From the perspective of outsiders, this was a battle between a three fires and a five fires.
The former had two life lanterns on him and his aura was astonishing. The latter was at the rare perfection realm of five fires and his aura seemed to be able to devour mountains and rivers.
Both of them had emperor-level cultivation arts on them, so their combat strength was almost equal.
The difference was that Xu Qing's two life lanterns could enhance each other. This point had already been discovered by outsiders after his battle with Sima Ru. After all, there were many cultivators in the Alliance and many smart people. After the battle, they analyzed the key points.
Hence, it seemed that Xu Qing's combat strength was higher for now. However, it was obvious that since Saintly Star dared to challenge Xu Qing, he must have something he was confident in. This was also what interested the surrounding spectators.
At the next instant, Xu Qing and Saintly Star's figures collided on Mount Mystic Dao. In an instant, the terrifying might filled the sky. The two sides rapidly exchanged moves.
With their respective combat strength, their speed was extremely fast and rumbling sounds continued to spread.
In just an instant, they had exchanged over a hundred moves. Neither of them dodged each other's punches and kicks, causing Mount Mystic Dao to sway and lightning to shoot out from where they were fighting.
During this exchange, Xu Qing used Under the Nine Springs but he only used eight punches. He didn't display his ninth punch as he was waiting for an opportunity.
Saintly Star's body trembled and retreated as he fell into disadvantage.
Xu Qing's long hair fluttered in the air. He had hidden the power of his fourth fire because he was very clear that the key to this battle wasn't to kill Saintly Star but to make the rescuers unable to save him in time.
At the very least, they shouldn't be able to prevent him from devouring Saintly Star's Miemeng.
If he wanted to do this, he had to catch them off guard.
This couldn't be done at the start. There was a high chance that Saintly Star would be saved by someone and he would also fail to devour Miemeng. Hence, Xu Qing was observing. While observing Saintly Star Child's trump card, he was also observing the rescuers who might appear in the surroundings.
As for Saintly Star's trump card, Xu Qing wasn't very clear. He only vaguely sensed the aura of the Golden Crow from Saintly Star's body. Hence, he stared at his empty and pitch-black right eye many times.
The shadow also spread out secretly. It was the same for his poison. At the same time, the exchange earlier also revealed the difference between the current Saintly Star and the past. That was his speed.
The other party's speed was much faster than before.
At this moment, there was no time to think too much. After Saintly Star retreated, he stomped the ground fiercely. His already astonishing speed erupted again, tearing through the air and creating a sharp sound.
Miemeng manifested behind him. As it let out a cry, Saintly Star's combat strength also increased and he appeared in front of Xu Qing.
Xu Qing's expression was cold. The Golden Crow manifested behind him and collided with Miemeng again. Two canopies appeared on Xu Qing's head, adding protective barriers to him, causing Saintly Star to have to withstand an astonishing rebound force with every punch.
To him, what was painful wasn't this backlash from his own punch but the pain he was feeling in his heart.
In the past, only the others would experience this when they fought with him. Seeing that his life lantern was above Xu Qing's head and was used against him, Saintly Star's eyes turned bloodshot. He let out a low shout and bit the tip of his tongue, spitting out a mouthful of blood.
"Ghost Cloth, seal the body and soul, and annihilate with the heart transformation sword."
As soon as the blood appeared, it instantly transformed into a blood-colored robe. It was similar to the spell he had used in the battle with Xu Qing before, but there were new changes. This blood-colored robe didn't wrap around Xu Qing but collapsed on its own, turning into countless pieces.
Every piece was a blood-colored flying sword. When gathered together, they formed a blood-colored wind that headed straight for Xu Qing.
As the previous owner of the life lantern, Saintly Star was well aware about the weakness of his Rainbow Wind Song Lantern.
He had to bombard it with group attacks, causing the life lantern's defense to constantly distort and reveal flaws. He had never told anyone about this, nor did he expect to use this knowledge against his own life lantern one day.
Although most of these flying swords were blocked outside, there were too many of them. Some of them seemed to be about to break through Xu Qing's life lantern defense.
Xu Qing narrowed his eyes and dodged. He then punched out at Saintly Star with intense killing intent. When Under the Nine Springs' aura was vaguely revealed, he divided a portion of his attention to the surroundings.
In an instant, Xu Qing sensed the energy fluctuations coming from outside Mount Mystic Dao. He didn't hesitate to disperse the power of the nine springs.
Saintly Star was extremely fast and dodged the punch easily.
At the same time, outside Mount Mystic Dao, Xue Lianzi's face appeared in the sky. He snorted coldly at the sky.
The expression of the Soaring Cloud Ancestor was gloomy. The two of them stared at each other with hostility.
"Rules are rules. Those who break the rules will be punished," Xue Lianzi slowly said.
The Soaring Cloud Ancestor didn't speak.
Xu Qing looked at all of this from afar. He knew that his previous sense wasn't wrong. The retreating Saintly Star sneered and suddenly lifted his right hand. Immediately, three sword lights spread out at the same time.
A beam of light soared into the sky and transformed into the Heavenly Blood Sword. It descended from the sky and stabbed vertically at Xu Qing's head.
Xu Qing looked above with a strange glint in his eyes. He had seen this move before but he too was different from before. He now had a spell. He performed a series of hand seals before waving his right hand.
Immediately, the water vapor in Xu Qing's surroundings became denser, causing everything to be hazy. A vast blue sea directly formed around him. Compared to this sea, Mount Mystic Dao was like a huge mountain in the sea, and the two people on it were like ants.
