Chapter 786: A Single Slash Cleaves the Extreme Fiend

When the enormous black dragon swept out wrapped in surging netherwater, countless gazes present were horrified, and some banner leaders among the other three banners whose strength was no less than Zhong Ling's also couldn't help but change color.

Because under Li Luo's blade, even they felt an immense sense of crisis.

They couldn't believe that such a fierce and violent slash was actually delivered by someone at the Greater Fiend Palace realm.

This single slash could already threaten the Extreme Fiend realm!

And Zhong Ling, bearing the brunt of it, changed expression even more dramatically; his pupils quaked as if in an earthquake as he stared at the roaring black dragon and netherwater.

Li Luo's Black Dragon Marquis Art, he knew of it too, but even a Marquis Art shouldn't be this perverted, right?!

Is this Li Luo really only at the Greater Fiend Palace realm?!

At this moment, Zhong Ling felt that even if someone said Li Luo was at the Golden Fiend Body realm, he wouldn't doubt it at all.

But reality wasn't so.

Zhong Ling's expression flickered between dark and light, then hardened into a fierce look. He could tell that although Li Luo's slash was terrifying... Li Luo only had this one slash!

This was Bo Ming Zhi Fa!

Li Luo had concentrated every method and every ounce of strength he possessed into this single slash. As long as this slash failed to utterly crush Zhong Ling, then the Li Luo afterward would lose all power to resist.

Zhong Ling gritted his teeth, his five fingers suddenly clenching tight. Above his crimson fist-gauntlets, phase force surged up like blazing flames, the high temperature warping the air itself.

At the same time, the phase force within his body erupted without reservation at this moment, like a hundred-zhang pillar of blazing fire shooting straight into the heavens.

He formed a hand seal with both hands, then took a deep breath, his cheeks instantly puffing out.

Hoo!

The next instant, a clump of black flame roared out from his mouth. This black fire appeared somewhat viscous, and at the same time radiated an extremely intense aura of savage violence.

The black flame landed on Zhong Ling's flame-wreathed fist-gauntlets, and then with a savage expression he slammed a palm forward.

"High-grade Dragon General Art, Flame Demon Grand Hand Seal!"

As Zhong Ling's palm struck out, a hundred-zhang black fire hand seal took shape out of thin air, and at the center of the seal there seemed to be an extremely fierce ghostly face.

With this palm strike, the air in the region seemed to be scorched clean, making it hard to breathe.

Moreover, on that black fire hand seal, fiend gang like liquid metal flowed swiftly, gradually covering it, and at once the might of the black fire hand seal climbed steadily.

With the augmentation of fiend gang, the power of Zhong Ling's Flame Demon Grand Hand Seal could crush and incinerate even a small mountain peak.

Clearly, facing Li Luo's slash that poured out every method he had, Zhong Ling didn't dare show the slightest contempt either, and likewise pushed his own techniques to the utmost.

As long as he withstood Li Luo's life-risking slash, the position of Green Nether Banner's Grand Banner Leader would be in Zhong Ling's pocket!

The Flame Demon Grand Hand Seal roared out, the ground being directly torn open with blackened scorch marks, and then under the gaze of many tense eyes, collided with the roaring black dragon.

Boom!

A heaven-shaking, earth-shattering wave of energy swept out horizontally like a hurricane.

The crowd watching around the battle platform all circulated their phase force to resist the shockwave, while their eyes stared fixedly at the spot where those two violently wild energies clashed.

There, the black dragon roared, beneath its claws a black river swept through, that black netherwater chillingly cold to the extreme. The moment it touched Zhong Ling's fire-phase power, an extremely violent explosion erupted.

The continuously spreading shockwave caused some of the slightly weaker cultivators present to faintly feel a sense of suffocation.

Zhong Ling's face was savage as he mobilized every wisp of phase force within his body. Judging by the sheer strength of phase force, even though Li Luo had borrowed many methods, his side still had the upper hand.

But in the collision, Zhong Ling discovered that Li Luo's phase force was extremely troublesome to deal with.

The two men's phase force continuously eroded each other.

Yet even though his side seemed somewhat stronger, Li Luo's phase force radiated a kind of unimaginable spirituality, and within that phase force there seemed to be some mysterious substance, constantly dissolving and neutralizing his phase force.

