Chapter 1142

Ying Zheng was furious beyond measure and loudly commanded,

"Men, stop Wei Zhuang."

So saying, he waved his great hand and once more directed the dragon qi to attack Cheng Jiao,

"Since you've died and come back to life, let Us have a good look at how much fire your Ten Thousand Ages Dragon Emperor Art has attained!"

"General Fan, you must ensure that Wei Zhuang can slay that mirage beast."

Cheng Jiao also met force with force, giving orders to the men of Despair Shanzhuang, then likewise activated the Ten Thousand Ages Dragon Emperor Art and took on Ying Zheng's strike.

Not only that, he even toyed with the dragon qi in his palm, a hint of playfulness flashing in his eyes,

"Hmph, my Ten Thousand Ages Dragon Emperor Art will absolutely not lose to yours.

Since you've come here today, let us have a proper reckoning between us."

So saying, Cheng Jiao no longer cared about anything else and charged toward Ying Zheng.

Both of these men cultivated the Great Qin state-guarding divine art, the Ten Thousand Ages Dragon Emperor Art.

In every gesture and movement, boundless Great Qin dragon qi filled the space between them.

For a time, the very sky was dyed gold by the Great Qin dragon qi.

From time to time, Long Ming's roar trembled, echoing through heaven and earth.

On the other side, following Ying Zheng's command, the Shadow Guard who had followed him immediately appeared and pounced toward Wei Zhuang.

Zhang Han was precisely the commander of the Shadow Guard, and he was the first to lead the charge.

But he had only charged halfway when General Fan in black armor flashed forward and blocked Zhang Han's path.

"Stay!"

General Fan said little; with a sweep of his heavy sword, he not only held Zhang Han back but also prevented several nearby Shadow Guard from breaking through his sword net.

"Good."

Zhang Han saw that this General Fan's sword was broad and heavy, likely weighing over a thousand jin.

Yet General Fan wielded it as if holding a chicken feather.

The exquisite subtlety of his swordsmanship truly opened Zhang Han's eyes.

Immediately, the two treasured swords at his back clashed together, and he barely managed to engage General Fan.

The moment he took the first strike, he felt a mountain-toppling, sea-overwhelming surge of true essence attacking him.

In his heart he secretly wondered—where had Cheng Jiao gathered such a master, one who possessed such ferocious strength?

Why had Great Qin never received any intelligence on this man?

Thinking this, Zhang Han's hands did not slow; with a clever thrust of his sword, he barely managed to parry General Fan's heavy cleaving strike.

He intended to use a guiding technique to divert the force of this strike to one side.

At the same time, his other sword traced an arc, stabbing toward General Fan's armpit.

This General Fan was armored all over, but the armpit position had no armor.

If Zhang Han's thrust landed, General Fan's strength would surely be greatly diminished.

General Fan, seeing the exquisite swordsmanship of his twin blades, could not help but utter a word of praise.

Although his heavy sword's attack had been drawn off by Zhang Han and could not return in time to defend,

just as Zhang Han's other sword was about to strike his armpit, he suddenly sent out a palm that, swift as lightning, struck the blade of that sword.

This palm not only took Zhang Han completely by surprise,

but with a single strike knocked Zhang Han's blade off course.

And another surge of immense true essence, transmitted through the blade, attacked Zhang Han.

Zhang Han never imagined that this heavy sword weighed at least a thousand jin, yet General Fan could grip it with one hand?

At once, two massive surges of true essence attacked Zhang Han.

Without time to think, Zhang Han could only gather his true essence, striving to take the blow head-on.

But his strength was, after all, a notch weaker than this General Fan's.

Added to which, he had engaged in hasty combat, and his gathering of essence was insufficient.

The moment they made contact, his true essence was instantly shattered.

He felt as though his chest had been hammered by a heavy mallet, and Zhang Han could not help but spit out a mouthful of fresh blood.

"Die!"

General Fan, seeing his chance had come, reversed his grip on the heavy sword in one hand and swept it upward from below toward Zhang Han.

