Free Web NovelChapter 373: Chapter 373: Just Take One Strike From Me
According to the information from Nether Spring, ever since the Divine Martial Daoist Master achieved Foundation Establishment and established the Martial Dao in the Divine Martial Realm, the path of cultivation in this world was cut off. The Ninth Realm became the absolute limit, and Land Immortals were but a rare accident.
Three thousand years ago, the Celestial Dao of the Divine Martial Realm made a final, desperate struggle, giving rise to a large number of Land Immortal Realm cultivators. Unfortunately, they were still no match for the Primordial Demon Sect.
Icy-blue Essence Blood spurted from Elder Bai Mei’s severed arm, while the Phecda Sword Elder shattered the Sword Bone within his own chest.
The two streams of Blood Qi merged, and the shadow of a colossal, hundred-zhang sword materialized from the center of the array. Before its edge had even fallen, the mountains within a ten-li radius began to crumble!
Xu Yunfan finally showed a flicker of interest. ’Now this is more like it. A hint of the true might of a Land Immortal.’
He pressed his palms together. In an instant, the Ten Extremes True Qi between his hands began to boil, using the principles of Ten Thousand Laws Return to the Stream to manifest all phenomena.
Dragon and Tiger Pill Force formed scales and claws, Pure Yang Qi transformed into a golden radiance, the Nine Luminaries forged the shadow of a mountain’s soul... In the space of a single breath, the Martial Arts True Intents of countless techniques returned to the stream and merged as one.
BOOM!
The sea of clouds above Celestial Pillar Peak exploded, and a three-headed, six-armed Profound Yellow Body rose up from behind Xu Yunfan.
The Dharma Aspect stood over three zhang tall, its six arms each holding the phantom of a different weapon: a hammer, a mace, a sword, a seal, and more.
’The Profound Celestial Treasure Talisman’s... Martial Dao Dharma Aspect?!’
Elder Bai Mei’s eyes widened. He had, of course, seen the Profound Celestial Treasure Talisman before. The Profound Daoist Sect had even spent several centuries studying it, managing to develop a Martial Dao Dharma Aspect that had shone brilliantly a few hundred years ago.
He exchanged a look with the Phecda Sword Elder, and both saw waves of utter shock in the other’s eyes.
As Supreme Elders of the Sword Pavilion, how could they not recognize this?
The Profound Celestial Treasure Talisman was the ultimate treasure of the Celestial Pivot Start Sect, a relic left behind by an Outer Heaven Demon. It was regarded by the major top-tier sects as a true manual containing the future path of the Martial Dao.
Generations of Grandmasters had observed the Treasure Talisman, yet none had ever truly condensed a Dharma Aspect. Only the Dragon and Tiger True Qi of the Profound Daoist Sect could achieve True Qi Transformation ahead of time, condensing into a dragon and tiger to form a Martial Dao Dharma Aspect.
But the sheer presence of the Dharma Aspect behind Xu Yunfan was far more shocking than the one from the Profound Daoist Sect.
’Impossible...’
The Phecda Sword Elder gripped his coiling-dragon staff so tightly it creaked. He felt no fear; for a man who had dedicated his entire life to the sword, he was instead wondering if Xu Yunfan had actually forged a new path for the Martial Dao.
A dead silence fell before the sect gate.
The young disciples were stunned into silence. A few with weaker cultivations were so overwhelmed by the Dharma Aspect’s pressure that blood began to seep from their mouths and noses.
"Two Forms Sword Array! Now!"
Elder Bai Mei suddenly roared, his voice like an icy blade scraping bone.
An unprecedented wave of cold erupted from his withered body, freezing even the wound on his severed arm into solid ice—an Anomaly caused by pushing his True Qi to its absolute limit.
Before Elder Bai Mei had even finished speaking, the Earth Veins beneath the Sword Pavilion trembled violently. The stone steps of the sect gate shattered, and empowered by the underground array, a piercing blood-red light shot into the sky.
He and the Sword Elder stood back-to-back, their two streams of Essence Blood intertwining like a dragon and a serpent.
ZING!
A sword’s cry rang through the heavens as the hundred-zhang Sword Shadow suspended in the air began to rapidly solidify.
The body of the sword looked as if it were forged from black ice, but its surface was wreathed in scarlet, bloody flames. Before its edge even drew near, the very air atop Celestial Pillar Peak was being torn apart with a sharp whistling sound.
The moment the greatsword fell, ancient pines on the summit were ripped out by their roots, reduced to dust by the Sword Qi before they even hit the ground. The swords of the spectating disciples all trembled violently. Their scabbards shattered, and thousands of blades flew uncontrollably toward the colossal sword shadow, merging into its light as if paying homage to a king.
