Chapter 431: The Spirit of Dayang Dayang Tianchi

Green smoke shot straight up into the clouds, clearly visible from hundreds of kilometers away.

The sky suddenly changed color, wind and clouds churning, lightning flashing and thunder rumbling; an even more terrifying pressure of Great Sun sword intent descended from the heavens, blanketing the entire Dayang Dayang Tianchi, and the many sword cultivators who were currently tempering swords and cultivating vomited fresh blood and suffered internal injuries.

A violent, scorching, razor-sharp terrifying aura permeated the world.

"What is this?"

Jiang Dingleng's blue-gold sword-shaped escape light paused, and he looked up at the sky.

Within it, he could sense an obvious hostility, even killing intent, and disgust; the entire world began to reject him.

"Eastern Extreme Demon Sect…"

"Cowardly rats, petty wretches…"

From all directions came low roars, hatred, disgust.

"What are you?"

Jiang Ding could no longer ignore it and asked.

He sensed on this unknown creature a smell similar to that of yin souls, corpse ghosts, resentful spirits, and the like, and it seemed to be deeply obsessed.

"I, of the Great Sun Sword Pavilion…"

"Sword cultivators of the Great Sun Sword Pavilion are not like you."

Jiang Ding cut off its words, looking unconvinced.

"Since they lost, they lost; they wouldn't quibble about ambushes, cowardly rats, sneakiness, or anything like that. They would acknowledge the result, then hide their killing intent, accumulate strength, and wait for the chance to come and turn the world upside down."

"There is no such thing as despicable or honorable."

"There is only victory and death!"

"You, like this…"

Jiang Ding gave a cold smile: "Like a nagging shrew, Great Sun sword cultivators are not like this — it's truly a disgrace."

"…"

The gloomy voice fell silent.

"That's right."

"The Sword Son speaks true — for sword cultivators there is only victory and death."

A cheerful female voice came again.

"…Die!"

The hidden voice was somewhat embarrassed and angry.

Boom!

From within the dark clouds, a bolt of Lei Ting suddenly appeared, transforming into a sword shape, descending from the sky, and in a flash already filled the eyes.

"Go."

Jiang Ding's eyelids lifted slightly.

Whoosh!

The blue-gold sword light of the Taiqing Flying Sword flashed, slicing straight through the center of the Lei Ting, cleaving it in two amid the brilliant Lei Chong Guang, triggering a massive chain detonation of Lei Ting, with thunder rumbling unceasingly in the void.

"A bit weak."

"Somewhat unworthy of your current momentum."

Jiang Ding spread out his divine sense, carefully scanning every place within a ten-kilometer defensive range.

He saw wisps of Lei Chong Guang fall upon the mountain rocks; the rocks writhed, deformed, and after a moment, an earth-yellow stone-armored sword cultivator walked out from the stone, drew its sword, and killed toward the sky.

Falling upon the lava river, a lava sword cultivator with a body formed of flame and molten rock drew a long sword of lava.

Falling upon the clouds, an ethereal cloud sword cultivator emerged.

Falling upon the earth…

In the blink of an eye, sword cultivators of every shape and form materialized from above and below, forming a sword formation to kill toward the sky, sword lights crisscrossing — all were real, genuine sword intent auras.

Killing intent filled the wilds.

"Kill!"

They uttered a single word, and streaks of sword light slashed down, surrounding the blue-robed youth at the center, layer upon layer, like a Kong Que spreading its tail — gorgeous and dazzling, with not the slightest gap facing outward.

Then a pause.

Boom!

A violent explosion — countless earth and rock sword cultivators had their bodies torn apart, their long swords snapped.

A blue-gold lotus blossomed.

A blue-robed youth walked out from within it, the blue-gold lotus at his feet continuously spinning, shooting out streaks of sword qi that flew off with sharp whistles, precise and agile, piercing through the chest of every puppet sword cultivator around, shattering their cores.

Stones and clumps of earth fell one by one, revealing their original forms, writhing on the ground, trying to recover — this was the puppet instinct rooted in them, undying and indestructible.

After writhing for a long while, they remained a heap of dead matter.

