Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
Xiao Yan’s voice echoed continuously between heaven and earth as the Cangming Swordmaster stared at him with deathly eyes. His face appeared colder than it had ever been.
His small and infirm frame was just standing there in midair like the eye of a hurricane, and he emanated a terrifying aura.
The Cangming Swordmaster’s expression was dark as he swung the Cangming Ancient Sword through the sky and slashed at Xiao Yan with another strike of the Dark Boundary Sword Technique.
Xiao Yan laughed heartily as he pushed out with his right hand once more. Red lights flashed in the center of his palm as an aura of absolute evil flowed out from within.
The borders of heaven and earth seemed to tremble along with it. The ferocious and sinister Netherworld Sea was separated by endless void space yet felt extremely close by, and its eyes were open at this moment as it watched the Cangming Swordmaster.
The Netherworld Sea was charged with the endless calamities and catastrophes of the world. Bright red lights flickered inside, as if they were going to aggregate into an enormous pillar.
A portion of these bright red lights was triggered and transformed into rolling tides that pierced through space and through the void as it condensed into the center of Xiao Yan’s palm.
The Cangming Swordmaster glared at Xiao Yan. He was just scolded by Xiao Yan in front of everyone and he was infuriated, and it had been many years since he felt such humiliation.
The Cangming Swordmaster wouldn’t have been this indignant under other circumstances.
However, Xiao Yan’s words were not just disputing the Cangming Swordmaster’s personal efforts throughout his life, he also started his tirade from Mount Shu’s opening ancestor, the Sword Ancestor Ren Changmei and went all the way down to various generations of Mount Shu elders. He was practically going against the Mount Shu Sword Sect’s faith and beliefs all the way from the Antiquity Age till today.
For the Cangming Swordmster, who had been lost during the war of Mount Shu and subsequently reformed his sword heart and chose his path, the internal conflicts that he experienced about the things that he had to do was unbeknownst to the world. He dared to go against the traditions of history and even took the current sect leader, Ji Wenrui, hostage. He went into epic battle with a member of his sect, the Tiangang Swordmaster, who he had known for countless years
Under such circumstances, no matter how calm and composed he was, Xiao Yan blew off his top and he couldn’t get any angrier.
He was a great sword cultivator who had achieved his success during the Middle Ages after all. Even though he didn’t participate in the war between the worlds like the Tiangang Swordmaster did, his experiences in battle were equally rich.
His intense rage and all kinds of negative emotions quickly disappeared, but the cold and murderous look in the Cangming Swordmaster’s eyes were practically in solid form.
All sensations of indignance and hatred were converted to complete composure and iciness at this point, and all he wanted was for Xiao Yan to die under his blade.
He channeled the True Fruit of the Vast Heaven Saintly Sword and unleashed the Dark Boundary Sword Technique once more. He blanketed across all things as he tore across the sky towards Xiao Yan, and that frightening force caused even Chu Yang, Luo Qingwu and Zhuge Zhan to feel a chill run down their spines.
Xiao Yan drew upon the Heavenly Catastrophe inside the Netherworld Sea as he fended off every single sword radiance released by the Cangming Swordmaster. The two of them instantly engaged in furious battle on top of Mount Shu and below the Saintly Celestial Primordial Sword Formation.
The Cangming Swordmaster stared at Xiao Yan coldly and thought to himself, “When the individuals from the Great Void Sect drew upon the power of the Netherworld Sea, they would break open the crack of the Netherworld Sea and directly incur its catastrophes onto the Greater World. Third-level immortal soul stage cultivators using such a skill would achieve a level of power that could rival that of Vipralopa Stage powerhouses.”
“This kid is only in the first-level immortal soul stage, but he can possibly fight against third-level immortal soul sage cultivators with his skill and ability. However, the power of that insidious red light is ultimately not enough to reach the level of the Vipralopa Stage.”
