Chapter 151: Taking Action
“What, you intend to challenge all five of us alone?”
The demon woman, clad in gauzy veils, wore an icy expression, fury flickering in her alluring eyes. Though the black-clad man before her was impossible to see through and inspired a measure of apprehension, it was simply impossible for one person to defeat all five of them.
His cloak billowed behind him as Luo Hao curved his lips into an evil smile. “This is not a challenge, but a blood sacrifice. I told you—the blood and bones covering this ground need someone to pay homage to them. Only your lives will make worthy offerings!”
“Hmph! Human, you are far too arrogant. Do you truly think we fear you? Ling Mo, let me cripple him first!”
Behind the demon woman, Chi Zhan gave a cold snort. His scarlet hair rose in the air, stirred by his fury. In the next instant, surging demonic power erupted from his body, and a heaven-shaking killing intent burst from his eyes.
He took one step forward, sinking three feet into the earth. The entire ground shook violently. The next moment, the void exploded, and a terrifying palm wrapped in demonic power like black clouds descended from the sky, resembling an ancient heavenly stele crashing down from above.
“Careful! That is the Demon Clan’s Heavenly Stele Palm!”
Several human martial artists nearby immediately cried out. The Demon Clan’s Heavenly Stele Palm had shaken the myriad races during the Medieval Era; it was no ordinary martial art.
The shadow of death descended in an instant. Above the void, a heavenly stele engraved with countless ancient patterns pressed down across the sky, making Luo Hao appear utterly insignificant beneath it.
“The Demon Clan’s Heavenly Stele Palm!”
Sensing the terrifying force of suppression from above, Luo Hao’s gaze shifted slightly, yet he showed no intention of retreating. A cold smile touched his lips. His knees bent faintly, and the great dragon of his spine trembled, like a hunter poised to pounce upon its prey.
“Wretched outsider, do not presume to run rampant!”
Just as Luo Hao was about to strike, a woman’s sharp cry suddenly rang out from beyond the ancient forest. Along with it came an aura of razor-edged intensity.
Slash!
The next moment, a dazzling sword radiance swept in from outside the forest. It glittered like a river of stars, illuminating the entire ancient woodland until every corner shone brightly.
Boom!
The void shook violently as though a volcano had erupted. The entire forest swayed on the verge of collapse, while an underground spring burst from the earth and soared hundreds of yards into the air. The demon warrior Chi Zhan was forced one step backward, and the murderous intent in his eyes grew even stronger.
“Hmm?”
Luo Hao, who had been preparing to strike, glanced curiously beyond the forest. Then the power within him swiftly sank into silence. The newcomer was clearly formidable. The several human martial artists beside him all looked toward the forest’s edge, their eyes lighting up.
Soon, a graceful figure holding a sword appeared beyond the ancient woodland.
The woman’s plain white palace robes fluttered in the wind, and extraordinary anger burned in her beautiful eyes.
Her swanlike neck was exposed to the air, leading down to a broad expanse of snowy skin at her chest. Her delicate jade feet barely touched the ground, and she arrived almost in an instant.
“It is her!”
As he looked at the woman in white, Luo Hao’s eyes narrowed and opened again. She was none other than Jade Qiongxue, famed as the Snow Fairy.
Fortunately, he had long since altered both his appearance and his aura, so he had no fear of being recognized.
At that moment, sword energy radiated from Jade Qiongxue with unmatched sharpness. Her aloof bearing, combined with that bone-piercing edge, lent her an added heroic grace.
Jade Qiongxue swept past Luo Hao, the tip of her sword angled forward as she faced the five demon warriors. Only one of the five was a woman; the other four revealed a trace of heat in their eyes when confronted by the sudden appearance of a human beauty.
“Hmph!”
The demon woman suddenly snorted and stepped toward Jade Qiongxue. The two women’s gazes met, neither yielding an inch. Where their eyes collided, even the void began to twist.
“Demoness, face my sword!”
Another sharp cry rang through the ancient forest. Before long, Luo Hao saw three graceful figures flash past him, three majestic sword lights cleaving directly toward the demon woman, Ling Mo.
“Do you truly regard us as nonexistent?”
