Chapter 628: A Person About to Die, Why Bother Being Noisy?

"What nonsense are you spouting!"

Sang Lao turned his head and muttered under his breath, then straightened his gaze to land on the newcomer, his lips curving into a smirk. "Gou Wuyue, you old dog, I haven't seen you in ages, and I've missed you terribly."

Gou Wuyue held his sword at an angle, but his eyes skipped over Sang Lao and fixed on Xu Xiaoshou.

"Your disciple?"

"That's right." Sang Lao narrowed his eyes with a smile.

"I thought he was Ba Zun An's disciple."

"Then you're mistaken."

Sang Lao chuckled: "Ba Zun An wanted to snatch my disciple from me, but unfortunately, he couldn't."

Xu Xiaoshou: "......"

How had he not realized he was so sought after?

"Xiao Shi Tan Ji......"

Gou Wuyue murmured softly, then asked, "Where is Yu Ling Di?"

He could sense the pure fire element in this space.

Yet, in the great dao of heaven and earth, there was not a trace of the water element; even the rules of water in this space had been severed.

Without a doubt, Yu Ling Di had been here.

And Sang Lao's Dragon Fusion Realm in the Hundred Thousand Mountains was even more likely summoned by Yu Ling Di.

"You mean this?"

The old man adjusted his straw hat, spread his five fingers, and a drop of water essence seeped out from his palm.

"Woo…"

A faint, weak whimper spread out; if not for the three of them focusing intently on that water drop, it would have been hard to notice.

"Is that Yu Ling Di?"

Xu Xiaoshou was the first to be stunned.

He never imagined that the master of water system mysteries would fall into Sang Lao's hands, unable to even stir up a single wave, refined into a mere drop of original liquid!

Gou Wuyue's brows furrowed, and sword intent surged through the void.

Though it was a high-temperature space, Xu Xiaoshou inexplicably shivered.

Killing intent!

Gou Wuyue had truly developed murderous intent!

"Don't worry, he's not dead yet."

Sang Lao flicked his finger, and the water drop bobbed up and down in the air as he smiled and said, "But if you had arrived even a step later, the outcome might have been different."

"Release him." Gou Wuyue said coldly.

"Very well."

Sang Lao nodded: "Call over all the Bai Yi, release the Sheng Nu, release Cen Qiaofu, and I'll release Yu Ling Di."

Gou Wuyue's eyes darkened.

This was utterly impossible.

In the Eight Palaces, Cen Qiaofu had fought with the blood tree on his back, holding off Number 33 and most of the Bai Yi who had severed the dao—it was an incredibly tough battle.

But the blood tree's side effects were too severe.

Without a doubt, in the end, he would be captured by Number 33.

As for the Storyteller…

Though he had been continuously imprisoning the Bai Yi, as long as he couldn't escape this place immediately…

Once Gou Wuyue dealt with the straw-hatted old man in front of him, the Storyteller wouldn't get away.

The only one they probably couldn't capture was Ba Zun An and Hai Tang Er.

How could Gou Wuyue abandon his main mission for the sake of mere Yu Ling Di?

"Tsk tsk."

Sang Lao clicked his tongue, looking at the water drop struggling helplessly in his palm, shaking his head with a sigh: "You poor thing, you've been abandoned."

"Xu Xiaoshou!"

Though Sang Lao was still speaking, another voice from the old man echoed in Xu Xiaoshou's ear.

He jolted in surprise, then nodded slightly, realizing this was Sang Lao transmitting his voice.

"Head southeast; the Storyteller is waiting for you there. Set off immediately."

Upon receiving the message, Xu Xiaoshou froze.

"What about you?" he asked.

"I'll follow shortly."

"Really?"

"Of course."

"If you don't…"

"Why so much nonsense!" Sang Lao suddenly turned his head, his sunken eyes and the gaze within his dark circles deep and unfathomable.

Xu Xiaoshou pressed his lips together lightly.

He knew that staying here would only be a burden.

Whether Sang Lao could defeat Gou Wuyue or not, perhaps his only choice was to believe.

After all, this was the supreme being who had escaped from Gou Wuyue's sword multiple times in the Central Region and Qinglong County…

After a pause, Sang Lao spoke again, this time without transmitting his voice.

"Watch closely—from what you know to what you don't—the final way an elemental body can die…"

"What?"

"Absolute power!"

Xu Xiaoshou nodded in agreement and stepped back half a pace, internally checking his qi sea.

His qi sea was already full; with one Disappear technique and several "Steps to Heaven," he could escape this place immediately.

The two of them played their parts well.

Gou Wuyue noticed nothing amiss.

He only saw Sang Qiye suddenly unleash all the power of the great dao from his hand.

In an instant, the water drop struggled violently and transformed, condensing into an extremely faint, illusory figure in front of Sang Qiye.

"Yu Ling Di…"

Gou Wuyue's pupils trembled violently.

That figure was so weak it seemed it would dissipate with a single breath, like nothing but a soul.

If not for the familiar aura, based on that face refined to the point of being unrecognizable, it would have been impossible to tell it was the Lingbu Chief—Yu Ling Di!

