423 Acquiring the Thunder Sword
The Divine Nine-Dragon Cauldron
Sheng Ge could not have known what Su Yu was thinking.
"Since a borrowed cultivation base is not acquired through training, it's only temporary. If you don't remove it in time, at the very least, your Dantian will be destroyed. At worst, your body and soul will be destroyed completely!"
Su Yu was stunned. He quickly cast aside all his would-be schemes.
Sheng Ge took a deep breath and spat out a black ball from her mouth. Dense ghost energy surrounded the black ball. At the top of it, extremely fine words were carved.
"This is the Hundred Ghosts Secret Scroll," she said. "My comprehension of it is contained inside. If you introduce this into your body, you will be able to comprehend part of it for a short time, which will allow you to attain a level at which you can tolerate my cultivation base."
Su Yu grabbed the black ball with his hands and placed it in front of his forehead. With a rolling sound, the ball entered the space between Su Yu's eyebrows.
At once, an icy cold, unfamiliar energy entered his soul. It was the comprehension contained within Hundred Ghosts Secret Scroll needed to transfer a cultivation base. Any other knowledge that might have been contained within it was sealed by Sheng Ge, and Su Yu was unable to access it.
Instantly, Su Yu understood that borrowing someone else's cultivation base was easier said than done. It required a specially designated divine artifact or physique. The Bloodline of the Evil Ghost was one such requirement.
"We cannot afford to waste any more time!" Sheng Ge shouted in a low voice. Her sharply contrasted eyes were filled with ripples. The ripples were filled with infinite unseen energy. "Use your Bloodline of the Evil Ghost in accordance with the comprehension!"
Su Yu took action immediately. A layer the color of blood appeared over his whole body. The layer swirled, become vortexes across the surface of his body. The ripples emanating from Sheng Ge's eyes surged and were sucked into the vortexes.
Su Yu gave a horrible shriek. His whole body spasmed with agonizing pain. He felt like he was being filled to capacity, yet the energy did not overflow—it was as if he would explode from the inside out.
The Bloodline of the Evil Ghost bore its weight on the cultivation base of the Fairy Realm. If not for the Bloodline of the Evil Ghost to stabilize it, the transfer of Sheng Ge's cultivation base would have already killed him. However, the effects were clear. Su Yu's cultivation base skyrocketed, and he achieved Heaven Master in the blink of an eye! He skipped right past the realms of Human King and Half God and almost to Fairy Realm!
Lei Mo grew panicked. "Not good! Kill him quickly!"
Hei Luo's eyelids twitched. He gritted his teeth and ripped apart a portion of the flesh on his chest. He tore at the ghost-faced tattoo on his flesh until his flesh became disfigured.
A ghostly whistle went up from his chest. A ghostly claw—30 percent bigger than the claw used to kill Zuo Li—passed through the mutilated tattoo and appeared from the void. With a grab, black mist coalesced, and the ghost claw was filled with frigid, ghostly energy.
Su Yu was not far from Hei Luo, and the ghost claw was extremely fast. Su Yu had no time to react. Su Yu, who had always taken precaution against Hei Luo the Black-Faced Asura, could not digest Sheng Ge's energy in time. He threw himself to the ground and slid 100 feet away, just managing to avoid the ghost claw. Then, to his surprise, the ghost claw began to speak to him.
"Hehe!" it laughed. "Your reaction time is fast but not fast enough!"
With a flash of a black light, it turned and headed straight for Su Yu again. At the same time, Hei Luo took advantage of the opportunity to attack from the side. He clenched his fists and launched a ruthless attack at Su Yu's chest.
Su Yu leered in determination. His left palm emitted ice, and his right palm emitted thunderbolt to deal with the attacks from both sides at the same time, alone.
With a cracking sound, glacial energy blocked the ghost claw. As for his right palm, it grabbed Hei Luo's giant, inhuman hand almost casually.
Hei Luo could hear his heart beating. This human had managed to block two attacks at once—and he made it look easy! Without even thinking, Hei Luo opened his mouth and spat out a mouthful of bloody mist.
The blood mist exploded and morphed into a blood-colored ghost face. Its mouth opened, emitting a foul windstorm at Su Yu. At such close range, Su Yu was almost face-to-face with the bloody ghost. How could he counter such a sudden surprise attack?
