Chapter 351: Nine Cauldrons of Heaven

"Haha!"

"Such petty tricks, yet you dare display them before us?"

Facing the endless barrage of shells, Xia Hou Ding laughed loudly; without making any move himself, the surrounding True Disciples had already formed hand seals, shifting into the positions of the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, causing formation patterns to appear.

The clay giants, green wood giants, tiger demon giants... and other battle formations glowed with light.

Whether it was a heavy clay palm slamming down like a mountain, countless vines piercing the sky with wild snakes dancing, or the roar of a tiger mouth sending shockwaves rippling for several miles, all were Jin Dan-level attacks.

Boom!

Countless armor-piercing shells exploded before reaching their designated positions, turning into a sky full of spell-breaking steel fragments, posing no further threat.

The sky, once filled with piercing whistles, cleared instantly.

Even as over three hundred thousand tanks continuously spat fire, firing armor-piercing shells one by one, they still could not break through the defense line of the Jin Dan combatants to advance at an extremely fast speed.

"We simply cannot win!"

Jin Jin Lingfeng's small face tightened as she looked at the sky, beads of cold sweat breaking out.

It was not just her; the many True Disciples of Brother Brother Xuanwu's Palace were the same, using only a portion of their magic power to tear through the curtain of armor-piercing shells and advance rapidly.

The majority of their remaining magic power was held in reserve, while their divine sense scanned the surroundings again and again.

"Great Sun Sword Disciple, do you dare to fight me alone?"

Sitting at the center of the thirty Jin Dan battle formations, Xia Hou Ding laughed heartily: "I see you are still wet behind the ears, merely a rat from the Eastern Extreme Demon Sect."

He tried his utmost to provoke his opponent.

"Good!"

Clang!

A sword cry rang out,

Accompanied by a terrifying roar, a blue-gold sword light appeared between heaven and earth; no longer condensing into a single point, it transformed into a River of Heaven's Sword spanning several kilometers, slashing down toward Xia Hou Ding and the twenty Jin Dan battle formations!

"Great Sun Sword Disciple!"

"Kill!"

The souls of the twenty True Disciples trembled, drawn by the spiritual pressure; the green wood giants, tiger demon giants, clay giants, and others all roared as they charged toward the sky.

Green wood vines, tiger demon giant claws, clay giant balls... various attacks blocked out the sun and moon, brimming with killing intent, causing the spiritual energy of the heavens and earth within dozens of kilometers to tremble endlessly.

Whoosh!

The blue-gold sword body had never been so dazzling; it grew, grew, and grew even larger!

Infinite sword qi generated outside the sword body.

It became the River of Heaven's Sword, several kilometers in size, flowing with a gurgling sound; within the blue-gold river, a web-like pattern of Po Fa Xian Jin shimmered like a blazing sun, naturally capable of severing all ten thousand magical paths.

The sword river flowed there in an instant,

Bursting through layers of green wood vines, tiger demon giant claws, clay giant balls, and other phenomena.

Boom!

A terrifying explosion occurred; countless spiritual lights were extinguished, and the green wood vines and other magical phenomena were smashed to pieces by the River of Heaven's Sword, causing the battle formation's aura to fluctuate wildly.

Then, the River of Heaven's Sword, now shrunken significantly, slammed heavily into a golden cauldron.

Boom!

Layers of Jin Chong Guang twisted, shattered, and crumbled; the River of Heaven's Sword struck the wall of the six-legged Jin Ding, producing a crisp metallic ringing sound. Both sides trembled, subjected to terrifying force, and were knocked back several kilometers.

"You..."

Xia Hou Ding stood with his eyes wide and mouth agape.

He looked in disbelief at the River of Heaven's Sword dimming in the distance and his own Jin Ding, which for the first time had suffered no damage in the collision, yet he could not feel happy.

"The Great Sun Sword Disciple is so strong..."

Jin Jin Lingfeng and An Siyan were also stunned, but quickly recovered, gathering the armor-piercing shells to attack the remaining ten Jin Dan battle formations, preventing them from having any spare strength.

"Since Xia Hou Daoist is older, please give me your guidance."

In the sky, Jiang Ding's face was also somewhat pale, yet he was smiling; he had no dissatisfaction with this siege-style duel, instead finding it very reasonable.

"Everyone, receive another sword strike from me!"

Clang!

