Proofreader & Editor: Lotas
Boom—
A thunderous roar erupted from within the belly of Sword Sheath Peak.
On one side, the Elder of Transmitting Swords punched the Palace Master of the Northern Dark Hall, sending him flying. As he flew, his body continuously burst open.
Each time the Palace Master's chest burst, a clump of black light rapidly condensed, restoring his torso to its original state. But soon, new explosions would sound, and the black light would gather again.
With just one punch from the Elder of Transmitting Swords, the explosion repeated a hundred times in an instant before the Palace Master finally crashed through several mountain walls and landed with a thunderous crash.
The chaos erupting at Tongtian Peak was naturally sensed by these two powerful beings. Thus, the Elder of Transmitting Swords was eager to end the battle quickly, while the Palace Master sought to delay his opponent, allowing the other demons to complete their mission.
A clash of titans can turn a hundred times in the blink of an eye.
In just a moment, the two had completed a round of combat, with the Elder of Transmitting Swords gaining the upper hand and sending the Palace Master flying with a punch.
At the same time, a man in a black robe had just approached Ling Ao, only to be attacked by Jiang Yuebai and Chu Liang together—a binding curse and a Heavenly Sword Art.
The Heavenly Sword Art unleashed by the Demon Slayer Sword was terrifyingly powerful, not to be underestimated even by the top warriors of the Sixth Realm.
Chu Liang had used the Demon Slayer Sword to kill those of the Sixth Realm more than once!
The man in the black robe turned to defend himself, managing only to conjure a black light shield in haste, which was instantly shattered by the Demon Slayer Sword!
However, the power of the sword was mostly negated, and the remaining sword energy only sent him flying several meters.
But even that was astounding!
It must be known that Chu Liang was only of the Fourth Realm, two major realms below his opponent! The difference was like heaven and earth!
Xu Ziyang and Jiang Yuebai, witnessing this sword strike for the first time, were equally astonished. Xu Ziyang was amazed by the power Chu Liang had unleashed, while Jiang Yuebai's thoughts were somewhat more complex.
When Chu Liang had faced her in the arena earlier, he hadn't used this immensely powerful flying sword…
Was it underestimation or intentional?
Amid the violent shaking of the cave, Jiang Yuebai had no time to ponder as Xu Ziyang suddenly shouted, "Run!"
The battle between the Palace Master and the Elder of Transmitting Swords had escalated once again.
They fought until half the mountain collapsed, nearly hollowing out the belly of the mountain.
The Palace Master erupted with a massive black orb of light, dense and tangible, clearly capable of leveling Sword Sheath Peak once exploded.
The Elder of Transmitting Swords, however, pressed down on the orb with an iron hand, suppressing the immense power within, preventing it from detonating.
One sought destruction, the other protection; the latter was certainly at a disadvantage.
That's why Xu Ziyang urged them to flee quickly, not to hinder the Elder of Transmitting Swords. As long as they left the area, he believed the Elder could emerge victorious.
Ling Ao managed to break free at this moment, instantly activating the Divine Dragon Blood Burning Technique, unleashing his strongest divine ability, and desperately escaping!
And behind him, the man in the black robe was returning to the chase!
Shu Mountain's four most outstanding cultivators fled together, with him in hot pursuit!
"Damn you! Watch as I slay you!" A streak of purple light, accompanied by a curse, shot forth!
Bang!
The man in the black robe, his palm covered in black light, swatted the purple Yìng Sword away!
The purple and green swords, currently without a master, couldn't unleash their full combat power and could only entangle briefly. Of course, the black-robed man's attack couldn't damage the Yìng Sword itself.
After swatting away the Yìng Sword, he turned into a streak of black light and pursued them out of the cave.
Although the four ahead fled swiftly, the gap in their realms was too great; they were like children in his eyes, and it didn't matter if they got a head start.
Just as they emerged from the cave, they heard the wind whistling behind their heads.
Xu Ziyang resolutely shouted, "I'll hold him off, you go to Tongtian Peak for reinforcements!"
For them, returning to Tongtian Peak was a matter of a breath's time, but for the black-robed man, killing was as quick as the blink of an eye. Deciding to cover their retreat could very well mean sacrificing himself!
Ling Ao, however, spoke first, "My talent is the weakest, I'll stop him!"
Jiang Yuebai frowned, "As the chief disciple, it should be me!"
"Sigh," Chu Liang, holding the Qing Suo Sword that had just caught up, sighed, "With both the purple and green swords on me, I should be the one."
But in the time it took to say this, the black light had already chased out of the cave!
If they didn't leave now, they wouldn't be able to!
Jiang Yuebai urgently said, "You haven't mastered the Divine Sword Art, the purple and green swords are useless in your hands! You should be the first to leave!"
"I have mastered it," Chu Liang replied indifferently.
"What?" Jiang Yuebai was stunned, almost thinking she had heard wrong.
That was a fairy-level sword art, and Chu Liang had only been recognized by the swords moments ago. He had mastered it already?
How could that be?
In fact, it was indeed impossible to master it all… Chu Liang had only mastered one of them.
Ever since the swords recognized him as their master, he had been studying these two sword arts.
Although the Yìng Sword Art and the Qing Suo Sword Art were different, they ultimately aimed for the same goal.
He found that the biggest difficulty of these two sword arts was to let the sword spirit take over one's meridians, to be in complete communion with the sword spirit at the moment of using the divine sword.
With his current low cultivation, the divine sword would become the master of his Qi Sea circulation.
It was less about man wielding the sword and more about the sword wielding the man.
