255: I also have a flying sword.

Looking at Li Pingan again, the infatuation in Fu Yunze's eyes had turned into fierce determination.

With a casual wave, the soul devouring sword shot out like a venomous snake, aiming straight for the dark-skinned youth's forehead.

"Clang!"

The crisp impact sound made the ears of everyone nearby ache. A faint cyan halo suddenly enveloped Li Pingan's body, and a simple yet majestic phantom of the Black Tortoise slowly materialized—the ancient Divine Beast, the Black Tortoise.

Four Symbols Rotation Art!

As soon as the phantom took shape, it stood before Li Pingan like an immovable mountain. The soul devouring sword struck the phantom fiercely, leaving only a shallow scratch before being repelled by an invisible force.

Li Pingan's tense body relaxed slightly, and the pressure from the black iron seal was somewhat alleviated.

Fu Yunze frowned slightly. "I didn't expect you to hide your cards so well, keeping such a trump up your sleeve even while fighting me."

As he spoke, his left hand suddenly formed a hand seal. The black iron seal erupted with a surge of purple light and smashed toward the Black Tortoise phantom.

"It's a pity that even with this phantom's protection, it's nothing but a futile struggle!"

The two soul devouring swords gleamed with flowing light, relentlessly attacking the dark-skinned youth below like blunt knives cutting through flesh. Even with the aid of the Four Symbols Rotation Art, Li Pingan's current Realm was insufficient to fully unleash the power of this God-Tier Divine Ability.

It could only alleviate the pressure from the black iron seal, not ignore it entirely.

Li Pingan could only scramble on the ground in a sorry state.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

Crisp sounds rang out incessantly. The cyan light on the Black Tortoise phantom began to flicker violently, and the patterns on its shell visibly dimmed at a rapid pace.

With each attack it endured, the phantom trembled intensely. The faint cyan halo receded like a tide, revealing fine cracks covering the shell, as if it would shatter completely at any moment.

At the edge of the Demon Suppressing Tower, Zhao Xu, who had remained silent since Fu Yunze's arrival, spoke again:

"It's useless. I remember now. This is Elder Fu from the Sect. Three years ago, he crossed Realms to slay an Soul Emergence Stage great demon. Once he sets his sights on us, we're as good as dead..."

Hearing this, Lin Xiuqin glared furiously and scolded Zhao Xu sharply. "Stop spouting nonsense! We're not familiar with you people from the Chusheng Sect, and we don't want to die for no reason alongside you!"

"Junior Sister!" Zhao Jingchen frowned deeply and sternly stopped Lin Xiuqin.

Lin Xiuqin turned her head abruptly, glaring at him with impatience:

"Senior Brother, at a life-and-death moment like this, can't I even vent a little?"

After trying all the Talismans in her hands, she knew in her heart that the only hope of breaking the situation today was either for Young Master Li to unleash astonishing strength and defeat Fu Yunze, or for Revered Master to suddenly appear and save everyone from danger. But both seemed like distant, unattainable hopes.

"If only that beast didn't have a heaven-rank magic treasure," Lin Xiuqin complained again.

Hearing the words "heaven-rank magic treasure," Ye Hao narrowed his eyes slightly and looked toward the battlefield.

Li Pingan watched the cracks spreading across the Black Tortoise phantom and felt the increasingly heavy pressure around him. He knew that delaying further was like boiling a frog in warm water—sooner or later, Fu Yunze would wear him down to death.

He moved swiftly, taking advantage of the moment when Fu Yunze controlled the black iron seal to smash the phantom. He pushed off the ground with both feet, leaping up like an arrow from a bow and landing steadily on the broken tiles of the Demon Suppressing Tower's ruined pavilion.

The tiles shattered crisply under his feet!

Meanwhile, the Black Tortoise phantom behind him actively dissipated, its faint cyan halo receding like a tide. Immediately after, a blazing crimson flame erupted from his body, and a Vermilion Bird phantom with a wingspan of several zhang took shape within the flames.

Its feathers burned like red gold, its beak and claws gleamed coldly, and as its wings flapped, scorching heat waves swept in all directions.

Relying on the momentum of the Vermilion Bird phantom's eruption, he charged straight toward Fu Yunze in the air. Crimson flames formed a blazing protective shield around him, blocking all the oncoming gusts of wind.

Seeing this, Fu Yunze chuckled lightly.

"Seeking death!"

He instantly gathered dense spiritual energy in his palm, condensing it into a palm imprint that he fiercely slapped toward the charging Li Pingan.

"Boom!"

The moment they collided, a terrifying energy shockwave spread in all directions. The ruined eaves of the Demon Suppressing Tower were blown away by the blast, scattering rubble and tiles everywhere.

Li Pingan felt an immense force transmit from his palm, as if his internal organs had been shaken out of place. A metallic taste surged in his mouth, and he was sent flying backward like a kite with its string cut, crashing heavily into the wall of the Demon Suppressing Tower.

The wall instantly shattered into a huge hole, dust billowing everywhere!

The two soul devouring swords didn't hesitate for a moment. Like two speeding meteors, they chased into the dust cloud, clearly aiming to seize this opportunity to finish off Li Pingan completely.

Fu Yunze hovered in mid-air, exhaling heavily. Fine beads of sweat formed on his temples, showing that this exchange had taken a significant toll on him.

His gaze swept toward Ye Hao and the other two not far away. "That took quite some effort. Next, it's your turn..."

Before he could finish, Fu Yunze's voice suddenly cut off. The smile on his face froze, replaced by utter astonishment.

He looked down blankly at his chest, where a bloody hole had appeared at some unknown time. Warm blood gushed from the hole, dripping down his robes as the vitality within his body visibly dissipated at a rapid pace.

"H-how... how is this possible!" Fu Yunze's voice trembled, his eyes filled with fear.

At that moment, the dust slowly cleared, and Li Pingan's figure emerged from the rubble in a disheveled state.

Even more shocking was that the two soul devouring swords that had been chasing him were now tightly clenched between his teeth in mid-air.

He raised his head slightly, spat the two soul devouring swords onto the ground—they landed with crisp clangs—and then spoke slowly, his voice slightly hoarse. "Did you think only you had a heaven-rank magic treasure?"

As he spoke, another sword light shot out—a miniature Flying Sword, entirely silver-white and only as long as a finger.

It was precisely the one bestowed upon him by his Revered Master, Chen Xuan!

It must be known that Li Pingan was originally a pure Martial Artist, with all his cultivation focused on fists, feet, and Protective Aura, completely different from ordinary Cultivators who rely on spiritual energy to wield Magical Artifacts.

Back then, Chen Xuan had pondered for a full half-month to select a suitable protective Magic Treasure for him, ultimately choosing this special miniature Flying Sword.

This sword didn't require spiritual energy to operate; it could be activated solely with martial Protective Aura. It could be unleashed at critical moments to deliver a surprise fatal blow to the enemy.

After all,

in everyone's perception, how could a Martial Artist who believed in "fist-to-flesh" combat possibly hide a Flying Sword that required precise control?

This cognitive bias precisely became Li Pingan's most lethal killing move.

The sword light was as fast as lightning, giving Fu Yunze no time to react. It instantly pierced through his forehead.

"Thud!"

Blood gushed from Fu Yunze's forehead. The light in his eyes completely faded, and his body plummeted straight to the ground, crashing heavily with no further sound or sign of life.