Chapter 3653: What's the Point of Saving Face When Your Life Is Gone?

Wu Bolin thought this strike would at least seriously injure Ye Chen, if not kill him, but he didn't expect Ye Chen's dodging speed to be even faster than he had anticipated.

This strike did not cause a fatal wound, only leaving a minor cut in the skin and flesh; for a cultivator, such an injury is negligible, and as long as there is sufficient spiritual energy in the body and timely repair, there will be no serious problem.

Nevertheless, this strike gave Wu Bolin a great deal of confidence.

He looked at Ye Chen and sneered contemptuously: "Kid, you're lucky today—this might be the worst state I've been in for years; otherwise, with your pitiful cultivation, I would have already taken your head with a single strike!"

Ye Chen coldly replied: "Don't you know the saying 'strike while the iron is hot'? You're burning your cultivation to exchange spiritual energy and fight me; as long as I can outlast you, I will eventually drain your cultivation below mine!"

Wu Bolin said disdainfully: "You were just lucky to dodge that strike, kid, but next time you won't be so fortunate! Do you really think I, Wu Bolin, only have this much ability?"

Having said that, Wu Bolin once again activated his flying sword and shot toward Ye Chen at extreme speed.

Ye Chen had no other option; the only thing he could do was to interfere as much as possible, so he immediately unleashed three successive Thunderclap Orders toward his opponent while himself dodging at breakneck speed.

Wu Bolin hadn't expected Ye Chen to be so proficient with the Thunderclap Order, unleashing three in the blink of an eye; thinking of the pain of being electrocuted all over, he felt a twinge of fear and immediately dodged to the side.

To Wu Bolin, Ye Chen's Thunderclap Order was becoming easier and easier to defend against.

The greatest advantage of the Thunderclap Order is its ability to strike unexpectedly and kill in one blow.

Many opponents never imagined thunder would fall from the sky, so most are hit on their first attack.

But once the Thunderclap Order fails to catch the opponent off guard and kill them, it becomes much harder to achieve surprise again.

Wu Bolin also noticed Ye Chen was running out of tricks, and the psychological pressure of burning his meridians eased somewhat; after dodging the three thunderbolts, he immediately charged toward Ye Chen at extreme speed, accelerating the burning of his meridians, causing his internal spiritual energy to erupt again, forming an invisible, intangible pressure that completely surrounded Ye Chen.

At this moment, he had entered the state of extreme meridian burning, determined to kill Ye Chen in one strike.

Ye Chen focused all his energy on defending against Wu Bolin's flying sword, but he didn't expect to suddenly feel as if he were submerged in water, his body encountering tremendous resistance.

Recalling that he had just used this method to block Wu Bolin's flying sword, he instantly realized Wu Bolin was using the same tactic against him.

Enveloped by this powerful spiritual energy, it felt as if a slowing spell had been cast upon him; Ye Chen already couldn't outrun Wu Bolin's flying sword, and with his speed reduced, escaping the demon's grasp became even harder.

Seeing his flying sword about to pierce Ye Chen's heart, Wu Bolin remained uneasy—he had already expended too much spiritual energy in this meridian burn, and if he couldn't finish the job in one go, he feared he would suffer from successive weakening and exhaustion.

Thus, he gritted his teeth and shouted: "Ten Thousand Swords Return to the Origin!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, the flying sword seemed to be under an illusion, instantly transforming into a sky-full of sword blades.

Countless sword shadows appeared in the air, each streaking toward Ye Chen at breakneck speed.

Originally, Ye Chen had hoped to rely on his greater spiritual energy reserves to block the attack, but he never imagined his opponent still had such a move.

This move, Ten Thousand Swords Return to the Origin, directly caused the flying sword to manifest countless duplicates, which shot toward Ye Chen from all directions at high speed, making it nearly impossible for him to tell which one was the real body.

