Chapter 354 353: Hard against Hard

'What should I do? If this keeps up, I won't be able to hold on for much longer...'

After just a dozen or so palm strikes, Yue Lingxi was already starting to falter, panting heavily.

She looked up at Ye Dongge, who seemed completely unfazed and was preparing to raise his hand for another palm strike.

Yue Lingxi was furious.

She cursed inwardly.

'That bastard! He's staying so far away. Even if I use the Nine Yin Annihilation Talisman or some other method, I won't be able to kill him. What do I do?'

Subconsciously, Yue Lingxi glanced at Yang Xiao again.

She saw the constantly rising aura around him.

She gritted her teeth. 'I don't care anymore! No matter how hard it is, I have to hold on until Lord Xiao wakes up. It's rare for him to ask me for something—this is the first time. No matter what, I have to do it. Otherwise, wouldn't he look down on me?'

With that thought, Yue Lingxi took out a small white jade vial. Wincing as if in pain, she opened it and gently tipped a single drop of the liquid inside into her mouth.

Instantly, Yue Lingxi, whose aura had been nearly depleted, was full of vigor once more.

Her expression, however, was extremely grim.

'That damned bastard. First the Nine Yin Annihilation Talisman, and now he's forced me to take Nine Profound Spiritual Liquid. If I ever get the chance, I, the Saintess, will make him pay!'

Yue Lingxi was filled with seething hatred.

In truth, if Yang Xiao weren't in seclusion breaking through to his next level of cultivation right now, even if she was still no match for Ye Dongge, escaping would have been quite easy.

Aside from one extremely precious Teleportation Talisman, she had plenty of the more common ones.

If she used just a few of them, she could guarantee that this guy wouldn't be able to find her.

But as luck would have it, Yang Xiao was cultivating at a critical moment in his breakthrough.

He couldn't be moved at all.

And Yue Lingxi couldn't possibly abandon him and leave alone.

So, all she could do was stall for time.

After she took the Nine Profound Spiritual Liquid, Yue Lingxi's aura returned to its peak, which caught Ye Dongge's attention.

He glanced greedily at the white jade vial in her hand.

However, he didn't change his strategy.

'This little lady has quite a lot of good stuff on her. She doesn't seem like a Loose Cultivator without any backing. Besides, the Eastern Domain couldn't produce someone like her. Could it be... she's from the Central Domain?'

Ye Dongge was inwardly shaken.

The entire Profound Sun Continent was divided into five great domains—East, South, West, North, and Central. The strongest, without a doubt, was the Central Domain.

Of the Ten Great Immortal Sects, the Central Domain was home to seven.

Their Eastern Domain, on the other hand, had none.

Similarly, of the thirty-three Immortal Dao Cities, the Central Domain alone had twenty-four.

The Eastern Domain? It had only one.

Comparing the two, even though the Eastern Domain was no smaller than the Central Domain in terms of territory, it was far too behind in the development of the Immortal Dao.

It was inevitable that suspicions would arise in Ye Dongge's mind.

But soon, his expression turned savage once more.

'Things have already come to this. So what if these two are really from the Central Domain? They first stole my master's Primordial Pearl, and then they killed people from my Profound Celestial Sect. Even if I, Ye Dongge, kill them, what can anyone do about it?'

With that thought, Ye Dongge completely set his mind at ease.

His eyes glinted with a sinister and vicious light.

He didn't change his previous plan, continuing to employ this shameless war of attrition to drain the Taiyin Qi from Yue Lingxi's body.

One palm strike after another.

After another dozen or so strikes, Yue Lingxi had no choice but to take another drop of Nine Profound Spiritual Liquid.

She began to defend herself once more.

And so it went.

Time ticked by with each attack and defense.

By the time Yue Lingxi had used up more than half of the Nine Profound Spiritual Liquid in her white jade vial, about half a day had finally passed.

At this point, Yang Xiao's aura began to gradually stabilize.

It settled at the Peak of the Martial Grandmaster Ninth Layer.

He was just a hair's breadth away from stepping into the Martial Saint Realm.

