Chapter 570: The Stranger, the Nascent Soul Ancestor

Making a fool of himself?

Not beating the Liu Dao Sect's Holy Son to death is making a fool of himself?!

Tian Hua Master Dinghai Zhenjun's face was overcast with gloom. For the moment he did not pursue the matter, merely sweeping out a wide sleeve to scoop up the Liu Dao Sect's Holy Son, whose breath hung by a gossamer thread, into his hand, and pouring his divine sense into him.

Only then did he discover that the Holy Son's injuries were extraordinarily severe—many meridians and flesh had been pulverized, and he was but a single breath away from death.

It made one wonder why he had not died, when a casual strike from a Qi Refining cultivator should have been more than enough.

"This kind of aura…"

Very quickly, Tian Hua Master Dinghai Zhenjun's expression changed wildly.

His divine sense searched through the pulped meridians and flesh, finding none of the searing heat and sharpness of the Master Shuoyang Qingse Jianzong—instead, it was full of thread upon thread of incomparably fine golden filaments, hidden deep within the meridians and bones, bearing no trace of any foreign aura.

It was as if… these tiny golden filaments had always grown within the flesh and bone, and had not come from outside.

"Ancestor!"

Tian Hua Master Dinghai Zhenjun's divine sense swept through, and he was secretly shocked, though he had long expected it. His divine sense and magic power surged into the Holy Son's body, forcibly creating several meridians and threads of soul power within his soul and flesh, bridging his soul and dantian, bypassing the damaged meridians and bones, to restore the Holy Son's consciousness as quickly as possible.

The Holy Son of Liu Dao Sect opened his eyes in a daze. The moment he saw Tian Hua Master Dinghai Zhenjun's face, his cringing, self-abasing posture vanished completely, replaced by a bone-deep, vicious hatred that not all the waters of the five lakes and four seas could wash away.

"There are still lingering hidden wounds in my body, merely forcibly suppressed by magic power—I won't be able to hold on much longer…"

"Save him!"

Fang Master Dinghai Zhenjun's flying sword shot out, his expression shaken: "The opportunity that Master Canghai Canghai Tianjun obtained ten thousand years ago, the Golden Emperor Diagram that the Sword Son himself was also desperately seeking?"

At the same time, Lieyang Sword Son, out of some inexplicable awe and instinct to obey, hesitated a moment and said: "Shishu, there is an old monster called Master Tushan who, by some unknown means, dispatched an external incarnation to infiltrate the ancestral grounds of Luoxu Sect and seized the Golden Emperor Diagram left behind by Master Canghai Canghai Tianjun back then."

This was an extremely obvious wound of Jin Zhi karma—the signature spell of Master Canghai Canghai Tianjun, the invincible powerhouse of ten thousand years ago, the common ancestor of the twenty-eight families of the Northern Plains!

There could be absolutely no mistake—the methods of an invincible being could not be imitated by anyone.

The Holy Son of Liu Dao Sect roared, and his newly healed throat instantly ruptured, flesh churning, fresh blood streaming down.

"Master Tushan!"

"Pain! Pain! …"

"There are still remnants, and far too many—unable to recover…"

In an instant, the meridians and flesh that had turned to powder wriggled like fleshworms, expelling dirty blood, squeezing out broken bones, and most importantly, expelling thread upon thread of tiny golden filaments, which, mingled with blackened flesh, flowed out from the ruptured skin.

Was there a harvest, or not?

Tian Hua Master Dinghai Zhenjun could no longer suppress the emotions in his heart and cried out in alarm.

"It is exactly so!"

"This is the Ancestor!!"

Could it be that this failure of the Holy Son, nearly unto death, was not at the hands of Lieyang Sword Son, but because he had disregarded the prohibition and gone to storm the Patriarch's Hall?

"Master Canghai Canghai Tianjun's Golden Emperor Diagram!"

Clang!

A violent sword-howl exploded.

