Chapter 288 - 145: Daoist School Street, Defeating the Heir, Settling a Grudge, the Grandmasters’ Fury, the Young Lady Heir Appears to Provide Support

Chapter 288: Chapter 145: Daoist School Street, Defeating the Heir, Settling a Grudge, the Grandmasters’ Fury, the Young Lady Heir Appears to Provide Support

In that instant, Du Yan took a deep breath, his eyes turning red. He seemed to grow taller, his broad back becoming like a majestic city wall.

Clad in his Immortal Robe, he looked as if he were forged from bronze and iron—indestructible.

He held nothing back, unleashing his Grandmaster-level Secret Martial Art, the Seven-Path Chaotic Cloak Demon Hammer, with his Spiritual Weapon, the Copper Gold Earth Fire Hammer!

A heavy hammer came crashing down from above. The massive weapon, weighing hundreds of pounds, seemed as light as a feather in his grasp.

The rushing wind tore at Ji Xiu’s black robes. In less than an instant, he had flicked his scabbard open.

He watched the hammer descend like a demonic thunderclap, intent on crushing him.

’Such powerful Qi Force. A month ago, I truly wouldn’t have been a match for you...’

Du Yan laughed.

"So you think you’re a match for me now?"

’One month!’

’What kind of peerless genius could possibly bridge such a massive gap in strength in just one month!?’

A slight smile touched Ji Xiu’s lips.

"No."

An incomparably scorching Purest Gang, infused with the Tribulation Fire Burning Robe of the Great Five Decline Celestial Saber, wreathed the Spiritual Saber, Long Day—the very blade once wielded by Wang Xuanyang.

Then, like a river bursting its banks, Ji Xiu slashed. His blade drew an arc of fiery cloud, sweeping toward Du Yan like a hurricane!

CLANG!

The sound of the impact was like the tolling of a great bell, a clash of unyielding force.

Ji Xiu’s long saber, wreathed in True Gang, had actually struck the Spirit Hammer head-on!

Explosive sound waves rolled outward in ripples of power, kicking up clouds of dust and powerful Qi Waves. All the onlookers who had been watching intently...

...fell silent.

’That kid... he just met a Spirit Dao Heavy Hammer head-on with a saber!?’

’Who does he think he is? A Martial Dao Treasure Body with herculean strength!?’

However, just as everyone expected him to be sent flying by the hammer’s blow...

*Hiss!*

A searing pain shot through the web of Du Yan’s hand, a spot as tough as a dragon’s sinew. His pupils trembled, his head swam, and he was uncontrollably forced...

...to stumble back seven steps!

Even his dense True Gang and his surging Qi and Blood...

...surged backward, retreating into his muscles and spine. The sweet, metallic taste of blood rose in his throat, and he couldn’t stop himself from spitting out a mouthful. Leaning on his hammer, he swayed on the verge of collapse!

Ji Xiu’s Spiritual Saber reflected the crimson sunset, glowing faintly. The hammer blow, filled with immense power, had forced him back five steps, leaving his palm slightly numb.

’Saber against hammer, and that kid...’

’...actually fought Du Yan of the Water and Fire Daoist School to a standstill in a contest of pure strength!?’

At this sight, countless onlookers stared, their pupils contracting in disbelief.

The flagstones beneath his feet cracked as he steadied his roiling Qi and Blood. Ji Xiu let out a sharp breath, and his next words were deliberate and resolute:

"Before, I was a match for you."

"But now, it’s not about being a match. It’s about crushing you."

His words hung in the air.

Du Yan’s mind was already reeling, unable to comprehend the source of the boy’s ferocious, domineering power.

But upon hearing those words, he laughed in fury, retorting through a mouthful of blood,

"Crushing me!?"

"I may have taken seven steps back and my organs are shaken—I admit I got the worst of it. But you took a full blow from my Seven-Path Chaotic Cloak Demon Hammer. You think you’re completely unscathed!?"

With that, the young man tried to lift his great hammer for a second exchange.

However, just as his split hand gripped the hammer’s handle...

FZZZZT!

His Leakless Immortal Robe, woven from Gang Qi...

...suddenly burst into flame as if tainted by some foreign substance. It burned away every inch of his True Gang, and with it, his Qi and Blood and his Force seemed to vanish into thin air!

CRACK! CRACKLE!

Du Yan’s eyes bulged and his neck went rigid. The strength drained from his hands, and the great hammer crashed to the ground, gouging a deep pit.

Then, a wave of agony and numbness wracked his body. There wasn’t an inch of him that didn’t ache, forcing him to one knee as his body contorted unnaturally.

"What is this technique!?"

His body, once as resilient as a Vajra Body, had crumbled in an instant, leaving him all but paralyzed on the ground.

Du Yan stared at Ji Xiu in disbelief, unable to move a muscle. His very Flesh, Bone, and Blood Marrow were frantically generating new True Gang to fight off the encroaching corruption.

After a long moment, he finally managed to suppress it, but he was left grievously weakened, with no strength left to fight.

"This is the Secret Inheritance from the Martial Arts Leader, the Celestial Blade Daoist School."

"You lose."

Saber in hand, Ji Xiu looked out at the silent representatives of the Daoist Schools and the assembled Grandmasters.

"Who’s next!?"

[The Tutor has used Gang as their saber and their body as Tribulation Fire, defeating an enemy with a single slash and overcoming an Immortal Robe! Study Level of the Great Five Decline Celestial Saber’s First Decline has increased. Advanced progress +97!]

[By visualizing the ’Tribulation Fire Burning Robe’, the Tutor causes enemies to feel as if they are being immolated. This process tempers the Outer Gang, weaving it into a Cloud Luo. Advanced progress +88!]

Seeing this, the heirs and representatives of the various schools, who had been standing confidently before their gates, now hesitated.

Du Yan.

He was the chief heir of the Water and Fire Daoist School, one of the Six Great Daoist Schools!

He may have been slightly inferior to the disciples with True Inheritance from the Water and Fire Sect—one of the "six great mountains" backing the schools—but he was still formidable.

Among the younger generation on this street, he was an outstanding talent, easily one of the top five!

He had been taken down in a single exchange. His true depths hadn’t even been tested. If they wanted to defeat this kid...

...how many of them would have to take him on, one after another?

Besides, there was that unfathomable Sword Formula. Du Yan had only managed to withstand it because he had reached the Second Refinement, was clad in an Immortal Robe, and his Flesh, Bone, Skin, and Membrane had been tempered to an incredible degree.

If it were them...

...could they really have blocked it?

A tremor of fear went through many of the heirs and representatives, and they fell silent.

But hearing Ji Xiu’s arrogant tone, some of the Daoist School heirs who held grudges against Duan Chenzhou’s faction grew indignant and, gritting their teeth, prepared to step forward.

Just then, Zhou Baima, the Daoist School Master of the Quanshan Daoist School—the man who had once extended an olive branch to Ji Xiu on the Celestial Blade School’s Golden Turtle Island—suddenly spoke up.