188: Undying Fighting Staff

"Quick! Use the Reapers Scythe Skill to strike the divine statue."

Little Sparrow's voice rang out abruptly, her anxiety plain to hear.

Xu Le instinctively prepared to use the "Reapers Scythe" Skill. Whether it was Little Sparrow or Thousand-Year Fish, they had always been helpful to him. Though they were sometimes lazy, they never let him down at critical moments.

However, his Reapers Gift Skill was already Rank 8. Although no attributes were added after the eighth use to break the Seal, its Rank had still increased by one.

He had a premonition that the Reapers Scythe, his strongest trump card, could only be used one more time. If he used it now, he would lose his ultimate ace.

More importantly, after three minutes of clashing, the Assassin Statue's head was already halfway split. With the addition of himself and his Clone, the battle could be finished in three seconds at most.

In that moment of hesitation, just as his body lunged forward, he saw the wounds on the divine statue's head instantly heal, and a powerful pressure emanated from it.

Boom!

The firmament shattered.

A black curtain veiled the sky.

A streak of black light descended from the heavens, shooting out with a speed so absurdly fast it surpassed lightning itself—even faster than the divine statue's "Divine Punishment" Skill.

When he first looked up, it was still a thousand meters away; in the blink of an eye, it was right before him.

The Clone swung the Invisible Spear in its hand with all its might. As the spear fell, the black shadow had already pierced through the Clone's chest.

Swish!

Health bar zeroed out!

The Clone was directly annihilated by the massive power, leaving nothing behind.

Xu Le himself swung the yanyue saber in advance, but he was still a hair's breadth too slow and was struck by the black light first.

His full health bar plummeted instantly, but after his talent's damage reduction, a sliver of health less than half a finger wide remained.

"I finally blocked it!"

The black shadow revealed its mysterious form—a pitch-black, lusterless dagger.

The blade was as thin as a cicada's wing.

It paused slightly in mid-air, turned its edge, and flew up again.

Xu Le pointed his finger, releasing the already prepared Chain Lightning. A black Thunder Dragon roared as it charged toward the dagger.

Shoom!

The dagger took flight and slashed through the air, actually tearing the Thunder Dragon apart.

The cost was that the dagger wobbled slightly, its speed slowing down as if its power was nearly exhausted.

Xu Le's eyes lit up, and he cast the "Hurricane Howl" Skill inherent to his wings, intending to completely neutralize the dagger.

Unexpectedly, a hand like white jade suddenly appeared and grabbed the dagger.

The Assassin Statue that had been standing on the altar vanished. The moment it grabbed the dagger, it appeared behind Xu Le and slashed toward his neck.

Too fast!

Xu Le had no time to react. The opponent seemed to teleport; by the time he realized it, the dagger was already at his throat.

"Damn it, I don't know if the Divine Artifact 'a little more' will work after my head is chopped off."

Xu Le gritted his teeth, unwillingly having his head severed.

But his health bar stubbornly held onto one point.

He originally thought he still had a chance, but the opponent seemed to have known. Grabbing his body, it made several casual slashes, not only emptying the remaining health but also clearing the health he had just recovered after Heavens Mandate Regeneration was triggered.

Bang!

The mangled corpse fell to the ground.

Little Sparrow flew into the sky in a rage, completely unsealing its body.

Hum!

A giant bird that blotted out the sun covered the entire sky of the Ninth District.

"In the Northern Dark, there is a fish, its name is Kun. The Kun is so great, I know not how many thousands of li it extends. It transforms into a bird, its name is Peng. The back of the Peng is so great, I know not how many thousands of li it extends..."

Little Sparrow finally revealed its true form—the Kunpeng.

High in the Nine Heavens, it flapped its wings casually, creating a terrifying astral wind that blasted directly onto the Assassin Statue on the ground.

Crack, crack, crack... The Assassin Statue continuously brandished its dagger, slashing at wave after wave of astral wind. The wind was relentless, stone dust flew from the statue, and in just one second, its entire body had been reduced by a tenth.

"Skree!"

With a cry that pierced the Nine Heavens, the Assassin Statue's movements stiffened. Most of its body was shaved away by the astral wind, and its speed slowed down visibly to the naked eye.

On the other side.

Within Xu Le's mangled remains, he had not completely died; his unwilling will roared in anger.

Boundless darkness rushed in, trying to swallow him, but he held an unknown long staff, destroying the encroaching darkness one after another.

He was swallowed by the darkness time and again, and time and again he was resurrected to fight anew.

He didn't know how long he had been fighting—it could have been three years, ten years, or even longer.

Xu Le felt himself evolve from someone relying purely on hot-blooded courage into a seasoned veteran of the staff.

He thrust the long staff in his hand, annihilating large swaths of darkness.

His speed grew faster and faster, and his staff techniques became more sophisticated, until the speed at which the darkness grew was far slower than the speed at which he slaughtered it.

When all the darkness was wiped out, a raging fire ignited on Xu Le's mangled body.

[Ding! Congratulations to the host for comprehending "Indestructible Battle Staff." Attack speed with long weapons increased by 200%, attack increased by 1000%, and attack speed with staff-type weapons increased by an additional 100%.]

The notification rang in Xu Le's mind, but he wasn't excited.

His comprehension of staff techniques went far beyond those cold numbers.

The Assassin Statue, with less than a fifth of its body remaining, saw Xu Le wake up. It immediately abandoned the astral wind and teleported behind Xu Le.

Xu Le's speed was still far inferior, but after comprehending the "Indestructible Battle Staff" through the grinding of death in the darkness, he instantly knew the exact location of the dagger's attack.

The yanyue saber appeared silently in the path of the dagger's strike.

Clang!

A crisp sound rang out. The God of Assassins was stunned; the current Xu Le was a completely different person from before. To say one was on the ground and the other in the sky would not be an exaggeration.

(Duplicate sentence in source)

However, as a deity with vast combat experience, it instinctively aimed for Xu Le's other vital points.

Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang... In a short time, Xu Le had blocked countless attacks.

Xu Le himself was not unscathed. It wasn't that he was being hit by the Assassin Statue, but rather that his own flames were burning fiercely, and his body, like that of the Assassin Statue's divine body, was constantly diminishing.

Xu Le knew this was because the Little Demon Monkey's [Unyielding Battle Spirit] Skill could only resurrect him for 30 seconds. If he couldn't kill the enemy, he would truly die.

Yet he remained devoid of joy or sorrow, possessing only the combat instincts honed in the darkness.

Seeing Xu Le wake up, the Kunpeng did not hold back and continued its attack.

But it didn't continue to fan the violent Astral Winds; instead, it wove a strand of clear breeze that silently coiled around the Assassin Statue.

The Assassin Statue's movements stiffened, and the yanyue saber was already at its head.

Slashed in two!

A fine head fell to the ground.

[Experience +100 million]

Swish!

A white light flashed.

After killing the "Assassin Statue," another mark was lit up.

Xu Le reached Rank 93 Peak.

The "corpse" of the Assassin Statue on the ground was scorched by the flames on Xu Le's body, turning into nourishment that allowed him to fully resurrect.

Perhaps because the nourishment from the Assassin Statue's "corpse" was so good, his own attributes didn't decrease at all, and his link with the Little Demon Monkey still had 10 minutes left. He was now terrifyingly strong.