Under the pressure of the Transcendent Realm, even those like Iris and Ghost Blade, who are considered experts among the ninth-tier, felt suffocated and oppressed.
If the gap between the eighth and ninth ranks is like a river, then moving from the ninth rank to the super-ninth rank is like crossing a vast ocean.
Moreover, the "Super Ninth Realm" is a general term for realms above the ninth rank, representing the pinnacle of power that humans have been able to achieve so far.
The old man in black robes took a step forward, his foot slipped into thin air, and in the blink of an eye, he was already close to Ghost Blade.
The shadows cast by the old man in black robes blocked out the sunlight, making him seem like an insurmountable mountain, inspiring a sense of suffocation and a desire to crawl on his knees.
Having endured such pressure at close range, Ghost Blade was forced to use his supernatural abilities, and the outline of his body had become a blurry black mist.
This is Ghost Blade's special ability, [Ghost Soldiers].
Ghost Blade possesses a unique bloodline, making him neither entirely human nor entirely inhuman. His body can switch between a solid human form and a phantom ghostly form. When his body decomposes into a ghostly form resembling an energy entity, he is immune to any physical attacks and his lifespan approaches eternity. This is why Ghost Blade has been able to survive for over three hundred years.
Furthermore, his ghostly energy can be attached to any weapon, especially in the dark or things of the dark nature, where it can exert tremendous power.
Unfortunately, the sun has not yet set, so Ghost Blade's strength cannot reach its peak. He is clearly unable to withstand the pressure from the old man in black robes.
The old man in black robes jerked his arm, brought his four fingers together, and unleashed a palm strike.
The palm strike was devoid of any fancy moves, and the action itself wasn't particularly swift in the eyes of the ninth-level cultivators. However, the instant the palm print was unleashed, a series of muffled whistling winds and rushing water sounds rang out. Black and white intertwined streams of light instantly surrounded the palm print, condensing into a gigantic palm print phantom tens of feet long, which crushed down upon them.
Ghost Blade didn't retreat an inch, his expression remained unchanged, but Chang Le suddenly pressed down on his shoulder: "Back off!"
Without hesitation, Ghost Blade used the force of the vines wrapped around his waist to retreat rapidly.
The old man snorted coldly, and his palm print flew out. Intricate ancient characters flowed on the phantom, and the powerful energy squeezed the air, producing a muffled boom.
Chang Le pushed the Ghost Blade behind him, and a flash of dark gold light appeared. A Great Sage Mech instantly appeared and activated. The dark gold staff was held horizontally in front of him, and a large number of dark green vines rolled in like thousands of streams, carrying fierce energy to envelop the dark gold staff.
The black metal from outer space and the supernatural power inherited from a certain starry sky resonated with each other in this instant, and erupted instantly.
The black and white palm prints collided violently with the deep, dark green vines, creating a thunderous roar that swept across the vast sky.
The old man did not retreat an inch, an invisible barrier in front of him blocked the remaining impact; the Great Sage took two steps back, his black gold staff plunging into the ground with a thud to stop his movement, the ground shattered into countless vines, the energy returned to heaven and earth, and the physical form turned into countless wisps of dust and dissipated.
"A mere girl who has just entered the ninth realm dares to talk back to this old man!"
Suddenly, the old man in the black robe waved his sleeve, and the world seemed to turn into ink paintings of varying shades.
Chang Le put away the Great Sage, who was not as agile as a human, and stood next to Ghost Blade. He found that the old man's figure appeared and disappeared, and could not be captured or locked.
Looking around, one is even more astonished.
The surroundings are no longer just sunsets, highways, and abandoned buildings, but a vast landscape unfolding like a traditional Chinese painting. A light ink-colored river rushes beneath your feet, surrounded by towering mountains outlined in ink wash, and a section of ancient, majestic city wall rises from the ground.
The old man in black robes hovered in the air, like a god descending to earth. He waved his left sleeve, and thirteen black straight lines appeared out of thin air, as if the world had been turned into a flat plane, with lines engraved on it.
He changed direction a second time and swung his sleeve, and thirteen more black straight lines appeared, perpendicular to the previous thirteen black lines, intertwining and falling around everyone.
