A Martial Odyssey

There were columns after columns of pillars in this vast hall and in the middle the brilliant stellar light of the Flower of Life lit the entire hall like the noon sun.

But no one dared to approach the Flower of Life yet!

It was because no one was confident of deciphering the powerful celestial formation that was in the middle yet and a wrong move could bring upon their own annihilation!

They knew because some of them had been here for almost one month and several of the Heavenly Kings had already been pulverized because they were in a hurry to obtain the Flower of Life ahead of the others!

Moreover at this pressing moment, they had to get rid of their opponents first!

Now everyone was fighting their own battles as they spread out between the pillars as they maneuvered against their opponents!

At this time, Xian'Er was fighting against three other Heavenly Kings on her own!

The Mars Heavenly King was tossed upside down and was hurled onto the ground with a rippling crushing impact by Xian'Er!

Disbelief greeted him as he refused that time and time again, he could not even handle ten strokes from her!

He howled angrily as he mustered his strength again, shaking the vicinity with his explosive martial force, "I can't believe that the three of us cannot even handle her!"

In the same instant, the ground around her was fluttering with piercing ice and frost that were so bitter cold that its mere touch burnt through the inertia protective force of the three Heavenly Kings in the form of hissing condensation!

The Avant-garde Heavenly King raised his Divine Avant Sword as he clashed with Xian'Er, "This is the Heavenly Tear Divine Sword? Do you know that this is the divine sword of the Great Goddess Fantian? Just because you have the Heavenly Tear Divine Sword, you dare to proclaim yourself as the Great Goddess Fantian?! Just who are you? Why is that I have never seen you before?"

Xian'Er raised her divine sword as she parried several times against the Avant-garde Heavenly. At the same time she raised her fingers in rapid succession as she fought against the encircling attack of the Mars Heavenly King and the Formosa Heavenly King.

Lifting her phoenix eyes, she answered with great composure. "I do not have to proclaim to be Fantian. I am Fantian!"

The Avant-garde Heavenly King shouted angrily, "How dare you address the Great Goddess Fantian by her name directly!"

The Mars Heavenly King shouted, "Why do you need to say the obvious? Since she is with the one that proclaims herself to be a Desolate Immortal then surely she must be our enemy as well!"

The Formosa Heavenly King shouted, "Unlike that Nuwa, she doesn't have the Desolate Force. But no matter, she is just one and we are three now. It is just a matter of time before we can corner her! So what are we waiting for?"

The Avant-garde Heavenly King hummed coldly to the Formosa Heavenly King as he took a step back, "Who are you to command me? I fight as I please and that is none of your business."

The Mars Heavenly King was now taking the blunt of Xian'Er blows as she had seized the opportunity to recover when the other two Heavenly Kings had suddenly paused in their tracks to argue. So he cursed aloud, "Our fates lie as one now. Stop talking! Hurry up and give me a lending hand!"

"An opening!" Xian'Er thought as she flashed like a rising phoenix from where she was standing as she displayed intrigue stokes after one another that was aimed at the Mars Heavenly King!

The Mars Heavenly King raised his battle axe to block her sword thrusts as he scurried backward but Xian'Er had totally switched to an offensive stance as she flashed forward with her body and with a dazzling blink of light, she had struck the forehead of the Mars Heavenly King with her left fingers!

There was a cracking sound and an explosive impact that sent the Mars Heavenly King flying upside down in the air before he slammed on the ground with a thunderous impact!

The Mars Heavenly King coughed out a bout of golden blood. He was in complete disbelief and was stunned!

The forehead was the most guarded and it was almost to attack without giving away an opening!

But this maiden had managed to engage him with her sword and even before her sword stance had ended, she had made another offensive stance with her fingers and had struck him!

Her movements and reflexes were simply too astonishing!

What he did not know was that Xian'Er had been slowly customizing to their movements and attacks. When she noticed that the Mars Heavenly King was momentarily distracted, she had already estimated her opponent's moves to his next hundred possibilities and had taken a calculated move to attack by abandoning her Absolute Defense Stance!

With a wordless cough, the Mars Heavenly King's golden eyes had turned gray and he was left shuddering uncontrollably on the ground. That was because his golden body had been broken through by her!

