This must be the Unity of Spirit and Martial Arts? Wei Xu felt a slight shock, his heart skipping a beat, racing erratically. With intense focus, he carefully sensed and identified the portion of True Qi and Soul Power that had been borrowed from him. Before even making contact with Zong Shou’s physical body, it had already become one, utterly fused.
If this part was possible because he himself had already achieved the fusion of spiritual arts and martial ways into one crucible, then Zong Shou could achieve it easily.
However, the state where all the power within Zong Shou’s body was harmonized and unified clearly signaled an imminent, thorough merging!
There was not the slightest conflict, nor any disharmony. In every aspect of its manifestation, it perfectly aligned with the conceptual standard in his mind.
The intermingling of Soul Power and True Qi suddenly increased Zong Shou’s might manifold! It truly was the intermingling of spirit and martial arts!
Wei Xu was stunned once more, almost forgetting to maintain the mountain beneath his feet. Only when he felt the ground tremble did he snap back to awareness. A slight shift of his foot instantly stabilized the entire mountain mass again.
“Does this mean I’ve gained immensely from this engagement?”
Thinking of the one who gave up the position of Sword Sect Master, Wei Xu felt no schadenfreude. He and that person were practically in the same boat now.
He, Wei Xu, had been utterly mistaken—truly mistaken! Fourteen years old, Innate Second Meridian, Night Roaming Realm, complete comprehension of the Way of the Sword. And now, one more phrase must be added: Unity of Spirit and Martial Arts! What kind of monster was this? Was he blessed by the Demon Race? Protected from the termination of his life force?
Pondering further, Wei Xu could only let out a soft sigh: “Mistress, may your spirit in heaven bless this. In any case, I have found you a peerless successor disciple. Please ensure that later on, I, Wei Xu, am not beaten up by those senior martial brothers.”
In the center of the peak, there was another loud ‘Boom!’ The old man in black was left with disheveled hair and beard, utterly smashed into the earth below.
Tenth Sword! Eleventh Sword! Twelfth Sword! Thirteenth Sword!
It was like smithing iron. Following the momentum, the strikes came down one after another, completely devoid of variation.
The old man in black’s face was flushed gold and purple. No matter how he dodged, maneuvered, or resisted with all his might, he could not evade or block the bombardment of this sword energy. And the damned brat above him—with every passing breath—his spiritual power and True Qi merged further, naturally increasing the might of his sword energy.
He vaguely sensed that the true strength of this youth should not yet have reached the Celestial position. How was his body not collapsing, using the Earth Wheel realm to manipulate power tens of times beyond its limit?
Then, a sudden alarm struck his heart—why hadn't this mountain collapsed yet? And where exactly had Zong Shou borrowed such astonishing power from?
His consciousness, already ice-cold, now filled with even more alarm. Nearly all his spiritual senses focused intently on the spot where Wei Xu stood.
Then, in the next instant, he disregarded everything else, plunging directly into the deep earth, rapidly escaping toward the distance.
“Trying to flee?”
Zong Shou stood suspended in the air, his eyes heavy with drunken fervor. Seeing the black-robed elder suddenly vanish from the crater, he became furious. “I haven’t had enough yet, you are not allowed to run!”
He swung down another sword, its light fully extended, reaching nearly a thousand feet. The Thunder Wing Dragon Serpent also suddenly surged in power; its original hundred-foot length instantly swelled tenfold! Its ferocious might towered!
The swing of the sword plunged directly into the mountain body. It was as if a sharp blade cut through soft mud, effortlessly carving a sword mark hundreds of feet deep atop the mountain peak, kicking up smoke and dust.
The entire Xuan Mountain shook once more. Those inside the ruins of the Iron Aegis Hall felt their hearts pound, fearing the mountain would immediately collapse.
The next instant came a heavy clang, ‘Qiang!’ like the explosion of thousands upon thousands of blazing talismans within the mountain.
The ground across a radius of dozens of miles began to tremble.
In their ears, everyone heard a faint groan. The battle was now beyond their sight.
Only those with exceptionally keen spiritual senses could detect a chaotic aura escaping from the other side of Xuan Mountain. The vital energy was disordered, suggesting significant injury.
But Zong Shou in the air was unwilling to stop. As if he had known exactly how the old man in black would react, his eyes blazing red, he swooped down once more toward that direction.
His eyes surged with battle intent. His entire consciousness was a chaotic mess. The joy of being able to fight a strong enemy with all his might; the anger that the loved one was almost endangered because of him; the regret of his own carelessness and underestimation—all were mixed together.
This made his thoughts utterly focused: Swing the sword, swing the sword again! Until he no longer had the strength to swing!
Even knowing the insurmountable gap between himself and that Martial Venerable expert, even as his body neared collapse, he still had to fight!
When the twelfth sword was unleashed, the entire sky above Xuan Mountain City seemed to be split in two!
Ultimately, his consciousness held back, unwilling to harm the people within Xuan Mountain City below, causing a slight deviation in his angle of control.
Then came a ‘Keng!’ sound of immense, boundless force, directly smashing the figure of the old man in black out of the boundary of Xuan Mountain City, sending him flying back dozens of miles.
