172: You are most beautiful when you are gentle.

Sacrificing blood to the blade!

"Hahaha... Go to hell!" Baili Chen laughed wantonly, the hatred in his eyes for Xiao Chen like a towering wave.

At this moment, his black hair had completely turned snow-white, blood seeped from the corner of his mouth, his eyes were filled with a murderous light, and his Divine Sense was firmly locked onto Xiao Chen's figure.

He had never expected that a mere Golden Core Stage cultivator could push him to this point.

He was even forced to use a forbidden technique at the cost of his Lifespan.

Xiao Chen looked at him with a calm expression, without the slightest hint of panic. In Baili Chen's eyes, Xiao Chen was already completely paralyzed by fear.

"Blood Demon Void-Severing Slash!"

With a loud shout, Baili Chen's figure soared into the sky. Holding the void-severing blade, he flipped and slashed down, sending out a blood-red blade glow.

Its dense blood Qi carried a terrifying power, like a blood-red river covering the sky and earth.

Everywhere it passed was turned into a vacuum, yet Xiao Chen remained motionless until the blade glow was only three zhang away.

A gentle spiritual power surged from his palm, swirling the blood-red blade glow and sending it back at double the speed.

"This..."

Baili Chen's pupils contracted sharply, his fierce eyes now filled with terror.

He never imagined that his own fatal strike would come back to blast him.

Without a second thought, he instantly chose Nascent Soul Soul Emergence; he could not possibly withstand this strike, launched at the cost of his Lifespan.

In just an instant, his Nascent Soul-level Physical Body was turned to ash by the destructive power of the blood-red blade glow.

In the distant shadows, a pair of black eyes as calm as an ancient well watched the battle, filled with extreme shock.

To actually be able to turn an opponent's attack into one's own!

Such a bizarre Move was unheard of and unseen even for a top expert of the Cangxuan Continent.

The moment Baili Chen's Nascent Soul performed Soul Emergence, he fled desperately into the distance, as if he had made a certain decision.

"Oh no!"

Xiao Chen sighed inwardly and chased after him with lightning speed. If he were allowed to escape, there would likely be no peace in the future.

Just then, a woman's sharp cry suddenly rang in his ears:

"Sword Domain, Seal!"

In an instant, the airspace for hundreds of miles around formed an invisible Sword Domain barrier. Within the barrier, Sword Qi could be seen crisscrossing, and Sword Intent flowed.

This was the Domain skill of the Golden Spirit Physique!

Then, a white-clad Fairy emerged from the clouds, her stunning beauty like a Nine Heavens Mysterious Lady descending to earth.

In the distant shadows, those calm pupils contracted several times, bursting with a fiery light as a murmur escaped:

"This time, don't even think about escaping from this Sect Revered Master's palm again!"

Xiao Chen looked at that dreamlike, beautiful Fairy face with a look of anticipation and couldn't help but call out:

"Fairy Sister!"

Nan Xingyao looked back and glared at him, then extended her jade-like hand. With a clench of her palm, the Domain covering hundreds of miles rapidly shrank.

Meanwhile, Baili Chen's Nascent Soul was struggling amidst the Sword Qi. Under the suppression of the Domain, his movement speed was drastically reduced.

"Does your Qixia Sect truly wish to be enemies with my Baili Clan?" Baili Chen's Nascent Soul roared at Nan Xingyao with extreme reluctance.

If his Physical Body were still intact, he naturally wouldn't fear this fourth-level Nascent Soul Golden Spirit Physique. But unfortunately, without the Physical Body as a medium, he could not exert his eighth-level Nascent Soul strength.

Nan Xingyao didn't speak; her expression was composed as she quickly tightened the Domain, arriving before him in the blink of an eye.

"If you want me dead, then let's die together!"

Baili Chen's Nascent Soul roared in anger, and cracks quickly spread across its tiny body.

He was choosing to perish together!

"Get out of the way!"

Xiao Chen was horrified. He grabbed Nan Xingyao's hand and pulled her into his embrace. His entire Soul power erupted, forming an invisible light screen.

At the same time, Bai Su's spiritual power instantly flooded into Xiao Chen's body. Silver-white scales bristled across his form, creating a powerful defensive barrier.

Boom!

With a world-shaking explosion centered on the Nascent Soul's self-detonation, an intense and blinding red light instantly illuminated the entire sky.

Nan Xingyao's Domain shattered with a bang, followed immediately by the cracking of Xiao Chen's Soul barrier.

The aftershocks of the explosion, like surging waves, spread wildly in all directions, filling the sky for a thousand miles with a rosy glow.

Space was torn into several hundred-zhang-wide gaps, and endless spatial storms gushed out, stirring up spiritual power riots in the surrounding thousands of miles of airspace.

Pfft!

Spitting out a mouthful of blood, Xiao Chen and Nan Xingyao were like leaves floating in a giant wave, blown hundreds of miles away.

The shockwave reached the ground, creating intense seismic waves. Suddenly, mountains crumbled, the earth split, and the sun and moon lost their light, as if the apocalypse had arrived.

A moment later.

The shockwave gradually subsided, and the sky regained its former tranquility, though the earth had been reduced to ruins.

"Rebellious Disciple, why were you showing off!" Nan Xingyao's face turned cold as she scolded him, but in reality, her heart was in a state of panic.

At such a critical moment, he had instinctively protected her, leaving her unsure whether to be happy or worried.

"Hehe... Revered Master Xing Yao, it's no trouble."

Seeing Xiao Chen covered in wounds, Nan Xingyao's heart softened. Unable to bring herself to scold him further, she took out a silk handkerchief and carefully wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.

Xiao Chen's injuries looked frightening, but they weren't actually that severe. The wounds on his body were just cuts from the storm stirred by the shockwave; for someone with the Pure Yang Sacred Body, they were nothing.

Looking at this exquisite face from so close, Xiao Chen's thoughts drifted back to the bottom of the cliff that day. Although she had been passive, there was no doubt she had changed his fate.

"Revered Master Xing Yao, you are most beautiful when you are gentle."

"Don't be glib."

Xiao Chen grabbed her soft hand and said seriously, "Revered Master Xing Yao, regarding the ten-year promise to reach the Golden Core Stage, I've completed it ahead of schedule!"

Nan Xingyao's heart fluttered, and she instinctively withdrew her hand, having no mind to ask how exactly he had achieved it.

Then she nodded, "Mhm."

"Don't you have anything you want to say to me?"

"I..."

At this moment, Nan Xingyao's brows furrowed slightly. Her heart felt stifled and full of conflict, not knowing how to answer.

She was afraid that telling the truth would destroy that delicate relationship; yet at the same time, she wanted Xiao Chen to know the truth because she didn't want to be treated as her sister's shadow.

Just then, the System's warning sounded in his ears:

[Ding! Dangerous individual Jin Wujiu detected, within ten thousand zhang of the Host. Current good-evil value: -50 points! Please stay away immediately!]

Xiao Chen was shocked. Now that he and Little White together could handle an eighth-level Nascent Soul expert, for someone to still be called a dangerous individual by the System...

...meant this person's cultivation was extremely high!

Immediately after, a powerful laugh echoed through the clouds:

"Hahaha... This play of the snipe and the clam fighting while the fisherman benefits is truly wonderful!"