Arc 105The Sword Tomb Catastrophe

The Dao Sect forces endured successive sword formations that devastated their ranks, while Fairy Hongxia helped break the Five Elements array and the Spirit Devouring insects drove the survivors toward defeat. As Xiao Hua struggled to survive a dangerous breakthrough inside the Sword Tomb, Lu Ruochang and the trapped cultivators remained locked in a stalemate.

  • Fairy Hongxia and Xiang Ming led an assault on the Yin Yang Sword Array’s pillars, but Yang Jiuding and Xiu Jie helped destroy the array and its final sword-light barrage killed thousands.
  • Heng Ming’s forces encountered the Rending Blade Five Elements Sword Array, where Liao Que and the five swords unleashed multiplying attacks that slaughtered cultivators.
  • Fairy Hongxia flooded the array with Innate True Water, weakening it and scattering its core, though the final sword storm still killed many Dao Sect disciples.
  • Li Zongbao reported that only a little over 160,000 Dao Sect disciples remained, and Heng Ming led them toward Sword Burial Mound despite warnings about another formation.
  • Qingfeng and Fan Zuiyuan activated the Sword Domain Spirit Devouring Great Formation, whose insects devoured Qi Ming and pursued the Golden Core cultivators.
  • Ye Yu betrayed four sword gates, sacrificed their disciples, and used the Gecko Insect while real and mutated Spirit Devouring insects ravaged the Dao Sect forces.
  • A breakthrough’s confinement briefly immobilized the insects, but Fan Zuiyuan broke it, and Xiao Hua’s heavenly thunder then weakened Ye Yu’s formation as Xiao Hua struggled to balance his Lightning Cores.
  • Xiao Hua devised a new cultivation technique, stabilized his yin and yang forces, and absorbed torrents of sword qi until his sword essence reached Illusion Sword, while Lu Ruochang and the trapped cultivators remained locked in a stalemate.
Chapters 2601–2625 Vol. 27 Read

Ch. 2601Bloodshed, Threads of Love

The Yin Yang Sword Array slaughtered the pursuing cultivators, while Fairy Hongxia protected Huanhua Sect disciples with her Innate True Water. As the battle continued inside Sword Tomb, she searched anxiously for Xiao Hua and worried that Ming Yue had feelings for Nameless.

  • The Yin Yang Sword Array’s sword lights broke through formations and killed nearly twenty percent of the Qi Refining disciples among the several hundred thousand cultivators.
  • Huanhua Sect disciples used a giant azure tree to suppress sword lights, but a fresh attack threatened their formation.
  • Fairy Hongxia shielded the disciples with Innate True Water and urged them to focus on breaking the enemy’s attack.
  • Fairy Hongxia recalled how she and Ming Yue had pursued the defeated sword cultivators to Sword Tomb after the fighting at Seven Absolute Ridge.
  • Fairy Hongxia searched for Xiao Hua, relied on the gifts he had given her, and suspected Ming Yue’s admiration for Nameless might grow into love.

Ch. 2602Painstaking Deliberation

Fairy Hongxia and Ming Yue uncovered the Yin Yang Sword Array’s array eyes while defending the disciples inside it. As Heng Ming and the other Golden Core cultivators hurried toward the array’s edge, Dexun warned that Lu Ruochang might have set additional sword arrays beyond it to kill cultivators of every level.

  • Fairy Hongxia worried that Ming Yue had feelings for Xiao Hua, whom Ming Yue knew as Nameless, while concealing her jealousy and teasing Ming Yue about his appearance.
  • Fairy Hongxia used Innate True Water to shield Ji Mingxiu and other disciples from two deadly sword lights, but Ming Yue blocked them with her magic treasure, which was damaged.
  • Fairy Hongxia and Ming Yue recognized that the unusually powerful azure and crimson sword lights came from the sword pillars at the array’s center and concluded that destroying the pillars might break the Yin Yang Sword Array.
  • Heng Ming, Li Jijie, and other Golden Core cultivators led the disciples toward the array’s edge, while Heng Ming warned that the array’s combined Yin and Yang sword lights were especially deadly to weaker cultivators.
  • Dexun suspected that Lu Ruochang had arranged even more powerful sword arrays outside the Yin Yang Sword Array, potentially threatening Foundation Establishment and Golden Core cultivators.

