Chapter 890: Chapter 890

Underground Research Facility

The waves of flame lapped against the stone walls, as He Ao himself gazed at the robed elder in front of him.

At this moment, his soul and main focus were still in the Chaos Space, manipulating a clone and leading two teammates through an escape route.

After advancing to B-level with Super Memory, with each subsequent strength enhancement of his ’soul’ after exiting the Copy Worlds, when he descended his primary soul into the clone, his own body wouldn’t be left without any perception.

Of course, in such a situation, his own body’s responses were still much slower.

The time difference between his body and his clone was almost perfectly timed by him; he calculated the elevator’s descent time to estimate the amount of time he could give his clone to manage the situation, and then to make full and effective use of time.

Although the progress on that end was a bit slower than estimated, it was almost about right.

He Ao slowly drew the black broadsword strapped to his back, his expression unchanged, and step by step, he walked out of the elevator to stand on a platform wrapped in fire.

The opponent was clearly an experienced warrior; at this time, any degree of cowardice would be seized as an opportunity by the opponent.

"Your body doesn’t seem strong, and your Martial Arts achievement is only C-level,"

the elder didn’t make a move, instead, his gaze swept over He Ao’s body. The broadsword in his hand slowly pointed downwards, and he took a starting stance, "If that’s all the strength you have, you are going to die here, kid."

He Ao lifted his head to look at the elder, slowly raising his black broadsword as well, taking the same starting stance.

In that instant, his primary soul, along with Super Memory, completely returned to his body, flooding him with a surging, oppressive force.

The lava surrounding the platform boiled violently as if it were cheering, yet also seeming to churn restlessly.

"Cultivating Talent Sequences and Martial Arts simultaneously?"

The elder grasped the black broadsword, "Greedy kid."

The next second, accompanied by a booming explosion, the elder’s body suddenly cut through the red glow reflected by the burning lava, cleaving towards He Ao.

He Ao immediately raised his sword to block, spinning around.

He Ao stepped back half a step, while the sword-swinging elder also stopped his advance.

Certain cracks appeared on the stone platform under their feet, but it didn’t shatter, proving more durable than He Ao had anticipated.

The two swords crossed in mid-air, and both pairs of eyes locked onto each other.

This elder’s strength was formidable; his Physical Fitness was close to 7000 points, slightly higher than He Ao’s when he activated Super Memory combined with Fist Technique.

Is this what a pure Martial Artist is?

As his thoughts flickered, his Divine Sense flowed through the skin of his chest into the Blood-Moistening Jade Pendant he wore there.

The whole world unfolded before He Ao’s vision, the elder’s energy circuitry laid bare.

One of the abilities of the Blood-Moistening Jade Pendant was to increase comprehension, especially in Martial Arts.

At this time, the elder seemed to sense something amiss, but he just glanced at He Ao without saying anything.

He abruptly moved to the side, using the point of contact between their swords as a pivot, thrusting forward the sword hilt, and pulling his entire body forward with it.

The sharp blade of the sword then slid towards He Ao’s throat.

The two broadswords dragged scattered sparks through the glow of the flames.

He Ao immediately sidestepped, evading the attack, and pulled back to increase the distance between them.

With the help of the Blood-Moistening Jade Pendant, he was beginning to peek at and understand the energy flow and circuitry within the elder’s body.

"Your own strength isn’t that great,"

the elder said, holding the black broadsword and looking thoughtfully at He Ao, "An interesting method for augmenting strength. Did you fuse the power of Martial Arts with that of the Talent Sequences for enhancement? It’s an interesting idea; I remember... there seem to be some others trying this method?"

The elder’s speech hesitated as if his memory was unstable, but he quickly shook his head, fixing his gaze on He Ao,

"However, seeing someone as young as you with such accomplishments is still a first for me. Youngsters who encounter Talent Sequences often abandon the toilsome pursuit of Martial Arts for more easily obtained powers."

He lifted his head, looking at He Ao, "Kid, both your talent and perseverance are quite impressive."

As he spoke, his voice once again dropped into silence.

He Ao suddenly raised his black broad sword, and with a spin, he faced the void to his left.

Martial Techniques, Force Shatters Mountains!

Strength amplifies by 10% during a Heavy Strike.

Accompanied by a roaring sound, the stone platform beneath He Ao’s feet suddenly shattered, and the elderly man who had flown toward him staggered, taking a step back.

The elder laughed heartily, "Take a look at this."

With a sword in each hand, he swung above his head and struck down toward He Ao’s crown.

He Ao met the sword with his own, and the two broad swords clashed again.

In the instant the swords collided, He Ao stumbled, retreating several steps to dissipate the force.

He looked up at the elder, who stood where he was.

The Heavy Strike Technique the elder just used was very similar to his Force Shatters Mountains.

Force Shatters Mountains was a skill he had "learned" from the energy circuit inside the corpse of a warrior from the Underground Palace. It wasn’t strange for the elder, being a ’copy’ of the warrior, to know this ability.

However, it was clear that the elder’s ’Heavy Strike’ was stronger than his ’Force Shatters Mountains.’

