Chapter 724: Slash after Slash, I Alone Triumph
Yuan Shou stood atop an ancient relic longsword, the long staff in his hand spinning unpredictably. His profound and vigorous true qi formed a great circle that continuously expanded outward, shattering the multicolored glazed rain descending from the heavens one after another.
The Throne-tier great demon Niu Dao, clad in golden armor and using the alias "Ox Blade," stood unmoving, allowing the urgent rain mixed with sharp sword qi to strike his armor. He only regretted that the sword qi was too light and too sparse, utterly unable to break the cage around him. So later, when Bai Ye made his first full-strength sword strike, he would be the one to receive it.
Qie Yun lightly patted the Sword-Nurturing Gourd at his waist, using sword qi to counter sword qi. He pressed a finger against his cheek, squinting as he gazed at that beautiful scene, murmuring softly: "Wind and rain swaying, scattering the romantic."
The burly giant sitting on the golden lotus cushion gently exhaled, blowing away the wind and rain sword qi, deflecting it elsewhere.
Yang Zhi, with a human head and a flood dragon's body, slightly activated her innate divine ability, gathering the rain around her. It eventually condensed into multicolored glazed beads. However, they soon could not withstand the impact of the sword qi and shattered with a bang, only to instantly reform. After several cycles of gathering and scattering, several puppet maidservants carrying pipas received the divine decree. They collected the raindrops mixed with sword qi into the string grooves one by one. Most of the pipas still could not withstand the fine sword qi and shattered into powder along with the puppets. However, a few pipas shimmered with flowing light, with slender sword qi running along the fine veins of the parasol wood board and covers, finally manifesting threads of pure sword intent on the pipa strings. Yang Zhi reached out, grabbed a pipa, twisted it between her fingers, focused her mind, and moved her intent. The pipa strings sounded, but unfortunately, they snapped one after another.
Yang Zhi shook her head at Yuan Shou, who was closest to her, indicating that Bai Ye's sword qi showed no traces that could be used for deduction and evolution. They would have to find another opportunity.
Yang Zhi, or rather all the Throne-tier great demons participating in this siege, needed to clarify one thing: Bai Ye's fourteenth realm—what exactly had he merged his Dao with in the Haoran World?
In previous battles—whether on the Sword Qi Great Wall or stationed in Gold Armor Continent—Bai Ying had always revealed himself as a skeleton sitting on a throne. But today, he had withdrawn the bone throne, and bones grew flesh, turning him into a middle-aged man. He wore a dull-colored dharma robe, which was actually the manifestation of the bone throne.
Beside Bai Ying stood the old sword attendant, whose bones and flesh had been nurtured by immortal wine poured over his head. He was over three meters tall and bore the true appearance of the Dragon Lord of yesteryear, though bereft of the Dragon Lord's intellect. Bai Ying had named him "Dragon Stream." The longsword "Candlelight" that the sword attendant wielded was one of the remnant souls of the sword cultivator Guan Zhao. Bai Ying had painstakingly sought it out and, after spending countless heavenly materials and earthly treasures, refined it into a divine weapon. Tuo Yue Mountain had long known of this but pretended not to.
Treading on a Dragon Lord's head and refining a wisp of Guan Zhao's soul—this time in Gold Armor Continent, Bai Ying had once again preempted Fu Lu Yu Xuan. He had secretly struck a deal with Fei Sheng realm cultivator Wan Yan Lao Jing, refining the decaying Wan Yan Lao Jing into something akin to a heroic spirit puppet, neither human, ghost, god, nor immortal. It seemed there was nothing the great demon Bai Ying dared not do.
The only benefit Wan Yan Lao Jing had gained was the ability to avoid the imminent heavenly tribulation, completely annihilating his Dao life as a peak human cultivator, thereby clinging to existence. Even if every moment was worse than death, Wan Yan Lao Jing wanted to live. If, in the future, the Dao truly lay in the Barren Wild World, it was not impossible for Wan Yan Lao Jing to have a chance to rise again and see the light of day—even becoming a regional god ruling over mountains and rivers.
Bai Ying's mind was not on this great rain. It was merely a casual sword draw from Bai Ye.
He was one of the true key players in this siege of Bai Ye. The reason it was "one of" was that Bai Ying was temporarily unsure if Mr. Zhou had personally instructed other great demons.
The sword attendant Dragon Stream, bearing the Dragon Lord's face, swung his sword at the rain above, as if opening a sliver of sky. On both sides of the sword-light line, the rain of sword qi seemed to pour into a sudden, slender river of time, then was scoured away by the Dao, vanishing without a trace.
Bai Ying continued to activate his innate divine ability, using the sea of clouds to temporarily gather an entire continent's spiritual qi.
Bai Ying needed to absorb all the world's spiritual qi within the continent-wide formation. Even if he could not seize it all, he had to use filth and baleful qi to contaminate the spiritual qi. The vast sea of clouds beneath Bai Ying's feet, piled high with bones and filled with baleful qi, was meant to ensure that every time Bai Ye swung his sword, the spiritual qi accumulated in his personal small world would be consumed by one portion.