Ch. 2603Dividing the Forces

Li Zongbao and Fairy Hongxia each reasoned that the Yin Yang Sword Array’s central sword pillars might be its weak point, prompting the cultivators to split up and attack both the array’s edge and center. As the two groups set off, the sword cultivator leaders watched the slaughter and believed their plan had gone unnoticed.

  • Li Zongbao told Heng Ming that the powerful sword pillars might be the array’s weak point, while Fairy Hongxia separately reported the same conclusion to Xiang Ming.
  • Heng Ming and Xiang Ming agreed to divide the cultivators, with Heng Ming leading one group toward the array’s edge and Xiang Ming taking another toward the central sword pillars.
  • Fairy Hongxia volunteered to accompany Xiang Ming, and Mingyue, Li Zongbao, Dexun, Ji Hong, Xiong Huasong, and Gao Wei joined the group heading for the center.
  • Heng Ming led the remaining cultivators toward the edge while Xiang Ming led his group back toward the sword pillars; Li Zongbao told Fairy Hongxia he did not know where Xiao Hua was but believed he was outside the Sword Tomb.
  • Xiu Jie, Yang Jiuding, Meng Changshou, and Li Ying watched the fighting from atop the sword pillars, and Xiu Jie said the Dao Sect cultivators seemed too panicked to notice them.

Ch. 2604Preparing to Break the Array

Xiang Ming and the Dao Sect Golden Core cultivators confronted Yang Jiuding, Xiu Jie, and Meng Changshou at the Yin Yang Sword Array after discovering its key. As the Dao Sect cultivators prepared Nascent Soul talismans to suppress the sword pillars, Yang Jiuding and Xiu Jie unleashed a combined attack that began driving straight at Xiang Ming’s Nascent Soul hand.

  • Li Ying spotted Xiang Ming and more than a dozen Golden Core cultivators approaching the Yin Yang Sword Array’s key, and Yang Jiuding and Xiu Jie prepared to delay them.
  • Xiang Ming reached the sword pillars with Ming Yue and Fairy Hongxia, but Yang Jiuding and Xiu Jie appeared and launched paired flying swords at him.
  • Xiang Ming trapped the paired swords with his Nascent Soul hand, but Meng Changshou’s Exquisite Lamp gathered the sword pillars’ power and sent a combined blast against the Dao Sect cultivators.
  • Dexun, Xiong Huasong, Ji Hong, and the other Dao Sect cultivators activated Nascent Soul talismans, suppressing the area and bearing down on the sword pillars.
  • Yang Jiuding and Xiu Jie drew their swords back from Xiang Ming’s Nascent Soul hand and merged them with giant azure and crimson swords emerging from the pillars.
  • The giant swords formed an overwhelming piercing force and accelerated toward Xiang Ming’s Nascent Soul hand.

Ch. 2605Falling One After Another

Yang Jiuding and Xiu Jie killed Ji Hong and escaped into the ground before their sword pillars joined Meng Changshou’s Exquisite Lamp. The lamp launched a barrage of powerful Yin Yang sword lights, leaving Fairy Hongxia injured and Zhou Qingping and Xu Zeqi dead as the remaining cultivators struggled to resist.

  • Yang Jiuding and Xiu Jie broke Xiang Ming’s Nascent Soul hand, then redirected their swords and split Ji Hong in two before she could summon her magic treasure or self-detonate.
  • Yang Jiuding and Xiu Jie transformed into streams of light and plunged beneath Dragon Slaying Slope, while the Nascent Soul hands seized the sword pillars.
  • A tremendous bellow rose from underground, and the sword pillars contracted into swords that broke free of the Nascent Soul hands and flew into Meng Changshou’s Exquisite Lamp.
  • Meng Changshou’s Exquisite Lamp spun and fired more than a dozen Yin Yang sword lights at the cultivators; Fairy Hongxia used layers of Innate True Water to shield Mingyue and Li Zongbao, but her Ice Phoenix Dharma Body was wounded.
  • The sword lights shattered Zhou Qingping’s and Xu Zeqi’s Nascent Soul hands, passed through their bodies, and killed them.

Ch. 2606Breaking the Yin Yang Sword Array

The Daoist cultivators broke the Yin Yang Sword Array, but its collapse killed thousands more and left their forces badly shaken. As they hurried west, new tremors began, confirming Li Zongbao’s suspicion that another formation awaited them.

