Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
She saw the valiant and prideful youth in purple clothes and shouted immediately, “Senior Xiao Yan!”
The arriving party was the Celestial Sect of Wonders’ most senior disciple, the person who was also anchoring down Mount Kun Lun – Xiao Yan!
Red lights flickered in the center of his palm and a violent and brutal aura emanated from within. It felt intensely evil and appeared to cast a gloomy shadow over the whole world.
The flashing red lights seemed to foreshadow the descent of innumerable calamities upon the world and humanity would be sent on a path to destruction, as if this was the apocalypse itself.
The violent destructive aura gave even the Cangming Swordmaster a chill up his spine. Even though its power was limited, this concept of power was so evil and insidious and was something that the Cangming Swordmaster had rarely seen before in his entire life, aside from Lin Feng’s Heaven-Destroying Sword those years ago.
It was like the entire world of destiny would be destroyed by it, by an unstoppable heavenly catastrophe.
The red luster continued to flicker on his palm as he extended his palm outwards and blocked the Cangming Swordmaster’s Dark Boundary Sword Technique. The red lights and green lights collided together at once.
When both forces clashed together, purple demonic fire sparkled inside the red lights, along with thread-like black winds and the dull yellow color of the River Styx Primordial Water and other catastrophes of the world as they surged around and eventually aggregated together to form a power so disastrous and brutal that all others were hopeless in the face of it. The green sword radiance and the world that it formed was immediately laid to ruin.
The red lights were also slashed apart by the green sword radiance, but very quickly came back together.
The Cangming Swordmaster stared at Xiao Yan’s palm and his expression betrayed a look of astonishment. “That… that seems to be the Netherworld Sea’s power. Yet, it appears to be even darker and more solidified and far more sinister. What exactly is it…”
Xiao Yan turned towards Luo Qingwu and smiled as he said, “Congratulations on reaching the immortal soul stage, little junior. May you live a long and fruitful life.”
“You have also attained the immortal soul after fourth junior sister, and this is yet another cause for celebration for the Celestial Sect of Wonders.”
He glanced at Zhuge Zhan and Chu Yang and nodded his head. “Mister Zhuge and Chu Yang, the two of you have toiled as well and congratulations to you for reaching the immortal soul stage as well.”
He finished speaking and his gaze returned to the Cangming Swordmaster. He laughed coldly at his adversary and said, “I thought you were staying behind to keep watch over Mount Shu while the Tiangang Swordmaster ventured out on the offensive. But it seems like that’s not the case at all?”
The Cangming Swordmaster returned Xiao Yan’s gaze and his expression became a lot more solemn than before. “There have been people in the Great Void Sect who are known to be able to channel the Netherworld Sea’s power. Could it be that this kid can do so as well? If that’s the case, then even though he’s young, he’s quite a powerful opponent.”
Various thoughts flashed by in the Cangming Swordmaster’s head, but his movement didn’t slow down at all. The Cangming Ancient Sword swung through the sky as its sword tip pointed directly at Xiao Yan.
A green sphere of light glimmered at the tip of the ancient green sword. It appeared no larger than a fist, yet it felt like it was an entire world.
It was the Cangming Swordmaster’s True Fruit of the Vast Heaven Saintly Sword!
The Cangming Swordmaster tilted his Cangming Ancient Sword lightly and the green-colored true fruit immediately transformed into a beam of green light that slashed open heaven and earth in an instant and cut down towards Xiao Yan.
It wasn’t the same as his previous strike when it felt as if heaven and earth were about to collapse together into a single plane. The Cangming Swordmaster’s strike appeared to cause even this plane to disappear and the cleave the entire world into a single line.
Xiao Yan became a lot more serious as he faced off against this level of power. However, the coldness of his expression remained on his face as the red lights that were flashing in his palm radiated even more brightly.
The shrill wails and cries of banshees and ultimate catastrophes seemed to exude from the red lights as the violent power appeared like it was going to annihilate the skies and the earth once again.
The red and green lights collided once again. The red lights were pierced through by the green light and it was being dissipated continuously. It was difficult for the red lights to condense back together, but the green lights were also breaking apart and it was hard for them to maintain themselves either.
