Chapter 88 - 85: Slaying Dugu Hongyun with a Sword, Forcibly Breaking into the Sect Protection Array

Chapter 88: Chapter 85: Slaying Dugu Hongyun with a Sword, Forcibly Breaking into the Sect Protection Array

BOOM!

As Jiang Hao’s words fell, a terrifying aura instantly erupted.

At this moment, he was far enough away from the Celestial Sword Sect’s encirclement range, which they could form in an instant, so naturally, he no longer needed to hold back.

In an instant, his Spirit Transformation power surged forth, astonishing the heavens.

Even Dugu Hongyun’s expression drastically changed when he sensed that power.

"Golden Spiritual Power? You..."

When he realized that the opponent had cultivated the Golden Spirit Transformation Power, Dugu Hongyun immediately felt that things had taken a disastrous turn.

However, realizing it only now was akin to mending the pen after the sheep were lost—it was far too late.

"You’ve launched so many sword strikes. Now, try the might of mine," Jiang Hao said.

With a faint smile playing on his lips, he unleashed a fierce strike. He exerted almost his peak strength in this attack. After all, the situation was critical, and he didn’t have the luxury of time for a prolonged battle. Therefore, Jiang Hao led with a world-shaking, lethal blow right from the start.

"Sky—Breaker—!"

BOOM!

In an instant, the entire void trembled. Terrifying Sword Intent and Sword Qi merged as the blade slashed through the sky, aiming straight down at Dugu Hongyun.

"Impossible! Less than a month ago, you were nothing but an ant who had just entered the Spirit Transformation Realm! How can you be this strong?

"A peerless freak... you’re a peerless freak!"

Gasping for air as he cried out, Dugu Hongyun felt a fatal threat from the incoming strike. He didn’t hesitate, immediately mobilizing all of his strength to frantically launch an extremely powerful counterattack. It was obvious that his opponent was dead serious and had no intention of leaving him any room to maneuver.

Yet, as Dugu Hongyun unleashed his peak strike, Jiang Hao’s face remained perfectly calm.

"Is this what someone on the list of the seventy-two peerless prodigies amounts to? It seems the Celestial Sword Sect is nothing more than this."

BOOM!

As his voice faded, the two streams of Sword Qi violently clashed.

However, the moment the former’s Sword Qi met that world-shaking strike, it suddenly shattered, crumbling at a speed visible to the naked eye. Enhanced by the Golden Spiritual Power, Jiang Hao’s strike was unprecedentedly terrifying. Especially now that he had achieved Spirit Transformation, executing this move was enough to send a chill down anyone’s spine.

"No... No! I am one of the Celestial Sword Sect’s seventy-two prodigies! I can’t be this weak!"

Watching his Sword Qi rapidly disintegrate, Dugu Hongyun’s inner energy rippled endlessly. He shook his head in frantic denial, clearly having suffered a massive psychological blow.

When the terrifying Sword Qi descended upon him, he tried to flee into the distance, but it was already too late. The astonishing Sword Qi pierced through the void and crashed down, rapidly magnifying in his pupils.

Intuition told Dugu Hongyun that he was doomed to perish under this strike.

"NO!"

Accompanied by a scream of absolute unwillingness, the terrifying Sword Qi slammed down.

BOOM!

A bloodcurdling shriek echoed as, under the watchful eyes of everyone present, Dugu Hongyun was swallowed whole by the Sword Qi. The strike instantly obliterated him into a mist of blood. Even in death, he likely hadn’t expected such an end.

Countless Cultivators watched the scene, their bodies stiffening as if struck by lightning. The vast army of Cultivators stared blankly at the spectacle at the edge of the sky, their breathing seemingly coming to a halt.

One strike! Just one strike!

An outstanding figure among peerless prodigies, a terrifying existence in the Spirit Transformation Realm, had actually fallen just like that, without even a corpse remaining.

It wasn’t just the countless young geniuses who were frightened out of their wits and utterly shocked. Even the several terrifying figures from the Celestial Sword Sect, who had been rushing over, froze in the void, momentarily forgetting to tear through the air to assist.

