Chapter 683: Where Not to Ask About Swords
The Sword Immortal Wei Jin of the Snow Temple Wind Pavilion found the traces of that green-robed swordsman, but a handsome young master with a nurturing-sword gourd tied at his waist suddenly arrived, blocking the green-robed swordsman. He extended a palm, stopping all the sword light from Wei Jin's strike. He shook his wrist; the palm of his hand had turned to charcoal, but it instantly returned to normal.
This great demon on the throne, neither high nor low in the ancient well, had taken the alias Qinghua.
That delicate face, which could easily beguile women, was actually pieced together from others' faces when examined closely.
Inside the nurturing-sword gourd were countless remnants of sword immortals' souls and broken flying swords.
The great demon Qinghua smiled at the young swordsman behind him, who was the number one among the hundred sword immortals of the Barren Wilderness World, and said, "Junior brother, have you had enough fun?"
The green-robed swordsman nodded. "Be careful yourself."
The great demon blocked another distant strike from that sword immortal. After being hit by two consecutive thrusts from Wei Jin, Qinghua was already suspended over a large pit. His voice was soft and gentle as he smiled, "Senior brother, careful about what? I've been careful enough—I haven't gone to find Chen Qingdu yet, have I?"
Lu Zhi arrived on her flying sword and said to Wei Jin, "You keep chasing. I'll handle this sissy."
Qinghua smiled as he looked at the great female sword immortal with half her face ruined, "Is this the legendary city-toppling, country-ruining Great Sword Immortal Lu of the Sword Qi Great Wall?"
Lu Zhi said nothing, answering only with a sword stroke.
At one end of the city wall, that blood-soaked monk resembled a golden-bodied Buddha with the Sword Qi Great Wall as his lotus seat.
The Buddhist sage with a middle-aged face, his kasaya slipped off on its own. His palm, which no longer had fingers, gently lifted the kasaya into the air. It suddenly expanded like a sea of clouds, wind swirling and clouds surging. The kasaya grew larger and larger, and Buddha's light shone upon the world.
That cloud-sea kasaya, which blotted out the sky and shone with radiant splendor, finally descended, covering the battlefield beyond the city wall. It transformed into countless specks of golden light, each adhering to the sword cultivators of the Sword Qi Great Wall.
The monk sat cross-legged. Before him appeared a lotus lamp with a stick of incense.
Then, within the time it took for one stick of incense to burn, all the injuries—major and minor—of the sword cultivators on the battlefield were transferred onto the monk.
On the Bi Sword Immortal Seal Archive, there had once been a seal's inscription copied by the young Hidden Official from the Haoran World.
"Ding Guang Buddha reincarnated, descending to the Saha world as a mortal."
As the incense was about to burn out, the monk pressed his palms together, looked up into the distance with a smile, and passed away peacefully.
But the lamp before him was still lit; not only that, it shone even brighter.
The Three Teachings sages, including this monk, had been fighting all along from start to finish.
For example, this Buddhist sage consumed his own life to exchange the heavens and earth, helping the Sword Qi Great Wall suppress the Barren Wilderness World. Together with the other two sages, he joined forces three times to create a golden river, shook off a body of lion bugs, severed ten fingers to transform into golden dragons, took off his kasaya to shelter sword cultivators...
There was the tragic slaughter of the siege, rivers of blood, plus the Confucian sage's painting of the Yellow River's Great Torrent, and crucially, the Buddhist divine ability covering the battlefield.
He had nurtured his sword for so long that Wu Chengpei felt it had been far too long. Finally, for the first time, he fully unleashed his destined flying sword, Sweet Rain.
This Sweet Rain, among the evaluations of flying sword abilities in the Summer Retreat Palace, ranked in the top three.
On the battlefield beyond the city wall, tens of thousands of demons were enveloped by a curtain of blood rain rising from the ground. Their flesh and bones were instantly stripped away, and every raindrop containing the sword intent of sweet dew shredded their souls.
The throne of the great demon Bai Ying was positioned closest to the front, but it was still some distance from the battlefields of A Liang, Chen Xi, and Qi Tingji.
