Chapter 5 – The Gatekeeper
Book 8: Chapter 5 – The Gatekeeper
Right next to me? Xue Ying was startled. After receiving the Black Dragon’s reminder, he had been extremely careful when entering this palace hall, and did his best to extend his senses all around him. The Black Dragon’s mention of a danger lying in the white fog had caused Xue Ying to further increase his cautiousness.
Bu he had not discovered the enemy!
It was the Deity warrior that discovered it!
Hong! Xue Ying did not hesitate in activating his Gravity Domain. The might force of repulsion pushed away all matter in his surroundings, whether it be the pillars of the hall, or the permeating white fog. Against the power of gravity, they had all been easily pushed away. However, although the permeating fog had momentarily drifted away, it soon recovered stability once again—the gravitational force could do nothing to push it away.
Something is amiss. My gravitational force could kill any ordinary peak stage Saint demon, yet this fog was able to resist it? Xue Ying was alarmed.
Weng~
Part of the pervading white fog in the surrounding suddenly condensed out into a figure. It had the shape of an ape wielding two blades.
“Die!” Although the White Fog Ape remained illusory, there were some vague signs of lightning in its eyes..
Si la—
It immediately reached Xue Ying with a move that left behind traces of lightning. Its two fog blades were terrifying.
The White Fog Ape condensing and then slashing its blades had both happened in the blink of an eye.
Dang!
Xue Ying was extremely vigilant as his conditional reflex triggered him to simply stab out with his spear. The movement of the spear was followed by traces of black space threads! It couldn’t tear space itself open, though, as it had been sealed shut. As the spear smashed against the white blades, a sound of metal clashing resounded outwards. Despite having to to take a step back due to the great force, Xue Ying continued stabbing out with his spear.
Shua shua shua!
In a moment, hundreds if not thousands traces caused by black space threads had appeared. The Stellar Fire Cloud Spear turned into a dense shadow as Xue Ying maniacally struck out against the White Fog Ape!
Faster, faster, faster! He increased his speed to his maximum.
Xue Ying did not have the time to think. He was depending entirely on his instincts to stab out with his spear. The True Meaning of Extreme Piercing had, by nature, a truly frightening spear, a trait which was being displayed to its fullest at that very moment.
He stabbed even while retreating, he stabbed when he advanced, he stabbed when turning.
Lines after lines of black threads formed… what seemed like an inescapable net!
Dang dang dang! The sound of weapons clashing resounded at extremely close intervals of time. The White Fog Ape was maniacally slashing out with its double blades as well. The blades of his condensed weapons had the feeling of emptiness granted by the white fog while also enhanced with the element of lightning. Its speed was similarly frightening.
The two sides competed on speed!
Defending against the Extreme Piercing once was nothing much. But for it to defend against thousands of attacks with Extreme Piercing was a different matter altogether.
It actually defended from it. Xue Ying was startled. Although this White Fog Ape is stronger than me, my True Meaning of Extreme Piercing is more profound than his, yet it still managed to directly block my attack. On top of that, it is really fast, and its blade techniques have lightning and fog incorporated into them. By comparison, the Black Dragon is big and powerful, but its fighting techniques are too crude.
Hu.
Suddenly, the White Fog Ape took a step back and stopped while its lightning covered eyes continued staring at Xue Ying. “Human Transcendent, the True Meaning incorporated in your spear techniques is truly strange. Its penetrative force is continuously digging into my blades, greatly reducing the speed of my techniques! Without that, I would have long since defeated you.”
Xue Ying was shocked on the inside.
So its speed was even faster than this? That’s right. Even though it could defend against his Extreme Piercing, the power inherent power of the Extreme Piercing could still affect some of its blade techniques.
“You can defend yourself against one of me… but what there were four?” The White Fog Ape suddenly sneered.
His figure started separating into four different illusory figures.
