A nearly deafening silence reigned over the area as the murky crimson sword shrank back to its normal size in Yin Long's grasp. The sword now unleashed such an intense bloody aura that it became visible, the crimson aura seeping out of the blade before breaking apart and rising into the air like leaves returning to the tree.

It wasn't just Shui Long, who was the one to actually personally experience Yin Long's strength, who was shocked at what he had just witnessed. Xue Qiuling and Fang Houye were also at a loss for words, one realizing that she had still far underestimated Yin Long's worth while the other realized that it was this weakest member of the group that he should have paid the most attention to.

Of course, he could see from Xue Qiuling's expression that not even she had been aware of Yin Long's actual strength. But that simple fact only made Yin Long even scarier to Fang Houye. He was a youth, probably only around twenty or so, he should be bragging and showing off his skills for all to see. And yet here he was, hiding it from even those who should be fairly close to him, it was similar to the act of a flood dragon hiding most of its body beneath the water to lure in prey.

But it was all too late for regrets or any thoughts of the like, Yin Long certainly had no intention of giving them the time for something like that. His gaze swept over Lan Yun and Jin Wang as he turned his body around to face Shui Long once more, Lan Yun clicking her tongue in dissatisfaction. They had worked together several times already, there was no need for them to exchange words to get their meaning across.

As such, Lan Yun wasted no time in tightly grasping her axe and charging at Xue Qiuling to help her with her two enemies, Jin Wang charging after Yin Long. Six of the nine enemies had been defeated, but Yin Long wasn't terribly interested in having too many people know about his ability so the more of the enemies they could kill the better it would be.

Shui Long's slightly absent-minded expression grew solemn when he saw the man and beast charge at him, both his hands tightly grasping the handle of his twinblade. Yin Long had an injury on his wast and leg that would get worse the longer he fought, but by adding in Jin Wang he could completely negate that disadvantage and put himself at an even greater advantage.

Yin Long slashed down with his crimson blade and forced Shui Long to block, his arms trembling and almost faltering as his feet sank slightly into the earth. The might of Yin Long's sword had increased by a great deal after absorbing the blood of two people at the realm of the Immortal Doors, catching Shui Long completely off guard.

And the moment he blocked Yin Long's attack, Jin Wang also reached him. Jin Wang opened his maw and bit down on Shui Long's thigh, his sharp teeth tearing through his flesh and removing a fist-sized chunk of his left thigh. Shui Long faltered even further and almost fell to the ground, gritting his teeth as a vicious light flashed through his pupils.

One of his hands let go of his twinblade, leaving him unable to resist Yin Long's attack. The twinblade was pushed down and Yin Long's sword sank into Shui Long's shoulder, it would have completely taken off the arm if Shui Long hadn't acted quickly.

His now free arm quickly touched upon his own neck, his fingernail piercing through his skin and swiftly cutting a circular symbol into it. The moment the symbol was finished, all the veins on Shui Long's body started to bulge and writhe, his explosive energy practically running rampant. The toughness of his body increased drastically as his skin turned a pale red, Yin Long's murky sword actually ending up stuck halfway through Shui Long's shoulder.

Shui Long lashed out with his wounded leg, smashing the side of his foot into the side of Jin Wang's head and kicking him aside like a stray cat. He let go of his twinblade with his other hand at the same time and punched out, Yin Long blocking the attack by drawing his normal sword out from his interspatial ring. But even if he blocked it, the explosive force within the fist launched him several steps back and forced him to let go of his crimson sword.

Having created some space for himself, Shui Long immediately turned around and charged away, each of his steps creating small explosions that launched him forward. He knew that the situation was bad so he had decisively chosen to flee with everything he had, even going as far as unleashing the secret skill he had learned from his family. The strength of his defence and power would increase by several magnitudes for a few minutes, but the backlash would result in his cultivation lowering while his body would need at least a month of rest to recuperate.

