Chapter 117: On the Warship (Part-16)

Several others barely managed to block, yet even then, they were heavily injured, blood spraying as they were flung backward.

The power of a Heaven rank martial art was fully revealed.

By the time the shock settled, Ryan had already arrived.

There was no pause.

No hesitation.

The Afterimage Sword danced, sword flowers blooming as blood sprayed through the air. Cold light flashed again and again, and screams followed one after another.

Ryan charged into the group like a ferocious tiger entering a flock of sheep. The so-called Upper Exalts were nothing more than fragile prey before him. One-star, two-star, and even three-star Upper Exalts all fell the same way.

None could withstand a single exchange.

His speed was too fast.

His power was too overwhelming.

The Western Mansion examiners stood frozen in place, completely stunned. For a moment, they even forgot to fight back, staring blankly at Ryan as if watching a nightmare given human form.

If a Skeleton Warship Upper Exalt had tried to sneak attack them at that moment, it might have succeeded. Unfortunately for the enemy, every single Upper Exalt present was fully occupied just trying to survive Ryan’s assault.

Tang Wuying’s heart was in complete turmoil.

He had always known Ryan was strong, but this… this was beyond comprehension.

Ryan was still just a candidate. How old was he?

Back during the confrontation between Lingyin City and Fengyue City, Tang Wuying had been unable to see through Ryan’s cultivation and assumed he was using a treasure to conceal his level.

Now he finally understood.

It wasn’t concealment.

It was simply that Ryan’s strength was so high that Tang Wuying couldn’t even perceive it.

“Ah! Don’t kill me!”

Fear finally shattered the courage of one of the Skeleton Warship Upper Exalts. He screamed, turned around, and fled in terror, completely abandoning any thought of fighting.

But Ryan merely sneered.

“Want to run?”

In his eyes, these enemies were nothing but walking experience points. How could he allow them to escape?

With a flick of his wrist, a wind blade shot out.

A moment later, a body split apart in midair and fell helplessly downward.

“Ding. Congratulations to the player Ryan for killing an Upper Exalt, gaining 365,000 experience points. God of War value: 0.”

“Ding. Congratulations to the player Ryan for killing an Upper Exalt, gaining 474,000 experience points. God of War value: 0.”

“Ding. Congratulations to the player Ryan for killing an Upper Exalt, gaining 384,000 experience points. God of War value: 0.”

*

In the span of a few breaths, all fourteen Upper Exalts in that battle circle were annihilated.

System notifications rang repeatedly in Ryan’s mind. Experience surged, and hundreds of all-attribute pills poured in like a flood. It was nothing short of a bumper harvest.

Ryan stood suspended in the air, sword in hand, his presence overwhelming and majestic, like an invincible god of war descended upon the battlefield.

Sharp breaths were drawn all around.

The Western Mansion examiners stared at him, completely speechless.

The same question rose in every one of their minds.

Who… was this person?

Ryan had no intention of staying behind to satisfy their curiosity. The rush of experience, the surge of power, the intoxicating sensation of growth made his blood boil.

He vanished again.

His figure streaked toward another battle circle, continuing his merciless harvest.

Under Ryan’s interference, the situation in the sky rapidly reversed. One after another, the Upper Exalts of the Skeleton Warship fell, their lives extinguished as they became nothing more than experience points fueling Ryan’s ascent.

Then, at last, the familiar system prompt sounded.

“Ding. Congratulations to the player Ryan for leveling up. Current level: Level 43. Three-Star Upper Exalt.”

A bright light flared beneath Ryan’s feet as his cultivation surged.

From level 42 to level 43.

From two-star Upper Exalt to three-star Upper Exalt.

His strength leapt to an even more terrifying level.

But Ryan was not satisfied.

Not even close.

If he wanted to stand at the very peak of this world, how could he stop at a mere three-star Upper Exalt?

Not to mention that on this very battlefield, there were still two existences whose auras were far stronger than his.

