Chapter 366: Defeated!
It has to be mentioned that the blade wasn’t destroyed by Venerable Mei’s hand alone. It was the movement of the combined Xuan efficacy of Venerable Mei and Lei Wu Bei which had destroyed it.
This had happened because Venerable Mei had forced the blade towards her right before she had tapped it with her finger. And, Lei Wu Bei had used his strength to turn it to the opposite direction. Both individuals had used the entire extent of their strength at that time. This meant that opposing forces had tried to twist the blade in different directions. And, it was then that Venerable Mei accumulated her Xuan efficacy, and tapped the blade with her finger. Her timing had been very precise!
The forces of Venerable Mei and the Great Master had been exerted on the knife at the same time. What kind of a Devine Weapon would be able to resist such forces?
The answer to that was a straightforward ‘none’! At least, such was the case with Lei Wu Bei’s treasured blade...
How would the blade not turn into scrap iron when the three different forces had acted upon on it...?
Therefore, it could be said that his treasured blade had been destroyed by his joint action with Venerable Mei.
Venerable Mei clasped her fist, and a thin wisp of blood flowed from it.
Her hand could be considered exceptionally ‘tough’... even from the standard of Xuan Beasts! But, she had been in human flesh at that time. And thus, she had received that injury because she had held that blade by its sharp edge. However, her injuries were quite insignificant compared to the price that had been paid by Shi Chang Xiao and Lei Wu Bei. In fact, her injuries were far too insignificant...
Because... this strike had established a narrow victory!
Li Jue Tian had been sent in a dazed state. It was only for a split second... But, Venerable Mei had reached the ground by then. In fact, she had already repulsed Li Jue Tian’s attack by then. Moreover, he had initiated this attack after having redoubled his efforts. Therefore, Venerable Mei’s body had been pushed into a forward motion towards Lei Wu Bei. She had then kicked his legs at their claves a few times. It could be said that Lei Wu Bei would’ve come to be called ‘Disabled Great Master’ instead of the ‘Cold-Blooded Master’ if those kicks had packed a serious force behind them.
In fact, it wouldn’t have been very surprising if his legs had been shattered by those kicks!
Lei Wu Bei became pale with fright. He lifted his right foot. His body spun twice, and he alighted three feet away. But... he instantly regretted that move!
Because... Shi Chang Xiao had appeared behind him by then, and had blocked his path...
Venerable Mei took a turn around Lei Wu Bei over, and appeared before Shi Chang Xiao like a black dragon that had twisted around a pillar. Then, her legs pounded on Shi Chang Xiao like raindrops.
Shi Chang Xiao was very alarmed by that attack since Lei Wu Bei’s body had covered everything from his line of sight. He knew that this was an anxious moment in the fight. But, he hadn’t noticed that Venerable Mei had come so close to him. Therefore, he was left exposed to Venerable Mei’s attack while he tried to avoid Lei Wu Bei’s retreating body.
She Chang Xiao tried to resist in a flurry. He steeled his heart and mind despite everything, and prepared to attack. But then, he saw that Venerable Mei was too close to him. Moreover, they were already prepared to pressurize him with their mountain-like palms. He didn’t have enough time to congeal enough Xuan Qi as a result. Moreover, he didn’t have enough time to retreat... even if had wanted to. Therefore, Shi Chang Xiao could only close his eyes, bite his teeth, and wait for his fate.
A "Bang!" and "Slam!" were heard as Shi Chang Xiao’s shoulders were struck. He was then sent rolling-out like a ball.
Then, Venerable Mei retreated at a lightning fast speed, and went back around twenty five meters. This allowed the strike from the air-bound Solitary Falcon to drop onto the space between them. She then faced the red-eyed Li Jue Tian, and struck him hard with her palms again; thrice!
Li Jue Tian had lost all routes of evasion. So, he could only stake his life to endure the three palm-strikes.
This was akin to bullying people!
