Qiu Changtian's Yuyan Sword streaked out in a flash of light, but Xu Yinglian's Yujia was faster, tracing a crimson arc. In an instant, it drew level with Yuyan Sword, vying to be first!
The other Kunlun disciples sent their flying swords shooting after them in unison.
But the flying sword sent out by the demonic cultivator was dark red, like filthy blood. Just as it was about to clash with Yuyan and Yujia, a cloud of blood mist suddenly burst from its blade!
Qiu Changtian reacted with lightning speed—he'd trained in the Qisha Sword Art of Mount Shu, after all. He immediately guided his qi, bringing Yuyan Sword to an abrupt halt before the blood mist, then wheeled it around and sent it darting back.
The other flying swords couldn't brake in time and plunged straight into the blood mist. Their light dimmed in an instant.
Only Xu Yinglian's Yujia Sword, its rank too high to be contaminated, still moved freely within the blood mist. It clashed several times with the dark red flying sword, sparks flying everywhere.
As Qiu Changtian guided Yuyan Sword back, he raised his right hand in a sword-pointing gesture and hastily chanted:
"Brocade Clouds Fall as Rain, Jade Rainbow Rises as Smoke!"
Yuyan Sword suddenly blazed in the mine tunnel. Countless streaks of golden light turned into sharp little swords and shot toward the blood mist ahead.
The demonic cultivator across from them showed no fear. He merely sneered, joined his fingers, and thrust them forward, chanting just as rapidly:
"Chimei Wangliang, bind and slay with curses of grievance!"
Countless gray-white ghostly shadows poured from his fingertips. Some met the golden sword-rain from Yuyan Sword, effortlessly batting each blade away.
The rest darted into the blood mist and wound around Yujia Sword. Xu Yinglian immediately felt as if the sword had become heavy as a thousand jun, making it difficult even to control.
In the time it took a spark to fly off a flint, they'd exchanged several blows. The demonic cultivator had single-handedly destroyed the outer disciples' flying swords while holding off the attacks of two direct disciples, Qiu Changtian and Xu Yinglian—and he hadn't given an inch!
"Marrow Cleansing Stage?" Qiu Changtian asked in a low voice.
"Yes!" Xu Yinglian gritted her teeth, forcing her qi to drive Yujia Sword as she held off the ghostly shadows and fought the enemy head-on.
The Kunlun disciples were instantly aghast, their faces turning despairing.
Marrow Cleansing Stage! This man was a Marrow Cleansing Stage demonic cultivator!
They knew that for a Foundation Establishment Realm disciple to advance from the Qi Refining Stage to the Marrow Cleansing Stage required a long time refining qi and filling the dantian and qi sea. Those with good aptitude took twenty or thirty years; those with poorer aptitude could take fifty or sixty.
In other words, their opponent had spent at least twenty or thirty years more refining qi than they had.
The sheer quantity of True Qi at his disposal put him in a different league. And that was before accounting for the more powerful spells and stronger flying swords he could wield at the Marrow Cleansing Stage, or the improvements to his reflexes and Sword Control Technique after marrow cleansing... Taken all together, it came down to four words:
Crushing them with his superior realm!
In truth, if Xu Yinglian's swordsmanship hadn't been so sharp and Yujia, a Tenth-Order Immortal Sword, hadn't been so sturdy, they wouldn't have lasted even a few exchanges against him.
Several Kunlun disciples had gone deathly pale. Their legs trembled, and they were on the verge of fleeing.
Xu Yinglian glared furiously, her teeth nearly grinding to dust as True Qi surged through her body. She forcefully drove Yujia Sword to fight back against her opponent.
So what if he outranked her? So what?!
I don't want to lose. I... I won't lose!!!
The demonic cultivator opposite them cackled. Apparently convinced that victory was already in his grasp, he spoke in a shrill, sinister voice:
"So what if you're direct disciples? Do you think you can overcome a higher realm? Let me tell you: I released Tu Lou to lure Qi Refining Stage disciples here, so I could hunt them and feed their flesh and blood to my yin ghosts for cultivation."
"Surrender now, and I'll let you reincarnate. Otherwise, I'll bind your souls, steal your spirits, and lock them in my banner to suffer for all eternity, never to be reborn!"
"I see." Qiu Changtian spoke steadily. "I saw a notice in Deacon Hall saying that a badly wounded member of the demonic sect had fled over from North Mang Mountain. That was you, wasn't it?"
"About to die, and you still have time to worry about that?" the demonic cultivator sneered.
"You certainly have a lot to say." Qiu Changtian stepped forward, shielding Xu Yinglian, who was still gritting her teeth and fighting, as well as the other outer-sect Kunlun disciples, whose hearts were gripped with terror. He left them with only his tall, radiant silhouette.
He joined the index and middle fingers of his right hand into the shape of a sword. The Taiyi Splitting Light Sword on his back sprang out and hovered steadily before him.
His voice was calm, yet carried an imposing, inviolable authority, radiant and open as the blazing sun!
"Evil cannot triumph over righteousness! So what if you're at the Marrow Cleansing Stage?!"
"This is Kunlun territory. How dare a demonic sect cultivator run amok here!!!"
The derision in the demonic cultivator's eyes only deepened. He raised his withered arm from afar and chanted rapidly:
"Chimei Wangliang, bind and slay with curses of grievance..."
"Between others' inch-sized worlds, mountains and seas span thousands of layers!" Qiu Changtian's voice boomed like thunder as he brazenly activated the forbidden art of the Taiyi Splitting Light Sword!
