160

Beyond the Canglan Island, above the Cang River, the giant waves surged, the winds and clouds changed color, and a powerful pressure stirred in all directions. The battlefield resembled a raging storm sweeping through, terrifyingly intense.

Xie Lingfeng and Hu Shan retreated further and further away, keeping a safe distance.

Their expressions were extremely solemn as they watched the battlefield.

"Young Master, can Xu Yan win?" Hu Shan asked with some concern.

They were facing two Grandmasters, and when they joined forces, their every move shook the heavens and the earth, conjuring up a storm that seemed capable of destroying everything in its path.

"If Xu Yan doesn't retreat, he must be confident," Xie Lingfeng said gravely.

Even so, he couldn't help but feel some worry in his heart.

"Which faction do these black-robed figures belong to? The fact that they can mobilize two Grandmasters indicates their strength is absolutely formidable. There must be a peak Grandmaster overseeing them," Hu Shan said in a deep voice.

"One of the hidden forces. Within these hidden forces, those with such strength are few," Xie Lingfeng said with a serious expression.

In addition to the numerous visible factions in the vast interior, there were also some hidden forces. These forces operated discreetly, often engaged in clandestine activities, and never disclosed their faction's name to outsiders. Although the existence of such forces was known, their names were not, hence they were referred to as hidden forces. Of course, there were differences in strength among these hidden forces. Not all of them were unknown to the public, but those whose names even the major factions couldn't ascertain were undoubtedly extremely powerful. The faction to which the black-robed figures belonged was one such force.

As the battle raged on, the waves grew fiercer, surging dozens of meters high, and layers of blade light were like a storm continuously striking out.

From afar, the battlefield resembled a scene of apocalypse!

Xu Yan circulated his innate Qi, vigorously launching attacks, and even a faint spiritual light appeared around him. This was the manifestation of the powerful side of the Dragon Soaring Mountain and River Spirit Bone in the midst of battle.

The spiritual energy of heaven and earth surged into him, constantly replenishing his Qi consumption. Xu Yan grew bolder and stronger as the battle progressed.

While fighting, he also pondered on the formidable aura brought by the two black-robed figures, which stirred the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, bringing a devastating pressure akin to doomsday.

The two black-robed figures grew increasingly alarmed and resolute as they fought, realizing they must kill Xu Yan or he would become a significant threat!

As their curved blades swung, the blade energy became sharper and sharper. Eventually, their auras merged together, a demonstration of their joint techniques!

Buzz!

In the sky, enormous blade lights appeared, pouring down continuously, seeming to traverse the sky and block all directions.

The blade lights ravaged, evaporating the surging waves. The space seemed enveloped in a blade light purgatory!

Xu Yan's gaze sharpened. The fusion of their auras and the strength they exhibited instantly escalated, sealing off all directions to prevent his escape!

With a cold sneer in his heart, could they really block his escape if he wanted to flee?

Boom!

At that moment, Xu Yan's aura suddenly surged, his sword intent mighty, filled with a fierce killing intent, raging between heaven and earth.

Mountains and rivers emerged, sealing off all sides, preventing the black-robed figures from escaping.

With a palm strike, a golden dragon roared, its eyes gleaming brightly. The formidable dragon's might carried a surge of fury, even the surging waves of the Cang River seemed to calm down in this moment.

Roar!

The golden dragon thundered forth, heading towards one of the black-robed figures.

Despite the formidable momentum, the black-robed figure, with a powerful force, shattered the golden dragon before it could even approach.

However, Xu Yan continued to unleash palm strikes, each one shattering the layers of blade light, pushing forward with each strike.

At this moment, Xu Yan was fully unleashed, using his Left Hand Dragon Subduing Palm and Right Hand Mountain and River Sword Technique, striking out one sword after another.

Against two opponents, he firmly gained the upper hand.

Moreover, he reversed the situation, sealing off all directions, blocking any escape routes for the black-robed figures.

With each sword strike, a roar of a dragon sounded, mountains and rivers enveloped, as if wanting to drag the black-robed figure into oblivion.

Another sword strike.

Roar!

The dragon's roar echoed, mountains and rivers covered, as if intending to completely annihilate the black-robed figure.

Another strike.

The sword intent surged, the dragon's roar and the vastness of mountains and rivers intertwined in an instant.

Then, another strike, and another.

With each strike, Xu Yan completely suppressed the black-robed figures.

The sword intent of mountains and rivers grew stronger and stronger, the killing intent making the air thick with a chilling atmosphere.

It seemed as if even the heavens and the earth were filled with killing intent.

At this moment of the battle, the expressions of the black-robed figures changed drastically. They felt a strong sense of crisis, realizing that their situation was extremely perilous.

Roar!

