Chapter 1187: Slaying the Enemy of Rules

In the starry sky, a resplendent ten-thousand-li world of sword Dao appeared; billions of pure-gold rays of light shone upon a severed finger, and faintly the clang of swords could be heard. On the severed finger, the flesh and the metallic light ceaselessly slaughtered and intertwined with each other.

At times, the severed finger tried to temporarily break away from the battlefield, only to be swiftly captured once more by the endless sun-rays that resembled metal, and drawn back into the world of sword Dao.

In such a terrifying slaughter, layer upon layer of flesh peeled away from the severed finger, until at last the meridians were exposed; the meridians too were shattered by the sun-ray sword Qi, leaving only a stretch of bone, white and ghastly, composed of three phalanges, emanating a crystalline, translucent radiance of imperishability.

Yet, even with such imperishability, beneath the endless metal-like sun-rays, the radiance of imperishability too began to dim.

Crack!

At a certain moment, a crack appeared in the white bone between the fingers, revealing the gold-red marrow within—the marrow of a Void Refinement Dharma Body.

Whoosh!

This severed finger, now reduced to nothing but bone, erupted with a blood-light like the collapse of mountains and the roar of tidal waves, piercing a breach through the pure-gold world of sword Dao. Before it could heal, in the nick of time the finger escaped through the gap and returned to the body of the old man in the blood robe.

"Damn it!"

"It's an existence even stronger than an ordinary Dao Child of a Unity Dao Sect…"

The old man in the blood robe roared in unwillingness.

His entire body was a deathly pale—the pallor of excessive blood loss. His hair was shifting from withered yellow to grey-white; far too much vitality had drained away.

The phantom of the blood-lake and bone world around him was collapsing and shrinking without cease, swiftly crumbling from seven thousand kilometres down to a little over a thousand kilometres, and the power of the order of Heaven and Earth he could mobilise was drastically reduced.

"Senior,"

"Take another look at this sword of mine."

Jiang Ding raised his hand and lightly tapped toward the distance.

Boom!

The resplendent world of pure-gold sword Dao rose like the morning sun, plummeting through the starry sky, plummeting toward the phantom of the blood-lake and bone world. Its scorching and razor-sharp might suppressed everything in the starry sky, preventing any possibility of escape.

Billions upon billions of pure-gold sun-rays illuminated the world, showing all beings the power of Jin Zhi's karma.

Wherever the rays shone, the blood-lake and bone world collapsed, vaporised, turning into wisps of pale smoke that scattered, like ghosts and illusions—once the true light arrived, they instantly became phantoms, no longer able to affect the present world in any way.

The domain of blood-lake and bone was shrinking rapidly.

The aura of the old man in the blood robe was plummeting madly.

A thread of icy chill began to appear within his divine soul.

The old man in the blood robe began to tremble, as if he had foreseen something, and could not help revealing a sliver of despair: "Junior, today you used the great momentum of your sect to oppress me!"

"In the future, you will surely encounter even stronger sects, be bound by the great powers of those stronger sects, have prohibitions laid upon you, and be used to temper their juniors—suffering the humiliation I suffer today!"

He cursed venomously.

"Senior."

"In the future, perhaps it will be so."

Jiang Ding said calmly: "When one's strength is inferior, when one's means of hiding and escape are inferior, apart from fighting to the death, what else can one do? There is only to be without regret."

"Senior, within the realm, it is truly cruel and cold."

"However, for a blood-path cultivator like yourself, who has killed countless beings and slaughtered countless beings, you have no right to such lamentations. Dying at my hands can be considered acting on Heaven's behalf to uphold the Way."

"Acting on Heaven's behalf to uphold the Way?"

"Ridiculous! How are you sword-path cultivators any better than us blood-path cultivators?"

The old man's eyes were a sheet of blood-red.

In that instant, he no longer hesitated at all. He began to burn his essence blood, burn his divine soul, and even employed the method of mutual destruction, leaving himself no path of retreat.

His body instantly crumbled into a puff of ash.

All the blood-light, all the magic power and essence blood, fused entirely into that severed finger, causing it in the blink of an eye to grow a thin layer of meridians, then layer upon layer of flesh, and upon the flesh a layer of fair, delicate skin, brimming with vitality—even the pores on the skin were clearly visible.

