Chapter 860: Chapter 860

Ding Fan and Zhang Shanlian quickly found their way out through the exit as per the path they had traversed earlier. After all, Ding Fan was very familiar with formations; since he could enter, leaving was not a difficult task either.

The two men now emerged from the pool. Ding Fan and Zhang Shanlian glanced over at their current surroundings.

The place they were in was surprisingly the same ravine they had jumped into yesterday while being chased.

Thinking back, the situation had been incredibly perilous. If it were not for the pool's hidden connection to another world beneath, it's likely that both men would already have been slain by Gui Luo.

"I thought you two had really disappeared? Hehehe…" Just as Ding Fan and Zhang Shanlian were preparing to hurry on their way, a strange cackle from Gui Luo came from not too far behind them.

"Young friend, let's join forces and drive back the enemy together," Zhang Shanlian said as he drew a longsword from his storage ring.

Zhang Shanlian was aware of Ding Fan's capabilities; after all, he was a formidable individual who had inherited Wen Yizhou's legacy. Despite his young age, his cultivation level was hardly any lower than his own.

Earlier, it was precisely because of Ding Fan's cultivation level that Zhang Shanlian decided to leave Hundred Flowers Village. With him and Ding Fan joining forces, Ghost Screw posed no threat to them at all.

"Zhang Shanlian, you've really become more and more disgraceful with age, now even teaming up with a junior. I truly feel embarrassed for your Spirit Sect," Gui Luo sneered disdainfully.

At this moment, Zhang Shanlian chose not to say more. He believed that Gui Luo, who so underestimated Ding Fan, was bound to suffer a great loss soon.

"Senior Zhang, leave this Ghost Sect character to me," Ding Fan said calmly to Zhang Shanlian at his side.

Zhang Shanlian was taken aback.

He hadn't expected Ding Fan to challenge someone from the Ghost Sect alone. After all, the Ghost Sect members were not to be taken lightly—even with Ding Fan's inheritance from Wen Yizhou, it seemed rather unreliable for him to face Gui Luo alone.

In his heart, Zhang Shanlian felt that Ding Fan was overestimating himself.

However, upon recalling how Ding Fan had returned unharmed amidst thunderbolts, Zhang Shanlian took another look at him. At this moment, he could distinctly feel that the aura emanating from Ding Fan was different from before.

Observing Ding Fan's determined gaze, Zhang Shanlian finally nodded.

Zhang Shanlian knew that Ding Fan was extraordinary. What may seem like an overestimation of one's abilities to ordinary people could be a matter of ease and pleasure for him.

Moreover, after spending so much time with Ding Fan, Zhang Shanlian knew he was prudent and wouldn't choose to fight alone if he wasn't confident.

"Alright, then you go ahead," Zhang Shanlian said to Ding Fan at his side.

"Zhang Shanlian, to think you'd send a young lad to his death... Hehehe... Fine, I shall drain this boy's blood right before your eyes and dismember every one of his limbs!"

As a distinguished general of the Ghost Sect, the idea that the young Ding Fan, who was barely in his early twenties, would confront him alone was insulting.

Ding Fan's youthful recklessness was one thing, but even Zhang Shanlian beside him had agreed to let Ding Fan face him alone...

Did they really think that a youngster barely past twenty could defeat him?

"Dealing with you, I am more than enough," Ding Fan walked towards Gui Luo with a calm gaze and steady voice.

Seeing Ding Fan at this moment, he didn't look like he was heading into a fierce battle, but rather seemed like he was just going to visit a friend.

"Die!" Gui Luo had no interest in wasting more words with Ding Fan.

In Gui Luo's view, Ding Fan was young and seemed to be around twenty-two or twenty-three at most. At this age, even a Hidden Sect Disciple couldn't easily defeat him, much less someone from an external sect.

Gui Luo was extremely angry, feeling humiliated by being looked down upon by Ding Fan, and so he launched a killer move right from the start.

Boom! A powerful True Qi burst forth directly towards Ding Fan.

Ding Fan had no intention of dodging. He wanted to test his own strength. If he couldn't withstand such a common attack, then there was no point in continuing to fight Gui Luo.

"Speed!" Ding Fan bellowed.

Instantly, a formidable True Qi burst forth from him.

The energies of the two men collided, sending rocks flying and the earth trembling. Both Gui Luo and Ding Fan were forced back three steps.

Gui Luo's gaze turned sharp.

Surprisingly, they were evenly matched in a head-on clash!

Keep in mind, the opponent was merely a young disciple from an external Hidden Sect. Being repelled by a disciple of that age would be a disgrace if word got out; Gui Luo would no longer be able to hold his head up.

Ding Fan, at this moment, was quite satisfied as he felt the strength in his clenched fists.

Ding Fan had chosen to face Gui Luo alone mainly because he wanted to gauge the progress he made during last night's cultivation.

With the aid of Thunderstone, Ding Fan's cultivation had advanced rapidly overnight, and his Golden Core had already formed within his Dan Tian. Hence, Ding Fan wanted a one-on-one battle with Gui Luo to estimate how much he still lacked compared to a Mysterious Level Expert.

After the recent exchange, Ding Fan now had a better understanding of his capabilities; facing a Mysterious Level Expert, he had the power to fight.

Seeing this, Zhang Shanlian's eyes lit up. In just one night, Ding Fan's cultivation had progressed to the point where he could match Gui Luo...

