Chapter 258: The Flames Are Spent, Now It's My Turn
Elsewhere, Ye Yan had already sprinted over a thousand zhang away. His ears twitched as he heard the roars of the Fire Flood Dragons. Curiosity compelled him to glance back toward the source of the commotion.
There, a figure in green was battling the two massive Fire Flood Dragons head-on. The sharp and ruthless yin sword energy continuously shot out, keeping the two dragons at bay and eliciting furious roars.
"Shen Mo?" Ye Yan's expression darkened.
"That's the yin sword energy from the Yin-Yang Dual Energy Sword Technique!"
"How could he have mastered it so quickly?"
Ye Yan frowned deeply. When Shen Mo had chosen the Yin-Yang Dual Energy Sword Technique in the library, Ye Yan had scoffed, thinking it was a ridiculous choice—an overly ambitious attempt at a difficult skill. But now, he realized just how wrong he had been.
In just over a year, Shen Mo had mastered both yang and yin sword energies. For Ye Yan, achieving the same would have taken at least three years.
Ye Yan's face shifted between shades of green and white as he looked again at the battle in the sky.
The two Fire Flood Dragons, one large and one small, were now attacking Shen Mo in tandem. Flames surged through the air, painting half the sky red. Shen Mo's entire figure was enveloped in the inferno.
A hint of smug satisfaction crossed Ye Yan's face. I can't defeat the larger Fire Flood Dragon, and Shen Mo isn't much stronger than me. Taking on both dragons at once? He'll be lucky to survive, let alone escape unscathed.
Ye Yan decided to wait. If Shen Mo died, it would be the best outcome. If Shen Mo and He Tianchou somehow survived, Ye Yan would finish them off himself.
"Shen Mo, you shouldn't have shown up. You shouldn't have played the hero and tried to save the day!" Ye Yan's gaze grew cold and calculating.
He had wanted to kill Shen Mo for a long time but had never found the right opportunity. Now, it was a once-in-a-lifetime chance.
Above, the two Fire Flood Dragons relentlessly spewed flames, their fiery breath covering the battlefield in a storm of heat and destruction.
For a hundred breaths, the inferno raged on without pause.
On the ground, He Tianchou lay half-conscious, his mouth agape as he watched the spectacle.
That level of fire… even a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator would have been reduced to ashes by now. Could Shen Mo possibly have survived?
He Tianchou's heart sank. Despite Shen Mo's strength, it was hard to imagine he could endure such a fierce assault.
"Shen Mo… I've doomed you," He Tianchou lamented, tears streaming down his face.
If it weren't for his distress call, Shen Mo wouldn't have come. Shen Mo wouldn't have died. It was all his fault.
"Shen Mo bought me precious time. I must survive. I'll expose what Ye Yan did, and I'll bring Ouyang Wei and the others to avenge Shen Mo. We'll slay these two dragons!"
With a deep breath, He Tianchou staggered to his feet. He cast one last glance at the inferno in the sky and began to flee as quickly as his battered body would allow.
"The flames are spent? Then it's my turn."
A calm voice echoed from within the sea of fire.
He Tianchou froze mid-step, his heart skipping a beat. Slowly, he turned back toward the sky, hope rekindling in his eyes.
The two Fire Flood Dragons, having exhausted their flames to the point of hoarseness, stopped and stared in disbelief at the source of the voice.
Suddenly, vibrant blue flames ignited, consuming the crimson inferno in an instant.
The fire spewed by the dragons, powerful as they were, was mere beast fire—innate to their kind but ultimately limited.
What emerged now was the Heavenly Flame of the Blue Lotus Core, a rare and unparalleled flame of legend. Beast fire was utterly insignificant in its presence.
Amid the blue flames, Shen Mo stood tall, his green robes fluttering despite the stillness of the air. His figure exuded an aura of dominance and composure.
The towering inferno from moments earlier had left him completely unharmed.
From the ground, He Tianchou cried out in exhilaration, "You're alive! You're alive!"
Shen Mo's gaze turned cold as he focused on the larger Fire Flood Dragon. "Time for you to die."
