Above the Blood Battle Plains.
The clash between Twenty-Two Pingzhi and Yin Po had thoroughly captured the attention of both sides.
Yin Po was a veteran Demonic Path Gu Immortal who cultivated the Soul path. She possessed an Immortal Gu called Soul Confusion, and her reputation had long spread across the Northern Plains.
When she moved, she stirred up gusts of yin wind, with aggrieved souls swirling around her. Her figure flickered like a phantom, sending chills down one's spine.
Twenty-Two Pingzhi, on the other hand, was a rising star of the Righteous Path — the current Sword Disciple of the Twenty-Two Clan. He moved with swift agility, his sword light cutting across the sky like lightning and streaks of radiance.
The two had exchanged dozens of moves, escalating from initial probing strikes using mortal-path techniques, to deploying Immortal Gu, and then to Immortal-level killing moves. The battle had reached a fever pitch.
The battlefield was blanketed by waves of yin souls, dyeing over half the sky dark. Meanwhile, the white sword light representing Twenty-Two Pingzhi had been encircled. Although he charged left and right, scattering the yin souls in his path, the overall tide was clearly turning in Yin Po's favor.
"As expected of a Demonic Path powerhouse — Yin Po has cultivated for so many years, and her opening moves are brimming with experience, steady and methodical," Immortal Wang praised.
But Chu Du furrowed his brow and said nothing.
He was thinking: "Yin Po is a Seventh Transformation Gu Immortal, yet she cannot immediately kill Twenty-Two Pingzhi. Looking at his sword light — even as the situation grows more unfavorable, it still darts back and forth without the slightest hesitation. That means Twenty-Two Pingzhi still holds the will to win!"
In the Golden Dawn Hall, watching their own rising star and prodigious swordsman fall to a disadvantage, the face of Twenty-Two Yifang was taut with tension. His eyes were locked onto the battlefield, unblinking.
If the situation turned dire, he would step in immediately to save Twenty-Two Pingzhi.
Rules and reputation mattered little — to the Twenty-Two Clan, a living Twenty-Two Pingzhi was what mattered most!
"Heh heh heh heh... Pale, tender little boy. You can no longer dodge. Accept your death!" At that moment, the battlefield suddenly shifted.
Countless yin souls surged inward from every direction, converging to trap the sword light that was Twenty-Two Pingzhi's transformed body right in the center.
Then, Yin Po revealed her true form from within the sea of ghosts, extending her gnarled, dry-kindling fingers, and pointing one bony digit at Twenty-Two Pingzhi from afar.
Immortal-level killing move — Soul Confusion Art!
Twenty-Two Pingzhi's eyes instantly went blank. The nimble sword light that had been dancing about completely dissipated, reverting to his true body.
He hovered in the air like a muteSimpleton, facing the charging Yin Po without even a twitch of resistance.
"Heh heh heh!" Yin Po laughed triumphantly, opening her wide mouth to reveal a set of sparse, rotting yellow teeth.
Her outstretched palm suddenly swelled to several times its original size. Yin energy coiled around each of her five fingers, and her nails were sharp as needles. That fan-sized palm was about to land on top of Twenty-Two Pingzhi's head.
If this blow landed cleanly, with Twenty-Two Pingzhi completely defenseless, his skull would be crushed on the spot.
"Stop!" Twenty-Two Yifang bellowed, sprinting out from the Golden Dawn Hall at a mad dash.
But Chu Du had long anticipated this.
He had seen that Yin Po firmly controlled the battlefield and had already calculated that if she moved to kill Twenty-Two Pingzhi, the Righteous Path Gu Immortals would try to intervene.
So he had arranged for backup to be standing by, ready to act.
Sure enough, the moment Twenty-Two Yifang burst out, Hao Zhen sprang into action.
"You shameless rat! This is supposed to be a one-on-one duel, yet you dare to interfere?" Hao Zhen leaped onto the field, shooting a bolt of lightning straight at Twenty-Two Yifang's face.
Twenty-Two Yifang's body jolted slightly as an emerald-green wooden armor materialized around him, enveloping him from head to toe.
This wooden armor was naturally Twenty-Two Yifang's own Immortal-level killing move, with extraordinary defensive capabilities. Hao Zhen's lightning was razor-sharp, but when it struck the wooden armor, it left absolutely no damage. On the contrary, the armor sprouted buds and fresh yellowish-green leaves all over, as if it had actually benefited from the attack.
Chu Du let out a soft gasp of surprise.
What surprised him was not Twenty-Two Yifang's wooden armor — that armor was famous across the Northern Plains. It was an Immortal-level killing move of his own creation, called the Sickly Tree's Spring Armor.
What surprised him was that Twenty-Two Yifang had rushed out specifically to save Twenty-Two Pingzhi.
But now, in using this move to block Hao Zhen's lightning, he had missed his chance — forfeiting the last opportunity to rescue Twenty-Two Pingzhi.
Putting himself in Twenty-Two Yifang's shoes, Chu Du quietly reasoned that if he were in that position — with a genius, rising star of his clan in mortal danger — he would have endured the lightning blast head-on to protect Twenty-Two Pingzhi's life.
But instead, Twenty-Two Yifang had chosen self-preservation. This behavior undoubtedly revealed that his urgency to save Twenty-Two Pingzhi was not all that pressing.
What was going on?
"Not good!" Chu Du's heart lurched. He quickly turned his gaze toward the battlefield.
He was about to call out a warning to Yin Po, but it was already too late.
The previously blank-eyed Twenty-Two Pingzhi suddenly let his eyes blaze with an incredibly sharp, piercing light.
This sudden change froze Yin Po's gleeful expression on her face.
A warning alarm blared inside Yin Po. She tried to pull back into a defensive stance, but it was too late.
A single streak of sword light — breathtakingly brilliant — flashed past in an instant!
Life and death, victory and defeat were decided in that sliver of a moment.
The yin souls still drifted and swirled through the air, but Yin Po had already been split cleanly in two from top to bottom by the sword light.
She stared at Twenty-Two Pingzhi in utter disbelief, unable to understand how he had suddenly broken free of her signature technique.