Generally speaking, peak mountain-ascending cultivators who had reached the Fei Sheng realm, when fighting an opponent one-on-one, even in a life-and-death struggle with all means deployed, rarely suffered from insufficient spiritual qi. Back then, in the Barren Wild World where Throne-tier great demons lurked everywhere, A Liang was like this. Even when pursued and attacked by several great demons, if there was even a slight sign of being trapped in a small world, he would unhesitatingly shatter it with a single sword stroke. His sword strikes were never ambiguous—this was a crucial survival skill. Flying his sword across vast distances, covering thousands of miles in an instant, A Liang had no fear of magical bombardment. He could withstand several divine abilities and spells without issue. His only fear was accidentally being trapped and having his spiritual qi drained.
As long as a cultivator's personal small world remained connected to the greater world, it was akin to the cultivator's body and soul being linked to a blessed land or cave heaven. For a peak cultivator, as long as there was a constant flow from the source, killing them was extremely difficult.
In battles between Fei Sheng realm cultivators, they often deployed their divine abilities. The timing and terrain were always variables. Victory or defeat was often ordinary. Whether the disparity in strength between two sides was truly significant boiled down to one thing: could one kill the other? Therefore, whether it was the Throne-tier great demons of the Barren Wild World, the Ten of the Central Plains, or the Ten of the Haoran World, the standard for sitting on a throne or being listed among the Ten was whether one had actually killed a Fei Sheng realm grand cultivator, or at least beaten another Fei Sheng realm until they could not fight back. For instance, Fiery Dragon True Immortal had once blocked the gate of Lu Shui Pit for several months. The old true immortal could slap away an Immortal realm cultivator with one palm. As for Fu Lu Yu Xuan, on the battlefield ruins of Gold Armor Continent, without even using any combat spells, he effortlessly killed a Jade Purity realm demon cultivator. In the eyes of true peak cultivators, this was beneath mention.
If the Haoran World did not have so many rules, such "beneath mention" would be countless.
Thus, Fei Sheng realm cultivators in the Barren Wild World were often more adept at reading the situation. They proactively sought to attach themselves to the stronger ones or simply stayed far away from the secluded territories of the Throne-tier great demons. For instance, the watchdog by Old Blind Man's side had once been a Fei Sheng realm demon known for his ferocity in battle. What happened to him? He went to the Sword Qi Great Wall with good intentions to help out, but when he tried to dig up a few treasures for Old Blind Man, he was deemed an eyesore and kicked away, after which he simply lay on the ground, not daring to breathe too loudly.
Being in the Fei Sheng realm granted one a detached, transcendent status: "The sun and moon pass over one's shoulders; mountains and rivers lie in one's palm." It was even hailed by qi refiners as having attained the Great Long Life, as eternal as heaven and earth...
Of course, this was an exaggerated saying among the mountains. To be as eternal as heaven and earth, a Fei Sheng realm cultivator was not qualified for such a statement. Wan Yan Lao Jing was proof—he could only sit and wait for death.
The closer one got to the peak, the fewer paths remained. In the end, for a cultivator who had reached the summit, there was only one path left: to break through another realm, requiring a unique "Dao-heaven fusion" that differed for each cultivator in the fourteenth realm. However, regarding this matter, firstly, the number of fourteenth realm cultivators across all worlds could be counted on one hand. Secondly, once one truly entered this realm, everyone became extremely tight-lipped about it, as it involved the foundation of their Dao. They would not speak of it, for doing so would be equivalent to handing over half their life and fortune.
Old Scholar had merged his Dao with three continents in the Haoran World. What was the result? Zhou Mi of Wenhai had precisely cut off the qi and luck of those three continents' mountains and rivers, refining them into a dharma robe and draping it over Xiao Xun.
Bai Ye lightly grasped the immortal sword Tai Bai, held it horizontally before his body, and flicked his finger against it.
The longsword trembled. A bright sword light, like a clear autumn stream, was pure and deep. Sword qi and water vapor swirled together like a dragon's pool, flying and shifting unpredictably. The sun and moon coexisted within the autumn stream. White light coiled around thunder. Night moonlight gazed upon the water. Sword qi was like mist and clouds—a hazy, shifting scene.
Embrace Moon, Fu Continent Moon, Lu Shui Moon, Round Moon with Immortal's Feet Dawning, Exquisite Moon on Crystal Curtain, Vast Sea of Clouds and Heavenly Mountain Moon—in years past, Bai Ye had traveled with friends in search of immortals, seeing countless moons across the human world.
In the end, it seemed like Bai Ye himself was the immortal.
A series of bright moons hung in the sky, as if six lanterns had appeared out of nowhere, varying in size and height, precisely positioned above the heads of the six Throne-tier great demons.
The bright moons and their moonlight instantly converged into a single line.
The sword light descended straight down.
Yuan Shou frowned slightly. Such swordplay was terrifyingly ornate—no wonder it was the fourteenth realm. The imagery within a cultivator's mind was nearly equivalent to the truth of the Dao.
Fortunately, Bai Ye was not a sword cultivator.
Yuan Shou suddenly grew to a hundred yards tall. He swung his staff at that sword light. The spiritual qi of the surrounding world churned violently. Whether it was moonlight or sword light, it shattered into countless fine sword shards flying densely. The sea of clouds beneath Yuan Shou's hovering sword was blasted open into a huge hole.
The Golden Armored Divine Man remained motionless, enduring the sword strike. He let the sword light pierce through his head. His entire golden armor trembled, shattering further.
