Becoming One with the Sword

Clang!

The two flying swords collided once more, and Xu Changxing's Greenwood Sword was knocked away, just as expected.

Li Changge's flying sword, however, did not falter as it had before.

In those brief moments, he had actually adapted to the lightning that struck like heavenly punishment.

The fighting spirit in Li Changge's eyes seemed almost tangible. "Junior Brother, watch out!"

With a thunderous shout, he prepared to drive his sword through the stalemate.

Crack!

But just as his sword light rose, a bolt of lightning slammed into it.

Li Changge looked up in astonishment, only to discover that a thin thundercloud had appeared overhead at some point.

That bolt had fallen from the thundercloud.

Taking advantage of the moment when Li Changge's flying sword was stalled again, Xu Changxing sent the Greenwood Sword sweeping along an arc toward him.

Li Changge had no choice but to recall his flying sword to defend himself.

Clang! Clang! Clang...

The two flying swords clashed incessantly in midair, with bolts of lightning interspersed among their blows.

Li Changge's defensive perimeter shrank at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Several times, the Greenwood Sword even slashed within a few dozen feet of him.

Yet there was not a trace of fear in Li Changge's eyes. Instead, they gradually filled with a feverish thirst for battle.

"So sword light and heavenly lightning can merge like this.

So that's how it works!

No wonder. No wonder I couldn't see the road ahead, no matter how desperately I pondered..."

As he murmured to himself, Li Changge's sword light grew increasingly concentrated.

When lightning fell from the thundercloud for who knew how many times, he suddenly became one with his sword and shot straight into the heavens!

The next instant, the thundercloud overhead burst like a pierced bubble.

Li Changge's figure reappeared in midair.

Although faint scorch marks marred his robes, his expression was freer and more exhilarated than ever!

"Junior Brother! Thank you for your guidance. I've gained so much!

Now you'd better be careful!"

As Li Changge spoke, his fighting spirit mingled with wild delight, and his entire aura seemed on the verge of ascending to a higher plane.

Below him, Xu Changxing momentarily found himself unable to distinguish Li Changge's physical body from the extension of his sword light.

"Junior Brother, take my sword!"

Li Changge once again became one with his sword and slashed toward Xu Changxing with unstoppable force.

This time, lightning flickered around his blade as well.

In their brief exchange, he had actually grasped Xu Changxing's method of drawing lightning with his sword.

Watching this, Xu Changxing felt an inexplicable shock.

But the next instant, his eyes filled with fighting spirit as well.

He, too, had gained something from their exchange!

Under Li Changge's repeated hammering, his Sword Core had fused ever more closely with his own sword intent.

Even the thundercloud that had originally drifted around his dantian now seemed to be merging with his sword intent.

Almost at the same moment Li Changge's sword light flared, Xu Changxing's Greenwood Sword blazed with unprecedented brilliance.

He likewise became one with his sword and rose to meet the sword light overhead.

The next instant, the two streaks of sword light collided with unprecedented might.

Sword intent danced across the sky, scattering the white clouds for more than a dozen miles around.

Then thunderclouds began to gather.

Both men's sword intent had stirred the surrounding thunder-attribute spiritual energy at the same time.

By the time they steadied themselves several miles apart, the thunderclouds overhead had already grown twice as thick as before.

Streaks of lightning flickered in and out of the thunderclouds like tumbling flood dragons.

Xu Changxing and Li Changge exchanged a glance, then both chose to become one with their swords and charge into the thunderclouds.

Their sword lights were like two flood dragons roaming through the clouds, churning the thunderclouds into endless billows.

By now, the rolling thunder had drowned out the sound of their flying swords colliding.

Yet the lightning crashing down in succession could not conceal their sword light.

Streak after streak of sword light flared, even more dazzling than the lightning piercing the thunderclouds.

As their battle grew increasingly thunderous, more than a dozen Core Formation elders gathered outside the thunderclouds.

At first, these Core Formation elders had merely assumed that some unruly sword cultivators were sparring and thought little of it.

After all, sword cultivators valued actual combat above all else, and sometimes, when the mood struck, they could not resist a bout within the sect.

As long as they caused no serious consequences, the sect would only impose a token punishment afterward.

Thus, most Core Formation elders, and even ordinary disciples, had long since grown accustomed to it.

But as the might of their exchanges continued to mount, the surrounding Core Formation elders finally began to lose their composure, one after another.

By now, more than a dozen elders had gathered outside the thunderclouds.

"How could a battle between sword cultivators summon thunderclouds?

And isn't the power of these thunderclouds far too terrifying?

Just who are those two fighting in there?"

"Do you even need to ask?

That's Flying Stream Peak up ahead!"

"You mean one of them is Li Changge?

No wonder they're displaying such might.

This technique of commanding lightning with a sword is downright terrifying.

With power like that, he can't be far from forming a nascent soul, can he?

But who's fighting him? How can someone hold their own against Li Changge to this extent?"

"Well..."

"Who cares who it is? Fighting like this within the inner sect-they're treating the sect rules as if they don't exist.

This junior is utterly brazen. Isn't anyone going to rein him in?"

His words immediately drew sidelong looks from the other Core Formation cultivators.

Someone promptly asked, "Old Li, what's gotten into you today? Why are you so hot-tempered?"

Before Elder Li could answer, someone else seemed to remember something and slapped his forehead.

"I know! Old Li spent a fortune on a brood of Cloud Phoenixes a few months ago. He's been raising them in the mountains like precious treasures.

Cloud Phoenixes fear heavenly lightning more than anything.

Listen, Old Li, standing here shouting won't help.

If you don't want those precious Cloud Phoenixes of yours frightened to death, you'd better hurry up and stop them."

Elder Li's expression stiffened slightly at those words.

Had the sword light within the thunderclouds not been so astonishing, he would have intervened long ago.

It was precisely because the might of their exchanges had cowed him that he wanted to seek help from the others.

Yet not only did those around him show no intention of helping, they were enjoying his predicament instead, leaving him thoroughly displeased.

Then he thought of those precious darlings back in his mountains, and hot blood surged to his head.

As if to bolster his own courage, he shouted, "Fine, I'll do it! Do you really think I'm afraid of a junior like Li Changge?"

As Elder Li spoke, he had already taken a bronze mirror from inside his robes.

As he poured true essence into it, the bronze mirror gradually began to glow faintly.

Just as the sword of light within the bronze mirror was about to reach its limit, another clash of flying swords rang out from the thunderclouds.

Elder Li abruptly roared, "Do you think our Setting Sun Sect is a place for you to clash swords as you please? Stop this instant!"

Under everyone's expectant gaze, his bronze mirror instantly swelled to dozens of times its original size and hurtled toward the thunderclouds ahead.

By now, all the Core Formation elders present had discerned Elder Li's intent.

He clearly intended to send the bronze mirror between the two men during a gap in their exchanges.

Since they were not locked in a life-or-death struggle, the two would most likely not attack the bronze mirror together.

That would give him an opening to mediate.

Yet the moment the bronze mirror approached the thunderclouds, it stirred the lightning within them.

One streak of lightning struck the bronze mirror head-on.

The next instant, lightning rampaged across the bronze mirror, while the treasure's own radiance began to flicker erratically.

Before Elder Li could steady his magic artifact, another bolt fell from the thunderclouds.

The bronze mirror finally lost its radiance altogether and wobbled as it plummeted toward the ground.

At the same time, two streaks of sword light flared within the thunderclouds once more.

The two streaks of sword light intertwined and darted through the thunderclouds, utterly unaffected.