Chapter 652 - 178: Head-on Clash, I Am Unrivaled Below the Fifth Realm

Chapter 652: Chapter 178: Head-on Clash, I Am Unrivaled Below the Fifth Realm

Her chest heaved slightly, and her breathing grew a little ragged. Clearly, that last all-out sword strike had taken a significant toll on her.

Behind her mask, her eyes gazed with complex emotions at the ruins below, which had become a Desolate Land.

She had come on the orders of the Divine Sacrifice Envoy, Lingkong Jade, originally intending to "invite" Chu Fan to join the sect.

She had originally thought that bringing several skilled experts for a prepared ambush against an unsuspecting target would make capturing a mere Demon Suppression Guard a sure thing.

But she never expected the boy’s strength to have advanced by leaps and bounds compared to a few months ago. He was ruthless and decisive, killing several of her most capable subordinates with his fists in the blink of an eye!

His physical body, in particular, was so absurdly powerful that even she couldn’t help but feel her heart pound in alarm!

Anger surged within her, and holding back no longer, she had directly used a Killing Move.

In the end, the mission had still failed.

A dead man, after all, couldn’t be brought back.

Her fingers tightened around the hilt of her sword.

"Killing him is fine, too."

She muttered to herself, her voice muffled by the mask. "Since he was unwilling to join our Moon Worship Sect, with such a horrifying growth rate and terrifying physical potential... given time, he would definitely have become a grave threat to our sect."

Rather than letting this threat linger, it was better to snuff him out completely before he fully developed.

And yet, a faint trace of regret she couldn’t shake lingered in her heart—’Such fine talent, such a rare specimen...’

She gently exhaled a heavy breath, suppressing these distracting thoughts. Her figure drifted down like a weightless leaf, landing lightly on a large, flat, jagged rock amidst the rubble below.

Her Divine Sense poured out like invisible mercury spreading across the ground, meticulously probing the depths of the buried valley floor. ℯ

She had to confirm whether Chu Fan’s body had truly been obliterated and his Divine Soul annihilated.

It was a full-power strike from a peak Bright Heart Realm expert, using the Thunder Sword Skill renowned for its offensive power. There was no way anyone could have survived taking it head-on.

But this man’s physical body was too bizarre; she had to "see" the remains with her own senses to be completely at ease.

Her Divine Sense swept carefully through the gaps in the rubble, penetrating layer after layer of dirt and sand.

Suddenly!

Somewhere below, a faint but exceptionally tenacious life force, like a spark suddenly ignited in the darkness, pulsed violently once!

Behind the woman’s mask, her pupils abruptly shrank to the size of a pinprick!

’Impossible!’

’My Divine Sense can’t be wrong!’

’Though the aura is faint, it’s growing stronger and more torrential at an astonishing rate, and its location... is directly beneath the epicenter of where the giant sword struck!’

BOOM!!!

Before she could react, the mountain of boulders below suddenly trembled, and a tremendous, formless force erupted from beneath the ground!

Rubble shot through the air, and dust billowed upward!

Amidst the flying rocks and swirling dust, a figure shot into the sky like a flood dragon emerging from the water, landing steadily atop a massive, jagged shard of rock slanted at an angle.

It was Chu Fan!

His clothes were severely tattered and covered in dust and rock chips, giving him a slightly disheveled appearance.

However, his exposed skin glowed with a soft but solid, faint golden luster. There wasn’t the slightest wound, not even a single white scratch!

He twisted his neck, and his vertebrae let out a series of crisp CRACK-CRACK sounds, which were exceptionally clear in the dead silence of the ruins.

The third level of the Vajra Undying Body had taken a full-power sword strike from a peak Bright Heart Realm expert head-on, leaving him completely unscathed!

And this time, he had only used the "Immovable as a Mountain" defensive stance, without even stooping to use the stronger "Pillow Sea as Emperor" stance!

An indescribable, scorching heat rose from Chu Fan’s chest, rapidly spreading through his limbs and bones.

It wasn’t anger, but the exhilaration of having tested his own strength—the pure bliss of shattering his shackles and breaking free from his restraints!

Facing a peak expert of the fourth realm, the Bright Heart Realm, he no longer had to prostrate himself on the ground and "take a beating" as he once did.

He could take it while standing!

Below the fifth realm, in a head-on clash of power, he was now unrivaled!

Chu Fan tilted his head slightly, his icy gaze piercing through the lingering dust to lock firmly onto the masked woman, who stood frozen several dozen feet away.

The rock beneath his feet silently shattered.

The next moment, his entire body shot forward like a siege hammer thrown with full force, tearing through the air with an unstoppable, ferocious momentum as he charged violently toward the woman!

He moved so fast that he left a series of fading Residual Images in his wake!

"I must be... seeing things!"

The masked woman finally snapped out of her extreme shock, the corner of her mouth twitching uncontrollably as she practically squeezed those five words from between her teeth.

Without a moment’s hesitation, she tapped her toes on the rock, her body transforming into an erratic streak of purple lightning as she turned to flee!

It wasn’t that she was afraid of Chu Fan.

It was just that she knew, deep down, that this guy before her simply couldn’t be judged by common sense!

The power and defense contained within that physical body had reached an unimaginable level!

Fighting a monster like that in close combat was no different from seeking her own death!

The majority of her Cultivation lay in her Sword Technique and Thunder Technique; only by creating distance could she bring her full power to bear and have a chance to slowly wear him down with exquisite Magic Techniques or an even stronger Killing Move!

Deciding on her strategy in an instant, the woman pushed her Body Technique to its absolute limit, speeding toward the other end of the canyon.

She was a peak Bright Heart Realm expert, after all. With a wild explosion of Primordial Qi, her speed was actually a notch faster than Chu Fan’s!

However, just as she shot forward a hundred feet, a sudden premonition of danger flared in her mind!

Within the range of her Divine Sense, she "saw" Chu Fan appear out of thin air behind her!

’How is that possible!’

The woman’s heart froze.

’My speed was clearly greater than his, so why...’

Relying on instincts honed through countless life-and-death battles, she flicked her wrist sharply. Her longsword traced a bizarre arc, its tip glinting with deadly lightning as she thrust it backward into the empty space behind her!

The timing, angle, and speed of this thrust were all sublime to the extreme, a stroke of genius born from desperation.