Chapter 193: The Four Symbols Flame Array (For subscriptions and rewards)

Hun Moyan’s eye twitched slightly. It was fortunate he had not tried to block that blow head-on; at that sort of power, a direct hit would probably have stripped the skin from even a three-star Battle Saint.

"The mountain... it’s gone!" Ling Ying rubbed his eyes in disbelief. This was his first time witnessing a Battle Saint fight at such close range. If not for the protection of Xun’er’s guardian jade pendant, a mere Battle Emperor like him would already have been slain by the aftershocks of such a world-shattering battle.

This earthshaking clash had already drawn the attention of the entire Black-Corner Region. In the Inner Court, Zi Yan was also staring into the distance, her eyes shining as she murmured to herself, "I knew it. Xiao Xie must be a magical beast—so he’s transformed now, huh? But I never expected Xiao Xie’s true form to be such a cute little cat. I want to hug it so badly; it would feel so nice, hehe..."

"Young Master, please come back safely!" Qing Lin in Maple City was also filled with worry as she looked toward the direction of the battle.

"Don’t get distracted!" Xiao Xie roared, brandishing the plain black blade as he slashed at Hun Moyan.

"Brat, don’t get too full of yourself." Hun Moyan placed his greatsword across his chest and stared expressionlessly at Xiao Xie charging toward him.

Anyone familiar with him would know that Hun Moyan was truly serious now. Before this, he had merely treated the fight as a bit of fun. But now, he regarded Xiao Xie as an opponent worth his full attention.

Clutching the greatsword with both hands, a bloodthirsty smile crossed Hun Moyan’s cold face. His figure vanished in an instant, and a dazzling sword light tore through the void with a single strike.

Crash!

Under that unfathomable sword strike, the right arm of the golden giant was severed cleanly at the shoulder, along with the enormous saber in its hand. Both crashed to the ground, sending up a cloud of dust.

"It really is still too much for me," Xiao Xie said with a bitter smile.

He had first unleashed the complete Susanoo, then fused it with ten white-bone beasts, and even then he had only barely managed to face a Battle Saint in combat. But the moment Hun Moyan, a three-star Battle Saint, turned serious, Xiao Xie could no longer hold him back.

With a thought, Xiao Xie dismissed Susanoo. With his current level of battle qi, he could not maintain the complete form for long. His earlier fusion with the ten white-bone beasts had forcibly raised his strength to the level of a Battle Saint, but that had all depended on the battle qi of those ten beasts themselves.

"I forgot to tell you something. My nickname is the Ghost Sword Saint."

Holding the black greatsword, Hun Moyan pointed down at Xiao Xie, who had gone a little pale from excessive battle qi consumption. He said indifferently, "Brat, I’ll give you one last chance. Join the Soul Clan of your own accord now, and I can introduce you to the clan chief. Your future will be limitless. Come back with me, or die here. Decide for yourself."

"A gentleman has things he will do, and things he will not. If I’ve lost, then I’ve lost. Do you really think I’m the sort to wag my tail and beg for mercy?" Xiao Xie laughed in scorn. "But if you want to kill me, I won’t just sit here and let you do it. If you want my life, then take it if you can! Hahaha..."

"Stubborn fool!"

Hun Moyan said darkly. Though he valued Xiao Xie, repeated rejection had begun to wear away at his patience. With a wave of his right hand, the greatsword in his grasp sliced through the void and appeared instantly before Xiao Xie, pinning the evading youth to the ground.

In the next moment, Hun Moyan appeared before him. Looking at Xiao Xie with his heart pierced through, he shook his head with some regret. "Your talent is something I have never encountered before. What a pity you are far too inflexible."

With a faint, powerless motion, Xiao Xie grabbed Hun Moyan’s ankle and said weakly, "I’ve caught you."

Hun Moyan paused at the movement, then a mocking glint flashed across his cold features. "And now that you have, what can you possibly change? Still, if you’re willing to rethink your choice, I can take your soul body back and help you forge a new body."

"Four Symbols Flame Formation, detonate!"

Hearing Hun Moyan’s words, Xiao Xie’s lips curled into a mocking smile. Suddenly, the Azure Dragon, Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise, and White Tiger flames surged up around him, and the Four Symbols Flame Formation exploded in an instant.

Boom!

A thunderous explosion shook the entire Black-Corner Region. A blinding white light flashed, and in that instant the heavens and earth fell silent.

