Uru Tan He's body was a blur.
His body flickered, turning into a ray of light.
[I am lighter than a feather!]
His body spun several times around Crimson Soul, who darted his gaze, trying to keep up with his movements.
Then.
He flickered, appearing in front of him.
Crimson Soul's eyes widened.
Uru Tan He solidified for a micro instant, and as he did.
He pointed his middle and index fingers towards his jaw.
His jaw was pierced through.
Blood spurted everywhere, like a fountain.
Yet no matter how much blood it spilled, the deeper tissue could not be harmed in the slightest.
The light wave merely dispersed, and the blood rapidly healed the tissue.
But while the wound still bled, from behind Uru Tan He appeared.
Another light beam was shot, aiming at his lumbar vertebrae.
Several Blood Phantoms had already approached; they stretched their hands to attack him.
But just before they did.
Uru Tan He's body flickered; he appeared several kilometers away.
"I am starting to get the hang of his limits. Whilst his Blood Phantoms are formidable, I am starting to sense a weakness.
Whilst limited, I am beginning to sense fatigue in his actions; the control of his Blood Phantoms is growing rudimentary. If I am not mistaken, the greater the amount of Blood Phantoms he orders around, the more his mind is expended.
A weakness shared by all Enslavement Path Gu Masters. Still, the fact that he's only showing strain thus far must mean that he has exceptional Wisdom Path methods; then again, considering his Soul Path foundation is not that surprising."
In reality.
Uru Tan He was partially mistaken.
Crimson Soul's Foundation in Wisdom Path was still lacking, too novel. After all, it had only been recently that Kao Dao Ji generously provided that Wisdom Path inheritance; he had yet to grasp its greatest profundities.
But he could compensate using his absurd Soul Foundation as a cost, by burning it down to ashes, he could temporarily enhance his cognition massively.
But now he was beginning to slow down; the cost was beginning to show.
Uru Tan He's pupils widened as he realized.
"Liar! He did not make use of those Blood Phantoms so extensively, not because he was studying me, but because he simply could not.
Only after freeing himself from the burden of attacking so many apertures, he gained enough leeway to use them."
Then.
Another realization dawned on him.
"You…You do not actually have the capital to target so many apertures at once, or at least not for long enough periods to destroy them!
You merely fooled around, made some fancy tricks to make them think everything was under your grasp, and then used that illusion to make them follow you!" He shouted furiously.
Crimson Soul narrowed his eyes, his lips curled up into a smile before he snickered.
"Hah? Are you so desperate that you are coming up with such blatant lies?" He retorted coldly.
Then he smirked. "And, even if true. What difference does it make now?"
At the next moment, Uru Tan He's pupils shrank.
A large red bodhi tree had taken root in his aperture without him knowing.
The color in his face was rapidly draining; he felt the strength of his limbs leaving his body.
"Now that my Killer Move is set in place, the Dao Marks of your Aperture will turn into those of Blood Path gradually, with every passing second, you lose more and more of your strength.
Moreover, the Dao Marks of Blood Path are also creating the perfect breeding ground for my Blood Phantoms to sprout.
Which will devour more and more parts of your aperture until you.
Finally die."
He chuckled maliciously.
…
Uru Hong Jing's eyes widened.
A burly man stood ahead of him; his body as massive as a bull.
The aura of a lion surged through, as he charged towards him, and there was no time to avoid.
Instinctively, he closed his eyes, turning intangible.
But the man snorted coldly.
"Phantom Strength!" His fist shone with a gray energy, despite turning intangible, Uru Hong Jing was still affected.
His neck was gripped through.
And he let out a despairing scream as he felt that he was about to die.
Yet whilst the force was no doubt overwhelming.
His neck remained intact, no matter how mighty the force; his muscles remained unmoving and unflinching.
On the other side, Le Tu hardened his muscles as much as possible.
His eyes were bloodshot red as he forcefully endured the strangling.
The burly man smirked coldly, whilst retaining the grip on Uru Hong Jing's neck.
"Le Tu! You think that technique of yours is invincible? Hmph! But we already figured out its weakness. If you dare to go to its second phase, I will snap his neck.
But if you do not release it, I will strangle you to death.
And even if you do, the second you die is the second he dies.
There is no way to avoid his death, Le Tu.
DON'T MAKE ME KILL YOU!"
The burly man shouted; whilst he was willing to kill Uru Hong Jing, he did not wish to harm Le Tu.
After all, his son had once been saved by him, yet what other choice did he have?
While staring death in the eyes, how many people can keep their principles?
Besides, even now, Le Tu did not have to die.
He just needed to listen.
Le Tu's expression flickered.
