961: Keepsake

Keepsake

In application the Last Strike of Samsara was relatively simple. Having used it a couple of times Hao Xuan now understood its basic purpose. Once used with any other skill it would simply multiply that effect of the last strike of that skill and execute it four times instead of one, at full power. 2

Meaning Hao Xuan had just executed 'Sunder' four times at once.

The only other times he had used the Last Strike was as a last resort and without any combining it with another technique which still drained him of all Qi. And now after combining it with the only other skill that was more taxing on his body, it would not be an exaggeration to say that it could break him in half.

Even he might not be able to handle such a great degree of stress and backlash.

The raw power of this strike 'one' not only matched the Great Ice Blade but exceeded it. Hao Xuan's central Mind Palace shook back and forth as if there was an earthquake and several of the pillars supporting the entire structure cracked from various places.

Bo, the Scorpion King, and any of the other severs still resting inside the place were woken up by the disturbance. To them, it felt like the world was crashing down.

The nine wooden chaos gates encircling the central palace all increased their orbiting speeds and poured out more and more Chaos from within. It had already started to repair the damage done to them, albeit at a very slow pace.

Hao Xuan's head felt like it was splitting in half and even his body was reeling from the aftershock.

He looked up to see Stasa's body cut right down the middle. His eyes narrowed as Stasa's image magnified and he saw it distort for just a second.

'And there goes the veil.'

The cyclone burst open scattering Qi all over the place and the spectators finally saw the results. Hao Xuan was still standing on the same spot with some minor external injuries but once they saw what had been left of Stasa they were horrified.

Tian Zheng, Dima, Dai Zhi, every single person within the domed hall other than the Abysswalker were brought up to their feet.

"H-How is this possible?!" Tian Zheng was the first one to utter the words that were on everyone's mind.

"No, it has to be a trick," Dai Zhi swiftly responded.

Princess Ceni slowly opened her eyes and tears of joy immediately ran down her face. She felt like she had aged years in that single moment.

Ensis withdrew his killing intent and finally broke eye contact with Xue Meng, facing the battleground with a straight face.

Dima on the other hand who was perhaps the closest one to Stasa was strangely quiet which Dai Zhi noticed. He contacted him through spiritual sense.

'Is this real?'

Dima replied with no small amount of hesitation, 'Of course but...it's not as bad as you think.'

Dai Zhi thought to himself 'He is dead, how is it not that bad?' when the hologram presented him with the answer.

Right in front of everyone Stasa's body burst into flame. The flame got bigger and bigger before suddenly being put out. And when the smoke cleared Stasa was whole again, completely uninjured.

But he was unconscious for a few moments while his body plummeted to the ground. Thankfully he woke up moments before hitting the ground and managed to summon a sword to slow his descent and surf down on the air currents.

He landed on the far side of the grounds, as far away as he could possibly get from Hao Xuan while still being in the same place. The sword wobbled just as he landed and vanished a moment later.

The crowd was flabbergasted at the sudden turn of events but Hao Xuan had already been through this. He knew Stasa had some kind of protection talisman on him which would be destroyed instead if he ever received a mortal wound.

Only was he facing him with his actual life on the line. And this was the last straw, for both of them.

Stasa had exhausted his Qi reserves and taken damage from using the great Ice Blade, while Hao Xuan had also received both internal and external injuries. This next bout was going to decide the victor and Hao Xuan was not confident he could come out of this in one piece.

He had only tried it once before and ended up losing his head that time because of a simple miscalculation.

Stasa took a few heavy breaths to calm his racing heart. His eyes seemed much darker and a lot more respectful this time around when he met Hao Xuan's gaze from across the grounds.

"I...did not expect that, at all."

Hao Xuan smiled half-heartedly. He knew Stasa was trying to buy time but so was he. His own Qi reserves were almost running dry and he was doing his best to absorb as much as possible from the atmosphere for this next part.

Stasa lightly held the empty scabbard with his right hand. To others it might not seem important but Hao Xuan's heart lurched when he saw it. That was the thing that had killed him almost every other time, the thing hiding inside a seemingly ordinary keepsake.

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