Nine Nether Heavenly Emperor
Chapter 232: Opponent

Chapter 232: Chapter 232: Opponent

"Thump... Thump... Thump..."

Shi Feng could clearly sense that the heartbeat-like sound was emanating from the stone statue suspended above the plaza.

"Could it be that this stone statue is still alive?" Shi Feng muttered softly as he gazed at the statue.

"In my opinion," Sacred Flame said, "this person must have battled fiercely with a warrior of the Blood Pattern Tribe, was defeated in the end, and as they neared death, they sealed their own breath with a secret technique to preserve their life." After a pause, Sacred Flame added, "The stone statues below are the ones who are truly dead. I estimate they used their own vitality to nourish the person above."

"Mm." After hearing Sacred Flame’s words, Shi Feng nodded. Hearing the heartbeat and feeling the Sacred Sword Fragment at his chest, Shi Feng’s thoughts were similar to Sacred Flame’s.

"Ding ding!" Shi Feng flicked the Bloodthirsty Sword with his finger to calm down its connection with the Sacred Sword Fragment, fearing that disturbing the person might awaken them.

The consequences would be unimaginable if he disturbed someone capable of fighting the Blood Pattern Tribe.

"Young man, take a closer look above that stone statue," Sacred Flame spoke again at that moment.

Hearing Sacred Flame’s words, Shi Feng shifted his gaze upward from the statue. He suddenly noticed a red phantom flitting in and out of visibility above, like a cloud of red smoke, ethereal and elusive. If it weren’t for Sacred Flame’s reminder, he might not have noticed the vague outline resembling blood-colored battle armor.

"Battle Armor!" Shi Feng murmured. The armor appearing above this person’s head in such a place was certainly no ordinary item.

"Patter... Patter..." Just then, amidst the echoing heartbeat in the plaza, a series of light footsteps suddenly rang out unevenly. Hearing these footsteps, Shi Feng’s brows furrowed slightly, and his body slowly levitated as his gaze swept past rows of stone statues and looked ahead.

Almost immediately, Shi Feng saw a young man in his twenties, wearing a moon-white robe, walking leisurely out of a cave entrance ahead. It was only then that Shi Feng realized that besides the cave he had entered from, there was a cave in each of the four directions; it seemed there were more than one path leading to this spot.

The white-robed young man stopped his steps as he stepped into the plaza and slowly lifted his head. His gaze swept across the plaza and soon landed on Shi Feng, who was suspended in the void on the opposite side. However, upon seeing Shi Feng, he remained completely indifferent, not taking him seriously; after all, the other party was merely a martial artist at the Five-star Martial King Realm. His eyes shifted, and he casually took note of the stone statue floating above the center of the plaza.

Four-star Martial Sect Master Realm!

Shi Feng immediately recognized the young martial artist’s cultivation level. This man was even more powerful than Lingg Hao, with a martial arts cultivation at the Four-star Martial Sect Master Realm. At such an age, to have reached such a realm within the Heavenly Mist Empire, he was undoubtedly a supreme talent.

Immediately after, Shi Feng also sensed energy fluctuations coming from the left passage. A dark shadow swiftly passed through that entrance and shot into the square, halting in place to reveal a young, cold face. Dressed in black warrior attire and carrying a Black Iron Greatsword on his back, it was the youngster Shi Feng had previously encountered in Black Rock City and the Blood-colored Forest—the inheritor of the Sword Emperor, Yue Xiao.

Seeing this person, Shi Feng’s countenance instantly turned cold.

The youngster also hovered in the void, and when he saw Shi Feng, his face was full of indifference, just like the white-clothed youth before. Clearly, from their expressions, they did not consider Shi Feng as an opponent worth their attention.

Afterward, the black-clothed young man cast his gaze towards the white-clothed youth, who was also looking at him, his face still devoid of concern as he said, "I’ll give you three breaths’ time to disappear from my sight, otherwise, this place will become your grave."

The white-clothed youth spoke calmly, his voice clear and resonant, echoing across the entire square. His words were meant not only for the sword-carrying youngster but also for Shi Feng. To him, sparing their lives and giving them three breaths to leave was already an act of great mercy.

After finishing his words, the white-clothed youth turned his attention back to the stone statue floating in the center of the square. Then, his pupils suddenly constricted as he too noticed the faint red shadow above the statue.

Without a concern for whether the three breaths had passed, the white-clothed youth broke through the air at high speed, shooting towards the stone statue above.

At that moment, the young man with the Black Iron Greatsword also moved, streaking in the same direction as the white-clothed youth, and at the same time, he drew the Black Iron Greatsword from his back, delivering a fierce slash at the white-clothed youth.

Instantly, a flurry of black sword shadows crisscrossed the sky, surrounding the white-clothed youth at the center from every direction with dense black sword shadows, enveloping him.

"Scum, since you seek death, then this lord shall fulfill your wish!" the white-clothed youth shouted lowly. His entire body suddenly erupted with violent purple lightning, crackling furiously, then sweeping out in all directions, instantly submerging the black sword shadows. In the blink of an eye, those sword shadows were annihilated in the purple thunder.

Immediately after, all the rampant purple lightning flowed and converged above the white-clothed youth’s head, forming into a massive purple Thunder Hammer, carrying the might of world-ending power, and seeming to express the wrath of the Thunder God, it hammered fiercely down towards the youth holding the Black Iron Greatsword.

While those two were locked in fierce combat, causing thunderous roars, the commotion was so huge that Shi Feng knew he could not wait any longer. His figure dashed upward at an angle, shooting towards the hovering stone statue. He would secure the Sacred Sword Fragment first. This fragment, hexagonal in shape and double the size of the one he had found in Corrosion Mountain Forest, would surely not disappoint him once incorporated into the Bloodthirsty Sword.

"Hmm?" The youth, who was battling the big sword young man, sensed the movement from Shi Feng’s direction, his eyebrows immediately deepening into a frown. Had these people grown tired of living, ignoring his words as though they were but a breeze? Did everyone nowadays so eagerly court death?

The white-clothed youth, without hesitation, thrust his right palm towards Shi Feng, from which intense purple thunderlight flickered. A thick purple lightning beam shot out from the center of his hand, enveloping Shi Feng.

"Hmph!" With a cold snort from Shi Feng, his figure moved rapidly, creating continuous white phantasms in the void. Under the Nine Nether Body Technique, he dodged the incoming lightning beam and quickly flashed in front of the statue. The Bloodthirsty Sword stabbed towards the hexagonal Sacred Sword Fragment embedded in the chest of the stone statue.