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Chapter 1171: Situation Reversed

After around a stick of incense’s worth of time, Yun Jianyue reappeared in front of Zu An and asked, “How much have you learned?”

Before Zu An had a chance to reply, however, she continued, “The Star Shattering Imprint is extremely profound and mysterious. It would be difficult for a beginner student to understand its essence within a short amount of time. Based on what we’ve seen from successive generations of cultivators, those with outstanding aptitude can reach roughly a threefold increase in power, while stunning talents can reach a fivefold increase in power. There are a select few who can quickly reach a sevenfold increase.

“With your aptitude, you should be able to produce a fivefold increase… Yes, for that deathworm, that should barely be enough. After all, you haven’t had much time with the technique. As you spend more time working on it, you’ll slowly be able to reach a tenfold increase in power.”

She spoke for a long time, but when she saw that Zu An wasn’t answering her, she couldn't help but frown. She asked, “You haven’t even reached fivefold? Um… You weren’t given much time, I guess, so there’s no need to feel bad… You should at least be able to display three times the power, right?”

Zu An didn’t say anything. He took a deep breath, then circulated all his ki through a special pattern. Then, his fist smashed outward. At that instant, the friction between his fist and the air produced a blinding white radiance. A seemingly bottomless crater appeared before him, stretching out endlessly.

The entire blood moon domain trembled intensely. Yun Jianyue had to withdraw several dozen zhang to avoid the attack. Then, she returned with a strange expression, exclaiming, “You didn’t say a single thing before you attacked! My domain was almost destroyed by your punch…”

Within their own world, a grandmaster was like a founding deity. They could set various laws and principles within their own space. No matter how strong the people inside were, they still wouldn’t be able to do much to the domain. That was, unless someone of equal or higher level unleashed their own domain. The two domains would then mutually offset each others’ power. And yet, Zu An had almost destroyed her domain, relying only on his own brute force?

But Yun Jianyue didn’t get angry at all. She instead felt somewhat happy as she asked, “You can reach a tenfold increase in power?”

Zu An said seriously, “I was scared that I might hurt you and held back a bit. I should be able to achieve a tenfold increase in power.”

Yun Jianyue was speechless. A glorious Devil Sect Master like her had actually been shown mercy by a junior…

Of course, she knew that it was because she was seriously injured at the moment, and that he really was worried about her.

“How did you manage to get to such a high level with the Star Shattering Imprint, reaching a tenfold increase in power immediately?” she asked, practically in shock.

“Is this that hard?” Zu An asked in confusion. “How much of an increase was big sis sect master able to reach in the beginning when you first learned it?”

“Of course… ten times. You’re right; it isn’t that hard. Even though there haven’t been too many of them, there have still been some who could reach this level from the beginning throughout our many generations,” Yun Jianyue replied, although her cheeks heated up a bit.

She had actually only been able to achieve a sevenfold increase when she first learned the technique, and she was actually already an absolutely stunning figure, a rare talent that had only shown up once in thousands and thousands of years of her Holy Sect’s existence. And yet today, this little monster was even more ridiculous.

But she cared about face, so how could she show weakness in front of someone from the younger generation?

“Huh? Just now, didn’t I hear you say that only a few geniuses could reach a sevenfold increase in power?” Zu An asked, somewhat confused.

“Ahem…” Yun Jianyue looked away, her expression somewhat unnatural as she said, “I said that because I was worried that you’d be overambitious, so I didn’t tell you the truth. If I knew you had talent like this, I wouldn’t have hidden it from you.”

“Oh…” Zu An didn’t think too much about it either.

Yun Jianyue felt a bit guilty. She was worried that he might keep asking questions, so she quickly dispelled her domain.

Yan Xuehen and Yu Yanluo had already rushed over when they heard the noise. They asked, “How is the lesson going?”

Yun Jianyue felt a bit uncomfortable and nervous for some reason. Only after some time did she say, “It’s going very well!”

A hint of gentleness appeared in Yan Xuehen’s cold and clear eyes. She remarked, “His talent really is quite good.”

Suddenly, a rumble shook the cave around them. They could hear the worm’s terrifying noises in the distance again.

“It seems to have found us, and it is showing us how angry it is,” Yu Yanluo saidworriedly. “We need to hurry; it would be very bad if the worm caused this mine to collapse.”

She was the Yu clan’s leader, and these mines were the Yu clan’s very foundation. She naturally didn’t want anything happening to them. The others, on the other hand, were worried that even more creatures might enter through the spatial rift if they waited any longer.

They quickly began to discuss the details of the plan. In the end, they decided that Yan Xuehen and Yun Jianyue would draw the Scaled Deathworm’s attention from the front to allow Zu An to secretly approach. Then, Zu An would deliver the fatal blow.

They were both grandmasters, and their souls were powerful. They could sense their surroundings even in absolute darkness. The lack of light wouldn’t affect their movements at all.

Yu Yanluo would keep watch from a distance, helping them guard against the sudden ambushes of any smaller worms and making sure that they had a way out.

Having decided on a strategy, they ventured deeper into the mines. They were relatively small, so it would be for the Scaled Deathworm to find them. However, the mother worm screamed from time to time. Furthermore, the closer they got, the thicker the black mist all around them grew, making it extremely easy to find.

