Gray streaks of fighting aura coiled around the longsword, instantly resembling hundreds of gray serpents, tearing at the arrow-python formed by the incoming projectiles from multiple directions, like a pack of wolves attacking a fierce tiger.
The sword’s fighting aura fractured with sharp cracks, plumes of gray energy exploding outwards. The protective auras woven around the three incoming arrows cracked inch by inch like strained airflow, scattering gold dust, blood, and fragments of white bone, all shattering simultaneously. The three arrows of the Kong Feng burst apart, followed immediately by three more!
At that moment, Qian Jin clearly saw his opponent’s appearance: a being with solid musculature and black skin. His powerful build made him look like a towering black iron pagoda, bearing two distinct undead crests branded upon him, exuding an indescribable aura of immense power.
That pagoda-like body was paired with a savage countenance. Contempt flickered between his brows, the same look humans reserve for livestock awaiting slaughter—as if silently proclaiming the undead as the noblest existence, believing that for such a suicidal intruder, his mere presence was sufficient; the other undead needed only to watch!
Two undead crests on a single undead entity! A thought flashed through Qian Jin’s mind: this was absolutely a formidable opponent!
A gray battle soul ascended from the undead's body, a black, demonic-looking specter encircled by strands of gray chains—chains of soul-form, crafted from fighting aura, seemingly intent on locking down this fiend that appeared to have crawled from an endless inferno.
A chilling, ash-gray fighting aura burned around the battle soul like flame, making the undead's imposing presence threaten to rupture the heavens.
The massive battle soul instantly retreated into the undead’s [Body]. His form swelled again, and the longsword in his hand swept out thousands of gray, serpent-like tendrils of fighting aura. They fanned out, enveloping Qian Jin’s three projectiles, resembling prehistoric beasts opening their massive maws, swallowing the battle soul whole.
Innumerable threads of fighting aura writhed, like gigantic demonic beasts chewing and savoring a delicious feast. The auras covering the arrows shattered once more. The three projectiles slammed into the longsword, causing the arrow shafts to immediately curve, bend, and curve again! They bowed like crescent moons! Like brittle shrimp… Cracks spiderwebbed across the arrow shafts, and the fighting aura contained within them erupted from the darkness, instantly exploding into fragments.
“Break for me!”
As the arrows shattered, Qian Jin arrived. His Zhanmadao was dragged from the Dou Jie, slicing a perfectly straight line across the air.
A dazzling slash! It instantly eclipsed the sun in the sky! A strike fiercer and more brutal than the three arrows fired in tandem, aiming ruthlessly for the opponent’s head.
“Hmph…” The undead warrior emitted a guttural roar steeped in gray desolation. His battle sword flipped upward from below, stirring up a shower of golden sand, adding several points of momentum to the blow, like an army following a great general.
The longsword was lightning; the long saber was the moon! They clashed without any flourish. The shrieking roar of fighting auras and the ringing protest of metal instantly drowned out all other sounds in the vicinity, as if becoming the sole existence in this world, repelling the surrounding undead.
Pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft! Countless gashes split open across the undead warrior’s skin, blood erupting like a fountain. Yet, his body stood motionless on the spot, solid as bedrock!
Such injuries would force any sturdy warrior to retreat, but the undead warrior before him did not yield an inch. His eyes held only a blazing battle intent, devoid of any hint of pain!
No pain! Qian Jin immediately recalled a key characteristic of undead warriors, as explained by Akenash: most undead fear pain very little!
Without fear of pain, a counterattack could be launched at any moment! The hand gripping the sword bled profusely, while his other hand clenched into a fist and drove upward toward Qian Jin’s abdomen.
A black battle soul materialized behind Qian Jin. It also clenched its fist and slammed it violently toward the undead warrior’s head!
A fist faster than the undead’s! The battle soul’s punch was utterly unexpected! It smashed squarely into the undead’s head! Everyone knew Qian Jin’s battle soul was shaped like a hammer; how could a second one suddenly appear? This second battle soul struck the undead’s skull, the sheer force instantly pulverizing the head.
Bang! The undead’s head exploded like a watermelon!
Seizing the advantage, Qian Jin surged forward. In a one-on-one fight, perhaps he wouldn't necessarily lose, but this was not a duel. Defeating the opponent with maximum speed was the correct course of action.
The iron-pagoda body of the undead staggered backward. Qian Jin casually snatched the giant iron sword. His left hand wielded the longsword, and his right hand rotated the saber like the wind, carving a path through the obstruction ahead.
“Jee-jee…”
Hai Qing’er let out another strange sound, and a monstrous beast charged out from the ranks of the army. It bore no resemblance to humans, nor did it resemble the demons. Despite having read countless books, Qian Jin had never encountered such a creature.
