Chapter 2862: Sword Dao Essence
“Before departing, my father instructed me to keep a low profile upon arriving at Xinghuantian. It seems this is the reason,” Shang Hong said.
A Divine Master who had not appeared in any records suddenly made a move, causing all the gods present to be visibly moved and utterly shocked.
In the path of formations, below Tai Shang, a Divine Master was the strongest.
The Angel Clan god Jia Linnan said, “This is somewhat unusual. How could Wuma Jiuxing have acted to kill Mo Tong?”
The “Four-Armored Blood Ancestor” of the Blood War Divine Temple, the “Yan God” of the Merit Divine Temple, “Kailan Feili” of the Elf Clan… and other gods all nodded in deep agreement, sharing the same view.
They were all gods of this eon, each outstanding and exceptional, all harboring the desire to marry Bai Qinger.
Even the oldest, the Four-Armored Blood Ancestor, had tidied himself up, no longer appearing aged but like a strong middle-aged man in his thirties or forties, with bulging muscles, a head of blood-red hair, and vigorous energy and spirit.
The lifespan of a god was one hundred twenty-nine thousand six hundred years. Generally, after passing sixty thousand years without reaching the Upper God realm, natural aging would set in.
If one reached one hundred thousand years, even an Upper God would age rapidly.
The four pavilion masters of the Goddess Twelve Pavilions walked toward Shang Hong.
Liu Qingcheng took out Mo Tong’s divine source and said, “It seems Mo Tong was indeed killed by Wuma Jiuxing. On the divine source, there is a blade mark left by him.”
Shang Hong took the divine source and gazed at the mark upon it.
Wuma Jiuxing was considered a god of the Heavenly Realm Faction. Because of him, a god had fallen on Xinghuantian. Naturally, the Goddess Twelve Pavilions had to seek out Shang Hong, the leader of the Heavenly Realm Faction.
“Rest assured, Pavilion Master Liu. Once their battle ends, I will certainly find Wuma Jiuxing and inquire clearly, then personally explain to Bai Huanghou,” Shang Hong said, returning the divine source to Liu Qingcheng.
He was polite and refined, with delicate features. Though he was a Heavenly Grandson, he showed no trace of arrogance, exuding a personal charm that made others feel as if bathed in a spring breeze.
As he placed the divine source into Liu Qingcheng’s snow-white palm, it was like a stone striking her heart lake, stirring layers of ripples.
Although Liu Qingcheng was a god, she had grown up amidst worldly affairs. Her heart was unshakably firm. Yet, after just a brief meeting with Shang Hong, she was nearly overwhelmed, her heart defenses breached, and she was falling for him. This filled her with alarm.
“How formidable. What technique is this? Heart-charming? Mind-confusing?”
Liu Qingcheng dared not meet Shang Hong’s gaze again. She put away the divine source and decisively turned to leave, her face flushed red, her heart pounding uncontrollably. In her mind, Shang Hong’s handsome figure and smiling face lingered, impossible to shake off.
This was not a divine battle, yet it surpassed one.
Liu Qingcheng realized she had been utterly defeated. The gap in their cultivation was like heaven and earth. Without a hundred years of quiet meditation, she could never fully rid herself of the influence Shang Hong had imprinted on her heart.
The Four-Armored Blood Ancestor watched Liu Qingcheng, clad in a crystal gown with long blue hair flowing, retreating as if in flight. He licked his lips and chuckled, “The Goddess Twelve Pavilions gathers the beauties of the world. Besides Bai Huanghou and Bai Qinger, the twelve pavilion masters are all top-tier. If I could capture one, it wouldn’t be a wasted trip to Xinghuantian.”
“Her heart is not bad, to be able to escape. If it were another Middle God, they would have already thrown themselves into the Heavenly Grandson’s arms,” Kailan Feili said with a tone close to mockery.
The Angel Clan god Jia Linnan had a haughty demeanor and a contemptuous gaze. “What kind of figure is the Heavenly Grandson? Besides Bai Qinger, who is worthy of him?”