At this moment, this finger seemed as if it had just been severed from a Void Refinement Dharma Body, its vitality nearly overflowing, fully restored to its peak state.

"Blood Heaven Finger!"

From within this finger came a venomous, furious roar.

Hum!

In that instant, tens of thousands of li of starry sky trembled. Countless blood-path rule anomalies arose within Heaven and Earth: blood lakes churned, blood lotuses bloomed, and countless beings—blood ghosts, jiangshi, skeletons—emerged from the void.

Blood-path rule!

This single finger of a Void Refinement Dharma Body—after the old man in the blood robe's resolute burning of himself—had actually manifested a sliver of the power of rules!

The power of rules, which utterly transcended order!

In that instant, the power of the entire starry sky was converging toward this single finger.

There was no reason; this was rule.

Just as water flows downhill, the sun rises and sets, and the moon appears in the sky—this is part of the operation of Heaven and Earth; rules are born with this kind of terrifying might.

Countless blood-light anomalies converged, all of them gathering upon this single severed finger.

It had now lost its concrete form, transforming into wisps and strands of twisted light, as if it were the manifestation of the blood-path rule within the starry sky.

The instant it touched the starry sky of the universe, it merged into the rules of Heaven and Earth, vanishing without a trace.

At this moment, Jiang Ding's divine soul turned cold.

This rule-attack, transformed and generated from the severed finger of a Void Refinement Dharma Body, had completely abandoned the Taiqing Flying Sword and was striking toward his true body—its target was the centre of his brow between his eyebrows, a fight to the death!

"Haha!"

"Truly—"

"Old senior, you truly bring surprises at every moment."

Jiang Ding laughed heartily.

He had finally found some enjoyment in this battle, no longer wearing that lifeless, heavy look.

Rule.

Blood-path rule!

This indeed exceeded his power, far surpassing the power of Order, enough to slay any being below Refinement of Void in an instant.

Beings below Refinement of Void didn't even have the qualification to perceive it—only to meet death.

Clang!

Jiang Ding likewise burned a wisp of essence blood.

The metallic sun formed by the Taiqing Flying Sword collapsed at this moment, contracting, its radiance converging, likewise transforming into a wisp of resplendent and brilliant twisted sun-metal light that flashed and vanished, merging into the Heavenly Dao rules.

This was not the Taiqing Flying Sword having mastered the power of the Sun Rule.

Rather, under the influence of the immortal art's results, and bolstered by the immense magic power formed from burning a thread of essence blood, it forcibly achieved simulating the karma of Jin Zhi using the power of the Six Paths Order, forcibly making the Six Paths Order rival a Rule!

This is the function of 'Art.'

This is the great masterpiece of immortal arts, reaching an incomprehensible level of technique, able to use Order like cotton to achieve the same effect as a Rule like steel.

In this state of light transformation, Jiang Ding easily detected the existence of the Blood Path Rule.

Whoosh!

The light-transformed Taiqing Flying Sword slashed down in an instant.

One twisted streak of light, dripping with fresh blood, as if compressed from an endless blood lake of corpses, with billions of beings wailing within.

One streak of light, resplendent, scorching and destructive, clearly in the form of light yet displaying distinct metallic characteristics, incomparably sharp, piercing through all things.

Zzzz…

Zzzzz…

The two Rule-lights intersected and clashed, without any earth-shattering sound; the slightest leak of aftershock instantly snapped the surrounding Heavenly Dao rules.

The cosmic space silently dissolved; heaven and earth fell into a state of primordial chaos, no longer possessing up, down, left, right, gravity, or light—everything became uncertain.

Finally, at a certain moment, the blood-red light gradually dimmed, unable to prevail in the struggle within the Rules.

Bang!

This wisp of Blood Path Rule dissipated, revealing a broken bone with no spiritual light at all, which fell into the starry sky.

In its place, only a flying sword remained, its resplendent radiance gradually converging, revealing a blue-gold sword body.

It emitted a clear, ringing sword-cry, expressing its joyous intent to the endless realms of the starry sky.