Yang Zhi, with her flood dragon body, swept her massive tail to knock away the sword light. Instantly, her flesh was mangled, and a huge wound was carved into her true form. Yet Yang Zhi seemed completely unaware. The shocking injury healed and closed at a visible rate.
Yuan Shou, standing on the longsword "All Reals" of ancient history, pointed his staff at Bai Ye high above and laughed: "Bai Ye, is that all you've got—these flashy tricks? Far less impressive than your three sword slashes against Yao Jia earlier. Or have you already been injured after those three strikes? Why bother testing the depth of our six thrones' Dao? You're going to die anyway. Might as well learn from Dong San Geng and make it clean—try to trade your life for one of ours."
After all, Bai Ye would definitely try to trade his life with one of them. Yuan Shou certainly did not mind if Bai Ye's sword fell on him. But once Bai Ye struck with full force, whether three swords or five, who knew which one he actually intended to kill? Since there was no way to guess, Yuan Shou, his ferocity rising, felt a bit sincere in wanting to see what choices Bai Ye would make before he was cornered.
Would he cling to life, deliberately stalling, waiting for Fu Lu Yu Xuan to rescue him? Or would he have an even grander thought, pinning his hopes on the Supreme Sage, hoping that the Supreme Sage would intervene in the Dao struggle between the two worlds and save him? If so, that would be fine. The Great Ancestor of Tuo Yue Mountain would certainly shatter thousands of miles of mountains and rivers in the battlefield of Vase Bottle Continent's Old Dragon City or the remaining northern territories of Gold Armor Continent in an instant.
Bai Ye could not even be bothered to exchange a single word with Yuan Shou.
He casually ran his finger across the sword blade. Tens of thousands of golden characters appeared in an instant, densely clustering in that small space.
Bai Ye smiled and said, "Go."
A sword light flashed and vanished, as if a sword cultivator had unleashed his natal flying sword. It first met what was equivalent to a "casual" sword strike from a Fei Sheng realm sword cultivator, delivered by Yuan Shou.
The other five Throne-tier great demons each had to receive one sword strike as well. No one got to stay idle. Before encountering me, Bai Ye, your schemes were fine, but now, still calculating your own moves? Tiring, isn't it?
"Come well! Grandpa here will smash your flying sword with my staff!"
Yuan Shou laughed loudly, switching to a two-handed grip on his staff, and struck sideways at the sword light that arced toward him. The overwhelming force of that staff strike was indeed quite extraordinary. Beneath the longsword "All Reals," not a single cloud remained for a hundred miles.
The great demon Niu Dao, whose body flowed with golden light, had earlier dared to present his neck for execution even in front of Bai Ye. Now he furrowed his brow slightly. Had Bai Ye so quickly found the flaw in his Dao? He no longer allowed the sword light to break through his armor. Instead, he manifested a giant dharma form. He reached out and seized that sword light. After clenching his fist, golden light spilled through the cracks of his fingers like countless waterfalls suspended in the sky.
At the same time, Niu Dao activated a innate divine ability within his personal small world, moving mountains and overturning seas. He directly replaced the dozen cave abodes where his natal objects were stored, and the surging spiritual qi within his body changed course like a flood, eventually settling into new "lakes."
The handsome great demon Qie Yun smiled, pinched his fingers into a sword gesture, and lightly pointed: "Go as well."
Earlier, it had been sword qi against sword qi. Now it was sword light against sword light. Dozens of miles away, the two sword lights collided like flying swords.
On Bai Ying's side, it was still the sword attendant who received the sword. Fortunately, Dragon Stream's longsword was a genuine immortal weapon. Because it had been refined from Guan Zhao's soul, it possessed unique mysteries. Bai Ying did not need to personally intervene. When it came to fighting, Bai Ying had always kept a low profile. In the Barren Wild World, where the strong were revered, he had always been considered one of the weakest among the fourteen Throne-tier demons in terms of killing power. Bai Ying had almost no record of fighting a Fei Sheng realm demon one-on-one. He mostly commanded armies of bones, overwhelming and crushing his enemies. Occasionally, if he encountered troublesome opponents, at most he would let Dragon Stream draw his sword. Moreover, within Bai Ying's bone dharma field, there were no few powerful subordinates under his command.
The Lotus Temple Master, who had left his dao field and descended into the human world; Yang Zhi, who had distanced herself from the swaying river domain; Huang Luan, who encountered other Throne-tier great demons—all were considered "deficient in combat power."
Yuan Shou struck down a second sword light with his staff. For a moment, his sleeves billowed and flapped noisily in the strong gale. Yuan Shou's form swayed slightly. He squinted and said, "Bai Ye, if you've got the guts, send seventeen or eighteen more sword lights. Let's see if you have more sword lights... Hey! It really is coming..."
As you wish.
More words, more swords.
One sword light after another went straight to chop Yuan Shou.
Special treatment for this Throne-tier great demon.
Yuan Shou suddenly laughed loudly. From smashing sword lights with his staff, to deflecting them, to flicking them away with the tip of his staff—it was a series of close calls. Every time a sword light split the sky, it rent heaven and earth like a paper cutter easily slicing through a sheet of white rice paper.
Yuan Shou held his staff with both hands, his ferocity fully revealed. His eyes were bloodshot, with a glint of gold flickering in each pupil. Although he shattered the swords with his staff, Yuan Shou still stared fixedly at Bai Ye, who held his sword with one hand. His field of vision covered a thousand miles, capturing several postures of Bai Ye wielding his sword. Among them, a relatively clear "Bai Ye" even allowed him to faintly discern the trajectory of the sword strike. This was one of Yuan Shou's innate divine abilities: insight into heavenly secrets and foreknowledge.
