Chapter 42: Thunderbolt at a Finger Snap

Before, when the Ninth Palm Order and Hong Laolao fought, Wu Tie watched from afar, unable to see their movements at all.

As soon as the Eighth Palm Order made a move, Wu Tie suddenly realized that he still couldn't see the Eighth Palm Order's movements.

The Eighth Palm Order gave a soft shout, and only the sound of a straight sword being drawn was heard before Wu Tie's vision suddenly went dark.

Darkness surged forward.

All directions were pitch black.

It seemed as if heaven and earth were wrapped in black mist, with no light anywhere around.

The heavy darkness was like a solid substance, collapsing and pressing in from all sides. His eyes could see nothing, his ears could hear nothing; even through his tight armor, Wu Tie could feel the darkness like sticky, moldy fish skin, thickly coating his skin.

Every pore felt blocked, completely unable to sense external information.

Even the invisible force field formed from his innate divine ability "Control Heaven and Earth" was compressed by the heavy darkness to within three feet of his body.

Within three feet, Wu Tie could barely sense the surroundings through the invisible force field; beyond three feet it was pitch black and vague, as if standing in an endless dark void, empty and without support, causing a feeling of fear and despair from the bottom of one's heart.

Hiss!

In the darkness, a flash of electric light attacked.

That was the Eighth Palm Order swinging his blade to attack, a straight chop aimed at Wu Tie's neck.

Wu Tie hastily put his helmet back on, swinging his spear in an arc to block the Eighth Palm Order's straight sword.

The invisible force field sensed the incoming blade light; the blade was already less than three feet from Wu Tie. Although Wu Tie's spear swing was extremely fast, the Eighth Palm Order's speed was several times faster. The spear had barely been raised when the long blade chopped Wu Tie's neck.

With a loud bang, sparks flew everywhere.

The blade of the Eighth Palm Order's five-foot straight sword flashed with blood light, fine patterns on the edge suddenly lighting up, leaving not a trace on the cut.

All along, no matter swords or blades striking, the armor on Wu Tie's body would either break or notch upon any blade contact, displaying an extremely strong stance.

The Eighth Palm Order's straight sword was of extremely high quality; although it likewise couldn't pierce Wu Tie's armor, it suffered no damage itself.

A huge force struck, Wu Tie's neck flared with pain, his breath caught in his throat, and he was flung backward. Even with such sturdy armor, Wu Tie still felt as if his neck had been chopped, a bloody taste rising in his throat.

Before his body landed after being airborne, several blade lights flashed down from the darkness as fast as lightning.

Indeed like lightning, at least Wu Tie could barely sense the blade lights via the invisible force field, but he could neither dodge nor had the strength to. The blade lights fell like electricity, and Wu Tie's body resembled a leaf in the wind, spinning uncontrollably, being chopped and flying everywhere.

Sparks flew, and the piercing chopping sounds continued.

Wu Tie's body spun rapidly, like a windmill turning fast, unable to stabilize.

The Eighth Palm Order's icy voice came from the darkness: "Interesting, this armor must be an ancient treasure, truly sturdy."

In the darkness, Wu Tie growled low, angry and fearful.

He judged that he was no match for the three Palm Orders, yet he hadn't expected the strength gap to be so huge. Feeling the heavy blows continually striking his neck, chest, abdomen, and ribs, if not for his truly sturdy armor, he would have lost count of how many times he'd already died.

"Old Iron... I'm no match for them!" Wu Tie wanted to shout loudly, but felt embarrassed, so he kept his mouth shut.

Thud, a huge bang, Wu Tie collided with a thick stone stalactite.

His body sank deep into the stone stalactite, the Eighth Palm Order pursued like a maggot clinging to bone, his straight sword bringing forth countless fierce blade lights, viciously stabbing Wu Tie's body. The impact sounds came densely, Wu Tie's body shaking violently; the stone stalactite held for only a breath before Wu Tie broke it and flew out from behind.

"Damn... bastard..." Wu Tie's body spun rapidly, his toes suddenly touching solid ground, he forcefully planted his feet and stood.

The surrounding ground trembled slightly; Wu Tie exerted too much force, his lower legs below the knees sinking deep into the mud.

Unable to see or hear, the invisible force field could only cover a three-foot radius around him. Instinctively exerting all his strength, Wu Tie's spear let out a sharp piercing sound as he thrust straight forward.

The Eighth Palm Order, holding a straight sword, flew straight at Wu Tie from directly ahead.

The Eighth Palm Order's speed was like a ghost's; Wu Tie's spear reach its peak speed, in the flash of lightning the spear almost pierced the Eighth Palm Order's chest.