On that throne of withered bones, accumulated from hundreds of thousands of skeletons, the great demon had no flesh or blood at all; his white bones were lustrous like jade, and he still had that head under his foot.
When he saw Wu Chengpei unleash his destined flying sword from the city wall, Bai Ying kicked the head away, stood up, and watched the slowly rising curtain of rain with great interest.
Bai Ying slightly withdrew his gaze. On the battlefield, there was a pitiful little Jade Jasper realm sword cultivator, missing one arm. Not only was he holding his sword with one hand, but one of his ankles had been neatly chopped off. Yet, somehow, he bypassed the three sword formations laid out by Qi Tingji and others and came straight toward the throne.
The man stopped, facing the withered-bone throne. He raised his longsword but wasn't looking at the great demon Bai Ying. Instead, he stared fixedly at the head and said, "Guan Zhao lineage, sword cultivator Gao Kui. My last sword strike, I ask the ancestor."
Bai Ying glanced at the head on the ground and laughed heartily, "I think it's better not to. I'll just swat you dead with one slap, so your disciples and descendants can keep you company."
An empty gray robe, with no one inside, drifted over and slowly settled onto the withered-bone throne.
As soon as it appeared, Bai Ying immediately sat back down and dared not say another word.
The gray robe stood at the edge of the throne.
In the distance was Gao Kui, who wanted to ask for his final sword strike.
A hoarse voice sounded, "Guan Zhao, receive the sword."
---
Two great demon thrones were suspended close together. They were both in female form.
The great demon Yang Zhi appeared in her true form: a human head on a flood dragon body, wearing an imperial crown and a black dragon robe, sitting high on a dragon throne. Her huge dragon tail dragged on the ground.
Beside her, the throne great demon under the alias Fei Fei did not reveal her true form. She had a youthful appearance with a pair of scarlet eyes. Every single thread of the thousands of warp and weft threads in her dharma robe was a river or stream she had refined. On her wrist was a bracelet made from the refined destined pearls of dragon-kind. On her feet were embroidered shoes, their tips adorned with two large Li pearls.
Yang Zhi had just withdrawn from the battlefield, having taken a strike from that Qi Tingji. She had to reveal her true form to heal.
In demon cultivation, transforming into human form allowed for faster mountain climbing, but when it came to healing, reverting to true form allowed for faster recovery.
Yang Zhi's expression was gloomy. She stared fixedly at Qi Tingji in the distance, who alone occupied a vast battlefield with his one sword. That old sword immortal who had left inscriptions on the Sword Qi Great Wall had the handsome features of a young man. According to the earliest deductions of Mount Tuoyue, Qi Tingji was supposed to be too proud and unwilling to accept death. He would have defected from the Sword Qi Great Wall along with the Hidden Official Xiao Xun, striking a decisive blow against some great sword immortal at a critical moment, just as Xiao Xun had punched Zuo You in the back.
Unexpectedly, Qi Tingji had changed his mind. According to reason, this shouldn't have happened. As long as Qi Tingji was willing to leave the Sword Qi Great Wall, the only one who could kill him was Chen Qingdu. But once Chen Qingdu chose to strike, the Mount Tuoyue Barren Wilderness Grand Ancestor, who had always stood by idly in the Jiazi Account, would also act. The only explanation was that Chen Qingdu had given Qi Tingji a better path to the Dao.
Fei Fei hovered beside the dragon throne. Compared to the great demon Yang Zhi with her human head and flood dragon body, Fei Fei seemed extremely small. She glanced at the two young men standing on the armrest of the dragon throne and smiled faintly at one of them. Then she spoke to Yang Zhi through heart-to-heart communication: "You've been ineffective in overseeing the battle; you're a guilty party. Aren't you going to show something? Look at Huang Luan—he knows how to read the room."
Yang Zhi's expression grew even uglier. Her dragon tail, dragging on the ground, lightly struck the earth, shattering and cracking the ground for a hundred zhang in every direction.