Tian Hua Master Dinghai Zhenjun immediately stopped hesitating. He took out his Nascent Soul-grade life-preserving spirit pill, stuffed it into the Holy Son's mouth, used magic power to help it melt and disperse throughout his entire body, the pure medicinal efficacy spreading.

"Master Tushan sword cultivator! Clan Uncle, he has obtained the Ancestor's Golden Emperor Diagram!"

Lieyang Sword Son hurriedly said.

"Master Tushan?"

"Master Tushan!"

Fang Master Dinghai Zhenjun and Tian Hua Master Dinghai Zhenjun roared in unison. Their mid-Nascent Soul divine senses spread out completely, meticulously scanning every spot within dozens of kilometers, missing no detail, no longer overlooking anything.

General General Heishi abandoned the pursuit of the other Jin Dan cultivators entirely, fully revealing his true form as a divine crow—a majestic, pitch-black celestial crow with golden flames atop its head. A single spread of its wings measured a hundred zhang, blotting out the sky.

"Here!"

Almost simultaneously, three streams of Nascent Soul-grade divine sense all turned toward the same spot at once.

In the latter half of the Jin Dan cultivators' escape, protected by the Luoxu Command Token, he was neither as conspicuous as those at the very front nor as eye-catching as those at the very back—one careless glance and he could easily be overlooked.

Under the vast Nascent Soul-grade divine sense, several concealment spells shattered, revealing within an ordinary-looking young man who was watching them.

"Greetings, three."

Jiang Ding gripped his sword hilt and gave a slight nod.

"Die!"

"Hand over the Golden Emperor Diagram!"

Without a word of nonsense, Tian Hua Master Dinghai Zhenjun of Liu Dao Sect, Fang Master Dinghai Zhenjun of the Master Shuoyang Qingse Jianzong, and General General Heishi all descended upon him together.

Yin soul demonic shadows loomed, samsara imperishable; blazing yang sword-light blazed in majestic splendor; the divine crow's black wings blotted out the sky—the killing intent of the three great Nascent Souls froze even space itself.

Jiang Ding did not move in the slightest, his expression calm, as if entirely unaware that this was an encirclement and killing by Nascent Soul cultivators.

"Master Tushan, you're going to die."

The Holy Son of Liu Dao Sect revealed a mocking smile, an expression of savage delight.

A mere peak Jin Dan realm—no matter how composed, what could it amount to?

"No!"

The Holy Son of Liu Dao Sect was suddenly overcome with great terror.

Upon his skin, upon his brow, within his meridians, dense azure sword patterns suddenly emerged, twisting and writhing, draining his flesh, magic power, and divine sense like a whale swallowing, condensing into an azure sword talisman.

The moment this sword talisman appeared, a terrifying domain of spirit-shattering and law-annihilation spread out in all directions. Spirit-essence particles were affected, congealed, and underwent change, causing spells to collapse.

The Nascent Soul domains of the three great Nascent Soul cultivators became even more broken and tattered, riddled with gaps.

"Sword talisman?"

"What kind of domain is this?!"

General General Heishi's expression changed abruptly.

Within this domain that could almost be called a law-annihilating field, the divine crow true body, its twin wings spread a hundred zhang wide enough to blot out the sky, flickered in and out of existence — whether it even existed was a question that required thought, let alone anything else.

"Martial Uncle!"

Lieyang Dayan Jianzi screamed in terror.

On his body, a deep-blue sword talisman surfaced, buried within flesh, blood, and meridians. Now it erupted unhurriedly, transforming into a strike that tore through the law domain and slashed toward Void Square Master Dinghai Zhenjun.

"Dayan Jianzi?"

Void Square Master Dinghai Zhenjun's face showed a struggle; he was caught in a dilemma.

He saw it clearly — this talisman sword was terrifyingly abnormal, yet it lay hidden within Lieyang Dayan Jianzi's body, unhurried, plainly using Lieyang Dayan Jianzi's life as a threat.

Asking,

whether to block it at the cost of Lieyang Dayan Jianzi's certain death?

"Uncle Tian Hua, save me!"

