Chapter 838: Illusory Finger, Terrifying Output

“Come, come, take this healing medicine. This is my secret Red Gold Liquid. It’s very effective for a Grandmaster minor heaven phenomenon like you.” Xu Xiaoshou pulled out honey and handed it to Rong Dahao.

Rong Dahao's expression was complicated.

“Don’t worry, I’m not after your points. It wasn’t easy for you to accumulate them. But with your troops added to mine, we’ll have over nine hundred people. Is it still hard to get points then? It’ll be a piece of cake!” Xu Xiaoshou patted Rong Dahao’s shoulder.

Rong Dahao’s face contorted into a bitter grimace.

“I am a Sword Dao Throne, a fourth-grade Alchemist Throne, with an unparalleled Saint Body, and my combat power is enough to sweep across the entire Cloud-Rising Mountain Range. You can follow the Jiang family’s demi-saint successor, but not me?” Xu Xiaoshou feigned anger.

Rong Dahao clutched the wound on his chest, remaining silent for a long time.

He truly didn’t understand why this young man valued him so much.

He was just a Grand Void successor!

“Can’t you find someone else? There are plenty in the Cloud-Rising Mountain Range, but I, Rong Dahao, truly don’t dare to follow you!”

“Still not talking?” Xu Xiaoshou’s brows furrowed.

“I apologize, Young Master Xu. I am deeply grateful that you spared my life, but please forgive me... I truly cannot serve under you.” Rong Dahao felt a sense of gratitude for being acknowledged, but mostly, he was afraid to act.

“Why?” Xu Xiaoshou retorted.

“No reason...” Rong Dahao lightly shook his head and quickly fabricated an excuse, “My master and the Northern Domain’s Taixiang Xu family are not on good terms. Based on principle, I cannot accompany Young Master Xu. I hope Young Master Xu can grant me this convenience.”

Xu Xiaoshou smiled.

“My demi-saint successor status is fabricated. Your Rong family really has a grudge with the Taixiang Xu family of the Northern Domain?”

What a preposterous lie!

“How can I make it convenient?” he asked.

“Kill me or release me, the choice is yours.” Rong Dahao showed no fear of death.

“Oh, really?” Xu Xiaoshou became interested. “Is this little fatty truly not afraid of death?”

“I won’t kill you, but if you refuse to surrender, I will execute every single one of your hundreds of subordinates today, leaving no survivors.” Xu Xiaoshou refused to believe he couldn’t handle this little fatty.

Executing them one by one meant nothing less than ending their trial journey and crushing their hopes of entering the Holy Palace.

“You!”

Rong Dahao was enraged, provoked by this moral blackmail.

“Is Young Master Xu like a persistent plaster? Why is he sticking to me?”

“Besides, there’s no need to value talent to such an extent, is there? He ignores nearly forty Grandmasters, yet he only wants me, Rong Dahao?”

“What virtue or ability do I possess...” Rong Dahao’s emotions became a mixed bag once more. He turned his gaze to his companions, who were also subdued on the ground beside him.

One by one, their eyes held either defiance or expectation...

But without exception, everyone looked at him, trusting him.

Rong Dahao firmly believed that if he merely shook his head and said “no,” these former subordinates would truly pay the price for his choice and calmly face death.

But could he do that?

Rong Dahao was a man of feeling. His former subordinates had shown him such great affection; how could he repay his own debts with the feelings of others?

“Young Master Xu...”

“Think carefully before you answer!”

Xu Xiaoshou interrupted, raising a finger. “I’ll give you the time it takes for an incense stick to burn. Die or surrender, it’s up to you. I have important matters to attend to next.”

With that, he no longer paid attention to Rong Dahao but looked up at the sky.

Above the nine heavens, clouds and mist shrouded everything.

But within the sealed area created by the sword qi barrier, the naive cloud beast was still bumping into walls everywhere, unable to escape.

Xu Xiaoshou had originally come for the cloud beast’s ten thousand points. After subduing Rong’s team along the way, how could he abandon his primary target?

