A Sword Severed the Sky, Battling the River God

A Sword Severed the Sky, Battling the River God

With a single word, heaven and earth fell silent.

The River God was first stunned, then flushed with shame and rage. A mere Foundation Establishment Daoist dared to spout such wild words before him!

Were all Daoists from Penglai this arrogant and conceited?

"Seeking death!"

The River God flashed and appeared before Jiang Sheng. The enormous pointed fork in his hand came crashing down, surging with spiritual power.

Like a waterfall weighing tens of millions of jun!

Jiang Sheng's expression did not change. A three-foot azure blade appeared in his hand.

As spiritual power surged around Jiang Sheng, the spirit sword in his hand erupted with astonishing might. A streak of azure sword radiance shrieked into the sky.

The thirty-foot sword qi collided with the pointed fork in the River God's hand. Surging spiritual power exploded with a thunderous boom, shaking everything within hundreds of thousands of feet.

Jiang Sheng and the River God were both forced back over a hundred zhang.

The River God had regained his calm. His earlier attack had merely been a probe, yet he had already discovered that Jiang Sheng was absolutely unlike an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator!

"Is the weapon in your hand a spirit artifact?" the River God asked.

Jiang Sheng did not answer. Instead, he charged forward again. The azure blade in his hand flashed, and azure spiritual light tore through the air.

The River God snorted coldly and swung his pointed fork to meet him head-on. He possessed Purple Mansion Realm cultivation; naturally, he would not fear Jiang Sheng, who was merely at Foundation Establishment.

Above Qingping Mountain, azure and blue spiritual lights collided without pause.

Sword qi howled as it tore through curtains of water, while raging waves transformed into water arrows that formed an arrowstorm blanketing the sky and raining down.

The people at the foot of Qingping Mountain all looked up at the fierce battle in the distant sky. Every heart had risen into their throats, for they feared that if Jiang Sheng lost, they too would perish without even a place to bury their bones.

Xu Xiao and Qiao Xuan took the chance to retreat into the mountains, where they met up with Zhang Qing and Zhang Qingyun.

"Where are Wang Tianfang and the others?" Zhang Qing asked.

"Hmph. The moment they saw that the thing they had bound was not the River God, they scattered and ran," Xu Xiao said with a cold snort, her eyes full of disdain.

Zhang Qing nodded. This was not beyond her expectations.

Looking up at the two flickering streaks of spiritual light in the sky, Zhang Qing exhaled a breath of hot air. "Now, it depends on Daoist Jiang's methods."

Xu Xiao's expression was exceedingly complicated. "Yes. We can only depend on Daoist Jiang."

At that moment, Jiang Sheng, who was battling the River God, still looked calm as still water, but his eyes were grave beyond measure.

This was his first time fighting a living being of the Purple Mansion Realm since leaving the mountain.

Though the River God placed considerable pressure upon Jiang Sheng, it also allowed him to unleash his full strength.

Azure sword radiance crisscrossed through the air, slicing apart curtain after curtain of surging water.

The River God curled his left hand into a loose fist. Boundless water vapor gathered in his palm before finally transforming into a water pillar that roared forth.

The water pillar surged toward him and arrived before him within a few breaths. Its violent water spiritual qi seemed capable of destroying all things; merely drawing near made it difficult to breathe.

Spiritual power churned within Jiang Sheng. With a flash, he evaded the water pillar, and from the corner of his eye, he saw it slam directly into a small mountain behind him.

With a thunderous blast, dust and smoke billowed. The mountaintop was blown apart, and countless boulders tumbled down.

Jiang Sheng's expression remained unchanged. He formed a hand seal with his left hand, then ran two fingers along the blade. The next moment, his speed increased by another thirty percent.

As though man and sword had become one, azure sword radiance streaked across the sky. Like a bolt of thunder, it flashed from east to west in an instant.

The River God instinctively twisted aside to evade, yet everything touched by that azure radiance was sliced apart. It stretched three hundred zhang from east to west.

It was an incomparably sharp sword strike—fast, and ruthless!