At the same time, his Spiritual Power had grown even stronger.

The Heaven and Earth Origin Fire within his body had also undergone a mysterious change.

A third Talent Power had appeared.

'Simulate any aura? How interesting. I never thought that in this life of recultivation, I would gain an ability I didn't even have in my first life!'

Yang Xiao smiled faintly.

He had never obtained such an ability before.

So, it was a bit of a surprise.

He was, however, very satisfied.

He knew that with this ability, his chances of survival would be greatly enhanced.

In the world of Cultivators, whether they were Immortal Cultivators or Martial Cultivators, one no longer relied on the naked eye to judge an enemy. Instead, one used their aura to scout out an opponent.

Remembering an enemy's aura was a common method for tracking and hunting them down.

If Yang Xiao could alter his own, then even if someone memorized his aura, they wouldn't be able to find him.

'Besides this Talent Ability, my Spiritual Power has also made significant progress. After consuming all the medicinal properties of the Divine Communication Grass, as well as more than half of the Essence Qi born from the Heaven and Earth Origin Flame, my Spiritual Power has finally reached the Peak of the Middle Stage of Void Observation.'

At the same time, because Yang Xiao had a last-minute change of heart, he had diverted half of the Origin Essence Qi, which was originally meant entirely for tempering his spirit, to his physical body. As a result, his constitution had also been greatly enhanced.

Not only did his strength increase from the power of Four Hundred Flood Dragons to six hundred, but his constitutional talent, which had already reached the peak of an Upper-Grade Fire Spirit Body after the second tempering, had now advanced further to the level of an Ultimate Fire Spirit Body.

Moreover, he was at the peak of the Ultimate Fire Spirit Body.

He was just one step away from reaching the Fire Treasure Body level.

'Once I reach the Treasure Body Level, I'll be considered a genius even on the Divine Land Continent. At that point, Nangong Tianling probably won't be able to say my talent is low and that I'm an embarrassment to her, right?'

Yang Xiao chuckled softly.

He opened his eyes.

The moment he did, he sensed Yue Lingxi's predicament.

His expression stiffened.

He had been fully focused on breaking through and tempering his body and Essence Qi, so he had sealed his six senses and hadn't sensed Ye Dongge's arrival at all.

Even the Thousand Mechanism Eye and the Bloodthirsty Sword within his body had been shielded.

Now, upon waking, he was greeted by this scene.

The excellent mood he was in from his breakthrough was instantly ruined.

With a flash, he appeared in front of Yue Lingxi.

He looked up at Ye Dongge in the sky.

"Lord Xiao, you broke through?"

Yue Lingxi's face was filled with joy.

But just then, Ye Dongge sent another palm strike crashing down.

Yue Lingxi's expression changed instantly. Without time for more questions, she activated the Nine-Nine Returning Array, about to meet the attack and shatter it.

But Yang Xiao grabbed her arm, stopping her.

"Let me handle this."

"You?"

Yue Lingxi was slightly stunned.

It wasn't that she looked down on Yang Xiao, but the gap between them was just too great.

She couldn't help but be astonished.

"That's right. He's just a minor character at the Sixth Layer of the Great Divine Power Realm. Leave him to me."

Yang Xiao said nonchalantly.

Seeing her Lord Xiao so calm and confident, Yue Lingxi, who had been worried and hadn't believed for a second that Yang Xiao was a match for Ye Dongge, inexplicably felt her heart calm as she subconsciously nodded.

"Lord Xiao, be careful."

Yang Xiao gave a slight nod.

Then, his figure shot forward like a bolt.

He raised his hand and threw a punch.

BAM! It flew toward the descending Palm Seal.

Even Yue Lingxi was stunned when she saw this.

Was he... going to meet it head-on?

A Martial Artist at the Peak of the Heavenly Gang Stage clashing head-on with an Immortal Cultivator equivalent to the Sixth Layer of the Great Divine Power Realm?

Yue Lingxi felt like her brain was short-circuiting.

Could... could he possibly win?