The Revenge of the Reborn Supreme Sovereign-Chapter 272 - 268: The Death of Lan Xiaosheng! (5)

Within the Cloud Water, Qin Fan watched Lan Xiaosheng stand once more upon the water's surface, but he did not immediately press his attack.

Instead, with his hands clasped behind his back, he gathered his energy and spoke, "Lan Xiaosheng, stop holding back! We each have one move left, so let's use this final one to determine who lives and who dies! It has come to this. Today, beside Emei Mountain, beside the Golden Summit, within this sea of clouds—it will be your death or mine!"

"COUGH! COUGH!" A dry, blood-laced cough escaped Lan Xiaosheng's lips. He wiped the corner of his mouth and took a deep breath to steady his turbulent mind. Looking up at Qin Fan, far across the water, he knew that if he failed to eliminate Qin Fan today, he would be forced to live with a Heart Demon for the rest of his life. As for breaking through the Transformation Realm into the realm of Gang Jin, that would become nothing more than a fool's dream.

At this moment, he was no longer shackled by hatred. His eyes closed, and he tilted his head back. The anger, hatred, and murderous intent faded from his face. After a moment of tranquil breathing, he suddenly snapped his eyes open.

"One move to decide life or death!" he declared.

As the words were spoken, an intense chill, so potent that even the distant Martial Artists could feel it, raged forth from his body.

CRACK! CRACK!

The sound of ice forming echoed from beneath Lan Xiaosheng's feet. In an instant, the Cloud Water spreading out from him as the epicenter froze solid. Turning cloud to water, and water to ice—Lan Xiaosheng's Divine Skills once again stunned every Martial Artist present.

Qin Fan stood motionless, allowing Lan Xiaosheng's Divine Skills to manifest fully. His own expression became immensely grave. In that same instant, he recalled his True Qi entirely into his Dantian. There were no more words, no more movement. An invisible aura of life and death coiled between them.

Just as everyone held their breath, their eyes locked on the Cloud Water, Lan Xiaosheng suddenly shot into the air. Facing the ice below, he roared, "Sword, come!"

BOOM!

At his command, the ice surface shattered, and an Ice Sword erupted upwards. Lan Xiaosheng leaped forward and grasped it in his hand. Without another word, he lunged toward Qin Fan.

"Cangqiong Void Sword, Ninth Form: Sword Raising!"

Simultaneously, Qin Fan slid back several steps. He joined his hands, his ten fingers forming a sword seal. At his shout, the True Qi within his Dantian surged wildly through his body. Facing Lan Xiaosheng's charge, his Qi Sword blasted down upon the water's surface.

At the sight of Qin Fan conjuring his Qi Sword again, everyone except Hua Xiaotian and the middle-aged man behind him was dumbfounded.

For the final, life-or-death move, was this master wasting his effort on that pointless move again?

But they had overlooked two crucial words: "Sword Raising."

The next moment, as the Qi Sword struck the water, a series of whizzes tore through the air.

WHIZ! WHIZ! WHIZ!

Eight sword-shaped streams of water erupted from the Cloud Water, rising from the very spots where the Qi Sword had previously struck nothing. The moment they burst forth, they rapidly merged and solidified. In the blink of an eye, a Water Sword, similar in size to the Ice Sword in Lan Xiaosheng's hand, materialized before Qin Fan.

Seeing this, the faces of many Martial Artists flushed red with embarrassment. Only Hua Xiaotian wore an involuntary smile of extreme appreciation.

"Qin Fan, this day next year will be the anniversary of your death! At the Golden Summit, I will burn incense and joss paper for you during Qingming and Chongyang. Rest in peace!" As he spoke, his Grandmaster-level Inner Strength poured unreservedly into the Ice Sword. His figure, swift as a shooting star, had already closed to within three meters of Qin Fan.

Qin Fan offered no response. With a sharp cry, he grabbed the suspended Water Sword. He held it seamlessly, as if it were solid. He then forced out nearly all of his remaining True Yuan, which had already been depleted by a third, leaving only a sliver of True Essence Qi just enough to escape the Cloud Water later. The rest, he poured into the Cangqiong Void Sword, using the water as its medium. He immediately charged toward Lan Xiaosheng.