"Is it dual-phase power?"

Zhong Ling was puzzled in his heart. Dual-phase power was indeed very high-grade—it was a power only a Marquis-level expert could touch—but it wasn't as if merely possessing dual phases meant one's phase force grade could truly match a Marquis-level expert's.

Zhong Ling wasn't someone who had never encountered dual-phase cultivators before, but he had never heard of anyone's dual-phase power being so domineering.

Roar! And just as fury rose in Zhong Ling's heart, the black dragon suddenly let out a heaven-shaking dragon cry. Its maw opened wide, and a jet of pitch-black dragon breath spewed forth. Within that dragon breath, numerous mysterious light-traces could faintly be seen flickering in and out of view, as if

ancient patterns born of heaven and earth.

That breath of dragon breath sprayed straight onto the Flame Demon Grand Hand Seal, and at once the fiend gang upon it actually began to show signs of melting.

In just a few breaths' time, the black flames rising on the Flame Demon Grand Hand Seal also began to dim at an alarming speed.

Waves of exclamations rose and fell across the field.

The next instant, the black dragon shot through. Amidst the deafening dragon cry, the Flame Demon Grand Hand Seal—which had gathered all of Zhong Ling's power—collapsed with a thunderous crash at this moment.

Zhong Ling's pupils trembled.

The next instant, the black dragon, also riddled with holes from being scorched by the Flame Demon Grand Hand Seal, charged in for the kill, wrapped in killing intent, and slammed heavily into his body.

Puchi!

Zhong Ling spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, his figure sent flying backward, landing in a sorry heap on the ground, skidding out marks for several dozen zhang.

The Jin Guang on his body kept dimming, and his domineering Golden Fiend Body was also, at this moment, forcibly dissolved away.

The black dragon's energy finally ran out, transforming into points of energy light and shattering apart.

And the earth-shaking clash on the battle platform came to an abrupt halt.

The entire arena fell silent.

And in that silence, they saw Li Luo on the platform, his blood-slicked hand gripping the saber hilt, dragging the blade behind him, the tip sparking against the ground.

His steps slow but firm, he walked step by step toward Zhong Ling's position.

Then, under the gaze of countless eyes, he pressed the saber tip against the forehead of the heavily wounded Zhong Ling. Zhong Ling's aura was listless; his face covered in bloodstains as he stared at Li Luo. The latter's handsome face was also deathly pale, and judging from the slight trembling of the hand gripping the saber hilt, Li Luo had clearly also exhausted the very last

wisp of strength within his body.

The current Li Luo had almost no fighting power left.

But Zhong Ling, on the other hand, couldn't even move a muscle.

"Aren't you going to announce the result yet? Do we really have to chop him down before you do?" Li Luo turned his head, looked toward the high platform, and said with a smile, using a trace of remaining strength.

At this moment, on the high platform, the various academy heads only gradually came back to their senses.

They stared at the silent arena, and different emotions welled up in their eyes.

In the end, Li Li Rouyun glanced at the lifeless Zhong Zhong Yushi, then spoke first, her gentle voice ringing in everyone's ears.

"This contest for the position of Grand Banner Leader of the Qingming Banner is ultimately won by Li Luo."

"From now on, Li Luo will take up the position of Grand Banner Leader of the Qingming Banner!"

As Li Li Rouyun's voice fell, the silence in the arena was finally broken, followed by a flood of clamor and boiling uproar.

They all understood that this contest for the Grand Banner Leader of the Qingming Banner would surely cause quite a stir within the Dragon Fang Lineage. On the high platform, Li Li Qingpeng and Li Li Jinpan gazed at Li Luo's tall, straight figure holding a blade, their expressions slightly dazed. In that instant, they recalled the figure from many years ago who had likewise created many miracles within the Dragon Fang Lineage.

That peerless prodigy of the Dragon Fang Lineage, the most outstanding in a hundred years.

"Third Brother's bloodline... carries his grace."

The two exchanged a glance, each seeing a hint of relief in the other's eyes.

Dragon Fang Mountain, rear bamboo grove.

The old man, who had been digging bamboo shoots, raised his head at this moment. He gazed toward the direction of Qingming Peak, and on his usually stern, aged face, a faint smile now appeared. "Taixuan, your son... in the future, may well surpass his master."