Her and Huang Luan's situations were the most precarious now.
Yang Zhi had once been the co-ruler of the Yeluo River, so naturally, she had a Dao conflict with this Fei Fei. However, under the witness of Mount Tuoyue, Yang Zhi gifted the entire Yeluo River region to Fei Fei.
In exchange, Fei Fei needed to help Yang Zhi become the co-ruler of the lands of the nine continents of the Haoran World when she was plundering water transportation on a large scale. Yang Zhi was to become the mistress of all dynasties, large and small, and all earthly kings in the world. The enfeoffment of the Five Sacred Mountains, the incense offerings of the mortal world, the life and death of gods, and the circulation of martial fortune—all were to be decided by Yang Zhi alone with a single word.
And Yang Zhi also needed to help Fei Fei fulfill her greatest wish: to allow Fei Fei to devour the last True Dragon embryo, completing her Dao, so that in the future, all water transportation of the Barren Wilderness World and the Haoran World would be under Fei Fei's control.
Thus, the two sides went from a life-or-death Dao struggle in the Barren Wilderness World to a future alliance of mutual support.
On the huge dragon throne's armrest stood two sword immortal seedlings of the Jia Shen Account: Yu Si and the young man Tan.
Yu Si only found out after that siege that Tan was actually Yang Zhi's direct disciple.
And Tan only then learned that Yu Si was addressed as "Young Master" by the throne great demon Fei Fei.
After that, the atmosphere in the Jia Shen Account became somewhat strange.
Except for Mu Ji, the other colleagues could no longer interact with them calmly. Everyone's eyes when looking at them held more of an uncontrollable, hard-to-hide fear.
So today, the two sword cultivators agreed to come here to relax.
Tan said, "There still seems to be no trace of Chen Ping'an."
Yu Si nodded. "Then it'll be hard to have a chance to avenge Liu Bai."
Yu Si wore a black dharma robe, but tied his hair with a white silk ribbon—a stark contrast between black and white, very elegant.
Tan looked dejected. "Sister Liu Bai changed her physical body, but her sword heart is a bit unstable."
Yu Si knelt on one knee, gazing at the distant battlefield. "If it were me, it would be equally hard to maintain that pure sword heart."
Tan gritted his teeth. "I will definitely kill Chen Ping'an!"
Yu Si smiled. "Count me in."
He turned to look at the great demon Fei Fei.
She smiled. "Once that rotten fence is smashed, I'll find that young Hidden Official for you, Young Master."
Yang Zhi hesitated for a long time. She looked toward the city wall, where the Confucian sage had unfolded the painting of the Yellow River's Great Torrent. Endless water poured from the city wall onto the battlefield, blocking the demons' ant-like siege.
She took a scroll from her sleeve, reluctant to part with it.
As the former co-ruler of the Yeluo River, before handing over the Yeluo River region, she had first refined three ten-thousand-mile-long rivers. One of them, the Indefinite River, was packed with white-boned ghosts and demons.
Yang Zhi threw the scroll toward the Sword Qi Great Wall. It dodged a dozen flying swords from sword cultivators and rolled to the ground. A rolling Indefinite River water collided with the Yellow River's Great Torrent, instantly raising a thousand layers of waves.
---
Throughout the previous battle, the throne great demon Yao Jia had never made a move. He looked up at that old Daoist from the Azure Underworld World, who was said to be the lord of a city within the Five Towers and Twelve Cities of the White Jade Capital.
The great demon Yao Jia stood on an inverted mountain beneath his feet. The high platform was as flat as a mirror, shining brilliantly.
This shattered, inverted mountain was no smaller in scale than Dao Lao Er's Mountain Character Seal left in the Haoran World. It was known as the Golden Essence Throne of the Barren Wilderness World.
It had been refined from countless fragments of mountain and river deities from the history of the Barren Wilderness World. Therefore, iron chains made from the bones of great demons were needed to link together those golden fragments of varying sizes. The mirror-like high platform resembled the largest golden essence coin under heaven.
