Chapter 906: Within Three Breaths
Petals drifted lightly with the wind, dense and countless, like an ocean.
Bie Yanghong's figure appeared amidst the sea of flowers, treading on empty air as he charged toward the Azure-clad Guest.
Back when the Demon Lord entered Cold Mountain, the Old Man of Heavenly Secrets sent word across the continent. At that time, Bie Yanghong was far away at the Ten Thousand Longevity Pavilion in the south, yet he was the first to arrive at Cold Mountain. Even among the Sacred Domain experts of the continent, his speed and long-distance assault capabilities were unmatched.
Seeing the sky filled with bright red petals blocking his path, the Azure-clad Guest knew the moment had passed. If he could not forcefully repel Bie Yanghong, he would surely be caught by this man and never shake him off again.
The Azure-clad Guest let out a sharp cry, channeled his lifelong cultivation, and spun around, thrusting both palms forward. Countless eerie cyan lights spilled from the edges of his hands, transforming into extremely sharp flying blades that shot toward Bie Yanghong with piercing sounds of tearing air.
The cyan blades rose through the air, howling like a hurricane, bitterly cold to the extreme, causing the moisture in the air to condense into water droplets in an instant, falling as rain. It was like a storm at sea, its momentum terrifying beyond measure.
For Sacred Domain experts, unless it was a true divine artifact like the Frost Remnant Divine Spear or the Sky-Covering Sword, ordinary weapons were far inferior to those formed from their own Star Radiance True Essence. These cyan flying blades, for instance—even a cultivator at the Star Gathering Realm who had undergone perfect marrow cleansing would have their bones shattered and flesh torn, their Sea of Consciousness split, and their Nether Palace reduced to ruins if they were so much as grazed, leaving no chance to fight back before being killed.
Bie Yanghong did not know who the Azure-clad Guest was, but he understood that the man's realm and strength were certainly not beneath his own, so he was naturally cautious. His right hand reached into the sea of bright red flowers, as if grasping something, then pulled it out.
Extremely bright Star Radiance spilled from between his brows and from his slightly graying temples. What he drew from the sea of flowers was a phantom sword condensed from Star Radiance. A sword light, dazzling and pure to the extreme, illuminated the sky and the sea of flowers within it, breaking through countless turbulent streams of primal energy as it slashed down toward the Azure-clad Guest.
No matter how violent the storm at sea, let's see if it can withstand this sword of mine!
...
The Azure-clad Guest had lived in the Great Western Continent for many years. Though far overseas, he had always observed the experts of the mainland. With his power and the help of White Emperor City, he had secretly gathered much intelligence, becoming very familiar with the combat styles and ultimate techniques of the mainland's experts.
The moment Bie Yanghong's sword came down, at least seventeen methods to counter it appeared in his Sea of Consciousness. The problem was that those seventeen methods all targeted the Bie Yanghong he knew—more precisely, the Bie Yanghong before the Heavenly Book Mausoleum Incident.
Today's Bie Yanghong was clearly far stronger than the records and his knowledge suggested.
Take, for example, the fist that broke the combined sword technique of Chen Changsheng and Xu Yourong.
Or his little red flower—no one had ever imagined it could sever a rope and fly away, transforming into a sea of flowers that sealed off all the myriad passages between heaven and earth.
These methods were clearly new Dao techniques Bie Yanghong had comprehended after the Heavenly Book Mausoleum Incident.
Even so, the Azure-clad Guest was still confident he could repel Bie Yanghong, perhaps at the cost of some injuries, but at least he would not be trapped here.
But the greatest difference between today's Bie Yanghong and the past was not his deeper Dao techniques or more miraculous methods—it was the change in his combat style.
In the minds of cultivators, Bie Yanghong was a gentle, steady senior expert. Even when he struck, he was measured, deeply embodying the principles of balance and harmony.
Today, Bie Yanghong's eyes were still calm, but his expression was no longer gentle. As he dashed through the air, vast amounts of true essence surged from his robes. Every gesture and movement carried the power to shake mountains and move the earth, as if each strike sought to reveal heaven and earth, to see life and death—wild to the extreme, violent to the extreme.
Why was this?
The Azure-clad Guest saw Bie Yanghong's eyes, finding them deep and still, but at their very core lay a resolute killing intent.
Then he saw the white hairs at Bie Yanghong's temples.
