Chapter 2629: God's Mourning Borrowing the Method

Jiao had expected Lu Ye to evade the attack. To his surprise, Lu Ye had no such intention, allowing the strike to descend while his long saber transformed into a flurry of blade shadows, thrusting forward wildly.

A continuous clangor rang out. In that instant, the Pan Shan Saber collided dozens of times with the golden short blade, each impact causing Jiao's body to tremble slightly.

As blood splattered, Lu Ye's lower abdomen was also cut by Jiao.

The two figures separated immediately after clashing, with Lu Ye sustaining an injury.

Jiao, however, felt a sense of unease. He knew his opponent couldn't be foolish; Lu Ye could have easily avoided injury by withdrawing his saber, yet he didn't. Instead, he launched a barrage of seemingly useless attacks. Why?

What was his opponent trying to achieve?

With no time to ponder, Lu Ye retreated and then advanced again, resuming his assault.

Deep within his mind, Liao's excited voice rang out: "Awesome!" Dozens of clashes in an instant were equivalent to it biting the opponent's golden short blade dozens of times. Although each bite didn't take much, the high frequency made up for it.

If this continued, it felt that it wouldn't be long before it could completely devour the mystery within the opponent's artifact.

Meanwhile, in the chessboard square occupied by Blackblood City, the fighting had ceased.

After the protection of Dao Integration City was breached, the second deputy city lord, Yun Ke, was killed in battle, followed by the fourth deputy city lord, Luoma Lie, who was also besieged and slain by several Dao Integration cultivators. The Black Pieces in Blackblood City were no match, having nowhere to escape, and were quickly annihilated.

By this point, only numerous White Pieces remained in the square.

Jing Lei stood with a few Dao Integration cultivators before a swirling grey mist, holding a small mirror in his hand, his expression unreadable.

He had never imagined he would acquire an artifact in such a manner...

Although the Reversing Yin-Yang Mirror was not an artifact used for combat, it was an artifact nonetheless, and highly valuable. Jiao had used it to swap positions with Lu Ye, then deployed the Battle Platform to trap Lu Ye within it. He had no time to retrieve the Reversing Yin-Yang Mirror, so it naturally fell into Jing Lei's hands.

He dared not claim it for himself, merely looking towards Yuan Xi and courteously saying, "City Lord Yuan, I shall temporarily hold this artifact and return it after the battle."

Yuan Xi gave a slight nod, her expression indicating that she appreciated his discretion.

Jing Lei felt a pang of bitterness.

An artifact! If he possessed sufficient power, how could he possibly return it? But facing Yuan Xi, he truly didn't dare entertain any other thoughts.

The swirling grey mist before him marked the spot where the Battle Platform had been deployed. Currently, both Lu Ye and Jiao were trapped inside. They had just tried to enter and exit the mist, finding no obstruction whatsoever, but inside, they couldn't detect anything unusual, nor could they see Lu Ye or Jiao.

As for launching attacks at the mist, it had no effect either.

The artifact battleground creates a fair combat environment, and that particular fighting arena is actually connected to the internal space of the grand artifact's battleground.

In other words, Lu Ye and Jiao were currently within the internal space of the grand artifact. Until they escaped, no one could possibly find their traces.

Therefore, all Jing Lei could do now was guard the spot with his people, ready to provide support.

However, he didn't hold much hope. Jiao was renowned, an acclaimed powerhouse on par with a grand-level city lord. While Lu Ye had demonstrated considerable strength, it was highly improbable he could defeat Jiao.

This time, Yuan Xi's formidable general was likely doomed.

Yet, in the next moment, Jing Lei's heart stirred. Looking at Yuan Xi, he asked, "City Lord Yuan, do we not need to continue guarding?"

He sensed Yuan Xi's intention to reassign him.

Yuan Xi, with a sorrowful expression, replied weakly, "No need!"

Seeing this, Jing Lei sighed softly, understanding that Yuan Xi also knew Lu Ye was unlikely to emerge alive, hence her sadness.

Not wishing to say more, he simply cupped his hands slightly and offered, "City Lord Yuan, please accept my condolences."

Then he led a group of Dao Integration cultivators, sweeping towards the assigned direction.

"At least you have some self-awareness!" Across the chessboard, Blackblood took in Yuan Xi's demeanor and couldn't help but let out a cold snort.

He also believed Lu Ye was certainly dead. He hadn't expected Jiao to have such boldness, directly using two artifacts. Jiao's performance, he had to admit, greatly satisfied him, as it meant the biggest hidden danger on the chessboard could be eliminated.

As he spoke, Blackblood's brow furrowed again.

No, that's not right!

Even if Yuan Xi held no hope for that human soldier-cultivator, she shouldn't be moving the White Pieces now. She should have left all White Pieces behind, setting up an encirclement to ambush Jiao the moment he reappeared from the Battle Platform.

Yet Yuan Xi had moved the White Pieces away, clearly giving Jiao a path to escape.

The woman opposite him couldn't possibly be that foolish.

His thoughts racing, Blackblood looked at Yuan Xi: "You don't think your White Piece is guaranteed to win, do you?"

