Chapter 176: Fusion Swordsmanship

Chapter 176: Chapter 176: Fusion Swordsmanship

Seeing that Yi Xiaoyao had no intention of leaving, Wei Buzhan’s mouth twitched. ’Madman,’ he cursed to himself, then swiftly left with his companions.

They had no confidence whatsoever in fighting a fourth-tier Demon Beast that possessed Demon Fire, especially since one of their companions had already died.

In the valley, flames dripped from the Demon Fire Suanni’s gaping maw. Its blood-red eyes suddenly fixed on Yi Xiaoyao, and another astonishing pillar of flame shot out.

BOOM!

Yi Xiaoyao was instantly engulfed by the flames, and the spot where he had been standing was blasted into a large, burning crater.

SWISH!

An astonishing sword light flared, and Yi Xiaoyao’s figure shot out from another direction, the draconic phantom coiling around his body letting out waves of roars.

"All my previous opponents were too weak, none of them worthy of making me go all out. So even now, I still don’t know exactly how strong I really am."

"Now, I’ll use you to test myself!"

His Sword Momentum flared to its peak. The Bloodthirsty Sword erupted with the aura of a Fierce Beast. The Sword Technique he was about to use would have its power magnified dozens of times over!

Then, Yi Xiaoyao unleashed his full Cultivation. He would not underestimate this Demon Fire Suanni.

Nine Swords of Slaughter!

Amidst a blur of Sword Shadows, he began, shockingly, with the First Technique, followed by the Second Technique, the Third Technique...

This was the first time Yi Xiaoyao had ever unleashed the Nine Swords of Slaughter as a complete set of Swordsmanship.

He had previously gained significant insight into the Sword Dao beneath the statue at the Washing Sword Sect, and now he was using this powerful Demon Beast to consolidate his recent progress and test his own strength.

The beast’s roars were incessant. Massive pillars of flame shattered one sword light after another, but the sword lights only grew sharper, transforming into a sky full of Sword Qi that enveloped the Demon Fire Suanni.

High above the underground canyon, the numerous Nascent Soul Realm experts were surveying the scene below, and they all soon took notice of this battle.

"This Yi Xiaoyao not only chose to go off on his own, but he’s actually fighting a Demon Fire Suanni?"

"Doesn’t he know that no matter how strong a Demon Beast is, its Demon Core is ultimately worth the same as a core from the weakest beast—just a single one?"

"That Wei Buzhan is the smarter one. After all, with their level of strength, hunting a fourth-tier Demon Beast that possesses Demon Fire is simply impossible."

"He is too young, after all. He’s certainly not as mature and experienced as Wei Buzhan, who knows when to press forward and when to retreat."

"This has nothing to do with his age, it’s a matter of intelligence. In my opinion, this Yi Xiaoyao is just a simple-minded fool who only knows how to fight with brute force."

Even the Black Robe Hall Master frowned slightly, thinking to himself, ’This kid... why doesn’t he give up on this Demon Beast? Wouldn’t it be better to go hunt some weaker ones?’

"Haha! It seems my son, Shangguan Tianjian, won’t even need to lift a finger. This little bastard is about to be devoured by that Demon Beast," Shangguan Jingyun said with a gloating laugh.

But just then, the unrestrained, mocking conversation among these powerful figures came to an abrupt halt. They stared down below in utter disbelief.

A moment ago, Yi Xiaoyao had been forced to constantly dodge the massive pillars of flame. But as he continued to unleash his Swordsmanship, its power grew fiercer and his speed increased.

Now, a draconic shadow was circling the Demon Fire Suanni at an astonishing speed, slashing out with different Techniques every single moment.

Eventually, the Demon Fire Suanni was completely unable to spit out flames fast enough to destroy the attacks or counter Yi Xiaoyao. It could only watch as the sword lights, coming from all directions, bombarded its massive body.

’I knew it! My previous ideas about the Sword Dao weren’t wrong!’

Yi Xiaoyao’s face was filled with delighted surprise, and the excitement in his eyes grew more and more intense.

He was now, astonishingly, using the striking speed of the Instant Kill Sword and fusing the Techniques of the Nine Swords of Slaughter into it. This not only boosted his explosive power, but his striking speed remained impressive.

Not only that, but with the rapid movement granted by the Nine Heavens Dragon Soaring Technique, Yi Xiaoyao could assail the Demon Fire Suanni from every direction, leaving it no blind spots to defend.