Xu Yan once again struck out with his palm, a huge golden dragon roaring as it attacked the other black-robed figure. Just as the figure was about to strike back, the dragon suddenly split into eighteen golden dragons.

In an instant, they attacked from all directions.

At the same time, Xu Yan's sword struck down, combining the dragon's roar and the vastness of mountains and rivers, pulling the black-robed figure into the realm of his sword intent.

"Today, I, Xu Yan, the Sword God, will slay two Grandmasters outside Canglan Island. Anyone who dares to covet Canglan Island shall be killed without mercy!"

Xu Yan's voice was like thunder, resounding far and wide.

The martial artists watching from afar were all shocked and pale. Slaying two Grandmasters? And they were both Grandmasters!

How strong was the Sword God Xu Yan? Was he a peak Grandmaster?

"And to the black-robed faction hiding in the shadows, if you seek revenge, come find me. I, the Sword God, am always ready, but remember to bring enough spirit coins. Poor ghosts don't deserve to die by my hands!"

Immediately after, Xu Yan's cold voice rang out again.

Everyone gasped silently. This was directly declaring war against a faction!

A faction capable of mobilizing two Grandmasters must be a top-tier force with a peak Grandmaster overseeing it. Could one person really suppress such a top-tier force?

At this moment, the two black-robed figures felt a severe life-and-death crisis. Under their horrified gaze, their auras suddenly changed.

Since there was a sinister aura, their curved blades also exuded a layer of chilling air, as if coated with a layer of ice, causing the temperature in the surroundings to drop sharply.

The sinister aura seemed to carry a breath of death.

The opponent was prepared to fight desperately, unleashing some powerful martial arts secret technique.

It was obvious that the cost of this martial arts secret technique was extremely high.

But in the face of life and death, these costs seemed insignificant.

"Martial arts secret technique? Hmph!"

Xu Yan sneered disdainfully. With a sword strike, it was as if all living things fell silent, the mountains and rivers fell into silence, and the overturned mountains and rivers enveloped the sinister aura, encompassing everything in the realm of mountains and rivers.

With the silence of mountains and rivers, this sinister aura also turned into the power of mountain and river silence.

"No! What is this..."

The eyes of the black-robed figures widened, filled with disbelief.

What kind of sword technique was this? Why was it so strange and powerful? Their bodies crumbled into ashes, disintegrating along with the mountains and rivers.

Boom!

A sword strike killed one of the black-robed figures, while the Dragon Subduing Palm also erupted with a powerful force, as if the wrath of a divine dragon made even the heavens and the earth change color.

The martial arts secret technique used by the black-robed figure, that sinister aura, seemed to have met its nemesis. Under the power of the Dragon Subduing Palm's utmost yang energy, it was as fragile as paper!

"How is this possible!"

The body of the black-robed figure exploded, turning into flying ash under the terrifying dragon's might.

The world returned to calm.

The Cang River flowed as usual, and the devastating storm had vanished without a trace.

Only one person remained, holding a sword, standing proudly in the air.

The spectators were all silent!

In their minds, one name was deeply engraved: the Sword God Xu Yan!

A young man with a sword, outside Canglan Island, had slain two Grandmasters!

"In terms of prodigies in the world, no one can compete with Xu Yan!"

"With one person, Xu Yan has suppressed all the prodigies of the interior!"

"It can be foreseen that in the near future, the top martial artist of the interior will belong to Xu Yan!"

The martial artists watching were filled with emotion.

Xu Yan, at such a young age, had already slain Grandmasters. Perhaps it wouldn't be long before he could slay peak Grandmasters.

A true unparalleled prodigy!

Xie Lingfeng and Hu Shan were deeply shocked at this moment.

Xu Yan's strength had completely exceeded their imagination. He was only at the Innate Realm, yet he had single-handedly slain two Grandmasters.

Was this the terrifying aspect of true martial arts?

Xie Lingfeng sighed inwardly. He was known as the Cliff Sword Sovereign, the strongest prodigy in a thousand years. However, compared to Xu Yan, he was far behind.

What comforted him was that among the prodigies of the interior, he was still the top, still had the qualifications and confidence to look down on other prodigies.

Xie Lingfeng no longer harbored any hopes of catching up to Xu Yan's pace. He had self-awareness. His greatest wish in life was to have a clear understanding of the sword and step into the true path of the sword.

"Brother Xu's battle has truly shaken the interior," Xie Lingfeng walked over, feeling emotional.

In the Seven Star Academy, bursting Yin Hong's palm was already shocking enough.

Now, outside Canglan Island, facing two opponents with just one person and killing two Grandmasters, this intimidation was much stronger than bursting Yin Hong's palm.

After all, Yin Hong was only at the early stage of the Grandmaster realm, and he was considered one of the weaker ones.

