Chapter 457: A Sword Can Break Through Space

Jiang Ding's divine sense spread out, sealing all humans, animals, and divine sense fluctuations within a fifty-kilometer radius.

A direct-line disciple of the Beast Path of Liu Dao Sect.

One of the six pillars of Liu Dao Sect, he was very curious about the Beast Path and hoped to understand them — that was the reason this person had lived until now.

The Hei Yu magic treasure radiated a ghastly black spiritual light, blade energies opening and closing like a peacock fanning its tail, arriving amid howling winds to cleave down upon the blue-robed youth's skull.

Ding!

The superior-grade magic treasure Hei Yu was blocked by a layer of self-generated sword qi; Hei Yu trembled, struck by a terrifying rebounding force, its spiritual light collapsing as it was sent flying backward.

"Impossible?!"

Heishan cried out in shock.

Both at Jin Dan Jing, and he was only at Jin Dan Chu Qi!

Why was his own Ben Ming Fa treasure crumbling at a single touch, so effortlessly, like a mayfly trying to shake a great tree — merely brushing against it nearly causing him grave injury?

This defied all reason!

"Fellow Daoist, I'll give you three breaths of time; after three breaths, you will die."

Jiang Ding smiled faintly.

The long-suppressed sword intent of destruction descended, sealing the four directions, locking onto the divine soul, carrying a sliver of killing intent, clearly informing the other party of what was about to happen.

"Putting on airs!"

"Just a Jin Dan cultivator — Laozi has seen plenty of these tricks!"

Yet Heishan quickly calmed down and let out a cold laugh.

He simply did not believe the other party could truly be as strong as he appeared.

In his several hundred years of life, similar enemies had appeared — like a non-venomous snake disguised as a brightly patterned venomous one — where their actual strength was equal to or even far less than his, yet resisting even once or twice was already incomparably difficult, and internal injuries had already appeared.

However, the more it was like this, the more one had to remain calm and composed, directly overwhelming the enemy with presence, forcing them to flee, thereby seizing opportunity.

"One."

Jiang Ding didn't even lift an eyelid.

"You want to put on airs? Then I'll let you put them on to your heart's content!"

A flash of vicious light crossed Heishan's eyes.

Screech!

He threw back his head and let out a piercing shriek.

Crow feathers abruptly sprouted across his face and spread over his entire body; his two arms blurred and transformed into a pair of sharp claws black as gold.

As for the superior-grade Hei Yu magic treasure, it rolled back and landed on his face, taking on a vague shape, transforming into a sharp, elongated black beak wreathed in a cold, corrosive aura.

In the blink of an eye, he had actually become a pitch-black crow demon over ten zhang in size, violent demonic qi spreading in all directions, the black feathers and sharp beak glinting with spiritual light, combining the advantages of both a human cultivator's magic treasures and techniques.

"This is the combat style of the Beast Path."

Jiang Ding seemed to gain some understanding.

"Kill!"

Heishan growled low.

Clang clang!

Like the snap of a thunderbolt bowstring, black feathers shot forth from his body — hundreds, thousands of them — each one radiating the aura of a top-grade magic weapon, with even nine of them taking on the appearance of magic treasures.

Resembling both the natural feathers of a bird demon and human-crafted artifacts, faint array patterns spread among the black feathers, a third-grade killing formation no weaker than average contained within.

Though it looked like a demon beast, even a late-stage great demon bird demon coming over would be gravely wounded in a single exchange, and slaying it would be no difficult feat.

Ding ding ding…

The black feathers rained down upon the blue-robed youth from every direction, gathering into a cluster several zhang from his body, blade energies and killing intent spilling outward, slashing and crashing against a continuously emerging layer of azure-blue sword qi.

Clanging rang out, sparks flew in all directions, black feathers snapped one after another with cracking sounds, falling down, crow feather filaments scattering wildly.

Even the nine magic-treasure-grade flying knives met the same fate — pounced upon by dozens of sword qi, their array patterns ground away, their divine sense imprints destroyed, their spiritual light dimming like dead objects as they plummeted from the sky.

"Puh!"

"Impossible!"

With his magic treasures and weapons once again easily broken, Heishan's divine soul wavered, he spat fresh blood, terror began to show on his face, and a dreadful thought rose in his heart.

