Grinding EXP From a Demon Hunting Ship

Su Ye’s expression was grim, his dark robe whipping about. A colossal, mountain-moving force surged through his body as he held the Moonfall Halberd horizontally to block the long-glaive!

However...

CRUNCH!

The stone tiles under Su Ye’s boots suddenly buckled under the force, sending stone fragments flying as cracks spiderwebbed outward.

’This monster is stronger than I am!’ Su Ye’s expression darkened. ’In its prime, this deity’s power was undoubtedly that of a Tier Five physical body!’

Even now, though its physical body had completely decayed, the power it contained was no weaker than Tier Four Perfection.

’Of course, it was only stronger by a limited amount—thirty to forty percent at most. After all, judging by the Undead Lord’s appearance, its physical strength couldn’t be that much higher than my own.’

’But that was more than enough!’

’At this level, even a ten percent difference in strength is a distinct advantage!’

’Let alone thirty or forty percent!’

With such a gap in strength...

CRACK!

A visible crack appeared on the shaft of the Moonfall Halberd.

The Moonfall Halberd was made of a material considered incredibly durable for the Mid-stage Golden Core realm, making it nearly indestructible.

Unfortunately, both Su Ye and the enemy he faced were far beyond that level of power. In this situation, the Moonfall Halberd appeared rather ’fragile’.

And just then, as if to make matters worse, the seemingly rust-spotted and ancient bronze long-glaive in the Undead Lord’s hand flared with a brilliant golden light!

SHING!

The long-glaive slashed down, shimmering with golden light.

With a sickening CRACK, the black-and-gold shaft of the Moonfall Halberd was sliced in two!

This unassuming long-glaive was actually a Tier Five Divine Artifact, comparable to the artifacts of a Nascent Soul True Monarch!

’A Divine Artifact?’

’This old bastard has a Divine Artifact?’

Su Ye’s eye twitched.

’Without a doubt, only a Divine Artifact could have sliced through the Moonfall Halberd so easily!’

’But now isn’t the time to dwell on that. The priority is to dodge this attack!’

WHOOSH!

The long-glaive whistled sharply as it came straight for his face.

Su Ye’s heart clenched. He instantly slid backward.

But a ferocious sneer spread across the Undead Lord’s face. The powerful, heavy strike halted in a motion that defied inertia before shifting into a horizontal sweep.

The cold, sharp edge of the long-glaive slashed across Su Ye’s neck!

The Undead Lord’s amber eyes flared, as if it could already envision Su Ye’s head flying from his shoulders in a spray of gushing blood.

"Yes, just like that! Scalding blood! The blood of the living!"

"Hm?"

The Undead Lord’s words died in its throat.

The feedback from the long-glaive was hollow, as if it had sliced through nothing but air.

Su Ye’s form rapidly dissipated, dissolving into scattered shadows that merged with the environment.

"Shadows..."

"No, this aura... the Netherworld?!"

The Undead Lord’s eyes flew wide!

To most cultivators, Su Ye’s Shadow Flash was merely an application of Shadow Power.

It was exquisite, but nothing more, and wouldn’t draw much attention. Before Su Ye truly unleashed his Divine Techniques, no one would have realized he had mastered a skill based on fundamental laws.

But for the Southern Deities, that wasn’t necessarily true. The Nether Mirror was an ancient god that had survived since the First Epoch, and its power was legendary.

A Southern Deity could see through Su Ye’s technique at a single glance!

"You guessed right."

Dozens of yards away, Su Ye stood with a solemn expression, his dark robe swaying in the wind.

Pitch-black shadows flickered like flames, coiling around his body. Behind him, a darkness as black as dripping ink began to materialize!

Facing the Undead Lord, Su Ye held nothing back, activating the only skill of fundamental law he had fully mastered:

—the Netherworld.

The next moment.

From within the Netherworld, countless tentacles emerged, shooting like straight lines toward the Undead Lord!

Faced with the overwhelming storm of tentacles, the Undead Lord’s savage features turned solemn. It gripped the long-glaive with both hands and slammed the butt of the weapon heavily onto the ground!

FWOOM!

A bone-chilling cold suddenly erupted.

The temperature across the entire circular plaza plummeted instantly.

Su Ye’s heart leaped. He could feel it clearly: the sinister, cold aura that had permeated the plaza now converged entirely around the Undead Lord!