However, the bluish white waves forming on it were even more shocking. It was as though a tsunami had gathered and blasted toward the Heavenly Blood Sword in the sky!
The wave devoured the sky and the blood sword rumbled.
Before the blood sword collapsed, a second sword light appeared.
This sword swept out and transformed into the Soul Shaking Demon Suppression Sword which then slashed at Xu Qing.
Xu Qing waved his hands and waves rose from the ground, forming a second wave. When it collided with the sweeping Soul Shaking Demon Suppression Sword, it emitted an astonishingly powerful sound wave that shook the ground and the sky.
The third sword light of Saintly Star appeared, transforming into eight swords ghosts with swords on their backs. They manifested around Xu Qing and turned around in unison, drawing their swords and slashing.
It was none other than Northern Ghost Inquires the Heaven Sword.
Xu Qing moved his hands with one in front and one behind it as he moved like he was dancing. Like Taiji, his arms seemed to be moving one after another slowly, instantly creating the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth waves. These four waves rose from his left and right, and each of them contained a terrifying force. The moment they appeared, they collided with the eight sword ghosts.
The sword ghosts were destroyed. Xu Qing coldly looked at the gloomy-looking Saintly Star who was rapidly retreating. His hands still looked slow but they were actually waving extremely quickly. He even moved five steps forward.
With every step he took, a wave surged into the sky.
Five steps later, the five waves that had accumulated an extreme amount of power moved toward Saintly Star. From afar, it looked like water was flooding the Mystic Dao.
Saintly Star's breathing was hurried. The feeling this battle gave him was completely different from before. At that time, the shortage of spells and abilities was Xu Qing's weakness, but now, the other party's weakness had been replaced and its might was extraordinary.
However, he had yet to give up. His killing intent was still there. Under the bombardment of the five waves, Saintly Star let out a low shout and took out an item. It was a rotting finger.
Its origins were unknown and it emitted a bizarre and sinister aura. One could faintly see countless runes swimming on it, giving off an incomparably evil feeling.
This was… a curse!
It was his younger brother's curse. While being tortured with Xu Qing's poison, with the help of the Golden Crow, he gathered the curse on this finger and turned it into his weapon.
He threw it out without any hesitation. This finger came into contact with the seawater and instantly shattered into pitch-black liquid. It rapidly polluted the entire sea and dyed it black.
There was also a stench that spread out from it. Not only did the originally blue sea instantly turn into a black sea, but it had also turned into rotting water. Countless arms and ghost faces appeared, causing the entire sea to show signs of collapse. In fact, the waves even rolled back, as though they wanted to counterattack.
It was obvious that in the battle with Xu Qing back then, he had only seen Xu Qing's shadow covering his magic aperture. Hence, he had mainly focused on preventing his magic apertures from being covered and Xu Qing's strange poison. The mark his grandfather left in him helped in this.
Hence, he didn't know the true power of Xu Qing's shadow.
This was the benefit of hiding one's cards.
The bizarre entities born in the seawater were about to counterattack. However, at the next instant, as Xu Qing coldly looked over, the bizarre entities' bodies trembled and they let out sharp cries. They actually fled outwards and tried to leave the sea.
Almost at the instant they scattered, Xu Qing let out a cold snort and suddenly lifted his right hand. Immediately, a heavenly saber manifested above his head. This saber was purple and its entire body was solid. Moreover, there wasn't just one saber but seven.
Xu Qing had only comprehended two Extreme Heaven Saber moves and there was an upper limit to its might. However, his magic power was dense and he could form many of them in one go, increasing their might by overlapping them. He had done this when he fought with Sima Ru.
As Xu Qing waved his hand, the seven heavenly sabers slashed toward Saintly Star. The wind changed and baleful auras spread as they descended on Saintly Star.
Saintly Star couldn't dodge in time and his body rumbled as he was sent back. He was slashed by the seven heavenly sabers one by one and huge wounds that were so deep that his bones could be seen appeared on his body.
The deepest strike was only a trace away from severing his waist.
However, at the next instant, a strange scene appeared.
The image of the Golden Crow suddenly appeared in Saintly Star's pitch-black right eye. This shadow let out a cry and an astonishing vitality erupted. After it fused into Saintly Star's body, the injuries on his entire body recovered at a speed visible to the naked eye. Even the wound on his waist was the same.
This scene caused everyone in the surroundings to be dumbfounded and shocked. The attacks of these two people weren't at the range of Foundation Building at all but more like Golden Cores.
Saintly Star's retreating figure stopped. He was already fully healed and looked at Xu Qing with a sinister smile.
"Xu Qing, I have to thank you for allowing me to have this undying body. I'll repay you properly."
Xu Qing narrowed his eyes and calmly spoke his first sentence in this battle.
"You're still as noisy as before."
Xu Qing wasn't too surprised. Although this matter was unexpected, it was also within his expectations. At that moment, he understood that this was Saintly Star's trump card.
The surrounding cultivators who were paying attention to this battle also quickly looked at Xu Qing. They could see Xu Qing's personality at this moment. He rarely spoke in battle.
This personality of not speaking in a battle caused everyone to sense the ruthlessness in Xu Qing's bones.
On the top of the Mystic Nether Sect's mountain, Purple Mystic Fairy was drinking the snow lotus-seed soup while watching this battle. When she noticed Xu Qing speaking, she chuckled.
"Although the baleful aura is so heavy that it's impossible for there to be light in his heart and he's not the person I'm looking for, he's still an interesting little fellow. The main thing is he's good-looking, unlike Saintly Star. When he was young, he even devoured his conjoined twin. Just looking at him makes me feel disgusted."
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