The world that was converted into a single lane trembled vigorously and expanded once more to become a plane before the borders of heaven and earth separated again. However, during the process, the world formed by the green sword radiance crumbled into pieces and gradually vanished into nothingness.
Xiao Yan withdrew his right hand and raised his eyebrows. He had stayed behind inside the Netherworld Sea before the beginning of the war between the worlds and studied the Heavenly Catastrophe and the power of the Netherworld Sea meticulously, and he was fruitful in his endeavors.
Today, he could break open the barrier to the Netherworld Sea if he wanted to. However, he was in the Divine Lands and he wouldn’t direct the power of the Netherworld Sea into the Divine Lands unless he had no choice. The reason was because it would cause destruction for thousands of kilometers around and would lay this region of the human world to rubble and ruin.
His situation was dissimilar to Wu Mengqi or the Nether Priest that came before. Xiao Yan’s connection with the Heavenly Catastrophe was a lot more intimate and he could infuse part of the Heavenly Catastrophe’s power onto himself. Even though it wasn’t as violent or brutal as directly releasing the Netherworld Sea’s power, it gave him enough strength to face off against a great sword cultivator like the Cangming Swordmaster and he wasn’t at a disadvantage.
The Cangming Swordmaster eyed Xiao Yan closely as the Cangming Ancient Sword quivered in his hands. His thunderous voice resonated between the skies once more as he said, “Who would have thought? Who would have thought that you have had your own share of serendipitous encounters and miraculous discoveries besides Zhu Yi and the Higan Golden Bridge? Could it be that the heavens truly favor the Celestial Sect of Wonders?”
He released a long breath. “Today is the day of Mount Shu’s Saintly Celestial Sword’s rebirth and heaven and earth will help us – nobody will stop it from happening.”
“Your strength has far exceeded my expectations, but don’t think you can spoil this glorious occasion!”
Xiao Yan looked at the Cangming Swordmaster and suddenly laughed. He tilted his head to the side and said to Luo Qingwu who was now back in her human form from her sword radiance Taiji Diagram.
“Little junior sister, do you know that looking at him reminds me of a story that master once told us a long time ago.”
“That was when we first entered under, and when master took us to explore the world. Besides our adventures and cultivation, master would tell us stories about how he roamed the world and about all the different things that he had seen and the interesting bits.”
“Some things happened in the normal human world, but I still found it rather interesting when I heard it back then.”
“I remember that when you first entered the sect and when you were still young, you kept bugging me and little junior brother to share the stories with you and we did share many.”
Luo Qingwu’s eyes sparkled once. “Senior Xiao Yan, are you referring to…”
Xiao Yan turned back and his vision landed upon the Cangming Swordmaster once more. There were traces of amusement on his face, but even this amusement was conspicuously cold and chilly.
The Cangming Swordmaster’s brows creased as Xiao Yan laughed coldly and said, “I originally thought that you, as a supreme elder of the human world, would contribute greatly to the war between the worlds when you came out of the mountain once more. Who would have thought that you would do something as underhanded and despicable as this?”
“I know a little about your history and identity. You were already a grown man during the Middle Ages, but you have never participated in a single war between the worlds.”
“It’s fine and normal if you choose to defend the Mount Shu’s mountain gate. But what are you doing now? Look at the Tiangang Swordmaster, your senior. It was his sweat and blood and his valiant battles inside the Barren Expanses that regained some of Mount Shu’s reputation. The other great sword sects chose to give up their old grudges and feuds against Mount Shu during the war between the worlds and chose to trust you guys, to build the Nine Heavens Primordial Sword Formation. Even at this point, what exactly are you doing?”
“I may be young, but I know about Mount Shu. Mount Shu’s ancestor, Ren Changmei, created the Saintly Celestial Sword Qi with a grand will to create a new world for swordplay. He wanted to reform the world, and finally enjoyed the reputation of being the origin and ancestor of all swords.”
“But afterwards, he discovered that he could use the power of the Saintly Celestial Sword Qi to permeate the world and channel the other swordplay of the world to feed the Mount Shu’s Saintly Celestial Sword, and eventually wallowed in this endeavor – it was a wrong turn after all.”
