Chapter 1390: Taiyin, A Useless Thing

Tianji Candidate Daozi was currently engaged in a contest of divination and counter-divination with a young man in hemp clothing, sweat beading on his forehead, already pushed to his very limit.

Still, he could answer Jiang Ding's questions normally enough.

"It is possible to determine a victor."

"The righteous sects also have their cold, cutthroat competition, though they do not advocate physical annihilation."

Tianji Candidate Daozi explained, "Take Qingmuxian Sect, for example. If Liuyue Zi is about to die in a struggle, she may choose to relinquish her title as Candidate Daozi and submit to the victor. Generally, her life is spared."

"After submitting, the essence of the azure divine tree trunk within her Ben Ming Fa will flow toward the victor. It is the equivalent of the fruits of her several thousand years of refinement becoming a wedding dress for another."

"Very cruel."

"However, compared to the Brother Xuanwu Heavenly Palace's extreme acts of exterminating entire clans at the slightest provocation, it is already quite mild."

"Our Tianji Immortal Palace is similar. The difference is that we place great importance on the Dao of Heavenly Divination. If my Heavenly Divination Dao surpasses his, I will hold a tremendous advantage in battle, often able to anticipate the enemy and predict the majority of attacks in advance, making it very easy for the weak to defeat the strong."

"So that's how it is."

Jiang Ding understood at once.

Not long after, Ji Liuyue and Qinggu Candidate Daozi exchanged thoroughly courteous bows, and she withdrew with a face full of defeat.

Next came the bouts between the Candidate Daozi of Wan Shouxianzong and the Candidate Daozi of Qiong Qi Xian Zong, as well as Antu Zi of Wuxingtian Sect against the Candidate Daozi of Wuqi Xian Zong, and the Candidate Daozi of Dandingxian Sect against the Candidate Daozi of Tiandan Xian Zong…

For the most part, they stopped at the first strike; none of the life-and-death clashes seen in Brother Xuanwu Heavenly Palace appeared.

The slight exception was the Candidate Daozi of Shadow Demon Abyss and the Candidate Daozi of Wuguang Tianmen. The two kept hiding, vanishing without a trace the instant they appeared. No one knew what they were doing, only that no one had died yet.

At that moment, under the gaze of many, Taiyou Dayan Jianzi and Guangming Dayan Jianzi of the Youming Sword Grotto-Heaven walked over toward Jiang Ding and Yu Yu Qianzi.

"Da Ri Dayan Jianzi…"

Taiyou Dayan Jianzi was a dignified, beautiful woman. She looked at the blue-robed youth before her and said in a low, mournful voice, "Why must you betray the Taiyin-Taiyang Covenant?"

"The tale of the Taiyang Dayan Jianzi and the Taiyin Dayan Jianzi supporting one another, attaining the level of Jiang Jiang Jinxian, and ascending together toward the True Immortal Dao has always circulated within the sect. Is that not good?"

"Pure Yang has its flaws. Pure Yin has its flaws."

"All things under heaven, all things of nature, always have various defects. Yet between Taiyin and Taiyang, they complement and combine with one another, becoming a thing of perfection."

"Such a marvel of creation—how could you bear to cast it aside?"

She was utterly uncomprehending, full of regret, and… hatred.

It seemed every female cultivator of the Taiyin lineage reacted this way upon meeting a Da Ri Sword cultivator. They possessed a special method that allowed them to clearly know what the First Generation Da Ri Sword Lord had done.

"Sigh,"

"Yu Yu Qianzi, little sister—"

"?? You've suffered."

Taiyou Dayan Jianzi looked at the cold, aloof girl standing far from Da Ri Dayan Jianzi and said with heartache.

Yu Yu Qianzi's expression remained flat; she gave no response.

"Why so?"

"Because Taiyin and Taiyang are weakness."

"Taiyang alone is sufficient. One need not seek aid from anything external. Taiyin is a useless thing."

Jiang Ding said flatly.

The Da Ri Sword Dao—this was one of the cores of his path.

In his view, the dual-cultivation Sword Dao of Taiyin and Taiyang was pure weakness: a fear of the various hardships and dangers along the Dao path that could have served as whetstones for the sword, causing one to miss out on a vast ocean of Sword Dao opportunities.