But even now, after he brought out every single one of his trump cards, did he underestimate Yin Long. Or rather than underestimate him, he simply didn't know him, he had no idea what sorts of abilities and skills he had. And so, he simply didn't know that fleeing was not an option available to him after Yin Long decided to use his abilities.

Jin Wang opened his mouth wide, his lower jaw unhinging and allowing his maw to open to a 90-degree angle, his gullet seemingly leading into a black hole. A strong swallowing force was unleashed by his mouth, locking onto Shui Long and making him feel as if he was moving through a quagmire, his body actually getting dragged back a bit.

The swallowing force also fluctuated throughout the surrounding, overshadowing every other form of energy in the area since Jin Wang was unleashing it to its fullest. For a brief period of time, the only thing that could be sensed in the area was the swallowing energy coming from Jin Wang, and this period of time was one Yin Long took full advantage off.

He lowered his body and shot forward, his speed even faster than it was before. As such, he reached Shui Long before he managed to pull himself out of the swallowing energy, Yin Long's right hand sweeping out. The surrounding space gathered in his palm to form a transparent longsword, the sharp sensation of its edge reaching Shui Long before the blade even did.

But he still felt a sliver of confidence as the attack approached his waist in a diagonal manner, he had already felt the might of Yin Long's transparent sword earlier and was confident that it wouldn't be able to pierce his strengthened body. But then his glancing gaze landed on Yin Long, on the black mark resembling scaled leaves that now spread up his right arm and half of his face, even appearing on his right eye.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Since Jin Wang was overshadowing everything else, Yin Long drew out some of the Netherworld energy gathered within his Soulsea, but he still took great care to make sure that none of it leaked out from his body. A horrid sensation of danger overwhelmed Shui Long as he looked at the pattern, his finger swiping his interspatial ring and drawing out a crystal pole that he placed in front of the incoming attack.

But under the support of the Netherworld energy, all of Yin Long's strengths were magnified. His sword touched upon the pole and then phased right through it, Yin Long using his law of space to split that particular area of space into multiple different layers, his sword passing through one layer while the pole remained in the other.

It was an ability he normally wouldn't be able to use in combat, it required a lot of energy and control, but with the Netherworld energy supporting him it eased some of the trouble. Of course, if the pole had been thicker by just a few more centimetres, he would have had to do something else to circumvent it.

But with the pole unable to block him, his sword was free to reach Shui Long's body. And then, contrary to everything Shui Long had expected, the blade moved through his body without a problem, the ascending slash going from his waist all the way to the opposite shoulder. But it didn't leave behind a wound, not even a drop of blood was spilt in the wake of the sword. But even so, Shui Long felt the warm grasp of death caress his neck, only a single questioning word managing to escape his lips before the light vanished from his eyes.

"...sou..l?"

Yin Long had ignored his bodily defences and gone straight for his soul, taking advantage of the fact that Shui Long wasn't a soul cultivator to directly bisect his soul. His soul was strengthened a bit thanks to his cultivation, but it was not enough for him to resist a soul-based sword supported by Netherworld energy.

Shui Long's lifeless body collapsed, a nearly colourless flame with a speck of green flying out from his body and vanishing into the sky. Yin Long knew that this strange flame wasn't something the others could see, even he could only see it by using his Netherworld energy. He pulled back all the Netherworld energy and hid it away again, Jin Wang not pulling back the swallowing energy until Yin Long signalled him that it was fine.

Yin Long let out a breath as Jin Wang closed his mouth, bending down and drawing the crimson sword out from Shui Long's shoulder. He weighed the sword in his hand for a second, but just as he was planning on dispersing it like he always did, an idea struck him.

He tilted his head slightly and focused on the sword, making sure that he had perfect control over the energy that the sword was composed of. And once he was certain that he had perfect control over even the smallest trace of energy, the sword vanished from his grasp. He closed his eyes as the sword vanished, his vision sinking into his soulsea. And just as he had been expecting, the murky crimson sword had appeared in his soulsea, hovering beneath the black-tinted rainbow coloured sword that was his soul.

