Chapter 328
Chapter 328
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: [Unknown]
Chapter Title: One Sword Subdues the Heavens
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While assisting his divided soul in breaking through the tribulation in the Heaven of Non-existence, Lu Yang kept a close eye on the battlefield between Perfected Being Demon-Quelling and the Profound Spirit Realm.
To be honest, he was a bit worried.
After all, Perfected Being Demon-Quelling was just one man. For some reason, the Jade Pivot Sword Pavilion hadn't sent any other reinforcements at all—just a handful of stragglers.
But on second thought, Lu Yang calmed down.
In his view, the cultivators of the Profound Spirit Realm were far too naive. What kind of backwater hole was this? Did they really think everyone would fight them on equal terms?
'Never mind that the Sword Pavilion only sent Perfected Being Demon-Quelling—they must have absolute confidence in him. Even if a real crisis arose, would the Sword Pavilion's True Lords just sit idly by? At the very least, that Ye family Heaven-Receiving Orthodox Virtue True Lord would slice them apart with a single sword qi from afar!'
They had precedent, after all.
Back then, how unparalleled was Ancestor You? And yet he'd been felled by exactly such a sword. To a True Lord, early Foundation Establishment and peak Foundation Establishment were no different.
But soon enough, Lu Yang realized he'd been the naive one.
There was no need for any True Lord to intervene.
High above the vault of heaven, Perfected Being Demon-Quelling stood with hands clasped behind his back. His sword remained sheathed as he simply manifested the vista of his blessed land, blocking every last invader from the Profound Spirit Realm!
"Fellow Daoist, stay your hand."
Perfected Being Demon-Quelling let out a sigh.
"The Four Directions Dao Lords weave their schemes, feasting upon myriad worlds and heavens."
"Fellow Daoist's Profound Spirit Realm is one of the larger ones. With fruit positions still extant in the world and brief contact thus far, there's time to flee. Depart at once and sever all ties to this realm—there's still hope of survival. Linger, and in time, your entire world will be reduced to ashes."
Perfected Being Demon-Quelling spoke with utmost sincerity, but Celestial Immortal Minghua simply couldn't comprehend.
Dao Lord? What realm was that?
More importantly...
He still believed he held the advantage. Demon-Quelling's strength had exceeded expectations, but victory was still firmly in his grasp!
"Behold the Spirit Sun!"
In the next instant, Celestial Immortal Minghua formed a hand seal. A wheel of heavenly fire materialized above his head, cradled in his palm. It radiated boundless light and heat, its orange-red brilliance scattering in all directions. All things warped and twisted in its glow, as if drawn inexorably into that blazing orb!
This treasure was his greatest trump card for the expedition.
Known as the Spirit Sun—as its name implied—it was the sun of the Profound Spirit Realm made manifest, refined by that realm's supreme authority!
"Rumble!"
In a flash, the roaring heavenly fire surged forth like a ravenous gluttonous beast, devouring all in its path without mercy. Even Perfected Being Demon-Quelling couldn't help but furrow his brow.
Such tactics posed him no threat.
Yet Ye Guyue behind him, Ye Xingfeng, and the cluster of early Foundation Establishment cultivators clearly couldn't endure.
Celestial Immortal Minghua had seen right through it.
'You wish to shield these people!'
'A rigid pedant, then. Very well—I'll use them to divide your focus. As your power wanes and mine surges, no matter your prowess, you cannot best me!'
Celestial Immortal Minghua's scheme was flawless. Urging the Spirit Sun onward, waves of orange-red fire seas crashed one after another—plainly aimed at wholesale slaughter. They engulfed not only the Perfected Beings arrayed behind Demon-Quelling but sought to raze the thousands of miles of fertile earth below as well!
At this sight, Perfected Being Demon-Quelling's expression of pity finally hardened. His hand fell to the dharma sword at his waist.
The blade was named Not Killing. Its guard was etched with Heavenly Gang North Dipper array patterns; its hilt wrapped in five-colored shark silk to summon thunder; its sheath clad in profound turtle shell leather bearing the river chart; its tassel knotted from Supreme Taiyi green bristle grass seeds.
"...Heaven's will."
A soft sigh echoed.
Before the words fully faded, sword intent pierced the firmament. Perfected Being Demon-Quelling drew forth a three-foot stream of flowing light from its sheath, instantly overwhelming the entire visible expanse of heaven and earth.
This strike began as the Silver River shattering clouds, its momentum like a white rainbow plunging into a valley stream.
Wherever it passed, winds crystallized, lights stagnated into haze. The sword's cry had yet to rise when it crushed the heavenly sun and flying fires into reversal; its afterimage had barely arrived when the layered clouds of the nine heavens tore asunder like silk.
