Chapter 604: The Great Sun Sword Disciple Descends Upon Tushan Xiancheng

In the instant the bird-headed man appeared, Jiang Ding's heart grew cold, and he nearly immediately activated his backup strategic retreat plan, fleeing at top speed.

Canghai Tianjun!

This damn thing is the aura of a Canghai Tianjun!

Others might be excused, but he attends classes with Yuan every year; how could he possibly mistake it?

It is a Demon Race Canghai Tianjun, one who can smash through the void directly with his physical body!

But, yet...

"Kill!"

Amidst the thick threat, Jiang Ding hissed.

"Sword Nine · Yang!"

Clang!

The Taqing Flying Sword hummed and vibrated, roaring as it swallowed and spat out endless spiritual energy of heaven and earth; the sword light blurred and split, and the cry of the Golden Crow echoed everywhere.

Boom-boom-boom!

Suddenly,

nine great suns rose into the sky, their brilliant halos spreading to the heavens and the earth.

Nine suns appeared in the sky!

Nine solar halos shone down one after another; the area within dozens of li of Tushan Xiancheng wailed in agony, streams steamed, the earth cracked dry, the grasslands withered to yellow in an instant, and in a single breath turned to charcoal.

Moments later, even the charcoal ignited, becoming clusters of sparks covering the ground.

Sword Nine · Yang!

This was the sword technique Jiang Ding had deduced for over a hundred years; its prototype still had many flaws, such as the will to break destruction and break laws failing to merge into it, possessing only the extreme destructive heat.

In this moment between life and death, he instinctively used it.

"Go!"

Jiang Ding pointed his finger with sudden force.

Demon Race Canghai Tianjun!

For a sword cultivator like him, a fragile variant of a magic cultivator, merely brushing against it would turn him into a mist of blood and death; a single touch from the enemy's heavy weapon would kill him; under no circumstances could he allow it to get close.

Boom!

The nine great suns roared forward, linking into a single line, as if arriving at the time of the ancient opening of heaven and earth, with nine suns hanging in the sky, a string of pearls piercing the horizon, destroying the first living beings, intending to reopen a world.

Beneath the destructive great suns, space was twisted.

In a blur, a fierce demon with a bird's head and a human body, holding a Fangtian Huaji, smashed through space and revealed his form; without looking at the surroundings, he raised his Phoenix-Wing Gilded Spear high.

In this instant,

Jiang Ding suddenly felt a pressure as heavy as a mountain descend upon his body; looking around, he felt his perspective constantly receding, constantly shrinking.

The surrounding clouds, Shanfeng, trees, and grasslands suddenly became infinitely vast; straining his neck to look up, he could only see blades of grass standing tall like mountains.

"Space is shrinking..."

Jiang Ding was horrified.

This was a great power's technique of shrinking space applied to him, causing the entire person to undergo a change that felt like an illusion yet was not.

However, once dead, this would undoubtedly be fact!

"This is absolutely not fact!"

"A mere Tushan Xiancheng, could it possibly command a Soul Transformation to fight?"

Jiang Ding roared.

"Fall!"

Instantly, divine sense and magic power surged into the Taqing Flying Sword; the speed of the nine great suns skyrocketed, their halos becoming even more scorching, and in the blink of an eye covered everything, crashing toward the bird-headed fierce demon.

The first great sun crashed into the bird-headed, human-bodied fierce demon.

Boom!

The great sun detonated; endless light and heat exploded violently, a terrifying explosion appearing between heaven and earth; the formation of Tushan Xiancheng was affected, dimming over a vast area.

Outside the Xiancheng, the earth displayed many shifting colors, with lava everywhere and all living things dead.

The light dimmed slightly.

Jiang Ding stared fixedly at what was before him.

A bird-headed, human-bodied fierce demon, dozens of zhang tall, retreated for several li; his body was scorched black, hissing with smoke, and the Phoenix-Wing Gilded Spear in his hand was as hot as an iron, obviously having blocked the first round of the great suns' bombardment.

Around him, the strange phenomenon of shrinking space vanished.

"Ant..."

"You are very good!"

Jiang Ding spoke word by word, stern and cold, spitting out a few words from between his teeth: "A mere wisp of Soul Transformation aura, and one move reveals your true form."

"You dare call me an ant."

"Do you know what happened to the last person who dared to scare me?"

His heart burned with rage reaching the sky.

