Chapter 12: The Great Avalanche
With a muffled boom!
All the snowflakes on the bridge danced wildly, surging forward with the Zhai Sword.
Countless snowflakes fell, and Chen Changsheng’s vision turned completely white.
He could see nothing, only sensing the terrifying power of the sword behind the snowy mist.
He felt as if he had entered an illusion, facing not Xu Yourong’s sword, but an avalanche.
The thousand-year-old ice and snow on the southern cliff of Saintess 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 silent.
On the great ship, it was deathly still.
Neither Mao Qiuyu nor the King of Linghai spoke a word.
Tang Thirty-Six clenched his fists tightly, yet he couldn’t stop them from trembling slightly.
Su Moyu’s face was pale, her lips moving faintly as if murmuring something.
Zhe Xiu’s pupils had turned red at some point, and his hand gripping the crutch tightened with hidden force.
All of this was because of the snowy mist on the Bridge of Helplessness and the sword behind it.
Tang Thirty-Six and Su Moyu knew they couldn’t block this sword. Unless they used life-saving artifacts, they would either be severely wounded or worse... And this was only 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.
Zhe Xiu thought differently, but he too had to acknowledge the terror of Xu Yourong’s sword.
Her innate bloodline was simply too powerful.
Aside from Qiushan Jun’s True Dragon bloodline and Luoluo’s White Emperor bloodline, who in the world could contend with it?
Even the several peak Star Condensation experts standing at the ship’s bow, only a step away from the sacred realm, 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 the gift itself?
Yet interestingly, even at this moment, having witnessed Xu Yourong’s avalanche-like, overwhelming 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, the many Star Condensation initial-stage experts who had fallen to his sword had long proven that he was no ordinary Tongyou upper-stage cultivator.
Xu Yourong’s sword momentum was like a cliff collapsing, like a great avalanche.
The most terrifying part was still her Zhai Sword, arriving with the blizzard.
Just as his fastest sword couldn’t outpace Xu Yourong’s, her strongest sword 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 times he had raised his sword over the past six months.
The horizontal sword formed a single stroke—a line.
The cliff stood stubborn, the iron chains reappeared, the great dike remained eternal.
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 pellets flew like arrows.
The Zhai Sword, carrying wind and snow, struck heavily against the Stainless Sword.
This time, when the two swords met, there was no crisp ring but a thunderous boom.
It was as if a god in the sky had taken a hammer and slammed it onto an anvil!
All the snow on the bridge was blasted into the air.
The Luo River beneath the bridge surged and churned.
The Zhai Sword struck down!
An unimaginably vast force landed on the blade of the Stainless Sword.
The collapsing ten-thousand-year-old snow directly shattered the seemingly hard cliff, rushed into the great river, and began to relentlessly batter the iron chains and the dike within the current!
With an extremely grating sound, the Stainless Sword bent slightly!
The clumsy sword, which Chen Changsheng had never seen broken since mastering it, showed signs of collapse at this moment!
He had prepared for this. His left hand had already grasped the Hidden Blade sheath. With a sharp sound, the sheath slid over the blade of the Stainless Sword.
His left hand held the sheath, his right hand the hilt, and he braced it horizontally before him, taking the blow head-on!
The booming continued without pause.
The storm kept battering.
Crack, crack, crack, crack!
The sound of hard objects breaking rang out continuously in the wind and snow.
Through the blizzard, Chen Changsheng’s figure could be seen retreating step by step!
The storm gradually subsided, the Luo River calmed, and the Bridge of Helplessness became clear again.
Xu Yourong held the Zhai Sword, gazing calmly 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, a pile of gravel behind him.
His shoes and pants were torn to shreds, making him look somewhat disheveled.
He suddenly began to cough, painfully.
Just one sword.
And he was already internally injured.
The people on both banks of the Luo River couldn’t see the scene on the bridge clearly, only the sudden wind and snow and the ensuing dust, triggering 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 technique was something even an ordinary Star Condensation initial-stage cultivator couldn’t handle.
This was the terror of bloodline talent—even if her realm was lower, she could still crush you with the sheer quantity of her true essence and the intensity of her spiritual sense.
Chen Changsheng looked at Xu Yourong, his gaze falling on the white veil, finding 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 an ethereal and pure impression, could be this powerful. It even surpassed mere dominance, faintly exuding a kingly aura. Was a phoenix truly a born sovereign?
After traveling and fighting together on the Never-Setting Grassland and conversing about cultivation in the Snow Temple, he had once thought that someone like Miss First Meeting was the most talented cultivator, and Xu Yourong was at most her equal. But now, it seemed she was even stronger than Miss First Meeting.
Xu Yourong walked slowly through the wind and snow, the Zhai Sword dangling casually in her right hand, like a fairy descending from the clouds to the earth. It was hard to connect her with the terrifying avalanche-like sword from moments ago.
The calmer and more indifferent she was, the more she seemed invincible.
How could one defeat such a powerful opponent?
Chen Changsheng had pondered this question for many days, preparing for a full seven days.
A soft click sounded on the Bridge of Helplessness.
The Stainless Sword slid into its sheath—not to sheathe it, but with the hilt and sheath connected end to end, naturally not hiding the blade. Instead, the sword’s length suddenly extended, its edge fully exposed.
Back in Xunyang City, when facing Zhu Luo, he had done this before, paying tribute to his favorite senior brother, Yu Ren, and Wang Po, as well as 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 without any hint of strangeness. Instead, it felt exceptionally open, upright, and deserved, giving a sense of righteousness.
This sword intent was very straight, very direct.
This sword intent was very hot, very fervent.
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(I’ll try to write more tonight, but the update will really be very, very late. Everyone, don’t wait up.)