Chapter 1644: The Great Sun Sword Lord Is an Artist

Time and the material world surged like tides toward the immortal artifact Chong Chong Guang Zi, whose Reverse Five Elements Cycle Demon-Refining Furnace was operating beyond its limits.

He and his several billion flesh-furnace Dao-soldier grand array were in operation, every moment gulping down the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, their rumbling operation affecting the celestial phenomena of world clusters, overturning the rules of heaven and earth; they were the famed Dao-soldiers and Dao-child of Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong.

Yet at this moment, from outside to within, everything was solidifying.

A terrifying, invisible force was born from within the cosmos and spread outward; the many flesh-furnace Dao-soldiers and Qi Sect legacy disciples desperately tried to control the army formation, but were suddenly frozen stiff, their divine souls, bodies, and thoughts instantly frozen, severed from the outside world—no matter how they roared and cursed, they could not be roused.

"Haaah…"

A cold, suffocating premonition enveloped Chong Chong Guang Zi.

He madly drove the Reverse Five Elements Cycle Demon-Refining Furnace at his chest, erupting with waves of Reverse Five Elements power, dispelling the solidifying time again and again.

But in the end, everything still solidified.

This stretch of heaven and earth fell into absolute silence!

At this moment, two colossal painting pillars tens of thousands of zhang tall appeared between heaven and earth; they stood close together, then spread apart to the two sides, unfurling a magnificent star-river scroll painting, within which battle-intent pierced straight through the clouds.

This truly was a masterpiece painting!

Its figures were vivid and lifelike, not the slightest bit empty; every figure's expression and detail were rendered down to the finest hair, carrying intense emotions—terror, wild rage, grief and indignation, boundless heroic spirit—and so on, almost bursting out from the paper, to be known by the living beings of the world, who would feel and share the emotions of that moment.

Even more worthy of sighing was that this painting contained all things of heaven and earth, and the myriad profound wonders of the immortal Dao.

For those cultivating the sword Dao, one could see in this painting all manner of ringing sword-intent; for those cultivating the army-formation Dao, one could see the profound wonders of army formations from first to eighth rank; for cultivators of the Wood great Dao, one could see many cultivators of the same path, their lives, their joys and sorrows…

All manner of immortal Dao supreme scenes—this painting had almost spoken them all!

"It seems,"

"This Sovereign is not without an artist's talent, after all…"

Before the star-river painting, at some unknown time, a youth in blue robes with a long sword at his waist had appeared; he quietly admired his own work, sighing with emotion while occasionally revealing a hint of regret.

If only he could sketch every Dao-child and quasi-immortal clan Holy Child of the entire great thousand worlds onto it—how wonderful that would be?

In the distance, Chong Chong Guang Zi, Yang Tie Shen Jun, and others held their breath.

They dared not breathe, fixing their worshipful, fanatic gazes on the distant youth, wishing they could immediately prostrate themselves at his feet to listen to the supreme sounds of the Great Sun Sword Dao.

The Great Sun Sword Dao, today…

Crack!

At this moment, a crisp sound rang through the entire cosmos, plunging everyone once more into a cold, oppressive atmosphere.

Only the strongest of the He-Dao Divine Lords retained a sliver of strength, barely managing to look toward the distant star-river scroll; within that vast ancient painting, they saw a broken corner, like a black hole.

This corner appeared so clearly in the painting, so conspicuous, as if someone had poked a hole through it; a flaw had appeared in the sacred work, giving rise to endless regret.

A pale finger poked out from the broken corner of the scroll.

"…Pure Yang…"

"…Pure Yang… Pure Yang! …"

A terrifying sound that chilled the heart emerged from the breach in the scroll, shrill and mournfully despairing, making one shiver from the depths of one's soul.

"A stray dog."

The blue-robed youth stood with his hands behind his back, expression bland, seemingly unsurprised.