To achieve this kind of complete trust and let go was very difficult. It required overcoming various rejections from one's body, merging as one with the sword spirit, a process that would take anyone a long time to achieve through cultivation.
But for Chu Liang, the difficulty was not so great.
Because one of the meridians wasn't even his…
That's not entirely accurate; it was the Qi Sea meridian produced by the Golden Elixir puppet inside his body, which normally circulated Qi Sea to infuse true Qi into his body, and was foreign to begin with. If the Qing Suo Sword spirit wanted to take over that meridian, his body wouldn't reject it at all.
It was like it was none of his business.
That Qi Sea meridian should actually be considered the Golden Elixir puppet's; if the Qing Suo Sword wanted to enter… could the puppet even resist?
If it were the meridian that combined with the Yìng Sword, the difficulty would be much greater, and Chu Liang might need to cultivate for some time.
But not this one.
"You're too easy to work with," the female sword couldn't help but exclaim as the sword art unfolded.
Chu Liang took it as a compliment and raised the Qing Suo Sword in his right hand while forming a gesture with his left.
A wave of green sword light rippled.
The man in the black robe had just emerged from the cave when he saw Chu Liang holding the Qing Suo Sword, ready to strike.
His first reaction was disbelief.
The divine sword had just recognized its master; how could he have mastered it already?
Absolutely impossible.
Then, a sword qi, like an azure dragon, slashed towards him.
Talk about bad luck.
The blow he had suffered from the Demon Slayer Sword was already severe enough, and he never imagined it wasn't the worst.
The sword qi from the Qing Suo Sword, soaring and fierce, carried the unstoppable intent to slay demons! A vast azure heaven cutting through the water!
After that strike, Chu Liang fell from the sky!
The sword had drained all his vitality!
The Demon Slayer Sword required only a fraction of his strength to unleash its full power. But if he exerted half his strength, it might still only unleash the same power.
But the Qing Suo Sword would drain all his strength and then unleash five times that power! If he had more strength, the power could multiply even further!
The difference between a divine artifact and a magical tool lies in their limits!
The black-robed man, a top warrior of the Sixth Realm, was hit by Chu Liang's underhanded tactics twice! The first sword he could at least block, but this sword, even as he erected his black light shield and desperately dodged, was still instantly shattered, along with half his body!
Such was the terror of the divine sword!
Hiss—
His left shoulder and half his chest were severed, blood spraying into the air!
"Ah—" The black-robed man screamed, but still alive, he raised his hand to gather the scattered blood.
Immediately, all the blood transformed into a giant black eagle, screeching as it dove towards Chu Liang: "Hmph—"
"Chu Liang!"
Jiang Yuebai called out, rushing forward to catch the falling Chu Liang.
The giant black eagle was about to strike, but she managed to catch Chu Liang first, her right hand brandishing her sword and scattering a sky full of sword light!
Boom—
The black eagle collided with her protective sword light, its black feathers striking fiercely, sending them both plummeting down.
The power of the Sixth Realm was too vast a gap!
As the two embraced and fell into the sea of clouds below, Xu Ziyang and Ling Ao had already taken advantage of the collision to reach the top of Tongtian Peak.
The black-robed man, soaked in blood and grievously injured, hovered in mid-air. His shoulder wound was trying to heal with black light, but a green mist hindered it, preventing the black light from breaking through and covering the wound completely, naturally preventing healing.
Gritting his teeth in frustration, he also dived into the abyss below the sea of clouds! Without slaying these two, he could neither complete his mission nor quell the hatred in his heart.
Even if there was no enmity before, he now had a deep grudge against Chu Liang, a feud unto death!
***
Atop Tongtian Peak, chaos reigned even more.
The colossal Taowu beast descended, its massive body crushing numerous buildings. A large crowd of spectators suddenly transformed into disciples of the Mingwang Sect, causing a tumultuous uproar and a dark cloud to appear. For a moment, the air was filled with a miasma.
Countless disciples who had come to watch the ceremony were unaware of what had happened, thinking it was an internal conflict within the Shu Mountain Sect. They wanted to quickly retreat and avoid being caught in the battle. At this moment of sudden upheaval, standing on the edge of the Tongtian Peak plaza, Lu Xun also wanted to quietly slip away.
But suddenly, someone blocked his path.
"Master… Master?" Lu Xun was startled.
Standing before him was the Elder of the Dan Ding, expressionless, who asked in a deep voice, "Where are you going?"
"Disciple naturally is going to eliminate those demons…" Lu Xun was panicked inside but maintained a calm facade.
"What's the deal with Ling Ao?" the Elder of the Dan Ding suddenly asked.
"Master, spare my life!" Knowing that Ling Ao's incident had been exposed, Lu Xun immediately prostrated on the ground, shouting loudly, "I was coerced by those demons! It was not my intention!"
The Elder of the Dan Ding looked at him deeply and said, "We'll deal with you later."
With that, he lightly pressed a palm on Lu Xun's head.
Bang.
Darkness enveloped Lu Xun, feeling an endless crushing force all over his body, scorching and solid.
No sunlight… no air… no crevices, everything around was crushing him… not even a pinky could move…
He immediately realized what had happened.
The celestial technique, Burial by Thick Earth!
It was a particularly vicious divine ability that could instantly bury a person deep underground! When someone suddenly appeared here, trapped within the earth, they were completely immobilized!
If the caster didn't release them, death would soon follow.
And it was a death of extreme terror and despair!
He wanted to scream but couldn't, only able to roar in his heart.
"Save me—"