Chapter 37: Chapter 37: Desolate Land
"Ah! Be careful of the Sword Qi!"
The entire arena was in chaos.
Under the counterattack of the Invisible Sword Qi, the crowd from the Heavenly Grass Pavilion that surrounded Gu Jinlai fell into disarray.
Although the Invisible Sword Qi's lethality decreased against the defense of True Qi, it wasn't enough to wipe out forty or fifty practitioners of the Qi Refinement, Gang Condensation, and Hugging Pill realms. However, these sporadic and unforeseeable attacks caused psychological panic that was more powerful than their physical effect.
Gu Jinlai swung his Thousand-pound Giant Sword horizontally, his arm's length adding more than two meters to his attack range and clearing all obstacles around him.
Then, he pushed off the ground, soaring through the air once more, keeping his eyes fixed on that Hugging Pill drenched in blood-like Karma.
The upper body of the said Hugging Pill, seasoned in a hundred battles and possessing astonishing movement techniques, retreated further upon seeing Gu Jinlai burst out of the thick blood mist, resembling a Supreme Demon.
Just as he was about to escape the range of Gu Jinlai's attack, a unique technique circulated the True Qi and blood Qi within Gu Jinlai's body like a river merging into the sea. The energy was channeled into the acupoints of his feet, transforming into a light yet furious power, doubling his speed instantly!
Crossing the World·Four Seas!
This sudden increase in speed stupefied the Hugging Pill.
The next moment, his figure shot away rapidly.
Unfortunately, it was too late.
Gu Jinlai swung his Giant Sword horizontally, shattering the two intercepting Sword Gangs, and with a terrifying speed of four hundred kilometers per hour and a mass of two thousand kilograms, his body slammed into his opponent.
A thunderous noise exploded.
Accompanied by the sound of bones shattering.
The collision of flesh and steel, even though this Hugging Pill was protected by True Qi, deformed unbeaRAbly, flung ten meters away without touching the ground, already devoid of the breath of life.
Gu Jinlai let out a long howl.
"I've slain a million soldiers from Jiangnan, with the treasure sword in my hand still reeking of blood!"
This unrestrained, rule-breaking elation gave him an unprecedented sense of exhilaration!
Having already broken out of the encirclement, he did not flee but instead, turned around and attacked the remaining two individuals exuding blood-like Karma.
Dressed in Thousand-pound heavy armor and wielding the Thousand-pound heavy sword, he charged again.
His movement technique, Crossing the World, allowed him to smash through the encirclement of dozens with absolute speed and power!
"Elder Liu, be careful!"
Seeing this scene, several Hugging Pill Masters were so infuriated their hair stood on end.
Gu Jinlai's actions were utterly brazen!
He treated the dozens of elders from Heavenly Grass Pavilion as nothing!
What they didn't know was that Gu Jinlai fully had the capability to disregard them.
In his spiritual world, that Qingguang he had just acquired was once again channeled into the movement technique Crossing the World.
This time, his movement technique did not advance from Small Achievement to Mahayana.
Clearly, the profound subtlety of this technique, even with his foundation and capabilities, was still beyond mastering to the Mahayana Realm within ten years.
Though not yet at Mahayana level, Gu Jinlai's understanding and application of this movement technique had become even more second nature.
At this moment, in terms of charging speed, he had surpassed everyone on the field.
Even those Hugging Pill Masters who excelled in movement techniques were left behind by him.
Their specialty was merely a matter of inches in dodging and maneuvering.
Realizing this speed advantage, he moved swiftly across the battlefield, directly attacking Elder Liu.
Even though Elder Liu had already formed a defensive formation with a few others around him, he still managed to break through forcefully with his burst of speed.
"We can't stop him! We can't stop him! Quick, go ask the Supreme Elder for help!"
Another Hugging Pill Elder screamed in a shrill tone.
The tone carried an undeniable terror.
Even though he was surrounded by dozens of experts, he still felt no sense of safety whatsoever.
Elder Liu's formation was shattered, Gu Jinlai dashed directly to the elder's body, power exploding, the heavy sword striking down.
The elder roared to the sky, seemingly using a Forbidden Technique to push his Dantian True Qi to the limit, like a fierce blaze of flame.
Yet even so, he could not withstand the strike formed by a middle-level demon body, a thousand-pound giant sword, and an equal realm True Qi explosion.
The blast wave scattered, mingled with a thick blood mist that couldn't dissipate.
As Gu Jinlai's figure swept past, the elder's upper body had completely vanished.
Moving across the battlefield like a fired cannonball, and then suddenly, his power erupted again from his feet, continuing his assault on another person.
Meanwhile, a part of his spirit was pulling the Sword Qi, pouring it into the "Crossing the World" orb.
He always believed that the only good resource was the one used.
Especially now as he was engaged in fierce combat, once he got surrounded and his speed was suppressed by dozens of Qi Refinement, Gang Condensation, and Hugging Pill Masters, only a slim chance of survival awaited him.
The Sword Qi enveloped him, the orb of movement technique brightened with flickering lights after a previous moment of sudden enlightenment.
Once the light dispersed, it soared to a brand new domain.
Crossing the World: Small Achievement → Mahayana.
Simultaneously, another move of this movement technique essential for charging and turning, Eight Desolates, was also mastered ahead of time by him!
The last of those targeted by Gu Jinlai, a person wrapped in red Karma, ran terrified, trying to hide in a crowd and re-form a battle formation.
Gushing forth in his assault, Gu Jinlai moved across and suddenly accelerated just as he was about to break into the formation.
The blast disseminated.
He stirred up a cloud of dust that hit faces, skipping directly over three War Swords that intercepted him and leapt down, crushing the last Hugging Pill Master with a force heavy as Mount Tai.
As he crushed this Hugging Pill Master, the second wave of attacks from the battle formation hit his body.
Flames bursted forth.
In the brilliant glow unique to top-grade Treasure Swords, his War Armor finally completed its task, cracking open with a huge fissure.
This scene, which restored hope of overcoming this monster to the frightened True Disciples and protector elders, quickly invigorated everyone.
"It's cracked! His armor has cracked!"
"Without his armor, he dare not resist our attacks head-on anymore!"
"We are dozens of Qi Refinement and Gang Condensation, and several Hugging Pill Elders, yet we couldn't kill a single... a single one relying on the advantage of his armor, Hugging Pill. If we let him walk away triumphantly, our reputation will be destroyed in an instant! From now on, the authority of the Heavenly Grass Pavilion will also be completely lost!"
A few leading Hugging Pill Elders inspired the crowd, commanded the formation, and those protector elders and disciples who had previously hesitated and panicked also surrounded him again.
Gu Jinlai glanced at the crowd, twisted his neck: "Mere chickens and dogs."
With that, he walked forward.
The first Hugging Pill to face him changed his expression dramatically; the fate of the previous elders was right in front of him, and almost instinctively, he backed away explosively.
This scene made Gu Jinlai burst into loud laughter.
As that Hugging Pill retreated, he stepped like a shooting star, directly breaking out of the encirclement formed by dozens of Qi Refinement, Gang Condensation, and Hugging Pill Masters.
Along the way, there were Qi Refining Realm disciples and Angel Envoys trying to block him, but Gu Jinlai didn't even glance at them, crashing right into them.
These disciples, who hadn't even managed to generate Gang Qi, had limited lethality. As long as he wasn't precisely hit in the cracks of his armor, their attacks could be ignored.
In contrast, for Gu Jinlai, facing them was lethal on touch, injurious on hit.
Coupled with the Mahayana level movement technique Crossing the World, in a blink, he broke into the night and disappeared without a trace.