Suddenly, a purple-haired demon man’s voice rang out like thunder, his gaze piercing the void like lightning. He pointed with one finger, and an incomparable, terrifying aura burst from it. The three descending sword lights were instantly shattered.
As the sword radiance dispersed, three more beautiful figures appeared beside Jade Qiongxue. The three young women were all lovely, yet each possessed a heroic spirit far beyond that of ordinary women.
The four women stood together, immediately becoming the most dazzling sight in the ancient forest. Yet no one had the leisure to admire them now.
“Sister Qiongxue, how did demons enter this small world?” one of the three women asked in confusion.
Hearing her voice, several human martial artists nearby immediately brightened. “The Sunset Mountain Sect—the Snow Fairy, Jade Qiongxue! Wonderful! We are saved!”
“The Sunset Mountain Sect.”
Luo Hao stood with his hands behind his back. He had heard of the Sunset Mountain Sect in Origin Heaven Ancient City. It was a sect that accepted women only, and the phrase “Eight Extremes of Sunset” referred to this very sect.
Though composed entirely of women, the sect was said to possess foundations comparable to those of ancient sects. Every generation of its disciples was astonishingly gifted, and it had almost never suffered a decline in talent.
“Heh heh. So it is a human heaven-born beauty. Let me, Purple Soul, savor the taste of a human prodigy!”
The purple-haired demon youth sneered as he walked toward Jade Qiongxue.
“Purple Soul, she is my prey. I will finish her myself!”
As the voice rang out, a jade hand suddenly blocked the purple-haired youth. The demon woman, Ling Mo, slightly furrowed her brows, then stepped in the pattern of the Heavenly Dipper. Her surging demonic power swept toward Jade Qiongxue like a giant serpent.
As women of equal standing, both Jade Qiongxue and Ling Mo possessed not only peerless beauty but formidable combat strength. A woman like Jade Qiongxue could never be a mere ornament, and her presence naturally stirred Ling Mo’s desire to fight.
“Face my sword!”
Jade Qiongxue’s palace robes fluttered. With a clear cry, the three-foot azure sword in her hand erupted with heaven-shaking sharpness. Sword radiance shot forth like a snow-white dragon soaring up and down, its chill penetrating to the marrow.
The crisscrossing sword light and the oncoming demonic power clashed fiercely in the void. Both Jade Qiongxue and Ling Mo trembled from the impact.
“Excellent. You have earned the right to know my name. Remember this—the one who kills you is Ling Mo of the Heavenly Python Clan!”
Ling Mo retreated slightly with a sharp cry. Her slender arms appeared delicate and boneless, yet in the next instant they caused everyone’s eyes to widen. With both jade hands, she directly deflected all the scattered sword radiance.
“That demoness is from the Heavenly Python Clan!”
Several human martial artists were horrified when they heard Ling Mo reveal her origins. Even among the dragons and serpents of the Demon Clan, the Heavenly Python Clan was a colossal existence.
“Heavenly Serpent, Ten Thousand Python Palm!”
Ling Mo suddenly gave a low shout. Purple scales illuminated her jade hands, and she lunged forward like a heavenly python hissing as it pounced upon its prey.
The heavenly python was a terrifying ancient fiend said to have been born amid the great floods of creation.
Ancient demon texts even recorded that heavenly pythons were descendants of the Soaring Serpent—and the Soaring Serpent was an existence capable of rivaling the true dragons of antiquity.
“Chi Zhan, Purple Soul, Ling Yuan, Ancient Demon—join forces and slaughter these humans. Leave not a single one alive!”
As Ling Mo continuously drove the Heavenly Serpent, Ten Thousand Python Palm against Jade Qiongxue, she simultaneously sent the message to the other four.
“Kill!”
A roar of slaughter erupted. The four demons attacked at once, their heaven-shaking demonic power stretching across the firmament. The entire ancient forest was instantly covered in gloom and misery. Countless ancient trees lost all vitality beneath the corrosive demonic power and turned directly into ashes.
“Sisters, hold them back!”
The three disciples of the Sunset Mountain Sect cried out. Countless sword energies rose abruptly, converging above the heavens into a vast sword net that shielded Luo Hao and the others.
Clearly, the three women believed that Luo Hao and the other human martial artists were wounded and no longer capable of fighting.
