Chapter 24: Unexpected Heaven-Reversing Seal

The black-clad man's tone was arrogant, and in his speech he didn't put the Azure Light Sword Technique in his eyes at all.

Relying solely on the protective shield of his cultivation method, he forcefully withstood the azure sword light's attack and advanced swiftly.

At the same time he slapped his storage bag with his right hand, a stream of black light flew out, attacking him with speed not inferior to that of the azure sword light.

Wang Ping's eyes slightly changed; that was exactly the flying nail that had just attacked him.

Just now it had ambushed him from behind, and he hadn't been able to react; now facing it head-on, he was startled but not flustered.

His blood circulated throughout his body, and a shocking blood energy rose from his crown.

He raised his right hand, clenched it into a fist, gathering all his blood energy into his right hand; in an instant his right fist turned bright red like jade.

Then it turned dark red, and when the black flying nail was about to reach three cun before him, he erupted with a boom.

The next second, both Wang Ping and the continually advancing black-clad person seemed to become dazed.

Before that fiercely coming flying nail could collide with Wang Ping's fist, it first struck the strands of crystal light hanging down three cun before him.

At the instant of impact, Wang Ping's Heaven-Reversing Seal atop his head trembled slightly, and the black flying nail was directly shattered into two pieces.

Wang Ping was merely surprised by the domineering power of the Heaven-Reversing Seal, while the black-clad man's heart was overturned by shock and waves.

His Soul-Chasing Nail was forged from special spiritual material, with little variation—just solid and sharp, comparable to a mid-grade magic artifact.

Combined with his formidable mental strength, once unleashed it specializes in breaking all kinds of protective shields and the physical defenses of body cultivators.

Earlier, seeing Wang Ping intend to block with his fist, he had secretly sneered, preparing to witness the scene of the opponent's arm being pierced by the Soul-Chasing Nail.

Who would have thought, the Soul-Chasing Nail hadn't even taken effect before it shattered in front of that cultivator.

For a moment he too was startled by this situation, and his body, which had been moving at extreme speed, suddenly halted.

By then he had already arrived within one zhang before Wang Ping.

The black-clad man looked at Wang Ping with a puzzled expression; only then did he see that strands of crystal light seemed to hang before the young cultivator, after which his gaze moved upward.

Upon seeing the crystal-colored great seal atop Wang Ping's head, the eyes hidden beneath his black cloak showed doubt, then a hint of speculation.

He again slapped his storage bag with his right hand, and a Soul-Chasing Nail appeared in his hand.

Gazing at those hanging strands of crystal light, he fiercely launched it.

Whoosh!

A sound of tearing through the air rang out; this time the black flying nail flew toward Wang Ping's brow at a speed greater than before.

Wang Ping's eye twitched slightly, a hint of unease rose in his heart. However, thinking of his perfect magic artifact, that unease gradually faded.

At a distance of one zhang, the black Soul-Chasing Nail arrived instantly.

Wang Ping's unease had not yet fully dissipated when the nail struck the strands of crystal light before him; only Wang Ping could feel his Heaven-Reversing Seal atop his head tremble slightly, then return to calm.

The black flying nail before him once again broke into two pieces.

Wang Ping quietly exhaled a breath, then became overjoyed; the protective effect of the Heaven-Reversing Seal was actually this strong, truly exceeding his expectations.

That strike just now was extremely fierce; even a mid-grade defensive magic treasure would probably be pierced through.

But when it struck the crystal light before him, not a single ripple arose.

As expected of a perfect magic artifact, its power is indeed formidable.

"Hahahaha!"

Wang Ping was immersed in the might of the Heaven-Reversing Seal when, unexpectedly, the black-clad man before him suddenly burst into manic laughter, his black cloak atop his head being directly shattered.

A formidable aura of cultivation erupted, and the surrounding weeds were pressed to the ground by a mighty force.

Sensing this aura, Wang Ping's heart gave a slight start; he hastily employed the Heavenly Eye Technique he had learned from the sect's jade slip to inspect.

The Heavenly Eye Technique is merely a low-grade minor spell, usable for checking a cultivator's cultivation, provided the opponent has not concealed it.

Now the black-clad man openly exposes his cultivation without reservation, so he can just see how the opponent's cultivation stands?

Wang Ping gathered spiritual power in both eyes, his eyes underwent a slight strange change, and he immediately looked toward the black-clad man.

"Hmph!"

Wang Ping suddenly let out a muffled grunt, his eyes snapping shut; just now, when he used the Heavenly Eye Technique to examine the opponent's cultivation, he had almost been blinded by the glare.

This is definitely a cultivation level of having condensed a thousand threads of spiritual power or more.

No wonder he erupted with such momentum.

This is already close to the Great Perfection of late-stage Qi Refining.

On the path of cultivation, Qi Refining is the beginning; in early Qi Refining one must cultivate 108 threads of spiritual power, in middle Qi Refining again cultivate 360 threads, and in late Qi Refining cultivate 936 threads of spiritual power.

By that point, one will have cultivated a total of 1,398 threads of spiritual power.

Thereafter, even cultivating just one more thread of spiritual power will allow one to step into the Great Perfection of Qi Refining.

Now this black-clad person has cultivated over a thousand threads of spiritual power, putting him very close to the Great Perfection of Qi Refining.

No wonder he acts so arrogantly.

