Nine Heavens Martial Emperor

In the void, the old man—his location unknown—brought the skewer of candied hawthorn to his mouth and bit one off.

The moment the candied hawthorn entered his mouth, something terrifying happened.

The hole Lin Hao had pierced through the old man’s body healed in an instant.

Not only that, but the old man’s skeletal body became considerably fuller.

The next moment, the old man abruptly vanished.

Lin Hao’s heart leaped as he swiftly dodged to the side.

Even so, Lin Hao felt a sharp pain in his right arm.

He could even feel liquid trickling down his arm.

Needless to say, Lin Hao was injured.

This was unthinkable.

Lin Hao’s body was incredibly durable; even ordinary Spiritual Artifacts couldn’t harm it. Yet now, he had been wounded by the skewer of candied hawthorn in the old man’s hand.

The old man gave Lin Hao no time to react, lunging at him once more.

At this moment, Lin Hao’s focus was absolute; he dared not relax for even an instant.

Having eaten one of the candied hawthorns, the old man was far more terrifying than before.

A low rumble began to emanate from Lin Hao’s body.

The two great Emperor Arts, the Godslaying Celestial Slash Skill and the Divine Illumination Scripture, activated simultaneously, flooding his entire body with Chaos True Essence.

At the same time, he pushed his Heaven-Stepping Step Body Technique to its absolute limit.

The old man was too fast. Lin Hao was completely on the defensive, unable to find an opening to counterattack.

Forget fighting back—Lin Hao’s body had already sustained considerable damage.

The skewer of candied hawthorn in the old man’s hand had left several gashes on Lin Hao’s body.

With every exchange, if Lin Hao had been even a fraction of a second slower, he would have met his end.

The old man’s attacks were not only bizarre but also utterly ruthless. Every move was aimed to kill; a direct hit would mean certain death.

The more he was injured, the calmer Lin Hao became, his face as tranquil as still water.

He was searching for a weakness in the old man, a pattern in his attacks.

’Since this is just a spiritual imprint of a forerunner from the Ancient Road, it can’t be a perfect copy of the original. There must be an innate flaw in its martial arts.’

One wound after another appeared on Lin Hao’s body, but his expression remained calm, showing no signs of agitation.

Finally, after being injured one more time, a smile suddenly appeared on Lin Hao’s placid face.

The next moment, seemingly ignoring the old man’s incoming attack, Lin Hao spun around and struck the empty air with his palm.

There had been nothing there.

But as Lin Hao’s palm struck out, the old man’s body suddenly appeared. It was as if the old man had deliberately thrown himself into Lin Hao’s palm.

BOOM!

Clearly, Lin Hao had complete confidence in this strike, unleashing all of his power.

The old man’s body was sent flying.

At the same time, Lin Hao shot forward like a bolt of lightning.

Learning from before, Lin Hao knew he had to shatter the old man before he could swallow the second candied hawthorn.

Unfortunately, he was still a step too slow.

The old man shot backward, coming to another halt in the void.

Lin Hao stopped as well. He knew his efforts had once again fallen short at the last second.

But after a moment’s pause, a flicker of delight appeared in his eyes.

’This time, the old man is much closer than before. I can sense he’s only about a thousand meters away, even if I can’t pinpoint his exact location. It seems that every time this spiritual imprint suffers heavy damage, its ability to traverse the void weakens.’

As Lin Hao thought to himself, a plan began to form.

The old man’s skewer had held three candied hawthorns. He had just eaten one, leaving two.

Now, having suffered another heavy blow from Lin Hao’s attack, he swallowed the second one.

As he swallowed the candied hawthorn, the old man’s wounds healed once more, and his body became even more substantial.

The very instant the old man’s body filled out, Lin Hao teleported away.

It was an exceedingly wise move. The moment Lin Hao vanished, the old man appeared in the exact spot he had just occupied.

His attack having missed, the old man didn’t move immediately. Instead, he fixed Lin Hao with an incredibly peculiar gaze.

PFFT!

The next moment, Lin Hao coughed up a mouthful of blood.

It sprayed from his lips like a torrent.

Blasted backward through the air, Lin Hao’s expression was grim.

Though the attack was baffling, Lin Hao knew what had happened.

A spiritual attack!

The old man had used a spiritual attack.

The old man’s spiritual attack had made his mind go blank for an instant. Thankfully, Lin Hao’s own Spiritual Power was immensely strong; otherwise, that single attack would have been enough to take his life.

Lin Hao’s reaction was instantaneous. As he spat the blood, he manipulated it with his Chaos True Essence, forming it into a blade to block the old man’s follow-up attack.

BOOM!

Another building vanished, obliterated by an attack that carved a boundless path through the air.

The attack tore away most of the sleeve on Lin Hao’s right arm.

Lin Hao’s eyes narrowed. ’If I hadn’t formed that blade of blood to buy myself a moment, I would have died right then.’

’That was too close.’

Reality gave Lin Hao no time to dwell on it; the old man’s attack came again.

Once again, it was that strange gaze.

This time, however, Lin Hao was prepared.

A trace of doubt flashed in the old man’s eyes.

At this moment, a thought suddenly flashed through Lin Hao’s mind.

The next moment, the strange light reappeared in the old man’s eyes, and his pupils turned a grayish-white.

Lin Hao seemed to be affected by the old man’s spiritual attack again, his body swaying unsteadily.

In that moment of hesitation, the old man appeared before Lin Hao, thrusting the skewer with its single remaining candied hawthorn at him.

The thrust was terrifying to the extreme.

The void itself seemed to collapse, as if the old man’s jab had punched a tunnel through reality.

BOOM!

And with that, Lin Hao’s body dissipated into nothingness.

But at the same time, the old man’s body was pierced by an arm.

The old man’s body shot backward again, then vanished into the void.

Before the old man stood Lin Hao, completely unharmed.

Without a word, the old man brought the last candied hawthorn to his lips.

Just then, Lin Hao smiled.

BOOM!

And just like that, the old man in the void exploded.

Where the old man had stood, another Lin Hao appeared.

An External Avatar!

Lin Hao had used his external avatar to blast the spiritual imprint apart in the void.

The next moment, the avatar in the void vanished.

’Just a wisp of a spiritual imprint from a forerunner of the Ancient Road, and it was that terrifying. This is not a good sign.’

Standing on the street, Lin Hao stared at the empty road, his brow slightly furrowed.

’Still, it’s just a spiritual imprint. It only has a fraction of the original’s power, and it’s a bit slow-witted. That makes it much easier to handle. Now I’m curious to see the true prowess of these forerunners of the Ancient Road.’

With that thought, a smile touched Lin Hao’s lips as he started walking again.

But as he took his first step, a sound reached his ears that sent a violent shiver down his spine.