"Really? I don't think so."
Since he had decided to help Feng Yanrou, Ye Chen wouldn't give up halfway through. Gao Qianhe's technique was quite amazing indeed. Ye Chen hadn't seen any other expert at the level of Astral Reaching realm with such an accomplishment. But, the ultimate goal of a movement technique was nothing but speed. And, with his speed mentality and sword intent equivalent to that of Sea of Soul realm sword artists, Ye Chen's speed had long since attained a freakish realm. Turning around, his figure flickered and shot out, cleaving the air.
Shua!
A blue light streaked across, and Ye Chen arrived before Gao Qianhe, blocking his path.
"How is this possible?!"
Gai Qianhe was astounded. His Image Shift technique was a peak earth grade technique. When operated at full force, any sort of encirclement was meaningless. This was the technique that allowed him to escape death from Feng Yanrou's hands several times. Moreover, an ordinary martial artist would be distracted by his fake and waste time. However, Ye Chen had not only responded immediately, he actually overtook him. How could he not be shocked?
Feng Yanrou was equally astonished and puzzled. Previously, she had no hope of Ye Chen being able to block Gai Qianhe. How could she have guessed that Ye Chen had such exceptional skill?
"Let me see how you'll block me." Not willing to engage with Ye Chen, Gao Qianhe again used Image Shift technique. His phantoms covered the sky as his true body rapidly transformed into a fake. To precisely locate his real body had become much more difficult.
Ye Chen smiled indifferently. As his soul power covered the surroundings, the former's true body laid bare before him. Ye Chen could clearly see his movements as he moved.
Like before, Ye Chen again appeared before him with his longsword already tucked in his waist.
"Courting death, Mist Rope Blade."
Gao Qianhe flew into a rage of humiliation, which also contained a trace of fear. He had completely lost in movement techniques. However, that didn't amount to much as long as he could kill the person before him. Then all his problems would naturally be resolved.
Flinging his right hand in the air, a rope-like Zhen Yuan blade coiled out, covering a range of several hundred meters.
"Green Lotus Escalation!"
Ye Chen held his sword as an enormous green lotus covered his body.
Clank Clank Clank….
The rope blade slashed the green lotus thousands of times, but to no avail. The defense of the green lotus far exceeded Gao Qianhe's imagination. Apart from leaving behind a few marks, he gained nothing.
"Damn it! How could this kid be so troublesome?"
Regardless of how stupid Gao Qianhe was, he knew that Ye Chen was no ordinary youngster. Dealing with him in a short time was almost impossible.
"Little brother, you and I have no enmity. Why make things difficult for me? If you let me pass, I'll certainly compensate you generously in future." Since he couldn't get his way by hard means, he turned to soft means. Of course, he had no intentions of compensating Ye Chen. Once he escaped this predicament, he would make Ye Chen die a nameless death.
Ye Chen said, "This matter happened because I was not clear about the situation. Why don't you stay here, and we all can have nice chat on who wronged whom. I guarantee you that if you're not the perpetrator, I can save your life and even help you get revenge."
"Presumptuous! Who do you think you are? Go die!"
Gao Qianhe knew well that he was in the wrong himself, so how could he not escape? At some point, a peculiar long whip appeared in his right hand. From its handle extended out many whips, like tentacles of an octopus. He whipped it towards Ye Chen.
Crackle!
Countless whips streaked through the void, turning the surroundings dark.
"Green Lotus Sky!"
Confronting such a large-scale attack, Ye Chen was about to use large-scale control sword skill, Green Lotus Sky. But, as he saw the air before him being locked, which continually decreased the whips' speed as if stuck in a swamp, Ye Chen no longer retaliated and waited for Feng Yanrou's arrival.
Gao Qianhe almost let out tears. 'Fu****! if not for that powerhouse behind, I, your father, would have skinned you alive even if I had to stake my life for it.'
Shua!
