600 A Fight to the Bitter End (1/2)

Dugu Chou cried out sharply as he boldly waved the sword in his hand. A huge whirlpool appeared in midair and the golden glints flew into the whirlpool like moths to fire.

Then, a deafening boom rent the air.

It was evident that Dugu Chou's counterattack had not only blocked the golden needles, he had exchanged blows with Liang Canghai even as he moved.

The Glints of Gold reversed their flight, veering towards Liang Canghai's exposed back instead.

While Dugu Chou's counterattack managed to subdue the Skied Glints of Gold, he could not fight inertia and eventually came to a halt.

Without waiting for the golden needles, Liang Canghai advanced again from the left to attack once more, going toe to toe with Gu Chaliang. The result was clear from the collision; Liang Canghai, who had already been injured multiples times, was thrown back by Gu Chaliang!

Truth be told, instead of being forcefully driven back, it was Liang Canghai himself who had leveraged on the resulting shock and somersaulted away, taking the opportunity to flee before he landed outside of the trio's siege.

If a ray of sword light had not come into Liang Canghai's path of escape, he would have had a good chance of escaping. Unfortunately for him, an intense beam of sword energy came in an with the overwhelming force of a soaring dragon, sweeping down to where Liang Canghai would land. The powerful wave arrived well in advance before an ice-cold sense of sword energy swept across as well.

Liang Canghai cried out; the ruler that had just returned to his hand was struck away. The fallen ruler met the intense sword energy head on, colliding with extremely high force. The Skied Glints of Gold was renowned, an impressive weapon, but its reputation stemmed from its unique material that emphasized its damage ability; its defensive capabilities, however, were not entirely up to the mark. It could, perhaps, hold its ground in usual combat, but with how Liang Canghai had been numerously wounded and reduced in combat power, as well as the abrupt counterattack, the mystical Qi that had been fed to the ruler was no more than a fifth of the usual amount. There was simply no way it could survive the exceptionally intense sword energy.

With a soft crack, the singular ruler that had once triumphed over the martial world turned into a golden dust that rained down on the ground, not unlike common dust.

Liang Canghai shouted with heartache before he moaned in agony, a hole appearing on his shoulder. Not only had Dugu Chou's Grieving Sword shattered Liang Canghai's weapon, it had also pierced his shoulder.

”Pow!”

Gu Chaliang appeared stealthily, landing a solid palm strike on Liang Canghai's back. The latter emitted a low grunt, falling down like a broken kite; upon landing, he staggered, almost unable to stand.

The shadow above him followed quickly. Dugu Chou had yet to stop his pursuit. Sword light landed from the sky, showering down like a sudden shower of rain. Gu Chaliang kept up as well, launching an endless wave of melee attacks; various techniques were employed, each one of them lethal.

Feng Xiange was the only one standing farther away. He was regulating his pulse with closed eyes, his presence was extremely weak. It was not that he did not want to participate in the battle but he had taken Liang Canghai's deadly strike right where it counted when the latter was trying to break the siege. The result was the near crushing of his soul. It was already an extreme chore for him to continue standing here, thus, he was no longer be able to intervene in the fight.

In spite of this, his contribution was more than enough. Even though there were only Dugu Chou and Gu Chaliang now, Liang Canghai could barely flee, even if he were given wings!

Liang Canghai bit his teeth; it was like he was nailed to the ground, as he played all his defensive cards in order to save himself. The series of accidents had rendered a certain severity to his injuries. He no longer had any plans to break the siege and escape now; with his current condition, it was impossible for him to leave by his own efforts.