Chapter 112: Slaying Xia Ming
“Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!”
The colossal divine-demon phantom condensed by Xia Ming towered like a terrifying primordial demon god. Its power was as if heaven and earth were collapsing, making one feel as though plunging into the Nine Nether Hells.
“Boom!”
Faced with this dreadful force, Li Jiansan dared not show the slightest carelessness. He hurriedly shifted his body to evade its sharp edge.
Even though Li Jiansan’s speed was extremely swift, under Xia Ming’s terrifying power he was still inevitably struck by that fearsome force. A thread of blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
Seeing Li Jiansan wounded, Xia Ming immediately sneered:
“Boy, do you now understand the gap between us?”
Li Jiansan wiped the blood from his lips, then his hands rapidly formed strange seals.
“This is a spirit array?”
“You are actually a spirit array master?”
Violent fluctuations of spiritual power surged from Li Jiansan’s body, astonishing even Xia Ming.
“Hmph, even if you are a spirit array master, so what? Do you think you can so easily set up a spirit array right under my nose?”
“You are far too naive!”
Xia Ming had been somewhat surprised upon seeing Li Jiansan’s spirit array at first, but he quickly calmed down.
Of course he knew of spirit array masters. The arrays they laid were extremely terrifying, yet they possessed a flaw: they required undivided concentration, and setting them up also took time.
In the midst of battle, everything happened in the blink of an eye. To arrange a spirit array before an enemy was no simple matter.
Clearly, Xia Ming would not give Li Jiansan that time.
“Whoosh!”
Xia Ming’s body shot forth like a bolt of lightning. His twin palms rapidly gathered power and smashed fiercely toward Li Jiansan.
As long as he could prevent Li Jiansan from completing the array, he would seize the upper hand and decide the outcome of this battle.
“With the likes of you, you wish to stop me?”
Seeing Xia Ming’s movement, Li Jiansan coldly laughed. Facing the attack, he showed not the slightest panic.
“Buzz!”
Li Jiansan swiftly shifted his body and easily dodged Xia Ming’s strike.
“This brat… how is this possible?”
Witnessing the scene, Xia Ming’s expression turned blank with shock, and dread rose in his heart.
Everyone knew that a spirit array master needed complete focus and careful concentration when setting an array, not daring the slightest distraction. Yet this youth actually dared to divert his attention to evade the attack. While arranging the array he could split his mind in two!
Such dual-purpose mastery could only be achieved by spirit array masters with extremely powerful soul force, and only if they possessed thoroughly practiced array arts. Otherwise it was impossible.
Xia Ming had never expected Li Jiansan to reach such a level.
Could his spirit array arts have already attained a terrifying height?
No, no, impossible. He was only a teenager; his array techniques could not be that formidable.
At most he had merely been lucky.
“Converge!”
Li Jiansan’s palm suddenly clenched. In the void, several strands of wondrous power instantly gathered—this was mastery over the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
Li Jiansan could clearly sense the flow of spiritual energy in the surrounding world.
Under his control, his palm opened again. Dozens of spirit seals, like exploding flint sparks, swiftly encircled Xia Ming.
“Let me properly show you the power of this spirit array.”
The moment the words left his mouth, Li Jiansan flicked a finger. The spirit seals surrounding Xia Ming shot into the high sky like arrows, erupting with terrifying spiritual fluctuations. The grand array took form in one continuous motion and was instantly completed.
Xia Ming stared at the array whose pressure steadily descended, sucking in cold breaths again and again:
“How is this possible!”
“How can you set up a spirit array so quickly?”
In the imperial city Xia Ming had seen many spirit array masters, yet even the fastest among them needed at least half an hour to complete an array. This youth Li Jiansan had finished a grand array in the blink of an eye.
It was far too terrifying…
“Boy, do you now understand the gap between us?”
Li Jiansan returned Xia Ming’s earlier words exactly as they had been spoken.
“You…”
Xia Ming gritted his teeth and said:
“At most you are a first-rank spirit array master who has just entered the threshold. How powerful can the array you set up be? Nothing but empty show. If I wish to flee, can you stop me?”
Li Jiansan coldly laughed: “Flee?”
“What? Earlier you said I was not even worthy to fight you, and now you already want to run?”
After Li Jiansan spoke, Xia Ming’s face turned an abnormal ashen hue…
Li Jiansan continued: “Even if you try to flee, you no longer have the chance.”
“Boy, stop boasting here. If I want to leave… can you stop me?”
“You may try.”
Li Jiansan said.
Sensing the ever-increasing pressure of the grand array, a flash of fear suddenly crossed Xia Ming’s heart.
“Buzz!”
In his terror, Xia Ming finally unleashed his movement technique and rapidly streaked toward the outside.
“Grand array, descend!”
The instant Li Jiansan finished speaking, his spiritual-power-wrapped palm suddenly flipped and slammed downward with vicious force.
“Boom! Boom! Boom!”
Above Xia Ming the void surged with golden light. At last the golden radiance exploded outward, transforming into streaks of terrifying golden lightning that crashed down upon the fleeing Xia Ming.
“This… how can his attacks be so fast?”
Xia Ming’s face was gloomy as he watched the exploding golden lightning streaking toward him, and his heart jolted with shock.
Moments earlier Li Jiansan’s grand array had still been gathering momentum, yet in the blink of an eye it could already launch attacks.
Could he truly possess extremely practiced spirit array arts?
At that moment the dreadful golden lightning exploded upon Xia Ming’s body. Though he blocked with spiritual power, his strength could not shake the golden lightning in the slightest.
Moreover, the moment he withstood one strike, the next was already pressing in impatiently.
“Boom! Boom! Boom!”
In an instant the void above had gathered a sky full of golden lightning. The power of the grand array swept forth like a mountain flood.
Where the golden lightning dragons passed, earth and stone shattered, mountain walls exploded, and the terrifying force resounded through the entire heavens and earth.
The golden lightning transformed into golden dragons. Thunder raged violently, swiftly tearing across the sky and crashing down upon Xia Ming.
“Ah…”
The dreadful power of thunder smashed onto Xia Ming. He had no strength to resist at all. The force of the grand array blasted his entire body dozens of zhang away.
“Pfft…”
Blood and qi churned wildly within Xia Ming. He violently spat out a mouthful of blood, his face deathly pale, already devoid of any strength to continue fighting.
Li Jiansan coldly laughed:
“Is this the full extent of your strength?”
“Earlier you disdained even to fight me, yet under my grand array you do not even have a chance to escape.”
“With this, you still wished me to follow you and receive your guidance in cultivation?”
“With this, you still wished to befriend me?”
“Do you not find it ridiculous?”
Hearing Li Jiansan’s words, Xia Ming’s face turned green and he spat out another mouthful of blood.
Watching Li Jiansan step by step approach, terror suddenly seized Xia Ming’s heart and he froze.
“You… what do you intend to do?”
“What I intend to do—do you not already know?”
Li Jiansan said coldly: “Of course, to kill you!”
Xia Ming stammered: “You… you cannot kill me!”
“You already sent people to kill me. If I do not kill you, do you think that is possible?”
Xia Ming cried in terror: “You cannot kill me! I am…”
But before he could finish, Li Jiansan smashed his head to pieces.
Then Li Jiansan looted everything of value from Xia Ming’s body and left the place.
After Li Jiansan departed, a green jade pendant on Xia Ming’s body suddenly dimmed.
Far away on the other side of the imperial city, a roar of fury suddenly rang out:
“How did Ming’er’s shatter? Damn it!!!!”
“Who in the world…”
“I will definitely tear him into ten thousand pieces!!!”