Chapter 615
Opens Quietly
"What about the tracking? Any leads?"
The subordinate quickly replied.
"We've already sent Xiao Mu out! He's proficient in the 'Six Senses Sensing Technique.' As long as the target hasn't been gone for more than twelve hours and hasn't deliberately erased any trace of their presence, he should be able to track them down!"
"very good!"
A cold glint flashed in the eyes of the man in the straw hat.
"Send the message out immediately! The target has likely already left Huanglong City! Have all teams outside the city on high alert and expand the search area. Once any trace is found, surround the target immediately! We're leaving the city right now!"
He felt a deep sense of urgency. Miss Chi Cangmei had mobilized all her forces, including five Ziying warships, to lay a tight net outside the city. If they lost sight of their target again, the consequences... he dared not even imagine!
At his command, the figures in the shadows sprang into action, like sharks that had caught the scent of blood, and began to surge toward the outskirts of Huanglong City.
……
Outside Huanglong City, on the wide official road leading to the Forbidden City, carriages and people flowed in an endless stream.
Jiang Xuan changed into an inconspicuous gray cloth outfit and mingled in the crowd, walking slowly along the main road.
His aura was calm and restrained at this moment, his expression was honest and simple, and he even had a bit of the restraint and curiosity of a country boy entering the big city for the first time, which was completely different from his original handsome and cold appearance.
This was the superb disguise technique he learned in the Blood Killing Camp. It not only changed his subtle appearance, but more importantly, it changed his aura, demeanor, and even the subtle habits of walking, sitting, and lying down, making him like a drop of water merging into the ocean, easily overlooked by others.
He walked along, pondering to himself.
"Lu Shaoyun should have realized by now that I've used him, right? However, if he weren't so arrogant and wicked, he wouldn't have fallen for it so easily. If he had listened to the advice in my letter and quickly sought help from his father, he might have been able to escape this predicament. If he continues to be so clever, then he will suffer the consequences in the end, and he can't blame anyone else."
Unbeknownst to him, because of his scheme, Lu Shaoyun not only failed to "escape a calamity," but was also escorted back to the Forbidden City by his father to plead guilty. Meanwhile, an unprecedentedly large-scale net targeting him had quietly been set up outside Huanglong City.
His seemingly ordinary journey could lead him into a deadly trap at any step.
Jiang Xuan mingled in the crowd, his gaze calmly sweeping across the open official road ahead.
He secretly pondered that all the actions he had taken since entering Huanglong City should be under his control.
Using that fool Lu Shaoyun to successfully draw most of the enemy's attention, he slipped away and infiltrated the Spirit Pattern Master Commune. Taking advantage of its absolutely safe environment, he spent four days finally breaking through the barrier and successfully entering the Earthly Rank Realm! He then disguised himself and blended into the crowd, leaving Huanglong City safely without being tracked along the way.
He knew that along the route from Huanglong City to the Forbidden City, the number of garrison points of the imperial army guarding the capital increased, and there were many prosperous cities along the way. It would be much more difficult for the enemy to mobilize a large force for a blatant encirclement and suppression as they had in Fengwan Mountain Range and Qingliu Town.
This is an advantageous condition for him.
However, Jiang Xuan did not relax in the slightest because of this.
He clearly remembered that, based on the fragmented intelligence he had gathered earlier, the enemy had mobilized a full three thousand elite troops to kill him! The hundreds he had previously killed were merely the tip of the iceberg. The real danger was likely concentrated on the seemingly peaceful journey ahead. The enemy would never easily allow him to reach the Forbidden City.
Sure enough, when they were about ten miles away from Huanglong City, and the number of pedestrians and carriages on the official road gradually decreased, the scene ahead made Jiang Xuan's eyes narrow slightly.
About a mile away, a checkpoint had been set up on the official road! More than fifty cultivators, dressed in uniform black outfits and exuding a powerful aura, wielded gleaming spiritual weapons and coldly guarded the road, checking all passersby. From the dense forests on both sides of the road, a sinister aura lurked, like a venomous snake in flight.
What's even more unsettling is that high above, several sharp-eyed hawks are constantly circling, their keen eyes scanning everything below.
The entire road ahead seemed to be completely blocked by an invisible net!
Jiang Xuan didn't stop, quickly weighing his options. Should he immediately turn around and find a side path to bypass it? Or... force his way through?
Just as he hesitated, a rapid whooshing sound came from behind him! Seven or eight cultivators, also dressed in black, were rushing towards him from the official road behind him, their eyes scanning the crowd ahead like hawks, as if searching for something.