  • Dexun, Xiang Ming, and Xiong Huasong used Nascent Soul talismans to seize the sword pillars, while Xiu Jie and Yang Jiuding sacrificed their natal swords to make the pillars collapse.
  • The Yin Yang Sword Array shattered, releasing a final flood of sword light that killed several thousand cultivators before the array’s surrounding light vanished.
  • Xiang Ming led the survivors toward Heng Ming’s forces, and Fairy Hongxia lamented the deaths while Ming Yue and Li Zongbao guarded her.
  • Li Zongbao warned Ming Yue and Fairy Hongxia that the sword cultivators might have prepared another formation, and the group continued west without stopping to gather corpses.
  • Tremors surged toward Dragon Slaying Slope again, and Ming Yue carried Fairy Hongxia as they sped west and encountered panicked cultivators fleeing ahead.

Ch. 2607Rending Blade Five Elements Sword Array

Li Zongbao steadied the scattered Dao Sect cultivators after they entered another sword array, while Xiang Ming and the Golden Core masters reached the edge of the Yin Yang Sword Array and discovered a second formation. There, Bai Tianming destroyed Liu Xinwu’s Spirit Binding Lock, and Qing Jian welcomed the Dao Sect survivors into the Rending Blade Five Elements Sword Array.

  • Li Zongbao ordered the panicked cultivators to reform their ranks and advanced with Mingyue and the Golden Core masters to seek a flaw in the array.
  • Xiang Ming, Dexun, and Xiong Huasong reached the bloodied edge of the Yin Yang Sword Array and realized that another sword array lay beyond it.
  • Liu Xinwu attacked the towering swordsman with his Spirit Binding Lock, but Bai Tianming trapped and shattered the magical treasure with black sword light.
  • Qing Jian and Bi Shun appeared alongside Bai Tianming, and Qing Jian identified the formation as the Rending Blade Five Elements Sword Array.

Ch. 2608Seven Swordmasters

Xiao Jingding and the other sword cultivators revealed the seven masters behind the Rending Blade Five Elements Sword Array and urged the exhausted Daoist forces to surrender. Heng Ming rallied the cultivators against surrender, then ordered a charge as the sword cultivators began activating their array.

  • Xiao Jingding and Luo Shuilan introduced themselves, and Pingfan, Liao Que, and Bi Shun appeared, revealing seven sword cultivators in total.
  • Liao Que warned that the Five Elements Sword Array was stronger than the Yin Yang Sword Array and offered the Daoist cultivators a chance to surrender.
  • Heng Ming argued that surrender would damage their Dao hearts and urged the cultivators to fight, stirring resolve in some of them.
  • Heng Ming secretly ordered the cultivators to charge west before the array was activated, and the Daoist leaders unleashed their talismans.
  • Qing Jian and the other sword cultivators began transforming their sword arts as the Rending Blade Five Elements Sword Array took shape.

Ch. 2609Five Elements Planet Disk

Pingfan revealed himself as the Five Elements planet disk, the core of the legendary Inverted Five Elements Stellar Array, while Liao Que and the five transformed swords activated the Rending Blade Five Elements Sword Array. The array drained the surrounding spiritual energy and began overwhelming the Daoist cultivators’ Nascent Soul hands, leaving Heng Ming and the others facing an escalating battle.

  • Xiao Jingding, Luo Shuilan, and the other swordsmen transformed into five enormous swords, while Liao Que became a five-colored peacock and disrupted the surrounding Five Elements spiritual energy.
  • As the Golden Core cultivators attacked Liao Que, Pingfan vanished unnoticed and reappeared as a strange disk that the five swords surrounded.
  • The swords pierced the disk, which expanded and unleashed countless sword lights; Xiong Huasong recognized it as the Five Elements planet disk, the core of the Inverted Five Elements Stellar Array.
  • The disk’s shooting-star sword lights clashed with sword lights rising from the ground, creating fragments that absorbed all nearby Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.
  • Heng Ming and Dexun poured their power into their Nascent Soul hands to attack the ball of light, while Liao Que sent phosphorescence surging toward them and cracking sounds spread throughout the array.

Ch. 2610Exploding Rending Blades

Li Zongbao and the cultivators struggled against the Rending Blade Five Elements Sword Array as its tiny swords drained the surrounding spiritual energy and attacked relentlessly. After Fairy Hongxia's Innate True Water protected Li Zongbao, he realized that innate objects could restrain the array and asked her to help break it.