The throne great demon Yao Jia, wearing a golden robe, stood inside. Even without deliberately using any illusion techniques, he seemed enveloped in a blazing sun, his true form invisible due to the brilliant light.
Yao Jia stood at the center of the mirror surface. He controlled the mountain under his feet, flashing away in an instant, and rushed to the battlefield above. He used the entire Golden Essence Throne to block the scorching power of the great sun reflected from the old Daoist's Many Treasures Mirror.
Earlier, the old Daoist had used the Many Treasures Mirror's ability to connect with the great sun of the Barren Wilderness World, targeting a Jade Jasper realm demon military cultivator. He burned and killed his tough physique while simultaneously using a body-binding spell. In the end, Yue Qing, one of the top ten sword immortal candidates, decapitated the demon with his sword "Majestic in the Five Mountains," shredded his body, and then used his two destined flying swords, "Hundred-Zhang Spring" and "Skylark in the Sky," to annihilate the demon's fleeing primordial spirit right on the spot.
Yue Qing had a moment to catch his breath. He looked around; there were no demons interfering in this fight on the battlefield. He stepped on the demon's head, gently shook his wrist, and scattered the bloodstains left on his sword blade.
Exhilarating.
Yue Qing headed south with his sword.
This great sword immortal, who possessed extremely high killing power, had also openly scoffed at the incense lineage of the Literary Saint. He had also sought out the young Hidden Official to thank him and apologize in person.
Open and aboveboard.
The old Daoist nodded slightly. "You're too kind, Great Sword Immortal Yue."
Then he frowned. He adjusted the angle of the Many Treasures Mirror in his hand several times, but the treasure light was still drawn toward the Golden Essence Throne. The old Daoist sighed inwardly. His Dharma cultivation realm was no longer at its peak, and there was nothing he could do.
The golden throne under the great demon Yao Jia was boiling with magma from the Many Treasures Mirror. Golden liquid constantly overflowed the mirror's surface, splashing out violently as fast as flying swords. Whether sword cultivator or demon, any contact would dissolve their flesh and bones, killing them instantly.
Yao Jia laughed. "You old Daoist, you clearly still have plenty of lifespan, yet you're going to die here. Is it fun?"
This old Daoist, highly respected in the Azure Underworld World, had two most important destined objects: the Many Treasures Mirror in his hand, its surface already covered with countless cracks like a spider's web. With each additional tiny crack, a black thread would appear on the old Daoist's golden immortal physique, which had been as pure as glass without impurity, wearing away his cultivation and visibly draining his life. As for his fly whisk, most of it was already destroyed, leaving only the handle.
The old Daoist held the mirror high with one hand and stroked his beard with the other, smiling. "Your mother's fun."
He spoke the crudest words with the demeanor of the most venerable old immortal.
It was hard to imagine that this was the same elegant old immortal who once said, "When peach blossoms bloom, if there are orioles on the flowers, it is especially moving—the eyes dare not move, but the heart and soul are stirred."
Even harder to imagine was that when this old Daoist preached and taught in his own city within the White Jade Capital, many high-ranking immortals from other cities and towers would sit on their cattail mats, often nodding in understanding.
Yao Jia was unconcerned and said no more.
Both sides simply continued to wear each other down anyway. It would just consume some fragments of the mountain and river deities' golden bodies, but this cow-nose old Daoist was rapidly burning his own Dao and life.
This not-small merit of killing one of the Three Teachings sages of the Sword Qi Great Wall—I, Yao Jia, will gladly accept it.
According to the contract, Mount Tuoyue had promised to give him one continent of the Haoran World. On that territory, all Confucian academies and schools of the Haoran World, the orthodox mountain and river deities enfeoffed by the dynasties, and the golden bodies of all licit and illicit shrines and temples were to be smelted together in this mountain, with none surviving.
Especially since he had heard that many ancient gods had reincarnated in the Haoran World, which was the key for Yao Jia to prove the Great Dao. By refining them all, he could suspend the great sun in the sky, overlooking all living beings as a supreme deity, and truly achieve great immortality. No matter how the great Dao revolved, so-called heaven's net was vast and sparse yet without leakage, and even the flow of the river of time would have to detour around him!
