Chapter 423: The Beginning of a Generation

Though possessing only Soul Transformation power, the sharpness and piercing, bone-chilling killing intent upon it were undeniably real.

It was utterly aimed at killing her!

The instant she realized this, Chi Jiu Yu instinctively swung her sword forward, and the gray mist trembled and surged together, coalescing in her hand into a blue-gold longsword.

Inside it, spiritual essence danced and hummed, identical to her original spirit sword.

The gray mist served as vessel, drawing spirit within.

The power of a True Immortal is boundless in creation.

As the contemporary world's universally acknowledged prodigy sword cultivator, Chi Jiu Yu's battle experience was immense.

The moment the blue-gold longsword fully solidified, a faint white radiance glowed from its blade, and overwhelming killing intent instantly drowned all surroundings—its purity even overshadowed the streaking rainbow hurtling toward them.

It was the sword art of the "Slaying Annihilation Sword Scripture"!

Ding!

Only a faint, crisp sound rang out, yet the already thin gray mist suddenly churned violently.

Boom—

Followed by a deafening explosion that shook the eight directions, causing Zhang Yunlu, watching nearby, to involuntarily tremble in spirit, her vision suddenly turning crimson, her throat sweetening as a thread of blood oozed from her lips.

In truth, it wasn't just her vision—all seven orifices bled uncontrollably, as if on the verge of collapsing into unconsciousness.

But before she could react, the gray mist entwined with white radiance became the sharpest blade in the world, piercing through every part of her body.

Her spiritual sea shattered, her Jin Dan dispersed, bones and flesh seemed cut by hundreds of swords.

In an instant, her entire body exploded into a cloud of gray mist.

Xu Xianning's expression remained unchanged; the residual shockwaves from the clashing swords were as gentle as a breeze to her.

She reached out toward the side.

The elusive gray mist seemed to solidify, seized directly in her hand, finally coalescing into a pitch-black and heavy faceplate.

As she pressed the black faceplate onto her face, the scene before Li Ke and Chi Jiu Yu was completely cut off; nearby gray mist reformed into another figure—Zhang Yunlu, reborn.

"..."

What the hell, she'd just entered and got killed by the residual shockwaves from her senior sister and Li's senior sister fighting.

"First, get used to this feeling."

A voice came from beside her.

Zhang Yunlu turned to look and saw her senior sister, now wearing the black faceplate, gray mist condensing in her hands into the blade of a pitch-black and heavy sword.

"Your sword techniques and spiritual arts are weak; you'll experience this many more times."

"..." So she's going to kill me over and over again, "Thank you, senior sister."

Zhang Yunlu's expression turned solemn.

Fortunately, she'd experienced this many times before in Xuan Sword City.

As for her senior sister calling her "weak," she herself agreed entirely.

In this Xiang Jianzong selection contest, though she had succeeded in entering, she ranked ninth—mid-to-lower tier.

You should know that in this kind of ranking, Ye Shijie has always been in first place!

"Your sword moves with light agility, pursuing the perilous path of death-to-life; my style doesn't suit you—just learn from it."

A dull voice emerged beneath the faceplate, heavy with pressure, utterly unlike her usual wooden demeanor.

"Ready? I'm striking now."

Zhang Yunlu's heart tightened, her skin prickled like needle stabs, her alertness pushed to its absolute limit in an instant.

Hummm~!

The deeper, heavier hum reminded her of her past battles in Xuan Sword City's trial space against heavy-sword cultivators.

Her vision suddenly darkened, as if black clouds had swallowed the sky—the pitch-black and heavy sword descended upon her, wrapped in howling winds.

No flourish at all—indeed, it was an extremely simple strike.

Yet it sealed every possible escape route; there was no avoiding it!

Zhang Yunlu barely managed to sidestep and raise her sword in defense, barely summoning her magic power in haste.

Dong!

The heavy pitch-black and heavy sword clashed with her icy crystal blade; though their power was perfectly matched, the instant of contact crushed her into a crouch, unable to straighten.

The force didn't fade—twelve layers of stacked force hammered continuously.

After only an instant of resistance, the mountain-like sword crushed through like dry grass before a storm.

Without the slightest hesitation, it shattered half her body, crushing organs and broken bones into a bloody pulp.

"The method of stacking force..."

A thought flashed through her mind as the massive sword loomed larger before her eyes.

Puff!

Her head exploded like a watermelon, her entire body once again scattering into gray mist.

Soon, the gray mist reformed into her figure once more.

This time, without pause, as her body solidified, she merged with swordlight and lunged at Xu Xianning—the swordlight fierce and chilling, emitting a piercing wail.

Facing this hurtling swordlight, Xu Xianning's expression beneath the faceplate remained calm.