The demons were famously tough in their true forms. Yuan Shou's face had been shredded by countless fine shards of sword qi, but it could be restored in an instant. The same went for his dharma robe. As a Throne-tier great demon of long years, how could he dare to rampage across the world without wearing a dharma robe of immortal weapon rank?
On the battlefield of the Sword Qi Great Wall, the Throne-tier great demons rarely acted. Full-force strikes were even rarer. More often, they followed the commands of the Sixty-Year Account, supervising the demon armies' sieges.
The gray-robed old man had intentionally directed their attention to the Haoran World.
Liu Cha had drawn his sword only for A Liang.
If not for the Great Ancestor of Tuo Yue Mountain personally suppressing him, with A Liang's combat style—the one least afraid of being surrounded and beaten—heaven knows how many army tents would have been destroyed.
Yao Jia, in the later stages of the war, had made a move against one of the city lords of the Five Cities and Twelve Towers of the White Jade Capital. It was an act of greed, deliberately targeting that Taoist sage who was at the end of his rope. However, he only provoked the latter, who, unwilling to spare his life and Dao, insisted on having Lu Zhi land a sword strike. Lu Zhi did not let him down, nearly cutting open the meticulously crafted Golden Essence Throne of Yao Jia with a single sword. That was why Yao Jia, in Fu Yao Continent, frantically smashed mountain and river temples and looted golden body fragments to repair his Dao foundation.
Yang Zhi used telepathic communication to speak with Bai Ying: "Isn't Bai Ye going to exert his full strength yet?"
Bai Ying smiled and replied, "Aren't we also hiding our capabilities, only parrying and not striking back?"
Yang Zhi asked, "Will it take you half an incense stick's time to absorb all this continent's spiritual qi? Do you need my help? If Bai Ye abandons all pretense, it will be very troublesome."
Bai Ying nodded and said, "With pleasure."
In truth, if Bai Ye truly competed with him for spiritual qi, it would indeed become troublesome.
But the one in trouble would be Bai Ye, not the six of them on the throne.
In this hunting game, Bai Ying took the lead in draining the pond to catch the fish—using the most foolish method against a fourteenth realm cultivator.
If Bai Ye fought while opening the gates of his various cave abodes to absorb massive amounts of spiritual qi from the world, how exactly it would cause trouble, Zhou Mi had not explained at the time. He only told Bai Ying to try his best to obstruct Bai Ye when he competed for spiritual qi, lest Bai Ye see through the truth.
Regardless, being trapped in this situation was a great trouble for Bai Ye. Either he would be too patient, waiting until his spiritual qi was exhausted and then dying in battle, or he would lose patience, invite trouble early, and die early.
For now, it seemed Bai Ye was either too proud or had already sensed something was off.
Either way, it did not affect the overall situation.
Yang Zhi wore an imperial crown and a ink-colored dragon robe. She lowered her head to gaze at a map of mountains and rivers suspended for thousands of miles, consisting only of black and white, vastly different from the real landscape of the human world.
Yang Zhi bypassed the Five Sacred Mountains and other mountain ranges. All the rivers, lakes, and swamps within her sight immediately began to boil. The world's spiritual qi was drawn and plunged into the water, condensing into water fortune.
First, there was the sea of clouds commanded by Bai Ying, absorbing the world's spiritual qi while simultaneously using baleful qi to disrupt the world's celestial phenomena. Then there was Yang Zhi controlling the rivers and lakes, devouring spiritual qi like a whale.
Clearly, they intended to turn Fu Yao Continent into a lawless land, the type most detested by qi refiners.
While Bai Ye's sword light was busy attending to Yuan Shou, Qie Yun, finding himself idle, noticed Yang Zhi's actions. He pressed his index and middle fingers together and gently touched the Sword-Nurturing Gourd at his waist, saying with a smile: "Since I have nothing to do anyway, I'll lend a small hand."
From now on, among the immortal wines on the mountains, if one wanted the wine with the most spiritual qi content, it would be uniquely his. Now going by the alias "Wine Dimple," Qie Yun felt he would even be reluctant to drink it himself.
When he had arrived at the Sword Qi Great Wall under the alias "Blue Flower," he had witnessed sword immortals of that wall shatter like blue-and-white porcelain.
Now in the Haoran World under the alias "Wine Dimple," besides his fondness for collecting various immortal wines, his other hobby was flaying female cultivators and using their skin to mend his own face. The Rain Dragon Sect near Inverted Suspended Mountain, the Jade Zhi Mountain in Tongye Continent, the Yuan Ju Sect whose ancestral mountain was the Kong Hou Mountain...
Traveling far in the Haoran World—it had been a journey worth taking.
For now, the only one not idle was probably the old man holding a staff and flying on his sword.
There were simply too many sword lights, one after another. He truly dared not be idle. What was called a "casual ordinary sword strike" was still a Fei Sheng realm sword cultivator's natal flying sword.
A sword light was swept down by Yuan Shou's staff, plunging into a mountain below the sea of clouds. Mountains collapsed and the earth split, leveling it into flat ground.
