Chapter 148: A Terrifying Blow

Everyone present was struck dumb with astonishment, their faces draining of color as they stared in sheer disbelief at Xu Xuan's unimaginable action.

When Dongfang Ba's bloodline power had fully awakened, surging with unstoppable momentum to launch a lethal assault, Xu Xuan's very first reaction was not to run away—even though everyone from the Zhang family had been urging him to flee.

Instead of running, he dared to charge back into the fray, acting with fierce and decisive resolve. This was clearly no foolish act born of terror.

"Brother Xuan, no!"

Zhang Yuhan cried out involuntarily, her beautiful eyes trembling with overwhelming panic.

"Xu Ghost... you cannot fight him head-on!"

Not far away, Zhang Feng, the stain of blood still wet at the corner of his mouth, shouted in shock. Having just crossed swords with Dongfang Ba himself, he naturally had a deep appreciation for the opponent's terrifying might.

"The brat must be tired of living. Still, this is for the best; from now on, he will vanish completely from Yuhan's side..."

Lin Hui wore a look of ecstatic joy, his heart hammering against his ribs as he stared intently at the youth charging back into battle, a sinister smile playing on his lips.

"What! Has he lost his mind?"

Patriarch Zhang Tianlun sprang abruptly to his feet. Even as a grave expression settled on his face, a trace of regret stirred within his heart: what a pity to lose such a fine talent.

"Hahaha! That boy is simply courting death. How could any ordinary mortal resist the awakened bloodline of the Dongfang clan?"

The upper echelons of the Dongfang family erupted into a wave of fervent excitement.

At that moment, everyone—whether they were mere spectators or family disciples within the ancient ruins—forgot their actions, their pupils constricting as they fixed their gazes on the youth soaring up to meet Dongfang Ba.

Then, in the very next instant.

"Good heavens!"

The disciples of both clans watched as Xu Xuan's figure leaped to the pinnacle of the ancient ruins, their minds battered by a wave of shock.

Viewed from afar, Xu Xuan's body moved with unimaginable fluidity, forming the shape of a dragon. His entire frame seemed to be wreathed in a layer of crimson flames, and a low, soul-shaking tremor vibrated through the surrounding air as an aura akin to a taboo spread outward.

At a single glance, he resembled an indistinct scarlet dragon shadow looking down from mid-air upon all living things below, breathtaking and terrifying.

When Xu Xuan unleashed the Dragon Transformation, the expressions of all present shifted drastically.

That blazing, violent aura was primitive and raw, carrying the terrifying chill of a forbidden taboo.

The power condensed within Xu Xuan's body stemmed entirely from his flesh and blood, yet it surpassed the realm of ordinary living beings, causing the souls of many nearby cultivators to tremble faintly.

Faced with this presence, cultivators at the Qi Refining immortal tier found their bodies shaking uncontrollably—an automatic, visceral reaction of their physical flesh. At the same time, locked in by this pressure, anyone below the Soul Condensation stage could not even muster the thought of resistance.

Even those who had reached or surpassed the Soul Condensation stage were affected, their minds trembling, their inner vital energy churning abnormally with an inexplicable sense of unease...

"Not good! This must be some kind of forbidden art. Is he trying to perish together with Ba'er?"

Dongfang Wei's smile froze as he realized the danger. His face turning taut with urgency, he shot forward like an arrow released from a taut bow, rocketing toward the ancient ruins.

However, there was a considerable distance between the ancient ruins and the dragon-headed flying boat of the Dongfang family; he was simply too far away to stop Xu Xuan from executing his secret technique.

In that soul-stirring fraction of a second.

Suspended in mid-air in his dragon form, Xu Xuan paused for a fleeting moment. In that instant, he burned away more than half of the primordial energy in his body, sacrificing a precious drop of vital blood to fuse with the "momentum" that had been refined and elevated manifold by the scouring of the ancient ruins. All his power was ignited and boiled down to a single point, concentrated at his lips.

Hovering diagonally below, Dongfang Ba felt a taboo aura that caused even his inherited bloodline to tremble faintly. His entire body stiffened, enveloped by that destructive and scorching "momentum."