It sported over a dozen tentacle-like appendages on its back, swinging wildly in the air, resembling those of an octopus. It had the head of a wolf, but this wolf’s head was several times larger than a lion’s, wide enough to swallow a man whole when its mouth opened. Its teeth were not organic; they were Dou Bing level weapons forged from metal.
Such teeth, biting into flesh even protected by armor, would render the armor utterly useless, capable of biting straight through it.
Roar… Pfft… The monster roared ferociously, the sound manifesting as visible shockwaves spreading outward. But before the sound could fully propagate, the longsword in Qian Jin’s hand flashed into an arc of electric light, transforming into something like a flying dart. It pierced the shockwave, entered the creature’s mouth, and shot out through the back of its skull, trailing crimson blood and various bizarre tissues.
Dead? No.
Even with the longsword through its brain, the monster was merely wounded, not truly slain! This only served to incite a more furious roar. Its octopus-like tentacles whipped down from the air with sharp paka sounds, striking Qian Jin’s body like metallic steel whips.
Its flesh writhed and convulsed incessantly, becoming exceptionally hard, emitting a zhengzheng sound as if metal were being ground against metal. The air was violently displaced, revealing shimmering currents of energy.
Qian Jin flipped his left wrist, channeling the Feng Yun Jin Shen into his arm. A partial shield of energy flickered over his limb, bracing to absorb the impact of the tentacles, which now felt like solid iron striking him.
Two masses of flesh, neither inferior to metal, collided. The rock-hard tentacles shattered, spraying blood and minced meat into the air.
Screech!
The monster roared in fury. Qian Jin’s battle saber was already upon it, descending. Under the combined impact of the Zhanmadao and the fighting aura, the massive body was sliced clean in two. Qian Jin burst through the center of the creature, blood instantly drenching his clothes, turning him into a blood-soaked figure in a flash.
Fast! Swifter than lightning—two formidable undead warriors perished by Qian Jin’s hand in the blink of an eye!
In the sky, Hai Qing’er frowned slightly. A trace of human emotion finally touched her placid features. She raised her arm lightly, and new undead emerged from the legion below.
One-on-one combat! Always one-on-one combat! Every undead warrior wore an expression of pride, seemingly disdaining the idea of ganging up on Qian Jin; they believed a single warrior was enough to win.
“Human, I, Augustus…”
The undead warrior emerging from the ranks spoke for the first time in a Demon tongue Qian Jin could understand. He was a former Demon Martial Knight of Chimera bloodline. He brought his fist down upon the air, and the surrounding atmosphere immediately shifted. His large hand clawed repeatedly through the air like the maw of a monstrous beast, and his fingers resembled the teeth of a Chimera. Strands of golden sand whipped out to entangle Qian Jin’s ankles.
A colossal Chimera battle soul rose behind Augustus, his entire body seeming to transform into the great primeval beast, the Chimera, threatening to smother the young Qian Jin with an ancient aura from the dawn of time.
Qian Jin stepped forward, his saber poised, ever-vigilant for a sneak attack. He raised his left hand, his five fingers suddenly clenching the empty air with a resounding pop! The sound of the compressed air seemed to instantly pour into the star held within his hand.
It had traversed the primeval era, witnessed the rise of the prehistoric age, the dawn of humanity and the demons, and the entire history of this continent. Only the stars in the sky had shone there for countless years.
“Violent Soul Domain!”
Qian Jin’s body did not pause. As Augustus’s fist, arm, and body exploded faster than the eye could track, all that remained for the undead was Qian Jin’s receding silhouette.
Fast! Fierce!
The aura of the surrounding undead warriors collectively shifted. The raw power and ferocity Qian Jin displayed had already far surpassed his initial onslaught. It was as if, every single moment, this ‘suicidal’ warrior’s strength was rising, continually increasing.
The proud expressions of the undead warriors betrayed an impulse to attack together. However, as Hai Qing’er stood high above, they dared not move without her command.
Hai Qing’er gazed down at Qian Jin’s rapid advance below, refraining from issuing an immediate order. A hint of doubt and contemplation appeared in her brow.
In the span of mere seconds, Qian Jin covered considerable distance. Hai Qing’er suddenly lifted her head, and a distant thread of spirit power shot out like lightning, striking directly into the shimmering crest of the Undead Queen upon her person.
At that moment, three pairs of slender eyes appeared in the sky. These three pairs were layered, as if six eyes could pierce through everything—pierce the heavens, pierce the earth, and uncover all the truths of the world.
The gray eyes were lusterless, filled with an air of aloof, kingly authority, as if traversing ten thousand years, the former sovereign of heaven and earth was once again poised to command this realm.