At the breach in the scroll, within a ghastly pale hand, two ghastly pale fingers—seemingly containing a living being that had crawled up from the depths of the Nine Hells—spread an icy, terrifying aura in all directions.

Upon hearing the blue-robed youth's words, an even more venomous emotion showed itself, nearly freezing this stretch of heaven and earth solid.

"Stray dog,"

"Stray dog."

"I call you a stray dog, and you still won't accept it."

The Great Sun Sword Lord paid no heed to the terrifying scroll, sighing lightly: "Only at this point do you begin to fight desperately, begin to burn your Reverse Five Elements Cycle Demon-Refining Furnace—the timing is far too late."

"Your lack of combat experience is laughable."

"How does an opponent like you deserve to be a stepping stone on this Sovereign's path of gazing up at the True Immortal Maiden's back?!"

Jiang Ding's face suddenly darkened, utterly disappointed, killing intent filling his chest: "A law cultivator! Although law cultivators don't focus on life-and-death bloody battles, you damned mongrel still shouldn't be this lacking in combat experience!"

"There are far too few of you damned puppet-tribe people!"

"Far too few who can be called prodigies! In the past you've never experienced any proper battles, always crushing opponents in smooth sailing; your battle Dao-heart has never been tempered by high-quality combat!"

"You're not even comparable to the combat quality of the Black Horn Ant clan's Dark Sky Emperor Child of the Void Refinement race that I've seen!"

"You damned mongrel!"

Jiang Ding roared in wild fury: "You damned mongrel, tell me!"

"In the previous battle, did the combat logic in your soul crystal tell you to burn the Reverse Five Elements Cycle Demon-Refining Furnace as quickly as possible?!"

"Didn't it?!"

"Speak!"

The ghastly pale figure crawling out of the star-river scroll, shrieking with venom, faltered in body.

In that instant, his shrill venom and battle-intent both seemed to shrink by a large margin in an instant, suffering a violent blow to his Dao-heart.

"Either, cold logic and emo-

tions, puppet fate rules calculating everything."

"Or, shaping everything in the world through rich life experience and emotions, possessing one's own unbreakable outlook on life and values—that is, the Dao-heart."

Jiang Ding revealed an icy expression.

A worthless coward like you, who clearly calculated the most optimal combat strategy through your soul crystal but can't execute it due to fear of death—hesitating and indecisive!

"Neither as good as a living being, nor as good as a cold puppet."

"A person like you, becoming the Dao-child of Qi Sect."

"The development potential of your race is just this much."

"So be it."

"You're this weak!"

"This weak!"

"Why must you appear before this sovereign?!"

Jiang Ding's furious roar shook heaven and earth; driven to the brink of rage, he thrust his finger almost into the nose of the figure emerging from the painting and bellowed: "You worthless fool—why weren't you the Sword Child of Tianjian!"

"Only he could give this sovereign the battle he craves!"

He bellowed.

Boundless regret, boundless anguish, boundless fury—as if the living being crawling out of the Star River painting before him were already a dead man.

"You—"

"Are seeking death…"

The Star River painting began to tremble. Under the swelling of a terrifying force that could destroy heaven and earth and burn like a furnace, the painting could no longer seal the living being within; cracks appeared one after another, and the painting was no longer whole.

At a certain moment.

Boom!

From the scattered, broken fragments of the painting, an incomparably terrifying figure appeared between heaven and earth.

The several billion living beings around him had all vanished—even the dozens of noble-status inheritors of the Immortal Artifact Sect had all vanished.

In their place were sheets of blood-bone scales, layer upon layer piled upon his body, forming a hideous and terrifying suit of black-red bone armor that covered his entire form, even shielding his pupils within.

Within this monster's body, the supreme treasure of Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong—the Reverse Five Elements Zhou Tian Demon-Refining Furnace—was burning in self-destructive fashion, constantly spewing forth vast energy.

At this moment, every gesture and movement of his carried the power to destroy heaven and earth!