Chapter 653: Marquis-Bestowing Art

Above House Luolan House.

The great battle between the two Marquis-level experts drew the attention of virtually every top-tier expert from every faction in Great Xia City.

Zhu Zhu Qinghuo and Seeing Niu Niu Biaobiao both unfurled their respective "Feng Hou Zhong Jie," sealing off the spread of the battle's aftershocks, yet even so, the clouds above Great Xia City continued to be shattered again and again, and the very void seemed to be torn apart.

Within the fiery crimson clouds, a massive fiery hand seal came slamming down from the heavens as if the Fire God himself were striking from the firmament; terrifyingly high temperatures flowed across that fiery hand seal, twisting even space itself with their heat, and every rune etched upon it appeared incomparably arcane, as though condensed from the essence of heavenly fire.

This was a Feng Hou technique unleashed by a Yi Ming Si Pin Marquis-level expert; should such power descend upon Great Xia City without any protection, the greater half of the city would likely be transformed into a sea of flame.

Yet facing the Feng Hou technique unleashed by Zhu Zhu Qinghuo, Niu Niu Biaobiao immediately returned the favor—his five fingers clenched tight, and across his thick, muscular arm, streaks of light-runes spread outward; as his flesh and blood trembled, an ancient ox-lowing sound seemed to emanate forth.

Feng Hou technique—Ox Demon Divine Strength Fist!

He threw a punch, and the void ahead shattered like a mirror; countless shards of space tumbled down, and a fist-shadow howled straight out, and within that fist-shadow, a scene of ten thousand divine bulls charging in a stampede actually manifested.

That pure and terrifying force was enough to crumble mountains and split the earth.

Boom!

The two sides' ferocious attacks collided savagely, and this stretch of heaven and earth trembled at this moment, with the world's energy brought to a boil.

Anyone could tell that, at this moment, the two sides were slightly deadlocked.

"That little girl from House Luolan House may have used a secret art to amplify her strength tremendously, but it requires shattering her Heavenly Pearls as the price; in a situation like this, how much longer can she hold on? If you are still counting on her to defend House Luolan House, that is rather naive of you." While attacking, Zhu Zhu Qinghuo still attempted to use words aimed at the heart to shake Niu Niu Biaobiao's will.

"Annoying."

Niu Niu Biaobiao's eyes blazed with ferocious light as he looked toward Zhu Zhu Qinghuo, snarling: "A fourth-rank Marquis from some backwater hole dares to run his mouth at Laozi like this—does he really think Laozi can't chop him down?"

The instant his words fell, the slaughtering knife in Niu Niu Biaobiao's hand suddenly extended rapidly at this moment, and in the blink of an eye it became a ghost-head greatsword roughly a zhang long; upon that greatsword, the dark-red stains seemed as though soaked in countless fresh blood, and instantly a terrifying baleful aura was unleashed.

"Sword, Come"

Niu Niu Biaobiao gripped the ghost-head greatsword, and at this instant, an incomparably terrifying blade aura rose up between heaven and earth; that blade aura took on a dark-red hue, as if it had transformed behind him into a boundless dark-red ocean, and within this ocean, the waters were all formed from blade aura.

Crash!

The blade-aura ocean churned, and then everyone saw a colossal, Demon-God-like phantom slowly rise to its feet from within that ocean; it gripped a massive blade, and its aura seemed to pierce even the firmament itself.

The energy of the entire heaven and earth grew restless at this moment, then madly swarmed toward that Demon-God-like phantom.

Within Great Xia City, whether it was Zhu Zhu Qinghuo or those other top-tier experts secretly observing, their expressions all could not help but change, and low exclamations rang out.

"A Spirit-Derivation-grade Feng Hou technique?!"

Among the Marquis-level experts of this Great Xia, the vast majority of the Feng Hou techniques they cultivated belonged to the Spirit-Communion grade; as for Spirit-Derivation-grade Feng Hou techniques, those were exceedingly rare, and even in the Golden Dragon Treasure Hall, Wang Ting, and the Holy Void Star Academy they would count as a sect-guarding treasure, so Marquis-level experts who could cultivate such Feng Hou techniques were even rarer.

At the very least, Zhu Zhu Qinghuo, to this day, had never cultivated a Spirit-Derivation-grade Feng Hou technique!

Therefore, when he saw the Feng Hou technique Niu Niu Biaobiao had now summoned, his eyelids could not help but twitch rapidly for a moment, and at the same time a hint of envy and jealousy rose in his heart—Niu Niu Biaobiao, Li Taixuan, and Dantai Lan truly did come from a cultivation holy land blessed by heaven like the Inner Shenzhou; just take this Spirit-Derivation-grade Feng Hou technique, for instance—Zhu Zhu Qinghuo, after cultivating until now, had never obtained one.

"A Spirit-Derivation-grade Feng Hou technique is indeed powerful, but your Marquis Platform has never appeared until now, so it must have been shattered once before, yes? Without the foundation of a Marquis Platform to support it, a Spirit-Derivation-grade Feng Hou technique in your hands is nothing but an empty show!"

However, although wary, Zhu Zhu Qinghuo's mouth was not weak, and what he said was indeed true—the Marquis Platform was the foundation of every Marquis-level expert; Niu Niu Biaobiao had never revealed his Marquis Platform until now, clearly not because he didn't want to, but because he could not summon it; in that case, Zhu Zhu Qinghuo could still put up a fight.

