Free Web NovelChapter 374: Chapter 374: The Five Great Sects of the Realm
The Earth Vein Spiritual Qi of the entire Celestial Pillar Peak was brutally drained and shattered. Under the terrifying pressure, the mountain itself let out an anguished groan, unable to bear the weight. Countless ancient pines, palace halls, and stone steps disintegrated into dust before the hammer’s force even landed!
BOOM—!!!
The Hammer Force landed, as if a Celestial Pillar had collapsed.
With the Sword Pavilion’s gate as its epicenter, the Earth Vein for ten li in every direction cracked and split. The mountain crumbled like tofu, and countless Sword Pavilion disciples were shredded into a mist of blood by the violent True Qi before they could even scream.
The Elders watching from a distance were terrified out of their wits. They desperately channeled their Protective Sword Qi, yet the aftershock still rattled them so hard they bled from their eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Those with weaker Cultivation levels simply exploded and died on the spot!
When the smoke and dust settled, the entire Sword Pavilion mountain range had utterly collapsed. Only a solitary Scripture Pavilion remained standing at the edge of the ruins—the result of Xu Yunfan deliberately shielding it with his True Qi.
He stood, hammer withdrawn, his gaze sweeping over the few Sword Pavilion disciples who had survived amidst the rubble. There were only a few stragglers left. "From this day forward," he said coolly, "this place belongs to the Taoist Sect."
"..."
His gaze fell upon the scarlet Soft Sword dropped by the old woman, Hex Yilin. With a beckoning gesture of his hand, the sword was drawn into his grasp.
’Floating Threads...’
He looked at the two words engraved on the scarlet blade. The sword trembled slightly, as if alive, emitting a faint, defiant hum.
Xu Yunfan’s expression remained placid. The might of the Land Immortal Realm crashed down as his Ten Extremes True Qi spread from his fingertips to the hilt. The Sword Spirit reeled as if struck by lightning, and the scarlet Sword Aura it had manifested disintegrated completely.
’A mere Tier Eight, and it dares to defy me?’
With a squeeze of his hand, the Soft Sword coiled around his waist as obediently as a red serpent. The once-violent, bloody patterns on its spine now flowed with docility. It even reshaped itself, becoming like a Profound Iron Waistband that buckled securely over his Dragon Scale Armor.
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The aftershocks of the Sword Pavilion’s annihilation had yet to subside when Xu Yunfan’s figure tore through the void, arriving directly at Little Sumeru Mountain, the home of Mituo Temple.
The mountain was known as the "First Pure Land of the Buddhist Zen Sect." Buddha Light illuminated its Golden Summit, the temple enshrined the Relics of generations of high monks, and its Destiny was anchored by the sect-guarding Divine Weapon, the Great Sun Buddha Seal.
However, when Xu Yunfan’s Ten Extremes True Qi cascaded down like the Celestial River overturned, all notions of compassion became a mockery.
Without a word, he raised his hand and unleashed Celestial Fall, a move from the Eight Desolates Dragon Fall Hammer Technique. The Shaking Mountain Sea-Suppressing Hammer, wrapped in the phantom of a crimson-gold Flood Dragon, smashed toward the temple gate.
Before the hammer’s force even arrived, the resulting Gang Wind had already torn apart vast sections of the temple. Within, a thousand bronze Buddha statues shattered in unison as the bell and drum towers collapsed with a deafening roar.
The abbot, Ci Hang, attempted to block the attack with his Vajra Exorcism Circle, but the Hammer Force shattered his Divine Weapon. His True Qi was seized and drained completely, leaving him a dessicated corpse.
Within three breaths, the Earth Vein of Little Sumeru Mountain was drained dry. The mountain began to collapse from the summit downward, and the Scripture Pavilion, Arhat Hall, and Relic Tower all plunged into the abyss.
The surviving Elders formed the Ten Thousand Buddhas Return to the Sect Formation in a last-ditch struggle. Xu Yunfan merely sneered as his Ten Extremes True Qi morphed into the gaping maw of a Taotie, completely devouring the Vitality of the hundred Martial Monks within the array.
The abbot, Master Kuchan, burned his own life force to activate the Great Sun Buddha Seal. The Buddha Light blazed like a scorching sun, but a golden radiance erupted from Xu Yunfan’s spine. His Ten Extremes True Qi surged like a raging tsunami as he swatted out with a backhand blow, and the Buddha Seal instantly shattered.
All of Kuchan’s Essence Blood was drained from his body, and he too became a desiccated corpse.
In the end, Mituo Temple’s thousand-year legacy was reduced to rubble. All that remained was half of a Broken Stele, its engraved words "Amitabha Buddha" soaked in a mist of blood.
「At dawn the next day, Xu Yunfan set foot on Profound Daoist Mountain in Qingzhou.」
This mountain was shrouded in clouds and mist year-round. The Profound Daoist Sect was world-renowned for its Dragon and Tiger True Qi. Following the path of Yin and Yang to harmonize the dragon and tiger, the elder Daoists of the Sect all cultivated the *Dragon and Tiger Pill Force*.