Several leading figures of the Celestial Sword Sect stared dumbfoundedly at the terrifying Sword Qi and Sword Intent that had yet to dissipate, feeling their scalps tingle with dread. Especially when they saw the faint Golden Spiritual Power wrapping around the opponent’s body, it felt like a bolt from the blue.

For a time, the entire sea of people fell dead silent. You could hear a pin drop. They were as quiet as winter cicadas, and even the surging crowd in this region of the void ground to a halt, as if caught by an Immobilization Technique.

But right at this juncture, it happened.

BOOM!

A world-shaking aura descended from the heavens.

From the Void Peak tens of thousands of feet above, a figure suddenly plummeted, landing with a loud crash right above the sea of people. It was an extremely terrifying and dreadful figure. As he plummeted through the void, his formidable power swept across the crowd. Countless Cultivators were instantly blown away, coughing up mouthfuls of blood.

Sensing the disturbance, Jiang Hao immediately looked up.

He saw a solitary figure—a young man with an extraordinary demeanor. Surrounded by Golden Spiritual Power, just standing there made him stand out like a crane among a flock of chickens.

"The Celestial Sword Sect again!" Jiang Hao’s brows furrowed tightly when he saw the sect uniform on the youth.

Meanwhile, as the youth looked at him, his pupils shrank drastically.

"Golden Spiritual Power... A peerless freak?" the young man murmured to himself, his eyes holding both shock and a faint trace of killing intent.

Astonishingly, this figure was not from the three Celestial Sword Sect arks. He was a truly terrifying existence who had ventured deep into the ancient ruins alone—one of the few peerless freaks of the Celestial Sword Sect.

In truth, he had originally just been silently entering the Ancient Emperor Sect. He hadn’t expected to witness this scene by chance, which prompted him to reveal himself.

"Senior Brother Tian Jiu! He killed Dugu! The intelligence was wrong—this person isn’t a peerless prodigy; he’s a peerless freak! Senior Brother Tian Jiu, kill him quickly! We absolutely cannot let him enter the Ancient Emperor Sect!"

Several leading figures of the Celestial Sword Sect immediately shouted across the space, their eyes full of urgency.

As soon as these words were spoken, the entire sea of people paled in fright.

"Tian Jiu? He’s Tian Jiu, one of the Celestial Sword Sect’s nine peerless freaks?"

"A true peerless freak, one of the Celestial Sword Sect’s nine foundational disciples."

"To think he’s a peerless freak! Such terrifying existences are like Divine Dragons, showing their heads but never their tails. Yet today, we’ve actually seen two at once."

That was right—two.

The other was that figure in white: Jiang Hao of the Xingyue City Earth Realm.

On the Celestial Sword Sect’s ark, Wang Jiang and the others had long been standing frozen on the spot.

"A peerless freak? He... he is actually a peerless freak?"

"Is this his true talent and potential?"

"Heavens, Jiang Hao is also a peerless freak! How could this be?"

It wasn’t until this very day that the figure finally gave the world a definitive answer: he was a peerless freak.

Meanwhile, Jiang Hao stared fixedly at the Celestial Sword Sect youth who had descended from the sky.

Tian Jiu—he would remember that name for now. But right now wasn’t the time to tangle with him. Who knew when another peerless freak might jump out?

Since one of the Celestial Sword Sect’s nine foundational figures had appeared here, it meant there were other monsters of the same caliber lurking in the shadows. Even if they weren’t from the Celestial Sword Sect, he absolutely could not be careless.

Jiang Hao was already planning to retreat. But just as he was thinking, the figure made a move.

The youth slowly raised his hand, casually launching a strike with a wave. This strike appeared effortless, but it instantly made heaven and earth tremble.

BOOM!

An unimaginably terrifying force suddenly pierced through the vast distance, blasting straight toward Jiang Hao. The latter didn’t cower, immediately slashing out a counterattack.

The terrifying forces erupted across the endless distance between them. A dreadful energy storm swept across the skies and in all directions, causing the entire sea of people to undulate like rolling ocean waves.

Jiang Hao thought, "What a strong opponent. That must be the power of an enhanced martial skill."

Just from this long-distance clash, his expression instantly shifted. He had too few high-level martial skills right now. Being able to instantly kill Dugu Hongyun had involved a fair bit of the element of surprise. If he truly went up against an astonishing figure like this, even he wouldn’t have much chance of winning. At the very least, it wasn’t a guaranteed victory.

