Chapter 945 - 421: Devour! (2)
"Second Overlap!"
Xu Ran reacted fast, adjusted the saber’s angle, and slashed out again.
"Boom—"
"Boom—"
Instantly, two massive thunderclaps rose up in front of Xu Ran.
"Pssh!"
Amid the two booming sounds, there was also the sound of something cutting into flesh.
He followed the sound.
And saw.
One of the saber beams had cleaved straight into Xu Ran’s left shoulder.
Xu Ran’s "Second Overlap" just now did have some effect.
But three saber beams were a bit too many, and he had only just created the Overlapping Wave Slash. Even if he was the creator, he was still not proficient, with plenty of flaws.
He failed to guard for an instant, and one of the saber beams broke through his defense line.
At the moment his left shoulder was struck, Xu Ran let out a muffled grunt and spun around.
Combat instincts drove him to make the best decision in that instant.
Injured as he was, his first priority was to escape the encirclement of the light net.
Even though he was wounded now, that didn’t mean he’d gained nothing.
The left side had two strands of light net missing. As long as he was fast enough, he could rush out of the encirclement before it repaired.
But.
Just as he moved, saber beams arrived, mending the gap and once more blocking Xu Ran’s escape route.
"This damn light net is really annoying!"
Xu Ran was a bit helpless.
Before he could even catch his breath, his eyes suddenly tightened, and his body twisted and darted around within this cramped space.
"The light net is starting to shrink!"
The junior sister watching Xu Ran’s trial saw the light net in the Dueling Arena change, and cried out directly.
They saw.
The mended light net now began to contract like a living thing. As it shrank, saber beams attacked Xu Ran from all directions.
The sharp saber beams tore his clothes the instant they touched, carving web-like blood marks all over his body.
In the span of a breath.
Xu Ran’s entire body had already become a man of blood.
At this moment.
The bald head watching Xu Ran saw his body turn into a bloody man and couldn’t help getting excited.
"Finally, he’s hurt!"
But in the next instant, the smile on his face froze.
He followed the line of his wide, bulging eyes.
And saw.
The wounds all over Xu Ran’s body that had been bleeding just now were scabbing over at a shocking speed; muscles between damage and healing were threaded together by fine golden filaments.
In an instant, Xu Ran was already healed, leaving only the dried bloodstains on his body.
The bald head saw this and suddenly roared.
"Draw your blades!"
Those two words were like an irresistible military order. The remaining figures all thrust the Ring-Headed Sabers in their hands into their already illusory bodies.
"Pssh—"
"Pssh—"
"Pssh—"
"Pssh—"
"..."
For a moment.
The Dueling Arena echoed with the sound of blades entering flesh, as if these figures really had flesh and blood. It looked like the Ring-Headed Sabers were piercing illusory bodies.
Yet the sound was very real, the sound of blades stabbing into actual flesh.
These figures who actively drove their Ring-Headed Sabers into their own hearts showed no expression at all; at this moment, they were like machines that knew only how to execute orders!
The Ring-Headed Sabers stayed in their hearts for the span of a breath.
"Ssshh—"
At the same time.
Dozens of blades were yanked out of flesh, accompanied by the sound of meat tearing. Dozens of figures had already pulled the Ring-Headed Sabers from their hearts.
"There’s real blood on the blades!"
The junior sister saw the Ring-Headed Sabers smeared with fresh blood and cried out.
The senior brother and second senior brother sat where they were, expressionless, just watching the figures with a bit of curiosity.
"Swish—"
In a flash.
Dozens of saber beams once again shot out from the Ring-Headed Sabers in those figures’ hands.
Faster than before.
Brighter than before.
Stronger than before.
Their color, compared to before, was now blood-red, as if stained with fresh blood!
These blood-red saber beams once again wove together in midair, forming a giant net that descended to cover Xu Ran.
On this giant net there even seemed to hang bits of shredded meat.
Xu Ran stood in place, his face lit crimson by the incoming red light net, a dazzling gleam flashing in his eyes.
"Interesting."
Xu Ran echoed the bald head’s earlier words.
"In that case, I’ll let you test my third slash!"
With that, Xu Ran gripped the Ring-Headed Saber, and layers of air waves rippled out from his body like water, spreading outward.
Whenever these waves touched something solid, they bounced back and returned to Xu Ran.
Each ripple that returned to his body made the aura around the Ring-Headed Saber in his hand soar another level.
In an instant.
The entire Dueling Arena was saturated with Xu Ran’s aura, as if in the next moment his presence alone could crush the whole arena flat!
"This is... the third slash!"
The second senior brother saw Xu Ran’s current state and also shouted in shock!
He had thought that Xu Ran being able to self-create a Sword Technique like Overlapping Wave Slash was already monstrously talented.
Yet right after the Sword Technique was created, he managed to unleash a second slash.
They’d thought that for Xu Ran to unleash a second slash at the moment he created the technique was already his limit.
But.
In a desperate situation, he was actually still able to unleash a third slash.
This third slash was not just some simple "third slash."
This third slash stacked the Power of the first two slashes together, and then struck out!
This third slash was terrifying to the extreme.
"Xu Ran is a complete freak!"
The senior brother stared at Xu Ran’s current state, utterly dumbfounded!
He had originally thought this was just another ordinary trial of the Nine-Layered Giant Tower.
Over the endless years, this kind of trial had been run who knew how many times, each time ending in a perfunctory failure, never meeting expectations.
He thought this trial would be as bland as the previous ones.
But.
This child less than two years old standing before him had brought him far too many miracles and shocks!
Even as the senior brother who had read through the Nine-story Giant Tower Study, he was utterly stunned!
"This world, this Origin Realm, this era belongs to Xu Ran!"
Meanwhile.
In the Dueling Arena.
The bald head, who had been sitting cross-legged on the ground, stood up at Lightning speed the moment layers of ripples appeared in the arena.
"You kid... good, very good!"
His gaze toward Xu Ran was burning hot.
He looked at Xu Ran as if he were a rough, unpolished gem not yet fully formed, brimming with limitless possibility.
"Hahaha!" The bald head laughed again. "This damn Heavenly Dao, I thought it was bullshitting me back then when it said a perfect inheritor would appear and told me to guard this busted tower as the Gatekeeper."
"Turns out, it was real!"
His hoarse, unruly voice echoed throughout the Dueling Arena.
"Heavenly Dao, you actually did a decent job this time! I acknowledge you!"
With that.
"Zheng—"
A sharp metallic ring sounded. The Ghost Head Saber that had been resting on his knees had already been drawn from its scabbard.
The two characters "Ghost Slayer" etched on the blade’s spine pulsed with a wash of red light, making the red light net surging toward Xu Ran even more vivid, even more eerie!
With that red light’s blessing, the already razor-edged crimson glow grew even sharper!
Xu Ran saw this, his eyes tightened, and he roared, "Slash!"
In that instant.
The aura around him turned into saber beams that shot forward without hesitation.
"Rumble—"
The next moment.
Xu Ran’s Triple Overlapping Wave Slash collided head-on with the bloody red light unleashed by dozens of figures.
In a flash.
Blue and red light erupted across the Dueling Arena.
At first, the two colors were evenly matched.
But at the very next contact, the blue light devoured the red like a big fish eating a small one.
The whole Dueling Arena was awash in blue light.
Everyone knew.
This time, Xu Ran had won!