Chapter 202: So Close, Yet Millions of Light-Years Away
Those seven hundred-plus swords were all once famous blades in the world.
Their former masters were all peerless experts who dared to charge straight into the Demon Domain.
In their eyes, what was the Netherworld?
The Wind and Rain swords did not cease their assault; they continued to strike down.
But this time, the sword momentum was no longer as violent as before, instead becoming more solemn.
The positions between the swords were more fixed, their connections tighter.
Because just as they shattered the Netherworld Seventeen Armor, the Demon Lord’s Sunset Sword also descended.
The foremost dozen swords let out furious, piercing shrieks, knocked askew as they flew away, while several more snapped in half with a mournful clang.
Since leaving Zhou Garden, except for the encounter with the previous Demon Lord at Snow Ridge, this was the first time Chen Changsheng’s swords had been broken.
These swords were already deeply intertwined with his spiritual sense, inseparable. His mind was affected, and his face turned pale.
So he changed his sword momentum, letting the Wind and Rain swords form the Nanxi Zhai Sword Formation.
No matter how powerful the Sunset Sword was, it couldn’t break this formation. Where could the Demon Lord go?
……
……
Watching the hundreds of swords rain down and destroy the Netherworld Seventeen Armor, the Demon Lord’s expression remained unchanged.
But when he saw the sword formation that appeared in the sky afterward, a flicker of admiration finally showed in his eyes.
At the Observation Deck, Chen Changsheng had used this very sword technique to defeat him.
Now, he naturally knew this was the legendary Nanxi Zhai Sword Formation.
Without relying on sacred power beyond the mortal realm, the Demon Lord truly had no way to break this formation.
Yet there was still no fear in his eyes.
The Sunset Sword truly fell, shattering all the intangible zither sounds, but it didn’t touch the seven hundred-plus swords poised in the air like a rainstorm about to pour down.
Because the Demon Lord’s strike wasn’t aimed at Chen Changsheng, nor at this Nanxi Zhai Sword Formation.
From the very beginning, he had never intended to fight Chen Changsheng directly, let alone duel with swords.
Even as proud as he was, he lacked the confidence to compete with Chen Changsheng in the way of the sword.
Those swords that were knocked away or broken had been forced to shatter the Netherworld Armor, exhausting their strength, and were then defeated by the Sunset Sword.
In truth, this strike of his was aimed at the ground.
The Sunset Sword landed on the earth.
A setting sun sank below the horizon.
Nightfall came.
This was “Drawing the Ground as Night.”
The Demon Lord’s figure retreated into the darkness.
……
……
When the setting sun sinks into the Western Sea, night covers the entire continent. But this night was not real; it couldn’t even fully occupy the entire courtyard. Under the assault of the Radiant Light from the Li Palace Grand Formation, it was constantly shrinking back.
Chen Changsheng knew the Demon Lord hadn’t left but had retreated deeper.
But he didn’t pursue, because he needed to maintain the formation, and more so because a deep vigilance lingered in his heart.
The Blind Zither Master didn’t pursue either, but his thoughts were clearly different from Chen Changsheng’s.
His withered fingers landed on the zither strings, and a resonant hum sounded.
The zither sound was a signal.
His and Chen Changsheng’s attacks had successfully stalled the Demon Lord for a moment.
Perhaps just a blink of an eye, but it was enough for the girl selling rouge and the others to react.
Countless powders, pink and white, were scattered into the courtyard as if they cost nothing.
The fortune-teller and the peddler stood amid the flying powders, using them as a barrier, focusing intently on their divinations with copper coins and a sand tray.
The six constables swung the iron chains from their shoulders into the courtyard.
Though the night was formless and intangible, the six chains pierced through it, then pulled taut, gradually tightening as if turning it into a real black cloth.
The two old men selling malt candy lifted the fronts of their long robes, stepped forward with solemn expressions, sank their waists and bent their knees, and threw straight punches!
Among the five groups, these two old malt candy sellers were the most silent and low-key, yet their cultivation was the deepest.
They were descendants of the imperial clan, practicing the most orthodox Sun-Burning Art, which had the greatest destructive power against demonic techniques!
With two booming sounds, countless blinding rays of sunlight shot out from those steady, regal fists.
Two deep indentations appeared on the taut night.
A grating, teeth-aching creaking sound arose.
It was the sound of real space twisting, about to crack.
Indeed, the experts of the Wenshui Tang Clan, working together, could actually tear apart this night of the Demon Lord!
……
……
Before the Great Radiance of the Li Palace Grand Formation, the night in the courtyard retreated but couldn’t escape, on the verge of collapse.
The Wenshui Tang Clan experts had already charged into the courtyard.
Chen Changsheng’s swords finally moved, entering the night.
Suddenly, he heard a crisp sound of metal and stone.
It came from the foremost sword.
Then he felt an unimaginable force, and an extremely hard presence that seemed not of this world.
A strong sense of alarm appeared in his eyes.
He had been prepared beforehand, and after that conversation with the Demon Lord, he was even more vigilant.
But he hadn’t expected the opponent to appear so suddenly, without any warning.
The Wenshui Tang Clan experts were almost inside the night.
Especially those two old malt candy sellers.
“Retreat!”
The Blind Zither Master heard Chen Changsheng’s shout.
He didn’t understand. They were about to tear open the night and successfully kill the Demon Lord—why retreat?
But he knew something must have happened, and without hesitation, he turned into a wisp of green smoke and retreated.
The two old malt candy sellers also heard Chen Changsheng’s shout, but it was too late to retreat.
In the original plan, their Sun-Burning Art was the key to killing the Demon Lord, so they were closest to the night.
A terrifying force, like a flood, engulfed the sunlight from their fists and surged toward their bodies.
The force was so pure, yet so terrifying, as if it came from a divine realm, making it impossible for them to muster the courage to resist.
After shouting, Chen Changsheng dashed forward.
He used the true meaning of the Burning Sword and the Yashi Step, moving as fast as lightning, instantly arriving before the night.
At the critical moment when the flood-like force was about to land on the two old men, his sword formation struck down first.
Amid countless shrill sword cries, he grabbed the old men’s shoulders and retreated rapidly.
The intangible, terrifying force filled every corner of the courtyard, even the tiniest dust particles seeming to carry the weight of mountains.
During the rapid retreat, two streams of blood spurted from the old malt candy sellers’ lips, soaking the fronts of their long robes.
Chen Changsheng landed on the ground, his body swaying slightly, his face growing even paler.
In just one exchange, without even seeing the opponent, the Tang Clan experts were severely injured.
Even Chen Changsheng’s sea of consciousness suffered a severe shock.
The shrill sword cries abruptly ceased. The Wind and Rain swords flew back through the air, hovering silently around him.
If anyone looked closely, they might notice that of the original seven hundred-plus swords, several dozen had been lost.
The foremost hundred swords were vibrating at high speed, filled with rage and a hint of confusion.
What was inside the night?
……
……
Deep within the dense night, a point of light appeared.
It wasn’t particularly bright, even somewhat dim, yet it filled everyone with immense shock.
Because everyone felt that this point of light, seemingly right before their eyes, was actually millions of miles away.
A point of light visible from millions of miles away—if it were right in front of them, how blinding would it be?
As people thought of this, the point of light rapidly grew larger in their vision, emitting infinite rays.
Those rays were so real, so blazing, so dazzling that they even stole the brightness from the Radiance of the Li Palace Grand Formation!
Some priests from the Western Wilderness Dao Hall covered their eyes, screaming in pain, and fell to the ground, rolling around. (To be continued.)