Jiang Xuan felt a chill run down his spine. He immediately lowered his head, concealed his aura to the extreme, and moved closer to the side of the road like an ordinary pedestrian, coldly observing the situation.
The black-clad cultivators who arrived later quickly joined up with the people at the checkpoint. The leader was tall and thin, with an unusually fair complexion. Most striking were his pupils, which gleamed with a faint, eerie blood-red light!
This blood-eyed man seemed to possess some kind of peculiar ability. Instead of questioning the passersby in detail, he stood still, his nostrils flaring slightly, as if he were sniffing something in the air.
His blood-red pupils gleamed with an eerie light as they slowly swept across the crowd.
His gaze swept over Jiang Xuan, who was mingling at the edge of the crowd with his head down, and then suddenly froze! A terrifying light suddenly burst forth from his blood-red eyes!
"The target is..."
He had barely uttered three words, and hadn't even had time to fully indicate the direction, when a sudden change occurred!
Jiang Xuan, who had been keeping a close eye on him out of the corner of his eye, knew the moment Jiang Xuan's gaze locked onto him that his disguise had been exposed! Without any hesitation, he suddenly raised his left hand, which was hidden in his sleeve, and the already cocked crossbow emitted a slight click of its mechanism!
"call out!"
A crossbow bolt, gleaming with an eerie light, ripped through the air like a venomous snake emerging from its hole, shooting straight for the blood-eyed man's throat with a speed too fast for the naked eye to follow! This arrow was swift, accurate, and ruthless, demonstrating Jiang Xuan's decisive and ruthless killing ability!
However, the blood-eyed man's reaction was also incredibly fast! Just before the crossbow bolt hit his body, he twisted to the side in a bizarre, bat-like gliding motion, as if he had no bones!
"laugh!"
The crossbow bolt grazed the edge of his neck, leaving a trail of blood, but it failed to kill him instantly!
"Enemy attack! Target here!!" "Surround him! Don't let him escape!"
After a brief silence, the black-clad cultivators at the checkpoint erupted in a deafening roar! Almost simultaneously, from the dense forests on both sides, hundreds of black-clad cultivators, armed with weapons and exuding murderous intent, surged forth like a tidal wave! The few cultivators who had just arrived at the rear immediately blocked their retreat!
In the blink of an eye, Jiang Xuan was surrounded on all sides and had no way to retreat!
Pedestrians and merchants had never seen such a scene before. Terrified, they screamed in terror and fled in panic like ants scattered from a nest, clearing the area in an instant.
Jiang Xuan activated his full spiritual senses, clearly perceiving the densely packed number of enemies around him, and the presence of reinforcements constantly arriving from afar! This was undoubtedly a meticulously planned and massively orchestrated deadly trap!
But there was no fear in his eyes. Instead, amidst the heavy encirclement, he slowly straightened his back. A brand new power, far more vast and powerful than before, surged forth from the depths of his dantian, flowing through his limbs and bones!
Ling Gang, who had just advanced to the Earthly Fiend Realm, was now operating at his peak. A thin but solid azure luster faintly surrounded him, radiating a terrifying pressure!
"Clang—!"
A clear and resounding clang of the blade echoed throughout the arena! The [Flowing Light Battle Blade] was already unsheathed, its cold blade gleaming with a chilling light. A fierce and bloodthirsty aura emanated from the blade, like an ancient beast awakened from its slumber, yearning to drink blood!
"kill!"
"Take him!"
From all directions, countless black-clad cultivators roared wildly, rushing towards Jiang Xuan in the center like a surging tide! The lowest cultivation level among these cultivators was the late stage of the Human Gang Realm, and there were many experts in the Earth Gang Realm among them. There were even a few powerful auras belonging to the Heaven Gang Realm hidden in the crowd, waiting for their chance to strike!
To kill Jiang Xuan, the enemy had clearly deployed their strongest ground forces at the moment! In an instant, spiritual light crisscrossed, and various powerful combat techniques roared and erupted. Blade energy, sword light, fist energy, palm wind... intertwined into a destructive storm, its terrifying momentum enough to tear an army of a thousand to shreds in an instant!
Faced with this encirclement that would drive any Earthly Realm cultivator to despair, Jiang Xuan's expression remained focused and calm.
He gripped the gleaming battle blade, his eyes sharp as a hawk's, locking onto the densest horde of enemies rushing towards him.
It's time to test the true combat power of the Earthly Rank Realm!
The surging spiritual energy within him poured into the Radiant Blade in his hand with unprecedented speed and force! The blade trembled, no longer emitting a clear hum, but a deep roar, as if from the ancient wilderness!
