Chapter 1039: The Forbidden Technique
The addition of the Jade Xiu King changed the situation on the battlefield immediately. Originally, Old Man Xuan You had been able to suppress the Ink Scaled King and Gu Jingman. However, the addition of the Jade Xiu King had completely negated any advantage he had.
As Old Man Xuan You fought on, he became increasingly shocked. The three people who had stepped forth in the Green Ancient Mystery Dimension were exceptionally talented, and not a single one of them was average.
After enduring such a high-level battle, a regular cultivator at the great attainment of the Tide Changing Realm would long have used up all of their strength, even if they came infinitely close to the Supreme Profundity Realm. However, these three were not at all like that. Not only were they not fatigued, but they were also becoming more valiant and ferocious as the battle dragged on.
Old Man Xuan You noticed that he, a Supreme Profundity intermediary stage cultivator, would long be running on fumes before the three of them would.
It was rare enough to run into even one of these geniuses, but he was meeting three of them in one go!
Old Man Xuan You did not know, but the Jade Xiu King and the Ink Scaled King were ancient cultivators who had been training for hundreds of thousands of years. Their roots ran deep so even if their cultivation was not as high as that of the old man, for the time being, their endurance far exceeded what the average person could imagine.
Of the three of them, the most threatening and troublesome was the last middle-aged man dressed in white. He did not know what remarkable powers the other had cultivated, but he had been able to swallow his power whole like a bottomless pit. He had never met such a person before.
With this person tying him down, his strength had been diminished to a large extent, so much so that he had been inhibited and only allowed to unleash his power at the Supreme Profundity preliminary stage level. If not for this white-robed middle-aged man joining the fray, he would still be confident of taking the other two down, even with the addition of another ferocious killer like the portly man. But at this moment, he felt as if he could not take on this team of three.
With the Jade Xiu King holding the enemy back, the Ink Scaled King’s power was the strongest and most violent of the three, so he would be the main attacker. Since Gu Jingman’s remarkable power was rather strange, she could take control of things.
The three of them banded together, bent on completely restraining Old Man Xuan You.
“Seems like I won’t have to join the battle.”
In a corner, Divine Dragon Maiden Mo Yuqing had her arms crossed as she stared at the battle in the sky.
Mo Wen’s face was stern as always. He said “It’s difficult to say for sure. After all, Old Man Xuan You is a being at the Supreme Profundity intermediary stage and on top of that he’s the Sword Valley Leader. If he’s willing to stop at no expense and allow both sides to be equally injured, it’s difficult to predict how the battle will end.”
Although Gu Jingman and the other two had managed to hold off Old Man Xuan You, the old man was a cultivator who had been training for a long, long time. Things were definitely not as easy as they seemed and it was likely that he had several tricks up his sleeve. The old thing might go all out in retaliating if they pushed him too far, and things would not end well.
“Prepare to head up if things go awry.”
Mo Wen cast a glance at Mo Yuqing. Of these people, she was probably the strongest, and she was his trump card. After all, she was a pureblood of the primeval Divine Dragon, so cross-level battles were a walk in the park for her.
Up above, in the sky, the battle was becoming increasingly intense, and the people were dis.h.i.+ng out more and more tricks.
“Illuminating Red Lotus.”
Gu Jingman’s face hardened and she looked solemn. A beam of resplendent blood light shone out from between her eyebrows—it was a tiny red lotus about the size of her balm, intricate beyond compare. Any girl in the world would likely fall in love with its beauty.
Mo Wen was shocked because he had thought, for a moment, that Gu Jingman had pulled off the Red Lotus h.e.l.lfire again. However, upon closer inspection, that thing seemed more like some sort of treasure, but also like some sort of unique remarkable power.
When the Illuminating Red Lotus appeared, Old Man Xuan You’s gaze fell upon it unconsciously, and he could feel some sort of abnormal aura from that red lotus.
“Seal him!” Gu Jingman called out lowly.
The Illuminating Red Lotus disappeared from where it had been and appeared right in front of Old Man Xuan You in an instant. It had morphed into a colossal flower and enveloped him, like an illusory blood lotus, spinning slowly.
“Break!” Old Man Xuan You called out coldly.
He gripped the Ghost King’s Sword in one hand, slas.h.i.+ng viciously at the Illuminating Red Lotus. But n.o.body expected that the Illuminating Red Lotus only swayed slightly. It did not shatter.
Pfft!
Gu Jingman spat out a mouthful of blood, her face pale. Part of Old Man Xuan You’s attack had, evidently, been transferred to her, but she forced herself to take it.
“D*mn it!”
Old Man Xuan You’s face darkened. He could tell something was not right.
The Jade Xiu King and the Ink Scaled King had a wealth of experience so they could tell when a wonderful opportunity had presented itself to them.
Almost at the same time, the two of them mounted a strong attack that completely shocked Old Man Xuan You.
Rumble!
Old Man Xuan You could not afford to concern himself with the Jade Xiu King and the Ink Scaled King when he was trapped in the Illuminating Red Lotus. A terrifying power tore through s.p.a.ce and directly reached him.
Old Man Xuan You, who had managed to escape any injuries so far, was injured for the first time—and very seriously, at that.
Rumble!
Finally, the Illuminating Red Lotus was torn apart by Old Man Xuan You. A rather desperate old man flew out from the blood light in tattered clothes. His face was pale as blood poured out of his body. The Ghost King’s Sword was also stained with blood from hilt to tip and the blood dripped slowly to the ground.
