Chapter 428: The Great Sun Sword Child attaches great importance to the relationship with the Upper Clarity Spiritual Treasure Sect

Hundred Sword Sword Child's heart was filled with regret.

Even if he was confident in his trump cards, why had he involved himself in the dispute between the three sects and the East Extreme Demon Sect? It had nothing to do with him in the first place.

If bitter consequences revealed themselves in the future, that was a matter for the future!

"Fellow Daoist Hundred Sword."

"Are you at Foundation Establishment, or Hua Shen Qi?"

Jiang Ding looked at him strangely: "Why would your death affect the relationship between Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong? I can't quite figure it out."

Hundred Sword Sword Child faltered.

Blue-gold patterns spread rapidly across his face, his skin turning to white ash, yet without a bloody mess, beginning to reveal the flesh and bone beneath, which were in far worse condition.

Every part of his body and divine soul was riddled with the sword intent and sword qi of destruction; the suppressive effect of the Upper Clarity Demon-Slaying Sword Formation was extremely limited.

"The East Extreme Demon Sect's Dao-Destroying Poison!"

Such a terrifying sight made many sword cultivators' hearts turn cold, their hands and feet icy.

"I am a Sword Child of the Upper Clarity Spiritual Treasure Sect!"

"The Great Sun Sword Child!"

As death drew ever nearer, Hundred Sword Sword Child roared: "Do you truly intend to provoke a war between Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong, to drag the Upper Clarity Spiritual Treasure Sect onto the battlefield and cause the deaths of countless billions of living beings in the East Extreme Mother Realm?"

"The Upper Clarity Spiritual Treasure Sect must not be insulted!"

"Do you truly intend to fight the Upper Clarity Spiritual Treasure Sect to the death?"

"Oh, oh, oh."

"Understood."

"Alright, Fellow Daoist Hundred Sword—oh no, Hundred Sword Sword Child."

Jiang Ding said perfunctorily: "Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong attaches great importance to its relationship with the Upper Clarity Spiritual Treasure Sect. As for neighbors, Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong respects them, cares about them, and is willing to consult together, avoid disputes, and forge a path of mutual benefit and win-win cooperation."

"As for the fellow Daoists of the Upper Clarity Spiritual Treasure Sect, I personally hold them in respect and admiration…"

He said a great deal.

He simply never said anything about how things stood with the Upper Clarity Spiritual Treasure Sect, nor that he was hostile toward them.

"You will regret this!"

"Hundreds of millions of cultivators and mortals of the East Extreme Demon Sect will die because of you!"

Hundred Sword Sword Child's face twisted as he spat out a vicious curse.

Bang!

His body, almost entirely covered in blue-gold patterns, exploded, turning into piece upon piece of lifeless flesh and ash that scattered into the sky.

The hundred and eight flying swords, their treasure-light gleaming, let out a mournful wail. Suddenly their spiritual light vanished completely, dim beyond compare, and they fell from the sky, one after another stabbing into the ground, reflecting different hues in the sunlight.

"Sword Child!"

The many sword cultivators of the Upper Clarity Spiritual Treasure Sect were seized with great terror.

The surrounding sword cultivators' hearts trembled.

A Sword Child of the Upper Clarity Spiritual Treasure Sect, the one with the highest attainments in the Sword Dao among the younger generation, had died just like that, without ever blossoming into brilliance.

"These should be quite valuable—at the very least, third-tier flying swords."

"The Upper Clarity Spiritual Treasure Sect truly lives up to being Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong's good friend and partner in shared honor and disgrace—truly wealthy."

Jiang Ding sighed in admiration, looked at the remaining sword cultivators, and pointed his sword at them: "As a sword cultivator myself, what I love most is a one-on-one duel. One of you, step forward, and we'll fight to the death."

Silence reigned; no one answered.

Xuantian Sword Child and Langtian Sword Child exchanged a glance. Their divine sense and sword intent each surged into the sword formations set up in advance, and accompanied by a humming sound, formation patterns emerged one after another, shielding the four directions, scanning the surroundings again and again to prevent another sneak attack.

"Great Sun Sword Child."

A sword cultivator of the Upper Clarity Spiritual Treasure Sect suddenly spoke, forcibly suppressing the trembling in his heart: "All of this was Senior Brother Hundred Sword's own doing. Could you let us leave? The Upper Clarity Spiritual Treasure Sect and Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong have always been on good terms…"

The many sword cultivators of the Upper Clarity Spiritual Treasure Sect looked over with hope in their eyes.

Clearly, this was their shared wish, not one man's solo decision.

"Cowards!"

"How did you people even comprehend sword intent? You're a disgrace to sword cultivators!"

"I'm ashamed to be counted among you!"

Curses rose from all around. Many sword cultivators locked their divine sense and sword intent directly onto their former comrades, killing intent churning.

The Upper Clarity Spiritual Treasure Sect sword cultivators stared coldly at their surroundings and did not respond.

"Oh?"

Jiang Ding fell into thought.