A sword light was smashed by a staff into a great river, not only creating hundred-yard-high waves but also instantly forming a huge lake. The river tilted and poured into it, causing the downstream water level to drop by over a yard.
Yuan Shou cursed angrily: "Is there no end to this?!"
Half of his anger was because he had been specifically targeted, which was extremely frustrating. He dared not close in on Bai Ye, yet could not break free and escape, making him a laughingstock for the other Throne-tier demons, as if they were watching a monkey show.
The other half was because Yuan Shou genuinely felt distressed over the damage to his dharma robe. If this continued, it would not just be a matter of damaging its appearance but reducing its rank. The robe had been refined from a total of twelve dragon vein mountain roots from various places in the Barren Wild World. But Bai Ye had sent too many sword lights, all arriving in an instant without exception. Even though Yuan Shou's staff could shatter or deflect them, the fragments of sword qi were still too dense. As a result, a robe that could originally repair itself had become increasingly tattered, riddled with countless large and small holes.
Qie Yun, while using his Sword-Nurturing Gourd to absorb spiritual qi from the world, said with a grin: "Elder Yuan's staff technique is truly excellent. After this battle, your fame is sure to spread across several worlds. Smashing seventeen of Bai Ye's sword lights is more commendable than smashing the ancestral hall of an entire continent! Eighteen sword lights now!"
Yuan Shou held his staff with both hands, his palm flesh and blood mangled. He first flicked a sword light away with his staff, then swept horizontally, cutting the sword light in two. The sword light split into two. This was the terrifying aspect of Bai Ye's swordsmanship: as long as it was not thoroughly shattered, any remaining sword light would continue to harass Yuan Shou endlessly. There was no dodging it. Yuan Shou roared, his originally elderly face taking on a slightly ape-like appearance. He steered his sword, shrinking the earth and shortening the distance across mountains and rivers, moving several hundred miles away, where he then shattered the two sword lights one by one.
Earlier, Yuan Shou had been "slacking off," putting slightly less force into his staff strikes. As a result, three sword lights had accumulated and closed in simultaneously. They had torn a huge bloody gash across his neck, nearly beheading him. Even if his head had been cut off by the sword light, it would not have been a major issue, nor would it have significantly damaged his Dao foundation. After all, in terms of true form toughness, Yuan Shou ranked among the top of the fourteen Throne-tier demons. So at worst, he could just move a mountain to reattach his head. Even if it was cut off and then ground to pulp by sword light, Yuan Shou could still instantly grow a new head. However, this would be a real injury, one that could not be remedied by eating a few dozen of Yang Zhi's pipa maidens.
Yuan Shou shattered sword lights with his staff. There was nothing flashy about it—just a boring, straightforward style of massive openings and direct moves.
Thus, Bai Ye's eighteen sword lights did not reveal much. But if any qi refiner had been watching from the sidelines, their Dao heart would likely have shattered on the spot.
Every time Bai Ye's sword light scattered and splashed, and every time Yuan Shou's staff released its true qi, each contained a trace of Dao intent. For a cultivator seeking to temper their Dao heart through observation, it would be tantamount to facing both as enemies.
Qie Yun, being quite considerate, beat Yuan Shou to the punch before the latter could curse, laughing and scolding himself: "Shut your sissy mouth, grandpa!"
Yuan Shou spat out a mouthful of blood. No wonder he had taught a junior brother Fei Ran, who was equally famous as the young Hidden Officer and Sword Immortal Shou Chen. Fei Ran, ranked first among the Hundred Sword Immortals of Tuo Yue Mountain, was said to have been accepted as a disciple on behalf of his master by Qie Yun.
The great demon Niu Dao spoke in a dull voice: "Who goes first? Let's not drag this out. What's the point?"
In fact, from the moment the six Throne-tier great demons appeared together, to Bai Ye drawing his sword and shattering the glazed barrier, to the eighteen sword lights slashing at Yuan Shou, not even enough time had passed for an ordinary scholar to take a few sips of wine at a feast.
The burly giant sitting cross-legged on the golden lotus cushion, the great demon Wu Yue with three heads and six arms, stood up. His six arms each held a divine weapon. He smiled and said: "Having witnessed Mr. Bai's poems transformed into sword qi, I will now use my limit-breaking martial artist's 'Spirit Arrival' plus a Fei Sheng realm cultivation to test the peerless sharpness of the immortal sword Tai Bai."
Qi refiner, Fei Sheng realm. Pure martial artist, tenth realm "Spirit Arrival."
After Wu Yue stood up, not only did he hold weapons, but the lotus cushion, originally formed from countless golden books, instantly transformed into eleven golden talismans, attaching to his legs and ankles, the three heads' brows, and the six arms.
Bai Ying, pinching a gleaming bone bead between two fingers to precisely measure the remaining spiritual qi of the entire continent, said to the burly giant with a smile: "Still, we must be very careful. What Bai Ye wields is ultimately an immortal sword from the Great Xuan Du Temple. Wu Yue, you need not be so eager. Wait another half an incense stick's time; it won't be too late to act then."
Wu Yue shook his head, ignoring Bai Ying's advice. His form shrank to the height of an ordinary man. His six arms held: two knives—one a straight blade, one a horse-chopping saber style; a long sword and a short sword; plus a hammer and an axe.