The great demon extended a hand and slowly raised it. On the outermost edge of the mirror surface, a series of golden inscriptions appeared, extremely large. Each golden character manifested as a golden-bodied god over ten zhang tall. Among them, the seven characters for Sun, Moon, Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth seemed to be the array eyes. The gods they manifested were especially towering, reaching a hundred zhang. Particularly the gods born from the characters "Sun" and "Moon"—behind them were auspicious light halos condensed from solar halos and lunar radiance. Golden molten streams floated around like the celestial robes and colored sashes in frescoes of water and land.
The old Daoist suddenly stood up and laughed loudly, "In the future, if any sword cultivator travels to the Azure Underworld World, remember to come as a guest in my poor city! The scenery is excellent, and the immortals are even more beautiful! In the many years I've spent with you all, I have been truly joyful!"
After these words, the old Daoist's body dissolved into his soul. He transformed into a brilliant rainbow light, first going into the suspended Many Treasures Mirror, then bursting forth, charging straight at the Golden Essence Throne.
Even the great demon Yao Jia could not control the throne to avoid that rainbow light. He could only watch helplessly as the old Daoist's soul and spirit melted into the Golden Essence Throne like snowflakes dissolving.
Then, a crack appeared on the entire mirror surface, a rift torn by the old Daoist's soul with sheer force. His final true words were only three characters.
"Please, let the sword fall."
Great Sword Immortal Mi Hu poured all his strength into one sword strike, slicing the entire Golden Essence Throne in two along that crack.
After this battle, the great demon Yao Jia, with his destined object damaged, had to withdraw from the battlefield and painstakingly repair his severely damaged Golden Essence Mountain.
---
At the entrance of the Jiazi Account.
A bearded man and a gray-clad old man stood side by side.
Liu Cha said, "Chen Xi and Nalan Shao Wei are both acting strangely."
They shouldn't be fighting so desperately, not so recklessly sacrificing life and death.
The gray-clad old man nodded.
On the other hand, Qi Tingji and Old Deaf One were acting normally. They only seemed to strike fiercely, but they still left themselves a way out; at most, they would fall one realm.
But Chen Xi and Nalan Shao Wei, both clan heads of the Taixiang Street wealthy families, seemed to be heading toward death.
As for Dong San Geng.
The old man looked up at that suspended round moon, far from heaven and not near the earth. From the looks of it, Dong San Geng had no intention of returning to the city wall. Not only that, but when he finally fell, there would surely be a grand spectacle.
Even though they were enemies, the gray-clad old man still felt deep regret for Dong San Geng.
Such a hero.
As for the life or death of that Lotus Temple Abbot, the gray-clad old man didn't care. Behind Mount Tuoyue's back, he had refined half a moon's essence without permission—this was an act of transgression worthy of death. Now, facing Dong San Geng, he had the advantage of time and place, but it was also a cage.
Liu Cha asked, "According to the latest deductions from the Jiazi Account, is the Confucian Temple planning to give half of that world to the sword cultivators of the Sword Qi Great Wall?"
The gray-clad old man nodded. "A grand move."
That young Hidden Official, using an extremely utilitarian deployment of troops, had helped the Sword Qi Great Wall regain some morale. At the same time, he had tied their hands and feet in battle for years, making the sword cultivators hold in their frustration. Then that fellow who descended from the heavens had gone to the Azure Underworld World and came back, dispelling some of the gloom in the sword cultivators' hearts.
The lineage of Ritual Saint had a sage stationed here. The lineage of Second Sage had A Liang and the mellow Confucian Chen Chun'an. The lineage of Literary Saint had the great sword immortal Zuo You and the Hidden Official Chen Ping'an.
These traveling scholars were all using their own ways to reason and persuade the Confucian Temple of the Haoran World to agree to this matter.
---
On the battlefield, Li Cai stopped walking.
A hundred zhang away, a throne great demon appeared, exuding ethereal immortal energy: Huang Luan.
