Volume 11, Chapter 755 – What Are You Risking Your Life For? (Part 2)

By contrast, Cheng Hongling was so furious that she nearly spat blood. She had intended to take the opportunity to hone her cultivation, yet at the critical moment, someone had interrupted her.

“Did I ask for your help? Huh? Since you love meddling so much, why don’t you take better care of the flowers and grass down there? Protecting the environment is everyone’s responsibility, didn’t you know that?”

Cheng Hongling roared angrily at Qi Huang.

“Sorry! Sorry!”

Qi Huang was stunned for a moment, then immediately realized she had done wrong, scratching her head with an awkward grin.

“Aren’t you going to withdraw your Divine Sense yet?”

Cheng Hongling glared fiercely at Qi Huang.

“Alright, alright…”

Qi Huang recalled her Divine Sense and retreated to watch the battle from afar.

‘Hmph! You brought this on yourself!’

Cao Hong’s heart leapt with glee. He understood that no matter how powerful Qi Huang was, as long as he killed the woman before him, Cheng Hongling, the problem would be solved altogether. Since she was courting death, how could he let go of such a good chance?

“Let’s see how you’ll break through my Cloud-Snaring Net!”

Cao Hong showed no politeness, continuing to drive his Divine Sense, pushing the net down upon Cheng Hongling, confidence brimming on his face.

“Your Cloud-Snaring Net is indeed formidable! It even carries with it a corrosive Yin energy that devours all things!”

Cheng Hongling, polite as ever, acknowledged it. But then her tone shifted sharply: “However, no matter how powerful the treasure, it still requires Divine Sense to control. Our Divine Sense is evenly matched, yet you’ve destroyed one of your ethereal souls yourself. How can you possibly compete with me?”

As soon as her words fell, Cheng Hongling’s Divine Sense, condensed to its peak, suddenly erupted. Like a raging storm, it surged forth, overturning the Cloud-Snaring Net and pressing it back toward Cao Hong.

Cao Hong’s expression changed drastically. He struggled desperately to resist with his Divine Sense, but having crippled an ethereal soul, he could not withstand her strength. He could only watch in horror as the net, dragging countless threads of terrifying slime, folded back over its own master.

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He exerted himself to the utmost, sweat pouring from his forehead, yet still ended up wrapped up like dumpling stuffing within his own net. He wanted to summon his Essence Soul back to his Sea of Consciousness, but he dreaded Cheng Hongling’s terrifying killing intent.

“Is that all? Seems I still overestimated the Vice Leader of the Immortal Alliance.”

Cheng Hongling’s tone carried a trace of regret.

“Don’t… don’t be so quick to celebrate! In this… this cultivation world… there exists a kind of treasure that can recognize its master!”

Cao Hong gasped out his words with all his strength. With a wave of his hand, a fist-sized stone flew out. It radiated terrifying waves of Divine Sense, shattering the very space it passed through, and smashed into the Cloud-Snaring Net.

Though formidable, the net suddenly seemed like a fishing net ensnaring a whale. Its form twisted violently, creaking with sounds of collapse.

“This is… a fragment of the Immortal Stele!”

Qi Huang immediately recognized it. The Immortal Stele’s material was precious, though not particularly offensive by itself. What made it frightening was the immortal pressure it bore. Just as now, it effortlessly shattered the void, a force no mortal could resist.

“My heavens! What treasure is Alliance Master Cao using? It actually shatters the void! Doesn’t that mean its power has reached the very limits of the cultivation world?”

“Will Cheng Hongling be able to withstand it?”

“Nonsense, if she could, she’d have dodged long ago!”

“Excellent, Cheng Hongling is doomed!”

Splurt!

After a brief stalemate, the Immortal Stele fragment pierced through the net and shot like lightning toward Cheng Hongling.

“Hahaha! Die! You little demoness, go to hell!”

Cao Hong’s excitement overflowed onto his face.

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But at that very moment, Qi Huang’s voice sounded once again, most untimely.

“I say, Alliance Master Cao, this was only supposed to be a spar. Why are you risking your life? That thing is far too dangerous. I’m confiscating it!”

Qi Huang suddenly appeared in the field. Her powerful Divine Sense manifested into a colossal hand that shattered the void inch by inch and simply grabbed hold of the Immortal Stele fragment.

Cao Hong stood there dumbfounded, unable to react for a long while.

Cheng Hongling’s eye twitched as she stared at Qi Huang, her chest heaving violently, a storm of fury building within her.

“How could this be possible? She actually stopped an Immortal Stele fragment?”

Even the million spectators in the distance widened their eyes in shock.

Cao Hong finally came back to his senses. Shamed and infuriated, he turned to Cheng Hongling and cried out: “Aren’t you going to control your doppelgänger? This was supposed to be a duel between us! Why does she interfere time and again? It’s unfair!”