He Ao began to recall the elder’s energy circuit during the Heavy Strike in the fight that had just occurred.

At this moment, the energy circuit within the elder’s body was overall the same as what He Ao had seen in the corpses of C-level Martial Artists, but with some minor details that connected parts that were previously disjointed on the corpses.

So, the version he had seen before was ’incomplete’?

Right, the previous version was demonstrated by the corpses, which were inherently incomplete; it was normal for some critical parts to be severed.

At this time, the elder had already raised his broad sword, striking at He Ao once more.

He Ao’s mind was filled with echoes of the elder’s internal energy circuit, integrating these changes into his own Martial Techniques.

The broad swords collided again; this time, He Ao stepped back twice, while the elder took half a step.

The elder glanced at He Ao and laughed heartily, "Again!"

Once more, the swords met; this time, He Ao retreated two steps, and the elder retreated two and a half steps.

The part the elder mastered wasn’t much more than what He Ao had known, and in the brief combat, He Ao had already filled the gaps in his Martial Technique, merging it into his own.

Now the strength amplification of Force Shatters Mountains had reached 15%.

Just a few small changes had increased the original power of the Martial Technique by half.

The warriors from the Original Federation had obviously traversed much further on the path of Martial Arts than He Ao could explore alone.

The elder watched He Ao and laughed, raising his broad sword high in his hand.

The sharp and heavy broad sword in the elder’s hands danced like a supple Spiritual Snake, with a sharp edge that thrust aggressively toward He Ao’s face.

He Ao immediately raised his sword to block.

That seemingly ’soft’ tip of the sword struck the black broad sword, suddenly exploding with ferocious strength.

He Ao’s palm froze, and his broad sword was suddenly knocked out of his grip, embedding itself in a ’reef’ that jutted out of the lava outside the platform.

The incoming blade, seemingly ’slow’ but actually as fast as ’flowing light,’ approached He Ao with incredible speed.

In the blink of an eye, the sword seemed poised to pierce He Ao’s chest.

Then, as if He Ao had suddenly ’flashed’ away, the blade deviated, grazing past his side.

And He Ao immediately leaped sideways, distancing himself from the elder.

This was the "movement technique" he had learned in the Copy World.

"Deceptive movement technique?"

The Elder held the Broad Sword in his hand, smiling at He Ao, "Not bad."

The next second, his figure disappeared again like an illusion, drifting toward He Ao like a breeze.

He Ao raised his hand, and a thin Black Rope appeared in his grasp, which then instantly straightened into a long spear.

This was a counterfeit B-level object that He Ao had obtained from Feiya during the Underground Palace event, which he had been carrying on him until now.

He invested his Divine Sense into the spear, watching the direction from which the Elder surged forward, the spear quivered, and he thrust it out.

The scorching air was pierced by the spear in an instant, with a sudden sonic boom aiming straight for the Elder.

This was a combat skill He Ao had learned from Feiya’s Fist Technique, which could increase the strength by more than 15% at the tip of a long weapon, though it was unstable in use.

The spear that broke through the air easily aimed for the Elder’s face, but it passed through as if cutting through the wind, naturally evaded by the Elder.

The sharp Broad Sword, like a Spiritual Snake, once again approached He Ao’s neck.

In that instant, He Ao abandoned his incomplete offensive and immediately retracted his spear, twisting its body to block the incoming Broad Sword.

But because of the hasty block, his hands shook violently, and his entire body flew backward, smashing into the cliff beside the elevator, fracturing the entire wall.

He Ao coughed out a mouthful of blood, glanced at his palm holding the spear, now a bloody blur, and staggered to his feet.

"Young man, you are quite impressive,"

The Elder, holding his Broad Sword, looked at He Ao with appreciative eyes, "However, my duty is to guard this place. If you want to get past, you’ll have to kill me, or end up here, killed by me."

He Ao gripped the spear, his gaze fixed on the Broad Sword in the Elder’s hand.

That move, like a Spiritual Snake just now, seemed a bit like the method of using a long weapon, but it also appeared to integrate techniques of short weapons.

The force erupted strongest at the very tip of the sword, but the middle section was not weak either, presenting a mix of hardness with softness.

And the Elder’s recent display of a ’movement technique’ as gentle as a breeze seemed to be a form of efficient energy utilization.

The focus of this movement technique was not to "deceive" with positioning but to allow one’s body as much as possible to move with the wind, achieving a softness as if one could drift with it.

He needed to see it again.

He Ao extended his hand to the Jade Pendant in front of him, his Divine Sense following his hand into the pendant.

Along with the violent contamination exploding in his mind, the whole world unfolded in He Ao’s field of view with increased ’clarity.’

Touching the pendant with his hand proved better than soaking it through the skin on his chest, providing a bigger boost to ’comprehension,’ and likewise, triggering stronger contamination.

At this moment, the Elder in front was already flickering, attacking He Ao with the same movement technique and skills.

He Ao leaped into the air, dodging with a motion akin to Flash, flipping sideways to the other side of the platform.