Only when the swordlight neared her body did she swing her blade downward—an ordinary-looking strike that shattered Zhang Yunlu's swordlight merger state.

Another strike, crushing her into a burst of gray mist.

Third time, fourth time...

Nine times in a row—each time, one strike shattered her technique, then another strike killed her.

Zhang Yunlu showed no reaction; as she grew accustomed, she began using each of Xu Xianning's strikes to perceive her own shortcomings.

Here, he died again and again; of course, Chi Jiuyu wasn't faring any better.

Although she hadn't died as many times as Zhang Yunlu, she had already died five times.

Unlike over there, where only howling winds and clashing metal rang out,

"Annihilate the Four Symbols!"

Chi Jiuyu softly cried out, and the faint white light swirling around her sword instantly shifted into the shifting hues of the Four Symbols, endless and unceasing.

"Cut!"

She lightly stepped forward, gliding like a dragon patrolling the heavens, her sword intent blazing, stirring the endless flow of Wood, Fire, Metal, and Water.

This was the insight gained from cultivating her inner realm through the Grand Void Expansive World Observing Divine Method.

At the Soul Transformation Realm, a single thread of divine intent becomes pure and immaculate, capable of striking a thousand li away.

Here, "a thousand li" is still metaphorical—the actual range can reach even farther.

But a swordsman's sword intent is fiercely unmatched; among peers, to do such a thing is tantamount to offering one's soul for another to cut down—practically suicide.

"Foolish Fish, is this what you call Annihilate the Four Symbols?"

Though she spoke thus, Li Ke still wished to test this strike of hers, so she simply held her sword horizontally before her.

Clang!

A visible ring of colorful aura rippled outward from where the blades met.

In that instant, Chi Jiuyu clenched her left fist, and it glowed with the exact same four-colored radiance as her sword, striking toward Li Ke's abdomen.

Yet in the next instant, it vanished into the Void, emitting a terrifying sense of utter annihilation.

The method she had comprehended could be unleashed not only through the sword!

Though a swordsman, she would not be bound by rigid conventions.

"You've got no shortage of clever tricks."

As the voice reached her ear, she felt the resistance on her blade vanish—her surprise punch landed squarely on empty air.

Her vision spun wildly, and she saw her own body explode apart—Li Ke had already appeared behind her, holding her longsword.

"But in the end, it's still just clever tricks."

"Are you fucking cheating?!" Chi Jiuyu's head screamed from within the gray mist.

No blood flowed from the cut—instead, a strange golden flame burned, flickering with explosive vitality, even her shattered body gradually regenerating.

Soul Transformation is just that powerful—even with only a head left, you won't die.

And in this regard, Chi Jiuyu was even better.

"Study well. Master even half the mystery of this strike, and it'll let you last longer in the Grand Competition."

She heard these words as the blade neared her head.

Only after Chi Jiuyu's head also dissolved into gray mist did Li Ke sheathe her sword, a faint smile appearing on her face.

That damn Fish is always courting death.

The feeling of beating her senseless like a punching bag is absolutely exhilarating!

…………

"She really did manage to grasp something."

Xu Xing watched the two being mercilessly beaten on the screen before him.

Though they used the same power, the differences in every other aspect were enormous.

But under this high-pressure environment, they should both gain some insight.

Of course, what Xu Xing valued most was Chi Jiuyu's just-now punch.

Four Symbols Creation, Annihilation into the Void… this realm of meaning fits perfectly with her current cultivation of the Slaying Annihilation Sword Scripture.

Perhaps after she reaches the True Insight Realm, others will honor her as the Four Symbols Sword Master… or the Birth-Death Sword Master?

Hmm…

Well, such titles don't suit her at all—"Four Symbols Sword Master"? "Abstract Sword Master" sounds better.

"As for Yunlu, her progress is acceptable."

!

Training under a True Insight master, practicing between life and death—such opportunities are exceedingly rare.

But not everyone is suited to this method.

Still, Zhang Yunlu clearly suits it very well.

After all, she began this way.

"Good," Bie Xuening nodded slightly.

She was fairly satisfied with the performance of her rebellious disciple and her second disciple.

"By the way, giving Xianning and Xiao Ke extra training before the Grand Competition—is that cheating?" Xu Xing chuckled.

"That young girl had innate divine abilities to begin with."

Cheating?

Isn't that innate divine ability cheating too?

…………

Chi Jiuyu and Zhang Yunlu trained like this for half a day.

They even switched partners.

Yet Chi Jiuyu fared no better against Xu Xianning—still one sword to break her method, one sword to kill her.

Added to Xu Xianning's own silence and relentless sword swings, she left Chi Jiuyu, who had been babbling nonstop, thoroughly frustrated.

It finally ended when Li Ke had to return to handle affairs in the Miscellaneous Affairs Hall.