Panic gripped his heart. Drawing a deep breath, he melded his lifelong true energy with his bloodline power, swinging his spirit-grade long saber with all his might to unleash his ultimate inherited secret skill.

Screech!

With that single slash, a dazzling, yellow-orange blade aura over a dozen feet long, wrapped in a layer of vicious purple malevolence, suddenly surged to twice its size. The momentum of the saber doubled out of nowhere, fierce enough to terrify gods and ghosts alike.

A secret technique of this caliber, slashing horizontally across the air, was something not even a tier-three Soul Condensation master would dare to meet head-on.

Yet even so, Dongfang Ba's sturdy physique, nourished by hot blood, still could not shake off the horrifying sensation of being scorched by blazing fire. It felt as though an insignificant ant were confronting a primordial higher species.

He trembled in shock: Could this opponent possess a bloodline even superior to that of the Dongfang clan?

Events move too fast for words.

The very instant that terrifying blade aura tore through the void, the scarlet flame current concentrated at Xu Xuan's lips was abruptly expelled.

Whoosh!

A deep red sphere of scarlet flame, driving a wave of destructive thermal explosion, crashed violently against the spirit-grade long saber.

Before the two forces even made contact, Dongfang Ba felt as though his entire arm were melting. Reflexively, he hurled away the spirit-grade saber in his grasp, threw out every ounce of his remaining strength, and retreated in panicked panic.

Boom!

The entire ancient ruins shook violently. A ring of fire-cloud-like, deep-red flame waves rippled outward into the surroundings, expanding instantly to twenty or thirty feet. Within that designated area, the destructive heat was intense enough to melt gold and iron.

Even the front section of the spirit-grade long saber developed glowing red cracks, a small portion of it actually melting away. One had to know that artifacts of the spirit-grade were several times tougher than ordinary magic tools, capable of resisting damage even from Soul Condensation masters.

With a sharp rip, the annular flame wave was cleaved in two by the bloodline-infused blade aura. Immediately afterward, an even more terrifying sound of a thermal explosion erupted, the shockwave blasting straight out of the ancient ruins to strike the waterfall behind the water curtain, kicking up dense plumes of mist that nearly obscured the visibility of the entire area.

Down below, numerous family disciples collapsed and trembled, hurriedly deploying various life-saving measures amid cries of agonizing pain.

Fortunately, the collision of those two forces had erupted high in the air; otherwise, the mere shockwave alone would have slaughtered more than half of the cultivators present.

Bearing the brunt of the impact, Dongfang Ba had already hurled away his saber and retreated in haste. Though a spirit armor surfaced on his skin, he was struck by the exploding scarlet light-mutes. He let out a muffled groan and plummeted from the sky.

Thud!

Dongfang Ba crashed to the ground, his body battered, charred in patches, and groaning in agony. Unable to move, he had clearly suffered severe, potentially fatal internal injuries, losing all combat capability entirely.

Had he not thrown his saber to unleash unimaginable force beforehand, he would have long since been blasted into dust before such an ancient body-refining secret art as the Dragon's Wrathful Breath.

Thud!

Buffeted by the terrifying shockwave of true energy and thermal explosion, Xu Xuan was knocked back to the summit of the ancient ruins. His sturdy body embedded directly into the rock face. "Agh!" He spat out a mouthful of blood, clearly not escaping without injury.

Fortunately, he had occupied the higher vantage point, holding the advantage, and his bronze-cast physique was incomparably tough. Though his vital energy was heavily depleted, he still managed to retain a fraction of his combat strength.

Looking down from the top of the ruins, the people below were all sprawled prone upon the ground, in a state of utter wretchedness.

The cultivators of both clans were seized with terror, their vital energy churning, many bearing charred burns upon their bodies.

Among them, Lin Hui was in the most miserable state; one of his arms had been blown clean off. When Xu Xuan had unleashed the wrathful breath in mid-air with such ferocious dominance, Lin Hui had still been basking in his lingering ecstasy. By the time he snapped out of it, he was practically petrified, turning his triumph into a tragic catastrophe.

"Brother Xuan!"

