The Candlelight Sword Formation transformed into a blazing sun that shone with endless sword qi as it shot towards the Weapon Tripod that He Jiang brought out.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The sword qi struck the surface of the Weapon Tripod repeatedly, letting out a deafening sound of metal clashing against each other. The brilliance emitted by the Candlelight Sword Formation was bedazzling and almost engulfed He Jiang along with his Weapon Tripod!

Boom!

It was yet another deafening sound.

The sword beam faded and dimmed. Finally, the Candlelight Sword Formation broke apart as 18 flying swords scattered from midair and fell to the ground.

Inside and outside the Five Elements Umbrella, all of the cultivators were staring intently.

The massive Weapon Tripod was still blocking He Jiang’s body as it emitted a weak glow. Although it was covered in white sword slashes, it was not destroyed.

After all, it was a superior-grade spirit weapon and was only a single grade lower than supreme-grade.

He Jiang was safe and sound behind the Weapon Tripod, merely looking somewhat pale with listless eyes.

Everyone from True Fire Sect heaved a sigh of relief.

“Thankfully, whew.”

“What a relief.”

Sima Zhi, Elder Zhang and the others exchanged glances of relief. What mattered was that he survived; it didn’t matter if he suffered some shocks.

“He Jiang’s a legacy disciple of True Fire Sect at the end of the day. He is rather capable.”

Some Golden Cores nodded silently.

Of everyone present, only the Nascent Souls such as Perfected Lord Ming Ze and Gu Xi did not speak.

The emperor was expressionless as he shook his head.

Right then, streaks of blood appeared on He Jiang’s initially pale face, opening up and expanding!

Shing!

The clothes on He Jiang’s body were ripped apart without any warning. It was as if his body was penetrated by countless blood qi, leaving wounds all over his body in a horrifying manner!

The clamor in the crowd disappeared.

Under countless terrified gazes, He Jiang’s face, neck, arms, legs and every other part of his body spewed blood, forming a huge mist of blood!

In that blood mist, He Jiang collapsed to the ground with dimmed eyes – he was no longer breathing.

Even though the Weapon Tripod had managed to defend against the sharpness of the Candlelight Sword Formation, He Jiang was still sliced from head to toe by the sword qi of the formation.

He was dead!

A legacy disciple of True Fire Sect who was initially able to secure a spot in the Spirit Ranking for sure had died in the Five Elements Umbrella just like that – he did not even have the chance to release his escape jade talisman.

Sima Zhi and everyone else swayed and sat down weakly while their minds were in a daze.

Initially, True Fire Sect was going to have confirmed spots in the Elixir, Weapon and Spirit Rankings. However, He Xing was slain by Su Zimo in the capital before the sect competition. Tao Feng attempted Mo Clan’s Spirit Gathering Technique and was severely injured. Now, even He Jiang was dead.

True Fire Sect had truly suffered an immense loss in this sect competition.

“Look!”

Someone pointed to the screen of the Five Elements Umbrella and yelled.

In the metal region, Su Zimo charged towards Feng Haoyu at an extremely fast speed, leaving a series of bewitching afterimages in his wake.

Feng Haoyu scoffed coldly.

If they were on the ground, he would be wary towards Su Zimo.

But now, he had Ethereal Wings and could maneuver in the air freely without the use of any external objects like Golden Cores – there was no way Su Zimo would be able to get close.

Ethereal Wings was a secret skill after all. Even if Su Zimo were to ride on his flying sword, he would be inferior compared to Feng Haoyu in terms of speed and agility!

Buzz!

Waving his robes, Feng Haoyu summoned three flying swords – all of them were superior-grade!

The fact that he possessed three superior-grade flying swords as a Foundation Establishment Cultivator was a clear sign of his importance to Blood Crow Palace.

Ever since he was defeated by Su Zimo in Ethereal Peak, Feng Haoyu had been cultivating diligently and practiced wielding multiple flying swords. Even though he could not create sword formations, his strength coupled with the use of Ethereal Sword was something not to be underestimated.

The light on the swords brightly but all of a sudden, they vanished.

Level 2 of Ethereal Sword, Void!

Su Zimo did not stop and kept closing the distance between him and Feng Haoyu. A bright light shone in his eyes while the middle finger and thumb of his left hand connected, forming a strange hand seal.

The moment the hand seal was conjured, the spirit energy in Su Zimo’s dantian channeled fanatically. Three spirit meridians were faintly visible as spirit energy surged into the hand seal!

Boom!

Suddenly, a massive crack appeared in the skies and a golden palm reached out and descended. It emitted a holy aura as though it was about to suppress all the sins in the world!

Fiend Suppression Seal!

The spectator area was filled with Golden Cores with sharp gazes – all of them could sense the power of that hand seal.

In midair, Feng Haoyu was completely unaware as he hollered, “Good timing! I’ll let you have a taste of my capabilities!”

Controlling the three flying swords in midair to stab towards Su Zimo’s charging figure, Feng Haoyu retrieved a white bone staff from his storage bag.

He bit the tip of his tongue and spat out a mouthful of essence blood that sprayed on his bone staff.

When the essence blood landed on the bone staff, it strangely disappeared as though it was consumed!

Right after, streaks of blood appeared on the staff. Crystal clear and transparent, they were like the veins on the body of a living being and exuded an extremely vile aura.

Feng Haoyu waved the bone staff and muttered something under his breath in an indecipherable language. Instantly, his eyes shone with a frightening shade of faint green.

“Condense!”

He gripped the bone staff tightly and pointed it towards the descending golden palm, shouting.

“Roar!”

A huge blood-colored skull appeared out of nowhere with a dark red glow of blood shining from its hollow sockets. Opening its massive mouth, it made a deafening roar towards the crushing golden palm!

Through that roar, the blood-colored skull smashed violently towards the golden palm, as if it was going to devour it.

As he watched everything unfold, the emperor was expressionless. However, a glint streaked through his eyes.

Perfected Lord Ming Ze’s expression was grave as he voice-transmitted with his spirit consciousness, “It’s truly a successor of the forbidden grounds.”

Gu Xi’s beautiful eyes narrowed slightly and the faint smile on her lips had disappeared as well.

On the battlefield, although the three flying swords had disappeared, three faint waves of ripples appeared in midair like reeds tapping on water.

Su Zimo lowered his height and was almost sprawled on the ground as he slithered forward like an anaconda without any speed reduction.

Feng Haoyu seemed to have expected it as one of the flying swords changed trajectories all of a sudden, sticking to the ground headed for Su Zimo’s back!

Poof!

A flash of blood light appeared.

Was the outcome already decided?

Everyone focused and saw that Su Zimo’s figure had merely paused for a brief instant before continuing to charge forward. While there was a wound on his back, his vitals were not hurt.

“Without those 18 supreme-grade flying swords, Su Zimo’s unable to create a sword formation. He’s going to be beaten badly.”

“If this drags on, he’ll sustain more injuries and bleed even more. Su Zimo’s definitely going to lose.”

Many cultivators discussed softly.

“Hmm?”

The emperor’s eyes narrowed.

There were some details that even Golden Cores might not be able to spot.

However, since the Five Elements Umbrella was his Dharmic weapon, the emperor could naturally sense every slight change within.

To his surprise, Su Zimo did not lose much blood from the wound on his back.

The muscles around the wound stuck together instantly and Su Zimo was already showing signs of recovery!

“What a terrifying physique!”

The emperor’s heart jolted.