After the sword arrived in his soulsea, his body stopped siphoning the energy gathered in the sword, allowing it to remain at peak strength at all times. He opened his eyes again and clenched his fist, the crimson sword appearing in his grasp again, his body subsequently starting to slowly siphon off of the energy gathered in it again.

He stored the sword back into his soulsea, keeping it inside his soulsea for a bit longer this time while checking up on it, making sure that the energy remained stagnant. But to his surprise, the energy didn't remain stagnant, it actually started to slowly increase, drawing upon the energy stored within the sky-covering Netherworld energy.

Yin Long observed the process for a short moment before he opened his eyes again, the corners of his lips pulling up. Since things were like this, he could store up swords and save them for dire moments, preparing the correct weapon for the correct situation. He could already imagine the surprise of his enemy if he suddenly drew out a water-element sword while they were fighting inside a volcano or the like. He looked down at Jin Wang, who had walked over and was glancing at the corpse of Shui Long, reaching down and giving his head a few strokes.

"Netherworld Armory, sounds nice, doesn't it?"

Jin Wang seemed to roll his eyes slightly, obviously not understanding what Yin Long was talking about. But Yin Long simple grinned faintly, removing Shui Long's interspatial ring before allowing Jin Wang to eat the corpse. Yin Long turned his gaze onto the remaining battlefield while Jin Wang swallowed the corpse, the situation there also reaching an end.

Fang Houye's last helper had already been killed so he was forced to bear the barrage that Xue Qiuling unleashed on his own. Lan Yun didn't get personally involved in the battle, keeping a bit of distance and focusing on disrupting Fang Houye by using her law of earth and law of wood. The disappearance of the swallowing energy drew Fang Houye's attention, his gaze temporarily sliding over to Yin Long's direction.

And just as he feared, the battle there had reached its end. He was already in dire straits just from facing two people so if Yin Long and Jin Wang were added then he would definitely die. As such, he knew that it was now best to focus on fleeing. He allowed one of Xue Qiuling's attacks to land on his chest, using the force in the attack to launch himself backwards, turning and fleeing.

Xue Qiuling frowned at the sight, glancing sideways at Yin Long's slightly narrowed before she clicked her tongue. She poked a few spots on her body in rapid succession, her skin suddenly turning metallic in colour as the energy radiating from her body shot up to the 7th Immortal Door. She charged straight after Fang Houye and launched multiple attacks that shot forward and whizzed at him from all directions, practically trapping him in a cage of incoming attacks.

And while he was forced to defend against these attacks, Xue Qiuling reached him and stabbed her sword straight through his back, piercing his heart from behind. The moment she pierced his heart, she undid whatever strengthening technique she had activated, all the energy she was radiating vanishing as her skin turned sickly pale.

Clearly, the technique she used to increase her strength had some rather serious drawbacks and was not to be used lightly. If it didn't have these drawbacks she would have just activated it earlier to kill them quickly, so it was clear that she wasn't quite willing to suffer these drawbacks if she could avoid it.

As for why she activated the technique at this point, Yin Long could guess it from how her gaze drifted towards him earlier. She had guessed that he didn't want others to know of his ability so she had decided to honour that wish and remove the last witness, even if she had to suffer some drawbacks to achieve a 100% success rate.

With the death of Fang Houye, only Yin Long's group remained in the area, which had been razed by their battles, all the ferns cut to small pieces. Xue Qiuling swallowed two pills, a bit of colour returning to her skin as she turned her gaze onto Yin Long, her pupils gleaming with light as she questioned, receiving a casual shrug of his shoulders in response from Yin Long.

"Really, what exactly are you, huh?"

"I've already told you, haven't I? Right now, I'm no more than a wandering swordsman."