HSSSS—

In less than a blink of an eye, ice and water collided. A hiss, almost too faint for the ear to catch, erupted between them.

The ice pierced through the water.

The water permeated the ice.

Yet, it seemed as if nothing at all had happened.

"Die!" Qin Fan roared, his face deathly pale as he ground his teeth.

"No!"

Just as Qin Fan's word left his lips, Lan Xiaosheng's pupils dilated wildly, and he let out a hysterical scream. In that fleeting instant when they crossed paths, no one besides Hua Xiaotian saw clearly what had transpired. As the word "no" died on his lips, Lan Xiaosheng's fully dilated pupils suddenly constricted.

The Water Sword in Qin Fan's hand had sliced clean through his neck. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Meanwhile, his Ice Sword had stopped, a mere hair's breadth from Qin Fan's skin.

At that moment, the world fell silent.

The Water Sword that had severed Lan Xiaosheng's neck dissolved into a pool of stagnant water, dripping from Qin Fan's hand. Likewise, the Ice Sword hovering over Qin Fan's skin melted into nothingness. The two men stood having passed each other, and for a moment, it was still a mystery who had survived. The crowd of Martial Artists, who had been holding their breath, still dared not exhale as they stared at the two figures standing upon the Cloud Water.

WHOOSH—

Qin Fan finally released a breath he had held for what felt like an eternity. With that exhale, his entire body went limp with exhaustion. He looked at the Cloud Water, which was already beginning to condense back into clouds. Daring not to linger, he propelled himself over the water with the last thread of his True Yuan, teeth chattering from the strain, his face ashen.

THUD.

The moment his feet touched solid ground again, the Cloud Water, a product of Lan Xiaosheng's Divine Skills, disappeared completely. It all condensed back into the original sea of clouds.

Emei Mountain was still Emei Mountain. The Golden Summit was still the Golden Summit. And the sea of clouds was still the sea of clouds. But as Qin Fan set foot on the flat ground of the summit, Lan Xiaosheng fell silently from the sky, plunging into the abyss below.

A Grandmaster, once renowned alongside Hua Xiaotian as one of the strongest people in Huaxia, had fallen.

This outcome shocked the entire Martial Arts World.

As the sun broke through after the rain, the rarely seen Buddha statue on the Golden Summit began to glow in the sunset's afterglow, radiating the famous Buddha Light that would drive any tourist wild with excitement. Reflecting off the undulating sea of clouds, the magnificent spectacle of the Buddha Light Cloud Sea reappeared on the Golden Summit for the first time in sixty-nine days.

The Martial Artists gazed at the young man walking down the mountain path, bathed in the Buddha Light. Having witnessed this unprecedented and dazzling battle to the death, they felt an inexplicable reverence arise within them.

A mere youth, not yet twenty years old, had killed Lan Xiaosheng of the Transformation Realm with a single sword strike.

Just how heaven-defying was he?

On this day, the title of Young Grandmaster was truly inscribed into the annals of the Huaxia Martial Arts World. If his previous dominance over Dark Energy Martial Artists could be privately dismissed as youthful arrogance, then this battle—this slaying of Lan Xiaosheng—had undoubtedly placed Qin Fan upon the highest pedestal of the Martial Arts World's Divine Altar.

Bathed in the ethereal Buddha Light, Qin Fan forced his nearly disintegrating body onward. He bit through his lower lip, the sharp pain a desperate attempt to stimulate his nerves and keep himself upright. Step by step, he descended the stairs. Fearful of any unexpected complications, he dared not reveal his true physical state.

However, he had only taken a few steps when the sound of the Diamond Sutra being chanted suddenly echoed, seeming to shake the very foundations of Emei Mountain. As the clear chanting washed over him, Qin Fan's body trembled violently. His sea of consciousness, which had begun to slip into Chaos, was instantly cleared by the sound of the sutra.