Volcanic Age

Cough, cough!

Gao Canzheng coughed, his face pale.

"Zhou Xuchuan?"

An Aiyuan was the first to recognize him.

"The Phoenix Slayer, right?" Guo Cai said, giving Zhou Xuchuan a puzzled look.

"Little Sect Master!"

The disciples of Mount Tai Sect hurriedly ran over to support Gao Canzheng.

"What's happening down there?"

"Why has the Phoenix Slayer come here alone?"

All sorts of questions poured out from the Martial Alliance members. For a second, hope appeared on their faces before quickly turning into despair.

Not only was there no martial artist here who could take on the Flower Scattering Palm, but the trio who were supposed to be their leaders were also becoming a problem.

None of them had the slightest grasp of the situation, yet their pride remained unnecessarily high. After Gao Chanzheng was captured, they had begun to contemplate throwing everything away and fleeing. However, in that split second of indecisiveness, someone had come to his rescue.

At first, they thought an expert like Nangong Caiying had finally arrived, and for a moment, they could see a glimmer of hope. However, they were all mistaken.

It was the Phoenix Slayer of Mount Hua. The one who had won a wager against the Poison Phoenix by using cowardly moves, the coward hiding behind her coattails!

"Zhou Xuchuan?"

The Flower Scattering Palm chewed on Zhou Xuchuan's name.

'Is he really the Phoenix Slayer? Then where is the Poison Phoenix?''

The Phoenix Slayer was rumored to always follow the Poison Phoenix, so if Zhou Xuchuan was here, she should be nearby too. He wondered if Zhou Xuchuan's appearance was a bait.

While the Righteous Faction boasted that they didn't set traps, that only applied to fools like the three idiots standing before him.

The Righteous Faction also had its own strategies and tactics, tactics they used to the fullest. That was why they were so often criticized as hypocrites.

"Yes, I am Zhou Xuchuan of the Mount Hua Sect."

Zhou Xuchuan straightened his back and puffed out his chest.

Hmm. I don't sense any other auras besides that brat. He's here alone.

The Flower Scattering Palm relaxed a little.

Wait, then you're telling me that the Phoenix Slayer made that sword strike?

The Flower Scattering Palm frowned, puzzled.

He hadn't even seen where the sword strike had come from. His body had reacted instinctively to the sound of the sword cutting through the air.

It was only thanks to those reflexes that he had been able to dodge it. What troubled him was that he hadn't sensed any sign of the attack.

Hmm. I guess I really must be tired.

Even though the brat was a swordsman of Mount Hua, he was still only a child. The Flower Scattering Palm reassured himself. There was no way he wouldn't be able to sense the sword of a weakling swordsman like the Phoenix Slayer in his normal state.

"Phoenix Slayer. Stop making unnecessary poses and leave while I'm being nice. Since you haven't made me angry yet, I'll spare your life."

"The Flower Scatter Palm is being merciful today!"

"Know how lucky you are!"

The Evil Valley warriors standing behind him quipped one after the other.

"Hmph! I really should get that title changed quickly!"

Zhou Xuchuan sighed. But instead of running away, he walked forward.

"These brats of the Righteous Faction… is it a trend among you to throw your lives away even though I'm being merciful? You're really turning people into demons here!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the Flower Scattering Palm thrust out a palm.

His palm aimed straight for Zhou Xuchuan's chest.

Swish!

Zhou Xuchuan swung his sword without blinking, drawing a straight vertical line from bottom to top.

"Hmph!"

The Flower Scattering Palm held his breath, twisting his body instinctively. Moreover, the palm that had been thrust forward suddenly changed direction.

Why am I dodging?

The Flower Scattering Palm was embarrassed by his own actions.

This was a sword swung by a novice, not even an expert! All he had to do was deflect it with a palm wind and strike him with a blast of palm force.

One move.

It should only take one move at most, two or three.

"Oho!" Zhou Xuchuan exclaimed, impressed by the Flower Scattering Palm's reaction.

"They say that the Flower Scattering Palm has great skills. It seems that those rumors weren't false."

The sword strike he had just unleashed was at seventy percent strength.

If it had hit the Flower Scattering Palm directly, it would have split his palm in two.

Something's off.

The Flower Scattering Palm narrowed his eyes. Sweat dripped down his forehead, goosebumps rising on his arms.