Although many things could be handled by the sword-intent spirit body, some places still required her to go in person.

Originally, the special training would have ended here, but Chi Jiuyu just had to run her mouth.

"Big Ye Shijie is really amazing — two sword strikes and she killed me dead. My senior sister and I could have held out for quite a while!"

Normally it wouldn't have mattered, but this time it involved Xu Qianning — someone she had always wanted to surpass — and it made Li Ke furious on the spot.

Damn it!

I'm a proper Dong Zhen sword master — if I really wanted to kill you, it'd take just one strike. The reason I went slow was because I was going easy on you, got it?

Furious, Li Ke nearly grabbed Chi Jiuyu and beat her half to death on the spot.

One could only say Chi Jiuyu had a real knack for courting death.

After that, another three days passed.

Xu Qianning didn't play favorites — she used those few days to wholeheartedly guide every participant in this Xian Sect Grand Competition.

Apart from a few martial uncles and senior uncles, her own master and senior uncle, and several senior brothers who had passed away early, she was the highest-ranking in the Xiang Jianzong.

One could say she was the Big Ye Shijie of the entire Xiang Jianzong.

Chi Jiuyu and Zhang Yunlu were a bit special, but in her eyes there was no difference between them and the rest of the Xiang Jianzong.

And so, every participant this time experienced the feeling of being smashed to death by two sword strikes.

Some people gained insight during the process of being crushed into mincemeat, but others couldn't adapt to this method and dropped out after dying only once or twice.

Additionally, thanks to Chi Jiuyu's enthusiastic spreading of the word—

The vast majority of the Xiang Jianzong now knew that an especially badass Big Ye Shijie had returned to the sect.

No one knew why, but she, who was always so abstract, seemed to rather worship Xu Qianning.

Even though they'd only just met.

……

……

Xiang Jianzong Great Hall.

Xu Xing sat before the computer, leaned back in his chair, phone in hand.

That's right — he was lurking in the group chat.

The Xian Sect Grand Competition was approaching, and combined with the completion of testing for all the functions of the Grand Mystery Immortal Net's nodes, plus Ning Ruo's side constantly making adjustments, the atmosphere in the group had grown much livelier.

Seeing Hong Zun: "I heard the Xiang Jianzong actually had a Dong Zhen give the participants special training recently"

Seeing Hong Zun: "It's just a grand competition, is that really necessary /picks nose"

Dan Zu: "Exactly, why compete so hard? And isn't the main purpose of this competition to test the Immortal Net? /shrugs"

Qi Zun: "+1"

Dan Zu: "Oh wow, and you have the nerve to +1 — aren't you lot of blacksmiths the most competitive ones?"

Last competition they lost to the World-Saving Valley, so everyone at the Divine Mechanism Treasure Refining Pavilion had been holding their breath.

So for this Xian Sect Grand Competition, the most competitive ones were that group of artifact refiners.

Qi Zun: "……"

They usually ignored him — why were they noticing him now?

Just as he was about to say something more—

Ba Zun: "These days, the second-to-last and third-to-last can actually start arguing"

Ba Zun: "/strange knowledge has increased again"

Dan Zu: "Vulgar brute"

Qi Zun: "Low-class"

Seeing Hong Zun: "Hardly fit for polite company"

Ba Zun: "……"

Ba Zun: "That little girl Qianning coming back this time — is she preparing to knock on the gate?"

No point chatting with this bunch of sand-sculptures — better to talk business.

Master Jianzu: "Correct"

Master Jianzu: "Right after the grand competition"

After Xu Xing's message was sent, the group fell silent for a moment.

Xiang Yuanjun: "Speaking of which, Qianning should be the first of their generation to touch upon this gate"

Master Jianzu: "It's about time for their generation"

In their generation, counting Xu Xing himself, a total of twelve had achieved it.

The rest — some, like Gu Mo and certain of Seeing Hong Zun's dao companions, had yet to comprehend the Dao Extremity; others, like Meng Xuan and Ji Yue, had failed to knock on the gate and suffered backlash.

And some had fallen to the backlash of the Immortal Gate — many dazzlingly brilliant talents had stopped just short of the Immortal Gate.

The Immortal Gate being hard to knock on was no empty saying.

And now in the next generation, quite a few had reached Dong Zhen, and some had comprehended the Dao Extremity, but Xu Qianning was the closest.

Her reaching this step now might well herald the opening of a new era.

Speaking of which…

Xu Xing's previous generation — the very first cultivators of the human race — had produced only one achiever: You.

They were the trailblazers.

Going from nothing to something was always far harder.

They carved out a path for those who came after, one that let the human race take control of its own destiny — yet the paths they themselves walked were all full of hardship. (End of Chapter)