Chapter 88: The Battle Intensifies

Nangong Tianxuan was dead.

He had been cleaved in two by Jun Wushuang’s sword stroke, split cleanly from the sky.

Blood rained through the heavens, and his corpse crashed to the earth.

All eyes lifted upward, every pupil filled with shock and terror.

Nangong Tianxuan had been the carefully cultivated heir of the Nangong clan, and also a heaven-rank disciple of the Imperial Martial Academy.

He possessed the Tyrannical Thunder Emperor Body, and he was a ninth-level Heavenly Human Realm expert.

With the addition of a lower-grade forbidden art, his strength had already pressed infinitely close to the Marquis Realm.

By all rights, once Nangong Tianxuan had invoked that forbidden art, no one of his generation could suppress him except the Crown Prince himself.

And yet Jun Wushuang, at only the sixth level of the Sea of Spirit Realm, had actually slain him with a single blow.

Even after seeing it with their own eyes, no one could quite believe it was real.

Huff, huff.

Jun Wushuang landed once more, his face deathly pale, sweat pouring down him, supporting himself with the Asura Demon Blade.

That strike had cost him everything.

All six hundred drops of demonic liquid had been exhausted, and the six spiritual demonic runes had gone dim.

Only by combining the power of turning into an Asura with the blade’s peerless sharpness had he barely managed to kill Nangong Tianxuan.

Of course, the greatest contributor to this battle was not the Asura Demon Blade, but the Armor of Life and Death.

After all, Nangong Tianxuan was a ninth-level Heavenly Human Realm expert. His attacks were ferocious, his power astonishing.

Without the Armor of Life and Death to defend him, Jun Wushuang would likely have been covered in wounds long ago, defeated and slain.

At present, the first seal on the Armor of Life and Death had not yet been released, so its defensive power remained limited.

It could only withstand forces below the Marquis Realm.

Against a true Marquis Realm expert, it would likely be unable to hold.

"Senior Brother Nangong was killed?"

"Finished, we’re completely finished. Ten battles, ten deaths—this life-and-death match has actually ended with our Imperial Martial Academy’s defeat. Before the next life-and-death match, we’ll all bear the shame of the losers."

"How did he do it? With only the sixth level of the Sea of Spirit Realm, he fought beyond his realm and killed a Heavenly Human. I’ve only ever heard of such a thing in connection with the Crown Prince!"

The Imperial Martial Academy sank into a grim and sorrowful silence, as though the mourners had fallen upon a coffin.

Before this battle, they had declared with absolute confidence that Jun Wushuang would surely die.

But no one had expected the final result to be like this.

Looking at the square reduced to ruins.

Looking at the blood scattered across the ground.

Looking at the ten corpses with their eyes still open in death.

Everyone felt a chill run through their scalps, unable for a long while to accept what they saw.

As for the common folk of the imperial capital, they were now so shocked they seemed stripped bare of flesh and bone, overwhelmed beyond words.

Most of them had not favored Jun Wushuang and believed he was certain to lose.

But reality had delivered a brutal slap in the face, leaving them speechless.

"Good, good, good!"

Mo Xingyun cried out three times in succession, lifted his wine gourd, and took three fierce swallows.

It was as though he meant to drown the resentment that had piled up over countless years in the wine and swallow it down in one gulp.

"Young Master won!" Lin Mengyao bounced up in delight.

"My master is so strong. I want to be like him too someday!" A Man gripped Liu Yiyi’s jade-like hand tightly, his blood surging as he watched, his heart yearning toward that brilliant figure.

A life-and-death match, ten battles, ten victories.

Jun Wushuang had stood alone against ten and created a miracle.

And now the final outcome of that match was before them.

With a sweep of his hand, Jun Wushuang drew in the corpses of Nangong Tianxuan, Dongfang Li, and the others, all of them vanishing into the bronze demon ring.

The ten who had fought today were all heaven-rank disciples of the Imperial Martial Academy.

Aside from the three who possessed rare spirit bodies and had risen through reversal, the majority were prodigies with kingly bodies.

Dongfang Li and Nangong Tianxuan were even prodigies with imperial bodies.

To Jun Wushuang, all of them were human-shaped great medicines.

