Chapter 15 A Question Before Death

Tian Ruichi's mind was a mess. It wasn't until Jing Yan roared and forcibly pulled him up that he snapped back to his senses.

He had heard Fang Yue's words earlier. He wanted to help, but unfortunately, his strength was truly lacking.

Biting his teeth, he and the others ran past the black-robed man towards Hanjiang Wharf.

"Want to escape? Did you ask me?"

The black-robed man smiled coldly, not taking Fang Yue's words seriously at all.

As he spoke, he slowly drew the long sword from his waist.

The thick inner force that had been spreading outwards immediately became sharp and intense, as if it had heard some command!

*Whoosh!*

Centered on the black-robed man, a sword mark appeared on the ground without warning, as if an invisible sword ray had slashed the earth.

Fang Yue understood that this was inner force materialized into a sword, the sword energy overflowing!

In fact, this wasn't even the result of the opponent's active attack, but merely the prelude to gathering inner force in preparation for a strike!

The sword mark spread outwards in all directions, pressing and pursuing the fleeing crowd!

Everyone simultaneously felt the terrifying pressure chasing from behind.

That thing spreading rapidly behind them was enough to take the life of any one of them in a single blow!

That casual, formless sword energy, though not the black-robed man's full strength, and not even considered a formal attack, could be roughly estimated to be nearly at the Yun (Cloud) level in terms of power!

In other words, it was a peak Ren (Human) level sword strike!

Who could block it? Who could...

*Boom!!*

More than a dozen formless sword energies that were chasing after them shattered almost simultaneously!

The black-robed man, who had been leisurely preparing to enjoy the scene of the fleeing people's heads falling to the ground, was instantly stunned.

"Hmm?!"

He looked around and saw that what had shattered his sword energy were strips of black silk!

No! It wasn't black silk, but something else!

The black-robed man sniffed and actually smelled a strange odor from the black silk!

Most importantly, this thing could actually break his released formless sword energy!

Although he hadn't exerted even a shred of strength and was merely relying on changes in the characteristics of the sword energy to pursue and kill them.

But being able to break this kind of sword energy required at least peak Ren level or Yun level strength!

The black-robed man lost interest in the gradually fleeing crowd and instead looked towards the front, following the black silk.

He saw the black silk retracting, slowly gathering behind Fang Yue.

His dark eyes overflowed with black blood.

The halo above his head rained down the night rain.

And the large disc behind him that was constantly rotating was retrieving those ejected black silk threads.

"Human martial arts, and bizarre methods... So, you're from the Phoenix Organization! And you've reached this level, no wonder that person wants you dead."

The black-robed man clicked his tongue in wonder. He had encountered experimental subjects from the Phoenix Organization before, but they had mostly turned into freaks, unable to simultaneously hold two forces within their bodies.

But the guy in front of him had managed to do it, and the two forces within his body were very balanced and peaceful.

The black-robed man didn't know if Fang Yue's physique was naturally like this, or if the Phoenix Organization's technology had been upgraded to create him like this.

If it was the former, then Fang Yue could be considered a genius, an unconventional genius.

If it was the latter, then it meant that the Phoenix Organization's technology had evolved again, to a point that many people couldn't tolerate.

This was a very dangerous signal, enough to cause a major upheaval in the capital.

However, that was all. This kind of power struggle had nothing to do with him.

Suppressing his thoughts, the black-robed man raised his sword, pointing it at Fang Yue.

*Buzz buzz buzz!*

In the next instant, the sound of sword cries around him suddenly erupted, and the previously scattered formless sword energy immediately transformed into a tangible, visible form, and the power it contained soared from peak Ren level straight to Yu (Rain) level!

*Rumble!*

Although it was only sword energy revolving around the black-robed man, one could faintly hear the sound of thunder from the sword cries, and strands of electricity flowed between the tangible swords, forming an electric net.

Hearing the black-robed man's words, Fang Yue frowned and said, "Senior, it seems that I am doomed today, but as the saying goes, even as a ghost, one should be a knowing ghost. I want to ask you one thing before I die."

*Crackle!*

Amidst the buzzing sword cries, the tangible sword energies flew towards Fang Yue, connected by electricity, like a sword formation, forming a huge electric net, covering Fang Yue like a massive shadow!

The apocalyptic scene washed over him, and with just one glance, Fang Yue's eyelids twitched and the veins on his forehead bulged. Realizing that he couldn't delay any longer, he shouted inwardly.

"Parchment!!"

[Understood!!]

[Amplification!!]

Two semi-illusory ancient characters appeared around Fang Yue.

In an instant, violent power surged into his body!

It was the power of the parchment, merging with him as one.

At this moment, Fang Yue, with the help of the parchment's power, had amplified his strength to the Yu level!

This was the second time Fang Yue had used [Amplification] to enhance his power in all aspects.

The immense power felt as if it would burst Fang Yue's body.

Fang Yue felt that compared to the last time he killed Bai Xiaoya, the power he was fusing with this time had obviously increased a lot.

This was not only due to the improvement of Fang Yue's basic strength, which increased his capacity, but also because the parchment, after several devouring sessions, had recovered more power with Fang Yue's help!

The combination of the two resulted in Fang Yue's now more powerful Yu level strength!

The moment the semi-illusory symbols appeared around Fang Yue, the black-robed man immediately recognized the meaning of the symbols.

"Ancient characters?! Power of ancient words! You're actually a Yu level martial artist, and you cultivate the power of ancient words!?"

He widened his eyes, his face full of shock, with an expression as if he had seen a ghost.

And under his emotional fluctuations, the sword formation that had just been launched also weakened a bit.

Seizing this opportunity, Fang Yue's figure burst into action, instantly shifting to the left, trying to avoid the sword net attack.

But the moment he moved, the sword net seemed to absorb his speed, following him at the speed of light, and was about to catch up with Fang Yue instead.

His heart tightened, Fang Yue stopped abruptly, and the speed of the sword net also slowed down, but it continued to cover Fang Yue at a steady pace.

"Don't run, my Lightning Sword Net won't stop until it touches the enemy. And the faster the enemy escapes, the faster it will chase, even surpass you!"

This was merely the first move of the black-robed man's Lightning Sword Net.

In fact, he could execute six moves, with six nets synchronized, trapping the enemy in a Lightning Cage from all directions, with no escape or avoidance!