This great demon had crossed through the demon army and directly found Li Cai, who had been cutting deep into the enemy lines alone.
Huang Luan smiled. "You're Li Cai? I heard you bought that Stop Clouds Pavilion. What a coincidence—it was already in my pocket. Put away your sword, kneel down, and become my maidservant, and I'll spare your life."
Huang Luan was silent for a moment, then squinted. "Hmm, 'maidservant' sounds too unpleasant for a female sword immortal. Let's just say 'sword attendant'."
Everything—including Li Cai's Stop Clouds Pavilion carved from pure jade, the Ten Thousand Ravines Residence with its whistling pines on moonlit nights, the Planted Mulberry Immortal Hall, the Armory Warehouse, etc., all the private residences left by sword immortals—were supposed to be his spoils of war.
Li Cai was covered in wounds, mostly hidden by her dharma robe. But on her face, a demon military cultivator had smashed her cheekbone earlier, leaving her skin torn and her white bone exposed.
Li Cai spat out a mouthful of blood, tugged at the corner of her mouth, and grinned. "You even know I bought the Stop Clouds Pavilion?"
Huang Luan nodded. "There are still some sword cultivators who are afraid of death and cling to life."
Li Cai sheathed her sword in one swift motion. Sword intent surged, and a circle of ripples as high as her spread out in all directions. In an instant, countless heads rolled from the demon army that had been surging forward from both sides of her and Huang Luan.
Huang Luan put his two fingers together and reached out, gently shaking them, dispersing that invisible refined sword intent. "Since you're already at the end of your strength, don't put on airs."
Li Cai asked, "Do you know that even if you, this beast, go to the Tongye Continent, someone will still stab you to death with one sword?"
Huang Luan chuckled and reminded her, "My mood isn't very good right now."
Huang Luan was originally a throne great demon in charge of the sword cultivator formation of the Barren Wilderness World. Clearly, the gray-clad old man from Mount Tuoyue had placed high hopes on him.
Firstly, the great demon Huang Luan held a transcendent position in the Barren Wilderness World and rarely had disputes with other great demons. Secondly, for this trip to the Haoran World, what Huang Luan sought were things that other throne great demons considered useless and of little value. Moreover, Huang Luan himself had no great ambition. As one great demon put it, Huang Luan, once in the Haoran World, would be just a junk collector. That was why Mount Tuoyue had entrusted that major, attention-grabbing battle to Huang Luan's command.
But that battle of mutual sword inquiry, which was likely unprecedented and unrepeatable, was supposed to be an earth-shattering slaughter. Two groups of sword cultivators numbering in the tens of thousands clashed spectacularly—flying sword against flying sword, torrent of sword qi against waterfall of sword qi. Not only did the Barren Wilderness World fail to overpower the Sword Qi Great Wall, but their losses were even greater than expected.
As a result, Huang Luan and the great demon Yang Zhi could only retreat to the Barren Wilderness World behind the battlefield to intercept sword immortals trying to reinforce the Sword Qi Great Wall, to atone for their failures.
Not only that, but Huang Luan had also been forced to hurl half of the jade towers, pavilions, and palaces he had painstakingly refined and collected at the Sword Qi Great Wall.
Obviously, the gray-clad old man from the Jiazi Account was not satisfied with Huang Luan's performance.
Li Cai looked back. Unbeknownst to her, she had gotten quite far from the Sword Qi Great Wall.
From this, it was clear that her swordsmanship was pretty good!
Huang Luan said, "I'll give you one last chance to survive."
Li Cai thrust her sword forward.
Huang Luan reached out, grabbed the sword light, and snapped it. Sword light splashed from his palm, but it didn't harm him at all.
Li Cai bent down, dashed forward, and instantly drew her sword from its sheath.
Huang Luan's dharma robe spread open.
Within his small world, everything turned white.
Li Cai's desperate sword strike, which had forcibly raised her spirit to its peak, only broke through Huang Luan's small world.
Huang Luan was right; she truly was at the end of her strength.
