Chapter 596: Ultimate Offense, Ultimate Glass Cannon

Blue-gold sword qi formed a sea, crashing down, shattering a stretch of space, leaving nowhere to flee.

"Master Tushan, you're seeking death!"

Behind Divine Crow Master Dinghai Zhenjun, twin wings slowly unfurled, blotting out the sky and sun; from afar, it looked as if an ancient demon god had been reborn. The wings beat furiously, raising untold towering waves, rippling through space, terrifying beyond compare.

"Thousand Feathers Kill!"

He barked coldly.

From within the sky-covering wings, black feather after black feather broke free, like ten thousands of immortal divine crossbows firing at once, hissing sharply, piercing bowl-sized black holes in space before vanishing.

These black feathers were derived from the General Heishi inherited Gong Fa, the "Black Crow Skin-Stripping Canon," devouring human souls and blood qi daily, fused with treasures like Cold Nether Iron and Earth Soul Crystal, refined day and night for over a thousand years now.

Unleashed all at once now, they faintly formed an array, their might shaking heaven and earth.

Even a mid-Nascent Soul cultivator, unless willing to risk their life, would have to temporarily sidestep.

The blue-gold sword qi sea had no intention of dodging.

Pressing forward without retreat, within its will to destroy it never feared a frontal clash; the two collided and slaughtered each other just like that.

Boom!

An earth-shaking explosion; space shattered everywhere.

Blue-gold sword qi and black-feather blades fought one-on-one, fought in packs, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of them struggling to the death. The ear-piercing clash of blade and sword never ceased for an instant, crackling as densely as popping beans, piercing clouds and splitting stone, without pause.

One could see that the blue-gold sword qi had no physical form—it was not a treasured sword a sword cultivator had refined day and night for a thousand years, but a product born purely from sword qi.

Yet it fought the myriad black-feather blades to a standstill, yielding not an inch, clanging and ringing, sparks flying in all directions.

"This is clearly just sword qi…"

Divine Crow Master Dinghai Zhenjun's heart jolted; this outcome exceeded his expectations. He hurriedly examined it carefully with his Nascent Soul divine sense.

He saw that, although these sword qi were a notch weaker,

they could split apart!

Often, when blade and sword clashed, the blue-gold sword qi was forced back, but not only did it not break—possessing extreme tenacity—it immediately spawned nine identical sword qi, which turned about to swarm and slaughter the black-feather blades in groups.

That alone was fine; sword-light splitting was an old trick of sword cultivators, long anticipated.

Far more terrifying was the strange sword intent contained within these blue-gold sword qi—a will to destroy, to annihilate law so horrifying it was scarcely believable. It not only granted the sword qi extreme tenacity, but also carried supreme sharpness.

Often, when blade and sword collided, it dimmed the spiritual light of the black-feather blades by a fraction. After many such clashes, the spiritual light of many black-feather blades dimmed visibly, wavering unsteadily as they flew and hacked.

"Such sword intent far surpasses what you showed when facing Fang Master Dinghai Zhenjun that day. The Great Sun Sword Sect will surely take an interest."

Divine Crow Master Dinghai Zhenjun smiled coldly: "These sword lunatics frantically seek whetstones to hone their sword intent. If they were to hear of this, perhaps even the North Plain's number one expert, Sword Sun Master Dinghai Zhenjun, would come searching for your trail, to cut you down with his sword and use you to feed his flying sword."

He spoke the threat aloud.

"To be honest, I have already sent word in all directions. News of you has gone out; in a moment, numerous Nascent Soul cultivators will gather. Surrounded and slain, you'll find it hard to flee even with wings—die without a burial place!"

"No, you cannot."

Jiang Ding said calmly.

The Immortal Gate's greatest strength lay in its immortal-path information techniques.

By now, the four directions had been screened and sealed; unless one's strength far surpassed his, it was impossible to transmit any information outward.

"Cannot?"

"Laughably ignorant rogue cultivator."

Divine Crow Master Dinghai Zhenjun laughed coldly. Magic power surged wildly; the Black Crow Dharma Domain clanged and rang, fierce winds rose on all sides, killing intent blotted out the sky.

