Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

Chi Guyan moved in the next moment.

There wasn't any warning because she already knew from Nangong Hao's expression that he was prepared.

She thrust her sword forward.

Then, Chi Guyan disappeared on the spot.

At the meantime, tens of thousands of starlights descended from the sky just like a group of meteors. This was Divine Constabulary's secret art, Million Sword Ill.u.s.tration. It was a technique that combined offense and defense.

It was the best choice for both testing the opponent's strength and hurting him.

Nangong Hao looked up at the starlights calmly as if he had already expected Chi Guyan's move.

“I've said that you are not my match in your current state.” Nangong Hao didn't move or fight back. He just stood there like a statue admiring the starry sky.

The starlights descended.

The ground was shaking. Each starlight would leave a sword mark on the ground. After tens of thousands of them came down, the ground was filled with sword marks that looked like a spider web.

What was creepy was, even though Nangong Hao was standing right below the starlights, there wasn't a single sword mark on him. There wasn't even a spot of dirt on his white scholar's robe.

It felt really creepy…

It was as if Nangong Hao wasn't standing below the starlights. However, by looking closely, one could see that the starlights disappeared right after they entered Nangong Hao's body.

“What's going on?!”

“Nangong Hao seems to have absorbed those starlights?”

“What kind of Dao technique is that…”

All the spectating disciples were dumbfounded when they saw this. After all, even they were able to sense how creepy this was.

“Blood Offering Ill.u.s.tration?!” Chi Guyan's voice was heard amidst the starry sky.

She sounded a little astonished because as the one fighting, she could see it much clearer and feel it much better.

Although Nangong Hao didn't move, she could still detect that the starlights were absorbed. Most importantly, there was a b.l.o.o.d.y painting glowing in Nangong Hao's eyes when the starlights fell. It looked almost identical to the Blood Offering Ill.u.s.tration that appeared in the sky above Heaven Dao Pavilion a few months ago.

“What? Blood Offering Ill.u.s.tration?! Is Nangong Hao trying to recreate the same thing that happened a few months ago…” A Heaven Dao Pavilion's elder's expression drastically changed when he heard Chi Guyan.

However, he was puzzled because the sunlight was still dazzling unlike several months back when the gigantic Blood Offering Ill.u.s.tration appeared in the sky.

At this moment, Nangong Hao suddenly moved.

From motionless to movement!

There weren't too many actions, but he managed to shoot up into the sky, above the tens of thousands of starlights, in an instant.

“So fast!” An elder of Heaven Dao Pavilion looked stunned.

“Something's wrong, look at Nangong Hao's eyes!” Another elder yelled out abruptly because he finally discovered the b.l.o.o.d.y painting in his eyes when he soared up into the sky and looked down at them.

“Eyes?”

“Blood Offering Ill.u.s.tration?!” That thing in his eyes is… Blood Offering Ill.u.s.tration!” All the elders of Heaven Dao Pavilion finally understood what Chi Guyan meant just now.

However, it was too late.

That was because the tens of thousands of starlights had suddenly stopped as if they were forcefully immobilized in the air. Then, all of them moved in the opposite direction and rushed towards Nangong Hao.

In just a brief moment, Nangong Hao was covered in dazzling starlight.

At the meantime, a sword appeared out of the starlight and stabbed at the area above Nangong Hao's chest.

Chi Guyan was obviously faster than the elders' reaction.

Clang!

It was the sound of metal colliding. However, it wasn't the Wuwei Sword on Nangong Hao's back that clashed against her sword. It was his two fingers.

The dazzling silvery starlight was flowing around his two fingers as if there were countless streams of sword radiance mixing with each other.

“He absorbed Guyan's Million Sword Ill.u.s.tration!”

“That's the Blood Offering Ill.u.s.tration's power. However, how did its power combine with Nangong Hao?”

“Did Nangong Hao…”

“That's impossible! Blood Offering Ill.u.s.tration is a forbidden sacrificial art. Activating the Blood Offering Ill.u.s.tration alone requires the lives of eight experts. How could a single person control this kind of power?”

