Chapter 554: I Am Yin Dao, and I Would Walk Through Fire and Water

Jiang Ding surveyed his surroundings, silently assessing the various methods of the Liu Dao Sect, so they could be used against the enemy in the future.

As expected, the Liu Dao Sect would be one of the major obstacles to his creation of a new order in the Northern Plains, and there was absolutely no possibility of preserving it—it had to be completely eradicated.

This demonic sect was far too anti-human; there was no need to preserve it at all.

"Master Tushan sword cultivator!"

"I know your strength is spent; no need to put on airs."

The Animal Path at the bottom, living beings transformed into cattle, sheep, horses, pigs, dogs, and the like; behind it were the Hungry Ghost Path and the Hell Path, then the Human Path, the Asura Path, and the Deva Path.

The Six Paths Holy Son Yin Dao stood loftily at the center of the Deva Path, surrounded by deities of earth, fire, wind, and water; no longer was there any bowing or scraping, only sacred radiance, looking down upon all below.

Voices layered upon voices, echoes unceasing, solemn and majestic.

"Sir, what sect and faction are you from? Are you from the East Sea?"

Yin Dao said in a deep voice.

"More putting on airs."

"I'll give you the time of one move. If you don't strike, I'll beat you to death."

One of the inheritances of the Liu Dao Sect, unique to the General General Heishi and the Yin Clan that presides over the Liu Dao Sect.

Jiang Ding was not angry; he said calmly.

"You should think this through carefully."

The Six Paths Holy Son flew into a violent rage, reached out with a beckoning gesture, and the jet-black Animal Path banner flew into his hand. He swung it fiercely; a violent black wind blew forth, and wherever it passed, the earth turned pitch-black, and all vitality was severed.

The weakest of the beasts were all at the Foundation Establishment realm; beasts of the Jin Dan Jing could occasionally be seen as well.

"You seek death!"

"Since you won't speak, I'll treat it as if there were nothing."

Jiang Ding gripped his sword hilt, closed his eyes, and felt for a moment.

The Six Paths Holy Son smiled coldly: "No matter how great the sect, once they come to the Northern Plains, whether dragon or tiger, they must lie low before me!"

"Not bad."

Legend had it that if this wind blew upon an enemy, in an instant it could defile the cultivator's divine soul, twisting and transforming them, truly turning them into pigs, cattle, sheep, or dogs—beasts to be driven at will, slaughtered, skinned, and eaten, utterly incapable of resistance.

Upon the desolate earth, pigs, cattle, sheep, dogs, rabbits, and other beasts grew tusks, sprouted tattered wings upon their backs, undergoing a horrifying aberration. They charged together in overwhelming numbers, nearly endless in quantity.

"One move."

"Take a guess?"

Clearly, such displays made it very hard for him to believe this was a cultivator of scattered-cultivation origin; there were too many impossibilities.

He threatened: "This is the territory of my Liu Dao Sect. I have already sent word, and my martial uncles will arrive in an instant. Leave now, and I can pretend nothing happened, so as not to disturb my uncles' quiet cultivation."

The black wind whistled past.

Jiang Ding smiled faintly.

This was called the Beast-Spirit Black Wind!

This black wind contained endless bewitchment, causing images to ceaselessly arise in one's mind—of pigs and dogs being born, suckling milk, gnawing at swill, then giving birth to piglets again, looping endlessly, brutally obscuring the cultivator's original life experiences and memories, transforming them into a true sow.

"Slash!"

Jiang Ding drew his sword and unleashed a single majestic stroke; the annihilating sword-light filled the sky, seeped into the earth, omnipresent.

Countless, real and illusory, as if endless beasts of the Animal Path's aberration howled and roared, then their bodies suddenly stiffened and fell silent.

Every beast, no matter how many, whether as vast as a mountain or as fine as dust, had an azure sword-mark appear upon its brow; the violent baleful aura vanished without a trace.

A moment later,

Countless beasts crumbled and vanished into nothing; one of the Six Paths, the Animal Path, was emptied, and the Animal Path banner's spiritual light grew utterly dim.

Crack!

Accompanying the cracking sound, a deep sword-mark appeared upon the banner, the size of a palm, piercing through from front to back.

"Damn it…"

The Six Paths Holy Son Yin Dao's hand trembled.

That sword had struck directly at the core of the Animal Path!

Only thus could the so-called undying, indestructible Six Paths Reincarnation have one path directly shattered, no longer undying and indestructible; the Animal Path was emptied.

Yet, could he believe the other's words of sparing his life, and thereby discard all his magic treasures?

Absolutely impossible!

Such words—he had stopped believing them at the age of three, when he slew his own blood-brother and drew upon his essence-blood to remedy his own defects.

"Hungry Ghost Wind!"

The Six Paths Holy Son erupted with his full magic power, gripped the Hungry Ghost Banner tightly in both hands, and smashed it downward with force.

Whoooosh…

The Ghost Banner, woven from ten-thousand vengeful ghosts, swelled in an instant to a hundred zhang in height. Swung violently, it whipped up a sky-filling black wind, as endless vengeful ghosts roared and howled.

Their limbs were slender, bellies swollen, with dark meridians faintly visible, and fine black teeth within their mouths. Following the black wind, they cackled strangely and pounced down in overwhelming numbers.