I can't gauge his cultivation.

If Zhou Xuchuan specialized in stealth like an assassin, that would be another story. However, he had never heard of anyone at Mount Hua doing something like that.

What the hell is he?

The two locked eyes.

There was a certain eccentric fellow in the gangho who once said, "One can see the soul of a person by looking into their eyes."

He's not a child!

There wasn't even a hint of tension in Zhou Xuchuan's gaze. No excitement or hostility from fighting intent.

In fact, it was impossible to tell what emotions were behind that gaze. His pupils were as calm as a lake on a windless day.

"Phoenix Slayer? Ha, you were fooling the entire murim!"

The Flower Scattering Palm had noticed something strange about Zhou Xuchuan.

"You figured that out in one second?"

Zhou Xuchuan was really surprised.

"Good. Then, I'll let you have a really special second here," Zhou Xuchuan said kindly.

"You crazy bastard!" the Flower Scattering Palm cursed.

"He's asking to be killed!"

The crowd had similar reactions.

"While your cultivation is impressive, it's at best at the level of the Five Dragons and Three Phoenixes. Do you think I'm scared of you?"

Despite his unease, the Flower Scattering Palm blamed it on his tiredness.

"Phoenix Slayer! Unless you have a death wish, hurry up and get behind us!" Guo Cai shouted at Zhou Xuchuan's back.

Unlike the Flower Scattering Palm, the Martial Alliance members still hadn't noticed Zhou Xuchuan's extraordinary cultivation. To them, Zhou Xuchuan was still the pitiful coward, the Phoenix Slayer.

"Phoenix Slayer, Phoenix Slayer… you're really making me feel like a Phoenix Shitter, here," Zhou Xuchuan trembled in irritation.

"Flower Scattering Palm. You'll be the foil to changing my title."

The two warriors faced each other while stirring their qi.

"Here I come!" Zhou Xuchuan ignored the voices trying to stop him and flew forward.

"Huh?!"

The Flower Scattering Palm, who had been staring straight at Zhou Xuchuan just a moment ago, was surprised when the swordsman suddenly appeared right in front of him.

"Heup!"

Zhou Xuchuan let out a sharp shout and unleashed the Fourteen Sword Forms of the Plum Blossom. However, he didn't give it his all from the start.

He tested the waters first with only about sixty percent of his full strength, planning to carefully study the Flower Scattering Palm's techniques.

"I thought you were going to let me have a second?!"

The Flower Scattering Palm quickly moved, dodging Zhou Xuchuan's strikes.

"You ignored my offer earlier and looked down on me like you were so great, and now you're complaining?"

Zhou Xuchuan was dumbfounded.

"If you're going to go around telling people you're being merciful, handle things without worrying about your pride!"

With a shart retort, Zhou Xuchuan showed off his flashy strikes, each one lethal.

How?!

The Flower Scattering Palm narrowly avoided the blows. One grazed his shoulder, causing blood to spill.

There were clear differences between realms of cultivation, especially once one reached the Harmony Realm.

It wasn't just that one's physical strength was different from those at the Transcendent Realm.

Not only was one's physical ability greater, but the very foundation of one's techniques also changed.

Even if one were the greatest expert among Transcendents, it would be nearly impossible to defeat a Harmony Realm Master alone.

"Mount Hua's sword is invincible!"

Zhou Xuchuan bragged about his sect as if he wanted all of the others to hear. Yet even while bragging, his technique never stopped.

The Fourteen Sword Forms of the Plum Blossom continued like flowing water. As expected of a transforming sword technique, its transformations were so fluid and dazzling that it made the Flower Scattering Palm's head hurt.

"My master is the Gentle Smiling Swordsman Liu Zhengmu!"

Zhou Xuchuan also bragged about his master.

The Flower Scattering Palm is one of the One Hundred Experts Under Heaven. This battle is bound to become a hot topic later. Then, I should make sure I raise my reputation as much as possible here. Let's start by raising the name of the sect and Master!

While it was important for him to get rid of the Phoenix Slayer title, his master's honor was what mattered most.

"How dare you insult me!"

Flower Scattering Palm's face turned bright red.

While Zhou Xuchuan was serious, to the others, it looked like he was messing around.

