Chapter 1996: Brushing Shoulders with Death

Su Xiao streaked across the air as a blue blur, reaching a point ten meters in front of the Moon God in an instant.

Boom!

Su Xiao slammed into an invisible wall. This barrier completely blocked his perception and emitted no energy fluctuations.

The moment he struck the wall, Su Xiao felt as though his soul had recoiled from the impact while his body continued to surge forward.

A wave of dizziness washed over him, and he tumbled to the ground with a thud.

A massive skeletal arm burst from the earth—it was two stories tall—and snatched Su Xiao into its palm, squeezing with all its might.

Crack.

The soil was compressed, then crushed into chunks harder than stone.

Su Xiao stood atop the skeletal hand, having activated his Dragon Flash ability the moment he was grabbed.

The double vision in his eyes faded rapidly. Su Xiao kicked off the skeletal hand and lunged toward the Moon God, who was ten meters away.

The Moon God remained atop the monster's head. Throughout the battle, he hadn't taken a single step; gods were not so easily slaughtered.

Su Xiao lunged to within a few meters of the Moon God. Blood energy gathered above him, forming a Blood Beast that lunged out directly—this was the strength of the Blood Beast: its rapid execution.

Boom!

The blood energy exploded, shrouding the Moon God as large swaths of severed tentacles sprayed in all directions.

Simultaneously, Su Xiao received a notification that the monster known as the 'Crawling Dragon' was dead. Strangely, there was no reward, which made Su Xiao wary.

As the blood energy dissipated, the Moon God stood amidst the severed tentacles, fluorescent blue blood dripping from his fingertips.

Zing.

A sharp slash of light struck toward his face, but before it could reach the Moon God, it was blocked by an invisible force.

With a metallic clang, the Checking Zhan Long Shan in Su Xiao's hand stopped half a meter from the Moon God as a rib bone as thick as a water barrel burst through the ground to block him.

The crisp sound of the strike echoed out; the giant rib was severed. Su Xiao stepped forward, swinging his long blade toward the Moon God's neck.

Just as Su Xiao executed the strike, a hair-raising sense of crisis emerged.

Boom!

An invisible attack struck from above, slamming into the spot where Su Xiao had been standing a moment before. A circular crater over ten meters in diameter appeared, pitch black and bottomless.

Su Xiao successfully pierced through space, shifting laterally. Just as he prepared to unleash his ultimate move, Absolute Shadow Flash, a sense of binding emerged from all directions.

Crack, crack, crack...

The Moon God clenched his hand, and the air between his fingers crackled.

The air around Su Xiao seemed to turn solid, pinning him in place. Just as he prepared to force a Dragon Flash, a whistling sound struck before him.

Pshhh, pshhh, pshhh...

Bone spears over three meters long pierced through Su Xiao's torso and thighs. His health, which had just recovered, plummeted to 12%.

【Notification: Soul Blade effect activated. This execution effect has been negated.】

A metallic, sweet taste rose in his throat. Blood dripped from the corner of Su Xiao's mouth; this was the closest he had ever come to death.

"Blade Method: Blue Ghost."

A cyan-blue blade glow slashed out instantly. The Moon God tilted his head, dodging the strike, but the blade glow severed two protruding bone spikes from the back of his head.

Taking advantage of this opening, Su Xiao wrapped his entire body in a crystal layer and kicked off the ground, forcefully twisting his body to snap all five bone spears that had impaled him.

Su Xiao ignored the agonizing pain radiating from every part of his body—not just physical pain, but the searing agony of his soul.

"Blade Method: Time."

Thud.

A shockwave expanded. The Moon God slowed for a split second, but with a wave of his hand, Su Xiao, who was charging forward, was struck as if by a hammer and nearly sent flying.

The Moon God's attack intensity was not only terrifying but sudden—either completely invisible or impossible to perceive; it defied all logic.

Su Xiao glanced at his remaining 7% health. If he were hit one more time, he would die here. If not for the permanent bonuses of the Black King set, he would have already entered a dying state and lost all combat capability.

A pale blue light appeared on Su Xiao's body as the Hunter Moment ability activated. He vanished from his spot, reappearing behind the Moon God.

A gust of wind struck from above his head. He threw the Checking Zhan Long Shan in his hand without a second thought.

The Moon God tilted his head slightly, dodging the blade that had been aimed at the back of his skull.

Boom!

A dull thud exploded behind the Moon God. The next moment, Su Xiao suddenly appeared in front of the Moon God, grabbing the hilt of the Checking Zhan Long Shan.

With a slash, the long blade swept past. A piece of the Moon God's skull flew off, revealing the bright red muscle beneath.

Mid-air, Su Xiao flipped his body and delivered a side kick, striking the Moon God's neck.

Su Xiao landed; the Moon God flew several meters to the side and hung motionless in mid-air.

"God, you underestimate technique."

Su Xiao wiped the blood from his chin. His health was recovering rapidly. He had used the Ancient Secret Medicine twice in a row, and its effectiveness was beginning to diminish. A third use might not even restore 20% of his health, and a fourth would be ineffective or even cause drug rejection.

The Moon God did not look as relaxed as he appeared; his bones were covered in cracks. From the start of the battle, he had been eroded by the Dead Silence power.

By now, the Moon God's health was at 29.7%. Su Xiao's current strength was far greater than when he had fought the Black King, yet the Moon God was much harder to deal with. However, his defense wasn't as strong as imagined. The Moon God's power lay in his soul-based abilities; those without a certain level of strength wouldn't even qualify to fight him.

If not for the temporary boost to his soul strength, Su Xiao likely wouldn't have lasted this long.

Su Xiao sheathed his long blade, nearly 3,000 points of Qing Gang Ying energy clinging to the sheathed weapon.

The entire blade turned black-blue, including Su Xiao's right forearm, and the fragmented blade form of Ban Zhi floated around him.

Su Xiao assumed a draw-slash stance, exhaling a puff of white mist as he actively activated the Blade Extremity ability to empower this strike.

"Absolute Shadow."

Zing.

When speed reaches its absolute limit, even a god cannot dodge in time.

Crack. A rib on the Moon God's torso snapped. Starting from that slash, countless blade glows erupted, engulfing the Moon God.

The sound of the strikes echoed far and wide. Watching the spherical mass of blade glows, the Earth Vein Tree's face looked somewhat dazed; it felt that this human truly might slaughter the Moon God.

The blade glows dissipated after 32 seconds. The Moon God stood in place, covered in slashes.

Pshhh!

A black-blue spike pierced out from the Moon God's crown. Immediately after, more black-blue spikes erupted from all over his body.

The Moon God slowly raised his arm to grab a black-blue spike, but before he could exert any force, he pitched forward.

With a thud, the three-meter-tall Moon God collapsed to the ground.

"It... really... succeeded."

The Earth Vein Tree looked at the fallen Moon God, unable to believe that a god older than itself had been defeated.

"Human is strong, human is strong."

The two tree spirits fluttered about, looking very much like cheerleaders.

"Nice! This monster is finally down."

Baha descended from the sky. Before it could land, Su Xiao raised his blood-soaked arm, signaling Baha not to approach, because... there was no kill notification.

Gurgle...

The dead Crawling Dragon moved. To be precise, the flesh on its body was churning.