"Sang Qiye!"

Gou Wuyue shouted sternly, sword in hand, leaping up and slashing upward through the clouds.

A brilliant golden light burst forth, forming ladder-like illusions that layered into existence, only to shatter completely with a sword hum.

The sword energy broke through boundaries, arriving in an instant.

Xu Xiaoshou felt his entire body's qi locked down.

Though the sword energy wasn't aimed at him, the dense aura of death still washed over him.

In his ear, Sang Lao's voice came unhurriedly, without a hint of worry.

"With thought, form it and attach it to the body; with spirit, enter the thought and illusion it into form; penetrate the heavenly dao, merge the nine divine illusions, where the virtual is real, and the real is virtual…"

Those solemn dao sounds exploded in his mind like tolling bells.

The obscure and profound oral formulas branded into his soul like fire, even if he only half understood, they sank deep.

As the lingering sound faded, it seemed to trigger a memory in his mind.

Xu Xiaoshou felt time slow down at that moment.

Gou Wuyue's sword energy was breaking through at the critical juncture.

Yet, Sang Lao's slowly rising sleeves seemed eternal in a single thought, unmoved by the outside world.

"Che, Shen, Nian!"

A faint white light erupted around Sang Lao.

It was very dim and shallow, barely stirring his rain cape.

But as those three words fell, the vast, dome-shattering power that had erupted in the Hundred Thousand Mountains, like a blazing sun falling to earth, seemed to be summoned by Sang Lao's light call.

Not just seemed—it was!

Xu Xiaoshou widened his eyes in shock, staring as the Dragon Fusion Realm covering tens of thousands of li shattered in an instant.

The scorching white flames, with Sang Lao's body as the black hole core, traversed time and space in a flash, even faster than Gou Wuyue's sword, instantly merging into Sang Lao's body.

The heavens darkened.

Everyone previously in the Dragon Fusion Realm looked up, adapting to the intense light of the white flames before returning to reality, which should have been a relief, but it felt distorted, as if their vision had lost truth.

The darkness lasted only a moment!

In that moment, even the golden light of the ladder style couldn't pierce through!

Sang Lao raised his hands high, his straw hat covering half his face.

"Sleeveless—Red Scorched Hand."

In response, the sleeves of his rain cape fluttered and disintegrated piece by piece in the breeze.

From fingertips, to wrists, to elbows, to shoulders…

Sang Lao's withered hands blackened and charred from the outside in, at a speed visible to the eye.

Heat!

Extreme heat!

Xu Xiaoshou was far away, yet just a glance from the corner of his eye at those sleeveless, blackened hands glowing with dark red made his eyes burn as if ignited by white flames, forcing him to look away.

"Che Shen Nian…"

He was shocked.

Sang Lao knew Che Shen Nian!

Not the half-baked level like the little monk's weak Che Shen Nian.

This "Sleeveless—Red Scorched Hand" was clearly on the same supreme level as Kui Lei Han's self-created "Punishment of Divine Tribulation"!

"Is this absolute attack?"

Xu Xiaoshou's heart raced.

He couldn't move at all!

Logically, in the midst of these two supreme experts' battle, the best thing for him to do was activate Disappear immediately.

But with his soul locked by Gou Wuyue's strike, even his thoughts froze—he could only think eternally, unable to act.

—Want, but unable!

The god of death swung his scythe, and the world grayed in the golden and white lights; Xu Xiaoshou's face turned ashen.

The sword hadn't arrived, yet his soul was already cracking.

But in this crisis, Sang Lao's Sleeveless—Red Scorched Hand, which traversed time and space, formed just before the sword energy.

"A sword?"

He sneered, extending his charred black hand with just two fingers, gently clamping it. "In my life, I hate swords the most."

"Thud!"

A muffled sound echoed through the heavens, like a divine heart contracting suddenly.

Xu Xiaoshou spat out a mouthful of blood with a "puff," his body flying backward.

Yet, that sword energy that tore through the heavenly ladder halted as if braked at the gate.

In the next instant…

"Boom!"

The void for thousands of li exploded, steam surging and billowing like tsunamis pushing upward layer by layer.

Space fragments disintegrated and melted in the mist.

Clouds turned to fog, and evening glow suddenly appeared in the sky.

Xu Xiaoshou felt a stuffiness in his chest, dizziness overwhelming him.

He had been blasted away; the battle hadn't even occurred nearby, yet even a slight residual wave was beyond his ability to withstand.

Was this the scene of a true experts' clash?

"Puff, puff."

The sword energy clamped by the two fingers suddenly ignited with white flames and, in half a breath, burned away completely.

Sang Lao looked up, smiling: "Gou Wuyue, you old dog, do you know why I've held back from killing your subordinates?"

Gou Wuyue sheathed his sword and lunged forward, as if realizing something.

"How dare you?!"

But Sang Lao lowered his eyes, like a bodhisattva with lowered lids, devoid of compassion.

"Your subordinates dared to target my disciple, using the Wangzuo to fight the innate—such shameless sorts. I shall slay him right before your eyes, Sword Immortal Wuyue!"

With just two fingers, he had burned Gou Wuyue's ladder style.