Bang!

Between the puppet fragments, streaks of blue-gold sword qi erupted, turning them into fine powder, never to move again.

"There's a bit of the meaning of 'all things as swords' now."

Jiang Ding was surprised, and looked up at the sky: "I can see it now — you're something like an array spirit, the array spirit of Dayang Dayang Tianchi, and for some reason your whole body is full of resentment and obsession… is it from fusing the hatred and fear of a great number of Great Sun sword cultivators at the moment of their deaths?"

"You mere Eastern Extreme Demon Sect scoundrel!"

"You should die!"

The dark clouds churned in the sky, boundless spiritual qi of heaven and earth converging, and the voice within grew even more gloomy and venomous.

"Die!"

The sky darkened once more, generating wisps of cold, eerie, pitch-black silk nets, upon which poisonous, cursed voices whispered densely, and which were incomparably vast — wherever the eye could reach was within their spread.

"Don't you call yourself a Great Sun Sword Cultivator? What kind of sorry state is this?"

Jiang Ding's divine soul trembled slightly; from above he sensed a lethal threat—one absolutely must not let even a trace of it touch him, or it would mean enormous trouble, and his divine soul would suffer grave injury.

"So long as I kill you, everything will be worth it."

From within the rolling black clouds, a voice coldly said: "Sword cultivator, that's all it comes to. Kill every last enemy, and no one under heaven will refuse to acknowledge a Great Sun Sword Cultivator."

"Makes sense."

Jiang Ding flicked a finger.

Hum!

The Taiqing Flying Sword suddenly blazed with light; boundless sword qi flew out in every direction, each strand carrying the aura of the Destruction Sword Intent—shattering spirit, destroying law—slicing toward the strange pitch-black silk net that blanketed the sky.

The first strand of Destruction Sword qi fell; the pitch-black silk net trembled faintly.

Immediately after, countless strands of Destruction Sword qi surged in, and in an instant the pitch-black silk net became incomparably thin. A moment later, it collapsed into a skyful of scattered spiritual light, and the sky above Dayang Dayang Tianchi cleared.

"Die."

Jiang Ding swept his finger downward.

Whoosh!

The light of the Taiqing Flying Sword flared; it drew in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth within a ten-kilometer radius, and the sword-light swelled in an instant to several hundred zhang in size. Bearing the sword intent of destroying law and extinguishing spirit, it slashed toward the black clouds in the sky.

Boom!

Accompanied by a scream, the several-li-wide black clouds were split clean in two!

A blank boundary a hundred meters wide was clearly visible; then the Destruction Sword Intent flooded through the black clouds, triggering an earth-shaking explosion that swept away everything possessing spirit.

A moment later, the black clouds dispersed.

"Still alive?"

Jiang Ding's brow furrowed.

Only a single hundred-meter-wide black cloud remained, madly drawing in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth from all directions, trying to bulk itself up quickly.

"I am the Spirit of Dayang Dayang Tianchi!"

"I am undying!"

A furious roar came from within the black clouds.

Whoosh!

Another sword slash swept through; amid the screams, Destruction Sword Intent flooded into every corner of the black clouds.

One slash followed by another; the Taiqing Flying Sword weaved back and forth within them, hacking away seventeen or eighteen strikes in a row.

The sword-light subsided.

The black clouds had shrunk to a little over twenty meters, but still existed.

Jiang Ding frowned.

Clearly, within the perception of his sword intent, there was not the slightest sign of any living thing or soul inside—nor any ordered structure of spiritual energy at all. By all rights it should have been dead beyond any doubt.

"Dayang Tianchi does not perish!"

"I am undying!"

In the blink of an eye the black clouds recovered to a hundred meters in size and continued swelling rapidly, letting out a cackling laugh: "You gutter rat of the Eastern Extreme Demon Sect, keep slashing, slash faster—Laozi's whole body is itching unbearably."

"Hurry up and do Laozi's work!"

"Otherwise what use does Laozi have for a piece of trash like you?!"

Jiang Ding said nothing.

He let the black clouds it had become draw in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and continue to swell, falling into thought.

(End of chapter)