The Asura Great Emperor's face was ashen, rage seething within him.
The Asura Great Emperor cultivated the Asura Path of Slaughter — in temperament, whether it was Gao Zhan or Li Jiancheng, they were cut from the same cloth as the Asura Great Emperor.
However, compared to the Asura Great Emperor himself, a true Great Emperor powerhouse, the levels of Li Jiancheng and Gao Zhan were practically negligible.
At this moment, the Asura Great Emperor's entire body radiated a sinister crimson-purple glow, like the karmic flames of the underworld itself, brimming with a terrifying killing intent.
The Asura Path of Slaughter — its focus was killing.
His body saturated with a bloodthirsty aura, the Asura Great Emperor's hand flashed with a streak of purple blood-light, and a demonic blade with a yawing-dragon mouthpiece materialized in his grasp, radiating a staggering bloodthirsty presence.
The Asura Blood Blade?
Jiang Chen had once crossed paths with the Asura Great Emperor's disciple, Gao Zhan. Back then, Gao Zhan had wielded a murderous demonic blade of his own.
But the demonic blade now in the Asura Great Emperor's hand was clearly more than ten times as powerful as Gao Zhan's.
It was as if the blade itself had been forged from the essence of some primordial demon god.
The blade's surface shimmered, belching forth a terrifying thirst for blood. Even from a distance, the onlookers felt their blood surge and their minds teeter on the edge of collapse.
"So the Asura Great Emperor is going all out." Jiang Chen's expression grew solemn. He knew that in this battle, the Asura Great Emperor would absolutely not let him pass easily.
Fortunately, Jiang Chen had long since prepared himself to face any difficulty.
With the blade in hand, the Asura Great Emperor's killing intent surged explosively. His entire bearing now resembled that of a primordial demon god who had fought his way in and out of the underworld itself.
As blood-light churned and roiled, the edge of his blade transformed into a streak of blinding light, cleaving toward the outer perimeter of the Eight Desolations Stone Fortress Formation.
The speed of that blade-light, the ferocity of its momentum — nearly every lord below the stage felt unable to keep up.
It was simply too fast, too swift for anyone to follow.
A demonic blade's assault was fundamentally different from a fist's. The blade carried an intense sharpness, a momentum that could sunder the void itself.
That piercing edge arrived in the blink of an eye, slashing straight for the neck of one of the stone statues.
In the nick of time, Jiang Chen formed a series of hand seals. The earth-attribute essence energy channeled from the Earth Source Orb condensed into an earth-attribute essence-armor that materialized instantly around the statue's body.
Clang!
The ear-splitting screech of metal on metal was excruciatingly sharp, making everyone's ears ring so badly that for a brief moment they could hear nothing at all.
The essence-armor was shredded apart under the force of that single strike. The devastating blow carved a deep gash into the statue's neck.
Had the essence-armor not been there to intercept it, absorbing half the impact, that crack would have been far deeper.
"What a powerful strike!" Jiang Chen drew a sharp breath at the blade's might. He knew exactly how formidable the defense of these eight stone statues was.
Ordinary attacks couldn't leave so much as a mark on them. At most, they might scratch the surface.
A gash as deep as this one — that should have been utterly impossible.
Which only underscored just how extraordinary the mystique behind this strike truly was. If not for the essence-armor's intervention, and if the formation hadn't been bolstering the statues' defenses, this blow could very well have inflicted serious damage on the statue!
It might not have cleaved it in two in a single swing, but with momentum like this, a few consecutive strikes might actually do the trick!
The thought that even these terrifying stone statues could potentially be cut down forced Jiang Chen to reassess the Asura Great Emperor's demonic blade.
He had always placed tremendous faith in the defensive power of these eight statues. Their mobility might be lacking, but when it came to brute defensive strength, he had always been entirely confident.
Yet the Asura Great Emperor's single strike had shattered that conviction. It drove home a profound realization — no defense in this world was truly, absolutely impervious!
With that thought, Jiang Chen's heart grew even more vigilant, and he dared not let his focus waver for even an instant.
He knew that strike was far from the Asura Great Emperor's strongest attack. Now that the demon blade had been drawn, there were surely more trump cards to follow.
Sure enough, when the first strike failed, the Asura Great Emperor was irritated but undeterred.
The second strike. The third. The fourth…
The barrage of blade-light poured forth like a dam breaking, a torrent of devastation that surged forth with wild abandon.
The Asura Great Emperor was clearly enraged. This set of blade techniques was one of his most closely guarded secret abilities — once unleashed, even opponents of the same caliber would have to give his edge a wide berth.
The Nirvana Great Emperor watched the Asura Great Emperor on the stage, his expression grave.
"Brother Nirvana — is that the Asura Blood Rain Blade?" Panlong Great Emperor couldn't help asking from beside him.