The heavy sword had already reached beneath Zhang Han; if General Fan's upward sweep landed, Zhang Han would instantly be split in two.

"General, I'll aid you!"

Seeing Zhang Han in peril, the several Shadow Guard at his side immediately hurled the iron chains in their hands.

These iron chains were standard-issue equipment of the Shadow Guard, forged from century-old cold iron.

No divine weapon could destroy them!

Once thrown, several iron chains bound General Fan's heavy sword, layer upon layer.

General Fan let out a savage laugh,

"Overestimating yourselves!"

So saying, he prepared to channel his true essence to shatter these iron chains.

But when he gathered his true essence and sent it forth, he found that no matter what, he could not break free of the chains' binding.

"This is... clinging like a maggot to bone, following like a shadow?"

General Fan suddenly recalled that the one he faced was precisely the Shadow Guard, known for their "maggot-on-bone" pursuit.

This method of binding with iron chains was precisely another trump-card technique of the Shadow Guard—the Bone-Clinging Chains!

A Heavenly Being Realm cultivator slays a Supreme Mythical Realm cultivator?

"You actually know the Shadow Guard's secret technique?"

Hearing Zhang Han had only just let out a breath of relief, and upon hearing General Fan's words, could not help but feel somewhat startled.

"Hmph! Bullshit secret technique — break for me!"

General Fan flew into a rage, and suddenly his true essence shifted from fierce to gentle.

That mountain-like heavy sword, under this transformation of true essence, actually became light as a goose feather.

For a moment, the Bone-Clinging Rope that had been binding the heavy sword according to the fierce true essence nearly slipped past unnoticed, and General Fan almost broke free of its restraint.

"Not good! Shadow-Following Form, change!"

Zhang Han had already suffered at General Fan's hands, and knew that if he allowed General Fan to take back the heavy sword again —

Even with two more squads of Shadow Guards added in, he would only just be able to match this General Fan, whose background he did not know.

But now was a time when manpower was needed, and the Shadow Guards who had followed along were not exactly plentiful.

Although at present they were still charging forward wave after wave toward the sand dunes,

The experts of Despair Shanzhuang — such as Duomozhi, Murong Fu, and others — had by now all entered the fray.

For the moment, although the Shadow Guards were numerous, in reality they could not shake the battle line of Despair Shanzhuang.

If General Fan were to break free now, not only would Your Majesty's orders go unfulfilled, they would likely be beaten to a pulp by Despair Shanzhuang's people.

If it really came to that, his own position as commander of the Shadow Guards would be finished.

Fortunately, although this General Fan had some understanding of the Shadow Guards, he did not know the true meaning of Shadow-Following Form.

Under Zhang Han's urgent warning, those few Shadow Guards followed his intent and immediately altered the secret technique.

The iron chains suddenly changed as well, shifting from fierce to yielding, and bit by bit they held back that heavy sword.

"Fine Shadow Guards — Zhang Han, you think that without this sword, I am no longer your match?"

After several more feints in succession, while continuing to engage Zhang Han in combat, General Fan still could not retrieve his weapon from beneath the Bone-Clinging Rope.

Unable to contain his berserk fury any longer, he decided to simply cast aside the heavy sword, intending to fight Zhang Han with a pair of bare palms.

In his mind, he had already inflicted a minor wound on Zhang Han just now.

Even without the heavy sword in hand, a pair of bare palms should be enough to take Zhang Han down.

Once Zhang Han was taken down, the Shadow Guards' offensive would be considered broken.

"Hehe! You think the Shadow Guards' Shadow-Following Form is called that for nothing?"

Zhang Han attacked while seeing through General Fan's intention, and could not help but mockingly toss out a line.

General Fan's heart gave a sudden lurch, only to discover that, for some unknown reason, one of his hands had been firmly stuck to his own weapon by the Bone-Clinging Rope.

With this, General Fan had effectively lost one hand out of thin air.