These Direwolves were entirely different from the common Ice Wolves found in the wilderness! They were specially bred, chosen from massive, mutated variants, evolving over ten millennia into these ferocious, terrifying steeds. Their charge impact, speed, and agility were astonishing! In combat, they were no less formidable than the Great Horned Beasts of the Byron Tribe!
And the Silver Seat Kings of the Frost Tribe cavalry were the strongest contingent of all mounted warriors! Besides their meticulously selected mounts, every single one was a highly skilled elite warrior worthy of the Silver Knight title!
Of course, the knights of the Vermilion Bird Legion from the Bloodline Tribe riding behind me were not weak either. Their steeds were the Blood-Colored Ice Wolves, a specialty from the northern reaches of the Still Snow Fields! While comparable in size to the giant Ice Wolves, their entire coat was fiery red! As they galloped at high speed, they resembled a raging prairie fire, possessing a truly breathtaking impact!
One red, one white!
Two immense torrents charged head-on at astonishing speed!
At that moment, the quiescent hot blood surged once more! The breathtaking scenes of the battle at Yuncheng involuntarily flashed through my mind! The strange, blood-tinged hazy world materialized before my eyes again! My blood burned furiously, and my killing intent spiked uncontrollably!
In the blink of an eye!
The two massive torrents finally collided unstoppably!
"Roar! Roar! Roar! Roar!"
Almost at the instant of impact!
A dazzling burst of light erupted from the Mammoth King’s body, enveloping both it and me in what looked like a colossal Battle Aura shield!
Not only that!
"Ah! Beast King Battle Aura!"
Gasps of surprise erupted from Long Xiang, Chen Yu, and the others behind me. Beast King Battle Aura! Could the big fellow actually wield Battle Aura?
Before I could process what was happening, the Mammoth King let out another earth-shattering roar! A terrifying sound wave that seemed to shatter the entire world! An immense, distorted sphere of light instantly appeared before me, like a cannonball blasting forward!
Rumble!
Everything struck by the distorted sphere exploded on contact, scattering into fragments!
"Ah!"
The scene before me left me utterly dumbfounded! Although I knew the big fellow had grown stronger, its current monstrous power far exceeded my wildest imagination! That distorted sphere was a sound wave field condensed to the extreme! This sonic attack did not belong to any physical or magical category, essentially ignoring all magical and physical defenses!
The Silver Seat Kings charging toward us didn't even have time to scream before they were blown to pieces! It was like a giant shredder!
The previously dense formation was violently torn open by the Beast King's sonic sphere, creating a wide vacuum! I didn't even have time to react before the Mammoth King carried me plunging into the dense ranks of the Silver Seat Kings!
All I could see were blurry figures being flung away by the impacts! Cries mingled with the mournful howls of the Ice Wolves, interspersed with the crisp snaps of breaking bones, instantly weaving a tapestry of bloody, tragic lamentation! Fighting side-by-side again after twenty-five years clearly drove the big fellow into a frenzy!
It unleashed its signature move right at the start! And at this very moment, I finally had the chance to witness the true extent of the abilities the big fellow had honed through twenty-five years of arduous cultivation!
It seemed to realize the Beast King’s terrifying charge was a deadly threat, as countless Dragon Spears and blasts of Battle Aura rained down like a storm!
However, every attack was violently repelled after hitting the massive Battle Aura shield the big fellow projected! This defense was absurdly formidable!
Coupled with the Mammoth King’s unparalleled speed and impact force, the creature moved like an indestructible sharp sword, instantly tearing a breach open!
Just then, I felt a surge of unusual killing intent flare up! Almost instantaneously, a silver streak of light flashed toward us!
"Ah! So fast!" If this energy struck, even the big fellow’s defenses wouldn't prevent injury!
"Roar!" Sensing the danger, the big fellow executed a nimble sidestep, narrowly avoiding the attack!
Swish! The streaking light only passed through an illusory afterimage!
But the crisis was not over! Almost at the same moment! A dazzling golden light exploded from within the silver torrent! A huge silver afterimage shot forward like a cannonball! Silver sword energy instantly struck toward my chest!
This opponent is powerful, having calculated the Beast King’s evasion path; I cannot afford to be careless! But what am I, Xing Chen, if not someone who has seen every major battle?
"Big fellow, watch my move now!"
It was only then that I finally brandished the Hegemon's Blade in my hand! As Battle Aura flooded it, a black light flickered, condensing into a massive crescent-shaped sword energy that instantly clashed with the figure lunging at my chest!
Though his speed was terrifying! Though his power was immense! That level of speed was still insufficient to evade my Phantom Demon Eyes! And that power was equally incapable of matching mine! I had absolute confidence in this!
Clang! Rumble!
Amidst a dull boom, the dazzling orb of light exploded! I couldn’t even make out who the opponent was! But a crescent sword energy had smashed him to pieces!