"Thousand Feathers, Black Kill Array!"

Within the dozens-of-kilometers Dharma Domain, the black feathers were placed seemingly at random—some alone, some scattered loosely, some piled in clusters, utterly haphazard, like a child's scribbles, retreating step by step.

Yet now, suddenly, they revealed their edge.

Pitch-black array patterns emerged from the scattered black feathers in all directions. They appeared random, but in fact occupied every node through which spiritual qi flowed within a radius of dozens of kilometers, controlling everything.

In an instant, an overwhelming black fog arose, shrouding the four directions, blocking sight, blocking divine sense—pitch dark, nothing could be seen, as if trapped beneath an eternal night.

"Black Wind!"

Divine Crow Master Dinghai Zhenjun roared wildly; a hundred-zhang pitch-black wing beat down violently.

Whoosh~

Whoosh whoosh……

Suddenly, a black wind appeared between heaven and earth, blowing over, shattering a stretch of space, sweeping toward the blue-clothed youth in the distance.

This wind resembled the Void Bone-Eroding Black Wind that blew day and night beyond the world's membrane!

Worlds were like little boats sailing through the eternal night of the void; beyond the membrane, this Void Bone-Eroding Black Wind spread year-round, infinite and endless, dissolving magic power and divine soul—even a Soul Transformation Canghai Tianjun could not endure long in such an environment.

An ancestor of the General Heishi, granted by that invincible forebear, researched for untold years before leaving behind this inheritance. In the North Plain of old, it had once flourished greatly, its territory dozens of times larger than now; only because later generations lacked the talent did it shrink back into a single region.

Whoosh~

The gale seeped through space, descending in an instant, blowing onto the blue-clothed youth.

"Slash!"

Jiang Ding's expression tightened; he sensed something amiss.

He paid no heed for the moment to the surrounding array. The Taiqing Flying Sword split into nine, like blue-gold crescents meeting it head-on, bearing a striking resemblance to the Divine Moon Sword Art of Taiyin Sword Child Yu Yu Qianzi—only more domineering, more scorching, straightforward and direct, without the twists and illusions of the Divine Moon Sword Art.

Boom!

Beneath the sword-light, over ninety-nine percent of the Void Bone-Eroding Black Wind was blasted apart. The remaining sliver of black wind blew onto Jiang Ding, instantly shattering layer upon layer of sword-qi shields on his body's surface, then seeking to invade his body.

Clang!

Jiang Ding's face shifted slightly; magic power churned within him. His figure shot back, then back again, then back once more.

Retreating more than ten kilometers in one stretch, he only then summoned the Taiqing Flying Sword to flash back in an instant, cutting down this last wisp of Bone-Eroding Black Wind, and stared with a solemn expression at the old man wreathed in black fog in the distance.

His divine soul had detected that within this Black Wind strike lurked something extremely hard to evade—perhaps a variant power of the Dao of Space.

"Your defense…"

Divine Crow Master Dinghai Zhenjun saw that his opponent had, with a single sword strike, obliterated the vast majority of his Black Wind. His heart skipped a beat at first, but the next instant he was overjoyed: "Your defense is far too weak — it's only at the Jin Dan level, completely different from your offense!!"

"Hahaha!"

"This is Heaven aiding me, Heaven wants you dead!"

He instantly realized that the legacy left behind by the ancestors of General General Heishi was an extremely powerful counter against sword cultivators who possessed extremely high attack power but extremely weak defense.

When one cannot defend, no matter how strong the offense, it is useless!

"Wind!"

"Wind!"

"Black Wind! Black Wind! Black Wind!"

Divine Crow Master Dinghai Zhenjun gesticulated wildly, pouring out magic power without stint, madly flapping his sky-covering wings. One after another, void-corroding bone-eroding Black Winds were born within the dim black fog.

In the blink of an eye,

From all directions, six Black Winds descended in a row. Penetrating through space at a terrifying speed, they snuffed out layer upon layer of blue-gold sword Qi, sealed off every path of escape, and surrounded 【him】 like a festering sore clinging to the bone.

(End of chapter)