Moreover, he had a strong intuition that Wu Bolin's Ten Thousand Swords Return to the Origin was not merely an illusion technique, for he had felt powerful spiritual energy erupt from Wu Bolin's body and flow into the flying sword; thus, without the duplicates, this attack would already be at least two or three times stronger than before. Combined with the sky-full of sword shadows, he sensed it was not just a single real body—more likely one real body plus multiple illusory duplicates each possessing at least fifty percent of the real body's strength.

Under these circumstances, Ye Chen had no way to dodge by movement, nor could he condense spiritual energy into a shield to block a single direction.

In the flash of lightning and stone, Ye Chen considered many countermeasures, but all were rejected; he believed his only option now was to gather all his spiritual energy to his body's surface, evenly defending every part.

Yet this approach had an obvious drawback: once struck by the true body of the opponent's flying sword, he would likely be unable to resist, probably pierced through his defense and even his body.

Though extremely dangerous, he had no other choice left.

Wu Bolin also knew this combination move had essentially sealed Ye Chen's fate; though the cost to his meridians was great, the joy of victory outweighed it, and he laughed loudly to the heavens, roaring at the moment the countless flying swords were about to pierce Ye Chen's body: "Haha, kid, I'll make you die without a whole corpse!"

Ye Chen wasn't afraid of death, for he knew he couldn't truly die, thanks to the ring Lin Wan'er had given him—at worst, he would only endure the pain of death once.

So he steeled himself and said coldly: "You won't even get to see my corpse!"

Immediately, he sat down on the ground, gathered all his spiritual energy to his body's surface, and prepared to withstand this Ten Thousand Swords Return to the Origin head-on!

Wu Bolin's flying sword arrived in the blink of an eye!

Ye Chen felt as if he were wearing a bulletproof vest, being wildly swept by countless bullets.

The defense he had painstakingly built was being destroyed by countless flying swords at extreme speed; the opponent's attack was truly overwhelming, and the meridian-burning method allowed Wu Bolin to unleash this full-powered strike at great cost. Ye Chen's cultivation was far too low to have any chance of victory.

Shortly after, Ye Chen felt his spiritual energy nearing exhaustion.

Moreover, even taking medicine now would be too late, for the consumption rate far exceeded the rate at which pills could replenish it.

Although he had prepared himself to feel death once again, this pain would be far greater than when Changsheng Bo self-destructed—much, much stronger.

Although Changsheng Bo's self-explosion was also powerful, its advantage lay in its extreme speed—people felt the excruciating pain in that instant. Ye Chen even thought that without the life-preserving ring, he might not have felt any pain at all, but would have been blown to dust immediately.

But this time was different—this time it was literally death by a thousand cuts; his spiritual energy had been drained to ninety-nine percent, his clothes and skin sliced by the frenzied sword duplicates into countless wounds, and he could only endure this agony with astonishing willpower.

At that moment, he suddenly felt an immense force rushing straight toward his crown, like a ten-thousand-ton giant sword falling from ten thousand meters above onto his head—so oppressive it was almost suffocating.

He knew this must be the true body of Wu Bolin's flying sword.

He also knew he could not escape this calamity.

Not far away, Wu Bolin's expression showed he had already begun celebrating victory.

Above his head, the immense pressure even made Ye Chen feel as if the pores on his scalp were gulping wind into his crown.

At the last moment, he couldn't help but touch the ring Lin Wan'er had given him; just as he had prepared to go to Lin Wan'er's side again, he suddenly realized Lin Wan'er wasn't alone—if he appeared naked before three women, wouldn't that scene be a bit too sour and refreshing?

Wu Bolin stared at Ye Chen with a sinister grin, intending to see his final terror and struggle before death, but instead he saw on Ye Chen's face a hint of... embarrassment?!

Embarrassment?!

What is he embarrassed about?!

Wu Bolin found it unbelievable.

He felt as if Ye Chen, at this moment, wasn't thinking about death, but rather that the upcoming scene would make him lose face.

Wu Bolin was even more curious: this guy, his life is gone, and he still cares about face?