“Yet, he hasn’t opened the crack of the Netherworld Sea yet. Could it be that he can’t do it as he can’t withstand the pressure from the Netherworld Sea, or could it be because this was the Divine Lands and he didn’t want to cause destruction to this place? It’s just… that red light is peculiar and is different from the people of the Great Void Sect who need to directly open the crack of the Netherworld Sea.”
Xiao Yan’s eyes were fixed upon the Cangming Swordmaster. He didn’t turn around, but he said to Luo Qingwu and the three others, “Little junior sister, Mister Zhuge, Chu Yang, please step back.”
Between the flashes of red light, his right hand continued to block off the repeated assaults from the Cangming Swordmaster while he slowly opened his left hand.
His fingers spread out, and every single finger began to radiate with firelight. What made it more terrifying was the fact that all five spheres of raging flames were distinct from one another.
Extreme justice, Yang and purity, like the ancestor of all flames and the origin of fire itself, a milky white flame – the Pure Yang Primordial Fire.
Blinding like the sun, with fire like radiant needles, a golden-colored flame – the Grand Sun Primordial Fire.
Dense flames with red and blue colors jumping around inside a golden flame – the Nanming Primordial Fire.
Vast and weighty, with an appearance like it was a solid as if it was the earth itself, and a green flame – the True Torch of Ksitigarbha.
Blooming like lotus flowers, red flames as if they were about to send people into samsara – the Red Lotus Fire.
Five peak-level primordial fires were there, and they had only just appeared when the space all around were burned into dust.
Xiao Yan said quietly, “My skills are far too violent and explosive. If I unleash them here, the Divine Lands along this region will be extremely affected and there would be great collateral damage without a chance to recover for a long time. It’s not very different from opening the crack of the Netherworld Sea, a kind of wave-like baptism.”
“If you stop now, there’s still a chance – if not, Mount Shu will be laid to complete ruin.”
The Cangming Swordmaster wasn’t angry. Instead, he was amused as he said, “If the Saintly Celestial Sword isn’t reborn today, then Mount Shu will enter eternal darkness without an inch of light. What’s the point of simply limping along in our existence?”
“Nobody can stop the rebirth of the Saintly Celestial Sword today!”
With that, the Cangming Swordmaster lashed out at Xiao Yan with another strike at once. Xiao Yan scoffed and laughed coldly as he said, “I will play around with you in other times, but today’s situation is a little special and let’s just get it over with.”
The fingers on his left hand closed and he began to cast a spell as the five primordial fires on his fingertips began to fuse together.
The raging flames vanished in almost an instant, and there was but a strange-looking lotus throne on Xiao Yan’s left hand instead.
The lotus throne was green at the bottom, like a lotus leaf, and the layer above that was a brilliant red color. The layer above that was pure golden and flickered with needle-like radiance that was painful for the eyes to look at.
The topmost layer was milky white like a 莲蓬and there were two golden-colored petals swaying in the wind on top of it that flashed with red and blue hues.
Even the Cangming Swordmaster frowned a little the moment this lotus flower appeared as he could feel the intense power of extreme annihilation coming from within.
This level of power was already far greater than the limits of most third-level immortal soul stage cultivators, and even an individual in the Cardinal Tribulations Beginning Stage like the Cangming Swordmaster would have to treat this very seriously.
Following Xiao Yan’s rise in mastery, he became more adept with the Heaven Fire Lotus and even the Penta Fire Lotus could be channeled at whim. The power of this Heaven Fire Lotus was also amplified.
Anybody hit by this Heaven Fire Lotus, even if they were third-level immortal soul stage cultivators, would likely be eliminated in one strike.
This strike was enough to threaten the safety of individuals in the Cardinal Tribulations Beginning Stage.
However, the Cangming Swordmaster was unafraid as he knew that even though Xiao Yan’s spell was extremely violent and explosive and contained intense amounts of energy that destroyed Dao, it was because of this very fact that Xiao Yan could only unleash the Penta Fire Lotus once as he was only in the first-level immortal soul stage.
