"This is it!" It turned out that the reason Xuan Hu had waited for Bing Chen to awaken and then deliberately provoked him was precisely for the awakening of the Savage Meridian. With a single command, Yi Zi Jian Jun and Ye Feng Bei Ming instantly appeared on either side of Bing Chen. Before anyone even saw their swords drawn, they witnessed Du Gu Bing Chen’s arms, legs, and torso being cleanly sundered into four pieces—such was the speed of the dismemberment.

"Taste the true flavor of not carrying Frost," Xuan Hu declared, never hesitating, swinging his sword and stepping forward to drive it directly into Du Gu Bing Chen’s forehead.

"Pfft..." A pillar of crimson surged out, spraying all three figures. Bing Chen’s eyes remained wide open, registering nothing.

"Whoa..." The timing was perfect. Wan Jian Xuan Hu, Yi Zi Jian Jun, and Ye Feng Bei Ming all channeled their internal energy into Bing Chen’s body with their palms. At that moment, the surrounding area erupted; sand flew in all directions, the earth cracked wide open, and even the still waters of the Condensing Spirit Lake burst apart. With a resonant clang, a stream of purple energy began to spread along the Frost-Unbinding Sword embedded in Bing Chen’s forehead.

"Ah! Hah!" Wan Jian Xuan Hu showed no mercy, immediately grabbing the longsword in his hand and plunging it into his own abdomen. "Ah... ah..."

Following his fierce roar, thunder erupted across the sky. Clouds raced and the moon moved; the entire world was instantly thrown into violent turmoil. "In!" Yi Zi Jian Jun and Ye Feng Bei Ming again channeled energy with their palms, turning and pushing the purple energy from the sword into Xuan Hu’s body. In a mere flash, a deafening explosion erupted from empty air—Dong... The two men were thrown backward, spitting blood.

"Hahahaha, hahahaha!" Amidst the shifting colors of wind and cloud, only one figure stood unbroken. Wan Jian Xuan Hu maniacally pointed at the Frost-Unbinding Sword and shattered it. A chaotic purple energy snaked and roamed all over his body, flickering dimly, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, until finally, it flashed with a brilliant light before vanishing into his forehead.

"That light, did you see it?" Ye Xiu leaned close to Shen Ying, studying the sword manual for the Myriad Sword Art. He hadn't expected that a light from below ground could pierce such heavy black clouds to shine upon Myriad Sword Peak.

"I saw it. I wonder what else has happened down below," Shen Ying murmured, savoring the private time with Ye Xiu. At this moment, she was no longer the princess of Myriad Sword City; all she desired was to be Ye Xiu’s woman, pure and simple.

Ye Xiu felt a sense of foreboding. These past few days spent in carefree leisure with Shen Ying, with food and drink atop Myriad Sword Peak, could be called a heaven on earth. A man and a woman, flirting playfully when bored, enjoying the simple joys of youth. Yet, something still felt wrong in his heart. Although he had mastered the Myriad Sword Art manual, he hadn't truly tested it in real combat.

"What are you thinking about? Still thinking about going down?" Shen Ying was always perceptive, reading his mind with just one glance. She gently leaned her body toward Ye Xiu, but her slender, delicate hand had already found its way to his most private and sturdy part. "Didn't you say you wanted to spend some time here with me?"

Ye Xiu let out a small, involuntary gasp. He hadn't expected Shen Ying to be so passionately attached to him. Before nightfall, she was already eager to engage again. Alas, being young himself, he couldn't resist such teasing. After only a moment of forced composure, he tossed the sword manual aside and reached out his hands to cup the full mounds of Shen Ying’s chest. Soft sunlight, gentle floating clouds—the two bodies once again immersed themselves in that blissful realm of lovemaking. Ye Xiu no longer needed to hold back his tenderness for Shen Ying; he knew that no matter how fierce or forceful he was, Shen Ying would respond with joyous cries. This was what he loved, and what Shen Ying reveled in. He desired to go deeper, ever deeper, seeking the mysterious, winding secrets of her innermost self. And all Shen Ying wanted was for Ye Xiu’s movements to never cease. If she could use her internal energy to stimulate Ye Xiu’s stamina, she truly never wanted him to stop. She wanted to be filled completely by him, not drawn out for a single moment, until she cried out in ecstasy and faded away.

