50.0
(The first three chapters have been revised; you can download them again to read them.)
[Basic Sword Qi]
The four simple Daoist characters were unremarkable, even exuding a sense of naivety and roughness.
This was the spoils he obtained after slaying his first enemy at the beginning of his Dao Path, and it was also the first true "sword" type Law Technique he mastered in his life.
It accompanied him through his humble beginnings, cutting through the initial thorns.
"It's been a long time," Qi Yun murmured to himself, feeling neither joy nor sorrow.
The next moment, he stopped suppressing himself.
The vast amount of Sword Dao intent within his body, forcibly plundered and refined by [Seize Profound Meaning], belonging to the two Great True Person, the Dragon-Slaying Sword Master and the True Person Sansi, and embodying their life's blood, insights, and cultivation, surged into the four small characters [Basic Sword Qi] on the panel like a burst dam of a chaotic celestial river, transforming into a pure, majestic, and indescribably sharp torrent!
"Buzz buzz buzz!!!"
The [Basic Sword Qi], which had been dormant for countless years, suddenly erupted with an unprecedentedly dazzling brilliance!
The light was not fixed, but pulsated violently like a heartbeat.
Each jump was accompanied by a slight but clear tremor from the panel, as if it could not bear the overwhelming infusion of the "Dao".
The progress bar following [Basic Sword Qi], which might have initially been just a symbolic accumulation, has now surged to its limit! Overflowing! Breakthrough!
There was no gradual progress, no buffer.
It's like forcibly pouring a vast ocean into a glass of water.
The progress bar, representing the level of mastery, was completely filled and burst open the instant the torrent struck, then entered a mysterious "overload" evolutionary state!
[Automatic Law Technique updates complete. This is a minor version update; Law Technique effects have been adjusted as follows.]
[Basic Sword Qi 2.0: The essence of Sword Qi has been refined, increasing its power by 50%.]
[Basic Sword Qi 3.0: Increases the number of Sword Qi by 1 when casting.]
[Basic Sword Qi 4.0: Increases casting range.]
[Basic Sword Qi 5.0: Sword Qi aura has a lock-on effect]
The "tips" on the panel flashed through Qi Yun's mind like a waterfall.
Initially, the specific enhancements were still visible.
Later on, the speed increased, the number of items increased, they became more and more detailed, and they delved deeper into the essence of Sword Dao.
Qi Yun watched quietly.
On the panel, the pattern representing [Basic Sword Qi] is undergoing a complete transformation, even a fundamental leap.
Each intense flash of light represents a leap in "version".
Each reorganization of Dao patterns signifies the ultimate exploration or a completely new derivation of a certain Sword Dao characteristic.
8.0--9.0--10.0--
The Sword Qi began to possess different attributes, some as scorching as the sun, some as icy as ice, some as heavy as a mountain, and some as light as the wind—these were the various variations of the five elements and Yin and Yang contained within the plundered Sword Dao.
15.0--20.0--
The structure of the Sword Qi became increasingly complex and exquisite, beginning to weave itself into the rudiments of a subtle sword formation, sometimes spiraling forward, sometimes splitting light and shadow, sometimes creating a blend of illusion and reality—this was the ultimate deduction of Sword Dao techniques.
25.0--30.0--
The "intention" contained in the Sword Qi begins to emerge. Some of it carries the decisiveness of "cutting" to sever everything, while others carry the clarity of "purity" to destroy all laws. This is the mark of the sword heart and sword soul.
35.0--40.0--45.0--49.0--
The torrent of Sword Dao intent still surges forth, but the evolution of [Basic Sword Qi] seems to be slowing down.
The light emanating from the panel grew brighter and brighter, and the characters that carried this Law Technique even began to swell slightly, exuding a heavy Daoist aura, as if it bore the weight of the return of ten thousand swords to their origin.
Finally, "Boom!"
The last pure Sword Dao sword intent crashed fiercely into the Law Technique patterns.
On the panel, the light instantly subsided, transforming into a warm and deep dark gold, and the patterns completely stabilized.
[Basic Sword Qi 50.0: New Mechanism - Ignores Defense!]
Fifty crazy iterations!
From the initial rudimentary [Basic Sword Qi 1.0] that could only unleash a weak blade of energy, to the current dark gold pattern...
The [Basic Sword Qi 50.0] possesses an inner Daoist aura, seemingly capable of injuring Great True Person with a single glance.
It lay quietly on the panel, yet seemed as heavy as the eternal blue sky.
Qi Yun slowly opened his eyes. The azure-gold divine light that had reflected the scene of ten thousand swords resounding in the Great Luo Heaven had now settled down, transforming into a bottomless calm.
The sharp, pale golden sword mark between his brows had now disappeared.
He exhaled a short, deep breath.
Then, he turned to the side and looked calmly at the figures in the distance, some filled with shock and anger, some with horror, and some still burning with murderous intent.
The next moment.
Qi Yun simply smiled faintly, without Hand Seals or chanting any incantations.
Facing the Dragon Crown Prince of the South Sea, who had barely withstood the bombardment of the vast sea of thunder and was now perched above the shattered sea, his dragon scales charred black and his breathing still unsteady.
Just a gentle touch.
His movements were casual and relaxed.
"Sizzle!!!!"
A sharp, piercing sound, like cloth being instantly torn apart by the sharpest blade, shattered all other sounds in the world!
A beam of light burst forth from Qi Yun's fingertips.
No, that's not light.
That was a "Sword-Ray".
The manifestation of a "sword" that is both pure to the extreme and terrifying to the extreme!
It presents a "primordial" color at the beginning of chaos, neither black nor white, yet it seems to contain the sharpness of all colors in the world.
The moment it appeared, it instantly became the center of heaven and earth!
It is not huge, only a few feet long, yet it shines like the Great Sun in the sky, majestic and domineering, pressing down on all ages!
The sheer, invisible sharpness emanating from its very existence caused it to slice through the void on either side of its trajectory, like fragile glass, silently and smoothly creating two pure black cracks that stretched for thousands of miles and could not be healed for a long time!
At the edge of the crack, the earth, wind, water, and fire subtly boiled.
In the next instant, the Sword-Ray appeared out of thin air in front of the dragon Dragon Crown Prince of the South Sea, whose head was as huge as a mountain!
What they've targeted is precisely their Achilles' heel!
"What?!"
The Dragon Crown Prince of the South Sea's enormous dragon eyes suddenly shrank to the size of a pinhead, and an endless chill of death, like ice that had been frozen for billions of years, instantly froze his blood, bone marrow, and even his Divine Soul!
He had never felt such pure, such extreme, such irresistible Sword Intent!
This Sword-Ray, though seemingly simple, seemed to have exhausted all possibilities of "slaying".
No matter how he maneuvered or defended, it seemed he was destined to be struck by that "sword"!
"Roar-!!!"
At the critical moment of life and death, the Dragon Crown Prince of the South Sea unleashed all his power, even surpassing his own limits!
He could no longer care about conserving his strength. His ten-thousand-foot-long dragon body coiled wildly, and every charred, dark gold dragon scale stood up, bursting out with dazzling lightning!
The immense dragon essence burned without reservation, transforming into layers upon layers of countless lightning shields, water element barriers, and solid armor condensed from the dragon's natal energy, instantly enveloping the entire body. In particular, the reverse scale between the eyebrows was so thick that it transformed into a dazzling ball of lightning!
At the same time, he suddenly opened his blood-red maw and spat out a dragon pearl the size of a fist, its surface crackling with purple destructive lightning and its interior seemingly containing a raging sea of thunder!
This is his natal dragon pearl, nurtured for ten thousand years, the core of his Dao, its power enough to instantly evaporate an entire sea!
At this moment, the Dragon Ball transformed into a purple meteor, arriving first despite being behind, blocking the chaotic Sword-Ray. The destructive lightning within the Dragon Ball erupted wildly, attempting to detonate and neutralize this terrifying attack ahead of time!
"Block them!!!"
The roar of the Dragon Crown Prince of the South Sea, the booming sound of the Dragon Pearl exploding, and the deafening roar of countless overlapping barriers mingled together, causing the already shattered West Sea below to surge with even greater waves!
The next moment -
The chaotic Sword-Ray gently "collided" with the dragon pearl containing destructive lightning.
There was no earth-shattering explosion.
There was no stalemate.
There was only a faint, almost inaudible "crack" sound, like glass shattering.
That dragon pearl, which was powerful enough to make even ordinary Great True Person retreat and contained the life essence of the Dragon Crown Prince of the South Sea and the Principle of thunder, was as fragile as a bubble in front of that chaotic Sword-Ray.
The Sword-Ray didn't pause for even a moment; it calmly and without any hindrance "cut" past.
Dragon Ball split in two.
The destructive thunder of the internal uprising vanished silently, like dynamite whose fuse had been extinguished.
The Sword-Ray continued forward.
It struck the countless layers of defense that embodied the lifelong cultivation of the Dragon Crown Prince of the South Sea.
"Screech--screech-screech-screech"
Like a red-hot blade cutting into solidified butter.
Wherever the chaotic Sword-Ray passed, all defenses, regardless of their nature (lightning, water, or air) or how intricate and robust their structure, were as if they did not exist, smoothly sliced apart, annihilated, and returned to nothingness.
Ignore defense!
The Dragon Crown Prince of the South Sea's pupils reflected the ever-approaching, unstoppable chaos, and boundless fear and despair overwhelmed him.
He could feel that his dragon body, which he had cultivated for tens of thousands of years and was so proud of, was no more solid than a piece of paper in front of this Sword-Ray.
"No!!!"
A desperate dragon's roar echoed across the sky.
However, just as the Sword-Ray was about to touch his hardest yet most vulnerable point, annihilating his Divine Soul, at the very last moment...
The Sword-Ray vanished without a sound.
