The South Bank disciples were stunned. Everyone acquaintanced with Bai Xiaochun felt as though they had never truly known who Bai Xiaochun really was. It was as though the Bai Xiaochun from their memories who pestered people to call him ‘Senior Uncle Bai’ and was in need of a beating, was a completely different person from the Bai Xiaochun standing before them.
Countless gasps could be heard from the North Bank disciples. All of them stared blankly at Bai Xiaochun, their minds roaring in disbelief. None knew him from before, and all of them were under the impression that he had always been just as shameless. As such, the current scene caused them all to suck in a deep breath.
On the platform, Zheng Yuandong was staring intently with surprise. The surrounding Ancestors grew solemn, Li Qinghou alone had a smile creeping up his face. Both pride and warmth welled up in his heart as he watched Bai Xiaochun.
The Elders similarly took in deep breaths, their expressions becoming serious.
In mid-air, blood sprayed out of Shangguan Tianyou’s mouth as his eyes lost focus. He was unwilling to accept his loss, and a loss to the Bai Xiaochun he looked down upon so much to boot. To him, this was his greatest humiliation that far surpassed any pain and agony brought by an injury. Unable to accept it, as he saw that he was about to fall out of the arena, he let out a shrill howl.
“Bai Xiaochun, our fight isn’t over yet!” After these words, he bit down on his tongue and blood spat out from his mouth. His hair withered with a speed visible to the naked eye as he rapidly formed hand seals with his hands. His whole body shuddered and a bloody ray burst from his body straight to the sky!
In an instant, the bloody light pierced the sky and transformed into a blood-red sword!
“Ten Secret Arts, Sword of Life!” Many people exclaimed as they recognised it.
“Dark Earth Formation!” Without hesitation, Shangguan Tianyou formed hand seals with both hands and pointed at Bai Xiaochun, causing the blood-red sword to rumble as countless bloody threads seep out of it, crisscrossing together and forming a net of blades that descended upon Bai Xiaochun.
As they did, a piercing sound filled the air.
Bai Xiaochun looked up, lifted his right hand and pointed out a single finger.
Suddenly, the air in front of it distorted as a large purple cauldron began to take shape. As it manifested, it became apparent that it was corporeal. Even the patterns on its surface were clearly visible, as though it was a real cauldron. It didn’t seem illusory at all.
“Heavens, Purple Cauldron Qi Melting Technique!”
“Too realistic, this isn’t your ordinary purple qi cauldron, this one is already at the second stage!” Gasps sounded out from the South Bank disciples, especially from the Purple Cauldron Mountain’s disciples.
The North Bank disciples also gasped as they witnessed this. The purple cauldron and the blood-red swords collided as a deafening clang sounded out. Blood sprayed out from Shangguan Tianyou’s mouth. He laughed bitterly as he was forced out of the arena.
Bai Xiaochun stood on the arena, completely unscathed. His eyes were focused on the dissipating cauldron when Gui Ya suddenly leapt up from the North Bank’s side onto the arena. In his eyes, a peculiar glint was evident.
“That Shangguan Tianyou is unable to fight anymore, saves me the trouble anyway. You and me… Let’s fight!” As Gui Ya spoke, black mist spread from his body, filling the surroundings as the outlines of ghosts appeared, screaming soundlessly at Bai Xiaochun.
The ghosts looked hideous, their hair disheveled and their skin green. There were even some corpses that had been decaying for who knows how long, holding their dismembered heads. It was a terrifying sight.
The entire arena was instantly filled with the stench of death, chilling the South Bank and North Bank disciples alike.
At the same time, many figures shot out from both sides with serious expressions. Those weren’t outer sect disciples, but inner sect ones. At this moment, everyone showed up just to see this final battle of the Heaven’s Chosen War!
Even the four Grand Elders’s spiritual sense swooped down and concentrated on the imminent fight.
At this moment, everyone’s attention was focused on the fighting stage!
Bai Xiaochun turned around to look at at Gui Ya, his expression tuning grave. In this Heaven’s Chosen War, in the few battles that Gui Ya had fought, he astonished him time and time again. With a single finger, he had nearly killed Lu Tianlei, and that was with just seventy percent of his strength.
If he fought with his full strength, the result would be unimaginable.
As Bai Xiaohcun stared at Gui Ya, Gui Ya’s eyes flashed as he abruptly raised his right hand and pointed at Bai Xiaochun. At the same time, the sky and earth shook as an enormous ghost claw appeared beside Gui Ya, taking up half the arena. It pierced through the air with astonishing force as it shot straight for Bai Xiaochun.
With its terrifying speed, the claw reached Bai Xiaochun in the blink of an eye. Bai Xiaochun raised his right hand and clenched his fist tightly. Silver light enveloped his body, as though he was made of silver, and his fist shot towards the approaching claw.
From afar, the small Bai Xiaochun seemed insignificant in comparison to the enormous ghost claw. Yet, when his fist collided with it, an earth-shaking deafening sound echoed out.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The sky roiled as the sound spread from the arena and into the audience, forcing the disciples to take a few steps back. Their faces were aghast, some even had their visions blurred.
A shockwave erupted between Bai Xiaochun’s fist and the ghost claw, and the ghost claw shuddered. With a crackling sound, cracks instantly covered the entire claw, and in a single breath, a muffled explosion sounded out as the enormous ghost claw shattered into thousands of pieces.
Endless black mist surged out in all directions, making the whole stage shook. A grave look flickered on Gui Ya’s face as he stepped back before he heavily stomped on the stage.
