Chapter 354: Clouds Rise, Clouds Fall

"Jiang Jin—"

Atop the peak of Iron Peak Mountain, at an altitude of over three hundred meters, the "Blade King" Gu Vanguard Commander, who was being besieged by four magic treasures, suddenly roared:

"Why?!"

Gu Vanguard Commander questioned loudly, wanting to know why.

Why would Bian Jingru choose to abandon him, a Martial Arts Master who held such an important tactical position?

"Sigh."

At the foot of the mountain, Jiang Jin, who was keeping his eyes closed while remotely controlling his flying sword, let out a sigh and did not answer Gu Vanguard Commander's question.

The mortal world is like a tide; under the grand scheme of things, even if you are a Martial Arts Master, you can only be submerged by the waves!

"Gu Vanguard Commander, you dare to be distracted while fighting me?"

Atop the peak, Xu Jing's voice rang out.

As his words fell, Gu Vanguard Commander suddenly plummeted downward!

He fell for over a hundred meters before Gu Vanguard Commander managed to stabilize his figure again.

Taking advantage of his distraction just now, Xu Jing had used his water-control supernatural ability to influence the clouds and mist around him, forcibly dragging him down a distance!

Now, the two had entered a stalemate once more.

During their last encounter, Gu Vanguard Commander had been unwilling to engage in a battle of attrition with Xu Jing, so he had taken the initiative to land and fight Xu Jing on the ground.

This time, Gu Vanguard Commander was in mid-air and simultaneously under siege by four Great Mages of the Possession Realm; being inside the grand array, his consumption would only be greater.

If he continued to clash with Xu Jing, the one who lost would definitely be him.

Gu Vanguard Commander looked at the sky above with unwillingness, then suddenly descended from the heavens, bringing with him a massive amount of cyan cloud energy as he plummeted rapidly, smashing toward Xu Jing.

"Good, no one interfere!"

Xu Jing laughed loudly and leaped violently into the air.

Beneath his feet were the black tiles of the main hall's roof; these tiles turned into powder piece by piece, and the roof of the hall was completely crushed!

Xu Jing transformed into a deep blue meteor flying toward the sky; wherever he passed, the air froze, and countless frost danced.

The cloud energy around Gu Vanguard Commander surged crazily, turning into a cyan tide, as if he had pulled the sea of clouds from the nine heavens down into the human world!

The two Martial Arts Masters collided on a single line.

Boom—

With the point of their collision as the center, a visible "mirror surface" expanded outward, and the fierce, violent wind blew the trees on the mountain peaks thousands of meters away until they rustled!

The next second, Xu Jing fell from the sky and smashed into the main hall below where Gu Vanguard Commander had been in seclusion.

Seeing this scene, the disciples of the Iron Peak Sect, who had already surrendered and given up resistance, all had their eyes light up, revealing expectant gazes.

Rumble—

The main hall that Xu Jing had crashed into collapsed with a roar; bricks, tiles, rubble, and broken wood flew everywhere, and dust filled the sky.

"Hahahahaha—"

Xu Jing's wild laughter came from the ruins.

The next second, a flash of blade light carrying a sea of clouds descended from the sky and slashed onto the ruins.

Boom!!!!

The earth shook.

The cyan cloud energy enveloped the space for several hundred meters around; sounds of thunder continuously came from within, and the earth shook again and again!

Two hundred soldiers of the Imperial Camp guarded the perimeter, having formed their military array in advance, their powerful military baleful energy held back but not released.

If they were to join forces to unleash the military baleful energy, it would be enough to threaten a Martial Arts Master, so they were responsible for suppressing the formation in this battle.

Once Xu Jing was no match for Gu Vanguard Commander, or if Gu Vanguard Commander intended to flee, they would have to take action.

At the foot of the mountain, Jiang Jin was sensing the situation of the two Martial Arts Masters' battle through his flying sword.

In his perception, it was as if two scorching little suns were colliding again and again atop Iron Peak Mountain!