Unable to deliver a second sword, Li Cai retreated, vomiting blood.
Huang Luan didn't look at the woman's miserable state. He raised one sleeve, which was partially destroyed, glanced at it with some regret, then looked up and smiled. "Your sword intent is truly impressive. No wonder you're a sword cultivator from the Beiju Continent. I've decided I must have you as my sword attendant. Once I capture you, I'll have Bai Ying refine your soul—old to new. Later, when we reach the Tongye Continent, you can see for yourself whether anyone can stab me to death with one sword..."
As he spoke, Huang Luan pressed his hand downward.
In the blink of an eye, a huge vortex appeared in the sky, and a mountain-sized pavilion came crashing down on Li Cai.
Just as Li Cai was about to strike with her sword, she found an old man beside her. He said, "Excuse me," and pulled Li Cai back. At the same time, the old man threw his longsword toward the pavilion.
The sword and its sword light shot straight upward, bracing against the pavilion like a single pillar supporting a collapsing building.
Yao Chongdao, styled Lian Yun. Perhaps it was because the old clan head of the Yao family was too fond of the name "Lian Yun" that his sword and his destined flying sword were both named "Lian Yun." He was in the Immortal realm.
Before coming here, the old man had exchanged a sword strike with Shou Chen, and the demon sword immortal had already withdrawn from the battlefield.
Huang Luan said helplessly, "I really have no interest in battle merits. With serious injuries, why bother coming here to die? But since you're offering your head, I can't very well refuse."
On top of that pavilion, another massive building pressed down. The two stacked together, causing the sword "Lian Yun," with its soaring sword light, to bend at a slight angle.
Huang Luan was trading the loss of a medium-refined object for the erosion of Yao Chongdao's major-refined object. There was no need to hesitate.
Huang Luan moved his mind slightly, and one immortal cave after another crashed down. The tip of the sword "Lian Yun" began to crack.
But the old man's destined flying sword had yet to appear.
Huang Luan wanted to see if this heavily injured Yao Chongdao could pull out a trump card that would impress him.
Just as Li Cai was about to re-enter the battlefield, the old man roared angrily, "Li Cai! It's not that I look down on women, but I look down on your Jasper Jasper realm! Fall back!"
Li Cai had no choice but to curse her mother and decisively abandon the idea of charging forward.
Huang Luan looked up at the brilliant sword light that had already pierced through the entire pavilion and laughed. "I thought you were using a longsword as a decoy to save yourself and me. Fine, since you're determined to wear down your life with me, I'll let you have your wish. Killing an Immortal realm sword cultivator at the Sword Qi Great Wall should be enough to make up for my mistakes."
The old man wore a dharma robe from the Sword Qi Great Wall's clothing workshop, his wide sleeves fluttering. Suddenly, he asked, "Do you know my granddaughter-in-law?"
Li Cai didn't want to add unnecessary trouble and distract Yao Chongdao, but she also didn't want to retreat outright. She kept her distance and nurtured her flying sword on the spot.
Hearing this, she nodded. "I know her. Quite well."
Yao Chongdao hesitated for a moment, then said, "Then please trouble Sword Immortal Li to tell that boy that there's no need to come to the Yao family to propose. All that fuss—I don't care about it."
Li Cai was speechless.
This Great Sword Immortal Yao definitely cared, but he simply couldn't grab that guy by the collar and drag him to the Yao family for a proposal.
Li Cai wanted to say that she had a direct disciple who was infatuated with that guy, but she held her tongue.
She said, "Senior Yao, we can switch positions and have a chance to retreat together."
Yao Chongdao couldn't be bothered to expose the true intentions of this woman from Beiju Continent. What was she, so young, doing dying here?
But he said with a smile, "Never underestimate the ultimate trump card of a throne great demon. If a young girl like you dies together with an old geezer like me, it would look like a suicide pact—what kind of story is that?"
The old man gently leaped up, sat cross-legged in mid-air, and clouds formed under his feet.
He folded his hands on his abdomen. In his palms, mist rose and slowly lifted a tiny flying sword, pure white.
