The Black Book: Seven Deadly Sins

On the other side, Hong Jila, once again critically injured, cast a venomous glance at the black-clad youth in the sky, and roared fiercely.

"Retreat!"

Toot, toot, toot~

Several centurions blew their horns in unison, and the morale-broken Centaur army turned and fled, leaving behind a scorched wasteland.

Meanwhile, Hong Jila swallowed the dirty blood in his mouth, and the Golden Saber in his hand burst into a dazzling radiance like the Sun.

"Blessed by the Golden Bloodline of Eternal Heaven, master of the world..."

In a self-hypnotizing murmur, the entire world responded to Hong Jila's call, an endless surge of power poured into his body, and golden flames leaked from his eye sockets, reflecting with the Golden Saber in his hand.

Sensing the enemy's swift recovery and accumulation of power, Zhu Haomiao twirled his sword art, not giving him a chance, leaning slightly forward and disappeared from his spot in an instant.

[Spiritual Rhinoceros]

The next moment, the black-clad youth appeared in front of Hong Jila as if instantly teleported, with his entire body radiating Qi force like a tidal wave.

[Stacked Waves Strength·Fierce Wave]

[Penetration Energy·Thunderbolt]

[Armor Breaking Force·Triumph]

The triple extraordinary power poured into the Eight-sided Han Sword in his hand, forming a high-frequency oscillating dark blade.

A sharp pain between his brows, Hong Jila had no time to adjust and could only hastily swing the Golden Saber in his hand.

Clang!

Sword and saber clashed, the substantial blade forces fiercely grinding against each other, exploding into countless dazzling golden lightning, flickering uncertainly.

Golden arcs of electricity swept around them, as the two faced each other at close quarters, terrifying divine flames erupting in their pupils.

However, one was radiant and scorching like liquid gold, while the other was dark and profound as the abyss.

After a brief deadlock, Zhu Haomiao's mouth curled into a grim smile, and his Profound Black Eight-sided Han Sword shook violently, crushing the resistance effortlessly.

Bang~

In a sound like shattering glass, the blade force attached to the Golden Saber burst and shattered, an alien extraordinary power infused into Hong Jila's body along the saber, making him spit blood and fly backward.

Boom!

A straight line pierced through a small hill over a dozen meters high, carving a deep trench several hundred meters long and seven or eight meters wide on the ground, stopping only when it crashed into a solid granite mountain body.

[Strength] +20

On the other side, Zhu Haomiao walked towards the enemy with a smile, not in a hurry, gradually recovering Qi while adapting to the stolen power.

Hundreds of meters away, Hong Jila was embedded in the center of a radial crater over a dozen meters in diameter, pale gold blood seeping from the corners of his mouth, his entire body slashed with countless gaping wounds by the [Triumph] Qi force, resembling cruel lingchi torture.

However, the flesh wounds were not fatal; what truly pained him was the strange energy convulsing ceaselessly inside his body.

This alien Qi force, like rampant electric currents, numbed and paralyzed him, muscles spasming uncontrollably, unable to gather energy to recover his strength.

Watching the terrifying black-clad youth gradually approach, Hong Jila gritted his teeth, stood up, and raised the Golden Saber defensively.

Seeing the blood-soaked enemy, Zhu Haomiao's mouth curled into a slight smirk. With a light tap of his toe, he appeared beside Hong Jila without warning.

Swish~

Following his combat instincts, Hong Jila instinctively blocked the sword blow with his reverse hand, precisely intercepting the descending blade.

However, the brute force shattered his defense, sending him and his saber flying.

Boom!

In a tremor that shook mountains, a small mountain was severed in half, the exploded rocks bursting like an internal blast, instantly disintegrating.

[Body] +20

Propping his body up from the rubble, seeing the black-clad youth whose aura was rising even higher, Hong Jila finally realized that his power was being siphoned into his enemy, and a sense of fear rose in his prideful heart.

What kind of sorcery is this?

The more he fought, the weaker he became, while the enemy grew stronger!

Even with the Power of Heaven and Earth aiding him, he couldn't see a glimmer of victory.

Even more terrifying was, intuitively, he felt that the enemy seemed not to have used full strength, as if still hiding some trump card.

Considering this, Hong Jila couldn't suppress a retreating thought, his mind racing.

The next second, the black-clad youth once again appeared in front of him like a phantom, bringing down his Eight-sided Han Sword like divine punishment.

This time, already mentally prepared, Hong Jila didn't resist head-on, lifting the Golden Saber with both hands to block the sword's trajectory, using the subtle force to leap backward with his hooves, retreating along the enemy's power.

Swish~

The sensation of ineffectual force felt like cutting into cotton, Zhu Haomiao watched Hong Jila in mid-air turning nimbly like an untamed horse fleeing in panic, gradually ceasing his advance.

With a gentle wave of his sword art, Zhu Haomiao released the mighty and elegant Eight-sided Han Sword, which merged into his body as a blaze, disappearing in an instant.

"Why did you let him go?"

A tall and robust young man appeared behind the black-clad youth, looking puzzledly in the direction of Hong Jila's departure.

Turning to glance at Huai Xu's bewildered face, Zhu Haomiao smiled slightly.

"You can't rush eating hot tofu, it's not done yet..."

Seeing the black-clad youth's meaningful and eerie smile, Huai Xu inexplicably thought of a cell sealed with thick concrete, filled with a terrifying gray lifeless pollution source.

Feeling a chill to his core, Huai Xu vaguely comprehended something, lowering his brow, not daring to meet the youth's smile directly again.

On the other side, unaware of Huai Xu's emotions, Zhu Haomiao slowly exhaled a turbid breath, stepping forward.

"Although the enemy's main force has collapsed, they're not fundamentally weakened, we can't give them a breathing opportunity."

"Yes."

"The Vanguard Army should accelerate their sweep, compress their active space, drive them toward [Tianxiong Pass]!"

Upon hearing this, Huai Xu hesitated for a moment, unable to resist speaking up.

"What about the ones that slipped through the net? Many descenders from Brother's family have retreated back to reality."

"Leave it to the subsequent troops, the new forces from the recent state mansions should be arriving soon."

"Facing descenders, the casualty rate for ordinary troops might be high..."

Hearing Huai Xu's concern, Zhu Haomiao pondered for a moment, then shook his head.

"With the two Quick Success Skills I created, an ordinary soldier's combat strength won't be inferior to a typical descender. The only concern should be those elite ones..."

At this point, the black-clad youth snapped his fingers lightly, calling out softly.

"Qiao Lan."

"I'm here."

At some point, a delicate, slender woman arrived beside the two, respectfully saluting Zhu Haomiao.

Seeing the flame-like twisted mark between Mu Qiao Lan's brows and her blood-sea-like swirling eyes, Huai Xu felt an inexplicable chill.

It wasn't a material fear but an instinctual response from the depths of the soul.

As if facing not a specific person, but a personified entity of extreme negative emotion.

On the other side, Zhu Haomiao completely unaware of Huai Xu's dread, softly instructed Mu Qiao Lan.

"I have a task for you, after the Vanguard Army has cleared the occupied areas, lead a group to hunt down the stragglers."