The Heaven Dao Pavilion's elders were truly stunned. After all, they had personally witnessed the Blood Offering Ill.u.s.tration's power, and they knew the extent of its power.

They couldn't believe it!

However, the power that Nangong Hao was displaying right now forced them to consider this possibility.

At this instance, the silvery starlight on Nangong Hao's body suddenly burst out and fell down as tens of thousands of starlights again. However, instead of rus.h.i.+ng towards Nangong Hao this time, they were attacking Chi Guyan.

Boom!

The shadow behind her appeared and the five-colored snake tail s.h.i.+elded her from the starlights. However, she was sent cras.h.i.+ng towards the ground.

Eventually, she landed heavily with a loud bang.

“What is happening? Chi Guyan is injured by her own Million Sword Ill.u.s.tration?!” The other disciples finally reacted after Chi Guyan crashed onto the ground.

However, everything in the altar happened too quickly.

Before the disciples could finish speaking, Nangong Hao moved again. He was charging towards Chi Guyan at an extreme speed.

Her face was so pale and her pink dress was covered in blood. Despite all that, Chi Guyan still held on to her sword tightly.

Freeze!” She yelled softly.

Nangong Hao's body suddenly stopped as if he was bound by an invisible force and trapped inside a swamp.

However, that didn't last for too long.

A b.l.o.o.d.y radiance flashed on his body, following which, numerous blood-red symbols appeared on half of his face.

This was an eerie scene, but just as the blood-red symbols appeared, Nangong Hao broke free completely and rushed towards Chi Guyan again.

Boom! Rubbles flew everywhere.

A person appeared from the rubbles. Her pink dress was swaying in the air, and although she was still holding on to her sword, it was already broken.

“Sister Yan!” Someone shouted at this moment and a red figure bolted into the altar simultaneously.

“Ping Yang!” Qian Yu wanted to stop her, but it was too late. This was because Ping Yang moved without any hesitation as if she was acting instinctively.

“Nangong Hao, how dare you add insult to injury by attacking sister Yan when she was already severely injured. I've tolerated your action for far too long!” As she said that, the crimson Blazing Qilin Spear appeared in her hands.

A flame-like symbol flickered on Ping Yang's forehead. The blazing fire on her hands had already materialized into a spear, and a golden radiance lit up the top of the spear.

She wasn't playing nice.

Ping Yang's spear was violent and fast, and it went straight towards Nangong Hao's chest.

“She became a Sage?” Nangong Hao was a little astonished when he saw Ping Yang charging towards him, but it was just for a brief moment.

He reacted very quickly. As the red light flashed across his eyes, the spear in Ping Yang's hands, which materialized from fire, began trembling.

It felt like it was about to become fire again.

“Ah… Nangong Hao, what kind of technique is this? Unfair, this is unfair…” Ping Yang also sensed the power that was fading away from her hands. She started panicking so much that even her movement was distorted. Her body crashed towards Nangong Hao as if it was out of control.

“Nangong Hao, don't hurt Ping Yang!” Lin Mubai's anxious and desperate voice was heard.

However, Nangong Hao didn't seem to have heard him. He just stared at Ping Yang motionlessly while the bright red radiance flickered in his eyes.

She was getting closer and closer…

When Ping Yang was less than two steps away from Nangong Hao, he lifted his palm. There was a ball of crimson flame in his palm and it was growing.

“Ping Yang!” There was a hint of despair in Lin Mubai's voice.

However, a sudden change took place at this split second. It was a ball of snow-white powder that appeared weirdly between Nangong Hao and Ping Yang. Furthermore, it was moving towards his eyes at a tremendous speed.

“What?!” Nangong Hao's eyes opened wide with surprise. After all, even he couldn't expect Ping Yang to pull off such a trick.

