Chapter 70: Let Me Borrow Your Killing Intent!
Life rarely grants you a chance to stake everything, to gamble your very existence, to muster the courage to draw your sword.
But now.
The time has come.
Draw your sword!
Once your blade leaves its sheath, there is no turning back!
There is no sword for retreat!
“First Squad of the Godslayer Corps, draw swords—now!”
Lin Fan gritted his teeth hard, his face flushing red and purple, veins bulging as if enduring excruciating agony.
Crackling sounds came from within his body, the brittle snapping of bones. In that instant, every cell withered; wrinkles creased his skin, and his muscles threatened to waste away.
The Godslayer Demon-Bane Technique that once nourished and remolded his flesh, upon being reversed, now began to drain him dry—squeezing out every last drop!
But in its place surged forth an even greater power!
In that moment, every member of the First Squad reversed their cultivation, unleashing a brief, explosive surge of might!
“You wish to kill me?” The Phoenix circled overhead. “This, after all, is the formidable strength born of your own Great Xia.”
“To kill me?!”
The Phoenix unfurled its wings and sang with a clear, piercing note.
Then, in a flash of living flame, it hurtled toward Lin Fan!
Its speed was so fierce that even Lin Fan could not evade, for the backlash of his reversal had not yet subsided.
With every rebirth, the Phoenix grew stronger.
This was a divine beast born of Great Xia’s very destiny.
Just as Great Xia itself—any force that sought its destruction would only make it stronger still.
Power that could not be slain!
Boom!
The Phoenix, once more a torrent of fire, surged toward Lin Fan with searing flames.
“So fast…” Lin Fan had not anticipated that, upon resurrection, the creature’s speed would increase so explosively.
For the moment, with his reversal incomplete, Lin Fan could only wrench his blade from its sheath and raise it in defense.
But then—
“Amitabha.”
A deep and steady voice resonated from the sky above.
Golden light blazed forth in ten thousand rays!
A Buddha’s furious gaze shone down!
Having dispatched the enemy espers, the Compassionate Master descended from the heavens, his robe blazing like fire, wrapped in radiant Buddha-light, wielding a steel demon-subduing staff.
With a mighty swing, he tore the air asunder!
The force of it made the earth tremble.
“You, born of Great Xia’s fortune, why do you strike at the people of Xia?”
“My Buddha forbids it!”
Bang!
With the Compassionate Master’s words, his demon-subduing staff smashed down hard upon the onrushing Undying Phoenix.
Buddha Destroys the Phoenix!
Clang—
Time seemed frozen.
Staff clashed with phoenix.
Utmost motion became utter stillness; in that frozen instant, immense power surged between the demon-subduing staff and the Phoenix.
Then it erupted!
Boom!
A tremendous sound rang out—the Phoenix was sent flying, charred to cinders, while the Vajra Demon-Subduing Staff shattered in an instant!
The cinders cracked, flames flowed anew.
Rebirth!
When the Phoenix rose once more, everyone’s faces grew grimmer still.
It was now larger, its flames even more blazing and fierce.
“Four deaths.” From its beak came the Phoenix Chief’s sinister laughter. “Thank you—all of you!”
“Truly worthy of Great Xia’s elite. You’ve slain me, forced me to be reborn four times!”
“So please, do me the favor and kill me a few more!”
“Nine times is all it takes. In the legends of Great Xia, then the Phoenix shall fully awaken! My power will stand beside the gods!”
Lin Fan suddenly broke into a laugh.
“Heh. Don’t worry. I’ll kill you—countless times!”
At this moment, Lin Fan was reduced to a skeleton, not a trace of flesh left.
All his blood and flesh had been transmuted into pure power.
Unprecedented strength!
The Godslayer Demon-Bane Technique—reversal complete!
A crimson aura of blood and death wreathed Lin Fan, as though his very blood were burning.
The rest of the First Squad were the same.
The old master Dao Wanqian, whose presence had once been ethereal as an immortal, now stood gaunt, his body shrouded in a mist of blood like a fiend from hell.
Xingye’s form had become a blurred mass of blood-red ink, impossible to distinguish.
Mister Mo, once the embodiment of calm and righteous Confucian virtue, now radiated only savage fury.
All eyes were fixed on the Phoenix, reborn in flame.
What came next—was a battle to the death.
The Phoenix gave a piercing cry, sharp and clear—a clarion call to war.
Terrifying flames swept forth, their heat so intense that the two-story villa began to burn and collapse.
Within this searing inferno, the Phoenix transformed again into a rushing torrent of fire, charging at the Compassionate Master, who now stood unarmed.
The Phoenix was no fool.
It would strike where its foes were weakest.
Seeing the Phoenix swoop toward him, the empty-handed Compassionate Master showed no fear—only mild exasperation.
“Why does everyone think that, without my staff, I cannot fight?”
“Is Shaolin’s mastery of fist and palm so inferior?”
The Compassionate Master’s fists burst with dazzling Buddha-light. His eyes widened.
“Disciple Compassionate, I beseech the Thousand-Armed Bodhisattva—aid me! Deliver all beings!”
Buddha-power surged behind him!
Thousand-Armed Guanyin!
Guanyin’s thousand arms!
The Compassionate Master stood firm, unmoving, but as the Phoenix was about to pierce his body, the spectral image of Guanyin behind him unleashed a thousand fists!
Fists filled the heavens!
The Thousand-Armed Demon-Subduing Fist!
A thousand arms struck as one, countless blows of unimaginable force pummeling the Phoenix, slamming it to the ground, where it was beaten mercilessly into the earth.
At the same time—
Dao Wanqian, brimming with overwhelming power, raised his hand. His peachwood sword pointed skyward.
“Disciple Dao Wanqian humbly begs the Three Pure Ones—grant me the aid of Heavenly Thunder!”
A storm rose from nothing.
As though the deities themselves had descended.
Behind Dao Wanqian, Daoist energy swirled; three elders’ spectral forms appeared, seated in meditation.
Above, the starry night was suddenly veiled by clouds.
Boom!
Thunder interwove, divine light blazed.
Crack!
A bolt of lightning crashed down, piercing the darkness—rending the heavens!
And then, thunder upon thunder, a storm of lightning rained down!
Each bolt tore through the myriad fist-shadows, striking the Phoenix again and again!
Amid the thunder and chaos, Mister Mo laughed aloud: “Silver saddle on a white horse, swift as a meteor,
In ten steps—a man falls, a thousand miles leave no trace.”
He strode forth, each step swift as death.
Ten steps—one kill!
The air of righteous peace that had surrounded Mister Mo now turned glacial; all around him, the world filled with killing intent.
Who says scholars are free of murderous intent?
His righteous aura was killing intent itself!
His form grew ethereal; with ten deadly steps, his murderous will took form.
Heaven and earth, stirred to violence, became a field of slaughter.
Killing intent boiled and condensed!
The malice gathered like a churning black cloud, forming a gigantic skull in the heavens.
So chilling, so dreadful, that a single glance conjured thoughts of death.
“Lin Fan!” Mister Mo shouted.
“Lend me your killing intent!” Lin Fan leapt high!
In an instant, his body soared, plunging straight into that skull of congealed malice!