While Lin Feng was being pursued by Qin Lin and Li Hao, elsewhere, the Swordsman was also running at full speed, desperately trying to shake off Tian Guangshu chasing behind him.
Though at the Third Layer Golden Core realm, he could technically fly via swordsmanship. However, that would make him a perfect target for his pursuer and consume massive amounts of true essence, so he had opted against it.
Tian Guangshu had no such concerns. The moment the chase began, he had leaped onto his flying sword, slicing through the air in pursuit of the Swordsman.
One ran on the ground, the other flew through the air. The difference was stark. Despite the Swordsman pushing himself to the absolute limit, the distance between them rapidly closed. In moments, Tian Guangshu was practically hovering directly above him.
Just as Tian Guangshu prepared to unleash a magical technique upon the Swordsman below, he saw his quarry suddenly stop and launch an attack first!
"SHIIING!!"
His face grim, the Swordsman swept his right hand out. His flying sword shot through the air like a bolt, aimed squarely at Tian Guangshu in the sky.
"Hmph!" A cold smirk touched Tian Guangshu's lips. He tapped his foot lightly and leaped off his flying sword, while simultaneously sending the weapon whistling downwards. "CLANG!" It collided violently with the Swordsman's blade.
The Swordsman wanted to attack Tian Guangshu while he was still falling through the air, but Tian Guangshu's sword gave him no opening. "CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!" The sharp ring of clashing metal echoed incessantly as the two blades met again and again in mid-air, sparks bursting from every impact.
Tian Guangshu landed safely, stopping precisely twenty meters in front of the Swordsman. He sneered, "Cease your futile struggles. Escape is impossible. Surrender willingly, hand over everything you possess, and answer my questions truthfully. Perhaps then I might consider sparing your miserable life."
"Heh! You take me for a three-year-old child? To believe that?" The Swordsman scoffed derisively, his expression fierce. "You think you've got me cornered? Well, come on then! Give it your best shot!"
"You court death!!"
Ferocity flashed in Tian Guangshu's eyes. Abandoning talk, he formed a seal with his left hand. True essence surged violently within him as he thrust his hand towards the Swordsman in a grasping motion!
Instantly, a dazzling ball of cyan light materialized before Tian Guangshu. In the blink of an eye, it solidified into two massive wind blades, each over ten meters long! They crossed paths as they slashed down towards the Swordsman!
While still controlling his flying sword locked in combat with the Swordsman's blade, he was simultaneously launching a direct magical assault!
"Perfect timing!!"
Opposite him, the Swordsman's eyes flashed with a fierce light. He abruptly ceased controlling his own flying sword, letting it be knocked aside by Tian Guangshu's weapon. His true essence churned violently within. His left arm snapped out, hurling the Exquisite Pagoda in his grasp. As the artifact left his hand, he poured nearly every shred of his remaining true essence into it.
"HUM…"
Just like when used against the Frost-Eye Python underground, the pagoda blazed with intense purple light the moment it flew free. Countless threads of thunder-force gathered from the void, coalescing around the pagoda into a sphere of crackling purple lightning several meters wide. Like a miniature purple sun, it blasted forward with indescribable speed.
"BOOOOOOM!!!"
The next instant, the lightning sphere met the intersecting wind blades mid-air. An earth-shattering explosion tore through the surroundings. To Tian Guangshu's utter shock and disbelief, his powerful wind blades were utterly obliterated upon impact! The purple sphere merely paused for a fraction of a second before continuing its devastating trajectory straight towards him!
"WHAT?!"
Tian Guangshu's face paled in alarm. He hadn't expected the opponent's artifact to be not just a defensive treasure, but an even more powerful offensive weapon! Panic surged through him. He tapped his foot, propelling himself backward while frantically activating his own defensive spirit-light treasure.
"Hummm…" A dense, almost tangible curtain of cyan wind materialized instantly before Tian Guangshu. The lightning sphere arrived, slamming directly into the wind barrier.
"KRA-KA-BOOOOOM!!!"
An explosion far louder than the previous one detonated. Countless tendrils of purple lightning, thick and thin, writhed and lashed out wildly, engulfing an area over ten meters across. Tian Guangshu's figure was completely swallowed by the violent storm of energy.