This bird-headed fierce demon was at most a wisp of the Canghai Tianjun's blood, using a formation to manifest a mere scrap of its power, yet it dared to make him tremble in fear, forcing him to pull out his ultimate sword technique trump card all at once, planning to delay it slightly before immediately fleeing for his life.

But he did not expect,

it was a fake appearance that could be pierced with a single poke!

"Ant..."

The bird-headed fierce man's eyes were black and red, seemingly devoid of intelligence; he smashed through space again and swung a strike with the Phoenix-Wing Gilded Spear.

The perspective around the enemy changed rapidly; a single weed could reach the sky, let alone this heavy weapon treasure heavier than mountains and seas.

"Very good."

Jiang Ding's face was ice-cold as his fingers struck down viciously.

Boom!

The second Great Sun descended, smashing the spatial perspective into fragments; a brilliant blazing sun erupted, blasting the bird-headed fiend until its feathers were scorched black and its entire body carbonized, relying only on the endless support from the Beast Spirit Immortal City's formation to continuously revive.

"Ant..."

Boom!

Boom, boom, boom...

Before the bird-headed fiend could utter a second word, the third, fourth, fifth...

The eighth Great Sun!

Great Suns descended in succession; with each bombardment, the heavens and earth flashed, layers of the earth's surface vaporizing into glass-like sheets, while mountains, rocks, and soil melted into lakes of magma, bubbles rising to the surface.

With every strike that landed, the bird-headed fiend retreated several li, its body turning into a glowing red lump of charcoal.

Before it could recover, one brilliant Great Sun after another descended, shattering that glowing red charcoal once more to reveal the newly regenerated flesh and blood within.

Then, it was bombarded back into charcoal again, a cycle repeating.

Again and again.

Again and again.

The charcoal grew smaller and smaller; the speed of regeneration was far slower than the speed of destruction. By the time the eighth Great Sun struck to kill, only a fist-sized lump of charcoal remained.

Even the Phoenix-Wing Gilded Spear had turned to ash and ceased to exist; the life force within the charcoal was as thin as a wandering thread.

Boom!

The ninth Great Sun!

It descended with a thunderous crash, utterly annihilating the last fist-sized lump of charcoal, leaving not a single trace.

"You are also the masterminds behind my fright."

Jiang Ding looked into the interior of the Beast Spirit Immortal City, his eyes filled with killing intent; the sword light vanished in an instant as he surged forward.

Another sword strike descended!

The sword light shattered the formation's sky-canopy, landing truly upon the ground, slaughtering hundreds of Jin Dan and Foundation Establishment cultivators, and smashing the formation's foundation pillars of this area into dust.

Sword after sword!

Within the formation, panic reigned.

"The last drop of ancient Sky Crow blood left by our ancestors has been completely consumed; we failed to slay the enemy!"

"What shall we do?"

Hei Hei Chengxiu's voice trembled.

With each sword strike falling, the aura of the Immortal City's formation continued to decline; it would soon reach its limit, possessing no further power to resist.

The cultivators around were filled with terror.

"Silence!"

"What good is your fear!"

An old Jin Dan cultivator nearby roared in anger: "When our ancestors built this formation, they left a double-layered array; if one layer breaks, another remains. Activate it quickly!"

"We still have hope!"

"Wait a few more days; reinforcements from other families will arrive!"

This young man had previously been highly regarded by the old cultivator, seen as the hope for the General Heishi family's revival.

But now, truly trapped in peril, he proved inadequate, having lost his composure, far inferior to the few outstanding talents who had emerged from the collateral branches.

"Yes, yes, yes!"

Hei Hei Chengxiu, flustered and frantic, sacrificed another portion of his vital blood to activate the second layer before the formation could shatter.

In the sky,

the eternal dark night was torn apart by sword light, and the formation pillars throughout the Immortal City were on the verge of total collapse.

Just then, accompanied by the spreading and permeating of countless formation patterns, the broken pillars shattered, and new pillars rose to the surface.

The eternal dark night descended once more upon the Immortal City's sky, intact and undamaged.

Whoosh!

Sword light crashed down, shattering a section of the sky-canopy, only for it to instantly restore itself to its original state.

Screech!

From within the streams of formation patterns, a majestic black crow reappeared above the Immortal City; its wings beat, stirring up fierce gale winds that transformed into countless black-red threads slicing through space, rushing toward the youth in green robes.