Now, Sang Lao extended an entire arm!

A completely blackened arm, without a trace of flesh, radiating ultimate heat!

"Gurgle, gurgle…"

The figure of Yu Ling Di in front of him struggled rapidly, twisting.

His blurred facial outline flickered, his eyes filled with panic, but with all his might, he materialized a mouth and spat out a point of black light, roaring.

"You old bastard, do you really think you can kill me, Yu Ling Di? I still have the Evil Sin in my hands…"

The black hand slashed horizontally.

There should have been water splashing.

But Gou Wuyue, rushing forward, and Xu Xiaoshou, flung away by the battle, could clearly see.

Before that absolute power of Sleeveless—Red Scorched Hand, the elemental body truly seemed ineffective.

Blood sprayed everywhere, scattering in the air.

In the instant of beheading, Yu Ling Di's entire body, along with the splattering blood, vaporized on the spot, not even giving him time to react.

Sang Lao lowered his arm, nodded slightly, his straw hat drooping, and snorted.

"A dying man, why prattle on?"

The scene fell into dead silence.

Xu Xiaoshou stood stunned like a wooden chicken.

From afar, he finally understood why the titles of Sheng Nu and others were so distinctive: Storyteller, Old Woodcutter, Eighth Sword Immortal…

Only Sang Lao was simply called "Sleeveless."

But from what he saw today—that figure of the straw-hatted elder daring to slay the other's close subordinate right in front of the Seven Sword Immortals, those charred and ruined hands, that rain cape whose sleeves couldn't even be protected by the heavenly dao…

"Sleeveless?"

Xu Xiaoshou murmured softly.

This shouldn't be called "Sleeveless"—it should be "Invincible"!

"Sang Qiye!"

Gou Wuyue's voice turned completely icy, like frost from the Nine Serenities, chilling the entire realm.

He knew this old man had done it on purpose!

It wasn't that Gou Wuyue couldn't save Yu Ling Di with one sword; it was that this old man had been waiting.

Waiting for Yu Ling Di to be calcined and refined to his weakest state…

Waiting for Gou Wuyue to re-enter the fray, igniting a spark of hope…

Waiting for that moment when Yu Ling Di, as if seeing light from hell and glimpsing paradise…

Then, personally extinguishing it!

In truth, Yu Ling Di had died long ago.

Sang Qiye hadn't just clamped the sword energy with two fingers—he had even clamped time!

Clamped at the node of fresh grudges and old hatreds, using his signature technique to stoke both sides' fury to the extreme.

To the most unbearable extreme!

Gou Wuyue let out a heavy breath.

He knew what Sang Qiye intended.

The other wanted nothing more than to make him stay for a full battle, completely cutting off any thoughts of aiding elsewhere.

To thoroughly settle the unfinished fights from their previous two encounters in this third clash.

Clearly, Sang Qiye had succeeded.

Gou Wuyue halted in mid-air.

He sheathed his sword and bowed his head in silence for Yu Ling Di for three breaths, then lifted his eyes.

"Buzz—"

Green power rose from the earth across thousands of li, transforming into countless invisible swords that slowly ascended.

The wind howled, clouds soared, and Gou Wuyue's long robe rustled wildly.

With every inch the myriad invisible swords rose, the earth sank three feet.

"Buzz, buzz, buzz…"

Rhythmic sword hums rang out piercingly in all directions.

Even Number 33 in the Eight Palaces' endgame, along with a group of Bai Yi, looked over from afar.

They had captured the drained Cen Qiaofu.

But over there, Sword Immortal Wuyue's battle seemed only just beginning.

And that sound of the sword realm was like a declaration to everyone.

"The battlefield of life and death—idle ones, stay out!"

Clearly, the "idle ones" included those who had severed the dao, and even this Tianji Puppet himself.

"So strong."

Xu Xiaoshou's scalp tingled, his soul seeming to crack under the sword hums.

By now, the myriad invisible swords hovered in the air, forming a unified sword array.

At the array's eye, Sang Lao in his sleeveless rain cape stood with arms lowered, as if smiling.

In this world, if there truly was such a thing as a lifelong rival…

Then Sang Qiye seemed to have had ties with Gou Wuyue, one of the Seven Sword Immortals, for decades, impossible to sever.

There was a first time, a second, but it must end on the third.

This battle was one he craved.

And equally, one Gou Wuyue craved.

But before the battle…

Sang Lao turned back, his lips moving slightly.

"Run."

Xu Xiaoshou heard that single word in his ear and immediately felt the restraints around his stiff body break, restoring his mobility.

He nodded, knowing what he should do now.

"Disappear…"

He hadn't even finished murmuring in his heart when suddenly, "puff," he spat out blood, stunned.

"Thump, thump!"

"Thump, thump!"

His heart suddenly pounded violently; Xu Xiaoshou was baffled.

After staring blankly for a while, he recalled this seemed similar to the special sensation from "Perception"—a sudden heart blood tide.

But never before had a heart blood tide come so terrifyingly, making even his grandmaster body inexplicably spit blood!

The information bar flashed:

"Locked onto, passive value, 1."