It could be said that Venerable Mei had suffered close to no harm whatsoever. However, Li Jue Tian’s internal injuries had become very grave by this point. The result of those three palms was rather obvious. Li Jue Tian’s body left the ground like a ball that had gone on a wild ‘bouncing spree’, and flew into the sky. His mouth spurted blood in a crazy manner. In fact, it was almost as if a fountain had started to spray blood-colored water...
Li Jue Tian had used his Xuan Qi to keep his bones in place. However, they broke open, and ruptured at this moment. In fact, they had been thoroughly ruptured. And, blood spurted-out from his entire body like spikes from a hedgehog. In fact, one could say that thin arrows of blood had been shot out from every pore in his body.
Then, Venerable Mei’s long sleeves wrapped around Li Jue Tian’s injured body, and threw him further up into the sky in a lightening fast movement. This was a very sly and timely move! The Solitary Falcon had launched a very aggressive attack in the downward direction at this very moment — the third move of the ‘Nine Claws of the Ghostly Falcon’!
This was the most fatal strike in the Solitary Falcon’s arsenal. And, this was also the most incisive strike of his’. Moreover, he had drawn his entire Xuan Qi for this attack. However, there was no way that he could’ve known that an aggrieved Li Jue Tian would be delivered right below his striking hand. Li Jue Tian’s mouth opened, and spurted an arrow of blood on his face.
The Solitary Falcon was startled. He quickly decided to retreat. He first evaded that arrow of blood. Then, he caught Li Jue Tian’s body with his hands. After that, he quickly moved ten meters away in the horizontal direction to evade Venerable Mei’s follow-on attack.
How could Venerable Mei not intend to follow-up with an attack if they had thrown Li Jue Tian up like that? The Solitary Falcon was quick to understand this. And so, he caught-on and evaded as quickly as possible.
The Solitary Falcon’s reaction could be considered very fast. However, he couldn’t have imagined that it was still a step too late in front of this opponent!
He felt a sudden and incisive pain in his belly. Venerable Mei had attacked with their three palms-strikes. Two of them had failed, but the third one had hit its mark. And, that strike was enough to leave the Solitary Falcon screaming in agony, and made him float away like a ‘kite without a string’. His face contorted, and he tried his best to gain control. But, he failed at it. "Argh!" he spat blood, and it spilled over Li Jue Tian’s body.
Solitary Falcon’s initial movements had been exceedingly fast. In fact, it was even beyond the reach of Venerable Mei. But, the Solitary Falcon had been forced to retreat, and had then caught Li Jue Tian. This had bitten into his Xuan efficacy. Then, he had been forced to evade an extremely strong attack. Moreover, he had been using a lot of Xuan Qi to protect himself all along. And, his Xuan Qi had fallen to a very low level as a result of this. Then again, Xuan Qi had never been Solitary Falcon’s forte. It seemed as if he had merely been grazed by this attack. However, the injuries he had received weren’t light.
Venerable Mei was a capable warrior. So, how could she let this golden opportunity pass? Her body disappeared, and suddenly reappeared in front of Lei Wu Bei. Then, she began to unleash her hurricane-like attacks on him.
The Solitary Falcon was flying away in a downward slope-like trajectory at that moment. Li Jue Tian was seriously injured. And, Shi Chang Xiao lay over fifteen meters away. Therefore, the next few moments were akin to a one-on-one fight with Lei Wu Bei.
Lei Wu Bei had received a shocking injury a moment ago. His treasured blade had also been destroyed a moment ago. Therefore, his will to fight was at its lowest at that point. He couldn’t help but be frightened when he realized that he would have to fight Venerable Mei on his own. But, he tried to resist, and retreated quickly.
"Bang! Bang!" the sounds echoed everywhere. It wasn’t clear why... but, dust suddenly covered the entire sky, and made everything dark. Shi Chang Xiao had caught up a moment ago with the intention to help out. But, he could only discern two very vague silhouettes in that thick cloud of dust. And, both of those figures were dressed in black. Therefore, one genuinely couldn’t tell which silhouette was Venerable Mei’s... and which one was Lei Wu Bei’s...!
He hadn’t even hesitated for half-a-second when he heard an explosive sound. Lei Wu Bei’s painful groan followed soon after. And then, he saw a figure spin and fall. The black clothes clung to this figure this figure rather tightly — it was Lei Wu Bei.