The River of Heaven's Sword rang out, with golden web-like patterns crisscrossing within its deep blue; it frantically absorbed the spiritual energy of heaven and earth within ten kilometers, causing the dimmed and shrunken sword river to recover once more, its golden web-like veins shining brilliantly.

Merely looking at it with divine sense caused sharp pain, cutting the sense into scattered fragments.

Splash...

The River of Heaven's Sword swept away.

Leaving no room for breath.

It descended once more upon the heads of Xia Hou Ding and the twenty True Disciples; blue-gold water splashed everywhere, sharp and piercing, composed of countless fine sword qi threads.

"Why is this Foundation Establishment?!"

The many True Disciples of Brother Brother Xuanwu's Palace felt their scalps go numb; even if a swarm of Foundation Establishment cultivators fell inside, they would be instantly crushed into bloody foam!

"Kill!"

Roar!

Roar roar!

Under immense pressure, their faces twisted grotesquely; they unleashed their magic power, pouring it all into the battle formations. The tiger demons roared, the clay giants bellowed, and the green wood giants frantically swung trees larger than themselves toward the sky... all twenty True Disciples had gone mad.

Boom!

The River of Heaven's Sword fell once more; the river water rolled back, with every drop containing web-like golden patterns like veins, shining brilliantly.

There was no probing or detouring; it collided head-on with the attacks of the various battle formation spells and phenomena.

Boom!

A terrifying explosion shattered countless spiritual lights; the stalemate lasted a little longer, but the outcome remained unchanged.

The Tiger Demon's claw was forcibly severed; the great tree representing the Green Wood Giant's body was cut open; the Clay Giant's half-body was pierced repeatedly, leaving countless thumb-sized Kong Dongs, through which light could be seen…

The battle array of all twenty True Disciples suffered varying degrees of damage; they stared in fear at the sky.

Ding!

The Sky-Sword River, shrunk to less than half its size, slammed into the Six-Legged Jin Ding; blue and gold interwoven waters flooded over, the thick wall-like Jin Chong Guang was pierced and shattered; the giant ding was blasted back several kilometers again — evenly matched.

"Po Fa Xian Jin… too terrifying!"

Xia Hou Ding clenched his teeth and, after two strikes, finally discerned something.

It was not that this man's combat power was so terrifying as to overwhelm twenty Jin Dan; rather, those golden, net-like patterns were too fearsome — any spell crumbled at their touch, leaving no possibility of effective resistance.

Yet precisely, the way of battle arrays is to converge the strength of many, through the path of spell-based offense and destruction!

"Third sword."

Jiang Ding's magic power drained rapidly; his face grew paler, yet his eyes burned brighter.

With a finger point, the Sky-Sword River swallowed ten kilometers of celestial and terrestrial spiritual energy, descending in brilliant blue-and-gold radiance; the Breaking-Spell Sword Intent spread across all directions, firmly locking onto every soul.

Boom—

The Sky-Sword River surged across the sky again; groups of Green Wood Giants, Tiger Demon Giants, and Clay Giants were swept apart, their spiritual lights dimming.

Many places now bore terrifying fuzzy white spots — signs of permanent destruction to the array nodes.

Ding!

The Six-Legged Jin Ding was pushed back once more; layer upon layer of Jin Chong Guang around it was washed away by the Tianhe, with nothing able to stop it.

"Dao Zi!"

"Our battle array is about to be broken!"

Several True Disciples shouted anxiously — they were indeed True Disciples of the Jin Chong Guang Hall, the innermost confidants, always sharing glory and disgrace, incapable of false reports.

"I am aware."

Xia Hou Ding let out a cold snort and stepped out of the encircling military formation for the first time.

Amidst the roaring thunder of armored shells flying through the air, he reached the very front of battle; the Six-Legged Jin Ding floated in midair, its mouth filled with chaotic energy nearly boiling, a powerful pressure rising.

"Great Sun Sword Dao Zi!"

"This ding is named Ling Tian Ding, modeled after the Heavenly Palace's ultimate treasure, the Nine Heavens Immortal Spirit Ding."

"Due to material limitations, only one exists."

"Eight others exist, named Heaven, Earth, Xuan, Huang, Yu, Zhou, Hong, Huang — each at the level of a treasure embryo; if forcibly used once, they will vanish into ash."

Xia Hou Ding cradled the ding with both hands, raised it above his head, and spoke slowly, word by word.

"Please, savor it."

(End of Chapter)