Xu Yunfan looked up, the reflection of the sky-rending sword glinting in his golden pupils.
His black robes whipped about in the storm of Sword Qi, and the stone platform beneath his feet had long since collapsed into a massive crater, yet his eyes were filled with keen interest.
’Using your own life force as fuel to burn these last embers... It’s quite a spectacular sight.’
At the instant the greatsword was upon him, he gently raised his right palm. The three-headed, six-armed Profound Yellow Body behind him mirrored the movement, forming a hand seal.
The phantasmal hammer, mace, sword, and seal held by its six arms suddenly solidified, transforming into six mountain-like Martial Arts True Forms that shot forward to meet the Immortal Slaying Sword Shadow head-on.
BOOM!!!
The world went white.
An instant later, a ring-shaped shockwave erupted, blasting the plaque above the Sword Pavilion’s sect gate into dust.
After a stalemate of three breaths, the Sword Shadow shattered inch by inch. Xu Yunfan’s Golden Body, however, grew even more solid, even devouring the scattered fragments of Sword Intent.
The two Supreme Elders collapsed to the ground, their faces withering at a visible rate.
The Sword Elder struggled to form a Sword Pointing, trying to detonate the Sword Seed within his body to prevent his foe from succeeding. But with a grasping motion from afar, Xu Yunfan sent him flying through the air like a broken sack of rags.
"I said I would borrow you for a moment. Why must you be so unreasonable, old sir?"
Xu Yunfan closed his five fingers, activating Ten Extremes Absorption.
The Sword Elder’s skin rapidly turned ashen gray. Wisps of blue-gold Sword Qi—his Void Nether Sword Essence, cultivated over a hundred bitter years—streamed out from his seven orifices.
Elder Bai Mei’s fate was even worse. Even the Cold Soul Sword Marrow from within his bones was extracted, transforming into crystalline threads of ice that flowed into Xu Yunfan’s fingertips.
When the two had been reduced to withered skeletons draped in skin, Xu Yunfan closed his eyes, sensing the surging Exotic True Qi within him.
The Sword Pavilion True Qi was incomparably sharp. It clashed with the yet-unrefined True Qi he had previously devoured from the Buddhist Sect and the Grand Eunuch of the Great Zhou Dynasty, but under the harmonizing influence of his Ten Extremes True Qi, it all gradually began to merge.
With every major circulation of the Ten Extremes True Qi through his body, a portion of this Exotic True Qi was refined and assimilated.
Within a few breaths, Xu Yunfan’s slightly bloated body returned to normal. He exhaled a breath of Dirt Qi, expelling the impure, chaotic True Qi from his system.
It seemed the quality of Nine Realms Qi Cultivation masters varied. These three Supreme Elders from the Sword Pavilion were worth at least the six Nine Realms Qi Cultivation experts he had absorbed in Jade Capital City.
He looked in the direction of the Profound Daoist Sect. Jiangnan Dao was closest to Lingnan Dao. From Lingnan Dao, he would turn toward the Northern Desert, and then to Jian Nan Dao.
At his current speed, even with the time needed to absorb and purify the True Qi, he could complete the entire circuit in less than two days.
Xu Yunfan’s gaze fell upon the crowd of Sword Pavilion disciples. The corners of his mouth lifted in a slight, ambiguous smile, but his golden eyes grew colder still, like a ten-thousand-year-old Cold Pool that could freeze the very Divine Soul.
That single glance sent a chill through the hearts of every Sword Pavilion disciple present.
"Your Sword Pavilion took the opportunity to besiege and kill my Taoist Sect disciples, leaving not even one in ten alive in Jade Capital City. You hunted them in our own territory..."
His tone was calm, but every word was a knife that shook the Sword Pavilion members to their core. "Today, I have naturally come to collect that debt."
Before his voice had faded, he made a grasping motion with his right hand. With a CLANG, the Shaking Mountain Sea-Suppressing Hammer at his waist leaped into his palm of its own accord.
The hammer was pitch-black. The moment it landed in his hand, the entire Celestial Pillar Peak began to tremble violently, as if it could not bear the weapon’s weight.
"Enough talk. Face one move from me."
Xu Yunfan slowly raised the hammer. Ten Extremes True Qi surged forth like a furious tide, converging at the hammer’s head into a brilliant, dark light. "After this one move, I will not ask whether you live or die."
"Eight Desolates Dragon Fall: Celestial Fall!"
The hammer fell!
In that instant, the world lost its color.
Wherever the hammer’s head passed, the mountains shattered inch by inch like glass, revealing dark, abyssal fissures beneath.
Then, the Ten Extremes True Qi transformed into nine crimson-gold Flood Dragons, which coiled around the hammer and roared as they smashed toward the Sword Pavilion’s sect gate.