A Martial Arts Master, whose martial path has reached the divine, combines "essence," "Qi," and "spirit" perfectly in every gesture; for a magic treasure that has not yet generated a true spirit, it is like a furnace to ice and snow.

Therefore, Jiang Jin had no way to "see" clearly the specific situation of Gu Vanguard Commander and Xu Jing's battle.

This made him unable to help but feel a bit worried.

Defeating a Martial Arts Master and killing a Martial Arts Master are two completely different levels of difficulty; even if Xu Jing's supernatural ability happened to counter Gu Vanguard Commander's, Xu Jing might be able to defeat Gu Vanguard Commander, but not necessarily succeed in killing him.

Originally, when Bian Jingru asked the Martial Arts Academy for help, he had hoped that the Martial Arts Academy could send two Martial Arts Masters to deal with the Iron Peak Sect, but in the end, only Xu Jing came alone.

There was no help for it; the status of the Martial Arts Academy was too transcendent, and even Bian Jingru, this Garrison Commander, had no way to forcibly order the Martial Arts Academy to do anything.

"Is this Xu Jing really that confident?"

Jiang Jin did not dare to be careless and continued to maintain the Four Symbols Constellation Seal.

If Gu Vanguard Commander were to escape today, the consequences would be unimaginable!

Atop Iron Peak Mountain, that large mass of cloud energy began to move; any building it enveloped would become a ruin once it moved away.

This mass of cloud energy was like a terrifying beast, crushing everything and devouring it completely.

The Cloud-Riding supernatural ability might seem like it can only carry people in flight, but in reality, the clouds and mist themselves contain extremely powerful strength.

Gu Vanguard Commander was known as the "Blade King" and had long since combined his blade techniques with the Cloud-Riding supernatural ability, allowing him to turn the clouds and mist into blades to slash at his enemies.

Therefore, being within the range covered by the clouds and mist was like having countless blades ready to hack at you at any moment!

This was originally an extremely terrifying ability, but unfortunately, it was useless against Xu Jing.

These clouds and mist all contained moisture, and Xu Jing could directly influence the clouds and mist themselves through his water-control supernatural ability, so being in the clouds and mist was like being on his home turf!

In the clouds and mist, Gu Vanguard Commander slashed a blade at Xu Jing, and the surrounding clouds and mist turned into blades, slashing at Xu Jing from all directions simultaneously.

However, these originally sharp clouds and mist became soft again upon touching Xu Jing's body, losing all their power.

Xu Jing dodged Gu Vanguard Commander's slash sideways and pressed his palm against the opponent's blade.

The next second, the layer of cloud energy on Gu Vanguard Commander's blade was frozen, and with a shake of Xu Jing's palm, it shattered with a roar.

The last time the two fought, Gu Vanguard Commander had intentionally held back and ultimately lost to Xu Jing.

This time, he no longer held back and released his power completely.

However, he discovered in despair that Xu Jing had also held back last time.

Gu Vanguard Commander had been famous for many years and had become a Martial Arts Master over a decade ago, while Xu Jing should have only broken through in the last year or two.

Normally, Gu Vanguard Commander's foundation and accumulation should be much deeper than Xu Jing's, but in this contest of supernatural abilities, he had failed to win against Xu Jing.

After the two had fought for over ten minutes, Gu Vanguard Commander had fallen completely into a disadvantage!

"Since you call yourself the 'Blade King,' then I will kill you with a blade."

Xu Jing said suddenly.

Following that, he waved one hand, and a strand of cyan cloud energy that originally belonged to Gu Vanguard Commander suddenly broke free from his control, turning into a blade that he gripped in his hand.

At this time, Gu Vanguard Commander's black outer robe was completely shattered, the protective clothing he wore inside was also torn apart for the most part, and there were many wounds on his body.

His gaze remained calm and was not shaken by Xu Jing's words.

Even in a disadvantageous position, he did not feel that he had absolutely no chance of winning.

As long as he could defeat Xu Jing, he would have a chance to escape today.