At the same time, he started attempting to combine the energy circuits on the Elder’s body with his own ’Fist Technique’ and Martial Techniques.

The Elder’s body moved with the direction of the wind, continuing to close in on He Ao.

He Ao dodged again, borrowing a bit of the wind this time, but his speed wasn’t fast and his movements were noticeably awkward, and the distance between him and the Elder was closing.

There was no pause in the Elder’s movements, he pressed on mercilessly.

This time, He Ao started to blend his original movement technique with the ’momentum of the wind,’ managing to dodge a bit further.

But now, the Elder had already reached up to him.

"Young man, dodging is futile."

Accompanied by the hoarse voice, the sharp Broad Sword once again stabbed at He Ao with the wind.

In the previous two attacks, the Elder had intentionally cornered He Ao.

Now He Ao stood at the edge of the platform, with a wall on one side and blistering lava on the other, the dark Broad Sword blocking his retreat; this time, there was no way to dodge.

He Ao took a deep breath, released his hold on the pendant, and lifted the black spear in his hand.

The sharp spear suddenly lunged forward, meeting the incoming Broad Sword.

The Elder seemed to continue trying to use his movement technique to dodge He Ao’s attack, but this time, He Ao’s spear, following the same wind, appeared like a Flash in front of the Elder’s Broad Sword.

A trace of surprise briefly flitted across the Elder’s ancient and murky gaze for the first time.

The surprise seemed not only that He Ao had learned the old man’s movement technique, but also that He Ao had fused the old man’s movement technique with his own.

He forcefully clapped his hands together, shoulder, elbow, and waist acting as one, his entire body’s strength bursting forth in an instant, chopping down towards that pitch-black spear.

Accompanied by a clear sound, the black spear collided with the pitch-black broad sword.

The platform beneath He Ao’s feet suddenly shattered, revealing the boiling lava below.

Nearly at the same time, under the old man’s astonished gaze, the dark spear tip struck the broad sword upward, and He Ao took a step forward, urging the spear tip towards the old man’s chest.

He had barely managed to merge the martial techniques used by the old man with his unstable polearm skills, stabilizing the strength amplification at the tip to 25%, thus the actual strength now exceeded that shown by the old man’s martial techniques.

The boiling lava surged where the young man had just stood.

At this moment, the old man quickly retreated and spun his sword downward, attempting to sweep away the long spear piercing towards his chest.

He Ao immediately lifted the long spear, its tip pointing upward, striking the old man’s wrist.

The sharp spear left a bloody trail across the old man’s wrist. Then, under the impact of the tremendous force, the old man’s palm loosened, and the black broad sword swiftly flew behind He Ao.

He Ao immediately grasped the long spear, its tip now pointing downward, thrusting once more towards the old man’s chest.

But in that very instant, a strong sense of crisis surged to his heart.

He swiftly turned around, grasping the black spear, to block behind him.

The sharp black broad sword flying through the air seemed to be controlled by some invisible force, pivoting to stab at him.

Was this force Divine Sense?

In his panic, the black spear in He Ao’s hand collided with the incoming black broad sword.

The black broad sword was deflected away, and the black long spear in He Ao’s hand was also knocked away simultaneously.

At this time, the old man behind He Ao had leapt up, kicking away the flying black spear, while gripping the black broad sword in the air and chopping down towards He Ao’s back with it.

In that instant, it seemed evasion was already too late.

He Ao raised his hands and quickly turned around.

The movement of the black broad sword in the old man’s hand was slightly delayed.

Retrieve objects from the air!

The broad sword that returned to the young man’s hand, like a long spear, spun and thrust out.

With a clear sound, the black broad sword held by the old man shattered into pieces, breaking apart.

The old man lowered his head, looking incredulously at the black broad sword piercing his chest, opened his mouth, and blood flowed from it.

In this extremely short amount of time, He Ao first used the ability "Pawn" to partially obtain the usage rights of the black broad sword in the old man’s hands, causing the sword to disobey him and slow its movement.

Then he applied polearm martial techniques to the black broad sword, using his well-integrated movement technique to speed up his actions, while using Divine Sense and the Strengthening Magic Array he learned in the Copy World to amplify his black broad sword, making his own sword stronger than the old man’s.

He had not shown his supernatural ability until this moment for just this opportunity.

All three of the old man’s energy convergence points were located at his chest, perfectly positioned to be pierced by the black broad sword in a single thrust.

He Ao released his grip on the hilt of the sword and raised his hand.

Retrieve objects from the air!

The black long spear flying through the air appeared in his hand.

However, he did not continue his attack on the old man, but calmly watched him instead.

"Kid, your talent is excellent,"

Blood spilled from the corners of the old man’s mouth, his body began to metamorphose and collapse, but his face did not show any anger or hatred, just a bit of remaining shock and appreciation, "You will carve a brilliant path for yourself."

The lingering pieces of soul attached to his body began to shatter, and his presence gradually faded.

He Ao stepped forward and gently closed the old man’s eyelids.

The boiling lava beat against the rocks.

And beneath He Ao’s palm, a faint transparent glow was now "spilling out" from the old man’s body.