What was worse, the moment the man attacked, Jiang Hao keenly detected the fluctuations of several other terrifying auras.

"There are more?"

Not only were there more, but it wasn’t just a simple one or two. Clearly, the ruins of the Ancient Emperor Sect held a considerable temptation for those peerless freaks as well.

"I can’t stay here. Time to go," he thought.

Of the thirty-six stratagems, retreating was the best. Jiang Hao didn’t linger; he immediately tore through the air and fled.

Behind him, the Celestial Sword Sect’s peerless freak known as Tian Jiu didn’t stop either, crossing the sea of people to give chase.

More than that, Jiang Hao sensed that auras of a similar caliber from several other directions had also locked onto him. Although he didn’t know whether those auras belonged to friend or foe, he didn’t dare casually fly in those directions.

But gradually, Jiang Hao noticed something was wrong. These auras seemed to be intentionally forcing him toward the Ancient Emperor Sect’s Sect Protection Array.

"Are they using me as a pathfinder?" he wondered.

Although he saw through their intentions, Jiang Hao had no other choice. He could only fly toward the Ancient Emperor Sect.

Before long, he arrived in front of the ancient grand array, but he couldn’t help furrowing his brows. He glanced back at the approaching peerless freak of the Celestial Sword Sect, as well as those few equivalent auras.

Right now, Jiang Hao had effectively been forced into a corner. Ahead was the sect-protecting Killing Array. Even if there was no Array Master to control it anymore, such grand arrays usually had killing formations integrated into them. Rushing in recklessly would be extremely dangerous.

But if he didn’t enter and instead faced the Celestial Sword Sect’s peerless freak, his chances of winning were currently too slim. What he lacked the most were martial skills capable of matching the opponent’s.

"I’m dead either way, so I might as well take a gamble. Celestial Sword Sect, I, Jiang, will remember today’s grudge," he swore inwardly.

After speaking to himself, he looked again at the faintly revolving grand array before him. Steeling his resolve, Jiang Hao dove straight in.

Watching this scene, the countless young geniuses were utterly stunned, still unable to snap out of their previous shock.

"A dream... I must be dreaming. Dugu Hongyun of the Celestial Sword Sect actually fell? Killed in a single strike?"

"Heavens, just what kind of existence is this Jiang Hao? Was his wretched state from before just an act?"

"A peerless freak! That guy named Jiang is actually a peerless freak! How... how is this possible?"

"Someone who doesn’t even have his name on the genius registry is a peerless freak! My god!"

The countless Cultivators who had been slow to react felt as though they had been struck by lightning. This was especially true for the young men and women who had just been looking down on his battered appearance; they felt their scalps tingle with terror.

How capable did they think they were, daring to openly mock a peerless freak?

At this moment, that figure in white unconsciously began to grow ever more towering in the eyes of the nearby Cultivators.

It was obvious: possessing Golden Spirit Transformation Power and slaying the Celestial Sword Sect’s Dugu Hongyun with a single strike was enough to make them equate that figure with the term "peerless freak."

Yet, how could an existence worthy of being called a "freak" be something ordinary young geniuses could fathom?

Right then, a terrifying, peerless prodigy spoke up indifferently.

"It can only be said that this person now possesses the qualifications to become a peerless freak. But whether he actually is one or not is still unknown.

"Figures deemed peerless freaks are all incredibly anomalous individuals with at least one absurdly monstrous aptitude. Although he has cultivated the Golden Spiritual Power, he is still a hair’s breadth away from those true freaks."

One shouldn’t underestimate this hair’s breadth. Among peak existences, a miss is as good as a mile—they couldn’t be spoken of in the same breath.

Unless that figure also displayed an incredibly monstrous aptitude.

But even so, the countless Cultivators were shocked beyond measure. That was Dugu Hongyun, one of the Celestial Sword Sect’s seventy-two prodigies! He had actually withered away just like that.

However, whether that figure truly had the strength to rival those freaks was no longer important. What mattered was that once he entered the Ancient Emperor Sect and obtained supreme fortune, he would instantly become an existence completely out of their reach.