Knowing that he wouldn't be able to deal with Ye Chen in a short amount of time, Gao Qianhe whipped out once, then rapidly withdrew and escaped diagonally, not caring whether his strike landed or not.
The exchange between the two merely lasted two breaths. For an ordinary person, it was quite a short duration, but for an expert of Feng Yanrao's level, it was enough
"Gao Qianhe, let's see where you'll run now!"
A white frost like sword Qi streaked across, brushing past Gao Qianhe's protective Zhen Yuan.
Kacha!
His protective Zhen Yuan froze over, and he retreated a step with eyes full of fury. The distance between him and Feng Yanrou had been reduced to just over a hundred meters.
"Feng Yanrou, you really think you can kill me so easily?"
Gao Qianhe gave up on escaping, as his two eyes brimmed with malice.
Feng Yanrou sweetly rebuked, "Whether I can kill you or not is my problem. But right now, don't even think about escaping."
"Then let me see how powerful Misty Snow Nation's most frightening young sword artist of this century is. To kill me, Gao Qianhe, you should prepare yourself to pay the price as well."
Previously, the reason he'd escaped was admittedly because her strength was too high and he was not her opponent. However, a part of the reason was also that he didn't wish to engage in a desperate struggle with her. He knew if he did that, his conclusion wouldn't be good.
"Snowy Sky!"
Without exchanging any more meaningless words, Feng Yanrou hoisted her longsword. Parting the air, a bone-chilling sword Qi swirled up, forming a sky-shrouding snow flower engulfed towards Gao Qianhe.
"Roar! Chaotic Mist Blade."
The wind mentality and soft mentality complemented each other, which allowed Gao Qianhe's whip technique to encompass the wind's speed and cutting power, as well as the subtle softness that rejected force. Dozens of long whips unfolded out like the petals of a touch-me-not flower. Every single of these whips could instantly kill a peak Astral Reaching expert.
Clank Clank…
Feng Yanrou's sword Qi was exceptionally cold. It converted the surroundings of Gao Qianhe into a world of ice, hugely restricting his speed.
At the same time, Gao Qianhe's whip strike also sent the air around Feng Yanrou into utter chaos. Every now and then, a completely taut whip would stab at her protective Zhen Yuan.
Deflecting the whip, Feng Yanrou's foot stamped on the ice. Like an ice fairy of the heavenly palace, she stabbed out with her sword, carrying a peerless sword intent.
Puff!
A perfectly straight crack appeared in the void, and in the next moment, a hole opened in Gao Qianghe's shoulder. The blood flowing out of it froze immediately.
"What a powerful sword dao! The coldness contains the feeling of a massacre; it seems to be near Slaughter Sword Dao, but different still."
After going through the test of Dual Sword King's will, Ye Chen's knowledge of sword dao had been enriched to a great extent. He could tell at a glance that Feng Yanrou's cultivation of sword dao was not simple. He didn't imagine encountering such an exceptional sword genius as soon as he stepped out of South Rudra region.
"South Rudra region is one of the smallest regions of True Spirit continent, whereas Misty Snow Nation is one of the biggest. They indeed have a big difference. Going by the current accomplishments, nobody among the young generation of South Rudra region except myself would be a match for this girl. I wonder where she is ranked among the Misty Snow's young generation."
As he thought up to here, Ye Chen couldn't help but ask her through a Zhen Yuan transmission, "Young miss, I wonder what grievances you two have."
Feng Yanrou was grateful to Ye Chen. If not for Ye Chen, she would never have been able to catch Gao Qianhe. Dividing her attention in two parts, she continued suppressing Gao Qianhe while replying Ye Chen back with Zhen Yuan, "This man is an extremely vicious and ruthless, evil cultivator. He killed my junior sister for no reason, and lusted after her for quite a while…." Feng Yanrou explained the details to Ye Chen.
"So, that's what happened."
Ye Chen faintly nodded. His actions were correct this time. Actually, during the course of exchanging blows, he could already see that Gao Qianhe was not an upright person. His words were completely opposite to his actions, and he didn't hesitate to kill him either. These were not the actions of an upright person.
