This palm strike was fierce, the black handprint struck through the air, clearing a void and shattering it, causing the air itself to burst open.
"This old fellow is really serious now."
Ao Tian and Su Ying watched this scene and were both secretly shocked; they also began to worry for Ye Xuan, whose strength was considerable. However, the Demon Dragon Venerable was indeed a true First Grade Demon Venerable. Ye Xuan and his opponent differed by four whole levels; such a gap, even with a Supreme Grade sword in hand, would likely be difficult to bridge.
However, they were unable to intervene now. Whether Ye Xuan’s strength was enough to block the Demon Dragon Venerable remained an unknown.
"With my current strength, I am indeed no match for you, but my methods are not limited to this. Netherworld Demon Blood Hidden Skill!"
A shout rang out in Ye Xuan’s heart, and the next moment, a violent fluctuation swept out from within him. Threads of blood emerged from his body, swirling around him for a moment before gradually retracting back inside. As the blood retracted, Ye Xuan’s aura suddenly surged massively.
Ye Xuan had long mastered the Netherworld Demon Blood Hidden Skill, and now that the time was right, he did not hesitate to use it.
The function of the Netherworld Demon Blood Hidden Skill was to activate the body’s potential. Although it came at a certain cost, once activated, Ye Xuan’s strength could greatly increase. Before this, Ye Xuan was no match for the Demon Dragon Venerable, but now, even a Demon Venerate might be contested.
After his aura exploded, Ye Xuan immediately struck back with a palm, meeting the Demon Dragon Venerable’s handprint head-on. Their palms collided violently and dissipated together.
The Demon Dragon Venerable’s full-strength palm was straightforwardly neutralized by Ye Xuan.
"No wonder you were confident to battle me. You had such a secret technique at your disposal."
Seeing his handprint neutralized, the Demon Dragon Venerable’s gaze darkened. He had thought that a full-powered attack from him would be unstoppable by Ye Xuan. Yet, Ye Xuan still had this trump card. Now that they had clashed, the outcome of the battle became uncertain.
"I said, if you want to use my head to memorialize your son, let’s see if you have the ability."
Ye Xuan’s lips slightly curled up. With the Netherworld Demon Blood Hidden Skill activated, he indeed felt an unprecedented strong sensation. Initially, he was somewhat unsure against the Demon Dragon Venerable, but now, his confidence was significantly bolstered.
"Hmph, just because you blocked my mere palm, your confidence has swelled? The real show has just started. Do you think that with a little increase in strength from a secret technique, you can truly compete with me, a First Grade Demon Venerate?"
The Demon Dragon Venerable snorted coldly, then flipped his hand, and bunches of liquid-like pure energy started to condense in his palm. These liquid energies gathered and rapidly twisted and deformed, flowing like black liquid energy all over the Demon Dragon Venerable’s body, forming a liquid armor.
"It’s Demon Essence Power transformed from demonic power!"
Ye Xuan’s pupils slightly narrowed; he recognized what this black liquid was. After advancing from Martial Sect Master Realm to Martial Venerate, the True Qi inside would transform into True Yuan. This was why Martial Venerate experts were so much stronger than Martial Sect masters. The True Yuan was tremendously influential, enhancing the power of techniques substantially, and, as the Demon Dragon Venerable was demonstrating, could form exceptionally strong protective armor outside the body.
If an attack did not reach the Martial Venerate level, it simply couldn’t break through this armor. This meant that below Martial Venerate, none even had the qualification to harm them.
Of course, this was usually the case, but geniuses often exist to break the norms and are not confined to such general circumstances.
"Next, this Venerable will let you see the gap."
The Demon Dragon Venerable’s body shook, his Demon Essence Armor tightened quickly, and he clenched his fists hard, his body taut as a bow, his back arching.
A surge of blood-red aura shot into the sky, blood-red lightning crackling erratically. The entire sky was swept by a fierce windstorm, uprooting massive trees and tossing them into the sky, nearby lake water spiraled upwards like water tornados, and the area around the Demon Dragon Venerable turned into a whirl of flying sand and darkened skies.
Behind the Demon Dragon Venerable, an aura faintly formed a huge Black Dragon, but this dragon only had three claws, clearly not a True Dragon yet.
"What an incredible aura!"
Ye Xuan’s expression changed slightly. The Demon Dragon Venerable was not someone who had just reached the First Grade Demon Venerable level; he had been in this realm for nearly ten years, reaching the peak of the First Grade Demon Venerable level, and with a bit more time, advancing to Second Grade wouldn’t be an issue.
"Dragon Devil Capture!"
At the peak of his aura’s explosion, the Demon Dragon Venerable turned into black lightning, rushing out of the flying sand, and struck fiercely with a punch.
With that punch, Ye Xuan felt his aura waver, as if it were about to shatter into pieces—a situation he had never encountered before. If his aura collapsed, his combat effectiveness would be greatly reduced, making it easy for him to fall into a disadvantage.