With killing intent blazing in his eyes, Ryan turned, ready to continue his slaughter and wipe out the remaining thirty-plus Upper Exalts in the sky.

Then…

Boom!

A deafening explosion shook the heavens.

The entire sky seemed to tremble.

Ryan snapped his head toward the source of the sound. In the distance, a massive mushroom cloud rose into the air, violent shockwaves spreading outward in concentric rings. Several Western Mansion examiners were blasted away, their bodies flung aside like leaves in a storm.

At the center of the explosion, a figure fell downward like a meteor.

Ryan’s pupils contracted.

“That is…”

His expression changed.

“Elder Lu?”

Elder Lu actually fell from the sky.

His body plunged downward, and when Ryan drew closer, he could clearly see that Elder Lu’s face was deathly pale, his eyes tightly shut, with streaks of blood still clinging to the corners of his mouth.

His aura was chaotic and unstable, as if his life force were slipping away at any moment. This was not a minor injury. It was the kind of damage that struck at the foundation itself.

Ryan raised his head and looked toward the center of the explosion.

There, suspended high above, stood a figure wearing a golden mask. The man hovered calmly in midair, hands behind his back, his posture relaxed and superior, as though everything below him were nothing more than ants.

Even from this distance, Ryan could sense an oppressive pressure radiating from that figure. The faint curve at the corner of the golden mask looked like a mocking smile, filled with contempt.

There was no doubt anymore. Elder Lu had been defeated. And not just defeated, but crushed by the opponent’s Lord rank expert. The battle had not been evenly matched at all.

“Damn it…” Ryan muttered under his breath. His figure flickered as he accelerated, rushing toward the place where Elder Lu was falling.

Meanwhile, the Western Mansion examiners nearby also disengaged from their respective opponents the moment they saw Elder Lu lose.

Ignoring the risks, they retreated in the same direction, all of them wanting to rush over and help.

However, Ryan was faster than everyone else. In just a few breaths, he reached Elder Lu first and caught him before his body smashed into the air currents below.

“Elder Lu, can you hear me? Elder Lu!” Ryan called out urgently.

There was no response.

Elder Lu’s breathing was shallow to the point of being almost imperceptible, and his body was frighteningly cold.

Ryan immediately extended his perception and examined Elder Lu’s condition, and his expression changed the moment he did.

Inside Elder Lu’s body, an extremely violent foreign energy was raging wildly, like a storm tearing through his organs. His meridians were in complete disarray, his internal organs severely damaged, and his internal circulation was close to collapse.

Although Elder Lu was barely clinging to life with the sheer strength of a Lord rank expert, it was obvious that he was standing at the edge of death. If nothing was done soon, he would not last much longer.

Ryan felt a chill in his heart. That golden-masked Lord rank expert was far stronger than he had expected. To push Elder Lu to this state meant that the opponent’s strength was terrifyingly high.

At that moment, the other Western Mansion examiners finally arrived.

“Elder Lu!”

“How is Elder Lu?”

“This friend, how serious are his injuries?”

“My heavens… Elder Lu actually lost!”

Voices overlapped chaotically as everyone crowded around. When they saw Elder Lu lying unconscious in Ryan’s arms, his face gray and lifeless, despair spread across their faces like wildfire.

Up until now, the overall situation had seemed hopeful. With Ryan’s intervention, the Exalt-rank masked warriors had been wiped out, the Void Warship was safe, and even the Upper Exalt-rank battle had swung in Western Mansion’s favor after Ryan slaughtered dozens of enemy Upper Exalts. On the surface, it looked as though the tide had already turned.

But in reality, everyone knew the truth.

The outcome of this battle did not depend on Exalts or Upper Exalts. It depended on the strongest force on each side: the Lord rank experts.

That was why Western Mansion had dared to face a numerically superior enemy in the first place. As long as Elder Lu, a Lord rank expert, stood undefeated, they had hope. A single Lord rank expert could suppress an entire battlefield, their power alone enough to deter countless enemies.

Now that Elder Lu had fallen, everything collapsed.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep