Late at night on May 4, year 10009 of the Yulan Calendar.
Neither stars nor moon shone in the night sky. Heavy clouds hung low over the imperial capital, Chiyan City, like an immense slab of black lead weighing on every heart.
The Chiyan River wound past the northern side of the imperial capital, its broad waters spanning several hundred meters, cold, muddy waves surging through the darkness. Yet tonight, this normally tranquil stretch of water outside the city had become the focus of countless eyes throughout the O'Brien Empire, and even the entire Yulan Continent.
Torches already lit both banks as brightly as day. Millions of commoners, mercenaries, and nobles had streamed from every part of the capital into a surging sea of people. Had the empire not deployed a hundred thousand elite city guards to forcibly cordon off a safety zone, the frenzied crowds would almost have crushed the embankments.
On the finest viewing platform on the northern bank of the Chiyan River, Her Majesty Joanne sat in the center, flanked by members of the imperial family and senior officials. Earl Wharton's household and the delegation from the Yulan Empire had been specially seated at the very front.
Linley stood by the railing, the night wind stirring his long hair and black warrior robes.
Beside him, Doehring Cowart sat sipping tea, perfectly composed; Delia wore a fitted moon-blue robe, her beautiful eyes quietly watching the sky above the river; Wharton gripped his battle saber, Carnage, looking somewhat nervous; Barker and his four brothers stood in a row like iron towers, Gates's great, bell-like eyes fixed intently on the sky.
"So many people." Perched on Linley's shoulder, Bebe took a bite of fresh fruit and sent mentally, "Boss, can that big dark fellow really beat Olivier?"
"Haydson made his name centuries ago. His reputation as the strongest in the Saint Realm is no empty boast," Linley said softly, looking toward the center of the river.
A hundred meters above the water, a burly, middle-aged man in a coarse gray robe hovered with his eyes closed, cradling a sword.
The Rock Sword Saint, Haydson.
He had not even drawn the earthen-yellow heavy sword on his back. An extremely faint layer of yellow currents flowed naturally around him. Those currents were almost imperceptible, but through Linley's keen perception of the earth, the space within several dozen meters of Haydson seemed faintly attuned to the gravity of the earth below, as solid and massive as a solitary peak towering into the clouds.
"His Laws of the Earth don't follow the path of Pulsation." Doehring's voice sounded in Linley's mind, offering guidance. "It's 'heaviness,' or perhaps the essence of convergence at the earth's very origin. Immovable as a mountain, drawing on the earth's power to form heavy armor and a heavy hammer. Watch carefully, Linley."
Linley nodded slightly.
Boom!
Just then, a dazzling streak of white light suddenly flashed across the eastern horizon!
The shriek of air being torn apart rang out like a thunderclap in a clear sky. In an instant, a lean figure carrying a black sword and a white sword on his back, his long black-and-white hair whipping wildly, appeared out of thin air a hundred meters opposite Haydson.
The genius Sword Saint, Olivier!
The millions on both banks erupted in cheers like landslides and tidal waves. The roar even shook the Chiyan River's rushing waters into a momentary upward halt!
Olivier hovered in the air, his gaze as cold as an ancient, icy pool. He did not look at the frenzied crowds below, only stared coldly at Haydson. "Six years ago, I was no match for you. In today's battle, I won't hold back. If I accidentally cut you down, don't blame my sword for showing no mercy."
Haydson slowly opened his eyes. They were utterly calm, and a faint smile touched his lips. "If you can kill me, then do so. I, Haydson, have roamed unchallenged across the empire for centuries. If I die beneath your sword, it will be a worthy death."
"Draw your sword." Olivier slowly drew the black longsword from his back-the Black Stone Sword!
The instant its pitch-black blade left its sheath, it seemed to swallow even the light of the surrounding torches, dark and cold.
Yet Haydson kept both hands behind his back and said indifferently, "Force me to draw it first."
"Arrogant!"
Killing intent surged in Olivier's eyes, and his body abruptly shuddered!
Hum!
A dazzling burst of white light bloomed in midair, followed by a second, a tenth, a hundredth! Under the Laws of Extreme Speed pushed to their utmost, a full hundred and eight afterimages of Olivier instantly filled the sky over the Chiyan River!
Every afterimage held the Black Stone Sword, thrusting at Haydson from all directions at once with shrill howls that tore through space!
"Such fast light-speed phantoms!" Mackenzie, watching from the bank, could not help blurting out in admiration.
Yet at the center of the storm, Haydson merely took subtle, profound steps. He appeared slow, but each step carried him dozens of meters as though shrinking the earth beneath him, effortlessly avoiding the sword light raining down from the sky.
"Is dodging all you can do?" Olivier shouted coldly.
"Then have it your way." Haydson stopped, and the earthen-yellow waves of energy around him abruptly contracted, seemingly condensing into a suit of divine earth armor fitted close against his body.
"Become one!"
The hundred and eight afterimages in the sky instantly fused together. Wrapped in cold, dark light that seemed capable of devouring everything, Olivier and the Black Stone Sword became a black streak spanning heaven and earth, thrusting savagely at Haydson's throat!
The strike was so fast that even divine sense could barely capture it. There was no avoiding it!
Haydson's gaze sharpened. Rather than retreat, he fiercely drove his right fist forward!
The punch looked simple and unadorned, yet it was as heavy as a collapsing mountain of immense weight. The air before his fist was compressed directly into a deathly white arc!
Clang! Crack!
The explosive clash of metal shattered nearly a hundred torches along the riverbank, followed by the teeth-grating crack of bone!
Olivier's Black Stone Sword slashed hard against Haydson's iron fist, covered in dense battle-qi. The terrifying force of the recoil surged back up the blade, twisting and breaking Olivier's right arm on the spot. He flew backward a hundred meters like a kite with its string cut and crashed into the Chiyan River, throwing up towering muddy waves!
On the bank, Blumer's eyes reddened with anxiety, and he nearly charged down into the river.
Yet high in the air, Haydson, who had driven back his powerful opponent with a single punch, swayed violently. A trace of pain and horror he could not conceal flashed through his eyes.
"His soul was struck." Linley's slit pupils contracted slightly.
In that instant, he had clearly sensed that when the Black Stone Sword fell, little residual battle-qi had spilled out. Instead, a mass of dark spiritual energy condensed like a spike had traveled along the blade, ignored Haydson's protective armor, and slammed directly into his mind!
It was a pure soul attack!
Splash!
The river burst apart as Olivier broke through the water and soared into the air once more. Enveloped in milky-white Holy Light Power, his fractured, twisted right arm healed at a speed visible to the naked eye, returning to normal in an instant.
Olivier sneered. With a ringing shing, his left hand drew his second sword-the Light and Shadow Sword!
Black Stone in his right hand, Light and Shadow in his left!
The diametrically opposed Laws of Darkness and Laws of Light blazed on his two swords at the same moment!
"Haydson, having your soul wounded doesn't feel pleasant, does it?" Olivier's long hair whipped wildly, his left sword blazing white and his right sword deep and dark. "Let's see how many more strikes you can take!"
Haydson's face was slightly pale, and his expression finally became utterly grave. He reached back, grasped the hilt of the earthen-yellow heavy sword on his back, and slowly drew it.
Shing!
Heavy, ancient, desolate.
"To force me to draw my sword, and even comprehend a soul spike... Olivier, you truly deserve to be called an unrivaled genius." Haydson stood with his sword in hand, earthen-yellow radiance rising around him like a blazing sun. "But a warrior's soul ultimately needs battle-qi to attune itself to heaven and earth. My Laws of the Earth protect all my organs and my soul. You cannot break through my foundation!"
"Then let's find out!"
Olivier crossed his swords, transformed into countless streaks of light, and unleashed a frenzied assault on Haydson.
At that very moment, a deathly white thunderbolt split the sky overhead. Immediately afterward, torrential rain came crashing down!
An endless curtain of rain instantly filled the space between heaven and earth. Fierce winds, pouring rain, and thunder intertwined. Millions of people were soaked through, yet not one looked away.
In midair, every slash from Olivier's paired swords carried the ultimate tearing force of the Laws of Light and the devouring erosion of the Laws of Darkness, while hidden soul spikes battered Haydson's mind again and again.
Yet the heavy sword in Haydson's hand became an indestructible wall between heaven and earth. No matter how light and darkness roared or wind and rain raged, he did not retreat half a step. Every swing of his heavy sword drew on the Force of the Heavens and Earth within a hundred meters, dissolving the savage attacks into nothing.
Linley stood beneath the viewing platform's canopy, his eyes locked on the clash high above.
In his mind, the Earth Pulsation of Hundredfold Waves, Mackenzie's pseudo-domain, Haydson's heavy defense, and Olivier's heart-shaking soul attacks collided furiously as he worked through them.
Releasing battle-qi outward is only the crudest form of defense...
Since Earth Pulsation can become a hundred or even more layers of vibration waves that penetrate an enemy's body, why can't I weave that pulsation in reverse over my own body's surface, forming layers of Pulse Armor that resonate with heaven and earth to continually neutralize and divert force?
Haydson's "heaviness" gathers power like a mountain to withstand attacks head-on, while my Pulsation can use waves to cancel attacks layer by layer... And if I draw the earth's ripples together to protect the edges of my sea of souls, how could spiritual spikes like Olivier's easily penetrate it?
Amid the thunder of the raging storm, Linley seemed to see an entirely new gateway to the laws burst open before him.
At the very instant enlightenment dawned in Linley's mind, the decisive battle in the sky had reached the dividing line between life and death!
"Olivier, it's over!"
A cold light blazed in Haydson's eyes after his long defense. He raised his heavy sword high, and all the torrential rain between heaven and earth seemed to be drawn by that sword at that moment, flowing upward!
"Take my strongest strike-Earth Split!"
The heavy sword came crashing down from above. The air burst under the pressure with a piercing wail, as though an entire ancient mountain were bearing down from overhead!
"Come on! Light and Darkness Severance!"
Olivier's face was as pale as a ghost, yet he neither dodged nor evaded. He forcibly pressed the Light and Shadow Sword and Black Stone Sword tightly together. Two utterly conflicting powers of law, one black and one white, tore and exploded furiously at the tips of the blades, becoming a chaotic streak of light that annihilated everything as it rose against the heavens!
Rumble!!!
Terrifying waves of energy exploded over the Chiyan River like a nuclear blast!
The river was cleaved open into a waterless trench over a thousand meters long, exposing the mud on its bed! The savage shock wave swept back onto both banks, blasting apart the viewing platform's massive wooden pillars one after another!
High in the air, Olivier's swords flew from his hands. Under the extreme pressure, an unknown number of bones throughout his body shattered. Blood sprayed wildly from his mouth as Haydson's sword blasted him like a meteor into the raging Chiyan River. Dazzling blood instantly stained the water red!
"Big brother!" Blumer screamed, leaping straight into the icy current and frantically searching for him.
Above, the Rock Sword Saint Haydson likewise shuddered violently and flew back a hundred meters, a crimson trail of blood spilling from the corner of his mouth. He leaned on his heavy sword, gasping for breath, the horror in his eyes lingering for a long time.
Olivier's final, desperate strike combining light and darkness had actually broken through his earth armor and injured his internal organs!
Rain poured down.
The millions of spectators were utterly silent.
After a long while, Blumer burst out of the water carrying Olivier, who was deeply unconscious, his breathing as feeble as a candle guttering in the wind. Although an imperial court Grand Magus of Light urgently cast healing magic to mend his broken bones and internal injuries, Olivier's soul had fallen into a deep, shattered slumber. No matter how he was called, he gave no response.
The Rock Sword Saint Haydson had won this battle, but the victory had been devastatingly costly.
Just as everyone in the imperial capital was preparing to accept this shocking outcome, Haydson, hovering high in the downpour, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.
He slowly turned, his gaze passing over the surging Chiyan River and rank upon rank of heavily armored imperial guards before settling with unerring precision on the black-haired young man standing with his hands behind his back at the front of the viewing platform.
Haydson's voice thundered between heaven and earth, filled with boundless, fervent battle intent and solemn weight:
"Olivier has lost. But compared to him... Master Linley, I look forward far more to fighting you!"
The millions of spectators instantly fell into a deathly silence. Every gaze turned in unison toward Linley.
Haydson raised his heavy sword high and pointed it at Linley from afar:
"You cultivate the Profound Truths of the Earth, while I comprehend the earth's heaviness. Three months from now, on August 4, at the summit of Tujiao Mountain west of the city!"
"Dragonblood Warrior Linley, do you dare face the sword of this Rock Sword Saint?!"
Wind and rain cut like knives.
Meeting the gaze of the empire's strongest expert, Linley felt the rank-nine Dragonblood Battle Qi roaring through the dantian within his body, along with the faint embryonic form of Pulsing Defense condensed through his recent enlightenment. Calm yet unrestrained battle intent spread across his face.
He stepped half a pace forward, his voice piercing the air like a dragon's cry, drowning out the thunder in the highest heavens:
"Three months from now, I'll see you on Tujiao Mountain!"