sinovels Chapter 657 Evenly matched! You deserve my full strength!
Chapter 657 Evenly matched! You deserve my full strength!
Chen Fan used his sword to block the giant demonic palm, and the collision of the two forces produced a deafening clang of metal against metal.
The bluestone ground beneath his feet shattered inch by inch, and he was thrown back several feet by the immense force before regaining his footing. The gray-white sword light on Eleven Swords trembled violently, but under the blessing of the Fixation Technique, it never dissipated.
After one move, the two faced off again.
Song Tianren's lips curled into a cold smile: "That's more like it. If you can't even withstand a single blow from me, then you've disappointed me greatly. Those Nascent Soul cultivators couldn't withstand your sword before because they only knew how to overwhelm others with their cultivation, but they didn't know what true intent was. I'm different. My demonic path is based on countless souls and uses the Heavenly Demon Soul Devouring Technique as its blade. No matter how profound your sword intent is, you can't possibly lock me down with a single strike."
Chen Fan did not respond. He simply held the Eleventh Banner horizontally in front of him, made a hand seal with his left hand, and the Black Soul Banner flew out from his sleeve, transforming into a giant banner three zhang tall beside him.
Under the pull of the soul array, the millions of souls on the banner let out a deafening howl, and the dark red blood light spread out in all directions like a tide, laying a faint net of soul power on the arena.
Song Tianren's eyes narrowed slightly, and he formed a hand seal. The demonic shadow behind him suddenly split into three, and then into nine.
Nine slightly smaller demonic figures formed a ring around Chen Fan, with a ball of pitch-black demonic light beginning to condense in the mouth of each figure.
The nine orbs of magical light echoed each other, forming a simple magical array that forcefully suppressed Chen Fan's soul power net within a radius of twenty feet.
"Nine Demon Soul-Locking Formation," Song Tianren said coldly. "Your Black Soul Banner can devour souls, but my Nine Demon Soul-Locking Formation is specifically designed to counter soul-based magic treasures. Within this formation, no matter how many souls are on your banner, they cannot break through the seal of the nine demons. Chen Fan, your soul-based techniques are nothing but a clumsy attempt to teach Lu Ban before me."
Chen Fan's expression remained unchanged, and his left sleeve twitched almost imperceptibly.
The cicada transformed into a thin, dark gold thread, silently darting out from the sleeve and flying close to the ground at a speed too fast for the naked eye to discern.
It circled behind Song Tianren, aimed at the gap in the protective magic energy on the back of his neck, and thrust its mouthparts in fiercely.
Song Tianren's reaction was far faster than that of the Jade Phosphorous Serpent King.
Just as the cicada's proboscis was about to pierce his skin, the demonic energy at the back of his neck spontaneously condensed, transforming into a palm-sized, pitch-black demonic shield that narrowly blocked the cicada's proboscis.
The clang of metal rang out, and the cicada was thrown backward, tumbling several times in the air before regaining its footing.
But this moment of distraction gave Chen Fan an opportunity.
Chen Fan thrust out his sword, but this time it wasn't a straight thrust; instead, it was a horizontal slash, drawing a gray-white arc of sword light in front of him.
The sword light contained the power of cause and effect, severing the demonic energy connections between the nine demonic figures one by one. Three demonic figures shattered instantly, and the remaining six trembled violently in the aftershocks of the sword intent, creating a gap in the Nine Demon Soul-Locking Formation.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, the million souls on the Black Soul Banner swarmed out, tightly binding the remaining six demonic shadows and frantically tearing and devouring them.
Song Tianren's expression darkened slightly. As he retreated rapidly, he simultaneously deployed seven or eight jet-black magic shields in front of him, barely managing to block Chen Fan's second sword strike.
Where the sword energy collided with the magic shield, the magic patterns on the shield flickered violently. The sword energy was shattered into pieces, but several residual forces still penetrated the magic shield, grazed Song Tianren's shoulder, and left a few shallow sword marks on his black robe.
The two figures flashed and intertwined on the arena, shattering bluestone, surging demonic energy, and crisscrossing sword light wherever they passed.
The crowd below the stage was dazzled. Those below the Nascent Soul stage couldn't see the two figures' movements clearly at all; they could only see a grayish-blue figure and a dark figure colliding repeatedly on the arena.
"This...this is the level of the finals?" a Nascent Soul Gu cultivator from the Snake Gu Clan stammered. "Wu Chi and Yan Chixiao were both defeated in one move, yet Song Tianren has managed to fight Chen Fan this far?"
"Song Tianren is indeed the number one person below the Nascent Soul stage, and his reputation is well-deserved," someone nearby chimed in.
"Chen Fan is no less impressive; he's proficient in sword intent, soul cultivation, and Gu worms. These two are simply beyond the capabilities expected of someone at the Great Perfection of the Nascent Soul stage."
Seeing this, Qin Zhan shook his head inwardly. Although he had confidence in Chen Fan, Song Tianren's strength was indeed too great.
When he fought Song Tianren at the border, he only managed a draw with his mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivation, but now Chen Fan is only at the Great Perfection of the Nascent Soul stage!
Duan Wuliang stood on the edge of the west stand, his face full of tension.
He stopped making sarcastic remarks and just stared intently at the battle on the stage, fine beads of sweat forming on his forehead.
Wang Zhenyue sat upright on the west side of the stands, his expression shifting between light and dark.
He figured that once the eunuch was injured, things would be much easier to handle for him.
The two on stage had already exchanged over a hundred blows.
Chen Fan used his Black Soul Banner, Golden Cicada, and Phoenix Flame Sword in turn, while Song Tianren used his Heavenly Demon Soul Devouring Technique, Demon Shadow Clone, and Demon Light Technique one after another.
The two players unleashed their trump cards as if they were free, and each collision caused the barrier screen below the stage to tremble violently.
The array masters of the Gu King Palace were sweating profusely as they maintained the light barrier, fearing that the reinforced barrier would also be breached by the two of them.
On the stage, Song Tianren's chest rose and fell slightly, and fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.
His black robe now bore seven or eight sword marks, some of which had seeped out jet-black demonic blood.
Chen Fan was in no better condition; his gray-blue robe was covered with scorch marks from demonic energy, and he had a deep wound on his left arm that exposed bone.
Those were marks left by Song Tianren's demonic light; the demonic energy at the edge of the wound was still eroding the flesh.
But their eyes remained sharp as knives.
"You truly haven't disappointed me." Song Tianren licked the blood from the corner of his mouth, his smile deepening. "You're the first Nascent Soul cultivator to fight me to this extent. I take back what I said before; you're not an ant, you're an opponent worthy of my full strength. This next move, I've practiced for over a hundred years, and have never used it against someone of the same level. Today, I'll show you what the true Heavenly Demon Path is all about."
He formed a hand seal in front of his chest, and his demonic energy suddenly contracted to its limit before erupting with an even more intense force than before.
The broken demonic figure behind him let out a silent howl, transforming into countless streams of dark demonic energy that surged into Song Tianren's body.
Song Tianren's body expanded at a visible speed, and black demonic patterns appeared all over his skin. His dark pupils turned scarlet.
"Possessed by a demon."
At this moment, Song Tianren's aura broke through the limit of the Great Perfection of the Nascent Soul stage and reached the level of Half-Step God Transformation.
With a single punch, even before the force of the punch arrived, the wind from the punch had already sent all the broken stones on the arena flying everywhere.
Chen Fan parried with his sword, and the gray-white sword light on the eleven swords trembled violently under the punch, sending the eleven swordsmen flying backward.