Langtian Sword Child and Xuantian Sword Child exchanged a glance, and unconsciously split off a wisp of sword intent to closely monitor the Upper Clarity Spiritual Treasure Sect sword cultivators.

"Let me ask you one thing."

Jiang Ding said lightly: "If I had been weak, unable to win—what would you all be doing right now?"

"This…"

The Upper Clarity Spiritual Treasure Sect sword cultivator who had spoken first changed expression and forced out: "Naturally, we would be doing our utmost to stop Hundred Sword Sword Child's reckless stubbornness, to create a chance for you to escape with your life."

"There is a deep friendship between the Upper Clarity Spiritual Treasure Sect and Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong…"

He brought it up once more, hoping to salvage something.

The surrounding Upper Clarity Spiritual Treasure Sect sword cultivators' hearts sank.

"Indeed, the deep friendship between Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong and the Upper Clarity Spiritual Treasure Sect has been consistent all along."

Jiang Ding sighed in admiration, showing a trace of regret, and lamented: "How pitiful—my fellow Daoists of the Upper Clarity Spiritual Treasure Sect, to think they died at the hands of Brother Brother Xuanwu's Xuantian Sword Child of the Brother Xuanwu Heavenly Palace! Truly a wolf-hearted, dog-lunged wretch, despised by heaven and earth!"

"Fellow Daoists of the Upper Clarity Spiritual Treasure Sect, watch me avenge you all!"

Boom!

The sword-light of annihilation illuminated the heavens and the earth. Amid the endless, thread-like formation patterns, the blue-gold flying sword, in a basic and standard thrusting stance, struck head-on at nearly a hundred sword cultivators.

The cold killing intent descended fairly upon every single person, making no distinction of high or low, noble or humble.

So-called peace,

has always only ever been fought for within war!

Don't even mention that a mere Foundation Establishment Sword Child is utterly insignificant to the entire Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong, appearing only once every few hundred years.

Even if a Taiyi Qingmu Dao Child were here, should they dare to provoke, they too must die!

Even if it ultimately triggered a great war across the realm, with hundreds of millions of immortal-gate citizens perishing, Jiang Ding's heart would not hold the slightest trace of guilt.

To speak of inner demons is even less possible, because this was inherently tied to Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong's strategy.

If not this way, are we to stretch out our necks and accept slaughter?

Or, when others fail to kill us, are we to be magnanimous and safely let our opponents depart?

That would be an act of weakness!

It would only invite an even more terrible war!

"Madman!"

The many Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong sword cultivators cursed in fury, and without the slightest hesitation threw themselves once more into the grand formation of Xuantian Sword Child and Langtian Sword Child.

"Kill!"

Xuantian Sword Child took the main formation, Langtian Sword Child the secondary. The surrounding sword cultivators each moved according to the formation's yin-yang, eight trigrams, and five elements, forming hand seals, displaying an extremely high level of formation-combat proficiency, and completed the formation in the blink of an eye.

Roar, roar!

Amid the frenzied fluctuations of heaven and earth's spiritual energy, a tortoise-snake Brother Xuanwu, a pure-gold flying sword held in its serpent's mouth, shot toward the sky like lightning.

Boom!

The blue-gold flying sword collided with the pure-gold flying sword held in the serpent's mouth. Vast swathes of spiritual light shattered, and Brother Xuanwu's serpent head retreated several steps, blue-gold radiance blooming at the corners of its mouth.

Immediately after, the scattered blue-gold sword-qi tore open Brother Xuanwu's serpent head, leaving little more than a framework of white bones, still clamping the pure-gold flying sword in a death grip without loosening.

"What tremendous force, what terrifying sword-qi!"

Xuantian Sword Child felt only a sharp pain lance through his flying sword, his magic power churning ceaselessly within, and in an instant understood the gap between himself and the Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong Dao Child.

If they were outside the formation, a single sword strike would have grievously wounded him!

At this moment, relying on the formation, the tremendous force and sword-qi were dispersed throughout the entire grand formation. Each of the many sword cultivators shouldered a portion, and they received this Dao-Child-level strike intact without damage.

Roar!

A beat slower, at Langtian Sword Child's position, a blue wolf draped in a mane materialized within the grand formation, taking command of the White Tiger position.

Roar, roar!

At the other two directions, the shadows of Zhu Que and Qing Long materialized instead, each led by a sword cultivator whose sword intent was close to Minor Completion, their aura a notch weaker than Brother Xuanwu's and White Tiger's.

The instant the Four Spirits took their positions, hazy sword-light spread out in all directions, formation patterns spreading, and in an instant they blanketed a range of over ten kilometers, drawing everything within.

Four Symbols Five Elements Sword Formation!

Before the immortal gates appeared, within the realm, the Brother Xuanwu Heavenly Palace — most adept among cultivators at military formations — in response to the pressure of the Great Sun Sword Pavilion, took the initiative to open to the Qidaxian Sect one of its foundational-grade military formations.

And now, it was once again being used against the Great Sun Sword Child.

(End of chapter)