A dazzling light emitted from the tip of the sword and in a fierce momentum, inserted directly into the chest of the man. The black-dressed man"s face grew paler, blood dripping from his chest, and his attacks instantly slowed.

Qin Mo"s body jolted once and he s.h.i.+fted to his feet, breaking away from the man"s control.

The nascent spiritual power within Qin Mo"s body immediately surged forward like river water as he stood opposite the man. The sword in his hand flashed once, disappearing from the man"s chest and reappearing before him.

Qin Mo"s gaze was sharp, and his sword lay across his chest, s.h.i.+ning brightly. He carried his sword forward for a strike, and the weapon instantly transformed into a light shadow. It contained a fearful power that landed all over the man"s body.

Faced with this fierce blow, the man"s eyebrows jumped. If he had his usual strength, he wouldn"t be afraid of this attack. But during his fight with Elder Jinbi, he had been badly injured, and now there was a strange giant eagle constantly striking him from behind. This blow from Qin Mo caused him a lot of trouble.

The black-clad man"s glare was dark, and a strange scarlet color slowly enveloped it. An intense black smoke spread from him and then vibrated continuously, quickly wrapping around the man"s entire body. 

The man"s figure rapidly grew larger, while the black smoke surrounding him also became denser.  

Qin Mo"s powerful sword energy attack finally landed. Unfortunately, the black smoke around the man moved and blocked his single attack head-on.

The black gas slowly dispersed, and the man"s figure had disappeared. In his place was a giant black monster, standing before Qin Mo. He was tall, about five meters tall, but very thin. From a distance, he looked like a dried corpse.

The moment the black monster appeared, the Elder Jinbi"s expression changed. He stood in place with his lips tightly pursed. He glanced at Lin Zizheng and said in an astonished tone under his breath, "It"s them. They came out."

"Follow me." A dry and astringent voice came out from the monster"s mouth. Ruby"s eyes kept flas.h.i.+ng, staring at Qin Mo, while a hand extended towards him. A cold and gloomy breath came from him, which made the surrounding air sluggish.

As soon as he opened his mouth, Qin Mo knew that the monster was the black-clad man.

A shrill cut through the air, and from a distance raced a pale figure. 

This was the giant eagle that was fighting with the man earlier. Under Lin Zizheng"s control, the eagle attacked the man"s head with its sharp beak in an extraordinarily strong force.

The unexpected attack didn"t change the man"s expression. His sight was still stubbornly fixed on Qin Mo. His smokey palms waved freely in the eagle"s direction. There was a flash of black light and the eagle"s shape suddenly froze in place.

Boom. 

The sound of an explosion echoed as the moment the black light entered the eagle"s body, it burst out from the inside, turning into spots of light that disappeared into thin air. This eagle was formed by Lin Zizheng"s nascent spiritual power. Now that it was scattered, Lin Zizheng"s breath was suddenly weak.

Without speaking a single word, the man once again waved a hand in Lin Zizheng"s direction, and a violent force landed on him. Lin Zizheng"s body was quickly shot backwards.

Seeing Lin Zizheng injured, the elder"s expression changed from a relaxed to a somewhat nervous one.

He didn"t know Qin Mo, so he didn"t care about his life or death, but Lin Zizheng was different. He moved and came behind Lin Zizheng in a split second, catching his flying body.

Qin Mo glanced at Lin Zizheng. When he saw it wasn"t serious, he spared no energy to pay attention to him. Because after the man waved a blow at Lin Zizheng, his palm charged at him next.

He stood in place with an icy cold expression, alertness deep in his eyes.

A breeze blew by and gently swept his black hair in front of his forehead, blocking his dark eyes. Under this tense atmosphere, he suddenly moved.

He stepped backward and loosened his right hand. His sword floated across his chest. Quickly forming a series of hand seals with bright eyes, Qin Mo said in a low tone, "Sky Scattered Sword."

Sky Scattered Sword was his strongest attack that he mastered. It needed a lot of spiritual power to perform. However, when confronted with such a powerful enemy as this man, he couldn"t care less about it.

A fluctuation of power slowly burst out around Qin Mo. Not knowing if it was an illusion or not, the distant sky seemed to somewhat darken.

The sword which was condensed from his nascent spiritual power was suspended before him, emitting a buzzing sound. The air seemed to tremble as a powerful force emerged from the s.p.a.ce around the blade.

This power wasn"t the spiritual power he was familiar with, but another kind of mystical energy scattered in the world.

Under the impact of this energy, the original transparent sword gradually solidified, and a vague but heavy pressure released slowly from the sword blade. The blade quivered and became immense in size, with its tip pointing directly at the man, striking towards him with a terrible killing aura.

The black-clad man"s movement halted for a moment and the darkness around his body bloomed, forming a huge s.h.i.+eld to protect him within.

A huge, m.u.f.fled sound reverberated when the sword and s.h.i.+eld collided. The man"s body shook, and he took a few involuntarily steps back before stopping.

He raised his head to look at the huge sword before him, the scarlet in his glare even more serious. A sneer appeared on his mouth as the black smoke around him flashed constantly. He stretched out his smokey hands and grasped the huge sword.

The next moment, the blade swayed and became transparent again, slowly losing its powerful energy in the stalemate.

Qin Mo fixed his eyes on the man. When he saw that he couldn"t land a hit on him, he clenched his right hand tightly, and another sword appeared in front of him.

