Lord Xue Ying
chapter-332

"What’s this Black Iron Cannon Army?" the Meishan Clan Master and Jian Huang asked curiously.

"The Bloodshed God Palace rules over a huge territory—about one third of the entire Deity world," Chen Jiu, who grew up in the Deity world, began explaining. "For the sake of intimidating the territories under their rule, there are naturally many powerful armies commanded by the Bloodshed God Palace, and the Iron Cannon Army is one of the most famous ones. Even their most ordinary soldiers are at the peak stage Deity realm."

The Meishan Clan Master and Jian Huang were both startled inwardly after hearing that

Even the most ordinary soldiers were all peak stage Deities? It was no wonder they were a superpower that could compare in might with the Temporal Island, which was the giant backing the Temporal Temple!

"Once a soldier joins the Black Iron Cannon Army, their fleshy body will undergo refinement through a secret technique," Chen Jiu explained. "It is a secret technique which the Bloodshed God Palace has never released to the public. After the refinement, the fleshy body of each of those soldiers will reach the peak stage of the Deity realm, and they would gain a fat and muscular body like his. In the Deity world, they would all be completely covered in a unique type of ultra-heavy armor which only reveals their eyes. Their destructive strength is much stronger than that of ordinary peak stage Deities, and they are all really savage. Once, a Black Iron Cannon soldier actually walked past my hometown, and in a fit of fury, pulled a huge clan ruling over the surrounding thirteen planets by the roots, slaughtering countless people in the process."

Both the Meishan Clan Master and Jian Huang were astonished after hearing that.

"The opponent for that arena should be controlled by the consciousness of a member from the Black Iron Cannon Army." Chen Jiu looked upward. "He is merely borrowing this body, and his combat power is being suppressed. Nonetheless, his demeanor is as powerful as ever. From what I’ve heard, all members of the Black Iron Cannon Army are this tyrannical."

Back in the arena, Xue Ying looked toward that fat hunk as he said, "So you are actually a true life form."

"Naturally. I live in Crimson Rock Mountain." The fat hunk looked toward Xue Ying with a grin as he pointed upward. "In the higher-leveled space, above the Sky-Reaching Vine."

"Oh?" Xue Ying was enlightened.

Within Crimson Rock Mountain, there seemed to be many true life forms other than Senior Xi Wei.

"I’m merely here to deal with you Transcendents. Come, come. Let me see if I can defeat you—a brat who grasped hold of the Mirage Avatar within the sacred master’s world."

"Senior, you must be careful." Xue Ying revealed a grin. At the same time, many visages of Xue Ying began appearing all over the arena. From a glance, one could count a total of thrity-seven white-robed Xue Yings, every one of them holding onto a spear. They were separated into three circles with the fat hunk at the center. They all shared that same grin. "I am going to start attacking now."

"Come on." The fat hunk waited prudently.

Even with his combat power being restricted, neither Jian Huang, Chen Jiu, nor even the Meishan Clan Master had managed to make him feel any pressure. They had all been truly too weak.

It was only Xue Ying that could put a little pressure on him.

Hu. Xue Ying’s true body immediately disappeared as he fused with a Mirage Avatar.

Hong!

A spear was suddenly whipped out. It was just like a dragon, revolving and roaring out. Where it passed, the surroundings changed into a dazzling scene of stars expanding and caving in, with a surge of meteoric extermination converging into a single point. The spearhead no longer existed outside of that single point of extremity. The speed of the surging maelstrom of attractive force, coupled with the abrupt strike which came from a very close distance, startled the fat hunk in spite of him being ready for it. He waved his palm to parry the incoming attack.

Peng!

The fat hunk’s actions had truly been quick and steady. He managed to block the attack.

"Senior, I’m afraid that Mirage Avatars aren’t that easy to deal with," a voice reverberated around the arena.

Another Mirage avatar launched an attack, but for that moment, it was actually Xue Ying’s true body.

Hong! Hong! Hong! Hong! Hong! Hong!

Xue Ying began striking the fat hunk from every direction. Using the Mirage Avatar’s ability to disappear without a sign, his actions became fast, abrupt, and entirely ruthless.

"Such powerful attacks coming from all directions…even I couldn’t protect myself against such an assault." The Meishan Clan Master’s expression became one of shock.

"Xue Ying’s combat power has, indeed, far surpassed ours." Jian Huang could also feel a tinge of terror.