At the critical moment, three thunder rings flew out from Su Yu's body with a deafening whoosh. With a cultivation base of Half God, the power of the thunder rings had increased by multiple levels. The ghost in the bloody mist gave a horrible shriek as the thunder rings reduced it to nothingness.
But the thunder rings' power did not stop there. They carried on at full strength and connected with Hei Luo's body in a devastating barrage.
Puff, puff, puff—
Hei Luo spit out three mouthfuls of blood consecutively as thunder and lightning burned its body.
Hei Luo flew back, his charred black. He crashed to the ground with gut-wrenching force—dead. The Black-Faced Asura whose name shook the entire Dragon Abyss died just like that in front of an audience of 10,000.
Su Yu's movement technique did not stop. A single step covered a distance of thousands of feet. To onlookers, it appeared as if he had teleported! He reached Lei Mo in an instant. A layer of purple lightning engulfed Su Yu's fists, and Su Yu launched a deadly attack at Lei Mo's chest.
Lei Mo's eyes were wide. He sneered and shouted, "I am holding the Thunder Sword, yet you still dare to attack me? Die!"
His ten fingers formed fragmentary shadows which overlaid one another, and he quickly weaved a sign: "Ji!"
The Thunder Sword within the volcano shot forth light-green thunderbolts of energy shaped like a solid beam. The beam's friction against the atmosphere produced raging flames at the periphery as it shot at Su Yu.
With a thud, Su Yu was forced to retreat by about seven to eight steps, his figure staggered. His right fist was charred black, and bloodstains could be seen. Trickles of blood streamed from the corners of his mouth. Moreover, a light green thunder arc had entered his body and was destroying his life force, vigorously burning up his blood.
How could a single thunder arc cause him—a Half God at the moment—to suffer such injuries? If he were an Immortal Level Four, he probably would have been annihilated in an instant.
Seeing that the thunderbolt was destroying his body, Su Yu gave a cold hum. He activated the purple thunder energy within his body to forcefully stop the green thunderbolt from consuming him.
The thunderbolts collided in Su Yu's body. Noises emanated from inside him like popping corn. But the purple thunder was obviously weaker than the green thunder, and it retreated many times in defeat. At best, it could only delay the green thunderbolt as it steadily destroyed Su Yu's body!
He had to end this quickly!
With a shout, Su Yu began to weave signs. With the support of his strong cultivation base, the icy cold divine herb that grew beside his Dantian separated itself from his body and emerged via his abdomen.
The divine herb swayed, bringing about bone-chilling wind. With an ear-splitting crack, the plant transformed into nine icy leaves and shot toward Lei Mo with a whoosh.
Lei Mo did not expect Su Yu to be able to block the attack of the Thunder Sword, let alone retaliate. He appeared surprised, but his body surface glowed with a black thunderbolt. The thunderbolt came out violently, changed into a vast net of lightning in the sky that headed directly for the nine ice leaves.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—
The ice leaves crashed into the net of lightning and were torn to pieces. The net of lightning dimmed with each impact and even appeared to vanish momentarily. Then, with a weeping sound, the net of lightning dispersed.
Only one ice leaf remained, and it shot forward and entered Lei Mo's chest.
The frigid ice energy made Lei Mo buckle over in pain, but he remained standing. His face became filled with murderous intents.
Lei Mo cried, "You shall die—!"
But before he could finish the sentence, Su Yu shouted, "Explode!"
The ice leaf that had entered Lei Mo's body exploded.
A bloody, bowl-sized hole burst outward from his chest. Shards of ice were forced deep inside his body, piercing his limbs and bones!
Fighting against the pain, Lei Mo anxiously flicked his five fingers and retreated. "Thunder Sword, extinguish!"
Atop the Thunder Sword, nine flags glowed wildly, and it was filled with black fog. The Cosmos Thunder Sword trembled with a buzzing sound. It was obvious that something was about to burst forth.
"No!" said Sheng Ge. "He is controlling the power of the Thunder Sword!"
Lei Mo laughed wildly. His five fingers grabbed the empty air, and he pantomimed swinging a sword. "Die!" he shouted.
Reacting to Lei Mo's movements, the 1,000-foot long Thunder Sword swung downward—at Su Yu!
When the sword moved, the entire Dragon Abyss trembled violently! Su Yu suddenly felt like a candle flickering in the wind. Under the shocking power of the sword, his body felt a great pressure. Every blood vessel felt heavy and compressed.