The four illusory figures gathered the surrounding white fog before forming four White Fog Apes! These four White Fog Apes were carrying two blades on each of their hands. They stared at Xue Ying.
Four? Xue Ying’s expression changed.
“Kill!” The four White Fog Ape came charging simultaneously. Their speed was terrifying, as in the blink of an eye, they had all gotten close to Xue Ying.
As the saying goes, two fists would have a hard time defending against four arms.
But in this case, it was an attack from four different directions. It was truly very difficult to defend against it.
The Gravity Domain maintained its repulsion as Xue Ying’s spear techniques changed. The Stellar Fire Cloud Spear started stabbing with a speed that left only shadows behind. Sweeping horizontally, hacking, blocking, drawing back, twisting, whipping, sealing… in a moment, his entire line of sight was filled with rolling red clouds vaguely akin to a rotating star. This star’s defence was so tight that it wouldn’t allow even a single droplet of water to pass!
The True Meaning of Star was very encompassing, as it contained fire, water, and wind. Although it clacked the terrifying penetrative force of the Extreme Piercing, it had boundless potential in accepting Myriad Existences! His spear techniques were similarly accepting of Myriad Existences, like flowing clouds and moving water following their paths without pause.
One spear… had successfully defended against the surrounding attacks of four White Fog Apes!
“What?”
“How can this human Transcendent’s defense be so powerful!”
The White Fog Apes were stunned.
Peng!
While Xue Ying defended used his spear to defend, he was also accumulating strength for a sweeping attack which pushed three of the apes backwards.
“You split yourself into four, making it harder to defend, but your power and speed have drastically dropped! You are still not my match!” After sweeping the three White Fog Apes away, Xue Ying immediately continued with a fierce stab combined with Extreme Piercing towards the final White Fog Apes’ body. This final ape was astonished as he completely dissipated with its eyes wide open, before condensing once again in the distance.
In the end, they were just condensed white fog, and could aggregate together once again. This implied that they could never die, or, at the very least, no Demigod had any method of killing them yet.
“I don’t believe that a Saint can win against me! There has never been a Saint who won against me before!” hollered the White Fog Ape.
Hu.
The four White Fog Apes went on attacking Xue Ying maniacally.
Sometimes, they would attack him together!
Sometimes, the four would merge as one, before condensing into the strongest White Fog Ape with the highest attack power!
At times, he had even split into two figures. These two White Fog Apes had a lower individual combat power, though they could attack Xue Ying from different directions.
Ultimately, it was useless. No matter the method this White Fog Ape used, Xue Ying could still defend against it. As they continued fighting, Xue Ying also gained a deeper knowledge of his spear techniques. He could also gain experience with his True Meanings of Extreme Piercing and Star as well. In battle, he could experience the true test of his spear techniques and allow him to gain a deeper understanding.
“Just enter.” The White Fog Ape retreated at a distance. It stood within the palace hall in a lonely manner. Its voice was gloomy and low as it said, “I can’t defeat you, and neither can I obstruct you. I truly would not have thought that I would be defeated by a Saint! In the 8 million years since I emerged, I have never lost to a Saint! Not even once!”
From the moment he was refined until today.
This was the first time he felt helpless against a Saint. Although Xue Ying did not destroy it, that was just because its body was condensed out of fog. Not even Demigods or Deities like the Dragon Mountain Emperor could truly destroy him. Thus, when it was helpless against its enemy… it represented that he had been defeated.
“But brat, in the end, I am just a gatekeeper defending the palace gate.” The White Fog Ape’s eyes filled with rumbling lightning stared at Xue Ying. “Everyone inside the Black Wind Deity Palace is stronger than me. The deeper you go, the more powerful they become! Your combat power is still too weak so I suggest you give up. As you are already so formidable as a Saint, I can bet that your potential is terrifying. Wait until you become a Demigod. By then, you can truly have hope of entering the deepest region of this Black Wind Deity Palace!”