Chapter 902: What Should Have Severed All Connections Instead Connects Everything
Through the Fate Star Disk, Xu Yourong had already deduced some issues. Now, listening to Chen Changsheng’s account, she quickly understood exactly what had happened. She naturally believed Chen Changsheng’s words, but just as she was about to speak, she caught sight of the weariness on Bie Yanghong’s face and the white streaks in his hair, and she couldn’t help but pause for a moment.
The pain of losing a child was truly the hardest thing in the world to bear.
Bie Yanghong walked behind Wuqiong Bi and gently patted her on the shoulder, saying, “Take a rest for now.”
Wuqiong Bi had failed to kill Chen Changsheng, and had even been unable to defeat his combined efforts with Xu Yourong. She was seething with anger and resentment, her mood at its most volatile. Hearing these words, she felt both aggrieved and pained, and she cried out in a tearful voice, “So you’re finally willing to show yourself!”
This was no exaggeration. Given Bie Yanghong’s strength, if he had gone all out from the very beginning today, not to mention Xu Yourong and the girls of the Southern Streams Sect, even if that iron blade had truly arrived at Holy Maiden Peak, it might not have been able to stop the couple from killing Chen Changsheng.
Now, he had finally appeared.
Among the Eight Winds and Rains of that year, Bie Yanghong’s combat prowess ranked among the very top, and even the Heavenly Sea Holy Empress had admired him.
With such a true continental powerhouse making his move, could Chen Changsheng and Xu Yourong still withstand him?
“If I gave you another day, no, perhaps just a few more moves, your combined dual swords would become completely perfected, leaving no openings whatsoever. Neither I nor anyone else would be able to do anything to you. So I’m sorry, but I cannot give you that chance.”
Bie Yanghong looked at Chen Changsheng and Xu Yourong and said, “I will strive to separate you within a single move, and then defeat you.”
The moment his words fell, he had already struck at Chen Changsheng.
A small red flower was tied to the little finger of his right hand.
The entire continent knew that this small red flower was Bie Yanghong’s most powerful weapon, and could be said to be the essence of his lifelong cultivation.
Back in the day at the foot of the Heavenly Book Mausoleum, the Heavenly Sea Holy Empress’s fist had shaken the wind and rain, killing the Stargazer with a single punch. Bie Yanghong had barely managed to withstand another punch with this very small red flower.
When Bie Yanghong made his move, that small red flower naturally swayed forward, arriving about half a foot ahead of where his finger pointed.
The small red flower reached Chen Changsheng faster than his hand.
Chen Changsheng could already see the crystalline dewdrops on its petals.
He didn’t have time to think. The Stainless Sword thrust forward, breaking the wind without a sound, drawing a brilliant streak of light across the cliff-top terrace.
This time, he used the Sword of Wisdom, aiming for an unpredictable trajectory, evading that red flower, with the ultimate goal of striking Bie Yanghong’s brow.
At the same time, Xu Yourong’s Sect Sword also soared into the air, silent and lightless, trembling faintly in the wind, appearing almost delicate.
She was using the Little Cottage Sword. It was said that a senior of the Southern Streams Sect, while living in a small cottage by the upper reaches of the Flower Stream, had created this sword technique one winter day, inspired by the silent blooming of winter plum blossoms. This technique relied on skill for victory, silent yet brilliant, seemingly fragile but in truth very resilient.
There was no connection between the Sword of Wisdom and the Little Cottage Sword, and their sword intents shared nothing in common. Yet, just like the previous times, when Chen Changsheng’s sword and Xu Yourong’s sword appeared simultaneously on the cliff-top terrace, the two sword techniques seemed to undergo some miraculous transformation, perfectly merging into a single whole, leaving no openings to be found.