"What a swift sword," the River God could not help but praise. Even from the perspective of a former False Core True Person, a Foundation Establishment cultivator capable of unleashing such a strike was nothing short of stunning.

Jiang Sheng emerged from the azure light. "River God, do not be so quick to praise me. Does your face not hurt?"

The River God stopped and touched his face, only then discovering a deep gash across his cheek.

After all, his body was made of stone, animated only through the power of incense offerings and divine sense. Stone felt nothing when injured, so naturally the River God felt no pain.

The River God instinctively urged the power of incense offerings to heal the wound, only to discover in shock that the power was blocked upon reaching his cheek by lingering sword intent.

Until that sword intent was worn away, he would be unable to heal the wound on his face.

"This god underestimated you."

Ignoring the sword scar on his face, the River God gripped his pointed fork in his right hand and fully activated the power of incense offerings within him. He had already discovered the problem.

From East River Town all the way to Qingping Town, he had destroyed five towns along the way, along with an unknown number of villages. He had also fought Xu Xiao and the others twice, greatly depleting the power of incense offerings within him!

More importantly, he had used the waters of the Taiping River to flood six towns, which had consumed an enormous amount of his incense power.

He was now beginning to regret it in secret. Once this battle ended, the incense power within this avatar would likely be exhausted.

At the thought that the time required to temper his mortal body and condense an Incense Golden Core might be delayed by several years, the River God's gaze toward Jiang Sheng became filled with venomous hatred!

"This god will not give you another chance."

As the River God spoke, he fully activated the incense power within him. The raging river water on the ground was drawn to his side, forming a towering water curtain that split heaven and earth apart.

The surging water curtain connected sky and earth, blotting out the horizon and the sight of everyone within Qingping Mountain.

All they could see was a thick wall of water stretching across the front of the mountain, as though the sky would collapse and the earth would split apart the next moment.

The River God swung his pointed fork, and the sky-shrouding water curtain behind him surged toward Jiang Sheng with the weight of tens of millions of jun.

The violent water spiritual power made every droplet within that curtain of water seem like a sharp blade.

If one were washed over by this water curtain, all flesh would surely be scoured from the body, perhaps leaving not even bones behind.

The water curtain came roaring in, blotting out the sky and covering the sun, like the Tianhe pouring down in reverse upon the mortal world.

As Jiang Sheng watched the water curtain rush toward him, his left hand within his sleeve had already grasped a yellow talisman. It was the Bright Li-Fire Talisman he had drawn.

As the water curtain closed in, the yellow talisman was activated.

The River God watched Jiang Sheng be swallowed by the water curtain. Before he could even sigh in relief, he heard a clear and resounding dragon's roar.

"Roar!"

The lofty dragon's roar rang out from within the water curtain. The next moment, a vast section of the roaring waterfall, heavy as ten thousand jun, was evaporated into a vacuum.

A fire dragon, complete with whiskers and tail, scales and claws spread wide, emerged from the water curtain. Jiang Sheng stood within the fire dragon's claw!

The true dragon formed of blazing fire coiled through the air, dyeing the surrounding dark clouds into fire clouds.

Looking at the thirty-zhang fire dragon, the River God recalled the intelligence Huang Shiren had given him: Jiang Sheng of Qingping Mountain was skilled in fire arts.

It seemed this fire dragon was Jiang Sheng's trump card.

Back then, Jiang Sheng had used a fire dragon to defeat the Eight Wolves of Dongjun. Now, he wanted to use a fire dragon to defeat him as well.

"A mere fire art—do you think you can withstand the waters of the Taiping River?"

The River God sneered and fully activated his incense power. Endless water vapor was drawn around him, transforming into water clouds that covered dozens of li.

"Let us see whether your fire is stronger, or this god's water!"

As the River God danced the pointed fork in his hand, the water vapor filling the sky transformed into endless water arrows that shot toward Jiang Sheng, blotting out the sky and covering the sun.

The densely packed water arrows formed a dark mass without end as far as the eye could see, and every single one possessed power on the level of Foundation Establishment.

