"That is—"
Immortal Diancai stared at the heart of the enormous lotus, which was about to be cleaved apart by his sword light, and astonishment suddenly appeared in his eyes.
At the center of the lotus stamens, which had been black-and-white Water and Fire, the lotus petals suddenly closed one by one, transforming into a Nine-Story Pagoda.
The Nine-Story Pagoda was square in shape. The moment it appeared, it seemed to possess boundless might, as though it could envelop the four directions of Heaven and Earth and suppress endless Universe space. The five strands of sword light, condensed to the extreme and thin as silk, abruptly halted in midair beyond his control.
Then, a thunderous bang rang out.
The lotus and the Nine-Story Pagoda at its center suddenly crashed into the five stalled streams of Five-Elements Sword Light, shattering the five mountains of sword radiance with a deafening boom!
Nor was that all. The layers of lotus petals surrounding the Nine-Story Pagoda spun rapidly like millstones fitted with sharp blades, a meat grinder that crushed and flung away the flying swords from bottom to top.
In the blink of an eye.
Only an enigmatic lotus with a heavy, vast aura remained in the sky above the arena.
"I lost..." Immortal Diancai closed his eyes and gave up resisting.
When cultivators fought, life and death were separated by only the narrowest margin.
Once defeated in a single move, one died.
By the time he gathered his flying swords again, the protective layers around his Puppet body would have been breached countless times already.
Sure enough.
A petal flew from the spinning lotus, appearing before the Thousand Sword Puppet as though through Teleportation before slicing past it.
The white-haired elderly Puppet presiding over the sparring match seemed unable to believe what he