However, the moment Xu Yunfan reached the foot of the mountain, he clove the mountain-warding sea of clouds with a single sword strike. The aftershock of his Sword Qi sliced the Heaven-Ascending Ladder on the mountainside in half.
The three Grand Elders of the Profound Daoist Sect joined forces to summon the Profound Turtle Armor. The Treasure Armor drew upon the Earth Vein, forming a hundred-zhang-tall Profound Turtle Illusion, but Xu Yunfan shattered its shell with a single hammer strike. The rebounding force demolished the Three Pristine Hall on the peak, and the jade statue of the Ancestral Master enshrined within exploded into powder.
The Grand Elder roared, "Xu Yunfan! You dare blaspheme the Ancestral Master of the Dao?!"
Xu Yunfan scoffed in reply, "You lot use incense offerings to leech off the common folk, and you think you’re qualified to speak of the Dao? You should have foreseen this outcome when you chose your side."
Before his words even faded, his Ten Extremes True Qi surged forth like a tidal wave, and the Profound Turtle Armor disintegrated piece by piece.
The Second Elder drew upon his pure Dragon and Tiger True Qi to manifest a Martial Dao Dharma Aspect, becoming the Celestial Master Demon-Subduing Aspect. In an instant, the majestic visage formed, pressing down like a thundercloud.
Xu Yunfan neither dodged nor evaded, allowing the Dharma Aspect to descend upon him. Then, with a mere gesture, he began to refine it for his own use. After absorbing all of the Second Elder’s True Qi, he pointed a finger, and the elder’s head exploded.
The remaining disciples, led by another Elder, formed a Sword Array.
Xu Yunfan’s expression was cold as ice. His gaze swept across the scene, pausing for an imperceptible moment on Yhu Jingshan below.
Yhu Jingshan stood at the edge of the Sword Array, an inconspicuous figure, her black hair whipping wildly in the violent Qi Force.
Her expression was resolute, her gaze as sharp as a knife, and the Three-foot Cyan Blade in her hand hummed without pause.
Her robes, torn by the gale, revealed the crimson, dragon-like muscles knotted beneath—a sign that she had cultivated the *Profound Daoist Bone Forging Technique* to the Great Success stage of "golden marrow mercury paste."
With a sharp cry, her Blood Qi erupted like an exploding Melting Furnace. The Qi Force of all three hundred disciples in the Sword Array converged on the tip of the leading Elder’s sword, condensing in mid-air into a Celestial Sword phantom over ten zhang long. Wherever its tip pointed, the piercing Sword Intent sliced through the mountain mist, creating a tidal wave of Cloud Qi.
Xu Yunfan’s gaze lingered for a moment on her taut knuckles and the web of her hand, which had already split and bled from the extreme eruption of her Blood Qi.
But the fleeting moment of distraction in his mind vanished as quickly as it came. He drew the Blood River Silk Sword from his waist.
The instant the scarlet blade was unsheathed, it erupted with a blinding, crimson light as it was infused with Ten Extremes True Qi. The blade trembled like a ravenous Fierce Beast.
"Pure Yang Three Forms, First Form: Burning Sea."
He softly uttered those last two words, yet they sounded like a decree from a god of fire.
Rampant Pure Yang Sword Qi erupted from the edge of the blade, and blazing golden flames instantly swallowed the entire Sword Array.
The Celestial Sword phantom, which was said to be able to manifest dragons and tigers, vaporized inch by inch the moment it touched the Sword Qi, like snow in boiling water.
Within the Sword Array, Yhu Jingshan’s pupils shrank as her eyes filled with terror. Before she could make a single move, a roaring wave of golden fire had already overwhelmed her vision...
Where the Sword Qi passed, a golden line appeared around the waists of all three hundred Profound Daoist disciples.
The next moment, waterfalls of blood erupted into the sky, only to be vaporized into a crimson mist by the Pure Yang True Flame before they could even hit the ground.
The mountain rock vitrified under the intense heat, and streams boiled and burst. Even the *Profound Daoist Precepts* stele, which had been carved into the main peak’s cliff face for six hundred years, melted into magma under the wave of fire, flowing down the stone steps in dazzling, blood-gold rivulets.
By the time Xu Yunfan sheathed his sword, the entire main peak had been turned to scorched earth.
All that remained was half of the Elder’s Broken Sword, thrust diagonally into the ground, its hilt still smoldering with burn marks.
Xu Yunfan spared it a single glance before turning and leaving without the slightest hesitation.
Stepping into the void, he was already streaking away in the direction of the Nine Radiance Sect.
The Nine Radiance Sect was entrenched on Nine Luminaries Mountain in Yanbei Dao. The Sect’s foundation was the *Nine Luminaries Swallowing Qi Technique*. Its disciples all possessed immense Blood Qi; on the strength of their physical vitality alone, they far surpassed other Martial Artists of the same Realm.