Huang Luan remained calm. Yao Chongdao's destined flying sword was suitable for large-scale battlefield use, much like Wu Chengpei's Sweet Rain and Yue Qing's Skylark in the Sky—not strong in one-on-one combat.
Huang Luan gently exhaled a puff of five-colored mist, which vanished in an instant without much fanfare.
But it sent a chill through Li Cai, who was quite far from their battlefield.
Any throne great demon was an ancient monster.
Throughout the long years, Huang Luan had gradually refined over a hundred five-element destined objects, constantly discarding and replacing, until he finally possessed two immortal weapons and three half-immortal weapons.
As for those majestic jade towers and pavilions, except for three of them, the rest were medium-refined external objects. Collecting large numbers of ancient ruins and immortal caves was just a hobby to relieve boredom.
Yao Chongdao muttered to himself, "Ning girl, from now on, I'll leave her protection to you. Don't think that just because Ning girl is strong enough, you don't need to protect her. What good man in the world doesn't protect the woman he loves? That boy was able to stop Ning girl and take her place in dueling Li Zhen outside the city. That was good. Winning against Li Zhen and surviving—even better."
"So I have nothing to worry about. I'm very relieved."
In an instant, the old man's forehead, temples, neck, heart, and abdomen seemed to be pierced by five colorful flying swords at once.
After being pierced, the old man's bones, flesh, blood, soul, and sword intent were frantically absorbed by those five inconspicuous holes.
Huang Luan was clearly unwilling to have too many of his structures destroyed by Yao Chongdao's sword light.
Apart from Li Cai, who was clearly determined to deliver another sword strike even at the cost of her own life,
In the distance, a young woman had already arrived on her flying sword with great momentum.
It was Ning Yao.
Without any warning, the old man shattered his own destined flying sword. He closed his eyes and smiled lightly, "Though I never made a sword strike, I die content."
Clouds gathered and mountains hid.
With all his soul, sword intent, and one destined flying sword, Yao Chongdao created a world.
In the next moment, Huang Luan found himself in a world of white mist.
An Immortal realm sword immortal, whose flying sword was not some ability to create a small world, actually had the means to imprison a throne great demon.
What was the point?
Yao Chongdao was already as dead as he could be.
Who could kill me?
Li Cai? Or that Ning Yao, who was only in the Nascent Soul realm?
In the far distance, that damned man who had been fighting two throne great demons alone suddenly vanished out of thin air, directly breaking through two imposing small worlds.
One was a massive three-headed, six-armed giant. Wherever he stood, a golden cattail mat would always follow.
He had once been the first to ascend the city wall of the Sword Qi Great Wall, only to be struck down by Chen Qingdu's sword. After that, he deliberately left that sword mark, deep as a gully, on his body.
Another was a short old man riding a flying sword, with white hair and white brows, carrying a long staff on his shoulder. He landed on the giant's shoulder and said suspiciously, "So strange?"
A moment later.
On a battlefield, the mist cleared, revealing the truth.
A man, using Yao Chongdao's sword "Lian Yun," stabbed a great demon in the head and hoisted it high into the air. He said calmly, "The one who killed Huang Luan: Yao Chongdao, A Liang."
Above the great moon that served as the battlefield, which was on the verge of shattering, a tall old sword immortal stood atop a huge demon corpse and laughed loudly, "A Liang, how about that?!"
Sword-cutting the Lotus Temple Abbot—Dong San Geng alone.
His destined flying sword was destroyed, but the old man, who could still have returned to the city wall, detonated all his sword intent, enveloping the entire great moon. He then manifested a colossal Dharma projection, dragging the great moon toward the ground, smashing it into the dense gathering place of the Barren Wilderness World's demon army.
The bright moon began to shatter, and the old sword immortal's figure gradually dissipated.
The great moon crashed to the earth with such momentum that even the six great demons, including Yang Zhi and Fei Fei, had to face the moon together—all for that old sword immortal named Dong.
A Liang raised his arm high and gave a thumbs-up.