A hint of rare hesitation appeared on his face.
What could he do?
What could he do to save him?
He gritted his teeth. Despite the pain, he tried to charge towards Uru Hong Jing. As long as he managed to touch him just once, he could save him.
But the other Immortals were not blind; they stood in his way.
The grip tightened. Le Tu's pupils shrank; it was not because he was using a method to increase the density of his muscles to the limit he would have long been suffocated, even so, it was getting harder and harder to breathe.
Uru Hong Jin,g who was nearby staring at Le Tu, hesitation appearing in his face.
As he gritted his teeth.
Resolution appeared in his gaze.
"Le Tu! Trigger the second phase of your Killer Move." Uru Hong Jing transmitted inside his brain.
The gaze of Le Tu suddenly changed as he stared at Uru Hong Jing.
"You will die."
"I WON'T! JUST DO IT!" Uru Hong Jing shouted in his mind.
Le Tu sighed.
Now that things had reached such a state, his only option was to trust in his word.
He stretched his palm.
The surrounding Immortals immediately jumped away, but they looked utterly elated.
The fact that they had forced Le Tu to use the second phase meant, in essence, that Uru Hong Jing was already dead.
And as predicted.
Once Le Tu stopped protecting Uru Hong Jing.
The burly man's grip immediately pierced through his neck.
Of course, with Immortals, one never knew how resilient they could be, so not satisfied with this.
He raised his palm and sliced through his body in half!
Le Tu's eyes widened; he truly believed Uru Hong Jing when he said he still had another trump card.
But was Uru Hong Jing just trying to save him?
Whilst Uru Hong Jing had not been a good man, Le Tu could not help but cry a tear of sadness.
Despite everything, he had still chosen the light in his final moments.
He sighed bitterly.
Yet the sadness he felt could not stop the fact that he had just unleashed a Killer Move.
The palm kept advancing fiercely.
The burly man was caught by it.
His body was sent flying away.
Whereas.
The corpse of Uru Hong Jing suddenly snapped his eyes open.
The black tomoes in one of his eyes began to spin faster and faster still, whilst also growing in size.
Until finally they stopped.
That eye became entirely white.
Uru Hong Jing's corpse flickered, like a projection snapping between existence and inexistence.
With his still remaining eye, he stared at Le Tu and appeared right at his location.
"SAVE ME!" Uru Hong Jing desperately shouted on the ground.
"Huh?" Le Tu snapped to reality as he stared at the supposedly dead Uru Hong Jing on the ground just a few inches away from him.
And his shock became even greater as Uru Hong Jing began to hug his leg.
"Please! Please, I don't want to die…" He cried bitterly, bawling his eyes out.
The other Immortals turned their gaze towards Le Tu and Uru Hong Jing yet again.
Le Tu gritted his teeth.
Immediately, his aperture devoured the body of Uru Hong Jing.
…
From a distance.
Star Constellation observed this occur with an indifferent gaze.
"Everything is going as foreseen. Uru Tan He will die today without a doubt. Weakening the Southern Border greatly, whereas Le Tu will be teleported to the Western Desert.
There he will serve a useful pawn to enact the following steps of my plan…"
But then her lips curled up into a smile.
"Or so was the original idea."
She stared at the white skies.
"Kao Dao Ji, the more I ponder about your actions, the more puzzled I become.
What exactly are you?
And.
Are you aware that Le Tu is the Fated Venerable?
Regardless of whatever your motives may be. Do not think I've not noticed what you are doing.
The actions you've been doing lately in the skies, or the way you seem to be desperately trying to gain Le Tu's trust.
Those clues alongside the inner turmoil I felt inside Le Tu made this course of action predictable.
Kao Dao Ji.
You are a lousy chess player."
Her expression grew cold as she moved another piece.
"This is checkmate."
Le Tu triggered the other side.
Kao Dao Ji's aperture began to move in a spiral from the outside of the world.
A small thread was shot towards the Heavens, passing through everything in its way.
Until it finally reached Le Tu.
As Le Tu's aperture collided directly with that of Kao Dao Ji, there was a resonance.
Le Tu's eyes widened as the light around him distorted and contorted.
And then.
He appeared before Kao Dao Ji.
But before he could say or do anything else.
Uru Hong Jing was expelled by Le Tu's aperture.
The reaction was instinctive.
Like a person moving their hand away from the fire.
Regardless.
Uru Hong Jing's singular remaining eye widened.
His body was bloated and utterly inflated.
And then.
He exploded into countless of pieces!
Kao Dao Ji's eyes widened.
His hands were still stretched; the Killer Move he performed was yet to be completed.
Just how could he conjure another Killer Move to defend himself?