“So you do remember that I am her doppelgänger? We are one and the same. What’s wrong with me stepping in? If you’re unhappy, summon all your own doppelgängers. I’ll spar with them too!”

Qi Huang countered with solid reasoning.

“Stand aside. Interfere again, and tonight I’ll make you a widow!”

Cheng Hongling’s icy voice rang out. Proud as ever, she despised others meddling in her fights.

“You two go on! Go on!”

Qi Huang shivered at those words and hurriedly backed away. Her toughness, apart from her masculine persona, relied heavily on her untouched purity. That was her most vital pillar. Without it, even her masculine side might collapse.

“Hahaha… you’re bringing death upon yourself! Against the Immortal Stele fragment, what can you use to block it? Tell me!”

Cao Hong rejoiced, sending the fragment toward Cheng Hongling again. Its immortal might pressed the void into countless cracks, like a mirror struck by a stone, on the verge of breaking apart.

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“I may not be able to resist the Immortal Stele fragment, but killing you is more than enough!”

Cheng Hongling’s expression remained calm. Her pale, slender hands moved through a sequence of intricate gestures, graceful and elegant like butterfly wings in flight.

At the same time, profound ice True Qi poured from her palms, rapidly swirling into a deep-blue vortex.

The moment the vortex appeared, a strange and powerful suction arose. Like a hole suddenly torn in the bottom of a calm lake, it drew in the surrounding water spiritual energy.

Standing directly in front, Cao Hong’s eyes bulged as his body swelled like a balloon.

“Ahhh… the Water-Severing Art… that’s the Ning family’s secret art, the Water-Severing Art… why do you know the Ning family’s Water-Severing Art?”

Cao Hong screamed hysterically. His skin split open, blood spilling out, drawn toward the vortex in Cheng Hongling’s hands.

Though he exerted his cultivation with all his might, the Water-Severing Art ignored defenses altogether. His flesh split inch by inch from within, every fiber tearing apart. The agony of death by a thousand cuts overwhelmed him. He could no longer control the Immortal Stele fragment.

The fragment lost its power, falling uselessly at Cheng Hongling’s feet.

But Cheng Hongling did not stop there. She poured in even more profound ice True Qi, the vortex growing larger and spinning faster.

“My heavens! Isn’t that the Ning family’s secret Water-Severing Art? How can she use it?”

The spectators gasped in astonishment.

Qi Huang too was dumbstruck. She had already experienced the terror of the Water-Severing Art back on the Immortal-Forging Platform, yet seeing it again, she couldn’t help but marvel.

“This Water-Severing Art is, in some ways, the most terrifying water-element technique of all!”

Qi Huang evaluated it thus. The Heavenly Thunder Sword, for all its might, could still be dodged or defended against. But this Water-Severing Art was targeted, unavoidable, ignoring defense. Apart from the Water Exquisite Art, there was no counter. Its mechanism was terrifying beyond words.

Splurt!

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Moments later, under the immense suction, Cao Hong’s body collapsed entirely into a cloud of blood mist, sucked into the vortex. The unbearable pain had prevented him from deploying his doppelgänger, so the Vice Leader of the Immortal Alliance perished then and there. Only a single Life Soul remained, staring blankly, unable to accept the outcome.

“Why… why do you know the Ning family’s secret art?”

At length, Cao Hong’s Life Soul murmured.

“I comprehended it myself.”

Cheng Hongling spoke truthfully. Back on the Immortal-Forging Platform, she had watched Ning Wuhua use the Water-Severing Art and memorized its execution. For years, she had studied it diligently. Perhaps thanks to the Water Exquisite Art she cultivated, after reaching the Heavenly Tribulation Realm, she managed to master it, despite it being a Ning bloodline secret art.

“You mastered it yourself? What a joke! Stealing another clan’s secret art, you’d best prepare for the Ning family’s revenge!”

Cao Hong’s Life Soul sneered.

“Perhaps. But you won’t live to see that day.”

Qi Huang’s expression darkened.

“What? You mean to wipe me out completely? I am not only the Vice Leader of the Immortal Alliance, I am also a member of the Cao clan, the foremost immortal family in the cultivation world! Do you mean to drag the entire Honghua Sect and even Huangtian County down with me?”

Cao Hong’s Life Soul shouted confidently.

Qi Huang smirked in disdain. Her Divine Sense surged forth, crushing Cao Hong’s Life Soul to pieces in an instant.

“Murder! Murder! She’s killed the Vice Leader of the Immortal Alliance!”

“That man wasn’t just Vice Leader, he was from the Cao family! How could she dare?”

“Run! Quickly! Don’t get dragged into this!”

The million spectators blanched, panic overtaking them. One after another, they scrambled to flee the Honghua Sect’s domain in terror.