Centered on Xiao Xie, everything within a hundred-mile radius was razed to the ground. The land itself was transformed into a colossal crater ten meters deep.

At the heart of the blast lay Xiao Xie, completely unharmed, together with a golden barrier that was on the verge of shattering.

With a soft pop, the trembling golden shield finally broke apart, dissolving into strands of golden light and revealing Xun’er and Ling Ying, both staring blankly in astonishment.

If that explosion had been any more powerful, Xun’er would not have died at the hands of the Soul Clan, but in Xiao Xie’s own hands instead.

"Brother Xiao Xie, are you all right?" Xun’er hurried to help Xiao Xie up, asking with concern. Even the guardian jade pendant prepared for her by the clan had nearly failed to withstand that blast. There was no reason Xiao Xie should have emerged completely unscathed.

"I’m fine."

Xiao Xie gently stroked Xun’er’s hair and smiled weakly.

He looked all right on the surface, but in truth he had already died twice just now. Of the nine souls Xiao Xie controlled, only seven remained.

When Hun Moyan had stabbed him through the heart with his sword, Xiao Xie had transferred the injury to one of those souls, letting it die in his place. Another soul had been used in the explosion just now. Normally, Xiao Xie’s Bomb Fruit ability would have made him immune to explosions, but the detonation of the Four Symbols Fire had brought with it a murderous force as well, and that was something Xiao Xie could not defend against.

It was like detonating a nuclear bomb: the explosion itself might not wound him, but the nuclear radiation produced afterward was something he could not ignore.

"I never expected Young Master Xiao Xie to possess such a trump card. Even a Battle Saint fell to his hand," Ling Ying still found it hard to believe. Xiao Xie was only seventeen years old, yet he had managed to destroy a Battle Saint. If he had not seen it with his own eyes, he would never have dared to believe it even in death.

"Brat, you deserve to die!"

A furious shout resounded through the sky. Xun’er and Ling Ying, who had just been smiling in joy, froze at once.

"Battle Saints really aren’t so easy to kill," Xiao Xie said helplessly.

The reason he had deliberately allowed Hun Moyan to pierce his heart earlier was to make him let down his guard, draw him close, and then, while he was off balance, detonate the Four Symbols Fire and kill him in one blow. After all, no matter how powerful an attack was, it was useless if it could not hit its target. Moreover, with Xiao Xie’s current strength, using the Four Symbols Fire again within a short time was impossible.

Of course, this was mainly because Xiao Xie’s strength was still too low. He and a Battle Saint were separated by two entire great ranks. If Xiao Xie had been a Battle Venerable, Hun Moyan would have undoubtedly died just now.

"Brat, I’ll make you wish for death and yet be unable to die!"

A venomous voice rang out.

The three of them turned toward the source and saw Hun Moyan rip open the void and fly out. Yet his current appearance was pitiful indeed.

His long black robe had been reduced to tattered rags, like beggar’s clothes. His right arm and right leg had both been blasted away, the wounds scorched black, while his waist-length hair had become a mass of charcoal, standing up like a bird’s nest.

At the instant the explosion began, Hun Moyan had immediately slipped into the void and fled a hundred miles away. But because Xiao Xie had dragged him just once, he was caught by the blast and lost both his right arm and right leg.

With his Battle Saint cultivation, severed limbs would ordinarily have been recoverable. But after being affected by the explosion of Xiao Xie’s Four Symbols Fire, the souls in his right arm and right leg had been destroyed as well. The Vermilion Bird within the Four Symbols Fire had been formed from hellflame, specially meant to burn souls.

Such injuries to the soul could be healed, but it would take no less than ten years to recover. And Hun Moyan was an expert swordsman; after losing his right arm and right leg, his strength was probably reduced to only half of what it had been at his peak.

Moreover, ten years spent recuperating meant that for those ten years he would almost certainly be unable to break through to the level of a four-star Battle Saint. At the thought of wasting ten years on recovery, Hun Moyan felt furious to the point of madness. He wanted nothing more than to grind Xiao Xie, the culprit, into dust.

"Brat, die!"

Hun Moyan gripped his sword in his left hand. A black sword qi a hundred meters wide tore through the void and slashed toward Xiao Xie.

"No!"

Seeing that sword qi rip open the void, Xun’er stepped firmly in front of Xiao Xie. She knew that even if she blocked it, she could not possibly stop it, and yet she still found herself standing before him without a second thought.

Boom!

A gigantic golden palm, several hundred meters across, tore open the void and intercepted the black sword qi, crushing it to nothing.