Of course, it didn't happen because he wasn't cautious enough. The thing was when he saw the fiery symbol on Ping Yang's forehead, he already made a judgment on Ping Yang's strength!

Sage State!

Ping Yang was at Sage State!

Combining that with the arrogance, willfulness, and fearlessness that Ping Yang displayed in the past dozen of years, it seemed impossible for the princess of Great Xia Dynasty who was known for her ‘impulse' to blind her opponent with powder.

Most importantly…

Ping Yang did that while she had ‘lost her composure'. As clever as Nangong Hao was, he couldn't calculate whether a person was marked by the company she kept while also keeping in mind of her personality that remained unchanged over a dozen years.

It must be said that Nangong Hao had hardly ever ‘made a mistake' during a fight. However, he actually made a mistake this time.

Poof! The snow-white powder blasted Nangong Hao's face and completely blinded him temporarily.

That was because two steps were way too close even for someone like him, to evade the white powder which was already prepared and hidden in a Sage's hand.

“Hahaha… It feels horrible to be blinded by lime powder, right!” Ping Yang was laughing willfully. She was definitely excited and proud of herself.

‘Behind me!” Nangong Hao reacted subconsciously and struck towards where the voice came from.

However, as soon as he thrust his palm out, his body suddenly quivered and even his expression changed. That was because Ping Yang's voice, which was coming from behind him, sounded abnormal.

It wasn't her tone that sounded abnormal.

It was strengthlessness…

An unconcealable strengthlessness!

“Chi Guyan?!” Nangong Hao's emotions finally wavered, because he couldn't imagine someone like Chi Guyan teaming up with Ping Yang to trick him by copying her tone and laughing ‘willfully'.

However, it didn't matter if he believed it or not, because it had actually happened.

At the meantime, an extraordinarily sharp force had already stabbed into his chest. It tore his skin apart and pierced through his flesh and blood with an overbearing momentum.

‘So it's a direct hit after all?”

Nangong Hao knew where Ping Yang was aiming for. Without Chi Guyan's willful laughter, he wouldn't have given Ping Yang a chance to hit him even if he was blinded.

“Ah!” Nangong Hao screamed as if he couldn't endure the pain from his chest.

“I stabbed him?! I really stabbed him!” Ping Yang saw the Blazing Qilin Spear on Nangong Hao's chest and heard his scream. Despite feeling a little unconfident at first, she finally became excited, even if she was still a little unconvinced.

However, the excitement in her eyes quickly disappeared, because she realized the Blazing Qilin Spear had stopped and it couldn't go any further.

Her smile froze.

The next scene even left her mouth agape, because a layer of black armor started ‘growing' out of Nangong Hao's chest at an insane rate.

“Gifted Bloodline?!” Ping Yang had experienced enough to accurately deduce the source of this black armor. However, in her memory, when it came to the appearance of Gifted Bloodline, a shadow should appear first, and a powerful technique like the black armor would only appear after the shadow had materialized.

However, the black armor on Nangong Hao's body didn't seem to follow the natural steps of occurrence. It felt like it was part of his flesh and blood.

“Heaven G.o.d's bloodline?!”

“That's Tian Xing's bloodline of the Heaven G.o.d!”

“Impossible, this is impossible! How could Tian Xing's bloodline… Appear on Nangong Hao?!”

All the elders of Heaven Dao Pavilion were dumbfounded when they saw the black armor that grew out of Nangong Hao's body.

“Eh? This thing is called Heaven G.o.d's bloodline?” Ping Yang was a little startled, but not for long. “I don't care what's your bloodline, I wouldn't be Ping Yang if I don't destroy you while you're already down!”

She didn't even think it through.

As the saying went, ‘Youth knows no fear'. This was especially true for the fearless Ping Yang.

Although Blazing Qilin Spear couldn't go in deeper, it didn't mean that Ping Yang would simply give up on such a good opportunity for a sneak attack.

“Heya!” She yelled and struck towards Nangong Hao's crotch with a more overbearing ‘Groin Sweeping Kick'.