In the past, the most disheartened Confucian scholar in the Haoran World now entertained the most triumphant scholar therein with the utmost courtesy. Not only had he summoned six Throne-tier great demons to trap Bai Ye, he had also laid down three layers of restrictions on Fu Yao Continent.
The outermost layer was the flow of qi and luck of the continent's mountains and rivers, enveloping the entire Fu Yao Continent, completely severing the possibility of spiritual qi exchange between Fu Yao Continent and the Haoran World. This was similar to the Three Walls and Four Symbols Grand Formation of Tongye Continent in years past, or the Twenty-Four Solar Terms Grand Formation of Vase Bottle Continent now.
Thus, in this battlefield where the disparity in numbers was already severe, the advantages of timing and terrain were always on the side of the Barren Wild World's Throne-tier great demons.
The entire vast territory of the continent was merely a battlefield for seven combatants.
The glazed sky barrier shattered by Bai Ye's sword draw was actually a segment of the river of time intercepted by Zhou Mi, forming the second small world.
Between these two, there was also a Dharma Realm mountains-and-rivers grand formation, manifested from the Five Sacred Mountains of various nations on Fu Yao Continent and hundreds of rivers. It lay beneath the sea of clouds, resembling a plain-drawn landscape scroll. Zhou Mi had forcibly dragged this "mountains-and-rivers dharma appearance" above Fu Yao Continent. Mountains were scattered like stars, rivers were crisscrossed like a net. This neatly separated Fu Yao Continent's "heaven and earth," splitting it in two, as if reenacting the greatest merit of Li Sage in ancient times: severing the connection between heaven and earth.
To besiege and kill the fourteenth realm Bai Ye, Zhou Mi had indeed spared no expense.
When Bai Ye saw Wu Yue rise, he merely shook his head lightly, neither affirming nor denying.
In an instant, six "Thrones" crashed down on both sides of Bai Ye, three on each side.
But each Throne-tier great demon held a longsword in hand.
You trap me, Bai Ye, with three worlds. Do I not trap my enemies with a world within my own mind?
In those spirited, uninhibited days of yore, traveling with dear friends to seek immortals, as far as the eye could see, the spirit swelled with the grandeur of mountains and rivers. What thing, what matter, what person had not become the world within my eyes?
Wu Yue bent slightly at the waist, then stomped heavily on the ground. He did not use the divine ability of shrinking the earth and shortening distances. He charged straight ahead. Each time his foot stomped on the void, ripples spread through heaven and earth, and all spiritual qi within a hundred miles was stirred and emptied.
One knife decapitated the sword-wielding "Wu Yue." The decapitated form shattered and dissipated, then reconstituted elsewhere. The six Throne-tier great demons, manifested from Bai Ye's mind and heart, surrounded and killed Wu Yue.
Wu Yue was held back, temporarily unable to engage Bai Ye's true form in combat. With three heads and six arms, his form moved like lightning, unpredictable, shattering each dharma appearance with a single blow, then counter-killing the six forms.
Wu Yue also wanted to see how long these heart-manifestations of Bai Ye could last, and to determine whether Bai Ye needed to consume spiritual qi.
Qie Yun chuckled softly, thumb gently stroking his Sword-Nurturing Gourd. Truly a sword immortal, Bai Ye.
Admiration, admiration, sincere and longing.
The inscription at the bottom of Qie Yun's Sword-Nurturing Gourd was extremely long: "Wishing for three million immortal coins to meet all beauties and renowned scholars, and to befriend all sword immortals of the human world, drinking a thousand catties of fine wine together."
If Bai Ye died today, then perhaps for ten thousand years to come, there would never be another person resembling Bai Ye in the human world.
As for Wu Yue, it was not surprising.
Demonkind had a significant innate advantage in the martial path. Entering the path was easy, climbing higher was faster, but reaching the summit was even more difficult than for humans. After all, there was no such thing as having all the advantages in the world under heaven.
Compared to humans, demonkind practicing martial arts faced fewer invisible Dao suppressors. At the same time, there were both advantages and disadvantages: lacking tempering, the number of tenth realm martial artists in the Barren Wild World was actually fewer than in the Haoran World.
In truth, the martial path today was essentially half the path to godhood from ancient times.
The gods had set numerous restrictions on humans. The rising and falling of the human heart, the complexity of thoughts, the instability of the soul—these were only one aspect.
The innate weakness of the human physique, because it was destined from the start to be inseparable from that river of time. The relentless, invisible erosion of the river of time on the body made human lifespans short, which was also an enormous limitation.
The ancient Heavenly Court swarmed with gods. The ants—humanity—beneath their feet, whether in appearance or innate physique, although designed to be the most similar to the gods, were still far too weak. This dissatisfied some gods who had grown accustomed to the supply of incense. Even when they deliberately allowed these ants to gather, with human population first reaching millions in a single community, the gods descended upon the human world. In an instant, the earth shattered, mountains and rivers collapsed, and all were utterly annihilated. This was incomparable to the battles between gods or the slaughter of slightly larger demonkind.
Thus, before magical techniques and divine abilities came to the human world, it was the gods who proactively gave humanity the martial arts to strengthen their bodies. The earliest Golden Body realm was a bottleneck, the end of a dead-end road.