Some powerful Grandmasters, although they heard about Xu Yan bursting Yin Hong's palm, didn't pay much attention to it. They thought that Xu Yan had used some kind of instantaneous enhancement secret technique to burst Yin Hong's palm, thinking that they could probably do the same with their full strength.

After all, Yin Hong had just entered the Grandmaster realm, and his specific strength was not well known. But it was speculated that his strength among Grandmasters was not strong, belonging to the third-rate Grandmasters. Xu Yan bursting his palm seemed spectacular and shocking.

However, Grandmasters, including peak Grandmasters, didn't really care much.

Now, Xu Yan's one-against-two feat, killing two Grandmasters, and strong ones at that, instantly increased his deterrence power by a large margin.

Even peak Grandmasters had to be cautious.

"It's just an empty name, not worth mentioning!" Xu Yan waved his hand.

The three continued to head to Canglan Island.

"Grandmasters are indeed very strong. They can actually fight me for such a long time, and their momentum is extremely amazing. Peak Grandmasters must be even more powerful," Xu Yan sighed.

He had underestimated Grandmasters before, and even more so, peak Grandmasters.

Grandmasters could already stir up the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, almost manipulate it for their own use. As for peak Grandmasters, did they already possess the ability to preliminarily control some of the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to enhance their combat?

They were truly not to be underestimated.

Xu Yan reckoned that with his current strength, he probably couldn't defeat a peak Grandmaster. However, a peak Grandmaster wouldn't be able to defeat him either.

"When I break through to the peak of the Innate Realm, I can also kill peak Grandmasters," Xu Yan silently thought.

The three arrived at Canglan Island, where the buildings and other structures were intact.

Xu Yan went straight to where Yin Hong was supposed to be, only to find that his residence had already been opened, which was expected.

After some searching, they finally found a secret room.

Opening the secret room, they found a pile of spirit crystals and several jade boxes, each containing seventh-grade spirit herbs.

A total of eleven seventh-grade spirit herbs.

There wasn't a single sixth-grade spirit herb; in the interior, sixth-grade spirit herbs were still relatively scarce.

Xu Yan quickly counted. There were less than a hundred thousand spirit crystals, and with the eleven seventh-grade spirit herbs, there were only thirty or so in total.

What relieved Xu Yan was that there was a box in the secret room containing spirit tickets, with a total value of several hundred thousand.

As for the storage receipts stored in the Tianbao Pavilion, there wasn't a single one.

Although this secret room was well hidden, and opening it required Master-level strength, it had been preserved without being looted.

It was obviously left intentionally for him. Those who moved away from Canglan Island were also afraid to leave nothing behind and provoke trouble from Xu Yan.

"This Yin Hong is quite poor," Xu Yan sighed.

"I wonder who his patron is, whether rich or not, and whether they will seek revenge for him!" Xu Yan was somewhat looking forward to the patron behind Yin Hong coming to seek revenge.

Being able to be Yin Hong's patron indicated a significant identity, and their strength shouldn't be weak, right? They must be a wealthy individual. If they came to seek revenge, could he make a fortune?

Xu Yan shook his head. Judging from the current situation, Yin Hong's patron didn't seem to have any intention of seeking revenge for him.

"Except for the spirit crystals, take everything else," Xu Yan took away the spirit herbs and spirit tickets, and closed the door of the secret room.

He stuffed everything into the box Du Yuying had given as a gift, to be taken back to the Border Wilderness when they returned.

"Brother Xie, you and Hu Shan, find a place to stay for now. I have some insights to ponder on Canglan Island for a few days," Xu Yan said.

"Brother Xu, aren't you afraid of the black-robed people sending a peak Grandmaster?" Xie Lingfeng reminded.

"It's fine. If they come, they come. They can't do anything to me," Xu Yan said indifferently.

"I and Hu Shan will try not to disturb Brother Xu's insights," Xie Lingfeng nodded.

After instructing Xie Lingfeng and Hu Shan, Xu Yan came to Canglan Island and sat cross-legged under an ancient tree on a small mountain peak.

He wanted to comprehend the method of attaining the Profound.

After the battle with two Grandmasters, he had gained more insights. Breaking through to the Profound Realm was just a matter of breaking through a layer of paper.

"The Profound Realm is the transformation of true energy into true essence, the integration of true essence with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, understanding the mysteries of heaven and earth, and being able to manipulate the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and initially contact the power of heaven and earth.

"I have already understood the wonders of true energy and have a direction on how to condense it into true essence. As for integrating with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth..."

Xu Yan closed his eyes slightly, recalling everything his master taught him about attaining the Profound. Gradually, the method of practicing the Profound appeared in his mind, connecting with the Innate Realm. How to break through the Profound Realm, how to practice, all became clear and vivid.

(End of this chapter)