These starving ghosts were born with the ability to devour magic power; any spiritual thing, once bitten and devoured by them, could never reincarnate for eternity.

"This is called Hungry Ghost Wind?"

"This one falls short; I truly cannot praise it."

Jiang Ding was somewhat displeased. He flicked his finger, and an azure sword-qi shot forth, piercing a plain, thin, small starving ghost at the edge of the black wind.

The tide of endless hungry ghosts faltered and crumbled apart; great numbers of starving ghosts scattered, only to be wiped clean under the sudden eruption of azure sword-qi that slaughtered them.

"If not for"

The Six Paths Holy Son's face showed wild fury; he fixed Han Lin with blood-red eyes, scaring the latter into rapidly retreating several steps.

"Human-Mortal World Wind…"

"Stop wasting time."

"Dilly-dallying."

Jiang Ding shook his head slightly, too lazy to wait any longer. He drew his sword, slashed down, and said blandly: "Survive, and work for me. If you can't survive, then die."

A streak of silver flying sword flashed and vanished.

All things fell silent.

Then, the terrifying sword intent that shattered spirits and destroyed dharma rippled outward in all directions. A silver moon Tianhe manifested in the air, howling down, the Tianhe surging back, pouncing toward the Divine Son who sat enthroned at the center of the Heaven-Human Dao.

Crash, crash, crash…

The silver moon sword-path Tianhe thundered as it flowed past. The empty Beast Path was annihilated, the Hungry Ghost Path collapsed, the Hell Path was annihilated. Next, the Red Dust Wind—boasted to gather the worldly smoke and fire, filthy enough to corrupt the finest treasures beneath the heavens—dissolved into nothing.

The Asura Path's three-headed, six-armed Hell War God roared and bellowed, each hand wielding a Hell treasure to strike and kill—power enough to slay swarms of Jin Dan cultivators—yet within the sword-qi Tianhe it could only struggle desperately.

A moment later, it vanished without a trace.

"Kill!"

The Liu Dao Sect's Holy Son spat refined blood, letting it fall onto the final Heaven-Human Banner.

Boom, boom-boom!

The war drums sounded.

Within the Heaven-Human Dao, the Earth-Fire-Wind-Water deities sat high in the sky, commanding a hundred thousand celestial soldiers and generals, each one gleaming in bright armor, their orders strict and clear, their bearing extraordinary. Aided by that mouthful of refined blood, their momentum surged even greater, and beneath the drumbeats they charged shouting toward the sword-qi Tianhe.

Boom!

The two sides collided, fighting fiercely together.

Though it was only a single Tianhe, as it surged and billowed forth, the sounds of clashing arms came from it, battling fiercely against the celestial soldiers and generals.

"This one is truly not bad."

Jiang Ding examined the Heaven-Human Dao carefully for a long while, then praised.

Of those hundred thousand celestial soldiers and generals, the greater part were illusory, condensed from spellcraft. The remainder were True Persons—Foundation Establishment, Qi Training, Jin Dan, all present—refined into Heaven-Human puppets, draped in armor, packed into the Heaven-Human Banner, chief of the Six Paths.

One could say it combined dharma and array, demonic and cultivation arts to an extremely profound degree—worthy of the Liu Dao Sect, the foremost demonic faction of the Northern Plains.

"Condense."

Jiang Ding pointed a finger.

The surging, battling silver Tianhe suddenly paused, slowly writhing and reshaping itself into a greatsword several hundred zhang long. The spirit-shattering, dharma-destroying sword intent gathered upon the blade, raising vast spatial ripple storms, and slashed toward the four Earth-Fire-Wind-Water deities within the Heaven-Human Court.

Boom!

Beneath the blade, the hundred thousand celestial soldiers and generals were annihilated—the soldiers and generals condensed from spellcraft crumbled, and the flesh and armor of the corporeal corpse-puppets shattered together.

The four Earth-Fire-Wind-Water deities showed human-like terror on their faces, each one casting earth-layered Shanfeng, sky-blazing flames, Lei Ting wild winds, and an ocean-wide water shield to cover themselves.

Boom!

Without any surprise, beneath the Tianhe greatsword, the four Earth-Fire-Wind-Water deities' spells shattered, the immortal divine spirits fell, not a trace remaining.

The greatsword likewise exhausted all its power and spontaneously crumbled apart.

On the spot, not a single person remained.

The sounds of Lei Ting and wild winds gradually calmed.

"Martial Uncle Master Tushan."

Han Lin said quietly: "The Liu Dao Sect's Holy Son is very good at running away. Sword-Bearer Lieyang chased him for a long time and never found him."

"Mm."

Jiang Ding nodded, closed his eyes, and regulated his breath.

A moment later, he opened his eyes.

In the distance, the Liu Dao Sect's Holy Son—wide sleeves fluttering, bearing like an immortal, straight as a celestial being—flew in from afar. Paying no heed to the mud and dust covering the ground, he dropped to his knees with a thud: "My lord Master Tushan, Yin Dao is willing to go through fire and water for you, without hesitation."

On his brow, a small silver sword had shallowly pierced into it, already piercing through the brow bone.

One more breath, and it would have pierced through his skull.