With a strange laugh, the Eighth Palm Order truly became like an intangible, incorporeal ghost, his body brushing the spear tip in a turn, silently evading the spear thrust. He put away his futile straight sword, his body spinning to appear behind Wu Tie, and grabbed Wu Tie's shoulders with a fierce grasp.

The next instant, before Wu Tie could retract his spear, the Eighth Palm Order lifted him up.

In a moment's time, the Eighth Palm Order lifted Wu Tie to the top of the vault.

"Die!" the Eighth Palm Order growled low near Wu Tie's ear, then with both hands heaved, throwing Wu Tie from a height of several thousand meters above the ground.

Wu Tie abruptly left the darkness created by the Eighth Palm Order, emerging from the thick gloom to see directly beneath him a sharp stone stalactite. A stalactite over ten meters long stretched straight upward like a fierce spear.

The Eighth Palm Order's strength was immense, Wu Tie's falling speed from great height was extremely fast.

In just a breath, the stone stalactite was right before his eyes.

Wu Tie let out a long whistle, the invisible force field fully activated, his downward plummeting speed rapidly slowing, the air around him undulating, even forming visible rings of ripples around his body.

With a loud bang, even though Wu Tie had slowed his fall, he still slammed solidly into the protruding stone stalactite.

The over-ten-meter-long stone stalactite shattered completely, exploding into countless fist-sized fragments that sprayed outward.

Wu Tie's abdomen was heavily struck by the stone stalactite, his body nearly folding in half, then rebounding seven or eight meters high before falling again toward the ground.

Intense pain surged, Wu Tie involuntarily cried out. His entire spine underwent violent shaking, giving him the sensation that each joint was nearly dislocated and the whole spine almost shattered.

His spine suffered violent shaking, Wu Tie's whole body convulsed, rolling violently on the ground.

The Eighth Palm Order chuckled low: "Ignorant child, thinking that just because you obtained a piece of ancient treasure armor you can act arrogantly? What gives you the right to oppose my Mist Blade?"

On the wooden boat, Gu Gonggong and Lan Gonggong exchanged a glance, then both stepped forward together.

The two additional Mist Blade Orders stepped forward two paces, silently blocking in front of Gu Gonggong and Lan Gonggong.

Members of the Changsheng Sect are accustomed to borrowing force to strike force, and to using external power to achieve their goals.

It was clear they saw the Eighth Palm Order heavily strike Wu Tie; they wanted to rescue him. The purpose of rescuing Wu Tie was nothing more than to let him continue opposing the Mist Blade, thereby continuing to weaken its strength.

But since the two Palm Orders had seen through Gu Gonggong and Lan Gonggong's intentions, how could they let them succeed?

Separated by a river a hundred meters wide, both sides were tense, a battle could break out at any moment.

"Kid, no treasure comes without a cost…… Your armor's defense is so strong, but how many heavy blows can it withstand?" the Eighth Palm Order stepped on a wisp of black energy and swiftly descended from the sky.

He drew his straight sword and fiercely slashed out dozens of blade auras several meters long, howling as they struck Wu Tie's body.

On Wu Tie's armor, extremely fine streams of light continually appeared.

As the Eighth Palm Order said, this set of armor on Wu Tie has its own defensive limit. When he previously fought Stone Spirit Qing, the armor had exceeded its limit due to the short-term onslaught being too fierce and violent, and thus detached from Wu Tie on its own.

Fine streams of light appeared, blade auras continually fell, producing incessant piercing impact sounds.

Wu Tie's body trembled violently; he was hacked and his body kept sinking into the ground, and within just a few breaths, a pit seven to eight meters in diameter and several meters deep had already appeared beside him.

Suddenly, the armor on Wu Tie's body began to wriggle.

Eight Palm Order's attack had already reached the limit of the armor's defense; it was far more violent than Shi Lingqing's attack that day.

The armor quickly melted, turning into a pallid metallic fluid that flowed down and condensed beside Wu Tie into a metal sphere the size of a human head.

"Marvelous, this treasure is mine." Eight Palm Order laughed lowly, having already descended to less than ten meters above the ground, he flicked his wrist and stabbed a blade toward Wu Tie's heart.

Several kilometers away, on a small hill, Lao Tie appeared silently.

His eyes blazed with Blood Light, tiny electric lights flickered across his mouth full of big teeth, and from his slightly opened mouth flowed a thick, almost tangible Blood Light, as if a tremendous force might erupt from his mouth at any moment.

Wu Tie lay on the ground, Eight Palm Order fell from the sky, Lao Tie's mouth slowly opened, the tremendous attack he had been building up was about to erupt, when Wu Tie suddenly let out a strange cry, and the first phalanx of his left index finger suddenly lit up.