Zhang Shanlian looked at Ding Fan as if he were gazing upon a monster. He had seen plenty of astonishing and resolute geniuses among martial artists before, but he had never come across someone like Ding Fan who improved so rapidly. If those who pride themselves as geniuses knew of Ding Fan's existence, who knows what they would think.

"Boy, prepare to die!"

Gui Luo's eyes were blood-red at this moment. With a wave of his hand, a longsword appeared in his grasp, and then he immediately lunged at Ding Fan, intent on killing him.

Zhang Shanlian, watching the battle from the side, actually started to worry for Ding Fan.

He was aware of Ding Fan's combat ability, but after all, Ding Fan's opponent was Gui Luo.

Gui Luo rarely used magic artifacts when fighting with others, but once he did, it meant he harbored the intent to kill.

Zhang Shanlian himself had experienced Gui Luo's swordsmanship before.

Speaking of which, Zhang Shanlian had been seriously injured by Gui Luo's swordsmanship. At this moment, he couldn't help but worry whether Ding Fan could withstand Gui Luo's onslaught.

Within the arena at this time.

Seeing Gui Luo brandishing his sword and charging forward, Ding Fan didn't dare to be negligent and immediately took out the Nine Profound Iron from his storage ring.

Facing off against a Mysterious Level expert, he dared not make any mistakes; the slightest error could truly spell doom.

Ding Fan drew the Nine Profound Iron and countered Gui Luo's longsword head-on.

For a moment, the arena was filled with myriad ghostly figures and flashing sword beams.

Though the clashing of swords could be heard and the flickering of sword beams could be seen, the figures of Ding Fan and Gui Luo, locked in fierce combat, were nowhere to be seen.

Gui Luo, fighting up to this point, became even more terrified in his heart.

He truly had no idea from where such a formidable young man as Ding Fan had sprung up. Up until now, he had to admit that in terms of strength, the gap between him and Ding Fan was not significant at all.

Had Gui Luo not witnessed it with his own eyes, he would have found it hard to believe that on this world, there existed someone barely over twenty with such heaven-defying cultivation.

Gui Luo was astonished, and Zhang Shanlian looking on from the side was even more so.

Gui Luo's swordsmanship was famously formidable.

In his sword technique, he integrated soul body attacks, which essentially meant that although it seemed that only Gui Luo himself was attacking, in fact, his longsword was assisted by attacks from a soul body.

Zhang Shanlian watched the situation in the arena clearly and thought to himself that had he been facing Gui Luo's recent strikes, he likely would have already been seriously injured.

Yet faced with such powerful swordsmanship, Ding Fan was still able to dodge from the most reasonable angles. Zhang Shanlian truly couldn't understand how Ding Fan was able to perceive things with such detail in the blink of an eye.

In fact, it wasn't that Ding Fan's perception was meticulously detailed. What truly deserved thanks was his Divine Sense.

Ding Fan's Divine Sense and the telekinesis of martial artists were quite different. Telekinesis can also probe the surrounding environment, but in terms of agility and breadth of detection, it is much less effective than Divine Sense.

As Ding Fan battled with Gui Luo, he had already locked all of his Divine Sense onto his opponent. Whatever actions the opponent was about to take, he knew well in advance, allowing him to successfully predict and counter them as they were executed.

"Boy, to offend the Ghost Sect leads to a miserable end. If you leave now, I will act as if you never came here," Gui Luo said while continuing the fight against Ding Fan. "Why risk your life for someone who is unrelated to you?"

At this time, Ding Fan had no intention of responding to Gui Luo. In a fight of Profound Level, how could Ding Fan dare be negligent in the slightest?

"Gui Luo, it seems you can't hold on much longer, and now you are begging a junior for mercy. You truly have outdone yourself," Zhang Shanlian quipped mockingly from outside the arena.

Zhang Shanlian purposefully implied that Gui Luo was begging Ding Fan for mercy, his main aim being to agitate Gui Luo. In doing so, he helped Ding Fan in an indirect way.

"Begging for mercy?" Gui Luo's voice sounded somewhat piercing.

The members of the Ghost Sect were always proud; to be forced to beg for mercy by a disciple from the Hidden Sects was a brutal blow to Gui Luo.

"I, Gui Luo, have never begged anyone for mercy!" With his longsword sweeping a path, the sword beam and ghostly figure instantly enveloped Ding Fan. The source of thɪs content is 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭⚫𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦⚫𝘯𝘦𝘵

In his fury, Gui Luo unleashed over a dozen slashes in a row, forcing Ding Fan to retreat repeatedly under the barrage of sword shadows.

Seeing that he had pushed Ding Fan back, Gui Luo didn't delay any further. Wielding his longsword, he charged forth to continue his assault.

Just at this moment, Ding Fan threw his Nine Profound Iron straight at Gui Luo.

Once released, the Nine Profound Iron transformed into a streak of light, shooting straight towards Gui Luo's face.

The sword beam's momentum was formidable, and Gui Luo, instead of confronting it head-on, dodged to the side and avoided the longsword at once.

"Kid, now that you are without your longsword, how do you plan to fight?" Having dodged the longsword, Gui Luo shook his own and lunged towards Ding Fan.

Ding Fan snorted coldly. "Do I really need a sword to defeat you?"

Gui Luo was taken aback, unable to comprehend why Ding Fan remained so confident even now.

At this moment, the sound of wind came from behind Gui Luo.

Gui Luo was alarmed; the opponent was plainly in front of him, so why was there wind coming from behind?

Without hesitation, he quickly tried to dodge, but it was already too late. It was impossible to avoid nimbly...

Thud… The longsword directly severed Gui Luo's right arm…