thrilling and bizarre as today’s events.
The Land of the Far West hadn’t seen a Ghost Cultivator for a long time, let alone a Golden Core Stage one.
Moreover, Ba Yan’Er couldn’t understand how Xu Song, this Golden Core Stage Ghost Cultivator, managed to conceal himself on Zhouyang’s person without any trace of aura.
To say Ba Yan’Er possessed weak Divine Techniques, unable to detect the hiding Xu Song.
But earlier, in the Nameless Valley, beneath the eyes of so many Golden Core Stage cultivators from the Great Brightness Immortal Palace, how did Xu Song still manage to hide his Ghost Qi without being discovered?
These doubts deeply troubled Ba Yan’Er, diverting much of his attention, causing him to consider the incoming Bone figure merely as a Corpse Puppet commonly used by Demonic Cultivators, not taking it seriously enough, just casually laying down a layer of Golden Light Shield for defense.
Then, he paid a heavy price for his carelessness.
Xu Song’s Bone Clone was originally refined from the bones of a "Fake Infant" cultivator and had been ritualistically refined using Demonic Secret Techniques for years, making it significantly more powerful than ordinary Tier Five artifacts.
The layer of Golden Light Shield Ba Yan’Er casually laid down, which could easily block Zhouyang’s Tier Four artifact attack, was shredded to pieces like paper in front of the Bone Clone.
By the time Ba Yan’Er realized something was wrong and wanted to remedy it, the Bone Clone had already pounced directly onto him, its claws like knives easily piercing his chest, and spewed rolling Demon Flame from its mouth onto Ba Yan’Er, turning him into a flaming figure.
Ah——!
Suffering the agony of being disemboweled and burned by Demon Flame, Ba Yan’Er couldn’t help but let out a heart-rending scream.
Then he surged his magical power, desperately unleashing the power of his Golden Core to release light golden Golden Core True Flame, refining the Demon Flame on his body, and spat out a gleaming small knife slashing towards the Bone Clone’s head.
This small knife was Ba Yan’Er’s Lifebound Spiritual Artifact, painstakingly refined over a hundred years, the reason he hadn’t used it earlier was because it was damaged during his escape, injuring its Primordial Qi.
In this dire moment, to save his life, he could no longer care about much, forcibly sacrificing his Lifebound Spiritual Artifact for self-preservation.
The small knife, though small, was exceptionally potent.
The Bone Clone was slashed by it, although its head wasn’t severed on the spot, its neck bone was slashed, severely damaged.
Xu Song, heart aching for his precious clone, naturally dared not let the Bone Clone continue attacking, quickly called back this treasure.
Retrieving the clone, he looked at the cracks on the Bone Clone’s neck bone, both shocked and angry, couldn’t help but shout furiously: "Damn it, dared to wound my clone, I shall extract your soul, refine your spirit, and grind your bones to ashes!"
"Enough talk, kill him first, lest our relationship be discovered, and they start extracting our souls!"
Zhouyang growled low, waving his hand, producing a green Spirit Talisman, directly sticking it onto his nearly shattered right hand, activating the Spirit Talisman.
The green Spirit Talisman was a genuine Tier Five Spirit Talisman, and moreover, a rare healing talisman among Tier Five— the "Life-saving Talisman."
This talisman was obtained by Zhouyang when he killed Zhong Chuming, the Golden Core stage cultivator of the Beast Taming Sect, and had been kept as a life-saving trump card.
With the situation being urgent, he had to heal his shattered right arm and internal injuries immediately, using this trump card.
The effect of the Tier Five Spirit Talisman, as expected, was not lacking, after Zhouyang used the talisman, his originally shattered arm was instantly able to move again.
He then, with a thought, resumed sword control, launching a fierce assault with Xu Song on the heavily wounded Ba Yan’Er.
The ensuing battle was utterly devoid of suspense; facing the joint fierce attack from Zhouyang and Xu Song, the heavily wounded Ba Yan’Er couldn’t even flee. After resisting forcibly for a while, he was pierced through the chest by Xu Song’s Demon Umbrella, and then the Primordial Spirit hidden in his Golden Core was shredded and devoured by the Demon Soul of the "Heart-devouring Demon Wolf."
After killing Ba Yan’Er, Zhouyang directly severed his head with a sword, contained it in a Jade Box, and then used "Qianyang True Flame" to refine all traces of Yin Qi and Ghost Qi remaining on the battlefield.
Only after confirming there was no trace of Ghost Cultivation to be found at the scene, did Zhouyang retrieve Xu Song back into the "Spiritual Treasure Token," swiftly leaving the scene.
And less than an hour after Zhouyang left, a crimson cloud arrived carrying a Golden Core cultivator above the battlefield.
"The aura dissipated here, judging from the battle traces here, someone beat me to it, how unlucky!"
After investigating the scene for a while, the cultivator on the crimson cloud quickly left with a sullen face.
Three days later, Zhouyang, after a few days’ absence, returned to Haoyang Immortal City, and headed straight towards Cyan Yuan Pavilion within the city.