Zong Shou’s figure followed closely, refusing to be separated, chasing out past the city walls. Seeing this, Wei Xu shook his head slightly and hurriedly stepped into the air, following closely behind. He felt that the True Qi and Soul Power Zong Shou was extracting and ‘borrowing’ from him was increasing exponentially.
“Earlier I thought his swordsmanship was growing cruder, but now it seems deliberate. The more power borrowed, the harder it is to control, naturally. Winning through sheer force and speed? That path is somewhat similar to Senior Brother’s, but this junior brother’s body is truly worrying. For this realm, it is still too weak...”
Frowning, Wei Xu traced a talisman in the air. Streaks of spiritual light flowed silently into Zong Shou’s body, following the incessantly draining True Qi and Soul Power.
Zong Shou was completely unaware. Thirteenth Sword! Fourteenth Sword!
Large swathes of wheat fields outside the city were leveled. Dust and sand flew, and streaks of sword light slashed across the night sky.
The old man in black had initially only intended to flee and had no desire to fight back, but every few miles he retreated, he was interrupted by the pursuing sword light, forcing him to stop and engage.
Not far away, the young man in Confucian robes, whose strength he could not fully gauge, remained calmly behind them, about two hundred feet back. The inexplicable look in his eyes made the old man’s heart grow uneasy.
Finally unable to bear it, the old man simply turned around, a hint of green rising on his face, his eyes blazing with ferocity: “Pushing your luck, I see you are seeking death! Do you truly think I cannot kill you?”
Before his words faded, the old man, along with his sword, suddenly lunged back, flashing forward until he stood before Zong Shou. Body and sword merged, his speed seemingly ignoring the laws of heaven and earth—a distance of a thousand feet was crossed almost in a single leap.
A sudden, intense alarm blared in Zong Shou’s mind, a feeling of extreme danger, close to dead stillness, suddenly creeping into his heart.
Fast, truly fast! This sword strike was too fast for his reflexes to handle! He would certainly die, and his head would be severed!
The tip of the sword energy was only an inch away. In one-hundredth of a blink, it could claim his life.
And at this moment, Zong Shou couldn't even muster the thought of resistance. Just as his heart froze in near-absolute despair and he prepared to receive death, a surge of intense unwillingness flared up again in his muddled consciousness.
Who are you? You are Sword Emperor Tan Qiu! A lifetime spent in simulated reality, ninety-seven hundred and forty-seven battles fought only in the first half of your life. When first learning the Way of the Sword, you suffered nineteen defeats!
After that, you were invincible, without a single loss! Only then were you regarded by the people of the Cloud Realm as the Emperor of the Sword.
How could you lose today to such an obscure old man?
Didn't you boast that the stronger the opponent, the stronger you become? How can you be so ready to give up over such a small skirmish?
No matter how sharp this sword strike is, how can you know the final outcome without fighting, without trying your hardest?
The gaze, on the verge of despair, suddenly sharpened. All around Zong Shou, masses of purple lightning began to dance wildly.
On the Thunder Wing Sword, the Thunder Wing Yang Serpent, which had been somewhat listless, began to writhe and coil again, struggling wildly.
The vast sword energy erupting from it extended straight for nine hundred and ninety-nine feet before stopping!
Although he was certain he was no match, although this might be his final strike, he had to unleash it! Even if death followed in the next moment, he had to give his utmost effort.
A swordsman knows no fear. If he cannot unleash his own sword, what kind of Sword Emperor is he? What qualification does he have to aspire to the pinnacle of the Way of the Sword?
A phantom figure seemed to manifest around Zong Shou. It was the invincible Sword Emperor Tan Qiu from his past life in the Divine Emperor game!
“Heavy sword lacks sharpness, great skill appears clumsy. Cleave!”
Ignoring the demonic violet sword energy that was already within inches, he struck out with his sword. The sounds and movements of the entire world seemed to diminish, leaving only the sharp whistle of the surging sword light and the muffled roar of the bursting thunder.
When the sword struck, his will to live had vanished, so this strike was one of mutual destruction, intended to kill the enemy along with himself! Forcing himself into a desperate situation to find a path to life!
The pupils of the black-robed elder contracted to their absolute limit. At the final moment, he sharply drew back his sword, turning to defend himself.
When the two swords met, it was unexpectedly silent. Only waves of invisible ripples spread outwards within the dozens of miles of space.
The soil turned to dust, the wheat stalks were pulverized.
Even the majestic city wall dozens of miles away suffered damage. A full section spanning several miles of the wall was completely shattered and annihilated by these destructive ripples, leaving only a thin layer, sparing the residences behind it.
The two-fingered sword in the old man’s hand completely disintegrated into dust within a few breaths, scattering into the wind.
A bloody gash appeared between his eyebrows. He stared upwards with eyes wide with shock and disbelief. There, a slender figure, equally covered in wounds, stood rigid in the void, forcing his eyes open.
His face contorted—he could simply not accept that this youth, who had fought him fiercely for nearly a quarter of an hour, possessed only the cultivation of the Innate Second Meridian. That at the Earth Wheel realm, he had forced a Martial Venerable of the Celestial Fourth Meridian to such a predicament!
In that last strike, he had nearly failed to block it! And he had nearly died right there! (To be continued)