Immediately abandoning Xu’s group and the others, he flew alone towards the peak of Falling Cloud Peak.

“Young Master Xu...”

Rong Dahao watched the young man’s retreating figure, sword in hand, his expression deeply complex.

To be honest, if he hadn't seen the ghost beast host at the Golden Merchant Guild before, he would have truly been moved by Young Master Xu’s methods.

But now...

“What should I do? What should I do?” Rong Dahao wailed, sobbing in his heart. He had never felt so wronged in his life.

This choice was truly difficult.

“Give up, Brother Rong, you can’t escape.”

The Five Tiger Generals came forward together, surrounding Rong Dahao, also looking up at the sky.

Tai Xing said, “Previously, we also didn’t want to surrender, but Young Master Xu is too strong. Let alone the nine hundred-plus people here, even if there were twice as many, we probably couldn’t take him down by surrounding him.”

Zhu Dong also persuaded, “Young Master Xu values you much more than he values us. We’ve been with Young Master Xu for a day now. When he encountered people like you before, he would just send them away with a single sword stroke. Why would he waste so many words? Think about the advantages and disadvantages yourself!”

Mo Beibei chuckled, “Three times he’s persuaded you, three times he’s invited Brother Rong. Young Master Xu’s sincerity is overflowing.”

Zhao Xiu: “Why are you acting like a timid woman, dawdling? Young Master Xu has taken a liking to you, just go along with it, why all this trouble!”

Xi Guanghan nodded, “Yes, they’re right.”

Rong Dahao: “...”

For a moment, he couldn’t react. In just one day, how could Young Master Xu have subdued these people so completely, even turning them into persuaders?

He knew that he had offered his own hundred-person group immense benefits to earn their heartfelt allegiance.

“I don’t know...”

Rong Dahao’s indecisiveness resurfaced.

He had nowhere to escape and didn’t want to commit suicide. If things continued like this, would he really have to surrender?

“You have the time it takes for an incense stick to burn. Think it over carefully!” The Five Tiger Generals turned and left, leaving Rong Dahao to discuss with his dozens of Grandmaster teammates.

An incense stick... Rong Dahao looked at the sky, his expression complicated.

Suddenly, his expression trembled, and he realized something.

“An incense stick?”

“Does that guy mean he can handle the cloud beast in the time it takes for an incense stick to burn?”

Above the nine heavens.

“Wooo—”

A peculiar beast cry echoed. The cloud beast had already bumped into the barrier more than ten times.

Even with its gentle disposition, it was now feeling a bit angry.

It didn’t understand why this seemingly empty sky could make it feel uncomfortable again and again.

Even its cloud body couldn’t pass through that strange barrier; it would be directly torn apart.

“Attacked, passive value, 1.”

Xu Xiaoshou ascended, sword in hand. As soon as he landed on the peak, he heard the cloud beast’s cry and felt his head swell and dizzy.

In the blink of an eye, he cleared his head, looking at the shapeless cloud beast with some surprise.

“Mental attack?”

Good heavens!

A Grandmaster-level beast, a mere cry, could also act like a mental attack. This cloud beast was truly formidable!

One should know that in the realm of mental offense and defense, Innate, Grandmasters, and even ordinary Thrones might never touch upon it in their entire lives.

Those who could master this path, apart from Thrones with special attributes, were generally only supreme powerhouses who have profoundly comprehended rules, such as those in the Dao Slaying realm, whose every move can captivate the mind.

“A mere cloud beast, yet quite powerful?”

Xu Xiaoshou’s mind stirred. Gripping Hidden Misery, he lunged forward. “Take a sword strike from me!”

He executed a backhand sword flourish.

White sword qi shot forth instantly.

For this strike, Xu Xiaoshou used half his strength.

To his surprise, the sword qi indeed sliced through the cloud beast in an instant, but it also passed directly through it, vanishing into the sky without causing any damage.