With a flick of his wrist, his Two Instruments Sword glimmered, forming serpentine patterns of black and white energy that shot toward the dragon like striking vipers, intent on tearing it apart.
The larger Fire Flood Dragon sensed imminent danger and immediately assumed a defensive posture. However, in the blink of an eye, Shen Mo's figure disappeared. The only trace left in the air was faint streaks of lightning.
A flicker of human-like astonishment appeared in the dragon's eyes.
The next moment, a shriek of agony erupted from behind it.
When the larger Fire Flood Dragon turned to look, it saw a thirty-zhang-long streak of ink-like sword energy piercing through the smaller Fire Flood Dragon's body.
This formidable Tier 5 mid-stage beast had its life extinguished in an instant, without even a chance to resist.
It was the result of the fusion of the Grass Script Swordbook and the Root Script Swordbook, creating an even more powerful sword technique.
He Tianchou's eyes widened in shock.
"That speed in that split second! It was unbelievably fast!"
"And that ink-like sword energy… What was it? It instantly killed the smaller Fire Flood Dragon!"
From a distance, Ye Yan witnessed the scene and was equally dumbfounded.
He had always thought that, in a one-on-one fight, he could slay the smaller Fire Flood Dragon as well. But there was no way he could kill it so quickly and effortlessly.
"That ink-like sword energy… It looks like an incredibly powerful spiritual weapon. At least a top-tier Earth-grade artifact…"
Jealousy burned in Ye Yan's heart. Why did Shen Mo have all the treasures? Why was fate so unfair to him, leaving him with so few trump cards?
Roar! Roar! Roar!
The larger Fire Flood Dragon roared in fury. Enraged by the death of its companion, it charged at Shen Mo with reckless abandon. Its massive jaws opened wide, large enough to swallow ten Shen Mos at once.
"You charge at me instead of fleeing? This will be the worst decision of your life," Shen Mo said calmly.
Facing the ferocious charge, Shen Mo did not retreat or dodge. Instead, he raised his Two Instruments Sword once more.
"When I killed the smaller Fire Flood Dragon, I realized that the blending of water and ink is the perfect fusion."
"In the same way, Yang Sword Energy and Yin Sword Energy can also merge seamlessly."
"Today, I'll send you on your way with the Two Instruments Sword Energy."
As Shen Mo spoke, white Yang Sword Energy and black Yin Sword Energy shot out from both sides of the Two Instruments Sword.
In an instant, the sword energy expanded to more than twenty zhang, transforming the battlefield. Half the sky turned black and white, devoid of the fiery red hues that had previously dominated.
What was even more astonishing was that the two opposing energies did not clash or conflict. Instead, under an invisible force, they began to merge.
Moments ago, the black and white energies were distinct. Now, they blended into a single shade of gray.
Gray.
It symbolized death.
It symbolized the absence of all vitality.
This was the third stage of the Yin-Yang Dual Energy Sword Technique: Two Instruments Sword Energy.
But it wasn't just that.
Within Shen Mo's dantian, his Nascent Soul, crowned with a golden pill coronet, opened its eyes and gently moved its tiny hand.
Golden energy surged from his dantian, coursing through his body, and infused itself into the sword.
This was the Nascent Soul Mystic Art: Radiant Sun Source Light. Even when applied to an ordinary skill, it could amplify its power by twofold!
In an instant, the twenty-zhang-long Two Instruments Sword Energy expanded further, growing larger, longer, and more massive.
"Slash!"
With an indifferent gaze, Shen Mo swung the sword downward.
The massive body of the charging Fire Flood Dragon seemed to freeze in place.
A few breaths later, its body silently split into seventeen or eighteen segments.
Without a sound, the pieces fell to the ground.
The entire battlefield was deathly silent.
That portion of the sky remained shrouded in gray, so ominous that no one dared to look at it for too long.
He Tianchou stared, his eyes wide with disbelief. His face was frozen in shock.
From a distance, Ye Yan was first overcome with astonishment, then consumed by fear.
He shot one last, terrified glance at Shen Mo before turning and fleeing at full speed, his movement techniques carrying him away as fast as he could go.
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