"Whoosh…" The next moment, the now dimmed Exquisite Pagoda flew spinning out of the dissipating chaos, landing back in the Swordsman's outstretched palm.
The Swordsman's face was ashen, beads of sweat dotting his forehead. He dared not even glance towards his enemy to see the result. With a swift thought, he recalled his flying sword. Simultaneously, his right arm snapped out from his sleeve, unleashing a fleeting ice-blue thread. "Go!!" he hissed.
"Hissss…"
What slithered from his sleeve was, naturally, the Frost-Eye Python. It touched the ground and hissed softly. In a flash of ice-blue light, it expanded from a serpent the thickness of two fingers into a behemoth over a meter thick and twenty meters long! Its massive tail instantly coiled around the Swordsman's waist. Then, with a loud "THUD!", it plunged straight into the earth, dragging the Swordsman with it and leaving behind only a gaping hole over a meter wide, its depths unseen.
...
"BOOM!!!"
Merely seconds later, the area still crackling with residual purple lightning erupted once more. The fading energy burst outward, finally revealing Tian Guangshu's figure amidst the clearing haze. He looked thoroughly disheveled.
His face was pale, a thin trickle of blood staining the corner of his mouth. Clearly, he had suffered in the blast. His eyes snapped towards the newly formed chasm ahead, blazing with fury and murderous intent.
"Damned insect… You will PAY!! I will rend you limb from limb!!"
To think he had been injured and humiliated by a mere Third Layer Golden Core cultivator due to a moment of carelessness! The shame burned hotter than his injuries. Ignoring his wounds, he prepared to unleash his spiritual sense to resume the chase.
"Tch… How laughable! A dignified Elder of the Verdant Wind Valley, Ninth Layer Golden Core, reduced to such a state by a Third Layer cultivator. Quite the spectacle, ha ha!!"
Suddenly, a derisive sneer sounded from behind him. Tian Guangshu jerked around in shock! Standing nonchalantly about a hundred meters away, a young man clad in resplendent golden robes regarded him with open mockery.
Tian Guangshu's pupils contracted slightly. His expression darkened like a thundercloud. "Who are you?!"
The youth had flowing shoulder-length hair and features that could be considered handsome, save for the sharp glint of ruthlessness in his eyes. He gazed calmly at Tian Guangshu, a faint, chilling smile playing on his lips. "Who I am is irrelevant for you to know. After all… you're about to die."
"Arrogant fool!! Seeking death!!"
Tian Guangshu's rage exploded. Murderous light flared in his eyes. With a mere gesture, the flying sword beside him screamed through the air towards the newcomer!
"Hmph!" Unfazed, the golden-robed youth raised his hand casually. A flash of gold preceded his own flying sword shooting out, intercepting Tian Guangshu's blade with a sharp clang mid-air.
"A mere Seventh Layer Golden Core dares such insolence? Truly courting death!"
The moment the youth acted, Tian Guangshu immediately discerned his cultivation level. A cold sneer curled inside Tian Guangshu's mind. Weakling. He gathered his true essence, preparing to unleash a crushing magical technique.
"WHOOSH!!"
At that precise moment, a blur of black shot out with terrifying speed from a thicket barely ten meters to Tian Guangshu's right!
"WHAT?!"
Terror seized Tian Guangshu. He hadn't sensed another presence! How was there an ambusher?!
In his panic, Tian Guangshu instinctively activated his defensive spirit-light artifact. The curtain of cyan wind shimmered into existence before him once more. Almost simultaneously, the figure charging from his right drove a fist into the shimmering barrier!
"CRASH!!"
A deafening impact. Then, utter disbelief filled Tian Guangshu's eyes as the formidable cyan barrier… shattered like glass! The fist, its momentum barely diminished, slammed squarely into his chest!
"THUMP!!"
The blow lifted Tian Guangshu bodily off his feet, hurling him backwards. In the instant he was sent flying, his eyes finally registered the face of his attacker – a visage the color of ash, devoid of life, eyes hollow and empty pits. A dead thing.
Or rather, something that should be dead.
"Guh…!" Blood sprayed from Tian Guangshu's mouth as his eyes widened impossibly in horrified recognition. "You… You're Nether Corpse—-"
"SHHHLICK!!"
A streak of golden light flashed across his throat. It severed his windpipe, silencing his final words mid-syllable. A wet, gurgling choke was all that escaped him now.