Only under this assumption would Yuan Xi move all the White Pieces, because leaving them would be pointless and a waste of time.

There were forty to fifty Dao Integration cultivators; deploying them elsewhere would surely be useful.

Yuan Xi remained silent, her face cold, allowing Blackblood to guess wildly, his mind itching with curiosity.

Clang, clang, clang, sparks flew everywhere.

On the Battle Platform, two figures crisscrossed and maneuvered, their respective Dao soldiers clashing fiercely.

The more Jiao fought, the more uneasy he became. He had noticed something: all of Lu Ye's attacks seemed to target only his artifact. It was as if Lu Ye preferred his attacks to be blocked by the artifact rather than actually wounding him!

Initially, it was just a suspicion, but it quickly became a certainty.

Although he didn't know Lu Ye's true intention in doing this, in a fight to the death, any enemy's scheme warranted caution, so Jiao had been trying hard to avoid it.

It had little effect.

The enemy seemed to have cultivated some secret technique, consistently causing Jiao to misjudge during the saber movements, making Lu Ye's blade unpredictable and elusive.

As a result, it became very difficult for him to avoid the opponent's blade.

Blood splattered from both of them, leaving them scarred. While Lu Ye indeed preferred his attacks to be blocked by Jiao's artifact, this didn't mean it happened every time. If an opportunity arose to wound his enemy, he wouldn't miss it either.

With a "clang," after another collision, Jiao used the momentum to retreat, his expression growing anxious.

He couldn't drag this out any longer. In his original plan, he could have quickly killed Lu Ye and then escaped. Now, it had dragged on long enough. If he continued to fight like this, even if he defeated his opponent, he would be severely wounded and just as unable to escape death.

He had to reserve enough strength to guard against the White Pieces' encirclement outside.

A decision was made in an instant. He gritted his teeth and growled, "You forced my hand!"

Lu Ye was currently pressing his attack, less than three zhang from Jiao. Hearing this, his heart skipped a beat, realizing Jiao was likely about to activate some power-boosting secret technique. He brought his long saber down with even greater force, instantly unleashing a fiery red saber qi that shattered the surroundings.

Faced with this strike, Jiao merely let out a cold cry: "Divine Soul Borrowing Technique!"

As he spoke, the numerous restless soul entities on the surrounding seats suddenly fell silent for an instant, then erupted like salt thrown into a hot pan.

The countless soul entities transformed into streaks of black light, darting and swirling like shadowy vipers. They broke through the Battle Platform's restrictive seals and, in a blink, reached Jiao's head, burrowing in through his crown.

Jiao's aura surged dramatically.

Lu Ye's eyelids twitched uncontrollably as he watched!

He hadn't known the artifact Battle Platform possessed such power. Now, it was clear this was a secret technique only the artifact's owner could activate. Jiao was currently leveraging the Battle Platform's power.

The Pan Shan Saber, which had been slashed out, was blocked by the twin blades. There had been many such clashes before, and while Lu Ye always suffered a minor disadvantage, it was never significant.

This time, however, was clearly different. The power returned from Jiao's side suddenly became incredibly violent!

More shadows poured into Jiao's body. The man was already pale and bloodless, looking like a corpse; now he appeared even more sinister.

Behind Jiao, a massive shadow even materialized, hovering, twisting, and squirming as if it were about to burst from his body, expanding like an inflated balloon.

The temperature on the entire Battle Platform plummeted, and a layer of frost spread across its surface.

Boom...

An irresistible force assailed him from the front, sending Lu Ye flying like a kite with a broken string. The power Jiao unleashed in that burst was actually fifty percent stronger than before!

In mid-air, Lu Ye's internal organs ruptured, and blood gushed out. He forcibly stabilized his body, bracing himself against Jiao's pursuit.

This was precisely when his Dao power was unstable. If Jiao were to attack now, his situation would rapidly deteriorate.

To his relief, Jiao showed no intention of pursuing, or rather... was unable to pursue!

Jiao's face was etched with strain, as if he was struggling to control something. As he gained control, the chaotic soul entities on the seats could no longer break through the restrictive seals.

The shadow behind Jiao had condensed to a hundred zhang high, yet it was extremely bloated, constantly shifting its shape, unable to solidify. From within it emanated a dense aura of death and chaos.

His aura was so violent it was almost impossible to suppress, and his entire demeanor suggested madness.

Lu Ye's heart stirred as he watched, instantly understanding that this so-called Divine Soul Borrowing Technique was not without its cost. That's why Jiao hadn't used this secret technique from the start; he was forced to resort to it only after realizing he couldn't quickly decide the outcome of their battle.

At this moment, nearly half of the soul entities that had filled the seats were gone. This half was likely Jiao's limit; he wouldn't be able to bear any more.

Jiao's head was tilted back, his entire body trembling violently, his eyes completely white.

He let out a hoarse voice: "After this... I will need to go into secluded cultivation for a century!"

The Divine Soul Borrowing Technique was indeed powerful. As the artifact's master, he could borrow significant power from the deceased soul entities, but it came at a great cost.