Chapter 497

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Protagonist:

Yu Zhangsheng

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh..."

Wind blew from some unknown place, gust after gust sweeping across heaven and earth, falling into this vast desert, bringing heat waves, and also like an invisible big hand, slowly smoothing out the desert, wind and sand dancing, quietly burying all traces in the years of history.

Above the wasteland, a scene of devastation, everywhere potholes and splashing flowing fire, although rapidly recovering to calm, the aftershocks remaining in heaven and earth, however, did not disappear so quickly.

Faint Sword Qi still reverberated in the Void, the storm dissipated, revealing Yu Zhangsheng's figure within, one hand holding his sword propped on the ground, panting heavily, cold sweat dense on his forehead, complexion extremely pale, breath also somewhat unstable.

However his gaze was very bright, with a sense of realization, flickering.

"Worthy of a Saint Level technique, truly terrifying, this strike almost emptied all my mana, physical qi and blood and Soul Power, inside the Sub-Talisman, there should be no one able to withstand it."

"Even if I didn't first use the Sacrifice Body Mirror to erase Meng Xiangrui's golden light shield, I should also be able to directly shatter his defense, but doing so, it would be difficult to guarantee a one-strike kill on him."

Yu Zhangsheng murmured softly, for a long time, patted his chest, spat out a mouthful of turbid qi, stood up with some difficulty, looked toward where Meng Xiangrui had perished, thoughtful, and sensed his own state again, giving a bitter smile.

"Still counts as worth it, just a Divine Soldier Remnant Treasure, originally couldn't be used many times, destroyed is destroyed then."

"Moreover, that thing originally belonged to Meng Xiangrui, probably he tampered with it, so he found me, destroyed it, also just avoids this hidden danger. Also counts as making it exert its last light and heat. Still worth it."

Yu Zhangsheng pondered inwardly, secretly thinking, regarding the Sacrifice Body Mirror's destruction, he did not feel heartache, rather recalled the traces of him and Wei Lao's journey all the way, heart had some speculation.

"Both me and Master have the Black Tortoise's Qi Concealment Art, together with the entire Wanxiang Sect, so many people up and down, all can be completely isolated from qi and karma by the Black Tortoise, making people unable to investigate."

"Let alone me and Master, even if Meng Xiangrui is Spirit Transformation, logically should also be very hard to detect our changes, yet just now, at the first meeting, it seemed Meng Xiangrui already trusted the identities of me and Master more than half."

"Only later, don't know because of identity reasons, suddenly turned back, making him confident enough to rashly attack me, since me and Master have the Black Tortoise's Qi Concealment Art, he can't see through, then what did he base his judgment on to determine I am Yu Zhangsheng?"

Yu Zhangsheng swallowed a mouthful of saliva, for a long time, chest heaving, slowly exhaled a mouthful of turbid qi.

"The only explanation is this Sacrifice Body Mirror that doesn't belong to me, this was originally something he gave to Huangpu Yuanji, he having some method to determine this object's location is also not impossible."

"Thus, keeping the Sacrifice Body Mirror is also a calamity."

Yu Zhangsheng thought secretly in his heart, actually, Yu Zhangsheng's speculation was indeed not wrong.

He and Wei Lao had the Black Tortoise's Qi Concealment, hard to trace karma, even Meng Xiangrui couldn't see through, so he used a secret technique, sensing the Sacrifice Body Mirror's location, finally confirming the two people's identities were suspicious.

However this method, also only works within a certain range, and can only confirm a vague location, and each time cast, for Meng Xiangrui is also no small burden.

Therefore he didn't use it at the beginning.

And Yu Zhangsheng pondered for a moment, swallowed two Pills to recover mana while his body swayed, Golden-Winged Great Peng cried clearly, actively lowered its body, approached Yu Zhangsheng's front.

"Master are you alright!"

Golden-Winged Great Peng intimately gave a soft cry.

"Fine."

Yu Zhangsheng shook his head, revealed a trace of a smile, patted Golden-Winged Great Peng's head, flipped and leapt onto Golden-Winged Great Peng's back.

"Let's go, depart for Lanzhou, enter Hai Kou!"

Yu Zhangsheng grinned, then sat cross-legged on Golden-Winged Great Peng's back, meditated to recover.

Golden-Winged Great Peng nodded, big wings suddenly fanned, wings rippling with electric light, rolling up strong wind, amid wind and thunder howling, turned into a streak of light rushing toward the horizon at high speed.