Tears of joyous surprise flashed in Zhang Yuhan's eyes. Even with protective spirit talismans, her ceremonial dress was torn in several places, and thin lines of blood stained her fair, tender legs, a sight to evoke pity. Yet she no longer cared about her minor injuries; her heart and soul had been entirely captured by the miraculous, god-like strike delivered by the youth atop the ruins.

"Brother Xu! That was magnificent!"

Zhang Feng nearly shouted out loud. The horrifying might of that final strike had sent his heart pounding, while also bringing him an unprecedented sense of exhilaration.

"Dongfang Ba, today is the day you die! I'll kill you first, and later I'll use the entire Dongfang clan to keep you company..."

Enduring the fierce pain, Xu Xuan dragged his body with great difficulty out of the rock face and landed lightly on the ground. A wisp of pale red primordial energy gathered in his palm as he prepared to bring a fatal blow down upon his foe.

"Stop right there!"

A piercing sonic boom rang out from behind as Dongfang Wei rushed over, roaring in a fury of shock and rage. The oppressive, powerful divine sense of a tier-nine Soul Condensation master caused Xu Xuan's movements to freeze, followed by a glowing yellow razor-sharp edge slashing through empty space, whistling through the air.

Faced with a strike from a powerful tier-nine martial cultivator, Xu Xuan would die without a doubt if he failed to dodge.

"Save your life first. Vengeance can be exacted another day."

The voice of the ancient remnant soul echoed with a hint of urgency in the depths of his mind.

Roll!

Without hesitation, Xu Xuan threw himself into a roll on the spot, narrowly dodging the blade-like true energy.

Agh...

The very moment he dodged the attack, a Zhang family disciple behind him was sliced cleanly in two.

Bang!

The remaining momentum of the blade carved a bottomless crevice deep into the cold rock.

Breaking out in a cold sweat, Xu Xuan hurriedly scrambled deep into the ancient ruins to prevent the enemy from launching another assault.

The instant Dongfang Wei arrived, he immediately scooped up his battered, breathing-on-the-verge-of-death son, swiftly pulling out medicinal pills to administer aid. At the same time, his bone-chilling gaze slowly lifted as he raised a palm, intent on avenging his son.

"Hahaha! Dongfang Wei, you are a dignified patriarch, yet because your son is incompetent, you actually want to lower yourself to meddle in a battle between juniors?"

A middle-aged figure in a date-red robe flashed forward, blocking Xu Xuan's path. It was none other than Patriarch Zhang Tianlun, who now beamed with a ruddy complexion and laughed heartily.

Dongfang Wei's expression clouded over with gloom. He naturally understood that Zhang Tianlun would never allow him to harm a single hair on Xu Xuan's head, especially not while he was weighed down by a critically injured son.

"Hmph! Boy surnamed Xu, don't think that with the Zhang family protecting you, my Dongfang clan is helpless against you. If a day comes when even the Zhang family is wiped out, let's see how long you can remain arrogant!"

With a cold snort, Dongfang Wei sat down to begin treating Dongfang Ba's injuries.

"Brother Xuan, are you alright?"

Enduring her own pain, Zhang Yuhan walked over to support the pale youth behind his father, tears still shimmering in her pretty eyes as she bade Xu Xuan sit so she could bandage his wounds.

A look of lingering resentment remained on Xu Xuan's face, filled with deep regret.

Just a moment earlier, and he could have killed that brute Dongfang Ba.

Reading the disappointment in his eyes, Zhang Yuhan broke into a tearful smile. "You're injured this badly, and you're still unsatisfied? What you've achieved is nothing short of a miracle. Revenge can be taken slowly; I believe it's only a matter of time."

Xu Xuan nodded slightly, thinking to himself: *This Dongfang Ba still had some luck left to survive by the skin of his teeth. But that's fine—it's not just Dongfang Ba I want to kill; I am going to uproot the entire Dongfang clan.*

Failing to kill Dongfang Ba today perhaps was Heaven's will. Xu Xuan recalled his wager with Nie Han: within twenty years, they would see who could eradicate the Dongfang clan first. Killing mere Dongfang Ba alone was far from enough to quench his hatred.