"Anan!" A mournful, fierce shout echoed from the enemy ranks! The assailant was clearly a formidable opponent, yet he was annihilated by me in our very first exchange!
Responding to the shout, two more huge silver afterimages lunged toward us! Simultaneously arriving were two razor-sharp Dragon Spears!
"Seeking death!" I snorted in anger! The Hegemon's Blade spun, requiring no Battle Aura! Relying only on exquisite swordsmanship and superior eyesight! A single slash struck both incoming Dragon Spears!
Crack! A crisp sound! The two thick Dragon Spears, looking like rotten wood, were cleanly sliced in two by my blade!
It was only then that I clearly saw the sudden attackers were two knights clad in silver helmets and silver armor! Perhaps anticipating my incredible strength, they showed a flicker of surprise when I shattered their Dragon Spears with one cut!
But I gave them no chance to recover! I was well aware of the sharpness of the Hegemon's Blade. I remembered how I had beheaded Moluo Yin Zhi, even when he was wearing the Phoenix Sky Demon Armor! That was why I had the confidence to engage powerful enemies relying solely on swordsmanship without drawing on Battle Aura!
As if sensing my intent, the big fellow let out a soft roar, its powerful body instantly accelerating like lightning, sweeping past the two opponents! And I casually unleashed a horizontal slash!
Splat!
The two men didn't even manage a minimal reaction before their heads were severed! All this happened in the blink of an eye!
Within the surging silver torrent, several more individuals charged forward fearlessly. Three Dragon Spears stabbed toward my chest, thigh, and face! And three more thrust toward the Mammoth King carrying me!
"Insolent fools," I didn't even bother attacking! But the big fellow was not so polite! With a roar! Another colossal sound wave sphere erupted!
Boom!
In a single exchange, the six charging men were instantly obliterated into fragments!
We had only been inside the enemy formation for about five seconds, yet the big fellow and I had reaped so many lives like a meat grinder! In five seconds, the area around us was suddenly empty! Everyone seemed paralyzed by fear!
Behind us, Long Xiang, Chen Yu, and the others were completely galvanized! Their cheers thundered like the sky! They followed my and the big fellow’s lead, charging left and right, quickly breaking the Silver Seat King formation into disarray!
However, just then, a contingent of fighters suddenly attacked from the flank! Their timing was exquisite, striking like a sword piercing the serpent's vital spot, skillfully splitting the charging Vermilion Bird cavalry in two!
The leader was a warrior in silver armor! But beside him floated a small, turquoise, butterfly-like creature!
That little creature was incredibly fast! Darting high and low, it charged in and out of the fray! Moreover, it spewed out streams of silvery-white light spheres, like astonishingly powerful bombs! Everything hit instantly exploded into fragments! Though their power wasn't as terrifying as the Beast King's sonic sphere, the rate of fire was alarmingly high! Almost one every two seconds! The ground was peppered with shocking craters! If I hadn't seen it myself, I couldn't have imagined such a small thing possessing such devastating destructive power!
This little creature was incredibly ferocious! And the leading silver-helmeted knight was no weakling either! His silver Dragon Spear danced up and down; no one who approached him could withstand a single thrust! Under the charge of the man and the beast, the main body of cavalry following behind was thrown into chaos, and the knights following him were equally fierce! In just one exchange, they slaughtered quite a few of our cavalry!
"Damn it! It’s You Yue, the Young Clan Leader of the Cold Ridge Tribe!" Long Xiang cried out in shock. "And his summoned beast, Moon Spirit."
(The magnificent supporting character finally debuts! Warm applause for this new arrival! This supporting role is generously provided by the enthusiastic reader, Fo Mai Zhang. Deepest thanks offered here!)
"That's the Moon Spirit," I was also considerably astonished! Although I knew that Daoists who reached the peak of cultivation on the continent could summon the most powerful of summoned beasts, the Moon Spirit! Even the strongest Daoist Priestess in the Demon Dragon Empire couldn't summon a Moon Spirit, so this was my first time witnessing this legendary immortal being! It was hard to believe that this small, cute-looking thing was actually a terrifying, ruthless killer!
What shocked me even more was that the seemingly valiant knight was actually a Daoist! This was simply against the laws of nature! With that level of skill, even among warriors, few could match him! However, I had previously heard from Sui Yun that this You Yue was the Young Clan Leader of the Cold Ridge Tribe, possessing extraordinary cultivation. Besides excelling in Daoist arts, his transcendent combat skills were no less than any top warrior on the continent. He was a super genius cultivating both Dao and combat, a rarity in a millennium! Furthermore, he inherited the purple spiritual pearl of the Cold Ridge Tribe, making his actual strength even greater than Sui Yun's!
"This is bizarre; why are people from the Cold Ridge Tribe here?" Chen Yu’s face also changed drastically!