The ground beneath his feet crumbled into a circle of rubble. Opposite of him, Bai Xiaochun’s face was flushed red as he too took a step back. His right hand was still shining brightly, but if one were to take a closer look, they would notice that it was slightly shaking.
The disciples all around took in a deep breath. Shocked exclamations emerged from both the North Bank and the South Bank disciples.
“That… Bai Xiaochun is actually… so strong!”
“He’s actually on equal ground with Senior Brother Gui Ya! I remember, when he survived the Fallen Chen Clan’s betrayal, he narrowly escaped while killing cultivators on a higher level than himself… I thought it to be exaggerated back then, but now…”
“It’s my first time seeing a disciple managing to break Gui Ya’s ghost claw!”
The inner sect disciples were shocked as well as they watched the fight between Bai Xiaochun and Gui Ya. Their hearts thumped loudly, their expressions aghast. In their eyes, this wasn’t a battle between outer sect disciples, but monsters. In so many years, not a single one had appeared, but now… two showed up at the same time.
On the terrace, the Sect Head was also taken aback, the Elders of the Spirit River Sect similarly had their eyebrows raised.
Bai Xiaochun frowned. His right hand started feeling numb. Although it recovered quickly, it was evident that the Gui Ya in front of him was a formidable opponent.
“To deal with the first finger when I’m using 50% of my strength, you are much stronger than the rest. If so… I can safely unleash 80% of my strength.” Staring at Bai Xiaochun, Gui Ya’s eyes lit up with great interest. Forming a hand seal with his right hand, he pointed another finger towards Bai Xiaochun.
As soon as the words left his mouth, above Bai Xiaochun, mist suddenly curled around as black Qi gathered, and as if an invisible hand tore open the sky, another ghost claw appeared.
This ghost claw was imilar to the one that almost took Lu Tianlei’s life, however, it was even larger. The ghost claw exploded forth, aiming straight at Bai Xiaochun. The pressure it was exuding was so powerful, it was as if it was carrying the weight of a mountain.
Bai Xiaochun abruptly raised his head and lifted his right fist. As the ghost claw descended, he pushed himself off the ground and turned into a rainbow, taking the initiative to meet the ghost claw as he threw his fist out.
This fist carried a peculiar might as Bai Xiaochun’s whole body glowed with a silver light, which could shake the heavens. His Impenetrable Skin, at this moment, exploded. When the fist landed on the ghost claw, unexpectedly, the ghost claw once again trembled and cracks spread through it!
Gui Ya’s face flickered. He used his third, fourth, and fifth finger as well, unleashing all of them at the same time.
In a blink of an eye, three enormous ghost claws appeared, tearing down through the air.
Although lengthy to describe, all of this happened in an instant. Seeing the four ghost claws speeding at Bai Xiaochun, the observing outer sect disciples exclaimed in surprise, and the inner sect disciples were just as shocked.
On the terrace, the Sect head and the others stood up. Li Qinghou’s eyes flashed as he prepared to go in for the rescue.
A thunderous explosion sounded out, the deafening sound piercing the sky as the four claws collided with Bai Xiaochun’s body. A shockwave swept out, devastating the arena and lifting rubble along with it. Clouds of dust rose in the air, obscuring the place where Bai Xiaochun was.
In that dust however, a silhouette, as fast as lightning, burst from the cloud and zoomed in Gui Ya’s direction.
“Throat Crushing Grasp!” A deep voice suddenly resounded as a blinding silver light exploded into the audience’s eyes. Two fingers appeared in front of Gui Ya, overflowing with silver light, as though they contained a heaven-defying amount of energy. For the first time in his life, Gui Ya felt that his life was endangered. With a growl, mist exploded out of his body and many light screens spread out as he quickly backed away.
But just as he stepped back, a pulling force surged out from Bai Xiaochun’s fingers, not only preventing Gui Ya from retreating, but even pulling him closer.
The light screens he created, upon contact with Bai Xiaochun’s two fingers, seemed fragile as they immediately shattered. In order to defend, he pulled out three shields which turned out ineffective as well. The first one crumbled apart, the second one split in half. And although the third managed to remain as in one piece, the great force from the impact blew it away.
Staring at Bai Xiaochun’s two fingers that pierced through his defenses like a hot knife cutting through butter, Gui Ya screamed as the great threat broke through, quickly reaching out to him. As he screamed, a third of his hair turned white, and in return, his figure had suddenly become hazy. Bai Xiaochun’s fingers pierced right through it, catching only the air.
A muffled bang sounded out as the space between Bai Xiaochun’s fingers crackled as though the air itself was squeezed out of his grasp. At the same time, some distance away from Bai Xiaochun, Gui Ya’s figure appeared, blood spraying out from his mouth, and one could even see a couple of wrinkles appearing on his face.
“To force me to use my last resort, Bai Xiaochun… I underestimated you.” Panting, Gui Ya raised his head to stare at Bai Xiaochun. In his eyes, there was no such thing as backing down. On the contrary, they overflowed with the desire for battle despite of the shock in his heart. As of this moment, Gui Ya had acknowledged that his opponent had used an ability that had far surpassed the strength of a cultivator at the Qi Condensation.
Blood seeped out from the edge of Bai Xiaochun’s mouth. As he stood there, one could see that the large pot on his back was shattered, and most of the leather armour on his body was torn apart. His breathing was erratic, but aside from that, he seemed surprisingly fine.
Bai Xiaochun had managed to withstand the five fingers’ ghost claws, although it was with difficulty. If his Impenetrable Skin wasn’t at the silver stage, he would have definitely failed.
And unfortunately, his decisive strike had been avoided by his opponent...
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