Blood-Slaying Curse Threads!

This was another reserve left by the Liezulie Sect ancestors for their descendants; every year, millions of living souls were thrown into the formation's core, smelted day and night, until only the purest aura of deadly curses remained, said to be immortal and indestructible, numbering in the hundreds of thousands, capable even of killing Nascent Soul cultivators.

Now, in these surroundings, how could the number of Blood-Slaying Curse Threads be merely tens of thousands?

These black-red threads completely enveloped the youth in green robes in the sky!

"Double-layered formation, chaotic tricks..."

Jiang Ding used sword light to protect himself, while wisps of killing intent rose in his heart.

Their stubborn resistance made him feel a strong sense of unknown danger.

Without even a shred of hope, these family cultivators could not possibly be so resolute.

Time could no longer be dragged out!

Clang!

The vast sword qi of the Great Clarity Flying Sword swept around in all directions; an aura of soul- and law-annihilation spread out, obliterating a vast portion of the Blood-Slaying Curse Threads, rendering their supposed immortality useless.

The densely packed Blood-Slaying Curse Threads around surged forward, only to be continuously annihilated, appearing almost endless.

They can be slain; there is no fear.

But it requires time,

and it is uncertain how long—several hours, or several days!

Divine sense vibrated the space, transmitting a voice.

"The spoils drop from half to two-tenths."

"The Gong Fa of Nascent Soul bestowed upon the top three by merit changes to a reward for the top two."

Jiang Ding said indifferently, "After three breaths, it will drop again, and we will no longer assist in removing the soul and spirit prohibitions. Everyone must find their own path to survival."

The number of subordinate Jin Dan reaches over a hundred!

Whether due to deep-seated Nu Xing Shen Zhong, or fear, or a desire to preserve strength, or perhaps extreme cunning, calculating to the utmost, waiting until the situation becomes completely clear.

Up to now, there has been no sign of anyone taking action.

Jiang Ding could understand.

They had no trust or affection among themselves; naturally, others would not consider his life or death, or the magnitude of danger he might bear.

But,

it does not mean he is a fool to be exploited!

Fighting to the death, waiting until the enemy is finally defeated, only then for these Jin Dan to jump out, deliver a final blow to the nearly dead corpses, and shamelessly step forward to claim merit rewards.

This is a delusion!

"Everyone, what is this old thief saying?"

Hei Hei Chengxiu, Shang Sansan, and other legitimate Jin Dan felt panic in their hearts, with a strong ominous premonition.

"It is those lowly, common surname cultivators. Quickly trigger the prohibitions..."

Several people reacted instantly, shouting almost simultaneously.

"Kill!"

At that very same instant, Wei Wei Qingqing, Yu Zhong, and other subordinate Jin Dan cultivators felt their hearts chill. They roared and unleashed various magic treasures—blades, spears, swords, halberds—striking the surrounding General Heishi legitimate Jin Dan.

Dozens, even over a hundred Jin Dan simultaneously surrounded and slaughtered the scattered few General Heishi legitimate Jin Dan!

Numerous magic treasures instantly turned them into blood mist.

Not even a single wail was uttered.

"Kill, kill, kill!"

These Jin Dan from subordinate families, eyes bloodshot from killing, after slaying the legitimate Jin Dan, did not spare the remaining General Heishi Foundation Establishment and Qi Refining cultivators nearby, killing them all clean.

Then, ignoring their surroundings, they went mad, commanding various magic treasures to smash the surrounding array foundations, blasting at jade tablets, great cauldrons, flags, banners, and other complex array instruments.

At the moment when the array's power was entirely resisting external enemies, the interior was extremely fragile. The array foundations were destroyed in large numbers in such a short time; the array's spiritual light plummeted, and the number of Lu Ling Curse Threads also dropped rapidly.

"Stop!"

"Stop quickly!"

"You base-born ones do not understand the big picture!"

Hei Hei Chengxiu and other legitimate Jin Dan instantly turned red-eyed. Without hesitation, they activated the soul and spirit prohibitions on all subordinate Jin Dan, roaring, "You must all die, you must all die!"

"Ah!"

Yu Zhong, Wei Wei Qingqing, and other Jin Dan from subordinate families, who were furiously slaughtering, screamed in unison, spitting fresh blood, and fell from the sky.

"You stupid pigs!"

