Sword Control

Yet in that fleeting instant, several more soldiers toppled backward.

"Form the formation!"

A lieutenant roared, but the moment the words left his mouth, his head flew off.

At full strength, the Divine Eagle Great Formation could contend with a Grandmaster. If the thousand-odd Imperial Guards here formed it, they could fight someone at the Profound Martial Ninth Layer.

The attackers clearly understood this well, which was why the first person they killed was Chen Chuanshan. As Deputy Commander of Divine Eagle Guard, he was the core of the Divine Eagle Great Formation here. With him dead, the formation was already more than half broken.

There was more than one attacker, and every one of them was an expert. The ordinary officers and soldiers of the Imperial Guard Army were at most at the Profound Martial Middle Rank—how could they possibly be a match? Within moments, the officers were killed one after another. Their soldiers could only fight in isolated groups, leaving the Divine Eagle Formation unable to link into a whole.

Meanwhile, two figures had already slipped into the underground palace, easily dodging the incoming bolts from the Armor-Piercing Crossbows. A Profound Martial Phenomenon manifested: a sea of blood that seemed about to engulf the cavern. Screams rang out as the defensive formations were breached one after another.

In this world, immense power could be concentrated in a single individual. At the higher ranks of True Martial, the gulf between cultivation levels could no longer be bridged by sheer numbers.

The experts guarding the cavern reacted and headed out to meet the enemy.

Several round hidden weapons hurtled toward them, their fierce gusts sharp as arrows.

Elder Guo of the Green Luan Gate took the lead inside the cavern, his sword flashing coldly as he tried to knock the hidden weapons down.

But before his force could even touch them, the hidden weapons exploded with a thunderous boom. Black mist billowed out, and a palm strike swept in from behind it, whipping up a gale that drove the mist into the cavern.

"It's poisonous!" Elder Guo cried.

The sect experts unleashed palm strikes one after another, trying to force the black mist back. Yet it clung like maggots to bone, spreading toward their bodies along their True Qi.

"It's the Crimson Dragon Cult's Soul Devouring Gu! Use fire!"

"Let me!" A True Martial Eighth Layer elder from the Profound Heaven Sect leaped forward. His Profound Martial Phenomenon appeared, forming a flock of fire birds that beat their wings and flew ahead.

Amid a chorus of sizzling sounds, the black mist fell away, and a scorched stench spread through the air.

But just then, a cold gleam appeared behind him. At some unknown moment, a gaunt old man of the Crimson Dragon Cult, clad in a black hooded robe, had reached his back.

Shhk!

A short sword pierced the Profound Heaven Sect elder's heart. He struck backward with his palm at the enemy behind him, but the gaunt old man chuckled. The next instant, his figure vanished without a trace, and the attacks of the sect experts rushing to the rescue all struck empty air.

"The Crimson Dragon Cult's Hibernating Dragon Secret Technique!" someone shouted.

Two more screams followed as he casually killed the young cultivators inside. Then he smashed two black spheres, each the width of two fingers, against the ground, filling the cavern with black mist!

At the center of the crowd, Li Changyan, who was only at the True Martial Fourth Layer, remained calm. He slowly drew a Flying Sword. A soaring flood dragon was engraved on one face of the blade, a phoenix with spread wings on the other, while the hilt bore the Mountains and Rivers Pattern.

As the Flying Sword slowly left its sheath, dragon roars and phoenix cries resounded through the cavern. Ten thousand rays of golden light shone out, forcing the concealed members of the Crimson Dragon Cult to reveal themselves.

"The Great Qian Dragon-Phoenix Grandmaster Sword! It really is here!"

On North Spring Mountain, Prince Qing saw what was happening below and sensed the aura of the Guardian Sword the late emperor had bestowed upon him, the sword that had accompanied him through years of campaigning.

He slowly rose, fixing his gaze on a patch of shadow among the trees, and said mildly, "Since you're here, why not come out for a chat?"

A man stepped out of the shadows. His entire body was wrapped in a black hooded robe, and his exposed face was deathly pale. His vertical pupils shone with green light, inspiring fear at a glance.