"You all continue the charge and let me handle him." Such an expert could not be dealt with by ordinary knights! If he continued to wreak havoc, our following cavalry contingent would be wiped out!
As I spoke, the big fellow had already changed direction, carrying me toward the silver-helmeted Daoist! However, we were met with a desperate blockade by the silver-helmeted knights! But against the big fellow's peerless impact and terrifying sonic attacks, all their efforts were in vain! After a fierce charge, the big fellow forcefully carved a path of blood and furiously drove toward the silver-armored Daoist commanding the Moon Spirit!
In the blink of an eye, I reached the Daoist knight! And he was equally unyielding! He swept his Dragon Spear forward! A thrust aimed directly at my chest! His speed and power were flawlessly perfect! And his mount, the giant Ice Wolf, was clearly no ordinary steed; it ferociously swiped its claws down toward the Mammoth King’s head! Even more startling, the Moon Spirit, which had been flitting high and low, simultaneously spat out a dazzling silver light sphere like a cannonball rushing toward us!
This man and two beasts coordinated with absolute perfection! Three deadly moves launched simultaneously! I dared not be careless!
Hegemon's Blade, I swept out a crescent slash! The big fellow roared, instantly pushing its Beast King Battle Aura to the limit, while a colossal sonic sphere shot out like lightning toward the silver sphere falling from the air!
Clash! Rumble!
Amidst a series of dull impacts, the big fellow’s sonic sphere accurately intercepted the Moon Spirit’s silver sphere! Not only did the sonic sphere disperse the Moon Spirit's attack with its terrifying force, but it maintained its momentum and slammed into the flying Moon Spirit!
Thwack! The Moon Spirit was blasted into pieces! Meanwhile, the swipe from the giant Ice Wolf’s claw was solidly blocked by the Mammoth King’s Battle Aura! My crescent slash met the lightning-fast spear thrust at the same instant!
All of this unfolded simultaneously in a fraction of a second!
The knight before me seemed surprised, perhaps not expecting me and the big fellow to be so formidable! His expression changed drastically when he saw the Mammoth King carrying me!
"It's you, Xing Ye." I also clearly saw his face! He appeared to be only around twenty, but his brows held a peculiar, slightly wicked aura that was unforgettable, clearly marking him as someone not to be trifled with!
"Wrong, my name is Xing Chen!" Honestly, this wasn't the first time I'd been mistaken for Xing Ye. I really didn't know this guy was so famous in the Xuedu Continent! But now wasn't the time to debate identity!
As I spoke, I infused the long saber with Battle Aura and slashed out a streak of fierce fire! I put all my strength into this strike! The angle I chose was the one most difficult for the opponent to defend—the armpit!
However, his reaction was astonishingly quick! A slight sidestep allowed him to evade my incredibly fast thrust! Furthermore, as he dodged, he instantly countered with a reverse thrust, aiming at my thigh! But the equally swift big fellow, carrying me, easily evaded it!
"You are Xing Chen," the opponent seemed to have energy to spare, still able to speak during such fierce combat. "Are you Xing Ye’s younger brother, or sister?"
"Listen clearly, I am Xing Ye’s father!" This infuriated me! Being mistaken for someone else was bad enough, but arrogantly assuming I was Xing Ye’s sibling! I, who am already a father, was mistaken for a mere child, and to make matters worse, he couldn't even discern my gender!
"Hah, feisty for a little fellow," the opponent said, but his swordsmanship didn't slow down at all!
Swish swish! Two lightning-fast thrusts struck toward my chest and the big fellow’s head! Both were parried by my two counter-strikes!
"Brat, I'll tear you apart!" I was so angry I wanted to rip this garrulous fellow into pieces! After blocking the two spears, the Hegemon's Blade deftly rotated, unleashing two arcs of Battle Aura that struck toward his chest and his mount!
"Temperamental," You Yue replied with dissatisfaction, though his words remained cuttingly sarcastic. "Little facial hair, big temper. Are all you dark-eyed freaks like this? Everyone trying to be the boss." As he spoke, he swept his Dragon Spear, sending out two matching crescents that blocked my attack!
"Shut your mouth."
And so, a spectacular battle commenced, the clash of blades and spears engaging them endlessly! And their verbal sparring reached a supernatural level! Profanities and insults flew everywhere; they were only short of cursing each other's entire lineage!
They fought for a hundred rounds soon after! Yet still, there was no clear victor! However, the more I fought, the more my heart sank! This fellow was definitely the strongest master I had encountered on the Xuedu Continent, his strength surpassing Sui Yun’s. Keep in mind, among the Seven Great Masters, You Yue was ranked sixth! One place higher than Sui Yun! But I clearly sensed that You Yue didn't intend a life-or-death struggle; he kept sticking close to me, deliberately holding me in place, and I dared not easily disengage! I could only fight this prolonged battle with him! For the time being, neither could overcome the other!