Nine Nether Dragon Emperor-Chapter 54: Unparalleled Sharpness, Cutting Through Everything in the World!
「Wangdong City.」
As soon as Ning Xuan stepped inside, he was immediately locked onto by countless gazes. When everyone looked behind him and saw he was alone, their initial shock gave way to relaxed smiles.
"Might you be Ning Xuan of Dong Yang County?" a brawny, bare-chested man holding a hundred-pound hammer blocked Ning Xuan’s path, looking down on him.
Ning Xuan nodded.
"I’m from The Capital. I’ll be borrowing your head!"
SPLAT!
The words had barely left his mouth before his massive head soared into the air. The brawny man’s knee buckled mid-stride, and he collapsed to the ground.
Ning Xuan kicked the giant hammer, sending it flying into the air.
BANG!
The freshly severed head burst apart in midair. Like a crimson firework, it exploded in the daylight—a daytime firework!
After a brief silence, the crowd erupted.
"He’s as arrogant as the legends say!"
"What nerve! Does he think there’s no one in The Capital?!"
SPLAT!
SPLAT!
Not far away, two people had just opened their mouths to speak before a sword silenced their throats.
At this point, words were useless. For Ning Xuan, there was only one path: Kill!
He would carve a river of blood through the city! He would slaughter until the sky went dark and the sun and moon vanished!
Everyone on the city walls, in the high towers, and on the rooftops fell silent. The entire city was as still as a midnight graveyard. Ning Xuan’s sword was simply too fast, and those with insufficient cultivation dared not make a move.
Until a voice rang out.
"Fine swordsmanship. Let me have a try."
A young man walked out from the shadows.
"Dongguo Xie! I can’t believe he’s here!"
"What? That’s Dongguo Xie? The one who dominated the Heavenly Stele Battlefield at Donglin Crossing for five whole years?"
"That’s right, it’s him! Second only to the Divine Son, Ning Yang!"
Countless expectant eyes turned toward the scene.
With a low cry, Dongguo Xie vanished from his spot.
THUD!
Ning Xuan stood his ground, unmoving, but in the empty space before him, a headless corpse suddenly fell from the void.
"A head! It’s Dongguo Xie’s head!" someone shouted in horror, pointing at the sky.
All eyes followed, and a collective gasp went through the crowd.
Such terrifying swordsmanship! Such a fearsome young man!
At that moment, who knew how many people quietly retreated into the shadows. Aligning with the Ning Family was one thing, but staying alive was another!
With an expressionless face, Ning Xuan continued forward. His goal had never changed: pass through this long street, exit through the West Gate, and head for The Capital.
"Finally, someone worth my while," a lazy voice spoke up.
The crowd followed the sound and saw a young man sitting up from a pile of straw on a bullock cart by the road.
"Who’s that?"
"I don’t know."
"To dare speak up after seeing Ning Xuan instantly kill Dongguo Xie, his strength must be even greater!"
"Isn’t that obvious?!"
Chewing on a blade of grass, the young man looked at Ning Xuan with a devil-may-care attitude. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Dongguo. The same ’Dongguo’ as Dongguo Xie."
Everyone was stunned, speculating on his relationship with the man just slain.
The young man quickly clarified, "You want to know why? Because not long ago, at the very peak of the Donglin Heavenly Stele, Dongguo Xie disappeared. I have this habit, you see. After I kill someone, I take their surname. It’s a reminder to myself not to target anyone with that name for the next ten years. Wiping out an entire bloodline is just so boring. And do you know how many moves it took me to defeat Dongguo Xie? The same as you: one."
In the shadows, many expressions turned strange. They had heard of the Heavenly Stele Battlefield; it was just a projection, wasn’t it? This guy must be an idiot. What was there to brag about?
But then someone spoke up, "I heard that if you perform exceptionally well in the Heavenly Stele Battlefield, the Stele Guardian’s consciousness will awaken."