He wanted to ask her, "What and who exactly are you!" But there was no sound that could be mustered by him!

The Avant-garde Heavenly King and the Formosa Heavenly King were completely stunned as they abandoned their differences and redoubled their attacks on Xian'Er!

Xian'Er swung her sword at an incredible speed as her divine sword seemingly split into dozens of rapid arcs that exploded into sparks as the Avant-garde Heavenly King and the Formosa Heavenly King made contact with her, startling them!

It seemed that without the Mars Heavenly King to restraint her movements, her attacking speed had suddenly increased!

The Avant-garde Heavenly King shouted, "Be careful! Don't engage her directly! Encircle her!"

The Formosa Heavenly King rubbed the side of his bruised face as he panted, "She…she's strong!"

The Avant-garde Heavenly King grew solemn as he rained upon dozens of thunderous blows on Xian'Er as he gave the Formosa Heavenly King a hint with his fingers.

The Formosa Heavenly King understood his hint immediately. It was because he used to fight alongside the Avant-garde Heavenly King. So he charged at Xian'Er with all his martial power that he could muster. This charge immediately exploded the ground behind him with thunderous impact as he shouted angrily, "Now!"

At the same time the Avant-garde Heavenly King had also charged flashed behind Xian'Er as he charged with all his martial power!

Xian'Er gasped as she did several double flips in split second to avoid the tremendous attacks of the Formosa Heavenly King as the ground around her exploded with the divine power of his attacks!

The Avant-garde Heavenly King had already poised his Divine Avant Sword at her back as he grinned, "We didn't want to use this method on you but you are leaving us with no other choice. Your mistake is to disable the Mars Heavenly King first. Now that he is unable to witness our fight then we are free to use the epitome attacks that we have devised on the other Heavenly Kings…"

Xian'Er heart skipped a beat as she quickly composed herself as she reacted instinctively by readying the Phoenix Charge to charge onto the Formosa Heavenly King with an incredible speed that was so sudden a huge burst of explosion impacted behind her and exploded into the face of the charging Avant-garde Heavenly King!

In three blink of an eye, Xian'Er, the Avant-garde Heavenly King and the Formosa Heavenly King were caught in a deadlock as they exchanged beaming strokes at each other; each stroke of theirs was so powerful that every stroke projected a burst of explosive force that impacted at everything it struck and every arc created deadly beaming sword energies that slashed deeply onto the ground and the pillars!

And in another three blink of an eye, their surroundings had exploded into a mushroom cloud of debris, burning dust storm and glaring exchanges!

And in another three blink of an eye, they had exchanged a hundred strokes altogether that were so rapid that every stroke that were impacted were so resounding that they seemingly became three images of the same stroke!

Their exchanges were so furious that they were all lifted up from the ground as torrential burst of burning debris swept all around them!

But after another three blink of an eye, the strength of the Avant-garde Heavenly King and the Formosa Heavenly King began to falter and their momentum weaknesses gave Xian'Er the upper hand as she slashed them repeatedly and sent them flunking on the ground with earthshaking impact!

Xian'Er landed on her tiptoe as she took a deep breath to say, "I don't wish to kill anyone of you so long as you surrender."

The Formosa Heavenly King was trembling as he picked himself up and his posture was no longer upright, "In…the end…we…still lose…"

The Avant-garde Heavenly King coughed weakly as he picked himself up while he lifted his Divine Avant Sword, "I can still…fight…" but all of a sudden, his divine sword shattered into two all of a sudden!

He was stunned and he was trembling uncontrollably!

His grief was evident, "My…sword! My Divine Avant! You…have been with me since the very beginning…"

He wept aloud as he gripped the hilt with outpouring emotions, "My Divine…Avant! You are bestowed to…me…by the…Great Goddess Fantian…I…have failed her…She has appointed me the…Avant-garde…Heavenly King and my divine sword the Divine Avant…because she wants me to be the…vanguard…of the immortals…"

The Formosa Heavenly King clenched his fists as he shook uncontrollably, "Brother! I…will…seize her sword for you!…"

The Avant-garde Heavenly King laughed uncontrollably, "Brother…we have lost…and we have lost terribly…no divine swords can replace my Divine Avant…no more Heavenly Relic can restore her…she is broken and no more…"

Xian'Er interrupted gently, "You are not dead yet. As long as you still live, your Divine Avant can still be restored. So what are you worrying about?"