Luo Hao merely smiled faintly. It was convenient not to have to act. The human martial artists standing within the sword net, however, wore strange expressions, though in the end no one said anything.
Jade Qiongxue truly deserved her reputation as an outstanding disciple of the Sunset Mountain Sect. No wonder she had secured a place before the Martial Dao Stele. Even against a member of the Heavenly Python Clan, she remained undefeated.
The three women fighting Purple Soul and the others, however, were in a much worse situation. They were clearly no match for their opponents, and defeat was only a matter of time.
Suddenly, one of the women turned and shouted toward Luo Hao and the others, “Leave quickly!”
“Barely able to protect yourselves, yet you still want to save others? Ridiculous!”
The demon warrior known as Ancient Demon struck with one palm. The woman who had spoken immediately felt as though the entire world had been overturned. Layer upon layer of void shattered, as if the whole universe were about to collapse.
Puff!
The woman was gravely wounded and sent flying. Blood from her mouth dyed broad patches of her white robes crimson, while her sword became covered in dense cracks.
“Heh heh!”
Ancient Demon grinned viciously, showing not the slightest mercy toward beauty. His broad palm was like an ancient battle stele grinding down the void, and the shadow of death instantly enveloped the woman’s heart.
“A Li, be careful!”
The other two women cried out in alarm. Jade Qiongxue wanted to rush to her aid, but Ling Mo held her fast, leaving her no chance to intervene. She could only watch as her junior sister fell.
“A... A Li!”
Within the sword net, Luo Hao seemed to have been struck by something, losing himself for a brief moment. He had not heard those two words in far too long.
He knew he had to act. Even if it was only for the sake of those two words, he could not allow this woman to die at the hands of the demons.
“Die!”
Ancient Demon laughed wildly, madness gleaming in his eyes, as though he could already see the woman splattered in blood. The human martial artists likewise felt sorrow and outrage, but could only watch helplessly as she died beneath Ancient Demon’s palm.
Roar!
A resounding dragon’s roar suddenly rang out. The human martial artists stared in astonishment as a vast surge of blood energy erupted from the black-clad man within the sword net and shot into the heavens.
The raging blood energy tore through the sword net, spreading like an endless ocean until it filled the entire sky. From that boundless sea, a blood dragon a hundred yards long thrust out its savage head.
Puff!
The blood dragon charged forward, piercing through the void in an instant. With a thunderous roar, the surging blood energy swept the woman known as A Li to Luo Hao’s side.
Before she could react, a broad, warm palm came to rest upon her shoulder. A blazing torrent of blood energy immediately surged forth, continually washing away the demonic power within her body.
“Die!”
His attack having missed, Ancient Demon erupted in fury and punched directly toward Luo Hao.
“Get lost!”
His hair flying wildly, Luo Hao let out a furious roar and stamped his foot down, shattering the ground. Then, carrying the woman from the Sunset Mountain Sect, he soared into the sky.
Boom!
The void shook violently. A fist rose from below against the current, carrying the will to strike across the nine heavens, its domineering force enveloping the entire battlefield.
Crack!
The two fists collided. Ancient Demon and Luo Hao both trembled, then were violently forced backward.
Luo Hao landed as steady as a mountain. Ancient Demon, however, stared in pain at his own deformed, blood-soaked hand.
Luo Hao released the woman from his embrace and stepped forward. A Li’s face flushed crimson. Having lived in the Sunset Mountain Sect all her life, she had never been so intimately close to a man.
“It is you!”
Only after escaping danger did the woman realize that the man before her was the black-clad figure who had stood within the sword net. His eyes were unfathomably deep. Though she could not sense the slightest trace of aura from him, his back appeared impossibly broad, as though he could single-handedly support an entire sky.
“You intend to make enemies of us?”
Chi Zhan, Purple Soul, and Ling Yuan saw that Ancient Demon had been injured and abandoned their opponents, placing themselves before him protectively. Killing intent surged in Chi Zhan’s eyes, yet he regarded Luo Hao with unmistakable apprehension.
“Enemies? You are not worthy of that. I told you—the blood and bones covering this ground need someone to pay homage to them!”
Luo Hao shook his head coldly. Thunderous rumbling suddenly erupted from within his body.
End of chapter