“It was because he stepped on this path that every time the Saintly Celestial Sword was damaged or even destroyed, it could be reborn extremely quickly, till the time when master used the Heaven-Destroying Sword to incur the Saintly Celestial Catastrophe and ruined its chances at being reborn.”
Xiao Yan’s eyebrows furrowed as he continued, “The Mount Shu Sword Sect seemed to have taken advantage of this over the years, but the Mount Shu Sword Sect was giving up their identity. The Sword Ancestor himself had forgotten, and all of you have forgotten, that the true meaning of Mount Shu’s Saintly Celestial Sword Qi is to open the world and continue to absorb and create. In the end, it has become a cyclical sword mind that relies on one sword to assimilate all others and all other swords will feed back into one sword – the Mount Shu Sword Sect has sealed itself ever since then!”
“The most powerful individual in the history of the Mount Shu Sword Sect was your opening ancestor, the Sword Ancestor, Ren Changmei. His mastery with the sword and his mantras shook the world back then and remains impressive even today. However, he was never able to go beyond the Vipralopa Stage. Not a single person of Mount Shu’s successors has reached the same level as he did, let alone overtake him. Have you guys never thought about the reason behind that?”
“Perhaps Ren Changmei himself wasn’t aware, or maybe he was. He was caught between his desire to control all the sword minds of the world and knowing that he was doing something wrong and entered a state of self-doubt. Before he could make a decision, he perished at the hands of Shenyuan, the Emperor of Extremity and he never had the chance again.”
“Mount Shu had a chance to break the cycle and start anew but Mount Shu decided to ignore this opportunity and chose to take the same road as before – that’s just plain stupidity!”
Xiao Yan’s voice echoed throughout the skies. The Tiangang Swordmaster was still fighting the Saintly Celestial Sword and the Saintly Celestial Primordial Sword Formation, and he didn’t say a word as he heard Xiao Yan’s remarks. The Cangming Swordmaster’s face turned as black as ever and he replied, “How old are you, even? How much do you even know about swordplay? How much do you know about history? You dare to discuss the Sword Ancestor with all your conspiracy theories, and you dare to speak ill of the path the Mount Shu Sword Sect decided to take?”
“Your master’s Heaven-Destroying Sword will never be where it is today, if it hadn’t slashed our Saintly Celestial Sword into half. The Great Void Sect no longer dares to antagonize the Celestial Sect of Wonders, and the demons of the Barren Expanses lay in fear and terror as a result. You little bastard – how can you speak such nonsense before me?”
“If the Saintly Celestial Sword destroyed the Heaven-Destroying Sword on that fateful day, the Saintly Celestial Sword would have risen to another level and broke through the chains of history. The Celestial Sect of Wonders have humiliated us for your rise to power today, and you dare to speak so ridiculously before me…”
“Shut up, despicable old hag! Are you aware that everybody in the world is willing to feast on your flesh, and you still dare to speak like that?” Xiao Yan roared with a straight face, “The conflict between our sects, between the Saintly Celestial Sword and the Heaven-Destroying Sword was a contest of personal ability and prowess. Even if there were underhanded tactics in play, there would be a eventually be a final showdown. How can you just stand there today and betray everyone’s trust, how can you be so dishonorable? You’re almost spinning up complete lies, and you’re filling up your own pockets in the midst of everything, at everyone’s expense!”
“The other sword sects threw away their past grudges in the name of fighting against the invading demons, and because of the immense efforts that the Tiangang Swordmaster and the others have placed in this valiant endeavor. This is the reason why they trust Mount Shu today. And you – not only have you betrayed the trust of the other swordmasters in the world, you have betrayed the trust of your own sect. All their blood and sweat will be for naught because of your actions!”
“If the Tiangang Swordmaster hadn’t been injured in his fight against the Earth Dragon King, do you think you could have withstood him so easily?”
“If you can’t see the real path that the Mount Shu Sword Sect should take, then you should just withdraw yourself and cultivate in silence. How dare you speak so outrageously? You peasant, you bearded old bastard, you may have been alive for a long time, but you have never had a single achievement in your entire life and all you know how to do is spin lies, twist logic and employ underhanded tactics!”
“You’re just a dog without a backbone and you dare to bark like that! I have never seen a person as thick-skinned and shameless as you!”