Only the Dragon Crown Prince of the South Sea remained standing there, his dragon eyes wide open, filled with boundless fear and the bewilderment of surviving a catastrophe, as well as a faint, almost invisible, but chilling pain on his brow that made his Divine Soul tremble.
The layers of defense around him were as if they had been cut by the most skilled craftsman with invisible lines, maintaining the smooth cross-section of the "slit", and then slowly disintegrating and turning into the most primitive energy light points.
He blocked it?
No----
It's Qi Yun!
At the last moment, he dispersed the sword.
Cold sweat—no, icy dragon saliva—uncontrollably seeped from the Dragon Crown Prince of the South Sea's massive body, only to evaporate into white mist in the next instant by the chaotic energy within his body.
His massive dragon body trembled slightly uncontrollably, a chill that penetrated to his very bones and soul almost causing him to collapse.
The entire battlefield was deathly silent.
All the Great True Person, whether friend or foe, stared in disbelief at this scene.
Watching the arrogant Dragon Crown Prince of the South Sea, who controlled thunder, being forced to burn his dragon pearl and exhaust his trump cards by a single, casual "finger" gesture, he was still as powerless as a lamb to the slaughter.
Ultimately, life and death hinged on the other's single thought.
What kind of sword is that?
That wasn't some complicated sword technique Divine Ability at all.
That was just—a wisp of "Sword Qi"?
What is the most basic and original form of Sword Qi?
But why—why is it so terrifying?!
Qi Yun slowly withdrew his finger, as if he had only done a trivial matter.
His gaze swept calmly across the deathly silent battlefield, across the faces etched with horror, fear, and disbelief.
Then, before anyone could recover from that extremely terrifying sword strike...
Qi Yun faced the sky, and towards the area where the dozen or so Xuanhuang Great True Person were located, and once again, gently raised his hand.
This time, it's not just one finger.
Instead, he pointed his fingers like a sword and casually swung them from top to bottom into the void.
Suddenly, the world brightened up.
It was blindingly bright.
It was so bright it sent chills down your Divine Soul.
The Dragon Crown Prince of the South Sea, along with all the other Great True Person, almost simultaneously sensed something and abruptly looked up.
Above everyone's heads, the sky, which had been shrouded in bizarre and fantastical light by the aftershocks of various Divine Ability, had somehow been replaced by an endless expanse of countless "points of light" shimmering with various colors of cold light.
No, it's not a point of light.
That is----
Sword-Ray.
Tens of thousands, no, hundreds of thousands, millions—the sheer number of Sword-Ray is immeasurable!
Crimson as fire, icy blue to the bone, heavy as a mountain, light as the wind, swift as lightning, slow as mud, solid as gold, ethereal as mist, containing the power to sever wills, carrying the Dao of destruction, interwoven into miniature sword arrays, spiraling and piercing, multiplying into countless forms—
Countless Sword-Ray, each with a distinct form, attribute, characteristic, and meaning, yet all radiating a terrifying, soul-chilling aura of slaughter, hovered ominously in the void above everyone's heads, like a meticulously calculated meteor shower.
Each Sword-Ray shared a similar, despair-inducing, extreme sharpness with the chaotic Sword-Ray that had previously defeated the Dragon Crown Prince of the South Sea.
They sealed off the top, bottom, and all four directions, locking down the vital energy of every Great True Person present.
The chilling killing intent swept down like a tangible cold wave, freezing the boiling waves, solidifying the chaotic energy, and even making time seem viscous and slow.
A single Sword-Ray earlier had forced the Dragon Crown Prince of the South Sea to reveal all his trump cards, leaving him on the brink of life and death.
At this moment, millions upon millions of identical, or even more distinctive, Sword-Ray, like swords hanging overhead, were pointed at everyone.
Qi Yun in the void, with the myriad sword phantoms in the Great Luo Heaven resonating behind him, and countless suspended killing swords in front of him.
He calmly gazed at the pale-faced, icy-cold-as-a-cylinder Xuanhuang Great True Person, and slowly spoke, his voice not loud, yet striking clearly in the stillness of each of their hearts. "Fellow Daoists, may I now heed my advice—"
Before Qi Yun could finish speaking, the elder from the Hegemon Sect stepped forward, his gaze sharp. "Great True Person Qi, do you truly intend to make an enemy of the entire Xuanhuang cultivation world?"
A golden fortuitous opportunity is right before your eyes, why are you so determined to stop it!
Looking at the elder of the Hegemon Sect who had spoken, and then at the group of Great True Person who shared the same sentiment, Qi Yun suddenly smiled.
"I understand. It seems that no matter how I try to persuade you, you won't give up."
Since that's the case----"
Sensing the stern tone of Qi Yun, the group of Great True Person immediately became vigilant. They had all clearly witnessed the scene where Qi Yun had almost cleaved the Dragon Crown Prince of the South Sea in two with a single sword strike.
Qi Yun glanced at the Great True Person, then slightly raised his eyes to look at the majestic Heavenly Palace suspended between heaven and earth.
"I, Qi, will destroy this Heavenly Court!"