Sweeping Away the Entire Great Yan Martial World
Meanwhile, as a furious storm of attacks was unleashed in the valley, the Three Great Heaven-Humans roared in unison, their voices exploding through the valley like thunder.
Xiao Wanjun drew the ancient-looking sword at his waist.
Dense formation talismans and patterns emerged along its blade, shining in concert with the thirty-six layers of the mountain-protecting formation on the cliffs.
That was right. This was one of the mountain-protecting formation's most powerful functions.
It could ultimately unite all thirty-six layers into one, and could even channel such immense power into a Heavenly Human!
His Heavenly Human Realm Early Stage cultivation surged higher and higher under the formation's power, his face contorting.
This alliance leader, who had presided over Great Yan's martial world for decades, had never fought so desperately in his life.
He roared and shouted, pouring his lifetime of power into the sword without holding anything back.
The light on its edge was blinding, as though he held not a sword, but a sun fallen into the mortal world.
Yin Bugu's palms whirled, and the deadly poisons Ten Thousand Poisons Valley had amassed over hundreds of years gushed from every pore of his body.
The dark green poison mist coalesced into a venomous dragon, its claws bared and fangs flashing.
The old man's eyes were bloodshot, and veins bulged on his arms, each one writhing violently beneath his skin, as though something were trying to burst out of his body.
He squeezed the last trace of poison power from his old bones,
along with his remaining lifespan,
his essence blood,
and his lifelong obsession with poison,
and poured it all into the venomous dragon.
The dragon raised its head and roared at the sky. Venomous drool dripped from its jaws, corroding holes in the flagstones that gave off wisps of white smoke.
Abbess Jingxuan slammed her dragon-headed staff against the ground, driving its tip deep into the stone.
She formed seals with both hands, and ten thousand strands of silver emerged around her, each as fine as a hair yet as sharp as a blade.
The old nun's white hair flew wildly in the raging spiritual energy, veins faintly visible at her temples and a trickle of blood seeping from the corner of her mouth.
At the same time, she activated a forbidden art, burning her own essence blood in exchange for greater power.
The ten thousand silver strands intertwined in the air, forming a gigantic silver lotus. Its petals overlapped in layers, each densely inscribed with Buddhist mantras.
Behind the Three Great Heaven-Humans, nearly a hundred Saint Tier masters shouted in unison and poured their respective true essence into the formation.
Several hundred elite disciples and more than a thousand formation operators exerted themselves at once, driving all thirty-six layers of the mountain-protecting formation to their absolute limit.
"Kill!"
Xiao Wanjun slashed with his sword. Yin Bugu's venomous dragon roared and lunged forward.
Abbess Jingxuan's ten thousand silver strands poured down like a torrential rain.
These attacks joined the torrent from before.
Wherever the torrent passed, the ground was torn up and the flagstones shattered into powder.
Great chunks of rock peeled away from the cliffs on either side, and the entire valley shook violently under the blow.
Then Chen Du raised his head, tightened his grip on his wooden sword, and slashed.
The Three Great Heaven-Humans saw that slash clearly.
It was a man who, after losing everything, had crammed all the anger in his heart into a wooden sword and swung it.
The instant the sword came down, the slash burst open, turning into a dark golden sea of fire that blotted out the sky and covered the earth.
On the land ravaged by war, all the souls who had died unjustly opened their eyes within the sea of fire.
The sea of fire swallowed the destructive torrent.
The venomous dragon evaporated in the flames, unable to leave behind even a wisp of green smoke.
The ten thousand silver strands shattered inch by inch in the flames, and the Buddhist mantras were burned into nothingness before they could even burst open.
Xiao Wanjun's sword light melted in the flames. His sword radiance, brilliant as the blazing sun, was as small as a candle before the dark golden sea of fire.
Then the sea of fire crashed into them.
Immortal of Wrath!
That wrath was not mere killing intent, but a raging flame that burned away all the injustices of the world!
Burning in the fire!
Even the soul would be scorched by that blaze until it was burned away entirely!
Fierce as a conflagration!
What it burned was sin, not people!
Invading like erosion!
What it eroded was hatred, not enemies!
With one slash,
what was burned away was sin,
what was swept away was resentment,
and what was redeemed was every soul that had been trampled upon on this land.
This slash was not killing people, but saving them.
All three spat out mouthfuls of blood at once, a shocking sight in the firelight.
Behind them, nearly a hundred Saint Tier masters staggered every which way from the impact.
Several hundred elite disciples were sent flying backward into the stone walls, while more than a thousand formation operators were struck by the backlash, coughing blood and falling to the ground.
Thousands of spirit stones on the cliffs exploded at the same instant, and vast swathes of the runes on the thirty-six-layered mountain-protecting formation went dark.
The golden light, talisman blades, and poison fire all vanished, leaving only a stretch of scorched earth and wounded people groaning across the ground.
With one slash,
the Three Great Heaven-Humans,
hundreds of Saint Tier masters,
thousands of elites,
and the thirty-six-layered mountain-protecting formation were all swept aside.
Chen Du withdrew his wooden sword,
without looking at Xiao Wanjun, who lay on the ground coughing blood,
without looking at Abbess Jingxuan, who leaned against the cliff, gasping for breath,
and without looking at Yin Bugu, who lay unconscious with both arms charred black.
He passed through the shattered spirit stones and broken weapons strewn across the ground, stepping over scorched flagstones as he continued toward the Yan Kingdom Royal City.
Behind him, the fires in the valley still burned, illuminating bodies sprawled in every direction.
The scorched mark where the sword wind had swept across the cliff stretched several zhang up the rock face, like a scar that could never be erased.
In the valley, the flames had yet to die out.
Struggling, Xiao Wanjun pushed himself up from the pile of rubble.
Blood still lingered at the corner of his mouth, and the aftershocks of the sword qi had left his internal organs roiling in his chest.
He raised his head and saw that figure walking step by step along the scorched flagstone road toward the far end of the valley.
Twilight pressed down from behind him, blotting out the sky and covering the earth, yet he himself was like a walking flame, burning through the ever-deepening night.
Yin Bugu leaned against the cliff, both arms charred black. The agonizing backlash of the poison fire twisted his entire face, but he still stared fixedly at that retreating figure.
They saw what seemed to be dark golden flames burning slowly around Chen Du.
It was the radiance of a man who had burned his anger to its utmost, a light that even heaven and earth could not conceal.
He walked between the twilight and the firelight,
like an asura come from the depths of purgatory,
and also like an immortal descended from the nine heavens.
Each step fell on Great Yan's scorched earth, and each step was like the silent sigh of this land.
Xiao Wanjun watched that figure and pondered for a long while before forcing a few hoarse words from deep in his throat: "In the mortal world... the Immortal of Wrath."
"From hell... a demon guest."
Abbess Jingxuan picked up where he left off, her voice aged and low, as though reciting an ancient prophecy: "Truly, fire falls from heaven and burns away all resentment."
She had lived for nearly two hundred years, read countless Buddhist scriptures, and seen countless masters, but she had never seen flames like these.
Far, far too much resentment had accumulated on this land. War had raged year after year, living beings had been plunged into misery, and the strong had preyed on the weak.
Every wronged soul that had died beneath iron hooves had buried a seed of anger in the earth.
And today, those seeds had flowered and borne fruit in one man, becoming a wooden sword that burned away everything.
This sword would slay the emperor of their Great Yan.
This sword would quell rebellions centuries and millennia old.
This sword would, in the flames of wrath, burn to its utmost.