...

What was happening in Myriad Sword City? Accompanied by Lang Tao Tian, Wan Jian Qing Lin and a handful of his trusted confidantes were hidden within the sheltered streams of the mountain ravine. The scouts had already reported back: the Great City Lord, Wan Jian Cang Long, was dead, and his second brother, Wan Jian Xuan Hu, had seized control of the entire city.

"Third City Lord, you don't intend to return to the city to mourn the Great City Lord?" Lang Tao Tian and the Water Tribe contingent behind him clearly stood with Qing Lin. He couldn't fathom Qing Lin's intentions. "The situation is chaotic now. Why doesn't the Third City Lord emerge to rally his former subordinates and seize a title amid this disorder?"

Qing Lin gazed toward Myriad Sword City with a sigh. "In truth, I had been anticipating the arrival of this chaos. However, the news of my elder brother’s death truly pains me, and my second brother’s swift succession has also raised my suspicions."

"You mean there’s foul play?" Lang Tao Tian thought it over carefully. During the disaster in Myriad Sword City, Xuan Hu had never brought troops to aid the Lord. Could it have been intentional on his part?

Qing Lin sighed deeply and bowed toward the distant Myriad Sword City, his thousand words of sorrow left unspoken. "Regardless, based on Xuan Hu’s character, there will be a massive slaughter between the Human, Beast, and Winged races. If I am not mistaken, he intends to annihilate everyone except the Human race."

"And what about our Water Tribe?" Lang Tao Tian was somewhat surprised; this action was madness.

"My second brother will certainly ally with the Water Tribe first to destroy the other two races, and then he will eliminate the Water Tribe. I can feel the ferocious malice he has suppressed in his heart all along." Qing Lin looked downcast, shaking his head as he spoke. "We both seek dominion over the world, but his path and mine are extreme opposites, and his vision is far too narrow."

Lang Tao Tian understood Qing Lin’s meaning; this was precisely why he had led the Water Tribe forces to submit to Wan Jian Qing Lin.

"The Third City Lord possesses great ambition and knows how to utilize talent. He is perhaps the last hope among the Three Sword Realms," at this moment, the Soul-Snatcher Sword, Jian Hong Chen, walked out with composed grace. "It's just a pity we don't know the whereabouts of Ye Xiu and Princess Shen Ying."

"Ye Xiu?" Qing Lin paid close attention to Ye Xiu, harboring some doubts about his origins. "Given Ye Xiu's abilities, I believe he is still alive. Have you noticed that when the Savage Meridian went haywire and everyone fled, I clearly saw Ye Xiu carrying Shen Ying and soaring into the sky?"

"You mean he is one of the Winged Race?" Lang Tao Tian had never suspected Ye Xiu and was quite surprised. "Has he been deceiving us all this time?"

"That is absolutely impossible." Wan Jian Qing Lin’s expression was solemn. "Ye Xiu comes from the Central Plains. I don't know if you two are familiar with this place. And the wings on his back have no feathers at all; they are vastly different from those of other Winged Race members."

Jian Hong Chen nodded, having once fought Ye Xiu himself. "Those are indeed not the wings of the Winged Race. But what exactly is this 'Central Plains' the Third City Lord speaks of? Does that mean there are other places beyond the Three Sword Realms?"

"Ancient texts record that the entire space we inhabit is immense. The Three Sword Realms is merely a tiny corner of this vast expanse, and the largest territory within this space is called the Central Plains," Qing Lin stated, a light of intense hope shining in his eyes as he spoke of the Central Plains. "When I first met Ye Xiu, I judged him to be from the Central Plains based on his clothing and appearance. Perhaps you don't know that the foremost Sword Forger of ancient legends, Bing Ao, was also from the Central Plains."