Liu Dao Shengzi howled in panic.

In a Nascent Soul battle, a single instant was already enough to make a judgment.

"Despicable and shameless!"

"The Master Shuoyang Qingse Jianzong will scour the Northern Plains and cut you down!"

Void Square Master Dinghai Zhenjun stamped his foot in fury, cursing openly. He controlled the flying sword already unleashed to return, meeting head-on the talisman sword slashing toward him, and diverted the greater part of his power to protect Lieyang Dayan Jianzi, lest the shockwaves grind him to dust.

The Golden Emperor Diagram was good, but it was not an immortal art — merely the comprehension of Shuo Yang Canghai Tianjun back in the day. Still, it could not compare to his martial nephew's life.

On the other side, Tian Hua Master Dinghai Zhenjun made his choice without much hesitation. He diverted part of his power to shelter Liu Dao Shengzi, going through the basic motions, then couldn't be bothered with whether Liu Dao Shengzi lived or died. A single Yin Ghost law blade cut through space, and he vanished in an instant.

"Crow Thousand Feathers!"

Divine Crow Master Dinghai Zhenjun, battered and wretched by the Annihilating Domain, also went vicious. The Heavenly Crow spread its sky-covering wings, and ten thousand domain-shattering blades shot forth, drowning the youth ahead.

Jiang Ding gripped the sword hilt, yet closed his eyes.

The only two Nascent Soul-grade talisman swords given by his true body had already been released; he had no power left to strike back, no longer able to interfere in the Nascent Soul battlefield in the slightest.

He could only wait for the result of life or death.

"You two deserve to die."

A faint, ghostly voice came from somewhere far away, traveling through who knows how much time, and fell into the ears of Divine Crow Master Dinghai Zhenjun and Tian Hua Master Dinghai Zhenjun.

"This…"

Tian Hua Master Dinghai Zhenjun started in horror, looking toward a certain spot in the void.

A blue-robed cultivator with a hazy face, several hundred zhang away, was quietly watching them. Between his fingers was a thin, regular spatial rift that stretched on to who knew where.

Tian Hua Master Dinghai Zhenjun's heart went cold. Instinctively he followed the pitch-black spatial rift with his gaze — it had torn open his Heavenly Ghost law domain, stretching on and on,

stretching all the way to his own palm.

His right palm, severed soundlessly at the wrist.

"Ah!"

Tian Hua Master Dinghai Zhenjun let out a shrill scream.

The most venomous, most ferocious, spirit-shattering, law-annihilating sword qi surged madly into his meridians through the severed wrist, turning everything along the way to dust, rapidly spreading toward his body, toward every part of his divine soul.

Vast quantities of Nascent Soul-grade magic power surged forth, meeting the Annihilating Sword qi, surrounding and intercepting it, only barely managing to hold it back and quickly pushing it back. Drops of deep-blue sword light fell along the severed wrist into the sky, piercing bottomless holes in the earth below.

"Mid Nascent Soul…"

Jiang Ding saw this and sighed softly.

After scheming for so long, laying ambushes for such a long time, layer upon layer of containment — still he could not grievously wound the man, only inflict a light injury.

Clang!

A crisp sword-hum rang out.

Under the horrified gazes of the three Nascent Soul cultivators, a deep-blue flying sword returned from the void, its single strike sending the hundred-zhang-winged Divine Crow reeling several li back. Explosive roars thundered unceasingly in the void.

"Everyone, farewell."

Jiang Ding merged with the Taiqing flying sword as one. In a flicker he reached his clone's side, scooped it up, then with another flicker, deep-blue magnetic light erupted, and he vanished completely.

At this moment,

Tian Hua Master Dinghai Zhenjun was trapped by his wounds, Void Square Master Dinghai Zhenjun was treating Lieyang Dayan Jianzi, and Divine Crow Master Dinghai Zhenjun hung back, not daring to advance.

Not a single one of them stopped him; they could only watch helplessly as he disappeared.

(End of chapter)