Power — he simply didn't have enough power!
Facing death, Jiang Chen's mind, steady as bedrock, stopped weighing options. Every ounce of True Qi in his body surged onto the nameless blade.
"Blade — that night, I caught but a fleeting glimpse of your radiance. The spiritual power that flashed by like a white horse passing a gap. The aura that pierced through the stars. The secret that made one's heart tremble… In this moment, can you awaken?"
At the threshold of life and death, Jiang Chen cast every stray thought from his mind.
Life or death would be decided in this single instant.
True Qi within his body surged like a tide as he pushed the flow lines of the Nine Laughs of the Azure Sea Art to their absolute limit.
Nine meridians of True Qi merged into one.
Pouring into the blade in his palm!
"Azure Sea Reverse Flow Blade, Second Form — Wave Severance!"
In that instant, a staggering sight unfolded. The nameless blade — always plain and unremarkable — suddenly blazed to life, as though an ancient god or demon that had slumbered for eons had ripped free of its shackles and shattered the rivers and mountains of the mortal world!
The stars dimmed. The sun and moon went dark.
In the blink of an eye, the Azure Wave True Qi surrounding the nameless blade coalesced into the faint, towering silhouette of a primordial deity, standing firm between heaven and earth.
The sweep of this blade carried the totemic might of an ancient god, as though it possessed the terrible power to rend heaven and earth apart!
Clang!
Crack!
Two crisp sounds rang out in rapid succession.
Steel met steel. Beneath the edge of the nameless blade, the golden runes on Long Yinye's broadsword guttered out like candle flames, and the grotesque phantom of the five-clawed golden dragon scattered as if blown away by a sudden gust of wind.
Long Juxue's Green Phoenix short sword let out a sharp, fabric-tearing crack.
The next moment, True Qi dissipated.
Long Yinye's broadsword had snapped clean in two, broken into halves.
Long Juxue's Green Phoenix short sword shattered inch by inch, reduced to a heap of scrap metal.
Yet the nameless blade in Jiang Chen's grip still hummed with residual power, its keen singing unbroken. The blade body radiated waves of light, completely unscathed!
Long Yinye was stunned. Long Juxue was stunned.
Even Jiang Chen himself was momentarily dazed. This outcome had clearly exceeded his expectations. After all, what they had used were Spirit Tools — treasures that even a True Qi Grandmaster could only dream of obtaining!
"Die!" The assassin leader's long-anticipated arrow, timed to perfection, reached Jiang Chen at last!
A perfect moment. A shot calibrated to the finest margin.
It struck precisely in the brief gap when Jiang Chen's blade technique had already been fully committed. Though the strike had shattered the siblings' Spirit Tools, there was no dodging this fearsome arrow now!
Boom!
The arrow slammed into Jiang Chen's chest. The overwhelming True Qi still failed to penetrate the Sky Silkworm Giant Whale Soft Armor, but the impact sent him hurtling backward.
The previous arrow had struck him in the back.
This one hit square over his vitals. As his body was blasted away, blood erupted from his mouth. Every meridian was invaded by the violent True Qi, electrifying sensation threatening to grind them to ruin.
Fortunately, the soft armor had absorbed more than half the force.
And Jiang Chen had long devoted painstaking effort to tempering his meridians, employing a unique method of refinement and nurturing them with Spiritual Medicine over extended periods.
That was the only reason his meridians were not crushed to nothing.
But even so, they were riddled with damage — he could no longer channel even a wisp of True Qi.
After hitting the ground, Jiang Chen could barely breathe. He spat out three mouthfuls of blood before dragging himself upright, burning his life energy in a desperate burst. His body lurched, staggering forward as he plunged into the endless darkness beyond.
"After him!"
Long Yinye was the first to charge forward, with Long Juxue close behind. The two of them were shaken and furious. They had prepared for so long — they had even deployed Spirit Tools — fully expecting to crush Jiang Chen with ease.
Instead, both Spirit Tools had been destroyed by that unassuming slash from Jiang Chen's blade!
The assassin leader of the Shadow Pursuit Hall, however, remained unhurried as ever. Composed and steady, he trailed behind at a measured pace.
From the moment Jiang Chen had entered their ambush zone, he had planted a special mark on Jiang Chen using his own proprietary technique, ensuring that no matter where the boy ran, he could never shake off the pursuit.
Before, there had been no worry about losing him. Now that Jiang Chen was gravely wounded and could collapse at any moment, there was even less reason to rush.
"That blade of Jiang Chen's — so powerful it shattered two Spirit Tools. I must get my hands on it!" A killing intent flickered through the assassin leader's mind. In this endless underground labyrinth, even if the Long siblings grew unruly, he wouldn't hesitate to eliminate them with a single stroke.
A warrior's desire for a divine weapon was enough to drive a man to madness.
And Jiang Chen's blade, which even Spirit Tools could not match, was more than sufficient to make the assassin leader turn on the Long siblings — to risk everything for it.
"You can't escape, Jiang Chen!"
Though Long Yinye had lost his Spirit Tool, his mind remained clear.
"The only way out has been sealed by us. If you go any deeper, you'll be entering the Fourth Layer Forbidden Zone. There is no path to heaven and no hole in the earth for you to flee to!"