The Terror of a Single Sword

Though doing this was somewhat humiliating, humiliation was still better than death.

The instant Lei Xiao cried out, "Master, save me!" it seemed as though a gaze descended from the heavens. In that moment, even space appeared to freeze.

The Innate Yin-Yang Baleful Qi Flood Dragon continued closing in on him, but its speed grew slower and slower.

Then, a streak of sword light descended from the heavens, ignoring the distance of space as it struck the Innate Yin-Yang Baleful Qi Flood Dragon's enormous body with unerring precision.

"Splat—!"

There was no earth-shattering explosion, nor any deafening boom. That sword light was as light as a falling feather, yet it carried an ultimate sharpness that made even heaven and earth lose their color.

The terrifying defense the Innate Yin-Yang Baleful Qi Flood Dragon had been so proud of was sliced open with ease before that sword light, as though it were fragile paper.

At that moment, time seemed to stretch without end.

Lei Xiao could even clearly see that the eyes of the once-arrogant Innate Yin-Yang Baleful Qi Flood Dragon, which had just moments ago brimmed with fury and killing intent, turned completely into boundless terror and despair the instant they met that sword light.

It tried to burn its origin to resist, but the power capable of destroying heaven and earth was utterly annihilated the instant it touched the sword light.

"Roar..."

An incomparably shrill scream came to an abrupt halt.

The flood dragon's mountain-like body silently split apart from between its brows, a thin line running from head to tail.

Immediately afterward, an unimaginably vast force of destruction erupted from within it. Yet under the restraint of some invisible force, it was forcibly compressed and dissipated, without harming anything around it in the slightest.

Before the rain of blood filling the sky could fall, it was caught by a gentle force, then transformed into specks of light that melted into the void.

A Great Luo ferocious beast that had roamed the primordial world for countless ages was so casually slain by a single sword strike!

Lei Xiao stood there blankly, gazing up at the lingering sword light in the heavens. Feeling that faint yet piercing sword intent still hanging in the air, his scalp went numb, while cold sweat had long since soaked his back.

Was this... Master's strength?

So the gap between Zenith Heaven Golden Immortals could actually be this vast.

Fortunately, he had not thought himself superior because he was a transmigrator and refused to take Tongtian as his master.

At the same time, above the heavens.

"Zhunti, you truly are shameless beyond measure." Sword Qi tore apart the space around Tongtian, reducing several nearby stars to dust beneath its cutting edge.

Zhunti stood in the starry sky on the other side, the Seven-Treasure Wondrous Tree hovering above his head. Layer upon layer of precious light protected his body, while that compassionate, kindly expression remained on his face. With his palms pressed together, he spoke unhurriedly, without the slightest hint of panic.

"Junior Brother Tongtian, why do you wound others with your words? That ferocious beast acted on instinct; it was not under my control."

"Wasn't the mark on that ferocious beast's head left by you?" Tongtian snorted coldly.

"Though this ferocious beast was tainted by Sha Qi, its nature was not wicked. This poor Daoist merely pitied it and wished to guide it into our Western lands, to save it from its boundless karmic sins.

"Yet before I could even convert it, Fellow Daoist Tongtian struck to kill without a word. Is that not far too overbearing?"

With a touch of regret in his voice, Zhunti said, "Though this Innate Yin-Yang Baleful Qi Flood Dragon was tainted by a trace of Sha Qi, it was ultimately a rare primordial species.

"If it could have been brought into our Western lands and cleansed of its viciousness with the supreme wondrous methods of the West, it might not have failed to attain fruition one day. Yet with this sword strike of yours, you have severed its heart's path toward goodness."

This proved that when people were rendered speechless, they could laugh. At this moment, Tongtian was so enraged by Zhunti's twisting of black into white that he laughed instead.

"Zhunti, I will not waste more words on you. Take one sword strike from me, and I will let you leave."

Without giving Zhunti a chance to speak, the moment Tongtian's words fell, the starry sky for tens of millions of li around them suddenly dimmed.

It was not that the stars had lost their light. Rather, all light, all spiritual qi, and all stellar power were seized, compressed, condensed, and gathered around Tongtian by some supreme force at that moment.

There was no sword.

Or rather, Tongtian himself was a sword.

He stood amid the stars, his robes snapping in the wind, without a trace of sharp aura leaking from his body. Yet Zhunti's expression changed completely at that moment. The compassion and kindness that had always hung upon his face finally vanished, replaced by unprecedented solemnity.

Because from Tongtian, he sensed an ultimate purity—a supreme sword intent stripped of all ornamentation and complexity, born solely for slaughter.

Tongtian slightly raised his hand, forming a sword with two fingers, and lightly swept them toward Zhunti.

"Whoosh—"

An invisible Sword Qi that could not be caught by the naked eye, one that even surpassed the concepts of time and space, silently slashed forth.

Within this sword strike, Zhunti vaguely saw the terrifying vision of Pangu splitting open the boundless chaos when he created heaven and earth.

"What a Tongtian!"

Zhunti's pupils contracted sharply, warning bells ringing wildly in his heart. Without hesitation, he bit down hard on the tip of his tongue and sprayed a mouthful of blood essence onto the Seven-Treasure Wondrous Tree.

"Buzz—!!!"

The Seven-Treasure Wondrous Tree erupted with unprecedented, resplendent divine light, transforming into the phantom of a boundless Saha World. Countless golden lotuses layered atop one another, enveloping Zhunti within.

At the same time, the Bodhi Golden Body Dharma Aspect with eighteen arms and twenty-four heads emerged behind Zhunti. More than twenty palms formed seals in unison, attempting to meet this sword strike head-on with supreme Buddhist Dharma.

However, the instant that invisible Sword Qi touched the Saha World—

"Crack..."

The crisp sound of shattering was especially piercing in the silent starry sky.

The Seven-Treasure Wondrous Tree, said to brush away all things and remain untouched by all techniques, had its branches forcibly bent by this ultimate sword intent! The golden lotuses protecting Zhunti's body withered and scattered one after another like fallen leaves in an autumn wind.

"Splat!"

The Sword Qi's remaining force did not diminish, splitting Zhunti's body in two.

However, Zhunti was not the Innate Yin-Yang Baleful Qi Flood Dragon. Even split in half by the Sword Qi, he did not die. His body simply failed to heal, as though it had been forcibly pieced back together.

The terror of a single sword strike was truly thus!

"Fellow Daoist Tongtian, I have taken this sword strike."

With that, Zhunti transformed directly into a streak of fleeing light and sped toward the west.

"Pity I do not have a good sword in hand. Otherwise, this strike would surely have severed his origin."

Tongtian's face was somewhat pale as well. Clearly, unleashing that sword strike had not been easy for him either.

With a thought, he vanished from the starry sky, and the many divine senses watching the battle around them dispersed as well.

At the same time.

East Sea.

After putting away the Innate Yin-Yang Baleful Qi Flood Dragon's corpse, Lei Xiao flew toward where the Three Xiao were.

From far away, Lei Xiao heard a burst of flute music.

"This is Third Sister activating the Dragon-Phoenix Flute. Could it be that Third Sister and the others have encountered danger?"

Lei Xiao immediately accelerated. Soon, he saw Bi Xiao standing in the void, dragons and phoenixes circling around her. A middle-aged man stood in the void opposite her. His cultivation was higher than Bi Xiao's, and he had been continuously evading her attacks without striking back.