Why Waste Words on Them?

"Fellow Daoist Su, your sword isn't fast enough, and it certainly isn't sharp enough!"

Li Yang pondered within the Seven-Star Sword Formation.

A sword formation was a means for multiple Sword Cultivators to work together in battle to kill their enemies.

Especially when facing overwhelming numbers, they could rely on the Sword Cultivator's high mobility to weave through the sky.

They maintained their distance from their opponents at all times, unleashing the Sword Qi or swordlight of the Inner Sword Cultivators within the formation as they moved.

"You're an Inner Sword Cultivator, with powerful ranged attacks, but neither I nor the other four fellow Daoists are. Our Sword Qi doesn't have the range of a Sword Pellet's swordlight.

"And if we keep too much distance, we kill far too slowly.

"At this rate, not only will we fail to wipe out these fiends, we'll let those two damned bastards escape!"

(Sword Cultivators were divided into Inner Sword Cultivators and Outer Sword Cultivators. More on this later.)

Su Hen admired Li Yang greatly, but being made out to be so incompetent left him uncomfortable.

When we were both at Qi Refining, I admitted I was inferior to you.

But now I'm at the eighth level of Foundation Establishment, and you still think I'm inferior? Aren't you being far too arrogant?

Su Hen said nothing about it, but simply tossed the Formation Flag to Li Yang.

"Since you're so confident, Brother Li, I'll hand control of the Seven-Star Sword Formation over to you. I've always admired you, and I'd like to see whether your sword is fast enough and sharp enough!"

Li Yang heard the petulance in his words, but offered no explanation.

He caught the Formation Flag. The Formation Patterns shifted, and Li Yang appeared at the foremost point of the seven-star trajectory.

He immediately surged forward on his sword. Towering killing intent poured into the sword formation, washing it in a scarlet hue.

"What terrifying killing intent!" The other Sword Envoys were startled.

Su Hen's heart jolted. Just how many fiends and demonic creatures has this fellow killed over the years?!

The advantage of the sword formation was that it could equalize the speed of all seven participants.

Otherwise, with Li Yang's cultivation yet to reach Foundation Establishment, he would have needed a Sword-Riding Talisman just to fly on his sword.

So this is the speed of Foundation Establishment... It looks like I need to reach Foundation Establishment as soon as possible to bring about a qualitative leap in my strength.

Drawing on the sword formation's power, Li Yang charged straight into the fiends' midst.

"Brother Li, you have no divine sense. Don't be reckless!" Su Hen could not help warning him.

Even he did not dare charge so boldly into the center of a crowd of fiends. If attacks came from every direction and they were even slightly too slow to dodge, the sword formation would be damaged.

But he soon realized his worries were unnecessary.

Under Li Yang's control, the Seven-Star Sword Formation precisely evaded one Heretical Secret Art after another. Even when it took a hit, it was to create a better opening for an attack.

The sword formation tore a breach in the fiends' ranks, and Su Hen and the others immediately followed Li Yang's lead, unleashing Sword Qi and swordlight.

Clang-!

This time, they attacked from far too close, their strikes erupting almost against the bodies of eight Heretic Cultivators.

The sudden killing move startled all eight.

Their opponents had charged into close quarters as though they cared nothing for their lives, yet somehow still evaded the vast majority of the attacks.

Thousands of streams of Sword Qi and swordlight intertwined into a rainbow of murderous light that swept across them.

Squelch, squelch!

In a single exchange, four Heretic Cultivators had their bodies pierced through. The Human Puppets, Bloodlight Barriers, and other defenses they deployed crumbled in an instant beneath the seven cultivators' attacks.

Three others were grievously wounded, while the last escaped using a Supreme Escape Art.

With that strike successful, Li Yang immediately drove the sword formation upward, shooting into the sky and leaving the fiends' attacks to hit empty air.

Then, twisting and weaving once more, they swept back into close quarters, reaping the fiends' lives with abandon.

These fiends, whose very names could drain the color from people's faces, were rapidly losing their numbers under Li Yang's suppression.