"Transform into a dragon!"
Ye Xuan roared, and as his words fell, a layer of dark golden dragon scales, wings, and a tail rapidly grew on his body, fully activating his bloodline power and transforming him into a half-human, half-dragon figure.
With the completion of the transformation, an aura of a dragon emanated from Ye Xuan, restoring the originally crumbling aura and counteracting the pressure from the Demon Dragon Venerable.
"Gold Breaks Thunder Strike!"
While transformed, Ye Xuan readied the Dragon Abyss Ancient Sword in his hand and immediately executed his most powerful sword move—a lightning arc of sword light burst forth, seemingly invincible and cutting through space as if it split it in two.
The Sword Qi was unstoppable, creating a crack on the ground beneath its path, rapidly extending under the astonished gazes of the onlookers.
Demon Dragon Venerable’s Demon Essence armor radiated a startling brilliance as he fearlessly smashed his fist out, directly clashing with the Sword Qi.
The Sword Qi was severed by the powerful impact of the fist, but at the same time, the Sword Qi tore through the Palm Force. For a moment, it seemed like the entire world was filled with scattering arcs of lightning and black Qi Force, raining in all directions, severely damaging the nearby ground.
Even though the crowd was far away and had fled when things turned sour, some still vomited fresh blood from serious internal injuries.
In the center of the Sword Qi explosion, the Demon Dragon Venerable stood unyielding, any stray strands of Sword Qi that got close were dissipated by his external Demon Essence armor.
"He is too strong indeed; worthy of being the Demon Dragon Venerable. Even if Ye Xuan uses Secret Techniques, he still can’t shake him in the least." Yu Yi and Little Xi, watching the battle from not too far away, couldn’t help but worry for Ye Xuan; after all, the Demon Dragon Venerable’s reputation had been established in Sky Demon Mountain for a long time, and though Ye Xuan was Sky Demon Mountain’s top young talent, he was still part of the younger generation and battling the Demon Dragon Venerable seemed a bit too forced.
"This Ye Xuan didn’t appear to be so fierce, boldly putting Long Guihai to death right in front of the Demon Dragon Venerable. But now he’s done for; no matter what, a mere Demon King cannot defeat a First Grade Demon Venerable, something even the legendary Dragon Girl couldn’t achieve."
Young Master Blood Python and Young Master Hu, among others, were also intently watching Ye Xuan—his earlier act of killing Long Guihai had set their nerves on edge. After all, they had old scores with Ye Xuan, and if Ye Xuan decided to target them next, they surely wouldn’t be able to escape either.
As everyone had their own calculations, the battle between Ye Xuan and the Demon Dragon Venerable had heated up, with the distance between the two shrinking to less than ten meters. The Dragon Abyss Ancient Sword and the Demon Dragon Venerable’s Demon Essence attacks clashing repeatedly, sending deafening booms resonating around.
A Triple Sword Power move was executed with the Dragon Abyss Ancient Sword making three quick swipes in mid-air, releasing three overlapping blue Sword Qi blasts that soared into the sky.
The Demon Dragon Venerable furrowed his brow and hurriedly raised his hand to block, but the three arcs of Sword Qi hitting the Demon Essence armor managed to tear it partially, exhausting their energy and then collapsing.
Holding the sword in his right hand, Ye Xuan struck out with his left, using the second move of the Dragon Essence Palm—the Six Dragon Turns. Instantly, following the slash of the Sword Qi, the Palm Force arrived, striking hard against the Demon Dragon Venerable’s body and pushing him back several steps.
"Dammit, I’d like to see how long you can maintain this Secret Technique!"
Reeling from the attack, the Demon Dragon Venerable’s face turned ugly as Ye Xuan’s increased speed and agility from the Secret Technique made him almost ghostly in movement, hard to defend against even for him.
Thankfully he had his Demon Essence Power armor; it was impossible for Ye Xuan to injure him while he was guarded. All he had to do was wait for the effects of Ye Xuan’s Secret Technique to wear off. Every Secret Technique had a time limit; it couldn’t be used indefinitely.
The Demon Dragon Venerable was dead-on with his thinking—the Netherworld Demon Blood Hidden Skill indeed couldn’t be used indefinitely. Ye Xuan estimated he could sustain it for at most another twenty minutes; any longer would push him to his limit. In other words, if he couldn’t resolve the battle within twenty minutes, then he was as good as dead.
"So, was I right? Hmph, as I said, a mere ant is still an ant, no matter what Secret Technique you use; in the end, it won’t change the fact that you’re an ant!"
Seeing a change in Ye Xuan’s expression, the Demon Dragon Venerable sneered—he knew he hit the nail on the head. Ye Xuan wouldn’t be able to last much longer, and his death by the Demon Dragon Venerable’s hands was only a matter of time.