“The Heavenly Grandson and Bai Qinger are indeed a match made in heaven, a union of the strong,” another god said.
The Yan God’s attention remained fixed on the divine formation, on the battle between Wuma Jiuxing and Zhang Ruochen. “Wuma Jiuxing has extraordinary talent and great ambition. He likely wants to monopolize the Heavenly Venerable Gauze, which is why he killed Mo Tong. Otherwise, with that old man’s spiritual power intensity, if Mo Tong wanted to flee, he could not have stopped him.”
“Only Wuma Jiuxing, striking with his blade when Mo Tong was completely off guard, could have killed him.”
The Four-Armored Blood Ancestor said, “Does Wuma Jiuxing dare to contend with the Heavenly Grandson for Bai Qinger?”
“Have you forgotten? A thousand years ago, Wuma Jiuxing’s relationship with Bai Qinger was already extraordinary,” the Yan God said.
Shang Hong’s eyes narrowed slightly. No one knew what he was thinking at that moment. He said, “The Divine Master has set up a formation, limiting the battle area, which is quite disadvantageous for a spiritual power god. In this battle, Wuma Jiuxing’s chance of winning is at least seventy percent.”
Yu Yao’s divine formation covered ten thousand miles, encircling mountains and rivers. Though Zhang Ruochen and Wuma Jiuxing fought fiercely within, overturning heaven and earth, not a trace of divine power leaked beyond the formation.
“Fourfold Blade Art.”
Wuma Jiuxing stood with his blade horizontal, the aura emanating from him merging with the war blade in his hand.
Man and blade became one.
In the next instant, blade and earth became one.
This entire territory transformed into his divine realm world. The momentum of man, blade, and earth seemed to combine into one.
Zhang Ruochen knew the power of the Fourfold Blade Art well. This was only the third fold, yet Wuma Jiuxing’s aura had already increased by at least twofold.
No longer retreating far, Zhang Ruochen strode forward, approaching Wuma Jiuxing.
With each step, the earth beneath him collapsed into a valley.
“Break for me!”
Zhang Ruochen raised both hands, and the ground before him shook, sending up hundreds of thousands of zhang-tall mountains to disrupt Wuma Jiuxing’s earth momentum. At the same time, the mountains flew up, crashing down continuously.
“You’ve finally come.”
Wuma Jiuxing’s eyes turned fierce. His blade traced a circle, and countless blade dao rule divine patterns flowed with it.
With a single slash, the blade light shattered the mountains one after another, reaching Zhang Ruochen in an instant.
The power of this strike far surpassed the previous ones.
Unable to use a spiritual power supreme sacred artifact, Zhang Ruochen felt somewhat helpless. He could only form hand seals, causing the earth plate hundreds of miles beneath his feet to flip upward, turning into a shield that connected heaven and earth.
“Can a mere earth plate block a strike from Wuma Jiuxing that could shatter a star?” the Four-Armored Blood Ancestor laughed.
But the next moment, a surprising scene unfolded before the gods.
The earth plate before Zhang Ruochen turned golden.
“Boom.”
The blade light collided with the golden earth plate hundreds of miles long. The plate was covered in dense cracks, and chunks of golden stone fell off as it was pushed back a hundred miles.
Yet it did not shatter.
Wuma Jiuxing’s gaze darkened. “Five Elements Transformation, turning earth into gold.”
The stunningly beautiful Nether Flower Pavilion Master praised, “What remarkable control of spiritual power, especially in the application of the Five Elements power. It’s truly masterful.”
A spiritual power god could also comprehend the Way of the Five Elements, thereby creating divine methods related to the Five Elements.
Although Zhang Ruochen’s martial cultivation was completely crippled, his understanding of the Way of the Five Elements far surpassed that of other spiritual power gods. He could create methods with a single thought.
The path of cultivation, though diverse, ultimately leads to the same destination.
Zhang Ruochen soared up from behind the golden earth plate, suspended in midair, and pointed a finger at the ground, chanting, “Heavenly Fire Descends.”