Immortal soul stage cultivators were one with the world, and could absorb the spiritual energy around them if they wanted to. Their powers were nearly boundless, but Xiao Yan’s Penta Fire Lotus would damage his own immortal soul if he used it and it would take a while before he could recover. He would enter a state of exhaustion the moment he threw out the Penta Fire Lotus.
Most third-level immortal soul stage cultivators, even people like the Xiangliu Grand Sage and Ning Wan’ge who had already begun their tribulations, would probably not be able to withstand Xiao Yan’s single strike. However, for the Cangming Swordmaster’s level of mastery, it was a lot more likely.
However, what made the Cangming Swordmaster a little fearful was the Xiao Yan’s right hand could still incur the Heavenly Catastrophe’s power.
Both forces could be unleashed at the same time, and it would heap immense pressure for even the Cangming Swordmaster.
He took a deep breath as he threw the Cangming Ancient Sword into the sky before he channeled the True Fruit of the Vast Heaven Saintly Sword and infused it into the Cangming Ancient Sword.
Finally, his entire body flew into the sky and his immortal soul was converted into a ray of green light and integrated into the Cangming Ancient Sword.
The Cangming Ancient Sword flashed once and disappeared in an instant.
The Cangming Swordmaster’s immortal soul was infused into the sword, and he channeled his personal power and mastery of swordplay to the highest possible level. He flashed once in the sky before he launched himself towards Xiao Yan.
The green sword radiance created a world, and heaven and earth began to close up and collapse into a single plane. The planar world subsequently vanished and collapsed into a single line.
This line flickered once and disappeared as well – everything was condensed into a singular point.
The destruction of the world was embodied in this dot. This dot completely disregarded the distance and entirely ignored the passage of time – from the moment it appeared, it arrived right in front of Xiao Yan!
Only when it came into contact with Xiao Yan’s red light, the dot became visible as it caused the brilliant red light to wither and break apart continuously.
Xiao Yan knew that without the obstruction from the Heavenly Catastrophe’s light, this dot would have appeared directly on his immortal soul and would have broken right through his immortal soul.
This sword was the Cangming Swordmaster’s strongest possible strike. With this effort, the Cangming Swordmaster returned to the peak of his strength before the destruction of his sword heart, and displayed the true offensive power of a cultivator that was only a step away from reaching the Vipralopa Stage.
The pure destructive power of this sword was almost enough to rival that of a Vipralopa Stage powerhouse.
Just at this moment, the Heaven Fire Lotus in Xiao Yan’s left hand and the light of the Heavenly Catastrophe in his right hand abruptly joined together before it launched out against the green light dot formed by the Cangming Swordmaster.
An empty patch suddenly soundlessly appeared in this particular space – everything was just annihilated, and all that was left was the Chaos.
The green light dot expanded in an instant and reverted back into a line before it was converted back into a plane, and heaven and earth reappeared once again as the green world immediately began to crumble into pieces.
Green lights danced around as boundless volumes of raging fire and a sea of red light permeated the heavens. They swept across everything, and besides the area covered by the Saintly Celestial Primordial Sword Formation, everything else was just completely destroyed.
Luo Qingwu, Chu Yang and Zhuge Zhan were reminded by Xiao Yan to move backwards previously. Otherwise, they would have been swept into this hurricane and they would have had a difficult time.
The Mount Shu mountain ranges were completely unprotected and started to collapse all at once. If not for the fact that the people of Mount Shu had been swept into the Saintly Celestial Primordial Sword Formation before this, they would have perished as collateral damage from the ripples of this collision.
The green light world shattered and the Cangming Ancient Sword appeared once more. Under the relentless assault of furious flames and the sinister red light, the Cangming Swordmaster’s immortal soul was forcibly shook out from the Cangming Ancient Sword.
The collision and repeated outbursts were so violent that even the Cangming Swordmaster was injured.
However, he laughed as heartily as he could and suppressed his injuries as he grasped the Cangming Ancient Sword in his hands once more and pounced towards Xiao Yan yet again.