Chen Changsheng, Xu Yourong, and Wuqiong Bi had clashed swords several times, with Bie Yanghong watching from the sidelines. He had recognized that this was likely some kind of dual-sword technique based on the Southern Streams Sect’s Combined Sword Art, but he hadn’t fully understood why this dual-sword technique could fuse two completely different sword moves and intents together, causing their power to skyrocket.
It was only now, facing that brilliant sword light and the delicate sword shadow that followed, and being in the midst of the battle himself, that he vaguely grasped the principle behind it.
That mysterious and indescribable feeling was not a sword technique or a sword move. It was more like a method that was completely different from the way of the sword, a more direct approach.
That method was immensely powerful and profound, like a torrential rain between the sky and sea, or like the magma-covered ground seen by a flying goose as it descended. It was violent to the extreme, filled with deadly intent, and once unleashed, it seemed capable of severing everything in the world, all connections.
But Chen Changsheng and Xu Yourong seemed to be using that method in reverse!
The rain fell into the magma, and the damp, hot mist gradually turned into calm, clear water. The mountain pass solidified into a jade-green lake, its shores teeming with countless green plants, brimming with life!
What should have severed all connections in the world, in their hands, became capable of reconnecting all things that had been separated!
Bie Yanghong couldn’t recall any such Daoist method existing at Holy Maiden Peak, the Li Palace, or the Longevity Pavilion. He hadn’t even seen any similar records.
In the present world, besides Chen Changsheng and Xu Yourong themselves, only Wang Po or Wang Zhice suddenly returning to the mortal realm could recognize this method.
But for Bie Yanghong, the key to breaking Chen Changsheng and Xu Yourong’s sword technique at this moment was not understanding it, but shattering it.
Even if he couldn’t fully comprehend it for now, relying on his far superior cultivation realm and immensely abundant true essence, he could still forcibly break their sword technique.
That seemingly delicate small red flower entered the midst of the sword shadows filling the sky.
Suddenly, that small red flower seemed to become incredibly heavy, its forward movement slowing considerably.
Even space itself seemed to warp under the weight of the small red flower, as sand and stones rolled wildly and a fierce wind howled.
The sword shadows filling the sky were affected by this, freezing for an instant. The momentum of the swords was still as majestic as a towering mountain, but it was no longer as perfect as before, like an unbroken mountain range. Instead, it had become like two green peaks facing each other across a river gorge, with a gap, or rather a passage, appearing between them.
This gap was fleeting. If it were any other cultivator, even if they could see it, they wouldn’t be able to exploit it.
But Bie Yanghong was a powerhouse of what level? Not to mention that the gap in their sword momentum was a result of his own doing.
The small red flower, which had become somewhat slow, suddenly accelerated, bringing with it a trail of crimson light and shadow as it struck at Chen Changsheng’s face.
If Chen Changsheng and Xu Yourong continued with their previous sword moves, even if they could make their sword momentum unshakable again, they would have no way to keep that small red flower at bay.
Without hesitation, Chen Changsheng abandoned the Sword of Wisdom and, like lightning, brought his sword back before his eyes.
He wasn’t using the Clumsy Sword, but rather Borrowing the Sword to cleave the air and cry out.
A sword cry, exceptionally clear and even giving a feeling of sharpness, rang out across the cliff-top terrace.
It was exactly the Heavenly Soundfall he had used back then on the Naihe Bridge in the capital when dueling with Xu Yourong!
The moment Chen Changsheng brought his sword back, Xu Yourong, connected to him through their hearts, also unhesitatingly dispersed the Little Cottage Sword and thrust her Sect Sword into a certain point in the air.
Without having time to sheathe her sword, she used the very world as a scabbard. This movement was the Returning Sword.
Her Returning Sword movement seemed to be broken down into countless frames, then reassembled.
The sword body, infused with true essence, continuously collided and scraped against the air of the world, producing countless sword cries.
These sword cries merged into one, forming a long, weathered sword chant.
It was the first sword she had used back then on the Naihe Bridge in the capital—the Southern Sea Sword Chant!