Chapter 474 - 218: Collapse
Chapter 474: Chapter 218: Collapse
He raised his hand slightly, sending forth a gentle palm strike.
Shi Wuya saw it clearly, a ruthless resolve hardening in his heart.
He didn’t know what incredible power Fang Shuwen’s palm strike held—whether it was meant to cleave his Lonely Mountain Night Rain as if it were a river, or simply meet it head-on.
He would give it his all. ’Even if I’m truly no match,’ he thought, ’I have to make Fang Shuwen pay a price!’
He had made all his calculations, but the moment the endless raindrops collided with Fang Shuwen’s palm, the outcome was still beyond his expectations.
BOOM!!!!!
The moment the torrent of rain met the palm, an earth-shattering roar erupted.
Fang Shuwen hadn’t split the endless raindrops apart. He had shattered them!
The innumerable raindrops, the countless strands of Sword Qi, the inscrutable Lonely Mountain Night Rain—all were utterly pulverized by that single palm strike.
Great Black Heaven God Palm—Knocking the Mountain and Shaking the Demon!
Be it a dragon or a torrential river of swords...
Beneath this palm, all the Sword Qi disintegrated!
The sight was utterly horrifying!
Even if Shi Wuya had run through a thousand scenarios, he could never have imagined this one.
Shi Wuya’s understanding of Fang Shuwen was still insufficient. Even the Masked Man only knew the surface.
Worse still, he didn’t know that Fang Shuwen’s Martial Arts were constantly improving.
What had enabled him to reach this level was the Nine Qi Divine Technique, a skill passed down through his family.
With each of the Nine Qi he mastered, the Divine Technique’s power would multiply.
When he first entered the Northern Domain, he was merely at the Third Layer. By the time he left, although he had not yet reached Ninefold Perfection, he had cultivated to the Seventh Layer.
Each layer of this technique was a new trial, growing progressively more difficult to master.
The Seventh Layer was already a realm most could only dream of reaching in their entire lifetime.
When combined with this Divine Technique, the might of Knocking the Mountain and Shaking the Demon was already unparalleled in the world.
But it wasn’t just the Sword Qi and the endless torrent of blades that crumbled. A terrifying force transmitted through the impact, reaching Shi Wuya in the blink of an eye.
The first to disintegrate was his sword.
A Shock Force rippled forth. Starting from the tip, the blade began to crumble and disintegrate, the destruction creeping upward inch by inch.
Shi Wuya’s pupils shrank. Without a second thought, he let go of his sword.
But... he was still a step too slow.
As the hilt crumbled to dust, the Shock Force flowed into his fingertips.
The True Qi in his body instinctively fought back but was crushed in an instant. He could only watch, helpless, as his hand began to fissure from the fingertips, the cracks spreading toward his wrist.
VMMMM!!!
Forming a sword-finger with his left index and middle fingers, he swiped with a flash of Sword Qi. Shi Wuya grunted, severing his own wrist in a desperate act of self-preservation!
’If I let this Shock Force creep any further, I’ll be half-dead, if not worse.’
At that moment, any thought of victory had vanished. His thirst for revenge remained, but he knew that to stay here meant certain death.
So he turned to flee!
Though it takes long to describe, everything happened in a flash.
The shattering of the rain of swords and Shi Wuya severing his own hand happened almost simultaneously.
But just as Shi Wuya turned, a hand suddenly shot out to grab him.
"Don’t even think about it!!!"
A vicious glint flashed in Shi Wuya’s eyes. In a single exchange, his technique had been broken, his weapon shattered, and he’d even lost a hand.
But that didn’t mean he would surrender without a fight.
He raised his left index and middle fingers once more, his stance tightening like a drawn bow. Condensing his power into his fingertips, he aimed straight for the center of the approaching palm.
Stabbing a palm with Sword Qi should, by all accounts, put the owner of the palm at a disadvantage.
But the moment they collided, the deep, resonant sound of a great temple bell boomed.
The Formless Sound Gang transformed into a Buddhist Thunder Sound, which suddenly reversed course, shooting back at an even greater speed.
PSH!!
With a soft sound, the Sword Qi pierced straight through Shi Wuya’s previously unharmed left shoulder.
Worse, the hand was completely unaffected. It clamped down on Shi Wuya’s head.
CRACK! CRUNCH!!
The bamboo hat he had worn for his entire journey shattered the instant those five fingers landed.
Immediately after, his head was seized with immense force.
Decades of painstakingly cultivated Inner Strength surged like a torrential flood toward the hand on his head. In the blink of an eye, Shi Wuya’s eyes went vacant as he collapsed limply to the ground.
He stared blankly at Fang Shuwen, but his eyes no longer reflected his opponent’s image.
From the moment the Masked Man appeared before him, he knew there was likely a considerable gap in power between him and Fang Shuwen.
But when the Masked Man brought him a group of allies, he had thought, ’Even if a gap still exists, with so many of us, we should be able to challenge Fang Shuwen.’
The reason Shi Wuya was heading to Julu City...
...wasn’t just to capture people from the Four Seas Martial Arts Hall and use them as hostages against Fang Shuwen.
It was also a provocation.
He truly hadn’t realized that the Heaven-Reaching Pavilion had already tracked his movements.
But Fang Shuwen was from the Eastern Domain, had good relations with the Seven Eastern Sects, and the Young Master of the Heaven-Reaching Pavilion, Chen Yan, was his closest friend.
’Under these circumstances, to come to the Eastern Domain and think I could remain hidden from Fang Shuwen... wouldn’t that be ridiculous?’
So, by posturing as if he were heading to Julu City, all while believing he could defeat Fang Shuwen...
...was in itself a form of provocation.
’I’m going to capture your friends and use them against you... If you’re so capable, then come and stop me!’
It was an unspoken declaration, but it was Shi Wuya’s truest intention.