Chapter 525
Neil formed a blade with his free hand, sheathing it in boundless Primordial Energy. He aimed it straight at Leander’s heart, expecting the blow to cleave through the man like a steel knife through soft butter.
He had activated the Ring of the Sage for defense, weathering four invisible swords of pure spiritual strength generated by Leander. His sole intent was to close the distance.
A spiritual master, like any mage, relied on maintaining a certain range to keep themselves safe and invincible. But once someone breached that barrier, they exposed their greatest vulnerability.
Neil’s hand-blade was poised to inflict a crippling, one-strike wound.
Yet, in the very moment he lunged, a long, pale hand materialized faster than he could move, clamping down hard on his wrist.
He raised his gaze slightly, meeting Leander’s deep, measured eyes, and his expression froze.
In that instant, he sensed an extreme danger, a truly perilous fluctuation. Without a second thought, he twisted his arm, pumping his Primordial Energy to its limit, desperate to wrench free from Leander’s grip.
The sheer force he exerted fractured the very air around them, yet Leander’s hand remained like a steel vice locked onto his wrist, refusing to yield an inch.
“What in the devil p>
Astonishment flooded Neil.
His own strength was that of a King Phase master; his intensified Primordial Energy could crush and tear apart a battle tank. Why was it having absolutely no effect on Leander?
As panic and doubt surfaced, Leander suddenly flashed a wide smile. “I was using spiritual strength to generate invisible sword energy. If you had held your ground and countered with Primordial Energy, you might have lasted ten minutes or so. What a pity you were so foolish as to choose a close-quarters fight with me!
“You’re right. Normally, you can amplify your advantage and secure a kill by getting close to a spiritual master. But you met me—you’ll only be defeated faster by closing with me p>
The moment he uttered that final word, his palm seemed to conceal a miniature black hole, unleashing a ferocious, sucking pull.
Neil gasped, his expression contorted.
He felt his innate vitality flowing out of him like river water, converging on Leander’s palm, then surging up Leander’s arm in a counter-current, being rapidly absorbed and stolen.
How is this possible? What kind of ability is this? His heart pounded with dread and shock. No matter how he tried to contain it, his Primordial Energy continued to drain away relentlessly, completely outside his command.
As Leander siphoned the energy, the divine light in his eyes grew exponentially brighter. For the first time, Neil experienced a genuine, icy fear.
He didn’t realize that back then, on Stormcairn River, Douglas Tarlyn had been subdued by the exact same method, his innate vitality almost completely stripped away.
It was a contingency Neil never imagined Leander possessed.
Leander activated the Devourer’s Ninefold Path, transforming his core into a massive, whirling vortex that violently drew in and converted Neil’s innate vitality for his own use. Neil’s imposing aura began to dwindle at an alarming rate.
Furious and terrified by the swift depletion of his Primordial Energy, Neil tried repeatedly to tear himself free from Leander, but all his attempts proved futile. Finally, a fierce light flashed in his eyes. A ray of brilliance shot from his hand to illuminate the space above his head: the Ring of the Sage.
“Space Sever!” he shouted, a low, urgent cry.
The Ring of the Sage blazed with light, bathing the sky in a holy radiance. In that blinding flash, both Leander and Neil vanished.
“Hmm p>
The instant the holy light descended,
Leander’s eyes narrowed. For a
fraction of a second, he lost all sense of his surroundings. His perception, his touch, his hearing, his vision-all were abruptly shut off. But in that crucial, momentary detachment from his environment, Neil violently shook his arm, employing the Boneshrink technique from the Arayana Arts to slip out of Leander’s powerful control.
Leander snapped back to awareness immediately. Neil, unwilling to risk another close encounter, stamped his foot and opened a gap of nearly three hundred feet between them.
He clenched his fingers, a mocking smile curving his lips. “Are you really that afraid of me p>
Neil’s eyes were steady and dark. He refused to be baited by Leander’s taunt. He beckoned with his hand, and the light of the Ring of the Sage subsided, settling once more above his head.
“Jeff, I don’t know what method you used just now, but you’ve missed the perfect chance to take me out! I won’t make the same mistake
twice he growled scennet
He grasped the
air, and a holy beam descended from the Ring of the Sage, condensing into a ball of tight that
he held in his palm.
“Luminous Palmblade p>
Without hesitation, he gripped his hand, then shaped it into a blade, slashing horizontally.
The sword energy, wrapped in holy light, shot across the air. A streak of white light traversed the sky, extending for hundreds of feet, appearing to split the very heavens in two.
When he brought that strike down, the Hermit and the others were aghast, their eyes widened with dread.
This attack was easily ten times more terrifying than the maximum power the Hermit had exerted with his Ice Soul sword. The mere residual energy filling the sky was enough to instantly shred a steel-armored tank into worthless scrap.
“Hmph p>
Leander smiled, not dodging. He merely flickered the divine light in his eyes. In front of him, an invisible ripple of spiritual strength spread out, forming an intangible shield that separated the space right before his chest.
The Sword of Holy Light descended directly toward Leander’s head. But half a foot
above his crown, it stopped abruptly, unable to cut any further. Waves of compressed air exploded harmlessly around Leander’s head.
“What?” Neil’s pupils contracted.
He had used the strength of his
Primordial Energy to channel the reserve Power of Holy Light within the Ring of the Sage, unleashing the Sword of Holy Light. His
ver
predecessor, the previous Demon Hunter and his own master had
used this very weapon to slay a King Phase expert from the Blood Clan.
Though his current cultivation level still fell short of his teacher’s, it wasn’t far off. Yet, this mighty sword couldn’t even breach Leander’s spiritual strength defense?
“So, this is the King Phase,” Leander said, catching the Sword of Holy Light. He shook his head with a light chuckle, his previous curiosity about the King Phase instantly vanishing.
“The supposed King Phase seems to be nothing more than this. For someone like you, who has just barely stepped into the King Phase, attempting to kill me is utterly delusional. I’m done playing games. Today, I’m going to use my spiritual strength to execute a True King p>
At Leander’s words, Neil’s attention immediately snapped to the space above his head. A cyclone suddenly solidified there, then reversed its spin, forming a crescent- shaped energy blade.
“I call this blade Origin. And I will use it to cut you down p>
As Leander’s voice faded, the crescent-shaped energy blade vanished into the
spatial fabric.
Neil’s pupils drastically shrunk, and his body instantly froze solid.
From the perspective of the Hermit and the others, a semi-circular blade suddenly
tore its way out of the space, without any warning, as if appearing from thin air. It
sliced diagonally through Neil’s chest.
A plume of blood sprayed into the air.
Neil’s body was instantly cleaved in two.