In the arena.
After using the Snow Traversing Technique to shift his position, Zhao Qingteng didn't stop at all. While Xu Xiaoshou was speaking, he crossed his palms and instantly made a dozen hand gestures.
Xu Xiaoshou immediately felt that the situation had taken a turn for the worse.
It was undoubtedly a powerful attack. Zhao Qingteng had taken advantage of the split second he was distracted.
"Liu Zhen, I've disappointed you. I've committed the grave taboo of underestimating my opponent!" he thought.
He immediately flew forward. Unfortunately, they were too far apart for him to close in on his opponent in time.
Xu Xiaoshou took a whiff of a spirit crystal and recovered a little of his spiritual strength. Then, he gracefully slashed his sword outward.
Sword Web Style!
Zhao Qingteng disregarded the sudden assault of the sword web and shot his blood palm toward the air.
"Formless Great Cold!"
He only picked up his Ice Stream Sword to defend against the sword web after he was done doing this.
Zhao Qingteng's flesh got cut open amidst the barrage of attacks.
Xu Xiaoshou couldn't even imagine just how terrifying the attack Zhao Qingteng wanted to complete even at the risk of death was. A second later, the snow within his Sense was awakened by the spiritual seal in the air, and they slowly rose into the air.
The crowd rubbed their eyes. There'd already been a thick layer of accumulation on the ground, but now the inside of the barrier had become completely white after the snow was awakened. They couldn't even see the figures inside the arena.
"Chi!" Zhao Qingteng cried out, and the sword aura in the area sliced through the air.
In that instant, every snowflake exploded with a stern sword aura, as though tens of thousands of swords had risen into the air.
Xu Xiaoshou was dumbfounded. This Zhao Qingteng was vicious!
As it turned out, Zhao Qingteng had caused the falling snow at the start not only to facilitate his Snow Traversing Technique, but also lay the foundation for this Formless Great Cold.
The entire sky was covered with snowflakes that contained sword aura. With Zhao Qingteng's command, the snowflakes intertwined and created a boundless sword glow within the barrier.
Not only did the attack instantly crumble Xu Xiaoshou's barrier, but it even penetrated his Innate-stage physical body.
Xiao Qixiu's expression turned grave. Even though this terrifying Innate-stage spiritual technique was called the Formless Great Cold, every piece of falling snow had taken the form of a lethal sword with the intention of killing him!
Would Xu Xiaoshou be able to survive against this technique?
The crowd suddenly saw blood spraying outward at a point within the snowy-white barrier.
That was where Xu Xiaoshou was!
Xu Xiaoshou clenched his teeth tightly. He'd even closed his eyes. If he hadn't, even his eyeballs would've been pierced through by the Sword Will-infused snowflakes.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Every snowflake was like a tiny sword that was sharp without parallel. Even his Innate-stage physical body couldn't defend against the attack, and countless bloody holes instantly appeared on his body.
Xiao Qixiu was ready to take action. He would definitely be the first to take action the moment Xu Xiaoshou showed any inclination of giving up.
Zhao Qingteng panted. He had used all of his trump cards. This technique had expended a great amount of his spiritual source, but Xu Xiaoshou could still stand the attack?
Was an Innate-stage physical body really that strong?
He clenched his teeth and flew forward. He shot his palm toward Xu Xiaoshou.
"Is he mad?"
Why would Zhao Qingteng choose to engage in close combat when the situation was very much in his favor? Wasn't he afraid that Xu Xiaoshou would turn the situation around when he got close?
"That's not right!" Someone suddenly stood up. "That's the Dark Ice Sealing Palm! That's a spiritual technique at the peak of the Innate-stage. Xu Xiaoshou is done for!"
"Dark Ice Sealing Palm?"
Even Elder Qiao was shocked. He knew that this spiritual technique could even be ranked amongst the top few in the Inner Yard.
He clutched onto his sleeves tightly. Xu Xiaoshou was in grave danger!
Furthermore, Xu Xiaoshou was still doing battle against the Sword Will-infused snowflakes and couldn't tell his left from right. The Eternal Vitality had been activated to its fullest extent and was constantly restoring his body.
Penetrated, repaired…
Repaired, penetrated…
The pain Xu Xiaoshou was going through now was comparable to that which he'd gone through when refining the Infernal Fire Seed.
"Got attacked. Passive Points +1."
"Got attacked. Passive Points +1."
"..."
Thousands of notifications immediately appeared in his notification panel, which showed how insane the barrage of attacks of the Sword Will-infused snowflakes was!
Xu Xiaoshou was holding on by sheer willpower alone. His Sense told him that Zhao Qingteng was attacking him with a palm. He finally had no choice but to use his Skill Points.
"Sword Technique Expertise (Acquired Lv. 7)."
"Sword Technique Expertise (Acquired Lv. 8)."
