Chapter 752: Slaying the Brother Xuanwu Dao Son

Zhongyuan Zi used a pre-arranged escape array to harness the abundant geomagnetic power of Di Ci Gao Jie and fled, merging into space itself, his speed far exceeding that of a Nascent Soul cultivator fleeing after his physical body shattered.

He asked himself: even if a Sword Son of the Great Sun Sword Pavilion were here, he would have eight or nine chances of escaping alive, let alone this inferior Dao Son of the Eastern Pole Demon Sect.

Logically, it should be foolproof.

But at this moment, repeated warning signs surfaced in his mind, causing his body to tremble uncontrollably.

"Targeted by a supercarrier's lock?"

"But how could this happen?!!"

Zhongyuan Zi was stunned and bewildered.

He had previously encountered Eastern Pole Demon Sect supercarriers before—multiple clashes had occurred with Teacher Gu Lin within Zi Zai Gao Jie, sometimes gaining the upper hand, sometimes falling into disadvantage.

But never in any of those encounters had his Dao Son instinct triggered such a warning!

In his soul's primal sense, it was as if he witnessed eternal darkness spreading from the horizon, slowly, steadily, yet utterly unstoppable.

When the time came, all living beings in the world would sink into darkness—without exception.

"Xuan Gui Dao Tian Ni Ling Shu!"

Zhongyuan Zi muttered.

He swiftly formed hand seals, mixing magic power with blood essence; layers of azure light covered his body, occasionally flashing with dark black radiance, his form gradually vanishing.

Even if focused subatomic electromagnetic waves struck, most would be absorbed, no longer reflected back, achieving stealth at the aerial combat level.

Xuan Gui Dao Tian Ni Ling Shu!

This concealment technique was developed by Brother Xuanwu Tiangong during its prolonged wars with the Eastern Pole Demon Sect, highly effective against subatomic radar waves—the strongest among similar techniques of the Badaxian Sect.

"... Locking..."

"... Locking becoming fuzzy, fuzzy..."

"... Unable to lock. Please connect to the Xianmen warship fleet, assume command of the Aerospace Army, amplify and strengthen subatomic electromagnetic radar search capability..."

The ship spirit Yun Ri issued an alarm.

Brother Xuanwu Tiangong had subatomic radar concealment techniques; Xianmen naturally had subatomic radar penetration techniques.

Between the two dominant forces of the two realms, there was no technological gap—only the cultivators' mastery of their respective Dao Son techniques mattered.

"Connect to the Aerospace Army fleet?"

"I don't possess such military array command ability."

Jiang Ding shook his head.

This was equivalent to Dao Son-level military array command—extremely difficult.

In fact, among Jin Dan cultivators in this realm, only Teacher Gu Lin, the True Person, possessed this ability; even Teacher Ouyang Hui fell far short.

But,

it did not mean locking was impossible!

"Zhongyuan, stay."

Jiang Ding spoke calmly.

In his spiritual sense, the Annihilation Sword Intent rang sharply; the phantom of the Taiqing Flying Sword hummed with ecstatic excitement.

Jing!

A sword cry spread in all directions.

The Taiqing Flying Sword effortlessly locked onto its ancient adversary—the Dao Son of Brother Xuanwu Tiangong—after tens of thousands of years of enmity.

All of this came naturally, with perfect familiarity, driven purely by instinct, without the slightest difficulty.

"Lock successful!"

"Lock successful!"

In an instant, the voice of the ship spirit Yun Ri came again.

"Commander,"

"Deploy the Taiqing Flying Sword. Input magic power. Input spiritual awareness and sword intent to guide."

"Magnetic Cloud Shatter Star Cannon energy fully charged, ready. Super carrier Wan Ci Lei Yun Array operating normally..."

In spiritual awareness, a thousand thoughts flashed by; in the external world, only an instant had passed.

Xiu!

The Taiqing Flying Sword appeared within the Magnetic Cloud Shatter Star Cannon, humming.

"No!"

Boundless terror suddenly descended upon Zhongyuan Zi's heart.

At this moment, he was confused, doubtful, terrified—but his hands moved by instinct, forming hand seals, burning blood essence, sacrificing his physical lifespan; immense magic power surged through his meridians, wildly flooding into the dimmed Primordial Bagua Chessboard.