The Flower Scattering Palm decided to use whatever qi he had left to escape. After all, the Evil Faction didn't value pride as much as the Righteous Faction did. However, that didn't mean their pride was utterly nonexistent.

Especially someone like the Flower Scattering Palm, one of the One Hundred Experts Under Heaven!

"I'll show you the terror of the Flower Scattering Palm Technique!"

Finally, it was the counterattack of one of the One Hundred Experts Under Heaven. Zhou Xuchuan switched from the offensive to the defensive.

"Heup!!"

A palm technique involved imbuing one's palm with qi to strike an opponent. However, the Flower Scattering Palm Technique varied slightly from this existing principle.

While most palm techniques concentrated qi either throughout the entire palm or infused it solely in the center, the Flower Scattering Palm Technique worked by coating one's palm in qi and allowing it to explode outward.

When hit by the Flower Scattering Palm Technique, the damage wasn't limited to where the palm connected to one's body, but also to the surrounding area around the point of impact. It was called "Flower Scattering" because its aftereffect resembled the shape of flowers scattering.

Oho!

The One Hundred Experts Under Heaven truly were different.

The palm approaching him, coated with an incredible amount of qi, felt quite oppressive. If this were Zhou Xuchuan's previous life, before he had reached the Harmony Realm, he would have been defeated without even being able to move.

That would have only been the case if he was middle-aged or even old. If this were his previous life at his current age, he would have died just from the momentum of the Flower Scattering Palm's blow alone.

"Ha-eup!"

Those thoughts passed in an instant. As the Flower Scattering Palm exerted his full power, Zhou Xuchuan's body reacted immediately.

The treasure-grade sword[1] Tai'e smoothly slid through the air in a long arc. The following sword wind tore through the air.

As the sword wind poured out in all directions, it collided with the Flower Scattering Palm's palm.

"Ugh!"

Due to the nature of the Flower Scattering Palm Technique, it was pointless for Zhou Xuchuan to focus only on blocking the palm. The force released around the palm was also dangerous and needed to be handled.

Zhou Xuchuan's response perfectly handled that characteristic. He released a sword wind that swept out in all directions, blocking the palm wind perfectly.

"What the hell… ugh!"

The Flower Scattering Palm coughed up blood and seemed to have suffered an internal injury. His eyes widened in disbelief.

Now that their attacks clashed, they pushed against each other without a single gap. The next step was a clash of their qi.

However, even the showdown of qi ended in an incredibly futile manner.

For the Flower Scattering Palm, at least.

He was a Transcendent Realm Expert who was just about to reach his twilight years. However, he, who was still in his prime, had lost the showdown of qi.

No matter how pure the Righteous Faction's qi was, it didn't make sense for him to lose.

"As expected, consuming elixirs early is important, after all!" Zhou Xuchuan said, laughing brightly.

"Even, even if… even if you consumed an elixir… for this to…" the Flower Scattering Palm muttered through gritted teeth, his disbelief clear as his pupils trembled violently.

"Well, elixirs are meant to be eaten like rice, you know!"

"You fuc…"

"Wait, you're not dead yet?"

Squelch!

"Agh!!!!"

Zhou Xuchuan stabbed his sword into the Flower Scattering Palm's chest and twisted. The Evil Faction expert was too injured to dodge properly.

When Zhou Xuchuan pulled out his sword, the Flower Scattering Palm spat out blood again and fell to the side helplessly.

Squelch. Squelch, squelch.

Just in case, Zhou Xuchuan made sure he was really dead.

In the past, he had nearly been killed by an Evil Faction member he had written off as a corpse, passing him by only for the half-dead "corpse" to spring up and attack him.

The Flower Scattering Palm twitched like a frog hit by a stone before finally dying.

"…"

No one who had witnessed the battle could speak.

It wasn't the brutality that stunned them. No one cared about that.

"The Flower Scattering Palm…"

"... lost."

The first to break the silence was an Evil Valley warrior. His voice was trembling, and his face was pale.

Just a moment ago, the Evil Valley warriors had been relaxed, saying that it was a fight they had won. However, the situation had suddenly changed.

1. Previously, Tai'e was introduced as a king among treasure-grade swords that almost reached the divine-grade. However, here, it says honorable-grade. We'll be keeping treasure-grade for now unless it tells us otherwise later. ☜