Chapter 52 : Chapter 52
Chapter 52: The Great Battle
“Senior Song, you have come to Qingfeng Valley to run wild. Have you already prepared your own coffin?”
A voice filled with killing intent slowly came from the depths of Qingfeng Valley, echoing again and again through the valley.
It seemed as though the whole world suddenly fell silent.
Song Zhong turned toward the direction from which the voice had come. There, a figure dressed in blue robes and blessed with handsome features slowly stepped forward.
His hands were clasped behind his back, and his flowing hair danced with the wind.
Though he seemed to be walking very slowly, within three breaths he crossed several li and appeared before Song Zhong and the others.
That single display alone made Song Zhong’s expression turn grave.
This boy truly was just as the outside world described him—profound beyond measure.
Although Song Zhong had already begun to take Li Xingge seriously in his heart, his face still displayed only contempt. “So you are that yellow-mouthed brat of the Li Clan?”
Li Xingge narrowed his eyes slightly. Completely unconcerned by Song Zhong’s disdain, he said calmly, “Senior, for that one sentence alone, you have already earned yourself a path to death.”
Song Zhong’s face darkened, and he gave a false smile. “Yellow-mouthed brat, death is already upon you, yet you still do not realize it. You have relied on a little talent, and it has made you outrageously arrogant!”
As he spoke,
strands of crimson qi-and-blood power rose steaming from all around his body, forming a blood armor that attached itself to him. At this moment, Song Zhong seemed like a foreign asura descended from another realm.
Li Xingge likewise ceased concealing his own strength. An aura as vast as sea and abyss exploded from him, stirring a gale out of thin air.
Exceptionally dense qi-and-blood power took shape behind him as a blood-colored lion baring its claws and fangs. The lion raised its head and roared, letting out a soul-shaking leonine cry as it stood in open defiance of Song Zhong.
Sensing Li Xingge’s aura, Song Zhong nearly bit off his own tongue. His face turned iron-blue, and he said in disbelief, “Minor Accomplishment in the Qi-Blood Realm?”
When he looked at Li Xingge now, it was as though he were seeing a monster.
Jealous hatred surged even more fiercely within his heart.
He himself had possessed eighth-grade talent, and through bitter cultivation had only managed to reach Minor Accomplishment in the Qi-Blood Realm by the age of seventy.
Afterward, fifty more years had passed in vain. His lifespan was nearly exhausted, yet he had still failed to advance any further.
And Li Xingge, only seventeen years old, had already reached the same realm as he had! Why?
Today, no matter the cost, even if it meant staking his own old life, he would kill Li Xingge.
If this child were allowed to continue growing, the Song Clan would be plunged into eternal ruin.
The two men faced one another from afar, their auras vast as mountains and seas.
Song Zhong moved first. His figure shot forward like a bolt of lightning as he hacked his saber straight toward Li Xingge’s face. The saber wind was chilling and dreadful, enough to shake the hearts of men.
Seeing this, Li Xingge drew Zhanxu, and towering sword qi surged forth.
Blade and sword met in collision, sending sparks flying in dazzling brilliance.
The light of Zhanxu flashed like flight itself. Every stroke of Li Xingge’s sword was incomparably sharp, fierce, and dominant, impossible to guard against fully.
Song Zhong’s saber, meanwhile, was wild and overbearing. His wide-arching saber art seemed capable of crushing all things.
Their techniques flashed as quickly as thunder, difficult for the eye to follow. Their strength was overwhelming, and the aftershocks from every collision were enough to kill cultivators beneath the Qi-Blood Realm.
The two had both fought themselves into true fury. Still clashing and killing, they had already battled their way to the peak above the valley.
Blade and sword crossed again and again, every move a vicious killing strike.
Li Xingge’s swordsmanship was cunning and elusive, causing Song Zhong immense trouble, while Song Zhong’s saber surged like a violent storm, pouring down in maddened torrents, its patterns shifting every instant in dazzling confusion.
Meanwhile,
the Qi-Blood Realm cultivators on both sides were already locked in battle.