  • The fluorescent motes erupted into flying swords, killing the unprepared Qi Cultivation cultivators and forcing Li Zongbao to defend himself with the Immortal-Piercing Whip.
  • The swords repeatedly shattered and multiplied, while Liao Que's attacks hindered Heng Ming and the other Golden Core cultivators from forming their Nascent Soul hands or reaching the Five Elements planet disk.
  • Heng Ming noticed Fairy Hongxia's water-blue radiance and realized it might offer a way to counter the array.
  • Fairy Hongxia's Innate True Water protected Li Zongbao and dissolved any tiny sword that entered it.
  • Li Zongbao explained that innate objects could restrain the array and asked Fairy Hongxia to help save the Daoist sect cultivators, and she agreed to follow his instructions.

Ch. 2611Fairy Hongxia Breaks the Array

Fairy Hongxia agreed to use her vast Innate True Water to cover the array eye of the Rending Blade Five Elements Sword Array, despite the danger to herself. After Li Zongbao withdrew, she released her Ice Phoenix Dharma Body as Liao Que attacked it with Five Elements Shard-Glow.

  • Ji Mingxiu and Li Zongbao urged Fairy Hongxia to hand over the Innate True Water, but she explained that she could not remove it from her Dharma Body.
  • Ming Yue led Ji Mingxiu and the others away while Fairy Hongxia and Li Zongbao flew toward the battle under the protection of the True Water.
  • Liao Que sent waves of Shard-Glow at Fairy Hongxia, and she revealed to Xiong Huasong that she possessed an immense amount of True Water refined with her Dharma Body.
  • Xiong Huasong ordered Fairy Hongxia to cover the array eye, and she accepted the risk despite Li Zongbao's objections.
  • Fairy Hongxia told Li Zongbao to ask someone to avenge her if she died, then released her Ice Phoenix Dharma Body as Liao Que launched another attack.

Ch. 2612Five Elements Sword Array Shattered

Fairy Hongxia used her Innate True Water to break the Rending Blade Five Elements Sword Array, but the swordsmen launched a final attack as the formation collapsed. Li Zongbao saved Hongxia from a transformed sword and took Xiao Hua’s medicinal pill, while the array’s last burst of sword light slaughtered Dao Sect cultivators.

  • Fairy Hongxia released her Ice Phoenix Dharma Body and flooded the formation with Innate True Water, shielding the cultivators from the shattered fireflies and weakening the sword array.
  • Liao Que attacked Hongxia and tore a piece from the Ice Phoenix’s wing, but Dexun and Xiang Ming drove him away as Hongxia surrounded the Five Elements planet disk with True Water.
  • The True Water exploded, forcing Hongxia’s Dharma Body to withdraw and scattering the five giant swords and planet disk; the swordsmen then resolved to make a final stand.
  • Bai Tianming’s black sword light rushed at Hongxia, but Li Zongbao deflected it with the Immortal-Piercing Whip and was injured; Hongxia gave him one of Xiao Hua’s medicinal pills.
  • The five swords and Five Elements planet disk unleashed a final storm of sword light, killing Dao Sect cultivators across the battlefield.

Ch. 2613Soothing the Troops, Spiritual Pills

After the Five Elements sword array collapsed, Li Zongbao and Fairy Hongxia restored the shaken cultivators’ morale by praising Hongxia’s role in breaking it. Li Zongbao gathered Xiao Hua’s spiritual pills from Xiao Mao and Hongxia to treat the injured Golden Core cultivators, leaving Hengming with an unexpectedly ugly pill.

  • The strange peacock and the Five Elements planet disk disappeared after the array broke, while Hengming and the other cultivators tried to calm the traumatized disciples.
  • Li Zongbao credited Fairy Hongxia with breaking the array, and Hongxia reassured the cultivators that innate objects could defeat the sword cultivators’ formations.
  • The disciples regained their confidence, and the Huanhua Sect gained renown for Hongxia’s role in the victory.
  • Li Zongbao asked Xiao Mao and Hongxia for Xiao Hua’s spiritual pills, then flew to distribute them to the injured Golden Core cultivators.
  • Hengming accepted a pill from Li Zongbao but hesitated when he saw its ugly appearance.