Hoo.

Zhu Zhu Qinghuo drew a deep breath, his hands slowly coming together, and his expression grew solemn.

Boom!

A streak of crimson-red qi was seen to spurt out from the crown of Zhu Zhu Qinghuo's head; as that crimson-red qi rose, its hue kept changing, until it finally took on the color of glazed glass, and then the glazed-glass light erupted outward, directly evolving into a colossal glazed-glass hand.

The flames upon it had all turned the color of glazed glass.

That flaming glazed-glass giant hand spanned the sky, as if capable of flattening any enemy that stood in its way.

The many top-tier experts within Great Xia City looked at this scene and nodded slightly—although Zhu Zhu Qinghuo had not cultivated a Spirit-Derivation-grade Feng Hou technique, his own Spirit-Communion-grade "Heavenly Fire Divine Hand Seal" had already been cultivated to a state of absolute mastery.

If one truly compared its might, it could indeed contend with some ordinary Spirit-Derivation-grade Feng Hou techniques.

Niu Niu Biaobiao's gaze turned savage; he cast a glance at the flaming glazed-glass giant hand spanning the sky, said nothing more, and slowly brought the ghost-head greatsword in his hand cleaving down—and as his greatsword fell, the colossal phantom behind him likewise brought the massive blade in its hand cleaving down.

In that instant, heaven and earth seemed to be split apart.

"Spirit-Derivation-grade Feng Hou technique..."

"Mad God Blade!"

Just as the two Marquis-level experts had begun to reveal their true prowess, within House Luolan House headquarters, the battle between Jiang Jiang Qinge and Manager Pei Hao was growing ever more intense and perilous.

But in their exchanges, Manager Pei Hao was entirely stalling for time, because as time went on, another one of Jiang Jiang Qinge's Heavenly Pearls shattered.

Of the five Heavenly Pearls from before, only two remained now.

Clearly, in order to gain the power to contend with Manager Pei Hao, a "Void Marquis realm" expert at this moment, even someone as monstrously talented as Jiang Jiang Qinge had to pay an enormous price.

"Jiang Jiang Qinge, your time is running out, and the price you've paid this time is no small matter—three Heavenly Pearls; to cultivate them back, it will take quite some time, won't it?" Manager Pei Hao looked at the only two resplendent Heavenly Pearls remaining behind Jiang Jiang Qinge, and the smile at the corner of his mouth grew richer.

Jiang Jiang Qinge's incomparably beautiful face remained unmoved, and she said coldly: "Although I don't know whether you are Manager Pei Hao or something else entirely, I just want to tell you, you poor thing—what you find difficult might, for me, actually not amount to much."

The corner of Manager Pei Hao's mouth twitched.

Jiang Jiang Qinge's icy gaze swept over, and she suddenly said: "I do want to know whether, in your current state, you can still perform a Feng Hou technique?"

Manager Pei Hao's eyes narrowed slightly—after all, his current body was not his true self, but Manager Pei Hao's; he could transmit power over through sacrifice, but he had no way to make this body perform the Feng Hou techniques his true self had mastered.

And yet, given Manager Pei Hao's talent and resources, even coming into contact with a Feng Hou technique, he would find it very difficult to cultivate one.

"Looks like you can't."

Jiang Jiang Qinge seemed to know the answer, and gave a slight nod of her pretty head.

"What do you mean?" Manager Pei Hao said flatly.

"I can't perform a Feng Hou technique—surely you can't..."

His words cut off abruptly there, because Manager Pei Hao saw Jiang Jiang Qinge's slender jade hands suddenly form a seal at this moment, and as the hand-seal shifted, a cluster of sacred flames condensed out from her palm.

That cluster of flames was not at all vigorous, yet when it appeared, it seemed as though a sacred halo was spreading outward, and wherever the halo passed, the world's energy was all assimilated into radiant phase force.

And from that cluster of sacred flames, Manager Pei Hao sensed an extremely intense threat.

So his expression grew somewhat sullen.

"You shattered three Heavenly Pearls and gathered phase force—so it turns out you were laying the groundwork for this," he said in a dark, gloomy voice.

Jiang Jiang Qinge, however, paid him no attention; she raised her slender jade hand, and that cluster of sacred flames immediately rose into the air—in the next instant, it swelled violently in the wind, and as the flames flowed, they actually transformed into a colossal Fire Phoenix, its body burning with sacred flames.

The sacred Fire Phoenix that had suddenly appeared immediately drew countless shocked gazes.

Anyone could sense that this was an incredibly terrifying phase technique—no, this was a Marquis-Grade Art!

No one had expected that within this House Luolan House, not only had Li Luo mastered a Marquis-Grade Art, but Jiang Jiang Qinge had done the same!

Jiang Jiang Qinge's chest rose and fell gently, and her crystalline, flawless face also paled considerably at this moment.

Then her jade-like finger pointed at Manager Pei Hao, and the sacred Fire Phoenix immediately let out a clear phoenix cry, then flapped its wings and dove down, trailing a brilliant tail of fire across the sky.

This was her strongest art.

For this day, she had been hiding for far too long.

Marquis-Grade Art, Radiant Phoenix Flame.