The Avant-garde Heavenly King laughed maddening, "Big words! What do you know? My Divine Avant is an immortal sword that is created by the Great Goddess Fantian and blessed by her. Except for her, nothing and no one else in the Three Known Realms can restore my divine sword! And she…is no longer…around…now…"

Xian'Er said gently, "Is that so?" as she flashed to seize the Divine Avant from the grasp of the Avant-garde Heavenly King!

The Avant-garde Heavenly King shouted angrily as he stormed at her, "Return my Divine Avant to me!"

But Xian'Er simply sent him flurrying backward with a palm force that caused him to crash thunderously onto the pillar behind him!

This time it seemed that it was much easier to deal with the Avant-garde Heavenly King because his spirits had already been broken and he was just making a senseless charge.

Xian'Er lifted the Divine Avant as she cut her wrist with it, "I remember you. You are forged with my lifeblood and only my lifeblood can you be restored. Receive my blessing again…"

As her blood dripped onto the Divine Avant, it began to glow with a purple animus as it became whole again!

The Avant-garde Heavenly King and the Formosa Heavenly King were stunned!

The Formosa Heavenly King stammered, "Who…are you…?!"

The Avant-garde Heavenly King was stunned, "You…are…really the Great Goddess Fantian?…"

Xian'Er nodded gently as she handed the Divine Avant back to him, "You should know it in your heart. Haven't you learnt enough from your last imprisonment?"

The Avant-garde Heavenly King and the Formosa Heavenly King were startled as they hurriedly fell onto their knees to pay their deference, "Great Mother Fantian, please forgive us!"

Xian'Er said gently, "What past is over. I only ask that you will lend your aid to the Great God Pangu."

The Formosa Heavenly King and the Avant-garde Heavenly King were startled as they looked at each other, "The Great God Pangu? Then he is…"

Xian'Er replied as she scanned the chaos that was still taking place from beyond the pillars, "Yi Ping is none other than the Great God Pangu. His destiny has already leads him here."

She willed herself through the spatial space, "Yi Ping, Nuwa, Lingfeng…can you hear me? Are you alright? Where are you now?"

Nuwa answered almost immediately, "I am alright. Yi Ping is in the thick of battle and he probably cannot hear us. How are things on your side?"

Lingfeng was heard gasping, "I am alright. Yi Ping and the Western Paradise Heavenly King have just aided us…just to let you know. I am with Yunzi and Youxue…"

Xian'Er willed, "I am alright. Lingfeng where are you? Focus your will so that I can sense where you are. Nuwa, can you and Xiang hold on a little longer?"

Nuwa seemed to chuckle, "Sure I can. But I am not sure about Xiang. After all, there are four of them now. They seemed to be picking on her more than me. I am so bored now. They seem to run here and there. Aren't they the least tired? All their feints that are thrown at me but they are really going after Xiang first before they strategize against me."

Xian'Er was secretly anxious for Xiang. It was because the Great Desolate Goddess Nuwa seemed to be enjoying the situation than worrying for the others in a similar situation!

She turned aside immediately to say gently to the Formosa Heavenly King and the Avant-garde Heavenly King, "I am going. Rest here first."

But the Avant-garde Heavenly King gasped out, "Let us go with you! We have almost recovered!"

It was true. The recovery rates of these Heavenly Kings were startling if they could get a breather. Moreover the Avant-grade Heavenly King had regained his fighting spirit once more!

Xian'Er nodded gently as she walked away, "Let's go!"

The Formosa Heavenly King looked at the Avant-grade Heavenly King as he whispered almost incoherently, "The Great Goddess Fantian is really the most beautiful under the heavens. I am always imagining what the Great Goddess Fantian really looks like…"

The Avant-grade Heavenly King gave him an annoyed look, "Be respectful!"

The Formosa Heavenly King tugged him as he gave him a broad smile, "Hey! Isn't it you who are always asking me that question?"