"Not good!" Wan Buxun realized that he was trapped at the point formed by the intertwining, and his body was fixed in place and he could not move!
Iris and the others struggled, only to find that they were also unable to move.
"This is... a chessboard?" Wang Yao suddenly noticed that the thirteen black lines on each side intersected to form a chessboard between heaven and earth.
Everyone standing at the points became chess pieces, unable to move. Only the old man in black robes suspended in the air was the one controlling them!
Chang Le looked down at the two perpendicular black lines running through his body, and suddenly laughed:
"The Thirteen Formations of the River Chart and Luo Book, the Heavenly Evolution Technique of Mountain and River Fortune. To strike with the ultimate move of the 'Thirteen Formations of Heavenly Evolution,' Elder Qin is indeed cautious."
With this game of chess set up, the black-robed old man's identity was already completely exposed.
The wind blew, causing the old man to remove his hood and his handkerchief, revealing a familiar, aged face.
The Qin family, Qin Shaoji.
Qin Shaoji stood in mid-air, controlling the chess pieces with his left hand and killing with his right. His usually hunched back stood straight as a pine tree, his aged face was deeply wrinkled, and his expression was dignified, making people dare not look directly at him.
He said in a deep voice, "It would be your honor to die by the Qin family's unique skills."
The Qin family's special ability, [Sun and Moon Shining Brightly], originates from the Qin family's ancestral Taoist art, called "Celestial Evolution Technique." Legend has it that the Qin ancestors were once connected to the Heavenly Dao, and their descendants, born and multiplied in the Central Plains, were able to draw upon the power of the Central Plains' destiny. During a time of natural disasters, this evolved into the special ability, [Sun and Moon Shining Brightly].
This ability may seem to lack offensive capabilities and only serve as a supplementary attribute enhancement, but in reality, once cultivated to a certain level, this ability can manipulate the fortune of others for one's own use, and can even determine the soul of others through their fortune.
Qin Xuan, the first person in the Qin family with supernatural abilities, was inspired by this and created the ultimate secret technique of using Qi to create a small world, using the small world as a chessboard, and using people as chess pieces—the Thirteen Heavenly Evolutions.
This move has thirteen variations in its full state. When all thirteen variations are completed, it can kill those in the Transcendent Realm.
But at this moment, the Thirteen Heavenly Derivations are not yet complete!
Because Ghost Blade wasn't played!
The seemingly fixed Ghost Blade suddenly vanished in a cloud of black smoke, disrupting the chessboard. Qin Shaoji controlled the board with his left hand while remaining vigilant for Ghost Blade's movements.
"bass--"
A three-pronged spiral arrow shot towards us.
Qin Shaoji deflected the arrow with a flick of his sleeve, and the arrow shattered instantly. However, the dark energy attached to it clung to his sleeve like maggots to bone, rapidly eroding Qin Shaoji's original energy.
Qin Shaoji had no choice but to draw energy to dispel it. Just then, a thin black shadow, as thin as a hair, swept past. He only had time to tilt his head back to dodge, but his throat still felt cold, and a thin bloodstain was cut on his neck.
Qin Shaoji was furious. He drew upon his own energy, gathering the power of heaven and earth from all directions to lock onto that fleeting aura, and then simply struck out with a finger.
Ghost Blade dodged with all his might, but also exposed his figure. He was attacked head-on by Qin Shaoji's palm strike. Ghost Blade drew out a pair of short swords to block, but was directly blasted away and crashed to the ground, stirring up dust several feet high.
With Iris, Wan Buxun, and the others still trapped, Qin Shaoji didn't delay any longer. He immediately clenched his five fingers, and a cluster of invisible, sharp arrows condensed at his fingertips. The immense energy was compressed to the limit and condensed on the arrows.
A sharp clang was heard, and an invisible arrow shot out swiftly.
Unable to move, Chang Le struggled to activate his primal power, causing vines to rise from the ground in an attempt to stop him.
Qin Shaoji lightly pressed down with the five fingers of his left hand, and four men in black instantly appeared in four directions around her. A feeling of suffocation and being swallowed up came over Chang Le.
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