Chapter 408: Who Says the Great Sun Sword Disciple Has No Sword Art?

The City Lord of Master Tushan must have come from the Northern Plains and knows every rule inside out.

"My Lord!"

"This time, I indeed broke the rules and was at fault first."

Shang Shang Chengye spoke in a deep voice: "However, I come from a Nascent Soul family; my grandfather and my Ceng Zufu were both Nascent Soul cultivators. To kill me over a minor mistake, to shoulder a tremendous burden for a lowly person like me, I feel it is not worth it for you."

As a late-stage Jin Dan cultivator, he had actually belittled himself to nothing, while subtly threatening the other party and elevating them high, making it impossible for ordinary people to feel any resentment.

'Where is the Vajra Monk?'

'Did that damn bastard run away?'

Shang Shang Chengye swept his divine sense wildly, cursing endlessly in his heart, yet on his face he became even more respectful.

Although family rules are indeed rules, if there is no victim, how could one punish one's own people properly? They can only raise the rule high and let it fall lightly.

Unfortunately, something unexpected has happened now.

Who could have thought that in the blink of an eye, the two late-stage Jin Dan cultivators who were originally present were gone, leaving only the two of them facing each other alone.

"Your grandfather and Ceng Zufu were both Nascent Soul cultivators?"

"I indeed do not know much about the internal affairs of the Shang family."

Jiang Ding sneered: "But I know that the Nascent Soul main branch of the Shang family would never make such a huge fuss over the favor of a mere non-surname quasi-Nascent Soul cultivator. For them, this would be a very shameful thing."

"Shang Daoist, are you of the Shang main branch?"

"I indeed am..."

In his words, a faint sense of contempt deeply pierced Shang Shang Chengye's heart. His mouth opened and closed several times, yet he could not speak the words "main branch" from his lips.

Main branch.

It seemed these two words weighed ten thousand pounds in his heart; even with a merchant's cunning and deceit, he could not speak them fluently.

"Haha!"

"Shang Daoist, just stay here honestly and keep Lady company."

Lady Thousand Snakes laughed coquettishly: "According to the late-stage Jin Dan cultivators of the Twenty-Eight Great Families that I have communicated with, the distinction between legitimate and illegitimate branches within their families is extremely strict; they guard against internal threats even more than external ones. It is absolutely impossible for collateral branches to form a Nascent Soul; they are strictly locked out by nature in their Gong Fa, with only a one or two chance for a Nascent Soul cultivator to remove this restriction."

"This person is trying every possible means to obtain the favor of the Blood Flow Cloud, presumably preparing for this."

"Lady knows so much."

Jiang Ding praised.

"Young Master's strength is also not bad."

Lady Thousand Snakes's eyes shifted, the black and white pythons on her shoulders flicked their tongues, and occasionally drops of black-purple poison fell between the snowy Shanfeng, looking bizarre and terrifying.

"Young Master, would you like to try my bed skills? I certainly won't disappoint you."

Her voice was extremely charming and pleasant to hear.

"No need. I am young and cannot withstand temptation; I might easily become addicted. It is better to see Lady off."

Jiang Ding shook his head and smiled.

Boom!

A deep blue flying sword broke through the air from the dense network of faint line formation patterns, locked by the intent of destruction, and slashed toward the head of the charming woman.

"Young Master truly does not know how to cherish beauty."

Lady Thousand Snakes licked her lips. A snake-gold hairpin on her head flashed with emerald spiritual light, intercepting the deep blue flying sword in the void. The two collided hundreds of times in a single breath.

Spiritual light and sparks erupted and vanished, the sound of clinking never ceasing in the ears.

"Since you insist on seeking death, this old man will send you off!"

On the other side, a cold expression flashed across Bai Pang's face. He reached into his robes, threw out twelve ancient-looking copper coins, which formed a formation. Net-like formation patterns generated spontaneously, emitting a powerful binding force that wrapped around the sword cultivator in the distance.

It is well known that a sword cultivator's entire strength lies in their sword. Now that the flying sword is restrained, if struck solidly, turning into flesh and blood powder in an instant would be a trivial matter.

"Fall."

Jiang Ding glanced over.

Boom!

A third-grade superior formation vibrated with a humming sound, gathering the spiritual energy of heaven and earth within a range of over ten kilometers. Nine giant swords of flame meteorites descended from the sky, successively blasting toward Shang Shang Chengye, who was above the twelve copper coins.

Amidst the booms, the twelve copper coins trembled incessantly, their spiritual light flickering uncertainly. His body retreated repeatedly; no matter how agile his movement technique was to dodge, it was useless. He was relentlessly chased by the flame meteorite giant swords and could not escape.

Cling, cling, cling!

The deep blue flying sword and the snake-shaped green poison gold hairpin collided continuously with a clanging sound. The destructive sword light was extremely sharp; every strike sheared off large patches of emerald spiritual light, which fell to the ground and corroded huge pits.

But the snake-shaped green poison gold hairpin was extremely experienced.

Techniques such as point, thrust, smear, and flick were used in succession. Fighting while retreating, it stubbornly withstood the sharp edge of the deep blue flying sword.

After several more collisions, it gradually gathered momentum and actually began to counterattack, forcing the deep blue flying sword to retreat.

"Sword control technique..."

Jiang Ding's face looked somewhat ugly.

Before this woman, his sword art was like that of a virgin of many years. Although the sharpness and sword intent on his sword were superior, the actual battle results were reversed, with the weaker defeating the stronger.

"Young Master seems too inexperienced?"

Lady Thousand Snakes's mind settled. She laughed coquettishly: "You do not have the sharp sword art of other same-level sword cultivators; you rely solely on the sharpness of the flying sword."

"Without a surprise attack, that is all you are."

"..."

Jiang Ding said nothing.

Before an old, established late-stage Jin Dan cultivator of the human race, this evaluation might be correct; he could not refute the facts.

Hiss...

A faint roar sounded. Between the flickering tongues, two giant black and white snakes suddenly opened their huge mouths and attacked. Like lightning, their speed was so great that divine sense could not lock onto them at all; only afterimages could be seen.

"Die."

The Thousand Serpents Lady spat out a single word.

Her name was Thousand Serpents; after years of cultivation, she was not merely armed with this one green-poison golden hairpin!

Clang!

A sword's cry rang out,

The azure flying sword entangled with the green-poison golden hairpin revealed a sliver of golden radiance along its blade, then golden light spread across its entire surface, emitting a terrifying aura that shattered dharma and extinguished spirit—its speed surged sharply, its edge exploding outward.

Ding!

The sword's tip clashed again with the green-poison golden hairpin; there was a crack, and a terrible notch appeared on the hairpin, which was blasted hundreds of meters away, trembling as if struck by lightning, its spiritual light flickering uncertainly.

Shhh!

Then, overtaking from behind, it pierced straight through the heads of the black-and-white python serpents; their scales, tough as Kan Bi Fa, offered no resistance, shattering and rupturing.

The two massive, fang-bared snake heads, each the size of a carriage, froze—then BOOM! exploded into a spray of blood mist.

"How is this possible!"

With both her spiritual pet and magical treasure destroyed, the Thousand Serpents Lady spat out a great mouthful of blood, her face ashen, staring in horror at the blue-and-gold interwoven flying sword, unable to believe such a blade could be cultivated by a Golden Core cultivator.

"Your sword…"

"You're right."

Jiang Ding's face twitched: "As for sword art, I am far inferior to others of my rank."

Here, "same rank" referred to fellow Dao Zi.

There was no way around it—the Immortal Sects' swordline heritage and atmosphere were nearly nonexistent; there was simply no place to learn or hone it.

"So, you die."

Boom!

The Po Fa radiance illuminated heaven and earth; a blue-and-gold sword light surged forward, directly piercing the beautiful lady's eyes, its terrifying sword intent locking firmly onto her soul—any blood-dashing or body-splitting technique was useless.

"You damned brat, relying on magical treasures!"

The Thousand Serpents Lady was furious.

She bit her tongue, spewing a great mouthful of essence-blood onto the flying green-gold hairpin as it recoiled, liquefying it into two streams of gold-green light that surged into the two severed, headless serpent stumps on her shoulders.

Sssss…

As if swallowing divine pills, the serpent stumps writhed and danced; on her shoulders, one black and one white snake head revived again, pupils glowing gold-green, swelling into spheres—then exploded with a roar.

Countless small snakes, gleaming with metallic luster, sprayed in all directions, connected by mutual spiritual threads and dense array patterns.

"Thousand Serpents—Poison King Array!"

The Thousand Serpents Lady sneered; countless dense poison mists erupted across a seven- to eight-kilometer radius, engulfing all people and objects, obscuring spiritual perception.

Ten thousand poisons gnawed, the sizzling sound of corrosion unceasing.

(End of Chapter)