“What’s going on?”

Xu Xiaoshou was surprised.

Could it be that this cloud beast’s constitution made it immune to all physical attacks?

In the sky, the cloud beast, still swaying inexplicably, felt that it had indeed been attacked again, and it became enraged.

Its cloud body abruptly swelled and twisted, its rear transforming into a head, and two large glowing eyeballs fixed on the human holding the sword in astonishment on Falling Cloud Peak.

“Woo-woo!!”

High-pitched, resonant sonic waves tore through the air like ten thousand arrows firing simultaneously. The clouds in the sky were ripped apart, and the invisible, formless sonic blades slashed towards Falling Cloud Peak at an astonishing speed.

“Boom boom boom boom...”

Violent explosions rang out.

Below Falling Cloud Peak, Xu’s group and Rong’s people covered their ears, their faces contorted in pain, looking up in shock.

They saw that after the cloud beast’s sonic attack, a chaotic sweep passed over the peak.

The entire summit of Falling Cloud Peak was directly shattered!

Boulders turned into gravel the size of fingernails, cascading and rolling down the mountain like an avalanche, vast and imposing, filling the sky with dust.

“So strong?”

Rong Dahao and the others were astonished.

They had seen the cloud beast before but hadn’t had time to attack.

They never imagined that the cloud beast’s sonic damage would be so terrifyingly powerful!

“Young Master Xu, he’s not... gone, is he?” Someone asked, scared silly and dazed.

Indeed, one-third of Falling Cloud Peak’s summit was shattered by a single beast roar. If it were any ordinary person, they wouldn’t be able to withstand such damage.

Rong Dahao, however, recalled Young Master Xu, who had lifted heavy objects with ease under the “Mysterious Heavy Ancient Gate,” and shook his head, “Impossible. His defense is extremely high.”

“But this is a mental attack!” someone retorted.

Rong Dahao was momentarily stunned.

He turned his head and scanned the crowd, only then realizing that despite being so far from the battlefield, those around him also had swollen temples and bleeding from their seven orifices from the cloud beast’s sonic attack, without even knowing it.

Seeing this, Rong Dahao realized something.

He wiped his eyes, his nose...

His hands were covered in blood!

“Damn it!” Rong Dahao was terrified.

If the sonic damage were to increase by another level, would everyone present not even know how they died?

Or perhaps, they wouldn't even know when they had died?

“Fall back!”

“Defend!”

Rong Dahao shouted, unconsciously giving orders on behalf of Young Master Xu, leading Xu’s group and Rong’s people step by step away from the scene.

“That really hurts!”

In mid-air, Xu Xiaoshou covered his ears, grimacing.

When he lowered his hands, he realized his palms were covered in blood.

What his “Perception” showed him was that his skin was covered in dense cracks, and even his internal organs had borne the brunt of the sonic attack, all vibrated open.

Although all injuries healed in just a few breaths,

a mere Grandmaster-level cloud beast could inflict such damage on him. It was an eye-opener for Xu Xiaoshou.

His body’s injuries had healed, but his clothes were not repaired.

Xu Xiaoshou was drenched in blood, as if he had just been pulled from a pool of blood.

“I just sliced your rear once with my sword, is that reason for such fury?” Xu Xiaoshou also grew irritated. He raised his sword and, as if defying evil, struck again. “Net Sword Style!”

Swish swish swish!

Dense sword qi intertwined to form a three-dimensional net-like passage, completely blocking the cloud beast’s escape and approach routes.

“Chi chi chi...”

Explosions reverberated from all directions in the void. The cloud beast’s body was torn apart by the sword qi, then torn apart again.

But a cloud was still a cloud; it had no fixed form.

Even the strongest sword techniques, as long as they were physical attacks, could not inflict even a trace of damage on it.

On the contrary...

The cloud beast grew angry again.

Its mouth opened, and fangs materialized.

“Wooo-woo-woo!!!”

Another piercing cry.