This sword was about to destroy his body and soul completely.
At that moment, the last bit of energy within Sheng Ge's ripples finally burst forth.
Rumble, rumble—
Su Yu's cultivation base shot past Half God and entered the Fairy Realm!
At that moment, a feeling of sheer omnipotence swelled deep within Su Yu's heart. He felt that he had freed himself from the shackles of the universe. He was above all. All-powerful. All were below him and deserving of his disdain. He had become a Fairy.
Shaking these thoughts and feelings from his mind, Su Yu changed into a blurry shadow and disappeared from his original position just before the Thunder Sword struck.
Rumble, rumble—
The Thunder Sword struck, producing sword energy 100,000 feet long that split the Abyss City in half!
The Earth split open. Magma gushed from underground and flooded the broken city. The remaining sword energy, it spread to either side of the attack and shoved all the buildings tens of thousands of feet away!
More than half of the Abyss City had been destroyed in a single, effortless attack!
Lei Mo pupils shrank at what he had done, but his hands did not stop weaving signs. The Thunder Sword was raised again. Where had his opponent disappeared to?
From high above, Su Yu gave a cold hum and stomped his foot down from a commanding position. The sky shook violently, and a bit of vital energy leaked out. The clouds in all directions shook vigorously. As for the countless martial artists on the ground, every one of them was pinned to the ground as if trapped under the weight of a lofty mountain.
Lei Mo's hands, still busy weaving signs, ceased abruptly. He spat out blood, and his body slammed into the ground with a thud. Blood splashed up and fell like rain.
A Half God—suppressed with one stomp!
Su Yu had no time to be shocked by the power of the Fairy Realm. He felt extreme pain in his body. His body expanded and contracted continuously like a balloon about to burst!
Thump—
The Cosmos Thunder Sword had lost its wielder, so the thunder dragon that had trapped Sheng Ge dispersed.
In a flash, she flew beside Su Yu and quickly tapped the skin between his eyebrows. A mass of energy ripples was forced out from the space between Su Yu's eyebrows. The power of the Fairy Realm, which had fused with the Bloodline of the Evil Ghost, receded like tidewaters.
Su Yu's body ceased expanding and gradually calmed down again. Su Yu puffed and panted heavily. His body was exhausted; it was as if all his energy had been extracted at once!
Sheng Ge pressed the ripples into her body, instantly regaining her cultivation base. Her expression grew ruddy and overjoyed.
"Your efforts are commendable!" she said.
Su Yu nodded absentmindedly. "It was only due to my Lord's great cultivation base," he said. "It is merely confirmation of your power."
Having avoided this disaster, Sheng Ge felt satisfied. "No need to be modest," she said. "I am fair in meting out rewards and punishments. Since you have saved me, I might let you off after we have left the Dragon Abyss. How about this? Follow me for 50 years, and I will return you your freedom."
Su Yu responded expressionlessly. "Thank you, Lord, for your kindness."
Sheng Ge nodded her chin slightly. She then looked toward the 1,000-foot Thunder Sword below her. She frowned, slightly fearful.
"All right," she said. "I will leave the recovery of the Thunder Sword to you. This sword can restrain me. It will be more convenient for you to recover it!"
When Sheng Ge grabbed with her five fingers, a shocking scene transpired. The 1,000-foot Cosmos Thunder Sword roared with thunderbolts and was gradually compressed, shrinking in size. Finally, it became a thirty-inch, light-green long sword. It lay flat on the ground in front of Su Yu.
After examining it, Sheng Ge laughed with satisfaction. "Not bad. This is very close to a spiritual artifact. However, it lacks maturity. At full strength, it would have been regarded as a valuable spiritual artifact."
Spiritual artifact? thought Su Yu. I thought divine artifacts were the highest form of weapons…
"Take this formula," said Sheng Ge. "It teaches you how to control the spell and comprehend it. You must be able to control this sword within half a day's time!"
Sheng Ge tossed the formula over to Su Yu, then went down to examine Xia Jingyu's injuries. She had merely fainted. Hence, when Sheng Ge inserted a bit of vital energy into her—a special type of energy only possessed by people of the Fairy Realm—she woke up straight away.
After which, Sheng Ge tapped her leg to generate a gust of wind and brought Su Yu and Xia Jingyu to the Messy Rocks Ruins. They were back at the starting location of the Dragon Abyss!