The Azure-clad Guest understood the reason. His heart sank, and he burst out with a fierce roar!
With that roar, countless cyan blades shattered into powder, then condensed in the air into a long halberd!
That halberd was dark in color, with three extremely sharp spikes at its front, exuding a chilling and terrifying aura.
This was very likely the reincarnation of the artifact spirit of the Great Western Continent's divine artifact, the Sea-Calming Halberd!
Yet Bie Yanghong's expression did not change. Holding the phantom sword formed from Star Radiance, he slashed directly at the cyan halberd!
This phantom sword, drawn from the sea of flowers, had no physical substance, allowing it to achieve absolute sharpness and smoothness, much like Chen Changsheng's Stainless Sword. But for some reason, a very vivid petal clung to the blade, standing out conspicuously.
...
The Star Radiance phantom sword and the dark cyan halberd met in the sky.
A mass of air formed at the point of contact, its surface a white, flocculent flow. Then, the air mass was torn into countless fragments by the infinite light and heat generated at the collision point.
Shockwaves and blazing light swept outward in all directions. Mud and stones on the cliff crumbled and fell, and hundreds of thick ancient trees snapped with cracking sounds before bursting into flames.
The cultivators on the cliff terrace could not see clearly what was happening within that blazing light; they could only vaguely make out two figures.
Prince Xiang watched quietly, one eyebrow slightly raised, lost in thought.
Infinite Green did not turn her head, but she sensed the changes there. Hesitant and uncertain, her movements slowed.
With tearing sounds, the strands of the whisk binding the iron sword snapped one by one, and a tear appeared on her Daoist sleeve.
The light in the sky remained blinding.
The bright red petals danced wildly back, looking like a rain of petals, beautiful to behold.
A stream of blood, tinged with a hint of gold, trickled from Bie Yanghong's ear.
Yet he seemed not to notice, still gazing at the Azure-clad Guest with deep, still eyes.
The Star Radiance phantom sword and the dark cyan halberd locked together.
The immensely vast true essence and aura of the two Sacred Domain experts engaged in the most perilous contest.
Suddenly, the bright red petal on the blade of the Star Radiance phantom sword burst into countless particles with a soft sound.
This petal, from the little red flower, contained infinite divine might and followed the principles of heaven and earth—yet it was shattered by the collision of the two experts' true essences!
Countless petal fragments shot toward the Azure-clad Guest, swift as arrows, their power far surpassing that.
The Azure-clad Guest, locked in combat with Bie Yanghong and unable to dodge, could only grunt and rely on his own cultivation to endure.
A series of dense, crackling sounds rang out. The Azure-clad Guest's bamboo hat was riddled with countless holes, then scattered into fragments, blown away by the wind without a trace, revealing the ferocious copper mask beneath. His body also bore many marks, with faint traces of blood seeping through.
How could Bie Yanghong let such an opportunity slip? A clear whistle burst from his lips, and the petals in the sky returned like lightning, relentlessly attacking the Azure-clad Guest.
The Azure-clad Guest grunted, wildly unleashing his true essence. At the cost of worsening his injuries, he forced Bie Yanghong's sword aside, then flapped his sleeves and flew toward the blue sky, looking like a massive seabird.
The sky full of bright red petals had already been recalled by Bie Yanghong. The Azure-clad Guest only needed to evade this final strike to soar into the high sky and escape.
From the moment Bie Yanghong struck to this point, where the Azure-clad Guest finally found a chance to leave, it seemed like many things had happened, but in truth, only an extremely brief time had passed.
If someone had been watching with a timer, they would know that there was still a very short moment before three breaths were up.
The Azure-clad Guest had also been counting silently, confident he would not make a mistake.
At that moment, the petals in the sky had reassembled into the little red flower. It shot out like lightning, striking the Azure-clad Guest heavily.
A crisp cracking sound rang out. The Azure-clad Guest did not know how many ribs had broken. He spat out a mouthful of blood, but seemed unfazed, not even letting out a groan. Clutching the cyan halberd, he shot upward.
He pushed his speed to the limit, quickly becoming a black dot in everyone's sight, as if he would dissolve into the sky at any moment.
The next moment.
That black dot grew larger and larger, gradually revealing its form.
The Azure-clad Guest had returned.
Forced back from the sky by an iron sword.