"Thousands of flying swords, cast with your nascent soul divine spirit rules, two sword formations would be your limit, wouldn't they?"
Zhang Fan's eyes were icy cold, but what he said made the white-robed elder feel somewhat strange, as if something was amiss. However, considering Zhang Fan's strength, he relaxed. After several head-on collisions, he could feel that Zhang Fan's dao technique could at best contend with one sword formation.
Now, with two sword formations unleashed simultaneously, their power increased exponentially. At Zhang Fan's level, even with a great dao secret treasure, his displayed strength would be limited, making it impossible to break through his sword formations.
Of course, Zhang Fan wouldn't use that great dao secret treasure, as he hadn't fully refined it yet. But against a half-step Nascent Soul cultivator, why would he need a great dao secret treasure?
"Divine-grade divine ability, Horn of the Sky-Rending!"
As the cultivation technique within his body spun madly, immense magical power surged into the Sky-Rending Rhinoceros depicted on the page within him. A colossal phantom of a Sky-Rending Rhinoceros manifested above Zhang Fan's head. Its appearance enveloped the entire Great Luo Sea with an aura of primal, ancient resonance.
The Sky-Rending Rhinoceros trod upon the void, its single horn slightly raised. Space before it was as fragile as thin paper. Zhang Fan clasped his hands together and pushed forward with all his might.
The Sky-Rending Rhinoceros seemed to come alive, galloping through the void and charging towards the white-robed elder.
Where it passed, space shattered. The two sword formations that were originally rushing towards Zhang Fan began to tremble faintly before even nearing the Sky-Rending Rhinoceros, teetering on the brink of collapse.
"Is this the chaotic fierce beast, the Sky-Rending Rhinoceros?" The white-robed elder, being an old monster who had lived for thousands of years, recognized it the moment he saw the phantom. However, he still couldn't believe it.
After all, this chaotic fierce beast was a paramount ominous being at the apex of the universe. Anything related to it was not to be trifled with. Even a mere phantom emanated such terrifying ferocity that it made the white-robed elder's heart palpitate.
This was a suppression of life essence.
"My sword formations!" Seeing the sword formations about to collide with the phantom of the Sky-Rending Rhinoceros, the white-robed elder felt a sense of foreboding. He wanted to recall them, but it was too late.
The sword formations collided with the phantom of the Sky-Rending Rhinoceros. The two minor thousand sword formations lasted for less than a single breath before collapsing. A large number of high-grade spirit treasure flying swords were directly shattered, and the divine soul rules contained within them were mercilessly obliterated.
"Pfft!"
With a large portion of his divine soul rules damaged, the white-robed elder couldn't help but spit out a mouthful of blood. His aura immediately weakened. He cast a look of unwillingness at Zhang Fan, then turned and fled.
Zhang Fan pushed the rules of the Thunder Dao and the Kun Peng's Wings to their absolute limit. His speed astonished even the half-step Nascent Soul cultivator, the white-robed elder. He knew he couldn't escape on speed alone and, gritting his teeth, forcibly tore through space, diving into the darkness.
"Even if you enter the dark space, you won't escape!" Zhang Fan's speed did not diminish. Before the spatial rift could close, he followed.
Zhang Fan was no stranger to the dark space. When he left Earth, he had been ambushed by the Black Flame King and, out of desperation, had chosen this method to escape.
However, back then, his cultivation was too weak, not even having cultivated a Nascent Soul. Entering the dark space, he could only leave his fate to chance.
But it was different now. With his divine body having achieved minor completion, he could face spatial storms with equanimity.
While the dark space posed no risk to Zhang Fan now, he dared not relax. After all, the space here was chaotic, and he hadn't cultivated a primordial spirit yet, so he couldn't sense corresponding cosmic spaces within the dark space. If he traveled too far, being banished to the desolate regions of the universe would be truly dire.
In the dark space, all that met the eye was endless darkness. The naked eye could not discern anything; one could only rely on divine soul power to investigate.
"He's quite fast at escaping!" Zhang Fan's divine sense had been locked onto the white-robed elder. The moment he entered the dark space, he noticed that the white-robed elder was enveloped in a bloody mist, as if he had employed a遁术 (escape technique) to flee rapidly into the distance.
However, in terms of escape techniques, how could he compare to Zhang Fan? With the Great Roc's Wings deployed, Zhang Fan's speed was almost unparalleled among Nascent Soul cultivators. In just two breaths, Zhang Fan caught up.
Just as Zhang Fan was about to make a move, a silver Nascent Soul shot out from the white-robed elder's body and fled in another direction. His physical body, however, did not slow down, continuing to fly under the control of a trace of rule divine soul.
"He's really ruthless!"
This move by the white-robed elder indeed made Zhang Fan hesitate. He could clearly sense that the Nascent Soul carried no magical treasures. If Zhang Fan chose to pursue the Nascent Soul, he might not get any of the elder's treasures.
Because in this darkness, once the physical body flew out of Zhang Fan's divine soul's perception range, he would never find it. Similarly, if Zhang Fan chose the treasures, the Nascent Soul would have an opportunity to escape.
Since the white-robed elder had made such a decision, it was clear he was prepared for a mutually destructive outcome. Zhang Fan believed that if he chose to pursue the Nascent Soul, the white-robed elder would unhesitatingly self-destruct, leaving Zhang Fan with nothing.
The other party was a half-step Nascent Soul cultivator, whose divine soul had already merged with rules. If he chose to self-destruct, even Zhang Fan couldn't suppress it.
With a myriad of thoughts racing through his mind, Zhang Fan instantly made his decision. Even if he gained nothing, he could not let the white-robed elder's Nascent Soul escape.
As Zhang Fan had anticipated, he rapidly pursued the white-robed elder's Nascent Soul. As he was about to catch up, an unwilling roar echoed in his mind, "Little beast, I won't let you have it easy even if I die!"
The white-robed elder's silver Nascent Soul rapidly expanded, then reached a critical point and exploded with a boom. Powerful forces raged in the dark space. The previously silent space gradually became turbulent.
Streams of spatial turbulence appeared in the dark space and then rapidly gathered. As more and more spatial turbulence appeared, as if triggering a chain reaction, countless spatial turbulences filled the space.
In an instant, a spatial storm formed.
Zhang Fan swung his sword, cleaving through space, and swiftly escaped the dark space. Although the spatial turbulence no longer posed a significant threat to him, he dared not plunge into it, as he didn't know where it would ultimately sweep him.
When Zhang Fan emerged from the spatial rift, he appeared above a city. Watching the spatial rift slowly close behind him, Zhang Fan could only shake his head and smile helplessly.
However, he quickly felt at ease. Although he gained nothing, being able to kill a half-step Nascent Soul expert was a considerable gain.
After all, even in top forces like the Black Sand Grotto-Heaven, half-step Nascent Soul cultivators were like pillars supporting the sky, few in number within a sect.
...