[Heavenly Origin Blade Technique] - Star Gathering Style!
This technique, inherited from the mysterious Tongtian Secret Realm and refined through countless battles, had long been perfected by him. Now, having entered the Earthly Gang Realm and undergone a qualitative change in his spiritual energy, the power of this move has undergone a tremendous transformation!
A single slash!
There was no earth-shattering roar, nor any dazzling brilliance.
But to all the black-clad cultivators who had gathered around, the world seemed to have fallen into eternal darkness in that instant! Only countless stars, carrying an aura of destruction, crashed down from the heavens, filling their entire vision and their entire minds!
An overwhelming, irresistible, and indescribable force, like the crushing weight of the starry sky, accompanied by a terrifying force that reached the very depths of the soul and evoked the most primal fears, descended with a deafening roar!
"What is that?!"
"Do not--!"
"My body... I can't move!"
The hundreds of cultivators at the forefront, whether they were at the Human Gang Realm or the Earth Gang Realm, instantly lost all color in their faces, their eyes filled with boundless terror and bewilderment.
Their movements froze in unison, as if bound by invisible shackles, their bodies and minds consumed by the immense terror of falling stars and the arrival of eternal night, as if they had fallen into an endless abyss of darkness!
next moment--
"Puff puff puff puff puff...!!!!"
Like an overripe watermelon being instantly crushed! The hundreds of black-clad cultivators, whose movements had been frozen, suddenly exploded without warning at the same time!
Blood splattered like a torrential rain, and shattered flesh and bones burst forth like red fireworks, instantly turning the surrounding dozens of feet into a blinding crimson! The pungent, nauseating stench of blood soared into the sky!
The ground in front of Jiang Xuan was torn open by the remaining force of the sword strike, creating a huge, bottomless crack that was hundreds of feet long. The dark crack's edges were filled with swirling soil, as if it were a gateway to the deepest hell, exuding a chilling aura of death!
The power of that single strike is terrifying!
At the start of the battle, the man named Xiao Mu, with bloodshot eyes, narrowly avoided Jiang Xuan's fatal crossbow attack. Although a bloody gash was cut on his neck, he moved like a ghost and retreated to the outer edge of the battle circle in a few flashes. He covered his wound with lingering fear, his bloodshot pupils fixed on the figure in the middle of the field.
Not far away, the man wearing a straw hat revealed a smug smirk on his previously gloomy face. In his view, the target was already surrounded and had no way to escape! However, before the smile on his lips could fully open, it suddenly froze!
Surrounded in the center, Jiang Xuan's azure radiance suddenly intensified, becoming dazzlingly bright, as if azure flames were burning on his body! The ancient-looking battle blade in his hand no longer emitted a clear, melodious whistling sound, but a deep, majestic roar, like the sudden awakening of a peerless weapon that had slumbered for millennia! A chilling, ferocious aura spread out!
"Oh no! His aura..."
The man in the straw hat cried out in alarm, his mind racing with alarm bells.
Xiao Mu, who possessed special sensory abilities, felt it even more clearly and intensely. The moment the [Star Gathering Style] was unleashed, his and Xiao Mu's minds were struck as if by a heavy hammer. In a daze, they seemed to see the world plunged into eternal darkness, and countless enormous stars, with trajectories of destruction, crashed down and crushed towards them!
The overwhelming momentum and the soul-stirring awe caused their minds to go blank for a moment!
When they suddenly broke free from that great terror and came to their senses, the sight that came into view made their scalp tingle and their whole body go cold, a chill running from the soles of their feet straight to the top of their heads!
Jiang Xuan only swung his sword once! Just once!
But this one strike instantly shattered the bodies of over a hundred of his formidable comrades who were charging at the forefront, turning them into fragile porcelain pieces! Blood and flesh flew everywhere, transforming that area into a slaughterhouse!
Even more terrifying, a terrifying crack, hundreds of feet long and bottomless, was torn open in the ground, like a ferocious maw opened by the earth. Some cultivators who were unable to dodge in time or were stunned fell into it with screams and were instantly swallowed by the deep darkness, without even making a ripple!
The power of this blade simply surpassed their understanding of the combat strength of cultivators at the Human罡 Realm!
"How is this possible?! He's only at the Human Qi Realm! How could this be..."
A black-clad leader at the Earthly Rank Realm stared at the scattered pieces of flesh and the terrifying cracks on the ground, his voice trembling, his face filled with horror and disbelief.
Little did they know, Jiang Xuan was no longer the naive man he once was; he had successfully advanced to the Earthly Rank Realm and possessed the initial power of "learning from Heaven and Earth"! (End of Chapter)