Chapter 1313: My Sword Can Sever All, No Need to Seek Without

Rain was falling.

It was a pattering spring rain, one that should have brought life, yet within the raindrops were interwoven strands of golden threads, like blades scraping bone, stripping away every rule that did not belong to heaven and earth themselves — every rule that bore the will of sentient beings.

Beneath the downpour, the rules of space and life that had been exploited by man were shattered inch by inch, restoring heaven and earth to their pure original state, as if at the moment of creation when the world first took shape.

This was for heaven and earth.

But for True Venerable Mire and the Emerald Toad, it was a torment akin to being sliced into a thousand pieces!

They could only watch helplessly as every rule of space and life within the range of their divine sense was stripped away and shattered, becoming blind, becoming deaf, unable to extend their divine sense outward, unable to borrow the power of heaven and earth's rules to augment their own strength.

The two of them became lonely, dark islands in the Xian Dao Shi Gao Jie, abandoned by the Heavenly Dao.

Though boundless spiritual Qi and the rules of the Great Dao surrounded them, they could not borrow a single thread, and could only watch helplessly as the overwhelming momentum of heaven and earth bore down upon them.

"What sword art is this?"

True Venerable Mire cried out in terror.

"This sword is called Rain."

Jiang Ding was happy to share his research findings, and said amiably, "It's named after the legendary immortal art of summoning wind and rain, but my sword art is obviously far inferior — not even a fraction of it — unable to achieve the legendary scene where raindrops fall and mighty foes all perish. It can only sever the connection between cultivation practitioners and the spiritual Qi of the outside world."

"Fellow Daoist Mire, this is but a trifling trick; please do give me some pointers."

"Ridiculous!"

"Indeed, it is but a trifling trick!"

True Venerable Mire's face twisted.

The emerald toad on his shoulder hopped, leaping into his skull and merging with his entire being, becoming one, no longer distinct from each other; the auras of human and alien race became one.

"Roar!"

True Venerable Mire roared toward the heavens.

He underwent a tremendous transformation in an instant, beginning with his head, which turned a glistening green, with numerous pustules oozing venom appearing one after another. Then his palms grew slender, sprouting webbing suited for swimming and leaping, his human skin transformed into the thick hide of a toad, with countless foul-smelling slime flowing over it.

He had become a half-demon toad-man!

"Break!"

True Venerable Mire suddenly possessed boundless great strength. With one hand he lifted a jade seal several hundred kilometers in size, using the starry heavens as paper and mountains and rivers as a painting, and pressed it down squarely, leaving an intricate ancient seal-script imprint in the sky.

The instant this seal-script descended, the surrounding golden-threaded rain shattered.

The sealed spiritual Qi and the rules of the universe's Great Dao reappeared between heaven and earth, restoring the connection between those within and the world. They breathed in great gulps, their auras

rapidly growing stronger.

"Oh?"

"Pure body cultivation strength… when this sword art was created, it never occurred to me that it could be forcibly broken in this manner."

Jiang Ding said in surprise.

Indeed, combat and slaughter were among the greatest sources of progress for sword arts.

Of course, it had to be against strong enemies; otherwise the sword art would only grow worse with practice, until in the end even the sword cultivator's own sword would rust away.

"I need to add methods against body cultivators and demon cultivators within 'Summoning Rain.' This is not difficult to do."

"These brutes who only know brute force have no resistance against sword Qi that appears soft and weak yet possesses infinite force-dispersing capability."

Countless inspirations surfaced in Jiang Ding's mind.

"Ants!"

"Die!"

True Venerable Mire transformed his body into a muscular, knotted emerald giant, holding the Coiling Dragon jade seal in one hand, parting the soul-devouring, bone-grinding golden-phoenix rain. Innumerable forces of space rules and life rules coiled around him, merging with the boundless power contained in the great seal in his hand, as if he held a jade Shenshan covered in mysterious talismans, pressing down to suppress.