Although the Seven-Star Sword Formation also sustained damage, trading it for nearly twenty fiends' lives was well worth it!

"Damn it! These Sword Envoys from the Sword Alliance know an advanced Sword Maneuvering Art! Our numbers give us no advantage at all. Run!"

"The Demon Scion has already escaped with the Household Ancestor Ning's Mortalized Body. We need to go too!"

"Damned Sword Cultivators! Everyone else went after that Mortalized Body, but these Sword Cultivators just had to make trouble for us!"

They wanted to leave, but how could Li Yang let them have their wish?

Within a few short breaths, the remaining dozen or so were killed or driven into flight.

Li Yang had no interest in pursuing them. There was still a more important fiend left to deal with.

He immediately gave chase in the direction where the mysterious male cultivator and Bai Nishang had fled.

"Junior brother, stop chasing."

Ning Xinyao had not left.

She had deployed a Flying Boat and, together with the other three guards, settled nearly two hundred mortals aboard it. Bai Nishang's maid, Xiao Feng, stood beside her.

She had never expected Li Yang's strength to be so monstrous either.

He had controlled the sword formation and slaughtered an entire group of fiends.

Red light gleamed in Li Yang's eyes. By now, he was thoroughly carried away:

"Bai Nishang colluded with the fiends and revealed our whereabouts to them. Her crime warrants death. We can't let her live!"

At those words, the six Sword Envoys who had been following him, reveling in the slaughter, instantly widened their eyes.

Wait, brother, you want to kill that mighty figure's Mortalized Body?!

Yet Ning Xinyao did not stop him.

Instead, she took the maid Xiao Feng's hand and stepped onto her flying sword.

She told another guard, "You can borrow my Flying Boat. Take them back to Yongning Commandery."

Li Yang frowned slightly.

"Why are you bringing her?"

"I took a liking to her at first sight, and my cave abode happens to need a maid."

Li Yang asked no further questions.

He pursued on his sword, following the chaotic fluctuations of spiritual motility.

Along the way, he could sense violent fluctuations from the battle ahead. Clearly, everyone was fighting desperately over this Mortalized Body of the Household Ancestor Ning.

"Brother Li, you're only at Qi Refining. Has your master already taught you how to maneuver your sword in combat?" Su Hen asked.

There was no longer any resentment in his eyes.

If this friend of his on the sword path had not lacked cultivation talent, he would surely have ranked among the top twenty on Kun Province's Heavenly Prodigy Ranking by now!

"This is sword maneuvering?" Li Yang asked in return.

He had only heard of sword maneuvering before.

In short, it meant judging the positions of oneself and one's enemies, constricting their room to maneuver, and guiding the flow of battle into a rhythm favorable to oneself.

Su Hen was speechless.

His master and senior brothers had taught him many times, yet he had only grasped the surface.

Meanwhile, this fellow's master had not even taught him, and he had already grasped its essence.

One could call him talented, but they were the same age, and Su Hen had already reached the eighth level of Foundation Establishment while Li Yang was only at the peak of Qi Refining.

Yet one could hardly call him untalented when he had mastered sword maneuvering without a teacher. He was simply a born Sword Cultivator.

The chase lasted half a day.

At last, Li Yang spotted them.

They were locked in combat. The shock waves from their battle had destroyed most of a village below, leaving hundreds of mortals dead or wounded.

"Please leave the mortal village immediately! Deliberately allowing your battle to affect mortals is a challenge to the Sword Alliance's rules!"

The dozen or so cultivators fighting there all frowned. Even when they saw the Recording Stone in Su Hen's hand, they had no intention of leaving.

Among them was a Demon Scion of the Blood River Path, who was absorbing the mortals' blood essence from the village below to sustain his fighting.

"Why waste words on them!" Li Yang had no intention of offering gentle admonitions like Su Hen.

He immediately drove the Seven-Star Sword Formation forward, killing whoever he encountered.

"If you won't leave, none of you will!"