The Demon Fire Suanni felt waves of intense pain across its massive body. It grew utterly enraged. Unable to hit the rapidly moving Yi Xiaoyao, it began to spew flames wildly from its great maw.

’Since my previous insights into the Sword Dao have now been verified, and I have a better understanding of my own strength...’

’...it’s time to end this.’

Seeing that the Demon Fire Suanni had flown into a rage, Yi Xiaoyao’s expression grew serious as he once again raised the longsword in his hand.

With a single slash, an unprecedented Sword Technique erupted.

Within this flash of sword light were traces of the Nine Swords of Slaughter, the Instant Kill Sword, the Silent Swordsmanship, the Spirit-Devouring Swordsmanship...

A shadow of every Sword Technique Yi Xiaoyao had ever learned and mastered could be seen within this single strike.

BOOM!

As the sword light fell, the Demon Fire Suanni’s entire massive body was instantly sliced in half.

High up in the sky, an uproar erupted.

"What? The Demon Fire Suanni was actually killed by Yi Xiaoyao!"

"Not only that, but why did I see traces of multiple types of Swordsmanship in that last strike of his?"

"If I’m not mistaken, Yi Xiaoyao must have fused multiple schools of Swordsmanship into one!"

"Fusion Swordsmanship?"

Even these top-tier experts of the Nascent Soul Realm were somewhat stunned upon hearing this term.

They had never considered fusing the schools of Swordsmanship they had mastered, because the difficulty of such a fusion was no less than creating a new Swordsmanship from scratch—it might even be harder.

Without exceptionally high talent in the Sword Dao, attempting something like Fusion Swordsmanship had only one possible outcome: succumbing to Qi deviation.

As such, practically no one dared to even attempt it.

"This kid... he really has some nerve."

The Black Robe Hall Master shook his head with a resigned sigh. He had seen Yi Xiaoyao alter a Swordsmanship before, so he wasn’t as shocked as the others.

Then, he shot a cold smirk at those who had just been sneering at Yi Xiaoyao, as well as the once-gloating Shangguan Jingyun.

Those few individuals immediately looked extremely awkward and fell silent. And while Shangguan Jingyun’s expression was grim, inwardly he was just as shocked as everyone else.

「In the valley.」

After the Demon Beast’s mournful shriek faded, Yi Xiaoyao smiled in satisfaction.

’Fusing these schools of Swordsmanship really made it so much more powerful. I didn’t even need to use my full strength to kill this fourth-tier Demon Beast.’

After muttering this to himself, his figure flashed like the wind, reappearing beside the Demon Fire Suanni’s corpse, which was still radiating intense heat.

’The Demon Fire from a fourth-tier Demon Beast should be enough to elevate my Heaven-Shattering Demon Flame Palm from the Great Success stage to the peak stage, right?’

Yi Xiaoyao’s eyes lit up. The thought of obtaining another high-grade Earth Tier Spiritual Skill made him unable to contain his excitement.

Then, he eagerly extracted the Demon Core and began to collect and refine the Demon Fire.

「Meanwhile.」

In another valley not far away, a young man and woman had just managed to kill a fourth-tier Demon Beast after an incredibly arduous battle.

They had launched a sneak attack while the beast was asleep; otherwise, it would have been impossible for them to kill it in such a short amount of time.

"Haha! It’s all thanks to you, Qingqing! Otherwise, it would have been a real struggle for me to kill this Demon Beast alone!"

Bo Qianyang excitedly knelt beside the Demon Beast’s corpse and extracted its Demon Core.

"You don’t need to thank me," Ye Qingqing asked coldly. "How are we splitting the Demon Core?"

Bo Qianyang chuckled and said, "Qingqing, how about I take all the Demon Cores we get from our partnership? You’re going to be my woman in the future anyway. If I manage to win the Heaven and Earth Fire Essence, I certainly won’t treat you poorly."

"Who’s your woman!" Ye Qingqing’s brow furrowed as she snapped, "We’re just partners! There’s no way you’re taking all the Demon Cores!"

Bo Qianyang’s brow furrowed as he thought to himself, ’This woman doesn’t know what’s good for her. I’m giving you face now, but just you wait. After you marry me, we’ll see how I make you suffer!’

Just then, the two of them suddenly heard a mournful beast-like shriek from not too far away.

Bo Qianyang’s eyes lit up. His expression flickered before settling into a smile. "Someone must have killed a Demon Beast over there. How about we go over and snatch that Demon Core? I’ll let you have it."

...

(Third update.)