This time, Xu Xiaoshou’s pupils contracted. He covered his ears, closed his eyes, and was about to immediately flee.

But it was too late.

The sonic attack was too fast and potent; he suffered another terrifying assault.

“Buzz buzz buzz—”

His head buzzed loudly, as if tens of thousands of mosquitoes had flown into it. Xu Xiaoshou’s entire body broke out in goosebumps from the roar.

Only then did he realize that he truly possessed no defensive spiritual techniques capable of withstanding mental attacks such as sonic waves.

“Wait a minute.”

“I have a technique!”

Soon, a flash of inspiration struck him.

Xu Xiaoshou remembered the special passive skill he had acquired earlier: One Finger of Annihilation.

He had no spiritual defense techniques against mental attacks, but for mental counterattacks, he indeed possessed such a move.

“One Finger of Annihilation (Charge Value: 2.67).”

The cloud beast’s two waves of sonic attacks had actually brought such a large charge value to One Finger of Annihilation. Xu Xiaoshou was astonished.

He realized that his ability to instantly escape the cloud beast’s sonic stunning effect earlier was due to the efficacy of One Finger of Annihilation!

“One Finger of Annihilation: Gains charge value when subjected to mental attack. Each 1 point increase in charge value triggers ‘Mental Awakening,’ allowing escape from mental control. Choose whether to activate One Finger of Annihilation.”

Xu Xiaoshou understood. That effect of being immune to stunning was “Mental Awakening”!

As for One Finger of Annihilation, it couldn’t be actively released; it could only be unleashed when subjected to or controlled by a mental attack.

If that was the case, dealing with this cloud beast seemed to become simple...

With that thought,

Xu Xiaoshou raised his sword, and another streak of sword qi slashed past.

This time, he didn’t aim to harm the beast but merely to provoke it.

Sure enough, the naive cloud beast opened its mouth again.

“Wooo-woo-woo-woo-woo—”

A wailing cry, like ghosts weeping and wolves howling, broke through the surrounding space with extreme penetrative power. All who heard it experienced ringing in their ears, blurred vision, and splitting headaches.

But this sound, this time, just as it first touched Xu Xiaoshou...

“Here it comes!”

As Xu Xiaoshou felt dizzy, he simultaneously became clear-headed.

And then.

He pointed a finger, as if an immortal was guiding the way.

“One Finger of Annihilation!”

A faint, soft sound arose.

A streak of blue soul light flashed and vanished.

There was no earth-shattering commotion, no extraordinary phenomena.

The cloud beast, hovering in the void, baring its fangs and brandishing its claws, instantly disintegrated the moment it was struck by the blue light, turning into wisps of mist that vanished into the air.

The battle ended!

“Dead?!”

Far away, Xu’s group and Rong’s people, who had already fled the battlefield but couldn’t help but rise into the air to watch from a distance, were all shocked when they saw this scene.

The cloud beast’s final attack made even those far from the battlefield feel their hearts stop, as if their bodies would explode on the spot.

Yet Young Master Xu, who bore the brunt of the attack, was not only unharmed but also unaffected by the sonic stunning effect, acting with composure.

One finger.

Annihilated the entire cloud beast?

“Insane!”

“Did I really see things, or did the cloud beast’s roar make me hallucinate?”

“Can a Sword Dao Throne achieve this? Didn’t that cloud beast ignore sword techniques and physical attacks? How could it not withstand that sword-finger technique?”

“Young Master Xu even possesses soul attacks! That cloud beast specialized in mental attacks, so its mental defense certainly wasn’t low. Yet Young Master Xu’s single finger could make its form and spirit perish completely.”

“If that finger were pointed at us...”

Rong Dahao listened to the murmurs around him and suddenly turned pale.

He suddenly realized that if Young Master Xu had used that very finger on him, being kicked out of the Cloud-Rising Mountain Range and ending his royal city trial would have been a luxury.

The only outcome would be his physical body being expelled.

His soul, however, would be eternally damned!