C20 The Swords Were Drawn

"Thunder Shadow Slash!" Qin Xiao bellowed, his battle blade crackling with lightning. Scorpion corpses fell like rain within meters of him.

During the earlier skirmish, Qin Xiao had been at a disadvantage, both in positioning and luck. He had slain his way through, but had barely encountered any Mutated Level Nether Scorpions, let alone Super Nether Scorpions, leaving him with only a handful of ordinary Soul Jade.

Now, spotting a Super Nether Scorpion, he naturally edged closer. Yet, he was in no rush to engage. In the Void Realm, only those who dealt a lethal blow to a Gene Creature would earn the Void Will's recognition, allowing them to devour its flesh for Gene Points or even harvest Soul Jade.

Super Creatures, the pinnacle of life forms nurtured by the Void Realm, possessed extraordinary resilience and were not easily vanquished. Qin Xiao was biding his time, waiting for the Super Nether Scorpion to become critically wounded or near death.

"Chu Lan, keep a close watch on Qin Xiao. If he comes within twenty meters of our position, don't hold back—strike immediately!" Qin Xiao's strategy was sound, but Chu Feng, his long-time rival, was well aware of his intentions.

The moment Qin Xiao started to close in, Chu Feng swiftly instructed a spirited woman by his side. "Understood, Brother Feng!" she replied. With her response, she led two companions to the left, pulling back from the Super Nether Scorpion's encirclement.

Both Qin Xiao and Chu Feng were playing a waiting game, neither fully committing their strength. Chu Feng had yet to reveal his core abilities or the crucial Soul Jade.

With the quintennial Battle of the Void looming, conserving resources was paramount. Moreover, Chu Feng was acutely aware that Qin Xiao wasn't the only one eyeing the super creature. Teams from the Yun family and the three major consortia were also subtly drawing nearer.

He had no intention of making sacrifices for others. He discreetly commanded his subordinates to strengthen the wind barrier and activated the Illusory Soul Jade to obscure everyone's vision.

Meanwhile, he relied solely on his Wild Wind Sword and the Wind Flame Nirvana Technique to tenaciously engage the Super Nether Scorpion.

The dynamics on the field took a bizarre turn, eliciting a smirk from a distant observer concealed behind a waterfall.

Shrouded in a black hood and cloaked in invisibility, the figure's identity remained a mystery.

As the fierce battle raged on, the shadowy figure began to sprinkle a ghastly green powder into the waterfall.

Clearly, he relished the chaos, hoping to escalate the pandemonium to the point where all combatants were thrown into disarray.

The fight pressed on. Chu Feng was the epitome of patience, but his adversary was quickly losing theirs.

"Clang!"

A light clang resonated as Chu Feng's sword once again met the tail of the Super Nether Scorpion. He could sense the creature's fury.

Indeed, the Purple Poison Nether Scorpion was infuriated to its core!

The relentless interference and inability to flee had unleashed its ferocity.

A violent eruption of purple poison gas signaled the Purple Poison Nether Scorpion's attack.

"Whoosh!"

A slender beam of purple light streaked by, narrowly grazing Chu Feng's nose and sending a shiver down his spine.

It was incredibly fast, too swift for the eye to follow, leaving no time to react.

Chu Feng had barely managed to dodge the attack on pure instinct, but his teammate wasn't so fortunate.

The purple light swept by, and without a sound, the teammate's head withered away as if it were an overripe, sun-dried persimmon, crashing to the ground and shattering.

The entire ordeal was bloodless, brainless, and over in less than three seconds.

The head decayed instantly upon impact, disintegrating into a heap of ash.

It was a scene of sheer horror, made all the more terrifying by the fact that the purple light, after slicing through the head, continued unabated, vanishing like a true aurora.

Anyone struck directly by the purple aurora would instantly begin to decay at an alarming rate.

A flash of purple light, and several clumps of ash materialized within the wind wall, as if by magic.

"Light of the Netherworld!"

At the entrance of the waterfall cave, the man clad in black hesitated, his voice instinctively dropping to a low chant.

The Light of the Netherworld, a formidable attack unleashed by the Purple Poison Nether Scorpion, combined its potent venom with Life Origin Power to devastating effect.

It could corrode anything in an instant, inflicting particularly horrific damage to the flesh of any creature.

Even with a fully maxed Super Gene from the Void Realm, one could not withstand it directly.

"Wings of Wind!"

In such a moment, Chu Feng had no choice but to go all out. Evading the purple light, the Origin Power within him burst forth.

A pair of azure wings unfurled dramatically. With a flick of his left hand, the Soul Jade's light reemerged, and a slender, elongated sword materialized from nowhere.

The Wings of Wind and the Green Rainbow Sword, Chu Feng's signature abilities, were now fully unleashed.

Flaming Wind Slash!

A magnificent arc of green and red sword qi cut through the air, accompanied by a fearsome howl, as it descended in a slash.

"Crack!"

A light sound marked the clash between sword qi and scorpion tail, sending a piece of scorpion shell, no larger than a fingernail, flying off.

The onslaught didn't stop there. As the Green Rainbow Sword Qi swept past, Chu Feng, wielding a slender sword in his left hand and a green longsword in his right, became a whirlwind of blades, furiously assailing the Super Nether Scorpion.

"Ding! Dang! Dang! Dang!"

In the midst of rapid strikes, the Purple Poison Nether Scorpion emitted a faint squeal, shedding several pieces of its armor as it vanished into thin air.