At the same time, just as Meng Xiangrui's avatar was completely slain by the Primordial Heaven-Opening Sword, on the other side, somewhere ten thousand li distant from the Cloud Wave Desert, a long rainbow rose shocking the sky, rushing toward the Cloud Wave Desert at extreme speed, like thunder, tearing open the Void, wind howling, speed so fast the naked eye cannot probe.

Within the long rainbow, a human figure revealed, face gloomy, whole body's aura like an abyss like the sea, unfathomable, surpassed Sub-Talisman, reached Spirit Transformation.

Precisely Meng Xiangrui's True Body!

And at some moment, saw Meng Xiangrui's body suddenly pause, eyes bulge, reveal a trace of painful color, suddenly lower head a mouthful of fresh blood couldn't stop spraying out, complexion also instantly turned pale, breath unstable, even said to have fallen.

"How could it be... the connection between me and my avatar, was completely severed..."

"Avatar, has fallen?!"

Meng Xiangrui murmured, expression shocked, eyes full of disbelief, lowering brows, heart sank, also very confused.

"This avatar of mine, consumed so much of my heart blood, even for realism, split out a portion of my Soul cultivation onto it, although didn't reach Spirit Transformation realm yet also reached Sub-Talisman Peak."

"And Yu Zhangsheng, only broke through Sub-Talisman not long ago, how did he do it, slay my avatar, and erase the karmic connection between True Body and avatar, how possible?"

Meng Xiangrui murmured in heart, face gloomy, gaze flickering, face paled again, opened mouth another mouthful of fresh blood spat out, aura also suddenly changed, somewhat withered, a sense of damage faintly transmitted from his body, even more a kind of intense pain, surging in his heart, from depths of soul, spreading through whole body.

Pain sensation made Meng Xiangrui instantly groan dully, forehead drop by drop sweat flowing, face ferocious, long time only then panting heavily, drenched in sweat, whole body Spirit Transformation aura, obviously compared to before, was like inferior.

"What did the avatar side experience? Merely a newly advanced Sub-Talisman, even if his talent outstanding, also impossible to make me so wretched right."

"The portion of soul I placed on the avatar, was completely slain, and all karma within, perished along with it, causing me to not know at all what exactly happened at the scene when the avatar was destroyed... such means, how could Yu Zhangsheng do it?" Meng Xiangrui murmured softly, long time, deeply inhaled a breath, calmed mood after, sensed a bit, gaze looked toward Cloud Wave Desert direction, fiercely gritted teeth, continued to burst out extreme speed, flying toward Cloud Wave Desert at high speed.

However his speed, compared to before, obviously somewhat decreased.

"Ordinary avatars, cannot possess Sub-Talisman Peak cultivation, to guarantee avatar's combat power, I sacrificed a portion of my own cultivation in it, and split out a small amount of soul into it, to control."

"Originally, according to my thinking, as long as discovered Yu Zhangsheng's traces, would first time hold on, stall Yu Zhangsheng, wait for my True Body's arrival, then True Body and avatar merge, with strongest posture, directly capture Yu Zhangsheng, guarantee foolproof..."

"And now, my avatar slain, the soul within also domineeringly erased, this portion of cultivation also directly lost... although I don't know what happened, it certainly cannot be separated from Yu Zhangsheng. Yu Zhangsheng, once I catch you, I will definitely flay your tendons and strip your bones, refine you to replenish my soul's deficiency!"

Meng Xiangrui low roared, eyes killing intent rolling, dense cannot dissolve, toward Cloud Wave Desert, burst out extreme speed, rushed away.

Just two hours later, in Cloud Wave Desert, where Yu Zhangsheng and Meng Xiangrui's avatar once battled, Meng Xiangrui's True Body, suddenly descended.

"Is this place... my soul, here completely destroyed, together with karma, simultaneously destroyed."

Meng Xiangrui lowered brows, reached out grabbed a handful of sand, Divine Sense released, sensing the desert's every bit, pondering, eyes sharp light flickering.

"There are Dao technique residual traces, also a strand of extremely strong Sword Intent residual rhyme, within its sharpness, even I feel faintly somewhat uneasy, who slayed this, Yu Zhangsheng? But he clearly just advanced to Sub-Talisman not long ago..."

Meng Xiangrui pondered, sensing the residual traces in the desert, long time, lightly exhaled a breath, hand seals continuously changing, a Yin-Yang double fish rotating emerged, mysterious fluctuations, instantly swept across this great desert.

"Trace back to the source! Karma manifest!"

But he saw Meng Xiangrui let out a low cry, and the Crescent Mark on his forehead glowed, instantly turning a trace of Dao resonance into light points that merged into the rotating Yin-Yang Double Fish diagram before him; thus, the Yin-Yang Double Fish radiated an even brighter light, enveloping the desert.