Swish—

The next second, the clouds and mist between Gu Vanguard Commander and Xu Jing were shattered, and Xu Jing attacked with his blade!

The two turned into two afterimages, fighting crazily within the clouds and mist.

Blade light flashed continuously, and the peerless blade energy tore the clouds and mist to shreds, leaving deep gullies on the ground!

Suddenly, a flash of blade light emerged from the clouds and mist, and the powerful blade energy cut through a corner of a main hall.

The next second, an entire wall of that main hall, along with the roof above it, was sliced open, the cut surface as smooth as a mirror.

Inside the clouds and mist, fresh blood was constantly splattering from both Xu Jing and Gu Vanguard Commander.

Xu Jing chose a fighting style of trading wounds for wounds; with their powerful physiques and vitality, as long as their hearts were not shattered or their heads directly chopped off, other injuries would not be fatal.

However, after fighting for a moment, Gu Vanguard Commander could no longer bear it, because every time a wound was slashed into his body, the blood would be influenced by Xu Jing's water-control supernatural ability; even if he could only exert influence for the split second the blade swept past, it was enough to make Gu Vanguard Commander lose more blood.

Martial Arts Masters are also human, and losing too much blood will also lead to death!

In terms of pure blade technique, Xu Jing was actually inferior to Gu Vanguard Commander.

But in this style of trading wounds for wounds, Gu Vanguard Commander was at too much of a disadvantage.

Both of them had self-healing supernatural abilities, and they were both of the core level, so as they fought, the wounds on their bodies were also healing rapidly.

It was just that because Gu Vanguard Commander was losing more blood, his consumption was greater than Xu Jing's.

After fighting for a while longer, Gu Vanguard Commander suddenly disregarded everything and slashed a blade at Xu Jing's head!

At this time, Xu Jing also slashed a blade at his head, and he had attacked first, so normally, Gu Vanguard Commander would die first.

But the blade Xu Jing had condensed from clouds and mist suddenly slowed down just as it was about to touch Gu Vanguard Commander.

It was because Gu Vanguard Commander had been silently "dropping" some cloud energy onto this blade during the previous battle, thereby using the cloud energy to exert influence on the blade body at the critical moment.

The struggle between experts is decided by a single line.

As long as Gu Vanguard Commander could make Xu Jing slow down by 0.1 seconds, he could achieve victory.

"Won!"

As the long blade in his hand landed successfully on Xu Jing's head, Gu Vanguard Commander felt a joy in his heart.

However, the next instant, he felt as if the power of his blade had slashed into a bottomless swamp, and he had failed to slice open Xu Jing's head as he had wished.

"You?!"

Gu Vanguard Commander widened his eyes abruptly, his face full of disbelief.

Xu Jing looked at Gu Vanguard Commander with a somewhat crazy gaze, the corners of his mouth curling upward.

The blade in his hand, condensed from clouds and mist, suddenly exploded, and a vast expanse of black liquid enveloped Gu Vanguard Commander!

"How is this possible?"

Gu Vanguard Commander's final voice drifted out from the clouds and mist.

A moment later, the cyan clouds and mist gradually dissipated.

On the martial arts practice field a thousand meters away, hundreds of Iron Blade Sect disciples who had already discarded their weapons stared fixedly in this direction.

When they saw the scene clearly, someone suddenly fell to their knees and began to wail uncontrollably.

The ground was covered in crisscrossing gullies, and the surroundings were a scene of ruins.

Amidst the ruins, Xu Jing held Gu Vanguard Commander's head in one hand, while the opponent's headless corpse lay at his feet!

Xu Jing held Gu Vanguard Commander's head high and laughed loudly:

"The traitor Gu Vanguard Commander has been slain by me—"

The Four Symbols Constellation Seal in the sky dissipated, the sky turned bright once more, and the sunlight shone down.

The mortal world is like a tide, and people are like water; how many can return from the pugilistic world?

That patch of blue clouds that successfully flew to the peak of Datong Prefecture over a decade ago fell today.

Requesting monthly tickets.

(End of this chapter)