However, humanity abounded with geniuses. The First Ancestor of the Military Strategists became the first existence in the human world to break through the Golden Body realm. After that, he advanced with irresistible momentum, climbing higher and higher, with many followers behind him. When the gods discovered this, they killed almost all humans who had broken through the Golden Body realm bottleneck. But this man alone, under the protection of a supreme god, managed to escape divine inspection. He personally named the three layers of the Limitless realm: Qi Abundant, Return to Truth, and Spirit Arrival. Yet in the end, for unknown reasons, martial path achievements stopped there, and the martial path has remained at the limit ever since.
During this time, some gods viewed this man as half a kindred spirit; some gods watched coldly, coveting more human incense. The higher human martial arts rose, the purer and heavier the incense became.
Thus, the Military Strategists had such merit on the human path that later military strategist cultivators, similar to martial arts grandmasters bearing martial fortune, were the most indifferent among qi refiners to matters of human moral gain and loss, and karmic retribution. In the final analysis, it was because military strategist cultivators were innately the farthest from the river of time. As for pure martial artists and military strategist cultivators, their connection was even deeper.
Since humanity was destined to be unable to avoid the river of time, they could only turn to "drinking from it."
This was originally the most helpless choice for humanity back then. But as time passed, responding to fate, a new kind of being—qi refiners—emerged in the world, distinct from the gods. Additionally, a supreme god's favor toward humanity, teaching sword techniques from heaven to earth, combined with humanity's continuous ascension, allowed more and more magical techniques and divine abilities to fall into the human world. The river of time instead became one of the greatest accidents leading to the gods' collapse and the division of the Heavenly Court.
Yuan Shou used telepathic communication to ask Bai Ying: "That bit of Guan Zhao's residual soul—has it seen anything?"
Bai Ying smiled and replied: "Tracing back to the source, there is a glimmer of hope. I just fear Bai Ye is doing it deliberately."
Yuan Shou was growing irritated: "Uncomfortable, uncomfortable. Bai Ye is just a Confucian scholar, not a sword cultivator. His true form is far inferior to ours. If we swarm him and attack, aren't we afraid he'll reveal the flaw in his fourteenth realm Dao fusion? Wu Yue and you are familiar. Give him a word: let him attack as he will, and I'll find an opportunity to strike Bai Ye with my staff. Brains will splatter; let's see what he can do then."
Bai Ying suppressed a smile and said, "I said half an incense stick. What's the hurry? Bai Ye isn't in a rush, so there's even less reason for us to be."
Yuan Shou, naturally impetuous, was about to continue when he sighed.
This Bai Ye truly had no sense of life and death. He let Bai Ying and Yang Zhi steal his spiritual qi without blocking or competing, but he insisted on targeting him.
This time, eighteen sword lights came to a halt around Yuan Shou. Within a thousand miles, the sword qi was dense and cold, each sword tip pointing at the old man flying on his sword.
Within the sword lights were golden characters.
"Bai Ye's poetry is unmatched; his poems become flying swords."
The eighteen sword lights—their sword intent and momentum far surpassed the previous ones. They were as large as mountain peaks lying across heaven and earth.
Seeing this strange sight, Yuan Shou felt no fear; instead, he found it exhilarating. He tore off his dharma robe, stowed it into his sleeve universe, and donned one of the most ancient divine Dew-Collected Armors: Mountain Ghost.
Did this Bai Ye truly think Grandpa was a soft persimmon?!
Yuan Shou's joints cracked like thunder. He put away the longsword "All Reals," ceased flying on his sword, held his staff with one hand, and stomped heavily on the void beside his feet. He revealed his true form, still not at its peak perfection, standing a thousand yards tall.
The Mountain Ghost on Yuan Shou's body, along with the Colored Robe worn by She Yue at the Sword Qi Great Wall, and the West Sacred Peak temporarily lent by Chen Ping'an to Wei Xian—these seven priceless armors had once been worn by ancient high-ranking gods. They shone for ten thousand miles. In ancient times, whenever a god made a journey of inspection, they were as bright as comets trailing across the sky.
The Sweet Dew Armors forged by later Military Strategists were all imitations, not because the art was inferior. In fact, later Sweet Dew Armors, in terms of precision alone, were no less than the craftsmanship of the gods. Especially the higher-ranked Military Strategist Golden Crow Armor and Warp and Weft Armor had already surpassed the ancient era. The only deficiency, a fatal one, was the innate disadvantage in material quality, which required the refinement of divine golden bodies!
In ancient times, the Heavenly Court's penal laws were extremely harsh. The Dragon-Slaying Platform was only one of them. The methods of the gods in charge of penal law against offending gods were even more shocking to the world.
Later generations of mountain and river gods, city gods, and heroic spirits of civil and military temples—first they had to receive official recognition, then their golden bodies were molded. Compared to ancient gods, this was already greatly diminished. Moreover, they required the baptism of human incense. Once they lost incense, their golden bodies would tremble and collapse. In contrast, the supreme being among the ancient gods—the curling incense smoke of the human world was important, allowing the gods to further refine their golden bodies, but it was not essential. Without incense, they could still be eternal and undying, until the great calamity that matched their innate destiny arrived. If they passed through it, they would be elevated in divine rank; if not, their golden blood would merge into the river of time.
Their corpses would turn into stars.
Eternal silence.
Bai Ye glanced at the false mountains and rivers in the plain-drawn map, then at the great demon Yang Zhi.
