: : The Divine Sword Breaks the Willow

Tens of thousands of branches as thick as arms entwined the two giant statues, with endless crackling sounds echoing through the air. From the gaps between the branches, broken crystals fell intermittently, an ominous sign that the barrier erected by the group was on the brink of collapse.

Tang Qian, clad in spirit armor and emitted a golden light, danced in the sky along with Du Sha, who wielded a red crystal blade. They relentlessly attacked the branches restraining the giant statues. Even Du Wei and Du Ling, who had just escaped from their plight, flew upward, chopping off huge branches. However, the strength of their attacks proved futile as the giant statues were still bound.

Despite their vigorous efforts, each breath they took only managed to sever a few dozen branches. Looking at the continuously crumbling statues dropping crystals, they realised there was not enough time left for them.

Unexpectedly, even with the addition of two warriors from the Fierce Realm, the situation had fallen into such hazardous territory. Knowing that their attacks were in vain, they could only continue aiming at the branches.

It is said that those in the game are blind, while onlookers see things clearly. Perhaps Tang Luo could answer their predicaments.

From the start of the battle, they had been trapped in Mi Clan’s tempo. Or rather, the Pride of Xiling who had just appeared on the battlefield, had rehearsed every possible scenario against all opponents. Only after he was sure he could dominate the field, did he launch a bold attack.

As expected, the balance of the battle had already tilted in favor of the Pride of Xiling. In a little while, it would be his turn to reap the rewards.

Transformed into willow branches, the Oracle of Mi Clan felt triumphant. As long as he sealed off the point where Tang Qian’s new strength did not reignite and his old strength had not been exhausted, and obliterated the two eyesore giant statues, no one would be able to resist his onslaught.

“Am I supposed to stand by and watch this play out? Who am I, a man on the run?”

A figure shot out from under the statue and instantly transformed into a silver-grey titan. The echoing roar startled the warriors from the Fierce Realm.

The intended target of their protection had left his shelter to join the battlefield, which made their hearts drop. The Oracle of Mi Clan didn’t hesitate and immediately sent hundreds of branches rushing to the titan. But Du Sha and the others, wanting to provide aid, were blocked by thousands of robust branches.

By forming a thorn barrier using the branches, his goal was simply to prevent the others from rushing to Tang Luo’s aid. For the Oracle of Mi Clan, even a Mortal Realm warrior who possessed the capability to transform into a giant could not stand against hundreds of branches.

However, the Oracle of Mi Clan had not anticipated that Tang Luo’s appearance was not just a diversion. His aim was to rescue the two giant statues, with the help of the Innate Qi Arrow condensed with the divine light from ninety million elixirs!

In the blinding green light, a rainbow band shot out from the giant’s mouth. Like a poignant bird cutting through the long sky, it struck upon countless branches of the Oracle of Mi Clan.

It was like a sharp knife slicing through a portion of meat. The tough branches could not withstand the sharp band and broke apart as if they had met their nemesis.

Following the completion of the rainbow band’s arc, all the branches were severed into two parts. The Oracle of Mi Clan couldn’t even maintain his transformation into the tree, returning to his original form.

At this juncture, the Oracle of Mi Clan bore no resemblance to his elegance at the beginning of the battle. His powerful left arm was filled with scars and his waist-length hair was neatly cut off, leaving him with a cropped haircut.

“Oracle of Mi Clan, I, Tang Luo, pay respects to the renowned legend.” The silver-grey titan cupped his hands towards the Oracle of Mi Clan in the horizon, chuckling lightly.

When the Oracle of Mi Clan was looking at the critically injured giant statues that had regained their mobility and then at the four warriors from the Fierce Realm standing in front of the titan, he became furious. Frustrated, he coldly said, “The arrow of Genesis Earth Qi and the divine elixir radiance. The Tang Clan is indeed generous.”

If the Azure Dragon of Wood Qi was his transformed left arm, then the branches were his physical hair. Even when faced with Tang Sen’s golden titan, his branches remained unbroken. Today, however, they were severed by Tang Luo’s singular move. It was impossible for him not to be shocked. Yet, what shocked him more was the move that Tang Luo had executed. The Breath Arrow might not be seen as a unique secret technique, but the key to the potency of the Breath Arrow was the nature of the force one expelled.

The lowest quality of Breath Arrow is naturally Lung Qi, i.e., the act of inhaling air and then expelling it with force. Such a Qi Arrow could injure people within ten steps, but beyond that, it would lose its strength.

The next level up involves the absorption of a large amount of miscellaneous Ambient Spirit Qi before executing the Breath Arrow. This level of Breath Arrow varies in power, with the weaker ones being unable to pierce through the flesh of someone in Mortal Realm, while the stronger ones could potentially break through the protective methods of someone in Transcendent Realm. However, because the Ambient Spirit Qi is so miscellaneous and raw, even a warrior with strong stomach capacity could not compete with the power of refined and solid Spirit Arts when exerting this technique. Therefore, this technique has been abandoned by later generations.

Later, a Grandmaster who was fond of the Breath Arrow technique created a secret method for nurturing Qi specifically for executing Breath Arrow. The theory was to nurture unique types of Spirit Qi in the chest Qi cavity, which were then refined to the extreme and exploded through the Breath Arrow, with enough force to pierce through metal and rock and secure victory in one shot.

However, the advantages and disadvantages of this secret method were both obvious. Once the nurtured Spirit Qi was expelled, it could not be retrieved. To fully utilize the power of this technique, the special type of Spirit Qi needed to be nurtured for several or even tens of years.

Spending a decade accumulating power just for that one mighty blow was simply too arduous for the ancient warriors who had to fight beasts day and night. Therefore, the Breath Arrow technique was eventually discarded. It was mostly used by elders in various clans as a trump card for their juniors, who would infuse Innate Qi into their back Qi cavity to nurture, ready to kill or slaughter.

It was clear to the Oracle of Mi Clan that the Innate Qi Arrow that had just severed his branches was not only based on the Genesis Earth Qi but also possessed an incredibly miraculous divine light. The Genesis Earth Qi was already rarely-seen, let alone the divine radiance of the treasured elixir that formed the rainbow band.

The Tang Clan truly cherished this Pride of Xiling, which was evident from the Innate Qi Arrow he just unleashed.

“The Oracle of Mi Clan has discerning eyes,” laughed Tang Luo, aware that Mi Clan’s Oracle misunderstood him. But he had no intention of clarifying his doubts. Instead, he just lightly said, “But your divine tree transformation has been dismantled, and the Tang Clan’s reinforcements are on the way. I’m afraid you won’t be able to kill me before the reinforcements arrive. Your mission has failed. I wonder if you still want to carry on here?”

Tang Luo was indeed buying time while conversing with the Oracle of Mi Clan. He knew that even if Tang Qian and Du Sha, and the others teamed up, they wouldn’t be able to do anything to the Oracle of Mi Clan. To put it bluntly, Du Wei and Du Ling, who had a spiritual power of over 70,000 and were supposed to be the most powerful, turned out to be the weakest among them. Du Sha, who proved to be the most capable, had less than fifty thousand spiritual power, which indicated a vast gap with the Oracle of Mi Clan.Text © 2024 .

The group was completely crushed in terms of physical strength, spiritual techniques, sustainable strength, and even in their ability to recover. There was no need to continue such a futile fight, which was why Tang Luo hoped to persuade the Oracle of Mi Clan to retreat..