Chapter 1673: Secret Guidance
"Hehe, Murong Bai, it seems I underestimated you before!"
A cold glint flashed through Wang Qian's eyes. He no longer rushed to decide the battle head-on with Murong Bai. Instead, he relied on his Wind conscious realm and began darting around the arena.
Murong Bai's sword was fast.
But it was not faster than the wind.
"Hehe, once my Nine Nether Windfall Formation fully takes shape, your defeat will be inevitable!"
Wang Qian sneered inwardly.
Earlier, Ling Feng had genuinely angered him so badly that he lost his composure. Against Murong Bai, however, there was no need to clash directly against the Sword Will of Self Sovereignty. With his speed alone, victory would come easily.
As Wang Qian continuously carved strange inscriptions around the arena, sinister winds surged even more violently across the stage. Eerie ghostly cries filled Murong Bai's mind, sending chills through his body.
The power flowing through Wang Qian originated from the ancient Divine Race of Witch Gods. What he truly excelled at was formations.
Once the Nine Nether Windfall Formation fully formed, even experts like Li Yanluo from Yunluo Sacred Land would struggle to escape easily, much less a mere Murong Bai.
An atmosphere resembling a desolate ruined shrine spread across the arena, accompanied by ghostly wails that made one's scalp go numb.
At the same time, Wang Qian's body merged into a mass of sinister black wind.
Murong Bai's eyelids twitched slightly as a dangerous sensation rose within his heart.
"Murong Bai, your defeat is certain!"
Wang Qian roared.
The black wind surrounding him corroded everything in its path. Compared to the earlier sinister winds, its power had increased by far more than a single level.
Wherever the black wind passed, Murong Bai's sword light was completely extinguished.
The Nine Nether Windfall Formation was already more than halfway complete.
"So in the end... it still isn't enough..."
Murong Bai gripped his sword tightly.
Ever since watching the battles of Shi Haoxuan and the other supreme geniuses a few days earlier, he had begun feeling as though the pride he carried all these years was nothing more than a joke.
Perhaps his talent truly was inadequate.
Compared to those genuine heaven-defying geniuses, he was simply too far behind.
"So I still lose after all..."
Murong Bai sighed softly and slowly raised his right hand, already prepared to surrender.
Yet at that very moment, a clear voice suddenly rang out from below the arena.
The voice was not loud, yet to Murong Bai, it sounded like thunder exploding inside his mind.
"Senior Brother Murong, what is 'self sovereignty'? And what does 'sole supremacy' truly mean?"
Murong Bai froze.
He instinctively turned toward the audience below the arena.
Everyone else remained focused on the battle atop the stage. It seemed that voice had been heard by him alone.
"Murong Bai, what are you looking around for? You really are just trash!"
Wang Qian burst into savage laughter.
At this point, Murong Bai's defeat should already have been sealed.
What he did not know, however, was that Murong Bai had achieved sudden enlightenment from that single sentence.
Murong Bai had always possessed extraordinary talent. Otherwise, he could never have secured the position of Dongling Immortal Pool's Third Young Emperor.
Now, with sudden clarity washing over him, all the haze clouding his heart vanished completely.
The invincible will of self sovereignty erupted forth instantly, growing more than ten times stronger in a single moment.
"I understand now!"
A powerful conviction surged back into Murong Bai's eyes.
Deep within his heart, he felt immense gratitude toward that mysterious person. That single sentence had been no different from a divine awakening.
Even the sword dao comprehension that had stagnated for years suddenly underwent earth-shaking transformation.
"What's happening?"
Across from him, Wang Qian's eyelids twitched slightly.
He suddenly felt that the Murong Bai standing before him had become completely different.
The flaw that previously existed within Murong Bai's sword heart had suddenly disappeared.
Not only that, it now erupted with entirely new power.
"Dragon-Slaying Sword of Sole Supremacy!"
Roar!
A dragon's roar shattered through the heavens like rolling thunder crashing across the skies.
Murong Bai's sword danced in countless elegant arcs, stirring the soul with every movement. The endless dragon roars shook the nine heavens above.
Each turn of the blade brought forth another dragon cry, suppressing heaven and earth beneath an aura of absolute supremacy.
Clang!
Murong Bai clearly had not advanced while wielding his sword directly, yet Wang Qian's expression changed drastically as he hurriedly stopped retreating.
Within the black wind, hidden ghostly entities let out miserable shrieks as though invisible sword qi had sliced them apart.