Intense pain surged; his left index finger felt as if it were being burned by fierce flame, and also as if it had turned into a black hole, continually drawing Wu Tie's flesh and blood.

In short, at that moment Wu Tie had the illusion that his left hand no longer belonged to him; his left index finger twitched violently, his entire left arm jerked up uncontrollably, like a spirit snake about to strike.

Wu Tie instinctively curled his finger, then flicked it lightly.

His left index finger was like a giant crossbow firing; the fingertip shattered the air, emitting a tremendous "Boom."

With a casual flick of his finger, Wu Tie's left index finger had torn through the air, easily exceeding the speed of sound.

The skin and flesh at his fingertip exploded, and the force delivered by that finger flick far exceeded what his fingertip skin and flesh could withstand.

Droplets of blood sprayed, and tiny fragments of flesh flew out; Wu Tie's left index finger flicked and happened to strike the straight blade that was thrusting downward.

The straight blade in Eight Palm Order's hand was over five feet long, its body no wider than two fingers, narrow and sharp; the blade exuded a menacing blood-red hue, and countless fine blood-red patterns flickered along its edge, giving off a suffocating sanguine chill.

This is a divine weapon; as one of the Venerables of the Mist Blade, Eight Palm Order's armament would naturally not be ordinary.

Given Eight Palm Order's immense strength, the fact that this straight blade collided with Wu Tie's armor over a hundred times without damage shows that its forging technique is superb and that it was cast from extremely precious materials.

Wu Tie's fingertip struck the straight blade.

Wu Tie suddenly realized that the first phalanx of his left index finger was violently vibrating.

It vibrated at high frequency just like the Chiyou's Tooth once did; the violent vibration made it impossible for Wu Tie to discern the shape of that phalanx with the naked eye.

A piercing impact sound rang out.

This impact sound actually consisted of tens of thousands of extremely brief impacts strung together; Wu Tie's first phalanx vibrated violently, and what seemed like a light tap was in fact his bone striking Eight Palm Order's straight blade tens of thousands of times in that instant.

Clashing head-on, the straight blade that had withstood over a hundred blows against Wu Tie's armor without damage suddenly shattered.

Sparks flew in all directions.

The straight blade broke apart, its largest fragment no bigger than a sesame seed.

Feeling the blade grow light in his hand, Eight Palm Order gasped in shock and instinctively let out a shrill cry.

The straight blade was pulverized; even the hilt over a foot long in his hand exploded into fragments.

The shattered blade fragments continued to vibrate violently, the tiny pieces constantly breaking down and fragmenting further.

Wu Tie instinctively recalled the legend of the Chiyou's Tooth: any metal it touches shatters. And sure enough, the straight blade in Eight Palm Order's hand had indeed been shattered.

Shattering was not enough; Wu Tie also saw…

He couldn't see it with his naked eye; rather, an invisible field surrounding him allowed him to perceive, amidst the countless blade fragments, a tiny, extremely bright point of light streaming swiftly, like a brook being gulped down by his first phalanx.

To be precise, the first phalanx of Wu Tie's left index finger shattered Eight Palm Order's straight blade, drawing a great deal of its essence from this rare divine weapon, and greedily swallowing that essence.

A strand of extremely minute scorching energy shot out from the first phalanx, like a fine needle, viciously piercing the second phalanx of Wu Tie's left index finger.

Wu Tie unconsciously glanced at his left index finger.

He instinctively sensed that the second phalanx of his left index finger had become much stronger.

Not only hardness and flexibility, but other changes occurred as well—some wondrous alterations that Wu Tie could not yet comprehend; even the hue of that phalanx had deepened slightly.

Eight Palm Order stared, dumbfounded, at his disintegrating straight blade.

Wu Tie leapt up, let out a long whistle, curled his left index finger, and then flicked it hard into the center of Eight Palm Order's chest.

This strike, Wu Tie exerted all his strength.

His left index finger vibrated violently; with a "Pop," all the flesh and blood of Wu Tie's left index finger exploded, forming a small mist of blood that scattered.

The phalanx, tinged with an odd deep hue, pierced like an iron blade through tofu, easily penetrating Eight Palm Order's thoracic vertebrae.

Eight Palm Order cried out in pain, spitting a mouthful of old blood, stepping back on black vapor; his chest rang with dense cracking sounds, as Wu Tie's finger shattered every bone in his front torso, nearly shattering his entire upper body.

"Old Eight…" the two Venerables of the Mist Blade turned their heads in shock.

Bone Grandpa and Lan Grandpa burst into wild laughter, shot up into the air, and lunged at the two Venerables.