Dual cultivation of law and body!

At this moment, True Venerable Mire was unmistakably a powerhouse of dual law-and-body cultivation, having reached the extreme in both body tempering and the path of rules, producing a terrifying effect far greater than one plus one.

The path of dual law-and-body cultivation, in the eyes of many orthodox cultivators, was hopelessly muddled — the path had lost its purity, a waste of life that destroyed one's own future.

But its power was beyond doubt, so long as one could divide one's attention many ways while excelling at each.

At this moment, at the early Void Refinement stage, True Venerable Mire's merger with the emerald toad had relatively achieved this effect!

With pure strength as bone, and the myriad spells produced by the blooming of space rules and life rules as wings, he radiated dazzling brilliance, suppressing a stretch of heaven and earth.

"Not bad, Fellow Daoist Mire."

Jiang Ding offered his praise as well.

The enemy before him, within limited conditions, had blossomed with all manner of ingenious ideas and actually carried them out — truly shocking to the heavens, a realm-domain prodigy worthy of the title anywhere.

Jiang Ding drew his sword.

Boom!

A blazing sun rose.

It collided with the Coiling Dragon great seal in the muscular giant's hand, triggering an earth-shaking great explosion. Tens of thousands of kilometers of space tumbled and shattered, boiling over, the rules within broken beyond recognition, fracturing apart under the attacks of the two great powerhouses.

An entire stretch of sky fell into a state of chaos.

"Hahaha!"

"Brat, nothing more than this!"

As the light of the blazing sun's explosion faded slightly, a charred giant was revealed.

His body was covered in wounds burned by fierce flames, each forming a thick piece of charcoal, yet he laughed wildly without cease.

Because for the first time, he had

directly taken this Blazing Sun sword strike head-on!

He did not retreat a single step, no longer showing the appearance of being crushed.

Moreover, as the sound of cracking rang out, the thick pieces of charcoal on the giant's body fell away one by one, revealing skin drenched in fresh blood that looked miserable. Yet as the skin came into contact with the rules of the universe and the spiritual Qi of heaven and earth, it healed at a speed visible to the naked eye, the bright red flesh fading in color, and growing back thick green hide covered in slime.

Demon beasts like toads and frogs already possessed formidable self-healing abilities; coupled with the vitality unique to the rules of life, it was practically an indestructible, immortal body!

This is the troublesome aspect of cultivators who pursue both the Law Body and the Dharma.

In attack, they are aggressive as fire, looking down on all before them, invincible in every assault and victorious in every battle; in defense, their bodies are undying and imperishable, able to withstand thousands of blades and swords without harm, plunging their opponents into despair—either aspect far surpassing that of a body cultivator or a law cultivator alone.

"Hahaha!"

"Die!"

Mud Swamp True Venerable laughed wildly, growing fiercer with every clash.

He held the Coiling Dragon Jade Seal in hand, striding forward with great steps like an unparalleled war general, charging ferociously through the golden wind and fine rain, determined to behead that frail, sword-girded youth in cloth robes on the spot amidst an army of ten thousand, claiming yet another victory in the tens of thousands of years, so that the great opportunity after victory might advance his cultivation further.

This kind of life-and-death, nine-death-one-life battle, he had experienced who knows how many times in his life, and each time he emerged victorious.

This time would be no exception!

"Cultivating both the Law Body and the Dharma is indeed impressive."

"And it is indeed a muddled, unsound path—not mine."

Jiang Ding, encountering such an enemy for the first time, simultaneously admired him and searched his own heart: "Fellow Daoist Mud Swamp, because my Sword Dao possesses the utmost sharpness under heaven, sufficient to cut down all enemies on the path, I need not divide my attention toward any other path."

"For example, Fellow Daoist Mud Swamp, your body-merging art is indeed wondrous, but it still has some shortcomings."

"Please look—take this sword."

Jiang Ding's gaze was deep and dim, the six orders revolved, finally fixing upon the Aberration Order.