Ch. 2614Great Losses

After the Rending Blade Five Elements Sword Array was broken, Fairy Hongxia gave miraculous spirit pills to the Golden Core cultivators, and the commanders assessed the danger ahead. Li Zongbao reported that the Dao Sect had suffered catastrophic losses, while he urged Heng Ming to keep pressing forward because the army had no path of retreat.

  • Heng Ming swallowed one of the spirit pills Li Zongbao distributed, and Fairy Hongxia gave pills to Ming Yue and Xiang Ming after learning that Ji Mingxiu and most of her disciples had died.
  • Xiang Ming praised the pills as likely made by the mysterious Alchemy Master, while Dexun recognized Fairy Hongxia's service in breaking the array.
  • Heng Ming and Xiong Huasong discussed the possibility of another sword array targeting Golden Core cultivators and ordered scouts to assess the battlefield and losses.
  • Li Zongbao told Heng Ming that only a little over 160,000 Dao Sect disciples remained, after nearly 90,000 died in the Yin Yang Sword Array and over 100,000 in the Rending Blade Five Elements Sword Array.
  • Li Zongbao reminded Heng Ming that Lu Ruochang had prepared the ambush for over eight years and urged him to break the next array, since the Dao Sect had no retreat.

Ch. 2615Strange

Heng Ming and the surviving Dao Sect forces prepared to advance after breaking two sword arrays, despite their devastating losses. A scout then reported that a dozen sword cultivators stood ahead without attacking or showing any sign of forming an array, leaving the commanders unsure what they intended.

  • Li Zongbao reassured Heng Ming that the Joyful Sect could bear his mistakes, and Heng Ming ordered him to prepare with Fairy Hongxia and Xiao Mao.
  • Li Zongbao asked Fairy Hongxia and Xiao Mao for medicinal pills, then assigned Fairy Hongxia to join him and Xiao Mao in breaking through the next formation.
  • Heng Ming told the Golden Core cultivators that only 160,000 Dao Sect disciples remained, and the forces advanced toward the mist-covered Sword Burial Mound.
  • Qi Ming returned from scouting and reported that a dozen sword cultivators waited more than two li ahead without sword qi, killing intent, or any response to the scouts.
  • Qi Ming suggested that the Dao Sect forces split up and go around the motionless sword cultivators.

Ch. 2616Spirit Devouring Great Formation

Hengming’s Dao Sect forces confronted Qingfeng and the sword cultivators guarding the Spirit Devouring Great Formation. As the formation activated, blood-infused creatures emerged and began devouring Li Jijie’s flying sword.

  • Qi Ming warned that the sword cultivators could outflank the Dao Sect forces, but Dexun dismissed his advice and led the group onward.
  • Hengming met Qingfeng, who rejected the offer to withdraw and revealed that he had resolved to fight after his senior brother Cangyuan fell.
  • Fan Zuiyuan appeared and announced the Sword Domain Spirit Devouring Great Formation as a seven-tier pagoda released expanding ripples.
  • Qingfeng transformed the other sword cultivators into foul blood, activated the formation, and used the blood to break open his Sword Pouch.
  • Hundreds of black flying creatures emerged, absorbed the foul blood, and one bit Li Jijie’s flying sword and swallowed its radiance.

Ch. 2617Spirit Devouring Insects

Several hundred Spirit Devouring Insect larvae attacked the cultivators in the Sword Tomb, targeting the Golden Core cultivators and devouring their spells, treasures, and spiritual energy. Qi Ming was overwhelmed and killed, and the chapter ended as countless black-clad swordsmen appeared in the sword radiance.

  • Qi Ming identified the flying creatures as Spirit Devouring Insect larvae and warned that the cultivators could not defeat them without heavenly lightning.
  • Hengming and the other Golden Core cultivators fled, but the insects chased them and ignored the Foundation Establishment disciples.
  • The larvae surrounded Qi Ming, devoured his spells and magical treasure, and multiplied around him as he tried to escape.
  • The insects broke through Qi Ming's protective light, devoured his Golden Core, and caused him to fall to his death.
  • The insects flew toward the remaining Golden Core cultivators as the sound of sword cries rose and black-clad swordsmen appeared in the sword radiance.

Ch. 2618True and False Spirit Devouring Insects

Fake Spirit Devouring Insects sent Dao Sect cultivators fleeing while real insects killed Li Jijie and threatened Hengming. As Lu Ruochang appeared with a giant phoenix-shaped sword, Ye Yu activated a strange gecko-shaped object whose eye opened and released a green light into the mist.