Where the light fell, grains of sand and pebbles floated in midair, trembling incessantly; as a breeze blew, countless auras churned chaotically in the Void, slowly condensing and twisting as if appearing in a blurred painting, being newly surfaced from the past and reflected forth.

"Let me see who can destroy my Sub-Talisman Peak avatar and sever my soul fragment! If it is Yu Zhangsheng, how could he possibly have done it!"

Meng Xiangrui's expression was cold; he gave a cold hum, drawing upon the power of Heaven and Earth to empower the image before him.

Instantly, the Yin-Yang Double Fish rotated and shattered into specks of light, merging into this image; thus, this light condensed rapidly, gradually becoming clear from blurry.

Meng Xiangrui stared fixedly at the image, gritting his teeth; the image cleared, and in the next moment, a brilliant radiance rippled out from within—gentle yet overbearing, clearly carrying the intent of hope, yet possessing the might of opening the heavens.

"Hmm?"

Meng Xiangrui frowned at once; in the next instant, his expression changed drastically.

But he saw radiance overflowing within the image, actually spreading beyond the image; amidst a humming sound, it transformed into a majestic sword radiance, bearing ultimate sharpness, transcending the image and shooting toward Meng Xiangrui!

Meng Xiangrui's heart leapt, his eyes widening; just as he meant to resist, in a moment, as if because this sword was too terrifying, the image collapsed with a boom, and the sword radiance also collapsed unwillingly; Meng Xiangrui stood stunned, spitting out a mouthful of blood, his already somewhat vacuous aura growing even weaker.

"Pfft..."

Meng Xiangrui coughed, casually wiping the blood from his mouth, gazing blankly at the bloodstains on his palm for a long while, then exhaled a long breath of turbid Qi.

"What was that? That single sword—merely a projection—gave me the feeling that it could cleave through time and space to descend..."

Meng Xiangrui lowered his brows, suppressing the palpitations in his heart, his gaze sinking.

"Though merely an illusion, such an overbearing sword—who was it that struck it? Yu Zhangsheng? Pity, this sword was too overbearing, erasing all Karma traces, untraceable; however, I observed the battle between Yu Zhangsheng and Meng Xiangrui back then; though he also uses a sword, he should not have reached such a level..."

Meng Xiangrui fell silent, shook his head, his gaze flickering with disillusionment, uncertain.

"This sword actually made even someone at my Nascent Soul stage feel a faint threat; it should not be something a newly advanced Sub-Talisman like Yu Zhangsheng could strike; then, who could it be?"

Meng Xiangrui thought, lifting his gaze toward the distance; through the barren desert, a fiery-red sunset was slowly sinking below the horizon, dyeing the red clouds, smearing a layer of flickering flames across the desert—quite magnificent.

"Yunbo Desert; further ahead lies Lanzhou territory... once there, it won't be so easy to continue the pursuit... but there is one thing I still cannot understand."

"The entire Wanxiang Sect vanished without a trace; among so many people in the whole sect, I cannot even sense a single thread of Karma... how was this done?"

Meng Xiangrui pondered; beneath his cold expression appeared a strange color of utter bewilderment; after a long time, he took a deep look at the setting sun, then slowly turned and walked toward the outside of Yunbo Desert, in the direction of Wuzhou.

"Forget it; being able to escape from here counts as your skill, Yu Zhangsheng; if you leave, I hope I will never meet you again in this lifetime..."

The afterglow fell, falling upon Yunbo Desert and also upon Meng Xiangrui's body, casting his shadow onto the desert; grains of sand and pebbles surrounded him, and under the afterglow's light, the pebbles seemed dyed by fire, surrounding Meng Xiangrui's shadow, burning fiercely...

Meng Xiangrui knew clearly that once he left Wuzhou territory, continuing to hunt Yu Zhangsheng would already be the ravings of a madman, almost impossible.

Since it was so, his carefree nature could not be bothered to waste more time; rather, he hoped Yu Zhangsheng would never return to Wuzhou again.

"If you do not die, you will always be a confidant great trouble, leaving me uneasy..."

"If one day in the future, I hope you will never again set foot on this land; dying in a foreign land would be the best outcome."

Meng Xiangrui murmured softly, suppressing the last trace of unease in his heart; his body swayed, and he turned and left just like that.

The sunset was like blood, the desert like a sea; occasionally, wild winds rolled up sand and pebbles, like waves being lifted one after another, crushing the afterglow, burying the past...

(Wuzhou Volume Ends; Next Volume, Wind Rises in Beihai!) (Chapter End)