Ye Chen's soul power locked on every move that Gao Qianhe made. He feared that the latter would escape once again, although the chances of that happening were extremely low.
"Mist Blade Swarm!"
Gao Qianhe had suffered many sword injuries. These injuries were gradually weakening his physical power, and making him even lesser of an opponent for Feng Yanrou. He roared, and the long whip in his hand trembled. At the whips' heads, thumb-long portions separated themselves from the whips and shot out, covering the sky as if a bee nest had exploded.
"Humph! My mid grade artifact is not your usual mid grade artifact. At a crucial moment, the heads can automatically separate themselves and attack with a strength that will injure experts even stronger than me. This is my life-saving trump card."
Gao Qianhe laughed coldly.
Feng Yanrao's face remained unchanged as she raised the sword with her right hand. Her protective Zhen Yuan crumbled away.
"Ice Snow Sword Domain!"
Hiss….
A white light cover spread out, safeguarding Feng Yanrao within. The white light was constantly circulating, and if one observed carefully, they could see that there were streaks of sword light inter-connected to each other inside the circulating white light, forming a two-layered defense.
The countless sharp whip heads immediately bounced off as soon as they hit its surface.
"Not good! She's actually learned Snow Sword Sect's profound top skill."
(Tl: profound here is not the name of skill, but a new grade)
Gao Qianhe was appalled and no longer had the courage to battle. Snow Sword sect meant almighty experts of Sea of Soul realm. How could he break a profound grade technique? Although Feng Yanrou had merely comprehended a superficial amount, it was still terrifying.
"What kind of skill is this? It's still within the scope of mentality, but it has already surpassed its application. It even includes some mysterious sword intent."
Ye Chen stroked his chin and involuntarily recalled the Void Shattering Finger he had obtained from the Goat Head mountain peak. This skill exceeded the realm of mentality. When used, it was at the same level as Feng Yanrao's skill, or perhaps even higher. Ye Chen had been studying Void Shattering Finger these years, but had only been able to figure out some of its uses at most. Comprehending its true meaning was too difficult. Moreover, Ye Chen never saw profound, which transcended the realm of mentalities. How would he even go about it?
"Sword Slash Domain!"
Slashing out, Feng Yanrou extracted out the sword light from the white light and slashed it towards Gao Qianhe.
Ka!
Without any suspense, Gao Qianhe's one arm was ripped apart, narrowly missing the shoulder. His defensive mid grade artifact was covered by a layer of frost, emitting a cold Qi.
"Kid, if I die, you'll die with me."
At this moment, Gao Qianhe's most hated person was Ye Chen. If not for Ye Chen, he would have never been caught by Feng Yanrao, and thus,, wouldn't have sunk into a situation of certain death. With his current remaining battle power, he was simply incapable of injuring Feng Yanrao. Thus, Ye Chen became his target. He wished to drag the latter to death with him, to make him pay the price of offending him, Gao Qianhe.
Bang!
Countless cracks appeared in the void as Gao Qianhe fearlessly dove down towards Ye Chen; his posture that of a life for life; he had completely disregarded defense now.
"Careful."
Feng Yanrao hurriedly warned Ye Chen. Although the latter was quite amazing in movement techniques, how strong his battle power could possibly be? If that wasn't the case, he wouldn't have defended with all his might with no power to retaliate while facing Gao Qianhe's attacks before. Being grateful to him in her heart, Feng Yanrao didn't wish Ye Chen to die before her eyes. The instant she warned Ye Chen, her speed soared to the limit before she slashed out.
"Image Shift!"
Sword Qi missed the target. Under desperation, the Image Shift technique executed by Gao Qianhe was at its unprecedented peak.
Ye Chen stood in air without a single movement. His corner of mouth flashed a cold smile, which to Gao Qianhe, felt like a bitter smile, much to the his delight.