"As expected of Great Qian's War God. Even now, you remain unruffled." His voice was hoarse, as though it had been ground against rough stone, and was grating in the extreme.

"I'm your target?"

"You shouldn't have stayed up here alone, nor should you have handed over the Dragon-Phoenix Grandmaster Sword. Great Qian's War God, the current emperor's uncle, is far more enticing than a Demon Cave Seal that may not even be breakable."

"How do you know I don't have two Grandmaster Secret Artifacts? Perhaps you should worry about your subordinates instead, Xiahou Ming." Prince Qing held out his hand, and Qin Hu, standing behind him, passed him the sword he was holding.

The black-robed man's pupils contracted slightly.

Clang!

The Flying Sword left its sheath with an unusually piercing ring that echoed across all of North Spring Mountain.

The black-robed man suddenly sensed danger. A blood-colored saber tore through the sky, a crimson dragon coiling above it as it roared down.

Prince Qing abruptly straightened. Blazing Flame rose from his body, and an enormous Flying Sword emerged from within it. As he swung his sword, the roaring Flame followed the blade, becoming a three-zhang arc of Sword Qi. The killing intent honed through slaughter on the battlefield was so intense that ripples began to spread through the surrounding air.

Qin Hu stamped his foot, and a spear sprang up from the ground. Like a dragon emerging from the depths, it thrust straight at the black-robed man.

In an instant, the three were locked in combat. Countless blasts of force burst outward, pulverizing the surrounding trees and rocks.

Xiahou Ming of the Crimson Dragon Cult was at the Peak Profound Martial Ninth Layer.

Prince Qing was at the Profound Martial Ninth Layer, but countless injuries had long since begun to drain his blood and vitality, causing his cultivation to regress.

Qin Hu was at the True Martial Eighth Layer, but his battlefield spear arts had already attained the realm of intent. His coordination with Prince Qing was so seamless that Xiahou Ming could not defeat them in short order.

When the ring of Prince Qing's sword echoed across North Spring Mountain, Gu Yuanqing was startled out of his quiet cultivation. The Kunwu Sword rose into the air and streaked away through the sky.

His gaze rested quietly on the three combatants. Such a rare battle between experts would greatly benefit his cultivation.

Seeing that he could not swiftly defeat Prince Qing, Xiahou Ming activated the secret technique within his body. His Secret Treasury shook, and Gang Sha Qi poured into him. His formerly scrawny body abruptly swelled by thirty percent, muscles bunching and veins bulging as his strength increased by the same amount.

One strike sent Prince Qing flying backward, his feet gouging two deep furrows into the ground.

The web between Qin Hu's thumb and forefinger split open, and his spear flew from his grasp. The clothing on his arm shredded to pieces as the force plunged into his organs. With a muffled groan, he spat out a mouthful of blood.

Xiahou Ming grinned savagely. "Die!"

He darted forward a step and was about to bring his saber down on Qin Hu's head when he suddenly looked up. A streak of Sword Light was tearing toward him through the sky. Behind the Flying Sword trailed a white cone of mist—the sign that it had broken the Sound Barrier.

In the blink of an eye, the Flying Sword was before him. He held his saber across his body to block it, bracing his other hand against the blade.

Boom!

Xiahou Ming was driven violently backward, his feet sinking deep into the earth. His saber bent backward as though on the verge of snapping. With an angry roar, he shoved fiercely forward.

The Flying Sword shot backward more than ten zhang.

Gu Yuanqing frowned slightly. At a thought, the Kunwu Sword traced another arc and stabbed forward again. As it drew near, its light flickered, conjuring streak after streak of Sword Light.

Xiahou Ming was both shocked and furious. This sword traveled through the air as though controlled from afar by the Sword Control Art of the immortals in legend. Did such people truly exist in this world?

Qin Hu hurriedly seized the opportunity to retrieve his spear, then retreated several steps to Prince Qing's side.

"Your Highness, are you all right?"

"I won't die." Wang Qing's aura subsided, and he coughed several times. In an instant, more than half his Vital Essence seemed to drain away, leaving his exhaustion fully exposed. He turned to look around, hoping to find some trace of Gu Yuanqing, but found none at all.

Even witnessing such a feat again, he remained utterly astonished!