With so many water arrows descending, they could exhaust Jiang Sheng to death if nothing else.

But under Jiang Sheng's command, the thirty-zhang fire dragon gave a dragon's roar and spewed forth scorching flames. Blazing fire surged out, turning even the surrounding dark clouds into burning fire clouds.

The water arrows exploded one after another upon striking. Water spiritual power and fire qi collided and continually canceled each other out, raising vast clouds of scalding steam that became a drizzling hot rain.

The people within Qingping Mountain watched as the water arrows filling the sky poured down, only to be blocked entirely by the awe-inspiring fire dragon. Their eyes widened in astonishment.

Only then did they realize that Daoist Jiang Sheng possessed such methods!

Xu Xiao stared at the fire dragon in amazement. "Daoist Jiang's fire arts truly are extraordinary!"

"The fire dragon has horns and whiskers, scales and claws, and is incredibly lifelike. Clearly, Daoist Jiang has cultivated this fire art to great mastery. Otherwise, he could never have condensed such a wondrous fire dragon!"

Hearing Xu Xiao's praise, Zhang Qingyun hurriedly asked, "Then does that mean Daoist Jiang can defeat that demon?"

Xu Xiao shook her head. "Hard to say. Purple Mansion Realm beings open a Purple Mansion between their brows and begin to possess divine abilities. Their spiritual power is also far beyond that of Foundation Establishment cultivators."

"Though it has spent much spiritual power flooding nearly half of Qingshan County by driving the river water all this way, it is still a Purple Mansion Realm being. As for victory or defeat, all one can say is that the odds are even."

As they spoke, another change suddenly appeared in the battle overhead.

Seeing that water arrows could not defeat Jiang Sheng and sensing the consumption of the incense power within him, the River God finally used his trump card.

With a swing of the River God's pointed fork, water vapor filling the sky gathered together, eventually forming a massive fish over a hundred zhang long.

The River God waved his pointed fork, and the hundred-zhang fish twisted as it pounced upon Jiang Sheng.

Its enormous body was as colossal as a hill. The shadow cast by this fish of water spiritual power covered nearly half of Qingshan Town, and the aura it radiated was even more terrifying.

Xu Xiao could even sense that if this massive fish fell upon Qingping Town, it would be enough to erase the entire town in an instant!

Compared to this enormous fish, the fire dragon condensed by Jiang Sheng was only thirty zhang long, not even one-tenth its size.

Though it possessed scales and claws in full, whether in momentum or fluctuations of power, it was vastly inferior to its opponent.

Qiao Xuan stared gravely at the two battling in the air. "Daoist Jiang is in danger."

"What?!" Zhang Qingyun and Zhang Qing were both shocked, their hearts already turning cold.

Xu Xiao's expression was equally grave. "That demon has used a divine ability. This great fish should be the rudimentary divine ability it condensed during the Purple Mansion stage, though it has not yet been fully formed. Even so, it is not something a Foundation Establishment cultivator can withstand!"

At that moment, the fire dragon released an earth-shaking roar, and Jiang Sheng actually controlled it to charge directly at the hundred-zhang fish of water spiritual power.

Everyone watched anxiously as the small fire dragon struck the majestic water fish, vast as a hill, like an egg smashing against a stone.

But the next moment, the fire dragon exploded. Surging flames expanded outward and swallowed the fish of water spiritual power whole.

A deafening explosion boomed. Flames churned, and the fish of water spiritual power struggled endlessly amid the surrounding blaze.

Clearly, the fire dragon refined from the essence qi of the great sun had inflicted severe injury upon the fish of water spiritual power.

Smoke and dust surged while dark clouds rolled. As the River God continuously replenished the water vapor, the fish of water spiritual power twisted and rolled without stop, finally extinguishing the flames filling the sky. The heavens were once again shrouded in clouds and rain, while Jiang Sheng had vanished from sight.

"In the end, this god still won!"

Yet before the River God could rejoice, he saw a faint glimmer flicker amid the clouds and rain.

The next moment, blinding azure sword radiance tore through the heavens, spanning three thousand zhang from west to east!