The five-family alliance’s five Qi-Blood Realm cultivators faced the Li Clan’s two elders, and it could only be described as complete suppression. Under the siege of five enemies, the Li Clan’s two Qi-Blood Realm elders had almost no room to fight back.
Yet at that very moment, Chen Shuyao, who had been working together with the Lu Family Head to kill Li Xuanzhong, suddenly turned his spear around and struck from behind, stabbing clean through the utterly unguarded Lu Family Head’s heart.
The Lu Family Head was in the middle of exchanging blows with Li Xuanzhong when he suddenly felt a pain in his chest. Lowering his head, he saw the spear tip protruding through his torso. He turned his head with difficulty toward Chen Shuyao, whose face held a cold sneer, and stammered in disbelief, “Y-You... you...”
“What ‘you’? Die!”
Chen Shuyao sneered. He kicked the Lu Family Head in the chest, sending him sprawling to the ground, then directly chopped off his head with the sharp spear blade.
Even a Qi-Blood Realm cultivator with powerful vitality could only die on the spot once his head had been severed.
“Chen Shuyao, what are you doing?!”
Witnessing this scene, Song Tianbo’s eyes nearly split with rage as he roared.
“What am I doing? Don’t you see it clearly enough, Family Head Song?”
Chen Shuyao let out a contemptuous laugh.
Looking at him, Song Tianbo felt a cold chill spread through his entire body.
In that instant, he understood everything.
Why the assault plan they had believed foolproof had been exposed beforehand, why the Li Clan had already been prepared.
It turned out that among them, there had actually been a traitor—Chen Shuyao.
Chen Shuyao’s betrayal instantly changed the course of the battlefield. What had originally been a crushing advantage for the five-family alliance abruptly shattered, and in an instant it returned to a three-against-three situation.
“Chen Shuyao, I want you dead!”
Enraged beyond measure, Song Tianbo abandoned Li Xuantong and charged straight at Chen Shuyao.
At this moment, Song Tianbo’s hatred for Chen Shuyao had risen even beyond his hatred of the Li Clan itself.
The furious Song Tianbo was undeniably terrifying. Chen Shuyao could do little more than barely hold his own against him. Though Chen Shuyao could not defeat Song Tianbo, protecting himself was still no problem.
Li Xuantong faced the Yan Family Head, while the Yuan Family Head was met by Li Xuanzhong. The six men split into pairs and fought to the death.
As for the battlefield of the Physical Body Realm and Body Tempering Realm cultivators, it had long since descended into complete chaos. Heaven and earth were darkened by slaughter, and blood flowed like rivers.
...
Li Xingge and Song Zhong had already fought for several hundred exchanges. The mountain top above the valley had been leveled flat by the two of them.
It had to be said that Song Zhong’s strength truly exceeded Li Xingge’s expectations. He had likely already reached the very limit of Minor Accomplishment in the Qi-Blood Realm. No wonder even Zheng Lingjun had warned Li Xingge to be careful of this man.
And Song Zhong himself was equally shaken.
He had already used his full strength, yet after such a bitter battle, he still could not take down a youth who was only seventeen years old.
“One move to decide life and death. What do you say?”
Li Xingge slightly calmed the churning blood within his body and made the proposal.
Song Zhong narrowed his eyes and said coldly, “Then let it be so!”
Battle intent surged in both their eyes. Zhanxu in Li Xingge’s hand let out a sword cry as immense qi-and-blood power drove it into the air, where it spun madly.
Brilliant sword light burst forth like a rainbow piercing the sun, while boundless sword qi surged like a tide, taking shape as a hundred-zhang sword shadow hanging above the heavens. In the next instant, that hundred-zhang sword shadow slashed down from high above, and its shadow blanketed the entire valley!
Facing that heaven-shaking strike, Song Zhong’s pupils contracted slightly. He raised his saber high, and his saber intent surged into the sky, sweeping like a storm that rolled away clouds, like autumn wind stripping leaves from a tree.
The two collided in midair. Boundless sword qi and rampant saber intent smashed together, canceling one another and yet tangling together as both men poured all their strength into the clash.
This strike would decide not only victory and defeat, but life and death as well!
Yet at that critical instant,
a light arrow shot toward Song Zhong’s back with the speed of a falling star.