"Fellow Daoist!"

"No — Senior, spare my life! My ancestor is the Divine Crow Master Dinghai Zhenjun of the Beast Path of Liu Dao Sect…"

"Divine Crow Master Dinghai Zhenjun…"

Jiang Ding Zi murmured, repeating the name.

He touched the azure-blue magnetic-sense pattern between his brows with a finger, and slowly drew forth an azure-blue flying sword from within.

The instant this flying sword appeared,

the surrounding void seemed to pause, an awful sense of congealing arising.

The wind, the clouds, the leaves on the ground, the river — all froze; even space itself seemed faintly to stiffen, and transmission talismans flickered unstably, showing signs of instability.

"Nascent Soul Master Dinghai Zhenjun!"

Heishan shrieked, no longer doubting in the slightest, his whole body going cold, despair enveloping his heart.

"Master Dinghai Zhenjun, I failed to recognize Taishan — my father is Divine Crow Master Dinghai Zhenjun, magnanimous and benevolent, with wide connections, renowned across the Northern Plains — please, I beg you…"

He babbled incoherently, a jumble of words spilling out.

Whoosh!

The azure-blue flying sword traced a straight line — seeming both fast and slow, clear even to divine sense, every detail visible, an utterly contradictory mingling of swiftness and slowness.

With life and death hanging over him, Heishan still displayed the true colors honed through several hundred years of fighting and slaughter.

"Kill!"

A look of misery crossed his face. He let out a furious roar, instantly igniting the vital blood throughout his entire body. A soul-burning black flame rose up over his whole form, pouring entirely into the sharp beak on his face, causing its spiritual light to blaze forth all at once.

Then, it tore through its own cheeks, taking a swath of flesh and blood with it, and a sheet of black flame surged forward to attack.

Soul-Burning Black Flame!

This was the inherited divine ability of the Black-Gold Divine Crow passed down within the Liu Dao Sect's General Heishi clan — burning the soul, destroying the spirit, incinerating the blood, melting the bone. It was utterly vicious; once unleashed, leaping across realms to slaughter an opponent was as easy as lifting a hand, and its fame shook every clan across the Northern Plains.

Whoosh!

The Taiqing Flying Sword slashed through in a single stroke.

The beak, with much facial skin and flesh still clinging to its tail end, paused.

A moment later, it silently split apart to either side. The Soul-Burning Black Flame upon the beak did the same — as though it had been solid matter — divided evenly, extinguished in sequence, and fell to the ground.

"Run!"

Heishan himself, without so much as a glance at his Ben Ming Fa treasure, burned his vital blood to unleash a desperate Elder Bo Ming strike to delay for a moment, then took out a jade talisman shimmering with silver light, crushed it, and his figure vanished without a trace.

"A teleportation talisman — spatial?"

"That would indeed cut off ninety-nine percent of Jin Dan cultivators; escaping would be worry-free."

Jiang Ding nodded.

No matter how strong you were, so long as you couldn't break through space, against a Jin Dan cultivator with such deep backing it was all useless — you could only watch helplessly as the other party escaped.

This was also why the relatives of Nascent Soul cultivators were rarely anyone dared to provoke: even if you could beat them, you couldn't kill them — and even less could you escape.

Crack!

The light of the Taiqing Flying Sword flared, and beneath its edge, space actually began to show thread-like pitch-black fissures. The flying sword dove into them and vanished; space knit back together.

In the blink of an eye,

came once more the sound of space tearing apart, with cobweb-like pitch-black lines appearing.

An azure flying sword flew out from space several kilometers away — first the sword tip, then the sword body, and finally a middle-aged cultivator whose black robe was utterly shredded and whose face was deathly pale emerged.

His chest was pierced clean through, front to back, and he had been forcibly dragged out by sword Qi like threads of silk.

"Why?!"

"How could a Nascent Soul Master Dinghai Master Dinghai Zhenjun appear in such a remote place! The General Heishi clan will avenge me—"

The black-robed cultivator let out a despairing, bitter laugh.

Azure sword Qi erupted across his body, turning it into flakes of ash; not a drop of vitality remained. In place stood only a weakened divine soul and an almost-shattered Jin Dan.

The Taiqing Flying Sword swept up the two items and swiftly returned.

(End of this chapter)