Once he devoured these special constitutions, his Devouring Demon Body would surely reach minor completion.

He took the corpses, but not the heads; instead, he stacked them in a row, forming a small mound of severed heads.

"Daring little wretch, leave Senior Brother Nangong’s corpse behind!"

A shout rang out suddenly.

A disciple of the Earth rank at the ninth level of the Sea of Spirit Realm burst forth, charging fiercely at Jun Wushuang.

He was a genius of the Nangong clan. Seeing Jun Wushuang collecting the corpses, rage instantly consumed him.

Jun Wushuang was indeed powerful.

He had won ten battles out of ten and even killed Dongfang Li and Nangong Tianxuan.

But after using a divine forbidden art, he was now at the very brink of exhaustion.

This was the perfect chance to kill him.

"Despicable!" Mo Xingyun’s expression darkened as he was about to strike.

He would never allow Jun Wushuang to be killed.

But at that moment, the Earth-rank disciple had already reached Jun Wushuang’s front, spear in hand, spiritual energy erupting.

"Country bumpkin, I..."

Before he could finish.

A blade appeared before his eyes.

A bloodstained Asura Demon Blade.

The blade flashed.

The throat was slit, and a blood-soaked head flew high into the air.

Even weakened, Jun Wushuang was still not someone an Earth-rank disciple could match.

"Who else wants to come up and die?"

Jun Wushuang’s gaze swept across the crowd as he spoke coldly.

He had long since seen through the shameless face of the Imperial Martial Academy.

The life-and-death match had already ended, yet the Imperial Martial Academy still moved against him.

And neither Dongfang Ming, Dongfang Lan, nor Jiang Taixu had tried to stop it; they had tacitly permitted all of it.

That was enough to explain everything.

"Too arrogant! You killed our disciple and still dare to be so insolent? I’ll kill you!"

"Country bumpkin, what are you acting so proud for? If you want to die, I’ll grant your wish."

"Our Imperial Martial Academy will never lose! I’m going to avenge Senior Brother Dongfang!"

From within the crowd, wave after wave of furious roars suddenly erupted.

The fire banked in everyone’s hearts was instantly ignited.

The disciples of the Imperial Martial Academy all carried an air of superiority.

And Jun Wushuang, a country bumpkin from some tiny place, had insulted and humiliated them again and again, already driving them to the edge of madness.

Before this, Jun Wushuang’s arrival at the Imperial Martial Academy for cultivation had already stirred their rage.

Now, with these words to fan the flames, it exploded outright.

"Take revenge for our senior brothers!"

With that furious cry, one disciple after another of the Imperial Martial Academy rushed into the square, surrounding Jun Wushuang in a killing encirclement.

"You people are too shameless!" Lin Mengyao’s brows shot upward in fury.

Sword in hand, she charged straight into the square, ready to fight beside Jun Wushuang.

"Sis, stay back. I’ll help Master!" Though A Man had only been cultivating for a short time, he had already reached the third level of the Body Forging Realm.

Facing tens of thousands of genius disciples from the Imperial Martial Academy, he showed no fear and no retreat. Instead, he charged out without the slightest hesitation.

"I’ll go rescue my master!" Grandmaster Wu dared not be careless and rushed out swiftly, intending to pull Jun Wushuang from the square.

At this very moment, within the Imperial Martial Academy, aside from a few people such as Beiming Ye, all tens of thousands of disciples surged out, carrying monstrous fury and swearing to tear Jun Wushuang to pieces.

And Jiang Taixu, Dongfang Lan, and the other high-ranking figures gave silent approval to it all.

Or rather, this had been what they had been secretly driving from behind the scenes all along.

"Can’t win, so you gang up on him? Imperial Martial Academy, as shameless as ever!"

Mo Xingyun’s eyes were ice-cold as his sword intent erupted.

"The victor is king, the loser a bandit. Mo Xingyun, Qingyun Martial Academy must be destroyed today. This is the trend of the times—you cannot stop it!"

Jiang Taixu sneered and rose into the air, blocking Mo Xingyun.

In an instant, the battle escalated.

Qingyun Martial Academy and the Imperial Martial Academy.

War had begun.