The so-called complement of yin and yang was merely taking a shortcut for a time. In the future, on the road to immortality, it would have to be repaid tenfold, a hundredfold.

He believed the dual-cultivation Sword Dao of yin and yang to be wrong.

"Taiyin is a useless thing?"

"A useless thing…"

Taiyou Dayan Jianzi chewed on Da Ri Dayan Jianzi's words, repeating them over and over, until her gaze gradually turned icy. "A useless thing, and so one may slaughter it at will."

"Is that so, Dao Friend?"

"Is this your Da Ri Pure Yang Sword Dao?"

"…"

Jiang Ding said nothing.

In his view, the First Generation Da Ri Sword Lord's slaughter of the Moon Lineage was indeed a moral failing, an act of desperation born in the resource-poor environment of the Nine Spirit Domain. It was necessary to utterly destroy any possibility of the Yin-Yang Sword Dao reviving and making a comeback, so as to prevent the newly born, fragile, and crude Da Ri Sword Dao from dying in the cradle.

But the First Generation Da Ri Sword Lord was the one who opened the path of the Da Ri Sword Dao.

Jiang Ding's path to this day had benefited from the First Generation Da Ri Sword Lord's великого wisdom of the Immortal Dao. To expect him to utter words that insulted the First Generation Da Ri Sword Lord—

That was absolutely impossible.

Clang!

Taiyou Dayan Jianzi began to draw her sword, and Guangming Dayan Jianzi drew hers at the same instant.

Their movements were perfectly identical—even within a ten-thousandth of a millisecond, they were perfectly identical.

In an instant, the heavens and earth across more than ten thousand kilometers of starry sky underwent a tremendous change. Half the world blazed with brilliant light; the other half was deep as eternal night, without a single glimmer.

Night and sunlight merged into one another, forming a terrifying power that vastly exceeded what either of them could muster alone.

"Jiang Ding Zi, Dao Friend,"

"Sun Sword cultivator who has cast away all his glory—please step forward and accept your death."

Taiyou Dayan Jianzi and Guangming Dayan Jianzi stood each within their own night and light, sword blades angled downward, and said coldly.

The two voices overlapped, merging and producing a new sound, like the music of the Great Dao itself, ringing out in metallic clarity, exquisitely pleasing to the ear.

"Accept my death?"

"You are not enough."

Jiang Ding shook his head slightly, looking toward Guangming Dayan Jianzi:

"When you're alone, you're very weak—far weaker than Yu Yu Qianzi. Entrusting your own Dao entirely to another woman—don't you find it tedious?"

"Yes, I don't find it tedious at all."

"The road to immortality is long; to have a fine companion by one's side—is that not the greatest fortune?"

The Bright Light Sword said frankly.

Toward this sun-sword cultivator whose aura resembled his own, he felt a certain natural fondness, for this was a kindred spirit.

But the other had strayed from the proper path, and so they could only face each other in life and death.

"Fortune?"

"On the road to becoming an immortal, this is misfortune."

Jiang Ding said calmly.

Clang!

The Supreme Clarity flying sword leapt from its sheath.

Amid the destructive order, a resplendent world of sword-Dao unfurled between heaven and earth, blasting aside everything in thunderous roars, simultaneously banishing both light and darkness, effortlessly claiming half the sky without yielding the slightest ground.

The Supreme Shadow Sword's pupils contracted.

Theoretically speaking, a lone sun-sword cultivator could never be a match for a yin-yang sword cultivator; the pure-yang lineage had no right whatsoever to challenge them and was not worth fearing in the least.

Yet now, that theory had been completely overturned.

"Kill!"

The Supreme Shadow Sword said coldly, killing intent surging.

A stronger instinct rose within her—the urge to utterly annihilate this aberrant sun-sword lineage, to prevent it from spreading, for this was a betrayal of the yin-yang sword Dao.

Amid the clashing sword-light, the great sun and the yin-yang erupted into a violent slaughter.

A resplendent great sun rose; one black, one white streak of celestial light wove and crossed before it, their edges endless, slicing down halo after halo of the great sun.

Neither yielded to the other; they fought fiercely, with no victor decided.