A large stream of information instantly flooded into his brain. Xu Xiaoshou seemed to have found a way to break apart the technique.
He fought back the pain he was feeling and raised Hiding Pain. Then, he infused his immense Sword Will into the blade of his sword. He was risking it all on this attack!
Whoosh!
Hiding Pain rapidly sliced through the air, and the blade of the sword erupted in flames. However, Zhao Qingteng had been prepared for this. He tilted his head, and the spiritual sword only pierced into his shoulder!
The sword kept flying forward from the momentum, and it pierced through the barrier and flew toward the horizon under the crowd's stunned gaze.
The crowd no longer had time to care about the spiritual sword. Zhao Qingteng continued pushing his palm forward despite the pain radiating from the wound in his shoulder.
On the other hand, Xu Xiaoshou…
He was all out of moves!
"Dark Ice Sealing Palm!"
Boom!
As the cry fell, the Sword Will-infused snowflakes that were assaulting Xu Xiaoshou at a rapid rate suddenly stopped.
The area in front of Zhao Qingteng, which included the area where Xu Xiaoshou was in as well as the arena behind him, immediately got frozen in ice under Zhao Qingteng's terrifying palm.
Half the arena had gotten frozen in ice!
The crowd was silent. It was a block of ice that was larger than a house. It was too startling.
The crowd froze.
Then, the crowd realized in shock that the attack wasn't over!
They saw Zhao Qingteng finally heave a sigh of relief. He was covered in blood. He brought his hands together and shouted, "Seal!"
Boom!
A soft explosion rang out. Under the crowd's incredulous gaze, the block of ice that occupied the larger half of the arena rapidly shrunk, tightening around Xu Xiaoshou.
Finally, the ice block stopped at Xu Xiaoshou, who had his hands raised in the air.
"Oh f***!"
Everyone's eyes almost bulged out of their sockets!
For such a large block of ice to instantly become this small. Wouldn't the density of the ice cause anyone who was sealed inside to become an ice fossil?
Was there any chance of survival? Zhao Qingteng might've been too heavy-handed!
Was Xu Xiaoshou dead?
Xiao Qixiu took a deep breath. He sensed that something bad had happened.
The saying still rang true. What judges feared the most were techniques that decided the battle in a split second.
If he saved Xu Xiaoshou, it would be the same as prematurely helping Xu Xiaoshou admit defeat. Xu Xiaoshou wouldn't thank him for that. However, if just looked on from the side, he'd be helplessly looking on as the candidate welcomed his death. What was he to do in this situation?
He could only slowly raise his hand. "The battle is ove…"
Whoosh!
At that moment, the sound of something tearing through the air rang out and interrupted Xiao Qixiu's words.
Everyone looked at the sky, confused. They saw Hiding Pain, which had pierced through Zhao Qingteng's shoulder and vanished into the horizon from the momentum, fly back toward the arena at supersonic speeds.
Zhao Qingteng looked back in fear to see the black dot instantly enlargen as it flew at him and pierced through his chest, landing fiercly into Xu Xiaoshou's ice sculpture.
"Puuu!"
Zhao Qingteng's body arched over, and he abruptly spat out a mouthful of blood that contained pieces of his organs.
Xiao Qixiu had been slow to charge forward to stop the sword, as he didn't expect the sword to come back.
Hiding Pain had stabbed into the ice sculpture and was buzzing excitedly, filled with a spiritual quality.
Xiao Qixiu's eyes were filled with shock. This is…
Sword Telepathy?
To think that Xu Xiaoshou had touched the doors of the Innate-stage Sword Will!
Outside the arena, Zhou Tianshen excitedly stood up. He looked at Hiding Pain, which was trembling constantly, and felt his body burn with fighting spirit.
That sword technique was too powerful!
It was too powerful!
It was ten times more powerful than Xu Xiaoshou was yesterday!
Elder Qiao froze. He'd never expected that after just a Death Seclusion, Xu Xiaoshou would improve so drastically in just the few days he hadn't seen him!
This was unimaginable!
In a waiting area not far away, an attendant was helping Mu Zixi, who had fallen from her chair, up onto a new chair. This green-robed lady's mouth had turned into an "o" shape, and she'd almost pulled out her pigtails.
Crack, crack!
The ice sculpture cracked under the sword's trembling.
The wounds on Xu Xiaoshou's body had been frozen, and he felt like even his soul was trembling.
The only reason why he could still hold onto his last breath was because Eternal Vitality was too powerful!
He walked out of the ice sculpture with trembling lips, and his body helpless slumped onto the ground.
"What kind of sword technique is that!" Zhao Qingteng looked incredibly indignant.
Xu Xiaoshou trembled as he slowly exhaled a breath of chilly energy.
"The White Cloud Sword Technique."
"Got doubted. Passive Points +1."
...