Chapter 720: Astor

Ten thousand meters above the central city.

Thorne led more than twenty Nightmare Apostles into the sky, while more than twenty Void Shattering experts also came to meet them.

As if they had a tacit understanding, neither side lingered in the low sky, but instead rushed straight into the depths of ten thousand meters, automatically dividing the battlefield and isolating the sea of ??clouds and snow below.

In the lower airspace, another battle has already begun.

Nearly 100,000 combatants of level 30 or above from both sides collided in the sky above the frozen ground, looking from a distance like two dark clouds of different colors crushing each other in the wind and snow.

Dark Night Berserker Aster, a level 49 Nightmare General, is charging ahead, riding the wind pressure.

His skin was so pale it was almost transparent, his long dark purple hair was tied in a high ponytail, and his golden cloak fluttered behind him.

The jet-black longsword "Night Howl" hung at his waist, its dark purple patterns flowing like a living thing.

He watched the Blood Demon Sect's aerial army closing in, a smile that was almost contemptuous on his lips.

"That's all?" He tilted his head and gestured with his chin towards a Nightmare General beside him. "Why do you seem to have fewer Celestial Realm experts from the Blood Demon Sect than last time? Did they shrink back in fear because they knew I was coming?"

The general's lips twitched, but he didn't reply.

When the distance between the two sides closes to one kilometer, they release ranged skills at the same time.

Blood Fist, Shadow Bullet, Scythe Harvest, Twisted Touch—tens of thousands of ranged skills clashed in mid-air.

The dark purple orb and the dark red finger beams intertwined, and the explosion's flames illuminated the entire airspace, causing it to flicker between light and shadow. Shattered shadow energy and bloodthirsty aura rained down like a storm.

Astor didn't even bother to dodge properly.

Shadow Steps swayed left and right amidst the successive attacks of Blood Fist, dodging one with a slight shift of the left shoulder, avoiding the second with a tilt of the head, and simply raising his hand to block the third with the blade of Night Howl Sword.

With a crisp "ding," the finger force was deflected, and he used the momentum to leap forward more than ten meters.

A Blood Demon Sect master, seeing the approaching blade, not only didn't dodge but instead sneered and raised his sword to meet it: "That's all?"

"clang!"

The clang of metal against metal sent a shiver down his spine.

The knife didn't break, but the smile on his face froze instantly as a dark purple corrosive force surged up the blade like a living thing.

His face paled: "The unity of heaven and man!"

Nightmare Erosion triggered.

The maximum health is locked, and half of the current health is instantly evaporated.

He felt a sweet taste in his throat, and the curse got stuck in his throat.

Three dark shadows slashed down from different directions simultaneously.

He raised his sword to deflect the first strike, but the second one slashed at his shoulder armor. The dark purple energy tore through the leather armor, and blood splattered everywhere.

The third strike hit his back squarely, tearing his protective blood aura to shreds like paper.

The attacks came so fast that he didn't even have time to reach for his medicine bottle.

He plummeted from the sky, his dark red leather armor tumbling twice in the wind and snow, like a falling meteor, crashing headfirst into the attacking formation.

With a loud bang, a shallow crater was blasted into the ground, and shards of ice and snow splashed all over the people around.

The person in the pit twitched once, and then never managed to climb out again.

...

Three hundred meters.

Astor laughed loudly and held the Night Howl Sword horizontally in front of him.

"Get out of the way!"

Before he finished speaking, he stomped his foot and turned into a dark purple afterimage.

Three hundred meters, covered in a single step.

Only a fading afterimage remained in place, while Aster's true form had already plunged deep into the Blood Demon Sect's formation.

The moment he appeared, the eight grandmasters around him turned around at the same time.

"He's at the Celestial Realm! Be careful!" a Grandmaster shouted.

"What's there to be afraid of! He's just one person! There are eight of us; one hit from each of us is enough to give him a run for his money!"

The other grandmaster shouted fiercely, but his Blood Fist technique was already fully charged.

Eight Blood Fist strikes were unleashed simultaneously.

Astor chuckled, his laughter laced with contempt: "Only eight? Even double that wouldn't be enough for me to chop down."

Night Howl Sword held horizontally before him—【Spinning Sword Curtain】!

The sword intent condensed into a semi-transparent dark purple sword shield, which spun rapidly around his body.

Eight blood-red finger strikes land on the sword and shield. The dark red finger force collides with the dark purple sword intent, creating a shockwave of interwoven purple and red, but the sword and shield remain completely still.

"My turn."

The Night Howl Sword was thrown into the air, splitting into eighteen pieces in mid-air. Eighteen dark purple sword shadows spread out in a ring, slashing down from all directions.

Each grandmaster faced at least two sword energies. Six quick-reacting Blood Shadow Step practitioners retreated, narrowly avoiding them, while the other two raised their weapons to block them head-on.

With two clangs, the weapon blocked the sword shadow, but the accompanying nightmare corrosive had already crept up the body along the weapon.

The two masters cursed at the same time.

"Damn! Their maximum health has been nerfed!"

"Don't engage him in close combat! Keep your distance..."

Before the grandmaster could finish speaking, °• N ?? v ?? l i g h t •° Astor had already moved.

He took a step forward and instantly closed in on the man, unleashing a shadow slash.

A dark purple sword aura, four meters wide and with armor-piercing properties, struck the protective blood aura. The blood aura flickered violently, and the grandmaster was sent flying backward, a spiderweb-like pattern appearing on the blood aura on his chest.

Seeing this, the other seven people scattered at the same time, surrounding Astor in the middle from a thousand meters in the air, their weapons all pointed at him, but no one dared to approach rashly.

"Don't engage him in close combat, use ranged attacks to wear him down," a scarred grandmaster said in a deep voice. "If he doesn't activate his Armor Unification, we still have a chance."

As soon as he finished speaking, the eight people split into two groups, with four of them making the first move.

Four Seven Fiend Blood Handprints, Twenty-Eight Palms.

The four kinds of evil energy—cold, poison, burning, and devouring—were intertwined and struck Aster from four directions.

Astor swung his sword backhand, shattering most of the sword's energy, but two palms still struck him.

One palm struck his shoulder armor, the other his waist; his health bar dropped a bit.

"That's it?" he said, though his words betrayed his disdain.

The remaining four grandmasters gave him no chance to catch his breath.

With the Soul Refining Blood Eye activated, the four beams of blood light mingled together, creating a much more powerful effect than when used by a single person.

Astor's vision was momentarily blurred by the flash of blood.

The Blood Prison Domain then unfolded, and dark red mist permeated his surroundings, obscuring his senses.

The blood mist slowed his judgment by half a beat, and a blood-red finger shot out from the mist, hitting his shoulder armor squarely.

"So this is all a Celestial Realm cultivator is made of!" A Grandmaster, seeing his health bar dwindle, grew bolder. "He doesn't even activate his Armor Unification skill; he's too arrogant!"

"Exactly, he just barged in," another grandmaster chimed in, a hint of mockery in his voice. "I thought he was something special."

Astor glanced down at the dent in his shoulder armor, then looked around at the eight men surrounding him, and suddenly laughed.

"You dare ask me to unleash my full power?"

Before he finished speaking, he stomped his toes in mid-air—【Shadow Stomp】!

A dark purple shockwave exploded in the air centered on him, and the two nearest grandmasters were shaken to the sides, causing the encirclement to loosen for a moment.