"What good does this do for you!"

"Now you are all dead! Dead, dead, you all deserve to die!"

Hei Hei Chengxiu went mad.

The excellent situation that could barely be held until reinforcements arrived was destroyed in an instant. The General Heishi family's thousand-year foundation was about to be buried by his hand.

He wished he could extract these people's souls and Jin Dan to torture them for ten thousand years, making them wail in agony day and night, regretting today's self-harming actions that benefited no one!

"This is not the end. The remaining Northern Plain families will take your families, your wives and children, one by one..."

His voice suddenly choked; his eyes bulged out.

He saw that after Yu Zhong, Wei Wei Qingqing, and other Jin Dan from subordinate families spat blood and fell from the sky to the ground, they were not dead. Their spiritual energy had dropped significantly, yet they still maintained the level of Jin Dan.

"Kill!"

Their faces filled with relief, they slaughtered the General Heishi cultivators even more ruthlessly and destroyed the surrounding array foundations.

"Impossible..."

"Impossible. This is a soul and spirit prohibition set by the Ancestor. It was clearly intact before..."

Hei Hei Chengxiu's expression was dazed and bewildered.

Yet no one around paid him any more attention.

Many fled madly in all directions. Some concealed their forms, their facial muscles, clothes, hair, and other features changing wildly. They hid in residential houses, hid among the junior members of subordinate families. Their various methods were dazzling, leaving no time to take them all in.

Clang!

The final sword cry was exceptionally crisp, clearly entering everyone's heart.

Under that terrifying will to break spirit and extinguish magic, they had to look up, watching helplessly as a blue-gold flying sword flew from beyond the heavens, pierced the sky of the Hei Yu Tian Shen Lu Wan Ling Great Array, entered the clan ancestral hall high tower where the array's core foundation existed, and passed straight through.

It stopped right there.

The Tai Qing Flying Sword withdrew from an extreme speed state that even the Nascent Soul Master Dinghai Master Dinghai Zhenjun's divine sense could not track, and slowly returned.

Her posture was leisurely; she slowly flew into the hand of a young man in green robes with a blurred face.

The expressions of all General Heishi cultivators were desperate, vacant.

It seemed like a single breath,

yet also as if a long time of silence had passed.

Crack!

The first crisp sound, then a rising and falling chorus of shattering and breaking.

The Eternal Night field canopy of the Black Feather Heaven-Slaying Myriad Spirits Grand Array, and the ancestral hall tower that symbolized the General Heishi clan's highest authority and ten-thousand-year incense heritage — the very core of the array — appeared before everyone's eyes with a single crack, which then spread like a spider's web, swiftly collapsing into countless fragments, no longer possessing any spiritual essence.

Boom!

The shattering of the clan-protecting array triggered an even wider chain of explosions; the entire Tushan Xiancheng trembled, houses collapsed, the tall and imposing city walls crumbled, dust filled the air.

Even richer spiritual Qi spilled out from the center; the spiritual Qi of the fourth-grade spirit vein was no longer sealed away, pouring out freely.

"Run!"

"Run, hurry!"

Hei Hei Chengxiu suddenly awoke, burning his essence blood, burning his flesh and blood, madly charging toward the blue-robed youth in the sky, still shouting at his mouth, weeping and wailing.

Hum!

Hum hum!

At the same moment, countless transmission arrays were activated; white light flickered everywhere, each one carrying Jin Dan cultivators, Foundation Establishment cultivators, Qi Refining cultivators — all extraordinarily gifted existences, seeds of the future — though a portion had yet to be transferred away.

"Not bad."

"So the General Heishi clan also has someone like you?"

Jiang Ding rested his hand on the sword hilt and said calmly, "It's a pity that your valor, your sacrifice, was for the misfortune of the myriad cultivators of the Northern Plains. Therefore,"

"You must die."

Clang!

The Taiqing Flying Sword left its sheath; in the span of a breath, its sword-light swept across dozens of kilometers, enveloping the entire Tushan Xiancheng.

Hei Hei Chengxiu, who had burned everything, stiffened.

The flickering white light of the several hundred transmission arrays scattered throughout the city stuttered; space shattered, blood-mist rose, mingling with the spatial rifts, and slowly vanished.

Boundless sword-Dao might slowly spread outward, shrouding the entire Xiancheng, proclaiming its will.

(End of this chapter)