Chapter 331: Chapter 328: To Do As One Pleases (Part 1)

"Impossible! This is impossible!"

Huangfu Yu looked crestfallen. He stared at the scene before him and stumbled back, almost breaking out of his berserk state.

Huangfu Jun was in no better state, his grip on his longsword faltering.

The experts hiding in the shadows could no longer contain themselves and emerged one after another, their eyes wide as saucers, the shock written all over their faces.

The jaws of the survivors from the Imperial Academy hit the floor. The entire area fell deathly silent.

Zhang Shao looked as if he’d been struck by lightning, while Mu Xue was utterly stupefied.

What could have possibly caused them to lose their composure like this?

Before everyone’s eyes, the External Incarnation liquefied, flowing and surging as it coiled around Mo Qi.

It then solidified into a suit of form-fitting Battle Armor, encasing him completely.

The aura that had belonged to Qin Daye vanished, replaced by a fundamental aura identical to Mo Qi’s own.

A clone?!

That word, one that should never be heard in the Mortal District, flashed through the minds of the powerful experts.

Though it was hard to believe, other than a clone, they could think of nothing else that could explain Qin Daye’s existence.

’The one I’ve been fighting this whole time... was just one of his clones?!’

Huangfu Yu could not accept this reality.

He had spent all that time posturing and spouting one threat after another, only to find out his target was just a damn clone!

What did that make him? A monkey being played for a fool?

This went far beyond mere embarrassment.

This was outright humiliation!

An absolute disgrace!

Huangfu Jun’s face darkened as well.

"You die today!"

Huangfu Yu roared in fury. The Grotto Heaven behind his head flared open, and without another word, he brought it crashing down on Mo Qi.

"I’ll admit, your clone’s defense is impressive. But your real body is only at the Vajra Realm! I can kill you with the Rebound Force alone!"

"I refuse to believe your real body is as strong as your clone!"

Seeing this, Mo Qi simply smiled. Instead of retreating, he advanced, stepping forward to meet Huangfu Yu’s Grotto Heaven head-on.

VMMMM!

The world trembled. The Grotto Heaven crashed down toward Mo Qi, only to come to a dead stop about ten feet above his head.

Even after being weakened by the Incarnation Battle Armor, the tyrannical, crushing force of the Grotto Heaven was still immense.

But when that force was applied to Mo Qi, it was like poking a hornet’s nest.

If one could see through him, they would discover that every limb, bone, and organ in Mo Qi’s body was now linked by dense streams of Life Aura. Channels of luminous energy surged upward along his spine.

The phantom of a towering, ancient tree materialized behind Mo Qi. Its dense canopy supported Huangfu Yu’s Grotto Heaven, holding it suspended in mid-air.

Looking closely at Mo Qi, one could see thick, phantom tree roots extending from the soles of his feet and anchoring themselves in the void.

A powerful, anchoring force flowed continuously from those phantom roots into Mo Qi, allowing him to stand unshaken before Huangfu Yu’s Grotto Heaven. It was as if he himself had truly become a great tree!

"Mental Realm Transformation?!" Huangfu Yu exclaimed, his face pale with shock. "You’re in the Void Realm?"

The tree phantom’s appearance and the intensity of its aura were identical to that of a Mental Realm Transformation.

Mo Qi shook his head and chuckled. "If I were truly in the Void Realm, do you think you’d still be qualified to fight me?"

"Impossible!" Huangfu Yu ignored the mockery in Mo Qi’s voice, refusing to believe he was merely at the Vajra Realm.

To a Vajra Realm Cultivator, the oppressive power of a Grotto Heaven was nothing short of catastrophic.

Qin Daye had been an exception, for he was an External Incarnation.

’If Mo Qi’s cultivation is truly only at the Vajra Realm, how could he possibly withstand this?’

’And besides, how could someone at the Vajra Realm possibly grasp Mental Realm Transformation?!’

"Show me your Grotto Heaven!" Huangfu Yu demanded coldly.