  • Huan Country swordsmen unleashed swarms of fake Spirit Devouring Insects alongside real ones, scattering the Dao Sect cultivators and exposing the fake insects as devourers of earth, plants, and artifacts.
  • Li Zongbao, Xiao Mao, and Fairy Hongxia identified the swarms as a mix of real Spirit Devouring Insects and mutated worms, but could kill only a few of the fakes.
  • A real Spirit Devouring Insect killed Li Jijie, while Hengming struggled against nearly ten insects and signaled Li Zongbao to flee.
  • Lu Ruochang's giant phoenix-shaped sword appeared in the eastern sky as three insects flew toward Li Zongbao, Xiao Mao, and Fairy Hongxia.
  • Ye Yu chanted over a jade-green, gecko-shaped object, formed a blood-red seal character on his thumb, and pressed it onto the object's single eye.
  • The gecko's eye opened, cast a cruel green light into the mist, and the object floated into the air as Ye Yu turned pale and trembled.

Ch. 2619Life for Life

Ye Yu lured four sword sects into a deadly formation and used their disciples’ lives to empower it. He revealed that Lu Ruochang had agreed to the sacrifice in exchange for his slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Daoist Sect cultivators.

  • Ye Yu summoned the four sword sects, whose tens of thousands of disciples had trained under his command for nearly five years, and ordered them to activate their formation.
  • Ye Yu directed the Gecko Insect to release ghostly green rays that imprisoned the disciples’ sword essence and caused their bodies to burst apart.
  • Ji Ping, Li Moji, Fan Ping, and Huang Xing realized Ye Yu had betrayed them and tried to fight back, but he immobilized them with green light.
  • Ye Yu revealed his face, then told the four leaders that Lu Ruochang had promised him the sacrifice of their sects’ forty thousand disciples in return for killing hundreds of thousands of Daoist Sect cultivators.

Ch. 2620Immortal-Piercing Whip Destroyed

Ye Yu revealed that he was a surviving disciple of the Flying Dragon Sword Gate and killed the four sword-gate leaders before gathering their vengeful souls to send toward the battlefield. There, Spirit Devouring Insects devoured Li Zongbao’s Immortal-Piercing Whip, then swarmed toward a Nascent Soul hand summoned by Liang Mingfu.

  • Ye Yu revealed that the four sword gates had destroyed the Flying Dragon Sword Gate eight thousand years earlier and said he had come to avenge it.
  • Ye Yu killed Huang Xing, Li Moji, Ji Ping, and the fourth leader, then used the gecko insect to gather the dead swordsmen’s souls and lead them east.
  • Three Spirit Devouring Insects devoured the radiance of Li Zongbao’s Immortal-Piercing Whip, leaving it powerless before they chased him.
  • A Golden Core cultivator used a sect talisman to summon a Nascent Soul hand, drawing the Spirit Devouring Insects away from Li Zongbao.
  • Fairy Hongxia identified the cultivator as Liang Mingfu, whose talisman killed several insects but drew dozens more toward him.

Ch. 2621Danger, the Final Strike

Liang Mingfu self-detonated to escape the Spirit Devouring Insects, killing many nearby disciples, while Lu Ruochang’s sword formation and the insects devastated the Daoist forces. Hengming realized the Four Directions Sword Array was designed to leave no survivors as Ye Yu appeared from the encircling mist.

  • Liang Mingfu’s Nascent Soul hand collapsed under the Spirit Devouring Insects, and he self-detonated to blast them away, killing most nearby Foundation Establishment disciples.
  • Li Zongbao, Fairy Hongxia, and Xiao Mao escaped serious harm, but the sword cultivators hidden in the Spirit Devouring Great Formation attacked the scattered Daoist forces.
  • Spirit Devouring Insects continued killing Golden Core cultivators, while Huoping and Huang Feng struggled to keep the insects at bay.
  • Hengming saw that dense, ghostly mist had trapped the fleeing disciples and realized Lu Ruochang’s Four Directions Sword Array was meant to kill every Daoist cultivator.
  • Ye Yu appeared atop a giant gecko insect within the mist as Hengming lost hope of surviving.