"Sword Forger Bing Ao?" Jian Hong Chen had vaguely heard the name. "He has always been a figure of legend, yet he truly forged four famed swords. Although I have never seen them, this is an undeniable fact within the Three Sword Realms. I never realized Bing Ao was not of our Three Sword Realms?"

"Then how did they arrive here?" Lang Tao Tian pressed further, relaying what he had seen. "My sister Ah Jiao said the first time she saw Ye Xiu, a streak of bright light fell from the sky, and a person landed on the ground. By that account, Brother Ye Xiu is indeed quite peculiar."

"Heh, perhaps he doesn't even know how he got here himself. But I suspect he knows how to return to the Central Plains. I believe everything he is doing now is aimed at getting back there," Qing Lin smiled, his vision extending further than anyone else's. "If we can utilize Ye Xiu’s power to restore peace to the Three Swords, then perhaps one day those of us from the Three Sword Realms might have a chance to see the Central Plains, to see what kind of things there are worth fighting for."

Dark clouds churned beneath Myriad Sword Peak, while the peak itself held the power to change the course of events.

"Myriad City Falls." Ye Xiu unleashed a sword strike without needing to gather energy, immediately conjuring a black sword light that shot straight toward the sun. He leaped back, his Horizontal Dust sword moving as fluidly as flowing water, utterly at ease. At that moment, the summit of Myriad Sword Peak began to roil with mist. Ye Xiu showed no panic, simply raising Horizontal Dust slightly to weave a circle of potent, swirling force utilizing the natural air currents, merging it with the incoming clouds. In an instant, he blew that mass of black cloud away. Feeling energized, he instantly employed the Ghost Step Vanishing technique, scattering illusions across the entire mountaintop. He then summoned the bat wings on his back with a surge of power; thousands of versions of himself flickered in and out of existence in the sky—a truly magnificent sight.

Shen Ying watched Ye Xiu with a smile, surprised that he had broken through the seventh level of the Myriad Sword Art so quickly. That technique, Myriad City Falls, was no less potent than Wan Jian Cang Long’s power.

Ye Xiu, his wings dancing with the clear breeze, executed brilliant sword forms, astonishing the floating clouds into moving along with him. With a slow sweep of his blade, one figure generated small whirlpools of air current, and the combined force of a thousand figures naturally caused every blade of grass and every tree on the summit of Myriad Sword Peak to tremble. "Ah..." Ye Xiu’s concentration was absolute as he sought to awaken the Desolate Meridian within him. In an instant, a shimmering red airflow surged from his hands and feet toward his head. He felt a destructive force from within, the Desolate Meridian, which was equally unparalleled in ancient and modern times.

"Demon Blade Slash!" Ye Xiu was incredibly skilled with this move. Even he hadn't expected that this powerful killing move from the Ghost Hidden technique, executed unconsciously, would complement both Myriad City Falls and the edge of the Horizontal Dust sword. He grinned and aimed this single strike at the sun, unleashing it in one burst like a colossal laser beam piercing the heavens, which also sent all his illusions snapping back to the peak of Myriad Sword Peak.

Boom... After the sound, the entire sky dimmed, and the black clouds rapidly gathered toward that spot. The previously arrogant sunlight vanished entirely for those few seconds.

"Ah!" Shen Ying, unskilled in martial arts, could not withstand such sword energy. She was blown to the ground by the wind stirred up by the blade's aura. Fortunately, Ye Xiu dashed down and caught her in his arms.

"Heh, are you alright?" Ye Xiu was naturally pleased with his own surge in power. "Compared to a few days ago, I must be much stronger now, right?"

"Hmph!" Shen Ying stubbornly pushed Ye Xiu away. Of course, she was happy for his progress, but she also knew that the faster his power increased, the shorter their time of idle enjoyment together would be. "Wait until you break through the tenth level of the Myriad Sword Art. Elder Yu Feng still needs you to find the True Essence of the Human Race, doesn't he?"

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