It was as brief as a snap of the fingers, yet seemed endless as the changing tides of the sea.
The surrounding mine tunnel disappeared. To everyone's astonishment, they were now high in the sky.
Before them stretched an endless, mist-shrouded sea. Behind them rose mountain ranges without end.
Only a winding, narrow coastline divided the two sides, as sharply as the Chu River and Han border.
"A forbidden art!" The malice vanished from the demonic cultivator's face, replaced by incredulous horror and shock. His pupils nearly went out of focus, and his voice tore from his throat. "How is this possible?!"
"How could you possibly possess a forbidden art?!"
Qiu Changtian couldn't be bothered to waste words on him. Hadn't that fellow been chattering away just moments ago, only for Qiu Changtian to turn the tables in an instant?
Villains died from talking too much!
Qiu Changtian calmly formed the Three Pure Ones mudra with his right hand. As he circulated his True Qi, he fully activated the "Connecting Mountains and Seas Corner" forbidden art within the Taiyi Splitting Light Sword.
Everyone rose higher again, leaving the demonic cultivator far below. And beneath them...
The endless sea surged upward at their approach, rising a thousand meters in an instant.
The towering mountain ranges also thrust up from the ground, piercing the clouds and vaulting heavens in a blink.
The demonic cultivator still chanted his spell in a frenzy, seemingly trying to unleash some kind of magic to escape and save his life.
But within the forbidden art of the Taiyi Splitting Light Sword, all resistance was futile.
His final thought flashed through his mind like lightning:
With a cultivation talent like Clear Dao Heart, one in ten thousand years, how could the Kunlun Taiqing Sect possibly have failed to keep a safeguard in reserve before sending this genius disciple out to gain experience?
As thoughts rose and vanished, the mountains and sea had already expanded around him. No matter how desperately the demonic cultivator fired off spells, they only swept toward him from both sides, blotting out the sky, until they crashed together with unstoppable force and thundered like the world splitting apart!
A moment later, the mountain-and-sea illusion slowly faded, and everyone returned to the mine tunnel.
The demonic cultivator and the blood-mist flying sword had been reduced to powder, which sifted down and gathered into a heap of ash of unknown composition.
Everyone: ...
A moment later, someone suddenly began to sob, and only then did the others recover from their shock.
Liu Yiyi and Wen Qin collapsed to the ground and clung tightly to each other, laughing and crying at once.
Lu Zheng leaned against the rock wall, gripping the front of his Daoist robe with his right hand. Cold sweat drenched his back.
Relief showed on Hu Haozhi's face. He tried to go over and look at the heap of ash, only to find his legs so weak he couldn't move.
Liu Daoran stood dazed for a moment, then suddenly fell to his knees and bowed low before Qiu Changtian, his voice trembling with remorse:
"Senior Brother Qiu... Thank you for saving our lives. If you hadn't stepped in today, none of us would have had a burial place. Our souls would have been scattered, with no chance of reincarnation!"
"Junior Brother Daoran, there's no need for such a formal gesture," Qiu Changtian said gently. He guessed that Liu Daoran had seen how formidable he was and feared retaliation for offending him earlier.
On top of that, he'd only just escaped death. The shock had been too much, leaving him so disoriented that he'd resorted to this grand gesture.
So Qiu Changtian formed another spell and cast a "Universal Clear Sound Minor Brightness Art" over the Kunlun disciples, smiling as he said:
"We're all disciples of Kunlun. Helping one another is only right. There's no need to speak of a debt for saving your lives."
The Universal Clear Sound Minor Brightness Art was the first Qi Refining Stage derivative spell of the Nine Heavens Pure Micro Entrance True Words. It could replenish blood, ward off evil, and calm the mind.
With the spell's help, the Kunlun outer-sect disciples, still dazed and shaken, slowly came back to themselves. They felt the weight lift from their shoulders, as if reborn.
Xu Yinglian put away Yujia Sword. She realized that her True Qi had nearly run dry, but the Minor Brightness Art had restored a little of it.
She recalled the overwhelming force with which the boundless mountains and sea had collided. Her gaze grew slightly unfocused for a moment, but soon cleared again.
Even if he'd relied on the rank of the Taiyi Splitting Light Sword, she couldn't help envying her senior brother for being able to wield such a terrifying forbidden art.
But the Taiyi Splitting Light Sword had been lent to him by their master, whereas the Yujia Immortal Sword belonged to me!
According to my clan, in addition to the ninth-rank Daoist Magic, the Yujia Immortal Sword also had a forbidden art sealed inside it. I only needed to awaken the bloodline of the phoenix bird to unlock and use it.
Given time, I'll awaken my bloodline and fully master that forbidden art. Then I'll surpass Senior Brother in one fell swoop!
Her heart surged with excitement as she thought this, but she saw Qiu Changtian standing serenely where he was, his expression as calm as a drifting cloud, as if he'd done nothing more than some trivial task.
The high-spirited ambition in her chest gradually settled.
Since Senior Brother felt no pride in his accomplishment, I should guard against arrogance and impatience too.
Xu Yinglian thought this, unaware that Qiu Changtian was already being flooded with prompts from the Kunlun Mirror.
[Invincible Persona, synchronization value +1.] [Invincible Persona, synchronization value +1.] [Invincible Persona, synchronization value +1.] [The synchronization value has exceeded the limit. Clear Dao Heart talent efficiency has reached 100%. Please keep up the good work.]
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