Blood bubbled-out from Lei Wu Bei’s mouth with a gurgling sound. His right hand was bent at a strange angle. It was obvious that his right arm had been broken. However, one could say that Venerable Mei had gone easy on him. Lei Wu Bei’s arm would’ve been sheared-off if they hadn’t gone easy. In fact, the bones in his hand would’ve turned into white powder, and would’ve flown-off to some place unknown.
The outcome of the battle had become rather evident by now.
The Lord of Tian Fa had wiped the floor with the four Great Masters!
It could be said that Venerable Mei’s victory was very obvious. The four Great Masters had been defeated. They hadn’t even been able to fight back in a proper manner.
The battle would’ve turned out much differently if the four had genuinely given every drop of their power to destroy everything that stood in their paths. They still wouldn’t have been able to defeat Venerable Mei, but the outcome of the battle would’ve been much more favorable to them in that case...
Venerable Mei could use ‘The World Cage’ technique on only one person. And, it would put a lot of strain on her if she’d use it on a Great Master. The person she would use this power on wouldn’t be able to move. However, Venerable Mei herself would be in great danger at that moment.
Therefore, Venerable Mei couldn’t dare to use ‘The World Cage’ technique in this battle.
However, every one cherishes their lives! Moreover, this was a battle of ‘victory and defeat’— not one of ‘life and death’. And, the price to be paid upon defeat wasn’t very painful. Only the Xue Hun Manor would have to pay a painful price. But, the other Great Masters wouldn’t suffer much.
In fact, even Li Jue Tian himself hadn’t given everything he had. So, why would the other three?
This result would be ‘as expected’ if these factors were to be considered...
Venerable Mei waved her long sleeves. They somewhat rolled-up in the wind. Suddenly, it seemed as if that cloud of dust was struck by a hurricane. And, that cloud of disappeared without a trace as a result. Venerable Mei’s tall figure was exposed to everyone’s eyes thereafter. Her body was covered in that wide black robe. And, she looked-on with arrogance as her black robes floated around her.
Suddenly, a man in the crowd gasped and called-out in alarm, "Look... look at the space in the middle...!" Everyone looked at place he was pointing towards. And, everyone couldn’t help but gasp. The place where the fight had begun had comprised of roughened granite. But, it seemed that someone had somehow shoveled-out a layer of earth from that spot; a very deep layer at that! It seemed to be three meters deep. And, this effect had been spread over a radius of 30 meters!
It was quite possible for the Great Masters to cause such a deep indentation in the ground. However, the issue was that... no one had seen even a single stone fall... nor had they heard the slightest of sounds. [So, how did that layer of stone disappear?]
[Did it sprout wings and fly away?]
These people were completely oblivious to the facts. These five apex experts hadn’t staked their lives on this battle, but they had still used some of their strongest skills. And, these rocks had been scraped-away when they had used their powerful Xuan efficacies. These rocks had been turned into powder, and had floated away with the wind. In fact, more portions of the rocks had been scraped-away if the fight had been more intense.
However, this was the result of the fact that Venerable Mei had exercised self-restraint. The others would’ve been forced to use their full power if she had used the entire extent of her Xuan efficacy. And, that small hill would’ve turned into flat land if that had happened.
Lei Bao Yu and Bu Kuang Feng sighed in unison.
They had already anticipated this result. But, they had never thought that it would happen so quickly.
Even Solitary Falcon, Lei Wu Bei, and Shi Chang Xiao hadn’t forecasted this. Lei Wu Bei and Shi Chang Xiao stood in a daze; their expressions seemed to fluctuate.
The Solitary Falcon put Li Jue Tian on the ground, and walked a few steps forward. He wanted to say something, but couldn’t open his mouth. Then, his face turned red.
The four Great Masters had suffered a thoroughly crushing defeat.
How could these four boastful top-experts of the world accept such an outcome? The representatives of humanity had suffered a defeat in that battle. Moreover, the prestige of those apex experts had also taken a serious blow!
Their status had lost its meaning...