For a moment, the entire black wind descended into complete chaos with ghosts screaming everywhere.
Crack!
Even more strangely, a section of the black wind suddenly dissipated into nothingness, exposing a portion of Wang Qian's true body.
"How is this possible?! How is this possible?! How is this possible?!"
Wang Qian roared furiously in shock.
He had clearly been on the verge of defeating Murong Bai, yet Murong Bai's strength had suddenly exploded several times over.
This was far too bizarre!
"There's nothing impossible about it."
Murong Bai advanced forward with sword in hand.
Every step he took caused another portion of Wang Qian's sinister wind to disperse.
It seemed as though the endless dragon roars carried some incomprehensible power within them.
"Not bad. He can still be taught."
Below the arena, Ling Feng nodded inwardly.
This Murong Bai truly possessed some talent after all. At least Ling Feng's guidance at the critical moment had not been wasted.
That simple sentence earlier had actually carried part of Ling Feng's own sword dao comprehension into Murong Bai's mind as well. Doing so had consumed quite a bit of spiritual power.
Although Ling Feng did not particularly like Murong Bai, compared to Wang Qian, he naturally preferred helping Murong Bai instead.
Besides, he had not truly done much.
He merely offered a reminder.
Whether Murong Bai could achieve enlightenment still depended entirely on his own comprehension ability.
Fortunately, Murong Bai's comprehension was not lacking.
In fact, Ling Feng himself had learned a few things from Murong Bai as well, which proved beneficial toward improving his own sword dao comprehension.
"Damn it! I refuse to accept this!"
Wang Qian roared angrily as he launched a desperate counterattack.
He crazily circulated the power of the sinister winds, attempting to corrode heaven and earth themselves and completely consume Murong Bai.
Unfortunately for him, after receiving Ling Feng's guidance, Murong Bai's sword heart had become perfectly clear. His sword dao attainments had already stepped into an entirely new realm.
The will of self sovereignty now flowed through every strike and every movement of his sword, each attack carrying the might of one man standing against ten thousand.
After merely three exchanges, Wang Qian coughed up blood and staggered backward repeatedly.
Boom!
With the final sword strike, Wang Qian was utterly defeated.
His eyes overflowed with unwillingness.
But defeat was defeat.
On the arenas of the Sunset Heaven Selection, only one eternal truth existed.
The victor ruled all.
And in this battle, the victor was Murong Bai.
Although Murong Bai's victory had not come easily, all his trump cards had been exposed. His consumption was enormous, and his aura had become unstable.
Still, he had won in the end.
Behind Murong Bai, his fortune dragon emerged.
Unfortunately, Wang Qian's fortune dragon had already been drained clean. Murong Bai's fortune dragon circled around Wang Qian several times, only to find absolutely nothing before returning unwillingly.
"Wang Qian can't even condense a fortune dragon anymore?"
Murong Bai's eyelids twitched as he stared at Wang Qian in disbelief.
The next moment, dark radiance flashed around Murong Bai before teleporting him off the arena.
Yet within his heart, stormy waves surged endlessly.
He knew very clearly that without that mysterious voice, he would already have lost.
And across the entirety of Arena Zone Three, the only person capable of secretly transmitting through spiritual consciousness to him was Ling Feng...
"Junior Brother Ling..."
Returning to his seat, Murong Bai lifted his head and stared at Ling Feng. His eyes were filled with shock and uncertainty.
"Congratulations, Senior Brother Murong, on defeating Wang Qian."
Ling Feng merely smiled faintly, calm and tranquil like an ancient well untouched by ripples.
"Earlier..."
Murong Bai clenched his teeth slightly before taking a deep breath. He cupped his fists respectfully toward Ling Feng.
"Earlier, thank you very much."
"You're too polite."
Ling Feng shrugged casually and smiled.
"So it really was you..."
Murong Bai swallowed hard.
Only now did he fully confirm that the one who secretly reminded him earlier had truly been Ling Feng.
Then he recalled Wang Qian surrendering directly to Ling Feng before this, along with the fact that Wang Qian's fortune power had been completely drained...
Could it be...
"Junior Brother Ling, did Wang Qian lose to you previously?"
Murong Bai asked in a low voice.
"I suppose you could say that."
Ling Feng rubbed his nose casually.
A person like Wang Qian simply did not matter in his eyes. Defeating him was nothing worth mentioning.
"I understand now."
Murong Bai took a deep breath before bowing once more toward Ling Feng.
"Junior Brother Ling... thank you very much!"