Ch. 2622Before the Man Appeared, the Formation Had Already Broken

As Heng Ming and the trapped Dao Sect cultivators faced annihilation, a mysterious cultivator’s breakthrough unleashed a force that immobilized the battlefield and drew the Spirit Devouring Insects away. Lu Ruochang’s plans began to collapse as strange spiritual crystals formed and heavenly thunder appeared over the Sword Tomb.

  • Heng Ming gave up resisting as a Spirit Devouring Insect breached his protection, while Li Zongbao and the others fought on.
  • A powerful confinement swept through the Four Directions Sword Array, revealing that someone was undergoing an extraordinary breakthrough, and Heng Ming and the other Council Hall Golden Core cultivators used Nascent Soul hands to attack the immobilized insects.
  • Fan Zuiyuan detonated his pagoda, breaking the confinement inside the formation and allowing the Spirit Devouring Insects to attack the Nascent Soul hands again.
  • Silver-white crystals formed amid enormous spiritual vortices, drawing the Spirit Devouring Insects away from the Dao Sect cultivators and disrupting the Spirit Devouring Great Formation.
  • Lu Ruochang ordered the swordsmen to find and kill the cultivator behind the breakthrough, but heavenly thunder and its killing aura struck her down and left her despairing.

Ch. 2623Xiao Hua's Calamity

Xiao Hua’s core formation began to tear his dantian apart because his eighteenth layer of Qi Cultivation made the yin and yang forces dangerously unbalanced. As the calamity worsened, he realized he might need to invent a cultivation technique to temper the missing Meridian.

  • Heavenly thunder weakened Ye Yu’s wronged souls and Soul Annihilation Formation, forcing Ye Yu to withdraw and giving Heng Ming and the others a chance to fight back.
  • Xiao Hua felt fierce pain as a pale violet point formed between his two Lightning Cores and drew power unevenly through his Meridians.
  • He realized the suction forces differed because he had cultivated the eighteenth layer of Qi Cultivation, making a balanced Golden Core impossible and threatening his life.
  • Xiao Hua recalled the Meridians he had seen while dual cultivating with Fairy Hongxia and considered creating another Meridian to restore balance.
  • Unable to find a suitable method for tempering that Meridian, Xiao Hua faced the growing force tearing at his dantian and resolved to create a cultivation technique himself.

Ch. 2624Calamity Rises Again

With his dantian close to being torn apart by unbalanced yin and yang suction, Xiao Hua improvised a Foundation Establishment cultivation technique to open new meridians and restore balance. He reached the ideal moment for Core Formation, but a renewed surge of sword qi and spiritual qi struck his body just as he prepared to take Qianli Pills.

  • Xiao Hua decided to create a cultivation technique by adapting chants he knew and using his knowledge of his meridians.
  • He drew Golden Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi and sword qi into his body, testing and revising chants until he opened new meridians and eased the dantian's imbalance.
  • Golden heavenly lightning and Xiao Hua's enormous vortex disturbed the sword tomb, drawing its spiritual qi and sword qi toward him.
  • After several days, Xiao Hua completed his technique, which he believed was the first Foundation Establishment technique of his Creation Sect, and stabilized the yin and yang suction forces.
  • Xiao Hua reached the Core Formation opportunity and took out Qianli Pills, but a thick surge of sword qi and Golden Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi entered his body and made him tremble.

Ch. 2625Enlightenment

Xiao Hua was overwhelmed by the Sword Tomb’s incoming sword qi and spiritual energy, but used them to cultivate true essence and sword essence as a lightning tribulation gathered around him. His cultivation and the surrounding phenomenon continued to escalate, while he remained trapped and unable to stop the influx.

  • Xiao Hua failed to close the Fan Jin Great Formation and briefly used the Yin Yang Sword Gourds to absorb the incoming energy before they filled up.
  • Xiao Hua activated the Dragon Transformation Art and Celestial Body Infusion Technique, drawing in spiritual energy and triggering a lightning tribulation.
  • Xiao Hua transformed the incoming sword qi into sword essence and cultivated Zhu Meng and Mountain Splitting with sword arts.
  • The Sword Tomb’s expanding hurricane and blooming purple gardenias alarmed those outside, while Lu Ruochang and the trapped cultivators remained locked in a stalemate.
  • After several days, Xiao Hua’s sword essence reached the level of Illusion Sword, but he still lacked sword intent and could not stop the energy pouring into him.
  • Xiao Hua feared he would die in the Sword Tomb and reflected that he, too, might leave a name there as a sword that would rather break than bend.
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