Sword light congealed frost into edges, shattered jade into rays. Azure and white intertwined upon it, like a cyan dragon bearing the moon—impartial and centered—as it cleaved unerringly into the vast fire sea conjured by Celestial Immortal Minghua. It swept the entire inferno along, surging skyward before detonating at the firmament's zenith.
"Splish-splash!"
What should have been a sound vast as silence descended instead as a balmy breeze. Remnant rays coalesced into an azure luan pursuing the sun; sword qi dispersed into white deer bearing branches.
'What a sword beam!'
Lu Yang witnessed it all crystal clear. Compared to this strike, the sword lights of other Sword Pavilion Perfected Beings scarcely qualified as swords!
This was no mere divine ability!
'No wonder the Jade Pivot Sword Pavilion dares claim supremacy in combat. This must be the Pavilion's true essence... formidably beyond comprehension!'
Celestial Immortal Minghua and the three Earth Immortals behind him had all been swept away by Perfected Being Demon-Quelling's sword, cast to the firmament's zenith and adrift in the skies. Only seven Human Immortals—equivalent to mid Foundation Establishment—remained in place, their faces etched with terror. Each was bathed in blood, all struck severely in the same instant!
"Strike now!"
Almost in unison, Ye Guyue sent via divine sense.
"They've been struck by Uncle's Not-Killing Sword Intent. Their battle power is less than half their peak!"
Celestial Immortal Minghua was, after all, a late Foundation Establishment of the Profound Spirit Realm.
Added to that, three Earth Immortals rivaling late Foundation Establishment—even Perfected Being Demon-Quelling couldn't slay them in one stroke. Some period of entanglement was inevitable.
Had Perfected Being Demon-Quelling disregarded others' lives, he could have unleashed freely. But intent on protection, he expended extra effort: not only banishing Minghua and company to the firmament's edge but deliberately diffusing his sword qi to grievously wound all seven remaining Human Immortals.
Every detail was impeccably arranged.
By his reckoning, Ye Guyue and Ye Xingfeng could mop up from here. Both were Sword Pavilion Perfected Beings, direct descendants of the True Lord, after all.
Yet—
"Xingfeng, hold back later—no full force."
Amid the clash, Ye Guyue secretly messaged Ye Xingfeng at her side.
"Uncle's too rigid, ensnared by heart demons. It's our duty to ease Master's burdens."
"Ease burdens?"
How to share Master's worries?"
"Yes!"
Ye Guyue spoke gravely.
"The Shen Metal is a treasure of heaven and earth, fit only for the virtuous. How can we allow that Jiangbei stray cultivator Lu Yang to claim it?"
"Uncle's refusal to take it is his own folly."
"That stray cultivator dwells in Jiangbei, already mired in karmic debts. Allowing his reincarnation into the Sword Pavilion is heavenly mercy enough—why indulge him further?"
Ye Xingfeng agreed wholeheartedly but furrowed his brow.
"Take the Shen Metal, though, and how do we account to Uncle?"
"Simple."
Ye Guyue's tone turned icy.
"Later, leave a deliberate gap."
"Let these otherworlders slay the stray cultivator. Once he's dead and the Shen Metal masterless, we reclaim it. That squares with Uncle perfectly."
"As for the stray cultivator—dead is dead."
"It fits his karma too. Off to reincarnation he goes. Worst case, we guide him into the Sword Pavilion later, take him as disciple, and settle the cause."
Ye Xingfeng nodded at once.
"Excellent!"
With resolve set, the sword lights in their hands slackened for a breath.
The foes were locked in fierce combat; the seven Profound Spirit Realm Human Immortals, led by Cheng Xian, spotted the lapse immediately.
'Chance... seize the Shen Metal first!'
Cheng Xian wasted no moment, mounting a beam of escape light. He pierced Ye Guyue's guard and, tracing the Shen Metal's resonance, plunged into the vessel!
Meanwhile, Ye Xingfeng was 'just so' stalled by the other Human Immortals.
"Boom!"
The next instant, the secret chamber of Lu Yang's seclusion shattered outright, exposing the interior.
Within the ruined chamber, Lu Yang's divided soul had returned from the Heaven of Non-existence. His eyes snapped open; the four divine abilities in his sea of consciousness blazed with radiant light!
"Hehe..."
Lu Yang's main body had monitored the battlefield unceasingly. How could Ye Guyue and Ye Xingfeng's petty schemes elude him?
Now, he sneered coldly.
'Sword Seed... courting death!'
(End of Chapter)