Soon, they all got into position. The Scaled Deathworm didn’t crawl along the ground like an ordinary worm; rather, it hid underground almost completely. Only a small portion of its body would be exposed above the surface.

Yun Jianyue and Yan Xuehen quickly began to attack it with their respective skills. Of course, they made sure not to release any light in the process.

On the other hand, the Scaled Deathworm didn’t have any eyes. The area it was in was completely dark too.

Screeeeeeeech…

With more scalp-numbingly loud grinding, half of the Scaled Deathworm rushed out of the ground. It was clearly angered. These despicable humans… It had already given up on troubling them, and yet they actually dared to provoke it now?

It opened its mouth, firing a thick torrent of black fog at the two women.

But the two of them knew how formidable the attack was and didn’t dare to face it head-on. Both of them dodged to one side.

The beam of black fog struck a wall, immediately corroding it and leaving a large crater. It was easy to imagine how if the attack had hit, even if the two were in their strongest states, they might not have been able to endure such a blow.

They didn’t run and instead moved around the worm, allowing Zu An to approach the enemy more easily.

The Scaled Deathworm suddenly fired something similar to a pair of flying swords from its mouth, which quickly chased after the two women. The pair of blades had been refined from the large mandibles the worm had shed over the years. They were even stronger than some human cultivators’ flying swords.

Normally, Yun Jianyue and Yan Xuehen would have several ways of dealing with the two weapons. However, they were seriously injured and could only flee in panic. On several occasions, they were surrounded by danger.

Because of the difference in quality of the pills they had consumed, Yun Jianyue clearly hadn’t recovered as much as Yan Xuehen. After dodging a few times, she was powerless to do so anymore. She thought of blocking an attack with a non-essential part of her body, but she worried about whether she could withstand the enemy’s frightening poison.

Suddenly, Yan Xuehen rushed over and grabbed her, narrowly avoiding the Scaled Deathworm’s attack by a hair.

Yun Jianyue was a bit surprised. The two had faced each other for so many years, both wishing to end each other’s lives. She had never expected the other woman to save her here. Still, although she was grateful, she remarked, “Who wanted you to save me? It’s not as if I couldn't have avoided that!”

Even as she spoke, she used her Star Shattering Imprint to smash away one of the long, venomous blades aimed at Yan Xuehen’s back.

“Keep dreaming! Who was trying to save you? I wanted to kill you myself; I did not want you to die to a monster like this before that.” Yan Xuehen didn’t mince words either.

When she heard the two women arguing against each other, Yu Yanluo’s face darkened. If anyone else saw this, their eyeballs might just pop out, right? Two grandmasters who can dominate this world are actually fighting here like sisters!

She didn’t just stand there doing nothing either. She drew continuously in the air, granting the two of them all sorts of blessing halos.

Yun Jianyue and Yan Xuehen immediately felt their bodies grow lighter. Their speed, regeneration, and other abilities all increased considerably. They were knowledgeable in their own right and quickly realized that these were blessings conferred by the academy’s dao of art.

If it were any other time, the blessing halos wouldn’t really help them at all, perhaps even having the opposite effect. After all, grandmasters needed absolute control over their own bodies. If something else interfered with them, it could end up causing their judgment to deviate. But in their weakened state, those kinds of buffs were extremely useful. At the very least, they no longer had to struggle as much against the Scaled Deathworm’s flying mandibles.

“I didn’t expect to end up owing this woman a favor…” Yun Jianyue and Yan Xuehen both felt rather strange. It was easier for the two of them to accept favors from each other, because they were just too familiar with each other after fighting for so many years. But now, they actually owed Yu Yanluo a favor…

Her ridiculous beauty made both women feel considerable danger. Between her close relationship with Zu An and her identity as a Medusa… The two women didn’t know why, but they subconsciously didn’t want to owe her anything.

But they didn’t have the time to worry about such things at that moment either, because they noticed that the mother worm had begun diving underground periodically before bursting out of the surface. It had clearly decided to lurk underground, searching for a good opportunity to inflict a fatal blow on the two of them. It was biding its time, waiting to take them out in a single move!

The two women began to sweat. With their judgment, they both knew with absolute certainty that they wouldn’t be able to dodge anymore after another three seconds passed!

Just then, a pitch-black glint suddenly flickered by the Scaled Deathworm’s side. Zu An appeared, thrusting a blade outward like a thunderbolt!

The Scaled Deathworm was alarmed. Its senses, both physical and spiritual, were extremely well-developed. Not a single thing within this dark area should have escaped its perception! But where had this person come from? Only when he struck had it sensed his presence! Now, it was already too late to evade or counterattack!

Its bestial instincts told it that the dagger was dangerous. Black light swirled around it as it frantically gathered power around its entire body to defend against that attack.

Unfortunately, it didn’t have much time and couldn't put up a perfect defense. The dagger arrived with absolutely ferocious momentum, cutting straight through its energy barrier that hadn’t fully solidified yet. Then, it smashed against the worm’s scales with an ear-piercing, metallic screech, sparks flying in all directions.

The Scaled Deathworm’s defenses were actually that tough!

Yun Jianyue felt dejected. She was familiar with the Star Shattering Imprint, so she had obviously realized that at that instant, the Star Shattering Imprint’s fifty percent success rate hadn’t worked!