"Logically, the True Meaning of Mirage should be weak in terms of its offense. Once complemented by other True Meanings, however, its offensive capability will be truly frightening. It’s no wonder that anyone who grasps hold of this True Meaning can be considered among the most frightening of assassins," Chen Jiu joined in the conversation. Naturally, those Transcendents who grasped hold of a grade one True Meaning would be even more formidable in terms of assassination ability, but such people were simply too rare.

While grade two True Meanings were quite rarely encountered among the histories of mortal worlds, within the billions of such worlds, the entirety of the Deity world, and the Dark Abyss, there was still quite a number of people who grasped hold of grade two True Meanings. But those who grasped hold of grade one True Meanings were still considered legends! This might also have been due to how the moment any of those high-up powerful existences of the Deity world discovered someone with a grade one True Meaning, they would immediately take them in as a personal disciple.

The three people below were startled.

The fat hunk, however, was doing his utmost to parry the incoming attacks. His palms were just like palm-leaf fans as they lashed out at really fast speeds. A frenzy had covered the whole area as he parried Xue Ying’s spear time after time!

As the saying went, though, if one defended for a long time without striking back, there was bound to be an attack which broke through the defenses!

No matter how careful he was as he parried the attacks, once the number of strikes reached a high enough number, he would eventually be struck.

Si la!

This spear passed along the palm of that fat hunk and then went up the arm before finally piercing the layer of ordinary-looking armor. Just as it seemed, the armor was quite ordinary, having been condensed by the array. It was just for show. With a pu sound, it was easily pierced. The spear then stabbed into the abdomen of that fat hunk.

"Mn?" Xue Ying frowned. His attack carried a terrifying Profound Mystery of Destruction, yet it was obstructed after piercing through that fat hunk’s abdomen. It really seemed as if that fat hunk’s tough body was impenetrable. After piercing no more than a few centimeters, it stopped going any further.

Peng! The fat hunk fiercely waved out his palm in front of him.

Xue Ying pulled out the spear and hurriedly retreated. At the same time, he switched positions with another Mirage Avatar.

The fat hunk’s palm whistled as it struck across where Xue Ying had just been before finally stopping. Looking downward, he saw the hole in his chest piece and creased his eyebrows. He took off the armor from his body and flung it away outside the arena. As soon as it hit the ground, a booming sound reverberated.

"This armor condensed by the array energy is entirely useless," the fat hunk mumbled. "Had it been the Black Iron Cannon Army’s armor…"

His upper body was truly big and muscular.

The wound on his abdomen was closing up and recovering at a fast pace.

"Brat, you are quite capable." The fat hunk looked toward Xue Ying with a mildly savage look. Black seals began forming on his body, gathering together into an enormous seal of that same color. It appeared on his white skin with an incomparably mystical air. The aura his figure released became significantly more ruthless than before.

"This battle has reached its final stage." Chen Jiu watched on in rapt attention as the other two held their breaths all the while.

Xue Ying grinned. Is it his last stand?

After receiving some intelligence on Crimson Rock Mountain from Chen Jiu’s side as well, Xue Ying had naturally analyzed it. He knew that this fat hunk would erupt at the last moment. In other words, it was his last counterattack! That was, of course, also when his threat was the greatest.

"Receive my attack." Xue Ying also brandished his spear. He was using this as an opportunity to test out his revelations and refine his spear techniques in a real combat scenario.

For a moment, Xue Ying appeared all around the fat hunk, thrusting out from every direction.

"Hahaha…" The fat hunk’s muscular upper body was covered in seals. He was truly fierce as he struck out all around him, seemingly frenzied. The speed of his palm strikes was now much faster, and in the blink of an eye, the area surrounding him was completely enveloped by the might of his palms.

Despite Xue Ying being able to switch places with the avatars around him, he was still being momentarily suppressed.

Peng.

Right when Xue Ying switched position with one of the Mirage Avatars, one of the fat hunk’s palms landed squarely on his body. It had been truly too fast. With them fighting at such a pace, the strike had been beyond what his intuition could forewarn him of.

Xue Ying was struck backward by that attack.

"He was hit?" The fat hunk revealed a joyous look.

Hua.

That body of Xue Ying dissipated into nothingness in mid-air.

"Illusory body?" The fat hunk frowned.

"Senior, receive this full-powered attack of mine," Xue Ying’s voice reverberated throughout the surrounding air.