Don't look at the fact that the outer disciples of the Azure Moon Sect number over a thousand who have reached the Great Perfection of Qi Refining; that is the Azure Moon Sect, whose minimum requirement for recruiting disciples is also a mid-grade spiritual root.

Coupled with their exceptionally favorable cultivation environment and the sect's welfare benefits, having such a number is not surprising.

However, in the cultivation world, those who have attained the Great Perfection of Qi Refining are extremely rare, because cultivators at this stage strive for Foundation Establishment, and their figures often appear in deep mountains and great marshes.

They are either seeking Foundation Establishment spirit materials or looking for medicinal ingredients for Foundation Establishment pills.

Those great Foundation Establishment cultivators certainly would not pay attention to the squabbles of these Qi Refining cultivators.

Therefore, late-stage Qi Refining cultivators, especially those whose spiritual power exceeds a thousand threads, are considered to have some standing in the cultivation world.

This situation exists only in the West Droop Three Kingdoms; once you leave West Droop, needless to say, even late-stage Qi Refining cultivators, let alone Foundation Establishment cultivators, have little presence.

The black-clad man's arrogance stems from this.

"I never expected to fortuitously encounter a top-grade magic artifact, kid. Hand over the top-grade magic artifact obediently, and I might spare your life; otherwise, when you fall into my hands, you will know what the agony of soul-extracting and spirit-refining is."

After his manic laughter ended, the black-clad man's eyes blazed as they fixed on that crystal great seal, while his mouth threatened Wang Ping.

Wang Ping gave a light smile, said nothing, and with a gesture summoned the Azure Light Sword back to his hand.

After his flying cloak was shaken off, the black-clothed man revealed a sinister face, his scarred eyes flashing with a fierce gaze.

Seeing Wang Ping so clueless, the black-clothed man gave a heh-heh laugh, and a disdainful voice sounded:

"You think you can rival me just by relying on a top-grade magic artifact?"

"Hmph! Ignorant of the heights of heaven and depths of earth! No matter how good the artifact, it depends on the user's cultivation—how much power can your cultivation draw from this artifact?"

Speaking, he suddenly slapped out a black flying sword from his storage bag.

Unlike Wang Ping's flying sword, this black flying sword is only two fingers wide and one foot long; its body is wrapped in black aura, with occasional bursts of blood light flashing on it—clearly an evil weapon.

Moreover, its grade had already reached upper-grade; the black-clothed man curled the corner of his mouth, revealing a cold smile, and pointed a finger at the black flying sword.

"Screech!"

A fierce sword cry rang out, and Wang Ping only felt a black light flash before his eyes—the black flying sword had already vanished.

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"

In the blink of an eye, the vanished black flying sword struck the falling crystal light.

As expected of an upper-grade magic artifact, under the attack of a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator, the crystal light surrounding him fluctuated greatly, and even the Heaven-Overturning Seal atop his head spun round and round.

Seeing this, the black-clothed man's expression grew even more delighted—'What a treasure! Absolutely a treasure!' In his experience, this great seal ranks among the very best even among top-grade magic artifacts.

To increase his attack power once more, a thousand strands of spiritual power suddenly burst forth, all condensing onto the black flying sword; in the next moment, an extremely sharp sword aura emanated from the black flying sword.

"Die, brat!" the black-clothed man laughed maniacally; this time he didn't remotely control the flying sword but instead enlarged it, gripping it tightly with both hands and slashing forward fiercely.

The black sword, expanded to three meters, directly sliced the air into countless streams of blast shooting in all directions.

Faced with such a terrifying attack, Wang Ping's expression turned grave; he poured his remaining spiritual power into the Heaven-Overturning Seal without regard for his own life.

His Heaven-Overturning Seal had never been a defensive artifact; it was an offensive one that subdues opponents with force.

After receiving a massive influx of spiritual power, the Heaven-Overturning Seal released myriad crystal lights and then expanded at an inconceivable speed.

Wang Ping instantly felt as if the world had gone dark!

The rapidly expanding Heaven-Overturning Seal, now a black giant sword, collided with the descending black giant sword.

"Boom!"

A deafening impact sounded; in the next instant, the black giant sword was blown straight away, free of restraint, and the Heaven-Overturning Seal expanded directly to a width and height of three zhang.

On the vast, silent wasteland, a huge crystal great seal, surrounded by streams of crystal light, hovered at a height of one zhang.

Both Wang Ping and the black-clothed man were enveloped within it; this scene left not only the black-clothed man dumbfounded, but even Wang Ping somewhat shocked.

He had never imagined that the Heaven-Overturning Seal could also enlarge itself.

But it quickly realized something, suddenly lowered its gaze, and looked toward the black-clothed man, who was also stunned.

With a thought, the Heaven-Overturning Seal rapidly shrank and came crashing down upon the black-clothed man.

The black-clothed man's combat experience was by no means lacking; as Wang Ping looked at him, he was already preparing to unleash an evasion technique to escape the crystal great seal's enveloping range.

The next second, he was suddenly horrified to the point of despair; as the Heaven-Overturning Seal swiftly descended, the one trying to flee suddenly found his body unable to move.

How could this be?

Suddenly he seemed to think of something, about to raise his head, but it was already too late—the Heaven-Overturning Seal, shrunk to the size of one meter, had already fallen down.

The protective light shield that had easily blocked the azure light sword was fragile before the Heaven-Overturning Seal; a mere touch turned it into drifting specks of light that fell away.

"Pfft!"

The black-clothed man spat out a mouthful of blood, then let out a furious roar:

"No!"