Expression solemn, he commanded the sword ability, "Hurricane Slash," and the sword immediately waved in the man"s direction.

When the sword fell, a gale erupted all around. A sword light that carried enough energy to tear the heaven and earth flew straight toward the black-clad man. This attack was undoubtedly more powerful than the previous one.

"You actually can use the energy from heaven and earth…" Elder Jinbi was surprised and narrowed his eyes. 

"No wait. This isn"t the energy from heaven and earth." Looking at the withered plants around, the old man frowned. "This is the life force between heaven and earth."

As he said this, he paused and glanced at Qin Mo. He gently shook his head. "But it"s a pity. If this young man"s nascent spiritual power is just a bit stronger, maybe he could defeat this man, but now…"

Clas.h.!.+

A loud explosion sounded right as he finished the last word. The sword had confronted the man and a fierce energy storm spread out from the center. The surrounding wind and clouds changed for a time.

When the fluctuation subsided, both figures in a sorry state retreated, barely standing firmly in the air.

Qin Mo"s breath was uneven, and a stream of blood poured out from his throat. However, he continued to stand upright with a pale face. Except for this, no anomaly could be seen on his appearence.

The man in black stood opposite him, looking much more miserable. His left arm hung feebly on the ground, crippled during the confrontation with Qin Mo. Black blood continuously bled out on every open hole on his head—eyes, ears, nostrils and mouth.

The black-clad man"s glare was fixed on Qin Mo. He moved and extended his intact hand at him.

Qin Mo held his sword, preparing to slash once more. But his hands suddenly trembled, and the sword in his hand disappeared. 

A grim smile appeared on the man"s face. He noticed that Qin Mo had exhausted all of his nascent spiritual power after that powerful blow just now.

Lin Zizheng"s pupils shrank as he watched. He dragged his injured body, struggling to stand up from the ground, and staggered toward Qin Mo.

His nascent spiritual power surged without stopping. But at the moment, he could only condense the long staff. Holding the long staff, he was ready to attack the man with eyes full of murderous intent. 

The old man"s face stiffened and he moved to block Lin Zizheng. While stroking his long beard that gave him a rather divine and sage-like appearance, he advised, "Don"t be impulsive. You are currently not his opponent."

"Scram!" Darkness and ice-filled Lin Zizheng"s glare, a strange darkness surging deep in his pupils. A b.l.o.o.d.y thirsty smile appeared slowly on his lips.

Strings of black lines emerged from his body and they directly wrapped around the old man blocking his way. He pulled the old man aside and continued his attack on the black-clad man.

Startled by Lin Zizheng"s appearance, the Elder Jinbi suddenly froze in place, and could only respond once his body had been moved aside.

Knowing that Lin Zizheng would once again be beaten by the man, the elder immediately struggled out of the black bindings and rushed toward Lin Zizheng.

He held on Lin Zizheng"s wrist tightly and felt the nearly boiling nascent spiritual power coming from him. The old man frowned and looked at the other two men in the distance. With a move of his fingertips, Lin Zizheng was trapped in place.

He was. .h.i.t by Lin Zizheng"s glare that could make one"s blood run cold. With a glimmer in his eyes, the old man laughed dryly. "You stay here. I"ll help you."

Feeling the tremendous pressure behind him, the black-clad man"s face twitched. He wanted to take Qin Mo away from here as quickly as possible but didn"t expect such great offensive force from the boy. He couldn"t keep his current monstrosity form for long. If he dealt with the elder again, he surely couldn"t take Qin Mo with him today.

s.h.i.+fting his attention to Qin Mo in front of him, red glinted through his gaze. His face looked determined. No matter what, he must capture this man today. This was master"s orders.

Focusing on that thought, the man changed tactics. His hand grasped firmly on the drooping left arm and pulled down on it with a strong force while m.u.f.fling his groan. He whispered a few words with lips trembling as he slowly drew a circle in the air.

Under his action, a door suddenly appeared in the air. Watching it, he waved a hand in Qin Mo"s direction.

Qin Mo"s figure dodged, trying to avoid the man"s attack, but his body suddenly stiffened and pain burst from all of his limbs. The moment he paused, the man"s palm landed on him, and the blow pushed him directly into the black door.

As Qin Mo entered, it slowly disappeared into thin air. The man in black witnessed this with a satisfied smile on his face.

The old man"s attack suddenly reached him, but the man didn"t defend against it as a burst of black light slowly dispersed from his Dantian.

The old man"s expression changed. He stopped his attack and quickly retreated. He pulled up Lin Zizheng behind him and shouted, "Get out now, he"s going to self-explode."

Boom!

The surrounding s.p.a.ce twisted and torn apart. A rich black gas covered the whole atmosphere, and everything in it turned to ashes, disappearing into the air.

In a stone chamber deep in the Tomb Palace, the air warped suddenly and a figure stepped out of thin air.

Qin Mo stabilized his body and looked around. A portrait appeared in front of him.

The portrait depicted a ferocious evil spirit whose scarlet eyes were fixed on him. Even though it was a non-living object, he felt strong malice from it.

"Hehehe, welcome to the Tomb Palace." When his attention was focused on the portrait, a frightening voice suddenly came from behind him.

His body stiffened and slowly, he turned around to see a figure sitting on a praying mat in the center of the stone chamber. A dim crimson light emitted from the figure"s sight, which was fixed on him.

Translator(s): Teo
Editor(s): Dark
Proofer(s): Sarah