448 Battling Bai Luo
Bai Luo looked back. Su Yu was merely 100 zhang behind him. He had a transparent cloak around him, his blood-red hair swaying even though there was no wind. His clear, star-like eyes radiated a strange coldness.
"Measly tricks!" Bai Luo said, standing at his original position with his arms behind him. He did not mask the killing intent in his eyes. "You have done a foolish thing."
Su Yu observed the person in front of him. It could be said that this person was the one responsible for Ling Xiaotian being in that state. Shen Ying was merely executing his orders. The real mastermind was Bai Luo! A person with the ambition to control the Empire of Darkness.
Su Yu let out a cold grunt. "Battle if you wish. Words cannot help you become the King of Darkness!"
Bai Luo's gaze turned cold. The fact that he was eyeing the position of the King of Darkness was hardly a secret. But knowing it was one thing; having the guts to say it in the presence of so many people was another.
"The name of the Empire of Darkness cannot be smeared by you!" snarled Bai Luo. "Prepare to pay the price."
Su Yu laughed. His laugh was mad and insolent. "Smear the name… Haha! There are not many who have the right to smear the name of the Empire of Darkness. I am one of them!"
As the deputy palace master of the Empire of Darkness, he had been forced out of the Empire of Darkness and had to change his name despite not having any intention of rebellion. If he did not have the right to smear the name of the empire, who did?
His words surprised many. Did the Black Snow Devil King have some connection with the Empire of Darkness in the past? They thought back to when Su Yu displayed animosity for Shen Ying. Coupled with his current attitude, it made them wonder about the Black Snow Devil King's identity and history. But the Empire of Darkness had factions all over the world, with countless enemies. It was hard to determine when the Black Snow Devil King had become enemies with the Empire of Darkness. With these thoughts, they were doubly dubious of Su Yu's past.
Bai Luo's expression hardened. "No matter who you are, no matter what animosity you have with the Empire of Darkness, I have to erase you off the face of this earth for the Empire of Darkness now that you are standing here."
Su Yu replied, "Let us see if you have that ability—"
But he had not even finished his sentence when his body was teleported three zhang away without warning. A vortex had suddenly appeared on the ground where he stood. A palm struck out from within.
The force of the attack was comparable to a blow from a Half God. With Su Yu's physical strength that of a Human King, he would have undoubtedly been destroyed in an instant. One attack was all it would have taken to kill him.
"Humph! You have quick reflexes!" said Bai Luo. "But it all ends here."
Bai Luo remained unmoved at his original position, but a vortex appeared near where Su Yu landed, enveloping his head. A finger prodded out of the vortex, wishing to pierce through Su Yu's head. The attack was merciless indeed, but Su Yu was prepared, forming a stair of ice under his feet even though he was in the air.
Su Yu pushed down with his feet in midair, using the resulting force to change his direction, effortlessly dodging the vortex enveloping his head. But his body had just shifted when another vortex appeared near his chest. The three continuous vortexes left Su Yu with no chance to defend himself.
Qin Jiuyang felt nervous for Su Yu as he spectated the battle. With such fierce space attacks, any slip-up by Su Yu would endanger his life. The situation was truly grave.
The rest of the people were also worried about Su Yu. But Su Yu seemed to have predicted where the vortexes would appear; another stair of ice appeared under his feet. With a little tap, Su Yu used the force of the rebound to easily avoid the third attack. From the start, his actions were incredibly fluid.
Bai Luo narrowed his eyes. "You can sense changes in space?"
Su Yu's actions could not be explained simply as quick reflexes. The movements seemed to indicate that Su Yu had already seen through Bai Luo's strange space techniques. It was not realistic for Bai Luo to depend on these techniques to kill Su Yu.
Su Yu remained silent. His feet touched the ground.
Crack—
Bai Luo's cheek twitched. With a shrug of his shoulders, he anxiously teleported ten zhang away, just as a three-zhang tall pillar of ice spouted out of the ground where he was standing. It was as if a massive spear had pierced up from the ground. If Bai Luo was not at the level of Half God, with the ability to sense his surroundings, he would have been pierced through!
But Bai Luo had just teleported away when the vapor in front of him suddenly hardened into shards of ice. The shards of ice formed thin frost needles, piercing toward Bai Luo. At such a close distance, Bai Luo could not possibly evade the attack.
Realizing that he was about to be pierced through the heart, Bai Luo enveloped himself in a large vortex. The frost needles that was piercing toward him were all swallowed with one technique.
The scene shocked many in attendance. To be able to utilize his secret space techniques to such an extent was equivalent to having an undying body. Any attacks could be easily neutralized by his techniques.
But what shocked the crowd even more was that the Black Snow Devil King, a mere Heaven Master, could hold his own against the Half God, Bai Luo! More importantly, Bai Luo's abilities were considered top-class even amongst Half Gods.
Qin Yushan watched the ongoing battle, his face turning pale. To think that the Black Snow Devil King was so powerful!