A wave of understanding passed through the crowd. The way they looked at the young man changed. He truly had the capital and confidence to back up his words.
Initially, Ning Xuan’s face was a mask of indifference. But upon hearing this last part, a strange light flickered in his eyes. He recalled that back in the Heavenly Stele Battlefield at Farewell Crossing, he had defeated a projection of Ning Yang and obtained a Primordial Source. Could this young man named Dongguo have experienced the same thing?
For the first time, Ning Xuan didn’t rush to attack. Instead, he asked, "What reward did you receive back then?"
Dongguo was taken aback, then his lips curled into a sneer as he retorted, "What else could there be besides Element Crystals?"
Ning Xuan pressed on, "I heard there’s a place in The Capital called the Stele Forest?"
Dongguo’s eyes narrowed.
Ning Xuan smiled, but then his brow furrowed. If this man really did obtain a Primordial Source just like him, how could he acquire it? This wasn’t the Heavenly Stele Battlefield, after all.
Just then, his opponent made his move.
WHOOSH!
The blade of grass he held in his mouth shot through the air. Its speed and power surpassed even the arrows from the Fiery Sun Sect experts he had faced.
Ning Xuan didn’t flinch or dodge. His opponent was incredibly fast; if he dared to move, a fatal blow would obliterate him instantly. Just as Ning Xuan pointed a finger forward, the young man vanished.
Above him, a peerless Sword Light tore through the void like paper, arriving in a flash!
SQUELCH!
The sound of a blade piercing flesh rang out.
The young man landed beside Ning Xuan and stumbled back several steps. At the same time, a trench over a hundred feet long scarred the ground to Ning Xuan’s left. That was created by the Sword Light!
Dongguo steadied himself, his left arm dripping with blood. A hole had been pierced clean through his bicep—a sword wound!
"How did you do that?!" Dongguo’s perpetually playful expression vanished, replaced by a deathly stare.
Ning Xuan hadn’t even moved, yet a sword had descended from the heavens! He was lucky his reaction was so fast. A moment slower, and it would have been his throat pierced, not his arm. That was terrifying.
Ning Xuan was also slightly surprised. The youth clearly only had a Profound Realm cultivation, yet his sword strike hadn’t killed him instantly. In the past, that would have been impossible. His own cultivation was now at the Ninth Layer Heavens of the Profound Realm. Despite traveling for days on end, he had still managed to advance a layer on the road, rising from the Eighth Layer Heavens he had reached in the Fiery Sun Sect ruins.
Ning Xuan remarked with genuine feeling, "As expected of someone from The Capital. You have some skill. It seems I’ll have to be more careful with my words and actions from now on."
To Dongguo’s ears, this was the ultimate insult—a sharp mockery of his earlier boasts.
"Today, the name Ning Xuan will be erased from this world!!!" As Dongguo spoke, a terrible Sword Light erupted from his body.
"Slash!"
With that single word, a terrifying, supreme Sword Intent flooded the heavens and earth, an aura that could annihilate all of creation!
SPLAT!
Across from Dongguo, on the city wall dozens of yards away, a Martial Artist who couldn’t dodge in time was split in two!
"Gods... what a terrifying strike!"
"He’s nourishing a blade with his own body! That strike contains his entire essence, qi, and spirit!"
To the astonishment of the onlookers, though Dongguo still stood in the same spot, they could no longer sense his presence. In his place stood a blade—a blade of peerless sharpness, capable of cutting down anything in the world.
In contrast, Ning Xuan was still just Ning Xuan.
"It’s over," someone murmured. "I don’t believe Ning can withstand that strike!"
Immediately, someone else nearby instinctively started to nod but then froze in horror. "Wait, that’s not right! He’s so close to the center of it... why is he completely unharmed?!"
Even the Martial Artists on the wall dozens of yards away had become collateral damage. How could Ning Xuan, standing in the eye of the storm, be perfectly fine?