Those thirty-six white-robed Xue Yings suddenly appeared all around that fat hunk, every single one of them launching out an attack from the spear along with the others. Each of these attacks contained scenes of the stars expanding and collapsing as well as the meteoric destruction converging into one single extremity point.

All of the attacks were aimed at the fat hunk!

"This brat." That fat hunk’s expression immediately changed. Clearly, thirty-five of those thirty-six avatars were fake, but those scenes of stars collapsing into a single point were still created from the Laws of Profound Mysteries. After all, this secret skill was created by Xue Ying himself, and he was naturally able to simulate the scene. Had someone else tried to imitate his secret skill, the images might form, but the aura of the Laws of Profound Mysteries would be missing.

Thirty-six Mirage Avatars—he could not discern which one was real.

The fat hunk immediately began moving at high speeds. He was trying his best to avoid being surrounded while simultaneously attempting to parry every single one of those incoming spear shadows, but he was eventually enveloped by the countless strikes!

The thirty-six Mirage Avatars sent out a joint attack, with thirty-five of them at the peak of the Demigod realm. Naturally, the attacks of the thirty-five avatars only had a bewildering effect on that fat hunk, but that effect could actually prove life-threatening. After all, the single true body…had an extremely high combat power.

Pu! A spear pierced the fat hunk’s body.

Pu. Pu. Pu.

Another thirty-six spear shadows followed up with attacks, again and again for a total of nine rounds.

Hua~

That fat hunk revealed a helpless smile before finally completely disappearing into nothingness.

Triumph!

This arena trial had ended with Xue Ying’s victory!!

Xue Ying revealed a grin—he had just gotten through the third vine-leaf world!

Only then did he jump down from the arena.

"Alright! I was sure you’d win that battle, Xue Ying." Chen Jiu rushed over and slapped Xue Ying’s shoulder fiercely.

"Did you have to slap me so hard? It must be revenge, right?" Xue Ying mumbled.

At that moment, the fat hunk’s figure began forming back up in that arena. He looked down from the arena, shouting out, "Brat, the reason you were able to beat me was not because of your Mirage Avatars confusing me, but because that spear technique of yours was fast enough! If it was a bit slower, I could have just block all thirty-six of your Mirage Avatars with just these two palms of mine! That spear technique of yours should be a secret skill right? What is it called?"

"Star Meteor Annihilation," Xue Ying replied upon turning around.

"Not a bad name. It’s indeed quite powerful. You were able to come up with this secret skill at the stage three realm of your True Meaning." The fat hunk shook his head. "Formidable—brats these days are truly formidable."

Xue Ying smiled.

"Xue Ying, congratulations." The Meishan Clan Master walked over.

"Congratulations," Jian Huang said as well.

The two of them were feeling really conflicted.

"I trust that, as long as your combat power breaks through, the three of you should be able to triumph as well," Xue Ying replied.

"Alright, cut the nonsense. Just hurry up and go," Chen Jiu said. "And you shouldn’t be too happy. There are still the fourth and fifth vine leaf worlds before you’re done."

"Mn." It was quite rare that Xue Ying had no good replies.

He and Chen Jiu might have entered Crimson Rock Mountain together to more easily brave the dangers, but their personalities were actually rather similar. In truth, Xue Ying had already gained a favorable impression of him from the very start, after Chen Jiu agreed to bring him along into Crimson Rock Mountain. Following that, he quickly understood that Chen Jiu had a cold outlook but a warm heart; he was someone worthy of his friendship.

"Gentlemen, it seems I’ll be the first to move on," Xue Ying said.

Looking toward the three—Chen Jiu, the Meishan Clan Master and Jian Huang—all lined up in a row, Xue Ying felt really conflicted!

The three of them had all entered with a certain goal in mind, either of their own initiative or forced by various circumstances.

"Be careful," Chen Jiu suddenly said.

"Mn." Xue Ying nodded. "I’m the first to move forward, but I’m sure we’ll meet again on the surface."

"That’s for certain," Jian Huang shouted.

Hu.

Xue Ying turned around and began flying toward the distant main branch of the Sky-Reaching Vine. He went along it, up into the sky and toward the direction of the fourth vine leaf world.

Chen Jiu, the Meishan Clan Master and Jian Huang looked upward, complex emotions swarming their hearts.

Today…

All three of them were stuck, while Xue Ying alone could proceed.

******