Bai Luo's expression was ugly. He had wanted to finish this battle quickly, using his powers to kill the Black Snow Devil King and avenge Shen Ying, thus salvaging his reputation. But to his surprise, the Black Snow Devil King was much more difficult to deal with than he had imagined.
"It ends here!" Bai Luo let out a low grunt.
Six vortexes appeared simultaneously around Su Yu, enveloping his entire body. At the same time, frost needles shot out from the six vortexes. It looked like Bai Luo was using Su Yu's own techniques against him.
This situation was more dangerous than the one Qin Jiuyang was in, yet Su Yu still had a relaxed look on his face. The chilly energy in his body flickered. The frost needles that were assaulting him turned into chilly energy, once again absorbed into Su Yu's body.
He dispelled the attack easily, causing Long Wuxin's eyes to fill with a battle intent. "To cultivate the ice element to such a degree," marveled Long Wuxin. "The results are truly powerful. I wonder how powerful the techniques would be if he had reached the origin."
The rest of the people were also surprised. The Black Snow Devil King had cultivated the ice element and the fire element at the same time. The fire element was honed to the extreme, reaching the origin. His level of the ice element was also nothing to scoff at; he was holding his own against Bai Luo by merely using his ice element.
Absorbing the freezing energy, Su Yu took a step forward, walking out of the six vortexes surrounding him.
There was a merciless aura between Bai Luo's brows. "I'll admit that I have underestimated you. You can be proud of yourself for lasting till now!"
After saying this, Bai Luo took in a breath. With a thought, he shot out an overbearing ripple of space from his body. Nine space vortexes immediately surrounded Su Yu, each vortex sealing a direction. They were not more than one zhang apart, pressuring Su Yu into a narrow space merely two zhang wide. Any movement would cause him to come into contact with a space vortex, causing his body to be torn apart.
This was the technique that had been used to defeat Qin Jiuyang. Who could have expected that Su Yu would force Bai Luo to this level?
With a whoosh, Bai Luo took out nine long needles—all middle-grade divine artifacts—from his robe. He tossed them into the air, and the nine iron needles entered the ripples of space. When they appeared again, they were within the nine vortexes, all aimed at Su Yu.
Qin Jiuyang had nearly lost his life to this move!
"It is too late to surrender now!" Bai Luo shouted, his killing intent raging. Clenching his fist, the nine iron needles turned into afterimages as they pierced toward Su Yu.
Clank, clank, clank—
But amid the commotion, the bloody scene of Su Yu's heart being pierced through did not appear. Instead, all that could be heard was the crisp sound of something colliding with the needles.
The nine iron needles had not pierced through Su Yu. Instead, they had collided with something hard. All of them fell to the ground.
"Look, what's that on his body?" Someone immediately realized that black armor had suddenly appeared on Su Yu's body.
The armor was black all around and released a black glow. Two spikes extended from each shoulder, and there was a picture of a ferocious beast on the chest. The armor looked extraordinary. The nine middle-grade divine artifacts had not managed to leave so much as a scratch on the armor.
Bai Luo's brow furrowed. "What armor is that? It is not possible for even a high-grade divine artifact to make it out of that attack without a scratch!"
Qin Jiuyang, Gang Dalei, and Long Wuxin were all shocked. Armor that even middle-grade divine artifacts could not make a dent in… Just what sort of treasure was that?
A fierce glow shone in the sloppy old man's drunken eyes. "That is… How could that be on the Zhenlong Continent?"
A glint suddenly appeared in the dark red eyes of the purple-robed man. "My Eternal Stone King Armor! I thought that it was destroyed in that battle long ago, but it still exists in this world. There is a hole in the chest area and it is already reduced to the level of a half-manufactured spiritual artifact, but it can be repaired if I can find more Eternal Stone! How could this armor have landed in the hands of that lad? Hehe! Heaven is helping me, indeed!"
Su Yu gave a look of satisfaction. Even though he knew that the middle-grade divine artifacts could not injure him, he was more than happy at the defensive capabilities of the armor, given that there was not even a dent in the armor.
With a grab of his hand, the nine middle-grade divine artifact iron needles appeared in Su Yu's palm. Sensing the iron needles, Su Yu found out that there were imprints of someone else within them. It proved that Bai Luo had not refined the needles but merely used the middle-grade divine artifacts for their sharp edges.
These nine iron needles should belong to a set of treasures. If he could find a way to refine these, the power these needles could bring might not be weaker than a high-grade divine artifact. With a thought, Su Yu stored the nine iron needles into his robes, secretly transferring them into the Cosmos Mirror.
"My divine artifacts!" Bai Luo turned pale, his expression turning sinister. "All right! I'll not only claim your life—I'll also make you spit out my belongings!"
Su Yu looked at him, his expression turning cold. "You still believe you have the ability to kill me?"
"Humph! I can kill you right now!" Bai Luo's expression turned fierce. "Explode!"