Mo Qi rolled his eyes, speechless. ’Grotto Heaven my ass!’

’If I really had a Pocket World Realm cultivation, I’d have slapped you to death by now!’

"If you won’t show it, then I’ll just have to beat it out of you!"

Huangfu Yu touched the Asura Blood Pupil between his brows. Instantly, a bloody light shone forth, forming an enormous pupil.

The pupil contracted, forming a hypnotic swirl.

An astonishing aura emanated from it. Huangfu Yu reached into the massive, bloody pupil behind him and pulled out a peculiar longsword with a three-edged blade.

In an instant, the thick stench of blood filled the battlefield, so strong it was nauseating.

"The Asura Sword! Legend has it that’s the personal sword of the Lord of Hell, Asura himself! Only someone with a true heart for slaughter can summon it. I can’t believe that little monster actually managed it! No wonder the Huangfu Family values him so highly!"

One of the experts couldn’t help but exclaim.

"It’s not the real Asura Sword. It’s just an apparition manifested from its aura," someone else remarked, a hint of sourness in their voice.

"Heh, an apparition from the Asura Sword isn’t enough for you? What, jealous of the Huangfu Family?"

"Jealous? Hmph, as if! Besides, it’s not a given he’ll win against that kid from the Mountain and Sea Empire!"

"And you say you’re not jealous? He’s brought out the Asura Sword. That kid from the Mountain and Sea Empire has no chance of walking away from this."

"We’ll just have to wait and see!" the speaker retorted, though their voice clearly lacked conviction.

Mo Qi glanced at the incredibly flashy Asura Sword in Huangfu Yu’s hand. With a flick of his own wrist, a jet-black kitchen knife appeared in his grasp.

’The Obsidian Kitchen Knife. It’s been a while!’

Mo Qi ran his hand over the blade. The Obsidian Kitchen Knife quivered faintly, letting out a soft, joyful hum.

When the others saw the Obsidian Kitchen Knife, they were rendered speechless—especially the experts who knew the significance of the Asura Sword.

"Holy shit, what the hell am I seeing? Is that a kitchen knife?"

"Fighting the Asura Sword with a kitchen knife... The outcome will be so gruesome I can’t bear to imagine it."

"The Mountain and Sea Empire can’t be that poor, can it? Old Li was a major figure back in his day. Did he really not leave behind a single Divine Weapon? Fighting an enemy with a kitchen knife... this is just absurd!"

Because of Obsidian’s unique property of being impervious to Spiritual Energy, even a scan with Divine Sense would not reveal its miraculous nature. Everyone simply assumed it was a kitchen knife made of ordinary material.

Seeing this, Huangfu Yu assumed Mo Qi was deliberately trying to humiliate him again, and his rage intensified.

"You’re courting death!"

He thrust his sword toward Mo Qi. A monstrous wave of bloody light erupted, the Sword Energy laced with a murderous aura that could throw the mind into chaos.

Had it been anyone else, even another expert at the Void Realm, they would have been overwhelmed by this murderous aura, their consciousness momentarily driven from their body, leaving them paralyzed.

But for Mo Qi, leaving aside his Chaos Scripture, the Nether Soul Flame alone was enough to guard the core of his Sea of Consciousness, incinerating and purifying the invading murderous aura.

’Slow. Far too slow!’

Mo Qi swung his knife. Though it appeared to be a single slash, he had in fact struck the Asura Sword no fewer than a hundred times.

He sheared away more than half of the bloody aura clinging to the Asura Sword.

If Huangfu Yu hadn’t been primarily probing and had ventured deeper into Mo Qi’s attack range, it wouldn’t have been the aura on his sword that was shorn away, but his hand!

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Another shower of sparks erupted. Huangfu Yu sensed that something was terribly wrong. Without a moment’s hesitation, he drew back his sword and retreated in a flash.

To an outside observer, it looked as if they had clashed and parted in a single instant.

Mo Qi was completely unscathed, but the Asura Sword in Huangfu Yu’s hand had dimmed considerably.