Chapter 517: The Great Avalanche
With a muffled boom!
All the snowflakes on the bridge danced wildly, surging forward along with the Zhai Sword.
Countless snowflakes fell, and Chen Changsheng’s vision was a vast expanse of white.
He could see nothing, only sensing the terrifying power of the sword behind the snow mist.
He felt as if he had entered an illusion, facing not Xu Yourong’s sword, but an avalanche.
The millennium-old ice on the southern cliff of the Holy Maiden Peak suddenly collapsed, roaring like thunder as it rushed toward him.
No matter how exquisite his swordsmanship, how could he pierce through this collapsing cliff?
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Both banks of the Luo River were very quiet.
On the great ship, it was even more deathly silent.
Whether it was Mao Qiuyu or the King of Linghai, both remained silent.
Tang Thirty-Six’s hands were clenched tightly, yet he couldn’t stop them from trembling slightly.
Su Moyu’s face was somewhat pale, her lips moving faintly as if murmuring something.
Zhe Xiu’s pupils had unknowingly turned slightly red, and his hand gripping the crutch tightened with hidden force.
All of this was because of the snow mist on the Bridge of Helplessness and the sword behind it.
Tang Thirty-Six and Su Moyu knew very well that they couldn’t block this sword. Unless they used life-saving magical artifacts, they would either be severely injured or... And this was Xu Yourong’s first real strike, meaning that now, they couldn’t even withstand a single blow from her.
This fact was hard for them to accept, but they had no choice but to accept it.
Zhe Xiu thought differently from them, but he too had to admit the terror of Xu Yourong’s sword.
Her innate bloodline was simply too powerful.
Besides the True Dragon Bloodline of the Autumn Mountain Lord and the White Emperor Bloodline of Luo Luo, who in the world could contend with it?
Even the few peak Star Condensation experts standing at the bow of the ship, only a step away from the sacred domain, couldn’t help but envy Xu Yourong’s talent. They said cultivation was a gift from the starry sky to intelligent life—so was Xu Yourong herself that gift?
Yet interestingly, even at this moment, having witnessed Xu Yourong’s avalanche-like, powerful sword, no one was worried about Chen Changsheng.
Not Tang Thirty-Six and the others from the National Academy, nor anyone else.
Yes, Chen Changsheng’s innate bloodline might be ordinary, but from Xunyang City to the capital, so many early Star Condensation experts had fallen under his sword, proving he was no ordinary upper-level Phenomenon expert.
Xu Yourong’s sword momentum was like a cliff collapsing, like an avalanche falling.
The most terrifying thing was still her Zhai Sword, arriving with the blizzard.
Just as his fastest sword couldn’t outpace Xu Yourong’s, her sword, no matter how strong, couldn’t directly break through him.
He calmed his mind, held his sword horizontally before him, and raised it level with his brow.
His movements were natural, like the thirty thousand sword raises he had practiced over the past six months.
Holding the sword horizontally formed the character “one.”
The cliff stood stubborn, the iron chains reappeared, the dike was eternally firm.
This was that clumsy sword move that even Su Li hadn’t been able to learn.
The avalanche came, the wind howled mournfully, and snow particles flew like arrows.
The Zhai Sword, carrying wind and snow, arrived and heavily struck the Stainless Sword.
This time, when the two swords met, there was no crisp clang, but a thunderous boom.
It was as if a god in the sky held a hammer and struck heavily on an anvil!
All the accumulated snow on the bridge was blasted into the air.
The Luo River beneath the bridge surged and undulated.
The Zhai Sword struck down!
An unimaginably vast force landed on the blade of the Stainless Sword.
The crumbling ten-thousand-year-old snow directly smashed through the seemingly hard cliff, rushed into the great river, and began to incessantly batter the iron chains and dike within the water!
Accompanied by an extremely harsh sound, the Stainless Sword bent slightly!
The clumsy sword that Chen Changsheng had never had broken since mastering it now showed signs of collapse!
He had long prepared for this. His left hand had somehow already grasped the Hidden Blade scabbard. With a clatter, the scabbard sheathed the blade of the Stainless Sword.
His left hand held the scabbard, his right hand the hilt, holding it horizontally before him to withstand the blow!
The booming continued without pause.
The violent impact kept coming.
Crack, crack, crack, crack!
The sound of hard objects breaking rang out continuously in the wind and snow.
Through the wind and snow, Chen Changsheng’s figure could be seen retreating without stop!
The blizzard gradually subsided, the Luo River calmed, and the Bridge of Helplessness became clear again.
Xu Yourong held the Zhai Sword, calmly looking at the opposite side, still silent.
Two distinct grooves were carved into the hard surface of the Bridge of Helplessness.
Chen Changsheng stood at the end of the two grooves, his feet sunk into them, with a pile of gravel behind him.
His shoes and pants were completely shattered, making him look somewhat disheveled.
He suddenly began to cough, coughing painfully.
Just one sword.
And he had sustained internal injuries.
The people on both banks of the Luo River couldn’t see the scene on the bridge clearly, only the sudden burst of wind and snow and the ensuing dust, eliciting countless exclamations.
On the great ship, it remained silent.
Even the King of Linghai and the others didn’t mock or sneer at Chen Changsheng, because no matter how disheveled or injured he was, he had still blocked that sword.
That was enough.
These experts saw clearly that Xu Yourong’s Great Avalanche move was something even an ordinary early Star Condensation expert couldn’t possibly block.
This was the terror of bloodline talent—even if her realm was inferior to her opponent’s, she could still overwhelm them with her sheer quantity of true essence and strength of divine sense.
Chen Changsheng looked at Xu Yourong, his gaze falling on the white veil, and found that he still couldn’t see through it.
He couldn’t see through her—he knew Xu Yourong was strong, but he hadn’t expected that this girl, who gave off a pure and ethereal feeling, could be this powerful, even surpassing the realm of domineering and faintly possessing a kingly aura. Was the Phoenix truly a born king?
After their journey together on the Never-Setting Grasslands and their cultivation dialogue in the Snow Temple, he had once thought that someone like First Meeting Girl was the most talented cultivator, and Xu Yourong was at most her equal. But now it seemed she was even stronger than First Meeting Girl.
Xu Yourong walked slowly through the wind and snow, holding the Zhai Sword casually in her right hand, like a fairy descending from the clouds to the earth. It was hard to associate her with the terrifying, avalanche-like sword from before.
The calmer and more indifferent she was, the easier it was to make one feel she was invincible.
How could one defeat such a powerful opponent?
Chen Changsheng had pondered this question for many days and prepared for a full seven days.
A light clatter sounded on the Bridge of Helplessness.
The Stainless Sword slid into its scabbard—not to sheathe it, but to connect the hilt and scabbard end to end. Naturally, the blade couldn’t be hidden; instead, the sword lengthened abruptly, its edge fully exposed.
Back in Xunyang City, when facing Zhu Luo, he had done this before, paying homage to his favorite senior brother, Yu Ren, and Wang Po, and also showing respect to her on the other side of the wind and snow.
A sword intent appeared on the Bridge of Helplessness, within the wind and snow.
This sword intent emerged so suddenly, yet there was nothing eerie about it. Instead, it was exceptionally open, upright, and deserved, giving a feeling of righteousness.
This sword intent was very straight, very direct.
This sword intent was very hot, very passionate.
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(I’ll try to write more tonight, but the update will really be very, very late at night. Everyone, don’t wait.)