A gray vortex formed around the Undead Lord, acting like a dam holding back a river as it blocked the piercing tentacles of the Netherworld!

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

A series of heavy, muffled thuds rang out!

The gray vortex dissipated slightly with each tentacle’s strike, but Su Ye quickly realized something was wrong. The sinister, cold aura accumulated in the plaza seemed practically endless!

’With the environmental advantage on its side, the Undead Lord has an overwhelming edge in a war of attrition!’

The only saving grace was that the Undead Lord seemingly couldn’t maintain the gray vortex for long. The longer it held, the colder and more deathly the aura from the black, broken sword in its chest became.

Clearly, after being corrupted, this deity had lost its original skill of fundamental law.

To counter the Netherworld Skill, it had to rely on the broken sword, and that clearly came at a price.

As for the price...

’Its sanity?’ Su Ye’s pupils contracted slightly.

He saw the Undead Lord’s eyes grow increasingly murky and savage, the light of reason within them suppressed until it was nearly invisible.

’The broken sword...’

’In that case...’ A glint of understanding flashed in Su Ye’s eyes as he fell into thought.

But after repelling the Netherworld’s assault, the Undead Lord gave Su Ye no time to recover. It immediately launched a counterattack!

WHOOSH!

The sharp long-glaive swung relentlessly, creating a web of slashes that made Su Ye’s heart pound!

Its assault was ferocious, laced with chilling killing intent!

Even with the Netherworld empowering him from all sides and the ability to constantly use Shadow Flash, Su Ye still found the situation difficult.

’This is a pain...’

’This thing’s Personhood is too high. I can’t use the Netherworld Skill to burn its shadow directly!’

’But I still have a chance!’

Su Ye mused as he dodged.

’The Undead Lord is strong, but its power has noticeably dropped since the fight began.’

’It only managed to compensate for that drop by sacrificing its sanity to power the broken sword and wrap itself in that sinister aura.’

’This means that in the real world, Lu Chen and the others are still dealing damage.’

’So... I can wait.’ Su Ye narrowed his eyes.

As for what he was waiting for?

To wait for them to suffer a casualty, of course!

...

「The Real World.」

The circular plaza lay in ruins.

Lu Chen was bathed in blood, his Four Extremes Sword Array shattered.

The Spirit Swords that formed the array were all dim, and one had even been snapped in half!

Moreover, after the bloody battle, the other six Golden Core cultivators were grievously wounded and exhausted.

All had suffered a massive drain on their Magical Power and were in poor shape.

Their enemy, the long-glaive-wielding Undead Lord, was also in a sorry state, its body damaged in numerous places.

However, a conservative estimate placed its remaining combat power at sixty to seventy percent.

"Damn it..."

Lu Chen gritted his teeth. Even such a frenzied bombardment hadn’t been enough to slay the Tier Five fiend.

This meant that with more than half their Magical Power depleted, many of their tools consumed, and their damage output dropping, the cultivators had lost their ability to suppress the fiend!

Casualties were now highly likely!

"Save me!"

Terror filled Chen Xuankong’s face.

The Undead Lord’s long-glaive swept past, tearing the body of the Golden Core Sword Cultivator to shreds.

Slain!

The first casualty had appeared on the battlefield.

"No! Chen!"

Qin Wuyou’s eyes blazed with fury.

But in the next instant, the Undead Lord’s murky eyes turned toward him!

WHOOSH!

The long-glaive tore through the air, shattering the spells and talismans thrown by several Golden Core cultivators as it slashed straight for Qin Wuyou!

An icy, sharp sensation locked onto his neck, nearly freezing his mind!

But just at this moment.

The Jade Pendant that Qin Wuyou wore on his chest suddenly shattered!

The Undead Lord seemed to sense something and tried to abruptly halt its attack.

But...

Too late!

The next instant, a vast beam of white Sword Qi erupted from the shattered Jade Pendant. Carrying the divine intent of a Nascent Soul Sword Cultivator, it shot forth like a dragon and slammed viciously into the Undead Lord!

Simultaneously, in the dreamscape, the Undead Lord’s aura took a nosedive, plummeting uncontrollably!

’My chance!’

Su Ye’s eyes lit up. Without a moment’s hesitation, he used Shadow Flash to close in on the Undead Lord.

Target:

—The black, broken sword!