Chapter 649: Chapter 645: Final Battle (5)
With the skill of moving a thousand pounds with a mere four ounces, Tang Luo deflected the giant’s palm, still maintaining his cold, emotionless expression. He could, however, perceive a soaring bloodlust emanating from his Bai Clan opponent.
Unable to retract his right palm in time, Tang Luo lifted his left forearm, protected by the Heaven-gifted Divine Armor, to his jawline to block the incoming assault. Despite his fearsome physique, his vital points remain exposed due to his current status as a martial artist of the Mortal Realm.
Whether it was his eyes, his neck, or his heart, all were vital areas. Even with his Heaven-gifted Divine Armor and steel-like body, he felt that using his hands to block was the most reliable. After all, his firm limbs were the strongest parts of his body.
However, Bai’s swordsman was unaware of Tang Luo’s plans, and in his view, the giant had left his center defenseless, filled with openings.
Therefore, he selected the most damaging target. The Bai Clan swordsman summoned a large amount of spiritual power, and with a single leap, he lifted his sword overhead and attacked straight towards the top of the giant’s head with a forceful mountain-splitting strike.
Fast as lightning, swift as thunder.
The giant didn’t seem to react in time. Even the left forearm raised to his jaw couldn’t be lifted in time before being struck at the crown of his head.
“Clang!!!”
The Bai Clan swordsman felt as if he had just struck a meteorite. The huge spiritual power he had imbued into his Spiritual Sword clashed with the giant’s head, and upon making contact, it could only be dragged downward after barely piercing the giant’s silver-gray skin.
“Zzzz~~~~~~~~~~”
Holding his sword with both hands, the Bai Clan swordsman aimed to pierce the giant’s eyes, then thrust into his brain!
However, the giant’s mouth widened, and a surge of Innate Qi, twice as strong as before, was launched, slamming into the swordsman’s chest, shattering his spiritual armor and tearing through his chest flesh, before sending him flying backward into the air.
“What a pity…” If only his Innate Qi attack had been delayed by a single moment, the injured swordsman thought, looking at the sword mark that had almost reached the giant’s right eyelid.
Without a hint of reluctance, the Bai swordsman activated the Xuanji Jade, disappearing instantly from his original location.
While failing to defeat Tang Luo in one strike was regrettable, when faced with the raging Tang Siyuan, it was still paramount to protect his own life.
Two predators from the Fierce Realm who attempted to attack Tang Luo suffered heavy and light injuries respectively. The results of the battle became clear in just a few breaths. For the first time, Tang Luo received a scar, a long scratch from his forehead down to his eyes.
He touched it with his hand. Nourished by the Innate Qi within his body, the wound had already closed, and the bleeding had stopped.
This was the first time he had been injured since he started practicing martial arts. Many say scars are the badges of a brave warrior, but Tang Luo always held the view that there was no need to get injured if complete victory could be achieved. Now, the unblemished state of his body had been destroyed.
Most importantly, Tang Luo wanted to see if this scar would affect his looks at all.
So, when Great Elder Tang Siyuan hurriedly flew to Tang Luo’s side, he saw Tang Luo dispelling the Undying Battle Body, his figure rapidly shrinking.
The alarmed Tang Siyuan quickly landed, worried that Tang Luo might have been gravely injured. But he only saw Tang Luo, his brows furrowed, looking around as if he was searching for something. Observing Tang Siyuan, his face brightened.
“Great Elder, is my scar noticeable?” Tang Luo asked, pointing to his forehead with a serious expression.
Upon closer inspection, the Great Elder, who was initially rendered dumbfounded, noticed the change in Tang Luo’s appearance. The young man, formerly marked by his heroic eyebrows and shining eyes, now carried an even more daring aura due to a white mark trailing from his forehead, splitting his right brow into two halves.
After briefly describing Tang Luo’s appearance and adding his opinion, Tang Siyuan believed that the slash from Bai’s swordsman didn’t injure Tang Luo too severely. It merely left a scar, which had turned into a white line under the effect of the Innate Qi, causing no harm to Tang Luo.
In fact, Tang Siyuan meant something more – possessing a handsome appearance didn’t do a martial artist any good. Surely, having a face as beautiful as jade wouldn’t help one resist a Spiritual Art.
“The Great Elder is right.” Hearing that the scar wasn’t obvious, Tang Luo sighed in relief. “I’m not worried about my facial features, but I am concerned about explaining to my mother about an obvious scar.”
As it is usually said, children often resemble their parents. Therefore, the children of a handsome man and a beautiful woman are unlikely to be ugly. Hence, all three siblings of the Tang Clan were quite attractive.
Moreover, Tang Luo was Xu Shuhui’s first child. When he was young, his mother would often hold his face and say, “My baby is so adorable. If you learn martial arts in the future, don’t let anyone disfigure your face.”
Xu Shuhui seemed to have a great attachment to the concept of unbroken beauty. Therefore, she would often say similar things to both Tang Luo and his younger brother, Little Nuannuan.
“If you are unable to win a fight with someone in the future, remember to protect your face.”
It was just that Bai’s swordsman suddenly changed his stance. In fact, as soon as Tang Luo saw his right palm being cut open, he had already begun to gather the Innate Qi arrow within his body. He hadn’t expected it to strike him on the forehead before he could react.
Not that he hadn’t contemplated testing the limits of his ‘steel head’. Against a fierce realm opponent whose spiritual power did not exceed fifty thousand and who was forced to make a hasty move, Tang Luo had wondered whether the strike would be blocked.
If Bai’s swordsman’s sword had been even more forceful, it might have split his head wide open, leading to his downfall.
“Sir Luo, our forces have won the martial hall. It’s time for you to return to the formation,” the Great Elder, Tang Siyuan, spoke to Tang Luo. “After all, it’s still unclear how the Mi Clan’s joint forces are being orchestrated. We need you to point out secure paths for these children.”
What is strength, what is weakness? There are no constant military tactics or stable water forms. Once the military formation is scattered, the shifting of strengths and weaknesses and the alternating of offense and defense become as common as sunrise and sunset.
In terms of the total number of soldiers, the Mi Clan joint forces obviously have an advantage. But when it comes to the degree of elite troops and fighting will, outside of the Mi Clan martial artists who were fairly impressive, the joint forces of the other seven great clans fell far short.
Similar to the situation at Bao Ding Mountain’s defensive force, their will to fight to the death was incredibly weak. After more than a hundred of their troops were killed by Tang Luo in one breath, the rest fled in disarray without even organizing a single effective counterattack.
In contrast, even when Tang Clan’s small platoons of martial artists received orders for defense or attack and lost three in ten of their soldiers, the remaining fighters would still complete the mission. This was the difference between the two sides’ warriors, and it was even more so for martial ancestors.
The reason why Tang Siyuan came to find Tang Luo was to help the Tang Clan observe the overall situation on North Mountain with his eyes.
The general commander of the Mi Clan’s joint forces was currently engaged in battle with Tang Sen, and the leaders on the other hills could only fight their own battles. This was a great opportunity for the Tang Clan to defeat them one by one.
Tang Siyuan simply wanted to know – where were the next batch of opponents!
At this moment, Tang Clan’s martial artists were filled with high spirits.