Earlier, when the bright moons had converged into a line and he had sent sword strikes to all six thrones, there was a sword light descending to slay a flood dragon with Dao intent. Thus, Yang Zhi, belonging to the dragon lineage, was the most terrified at heart. The other Throne-tier great demons had intercepted the swords as they pleased.
Bai Ye looked at the surging rivers that had drunk their fill of spiritual qi. He smiled. Water magic—I am not proficient. But I have broken water magic before, using a sword to cleave a cave heaven.
As Bai Ye's mind moved, the rivers directly left their riverbeds one after another, eventually transforming into river great swords, first suspended in the air, then lined up straight as an arrow. The human world raised its swords, striking indiscriminately at the heights, targeting Yang Zhi, one of the most proficient in the great Dao of water magic.
Yang Zhi snorted coldly. When those river great swords approached within a hundred miles of her, they shattered on the spot into torrential rains, returning to the earth.
Would this Bai Ye never truly draw his sword?!
Bai Ye turned to look at Bai Ying. He had heard that this great demon was skilled in commanding armies of bones.
Bai Ye silently recited a five-character true mantra: Dao, Heaven, Earth, General, Law.
The lord sees only Bai Ye's frontier poems in books; the lord does not see light cavalry with swords pursuing the white clouds.
Bai Ye "roughly understood the rudiments of military strategy"—this was known throughout the world.
Bai Ye murmured: "Even after all these years, I still feel that 'Heaven, Earth, Dao, General, Law' is smoother."
The bone great demon Bai Ying smiled slightly and finally offered a natal object. Behind him rose a large military banner. An army of bones surged forward to meet an army of heroic spirits charging on horseback.
Then, in an instant, all the Throne-tier great demons, whether they had acted or not, sensed a subtle omen.
Bai Ye's single sword strike cut open the golden armor of the Golden Armored Divine Man Niu Dao, cleaving both armor and body in two.
Behind Bai Ye, Qie Yun's situation was identical. He received a sword strike. However, compared to the Golden Armored Divine Man, Qie Yun appeared to have only a slender sword mark from his brow straight down. Qie Yun seemed to have taken the strike hard, still unwilling to part with this skin bag. In truth, Bai Ye had finally exerted his real sword force. Qie Yun judged that there was no avoiding it, so he directly tore his own body apart to dodge that single sword strike of Tai Bai.
This was still a split-attention strike with two swords.
If Bai Ye had focused his full power on one sword?
Even after the strike, Qie Yun did not hurry to rejoin his body. The lingering sword qi of the immortal sword was too astonishing. If Qie Yun directly fused his body back together, he would end up entangled with that sword qi, gaining nothing while losing much.
Qie Yun sighed inwardly. It seemed there was still another immortal sword in the Haoran World, located at the Celestial Master Residence of Dragon Tiger Mountain in the Central Plains of Shenzhou.
It was rumored that in ancient times, the Fire God and the Water God had countless summer palaces and boundless domains. One of the Fire God's many seats of divinity was located at Yinghuo (Mars).
It was further rumored that Yinghuo had attendants skilled in forging. Using Yinghuo as a furnace, they extracted fire essence as charcoal filings, used the river of time as fire, and grasped stars one by one as round hammers. When a star shattered, they discarded it and picked up another. Ultimately, they forged several long swords for a few supreme gods of the ancient Heavenly Court.
It seemed that all the elegance and talent in the world had been monopolized by the Haoran World.
Qie Yun sighed again and again. It should not have been so.
Ten thousand years ago, after the riverside council, there were actually two more secret councils. One was the discourse of the Three Teaching Founders. One was an internal dispute among the demon race, where the Great Ancestor and Bai Ze went their separate ways.
For the ten thousand years since, the Barren Wild World had been divided among warring heroes, with endless conflicts.
Among the native cultivators of the Haoran World, the fourteenth realm cultivators included Li Sage, Ya Sage, and Wen Sage, who merged his Dao with the three continents, as well as Bai Ye. Now there was also the sword cultivator A Liang.
As for Bai Ze, the old Daoist of Observe Doctrine Temple, and the Chicken Soup Monk, they were all outsiders to the Haoran World.
In the Azure Mystery World's White Jade Capital's Five Cities and Twelve Towers, the three patriarchs who took turns controlling the White Jade Capital were all recognized as fourteenth realm cultivators.
Was the only fourteenth realm grand cultivator in the Barren Wild World an outsider—the old blind man?
Then this world had waited ten thousand years painfully, only to gain a traitor from the Sword Qi Great Wall, Xiao Xun?
The Jia Shen Account sword cultivator Rain Four—why was he addressed as "Young Master" by Fei Fei, and who was the "Lord"?
Brother Qie Yun, junior brother Fei Ran. Qie Yun accepted Fei Ran as a disciple on behalf of their master, adding a little junior brother to the sect. Then who was the master of these two? Was he still alive?
The "Mountain-Searching Diagram" that Bai Ze had given to Old Scholar did not actually list all the demon peers. Old Scholar had no complaints about this. Did he really think that Bai Ze, who only addressed Li Sage as "Little Master," had such a good temper? Before Bai Ze participated in that riverside council, during his ascent to heaven, his military exploits even surpassed the Great Ancestor of Tuo Yue Mountain by a slight margin. After the sword cultivators' schism, Bai Ze had also personally killed countless sword cultivators.
After Bai Ye truly began to draw his sword, he slashed again and again, utterly devoid of elegance.