“What kind of remarkable power is that?” Old Man Xuan You looked towards Gu Jingman aggressively, fury dripping from his eyes. He was Old Man Xuan You and yet, here he was, at the mercy of a few Tide Changing Realm cultivators.
Gu Jingman’s face was also pale. Old Man Xuan You had destroyed her Illuminating Red Lotus and the damage dealt on her was equally extensive.
But she laughed coldly and pointed again, and another brilliant red lotus manifested. In an instant, it appeared before Old Man Xuan You to wrap him up.
“Again?!”
Old Man Xuan you had been very wary, but it was to no avail. This sort of remarkable power was basically impossible to defend against, so he could only try his best to destroy it.
At the sight of this, the Jade Xiu King and the Ink Scaled King attacked Old Man Xuan You again. They knew that such opportunities would be rare. Gu Jingman took a lot of damage every time she pulled off this stunt, so it was unlikely that she could pull this off too many times.
It would be ideal if they could kill Old Man Xuan You now.
But Old Man Xuan You was obviously not that easy to kill. As a cultivator at the Supreme Profundity intermediary stage, his power remained far beyond anyone’s expectations.
Rumble!
A third time!
A fourth time!
A fifth time!
…
Time and time again, Old Man Xuan You managed to destroy the Illuminating Red Lotus, but his injuries were heavier with each instance. Gu Jingman’s injuries were stacking up endlessly as well, and this was looking more and more like a fight to the death.
“You d*mned woman, I’ll kill you.”
Old Man Xuan You was so angry he was about to pop a vessel. If he went on depleting his power like this, it was likely he would die here. He let loose a strong wave of power, and yet it could not instantly shatter the Illuminating Red Lotus. The Illuminating Red Lotus was a strange remarkable power—to think it was this impressive.
“Old fool, come kill me if you can. We’ll see who dies first.” Gu Jingman laughed coldly.
Her blood had already stained her clothes red and she looked like a maniac, refusing to retreat, looking every bit like a demoness.
The Jade Xiu King and the Ink Scaled King wore serious looks on their faces as well. The two of them had not expected for Gu Jingman to tap into such terrifying power. If she could just persist for a beat longer, they were confident they could take out the old man.
Old Man Xuan You seemed to know this as well. He knew that he could not go on like this for much longer, or he would likely fumble the easy task.
“Don’t blame me for this. Remember, you’re the ones who pushed me this far.”
Old Man Xuan You’s voice was exceptionally chilling. As she spoke, streaks of gloomy power seeped out ceaselessly from his body, and his aura instantly became haunting and terrifying.
At the same time, the Illuminating Red Lotus appeared yet again, and the Jade Xiu King and the Ink Scaled King struck at the same time.
However, they missed this time, because the gloomy power had morphed into a strange coc.o.o.n that covered Old Man Xuan You’s body. It had reflected all of their attacks.
“What’s going on?”
“He’s not injured!”
…
A few of the people looked at Old Man Xuan You in shock. At this moment, there was something weird about him.
“I didn’t expect for you small fries to force me to this step.” Old Man Xuan You fixed a cold glare onto the three of them. His aura continued to climb nonstop, becoming increasingly intense.
“He must be using some sort of forbidden technique, paying a price for an overwhelming amount of power,” the Jade Xiu King said severely.
In the Immortal Cultivation world, these forbidden techniques were few and far between, but it was not difficult to obtain such techniques when you were as powerful as Old Man Xuan You. The thing was none of them had expected him to have cultivated secret techniques. Using this sort of secret technique came with some sort of sacrifice. In other words, he would obtain a large amount of power in exchange for a type of sacrifice.
Regardless of the item sacrificed, a huge price had to be paid the moment this forbidden technique was unleashed. A lot of forbidden techniques demanded the price of life once unleashed, and some higher-level forbidden techniques allowed the person to live, but the after-effect of triggering the technique was rather terrifying.
Now that Old Man Xuan You had triggered this forbidden technique, it was obvious he had been pushed to the edge.
“I didn’t think this day would come. Die, all of you.”
Old Man Xuan You’s face twisted and he fixed a savage gaze at the three of them. He no longer had the desire to capture Gu Jingman alive at this moment since, to him, he was on the path of no return after he unleashed the forbidden technique. Not only would it leave him with terrifying after-effects, but he would also never be able to break through to the Supreme Profundity later stage in this lifetime. Even with Gu Jingman, there was no way he could break through.
A terrifying strength came to life within Old Man Xuan You’s body and everyone felt it. Within Old Man Xuan You’s body, it seemed like there was a fearsome monster slowly rousing from slumber. The moment it woke completely, the entirety of heaven and earth would be destroyed.
“Mo Yuqing,” Mo Wen called out with a horrible look on his face. He did not know if Mo Yuqing could stop this calamity either, but he had no other choice now.
Mo Yuqing’s face blanched as well. She took in a slow inhale and, just as she was prepared to move, heaven and earth froze for a split second. Shortly after, wisps of cold air surrounded them from every direction. It was not terribly cold, and it filled them with a pleasant and refres.h.i.+ng feeling.
From far out on the horizon, a hazy white light suddenly lit, and the Green Ancient Mystery Dimension seemed to change because of its appearance.
“Did you dare to barge into the Green Ancient Mystery Dimension and disrupt the order of the main s.p.a.ce? Do you know your sins, Xuan You?” A wispy, feminine voice floated over from the distance. Along with her voice came a formless power that suppressed the terrifying aura that was on Old Man Xuan You’s body.
…