The earth beneath Wuma Jiuxing’s feet burst into flames, reaching temperatures in the millions, instantly melting the ten-thousand-mile territory within the divine formation into a sea of red-hot magma.
Standing in the magma sea, Wuma Jiuxing remained unflustered, focused on the blade in his hand. He shouted, “Earth and heaven unite, the Fourfold is complete!”
In an instant, the entire heaven and earth boiled, giving birth to countless blade qi.
The ten-thousand-mile territory rotated around Wuma Jiuxing. The magma on the ground rose up, turning into countless red-hot liquid long blades.
At this moment, Wuma Jiuxing was like the master of heaven and earth, his aura reaching its peak. His divine body grew to three thousand zhang tall, and the bronze war blade in his hand seemed capable of splitting heaven and earth as he slashed out.
The blade momentum startled the watching gods into instinctively stepping back, forgetting that the divine formation stood before them.
At the storm’s center, Zhang Ruochen felt there was no escape. Wuma Jiuxing’s strike seemed to want to cut down everything within ten thousand miles, leaving no place safe.
“The Fourfold united. This strike would make even an Upper God hesitate to face it head-on.”
“This is Wuma Jiuxing’s strongest strike—a technique that combines human momentum, blade momentum, earth momentum, and heaven momentum into one, an unresolvable art.”
…
The gods all believed that the old man would surely die under Wuma Jiuxing’s blade.
But at that moment, a crisp and solid knocking sound rang out from the center of the battlefield, striking the gods as if hitting their bodies, causing their internal organs to tremble and their blood qi to surge.
“Thump! Thump! Thump…”
The knocking sounds came like a string of pearls, one after another, creating resonance.
The power of the resonance spread beyond the divine formation, tearing the ground outside, collapsing mountains, and drying up rivers.
The sound was like a musical movement, echoing across hundreds of thousands of miles, as if the entire Xinghuantian could faintly hear it.
Even the Divine Master Yu Yao let out a soft exclamation, quickly channeling her spiritual power again to prevent the destructive force of the sound waves from spreading outward.
“This is a melody, telling the vicissitudes of the human world,” the Nether Flower Pavilion Master sighed.
Liu Qingcheng said, “I pride myself on my profound musical skill, but compared to this old man, I fall far short. His melody harmonizes with the heavenly dao, drawing on the power of heaven and earth, full of contemplation on life and death.”
Other gods only marveled at the destructive power of the wooden knocking sound, which even the divine formation could not fully contain.
But the four pavilion masters of the Goddess Twelve Pavilions understood that the old man’s musical skill had reached a state of unity between heaven and man, transcending the mundane.
The Nether Flower Pavilion Master’s lace dress swayed in the wind generated by the sound waves. Her enchanting eyes burned with fervent light. “I truly wish to seek his guidance on music. Perhaps I can find a breakthrough through music and reach the Upper God realm.”
Within the divine formation, Zhang Ruochen sat cross-legged, knocking on a wooden block.
The earth beneath him transformed from earth into water, becoming a clear thousand-mile flat lake.
On the lake, divine glow stretched for ten thousand zhang, revealing a phantom starry sky. The stars shone brightly, and the star river flowed, dissolving Wuma Jiuxing’s slashing strike into nothingness.
The heaven momentum, earth momentum, and blade momentum formed by his Fourfold Blade Art all collapsed.
Only the human momentum remained unbroken.
With each strike of the wooden block, Wuma Jiuxing was sent flying backward dozens of miles, spitting large mouthfuls of blood. Yet his gaze remained resolute, and he roared, “Fight!”
His battle intent was fully ignited, his aura growing instead of diminishing.
He raised his blade above his head, and in an instant, all the blade dao rules of the entire Xinghuantian converged toward him.
All cultivators who used blades, whether ordinary martial artists or gods, felt their blades tremble and emit a blade cry.
Bai Qinger stood in a wilderness not far from the battlefield, surrounded by a sea of colorful flowers. Watching billions of blades fly overhead toward Wuma Jiuxing, she said, “The Blade Venerable has actually granted him blade dao essence. This battle has decided life and death. To kill him, I will have to do it myself.”