Chu Feng's swords danced like the wind, ready to pursue, but the Super Nether Scorpion, in a fleeting moment, raised its tail and launched another Light of the Netherworld.

"Whoosh!"

"Be careful!"

Having experienced the Light of Netherworld's fearsome might, Chu Feng dared not face it head-on. As he bellowed a warning, his wings quivered slightly, and he shifted his body laterally with an almost unnatural force.

The Light of the Netherworld flickered and vanished in an instant, yet thanks to Chu Feng's timely warning, no one was harmed. However, a wind wall on the eastern flank was completely breached in a flash of purple light.

"Boom!"

"Help me hold them off!"

As the wind wall gave way, Qin Xiao erupted with thunderous force. With a roar, he transformed into a bolt of lightning, speeding into the fray.

"Warriors of the Chu family, charge! Block their path!"

A valiant female voice rang out. Witnessing Qin Xiao's advance, Chu Lan promptly led her troops to meet the challenge.

"Bang! Bang! Clang! Clang!"

The sounds of Origin Power clashing and metal striking metal erupted simultaneously. Amidst the chaos, the epic clash between the Qin and Chu families commenced.

The Zhou, Li, and Zhao families quickly converged on the scene, plunging the entire battlefield into turmoil.

Amidst the melee with the Scorpion Group, a wisp of semi-transparent mist softly swept across the battlefield and into the wind wall.

"Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!"

Inside the wind wall, the Super Nether Scorpions unleashed their full fury. Their tails lashed out, showcasing the savagery inherent to their super creature status.

The Light of the Netherworld was spun into a vast web of death, claiming seven or eight of the Chu family's finest, leaving nothing behind but their bones.

In that moment, the Super Nether Scorpion became a barely visible purple streak, striking and vanishing with each move.

Chu Feng's brow furrowed deeply in concern.

The Super Purple Poison Nether Scorpion before him was the smallest super creature he had ever faced, yet it possessed the ability to camouflage itself and boasted a speed that rivaled his own mastery of the wind element.

For the time being, Chu Feng was stumped.

It was an incredibly tough opponent.

"Hu…!"

As Chu Feng grappled with the situation, a misty cloud wafted over the remnants of the wind wall.

"Yun Bing, you've come after all!"

Without even a glance, Chu Feng pursued with his sword, the corners of his mouth lifting into a slight smile.

He seemed to have anticipated that Yun Bing would be the first to plunge into the fray.

Yun Bing flashed a smile, materializing before him. "Looks like you could use some help?"

Chu Feng laughed lightly, "Help is a strong word. How about we call it a partnership?"

"Partnership? How do we divide the combat spoils?" inquired Yun Bing.

"We'll each mind our own business and rely on our skills!" Chu Feng whispered.

"Agreed!"

With her consent, Yun Bing's body became shrouded in mist, transforming into a wisp of smoke as she darted into the fray.

Meanwhile, beyond the veil-like wind barrier, Qin Xiao, who had been under Chu Lan's vigilant watch, was finally intercepted.

To Chu Lan's surprise, just as he managed to stop Qin Xiao, the teams from the three major financial groups suddenly dispersed, attempting to break out from three different directions.

"Cloud Pool!"

On the central battlefield, Yun Bing's great sword danced, dispersing the surrounding clouds. The Super Nether Scorpion, speeding through the air, came to an abrupt halt, instantly shrouded in dense fog.

The clouds acted like a quagmire, drastically reducing its speed by several notches.

More problematic was the deceptive lightness of the clouds; they were, in fact, incredibly resilient. Despite the Super Nether Scorpion's efforts to claw and lash with its tail, it couldn't break free immediately.

Wind Flame Sword Wheel!

Chu Feng wouldn't miss such an opportunity. As the creature paused, he crossed his swords, sending a massive sword wheel spinning out at high speed.

Simultaneously, he unfurled his Wind Wings and dove down like a large bird.

"Thud!"

The green-hued Wind Flame Sword Wheel met its end with a dull thud, intercepted by several Mutated Nether Scorpions that appeared out of nowhere, dozens of meters away. After cleaving through two of the scorpions, it burst apart.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak!"

The Super Nether Scorpion issued a series of frantic squeaks. Dozens of Mutated Level Purple Poison Nether Scorpions, like loyal soldiers, emerged and dove towards Chu Feng, who was swooping down.

"Get lost!"

Enraged, Chu Feng swung his swords in a green arc, slicing through several Mutated Nether Scorpions. His thin sword then transformed into a breeze, slashing towards the tail of the Super Nether Scorpion.

"Dark Cloud Sword!"

But before his strike could connect, a long sword shrouded in mist plunged into the Super Nether Scorpion, beating him to the punch.

"Crack!"

A faint sound of splintering echoed as deep purple blood sprayed forth, and the Super Nether Scorpion vanished beneath Chu Feng's belatedly arriving Breeze Sword.

This disappearance was absolute; even Chu Feng's Wind Listening Technique could no longer detect its presence.

"Boom!"

Just then, the curtain-like walls of wind shattered. The heads of the three major financial conglomerates, along with Qin Xiao, finally broke through the Chu family's defenses and stormed into the heart of the battlefield.

The six families were reunited, yet the air was thick with tension, like a powder keg ready to explode. For the moment, no one dared to make a move.

At the waterfall's edge, the grin on the man in black's face grew even more pronounced.