Weng!

The chessboard's spiritual light flared instantly, radiating thirty-six lines vertically and thirty-six horizontally, dividing countless square spaces into a barrier.

After completing this, Zhongyuan Zi's trembling did not lessen—the warning signs continued to pulse relentlessly.

"No!"

"This is impossible!"

Zhongyuan Zi roared.

Under life-or-death pressure, he cared for nothing else.

He gestured, seizing the array power of a hundred thousand cultivators from the Xianshan Shui Gao Jie, forming towering, precipitous mountains before him; then countless crystal-like water realm crystals blocked his front.

"Ready."

Almost simultaneously, the ship spirit Yun Ri reported.

Jiang Ding sat cross-legged on the Chaori's deck, facing the gale, his soul shedding its shell and merging into the Taiqing Flying Sword, his body fully dissolving into the blade.

"Fire."

He issued the command.

Within a range of nearly a thousand kilometers, lightning flashed and thunder rolled; billions of magnetic field-induced phantoms flickered unsteadily. Wild winds howled as surging Heaven and Earth Qi and the essence of the Great Sun converged, pouring entirely into the thousand-meter-long Magnetic Cloud Star-Shattering Cannon. From left to right, the runes on the cannon barrel lit up one by one.

Boom!

A deafening, earth-shattering roar!

At the center of the Myriad-Magnet Thunder Cloud Formation, the super-battleship Great Sun roared and trembled. Light blazed from its muzzle, and a terrifying beam, invisible to both divine sense and the naked eye, tore through the void.

Jiang Ding experienced the ultimate speed of space once again!

His soul merged with the Taiqing Flying Sword, passing through one electromagnetic accelerator after another, his speed rising to its absolute peak.

Looking outward from the sword,

the heavens and earth, all things, white clouds, the battleship's projectile, Teacher Ouyang Hui and An Siyan controlling the battleship, the furious roars of the Brother Xuanwu Sky Palace cultivators...

everything and everything else became as slow as a snail, inching forward. Without careful observation, one might even mistake it for a frozen image.

He had thought everyone was like this.

Jiang Ding's gaze turned to the target his Annihilating Sword Intent had locked onto.

Twelve hundred and seventy-four kilometers away, a youth with a resolute face roared. He formed a hand seal, summoning the Ten Thousand Immortal Mountains and the Ten Thousand Water Realms to block before him, further protected by layers of spatial chessboard grids, more solid than the ancient Black Tortoise.

The joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness on his face, and the movements of his hands, were normal.

Neither fast nor slow.

No different from an ordinary, common cultivator.

"Speed is relative..."

Jiang Ding seemed to gain some understanding.

Whoosh!

At the very moment this thought arose, the Magnetic Cloud Star-Shattering Cannon crossed the distance of twelve hundred and seventy-four kilometers, appearing before Chong Chong Yuanzi, the Daoist Disciple of the Brother Xuanwu Sky Palace.

He seemed to be roaring something, but it was inaudible; the speed of sound and divine sense was too slow, and there was no time to wait.

The Ten Thousand Immortal Mountains blocked the way ahead.

The Taiqing Flying Sword arrived, its tip making a slight touch.

Boom!

The Ten Thousand Immortal Mountains crumbled into dust. Spiritual light shattered completely, and the force spread deep into the earth veins to the array instruments, turning them into the finest powder, leaving not a single speck of residue.

The Ten Thousand Water Realms blocked the way ahead.

Boom!

The Ten Thousand Water Realms boiled and shattered. Water vapor rose, then vanished entirely. Under the terrifying power, they had clearly lost their essential water structure, shattered at their very core, and reverted to their most minute state.

The Innate Eight Trigrams Chessboard of Space blocked the way, generating dense spatial chessboard grids, hailed as infinite space, indestructible and deathless, yet under the sword light, it too turned to dust.

All are mere ants!

Unstoppable!

Touch it and die, touch it and perish!

Ding!

However, a brilliant shower of sparks still appeared. A deep scratch marred the chessboard. It let out a mournful cry, flew backward, and was mixed with a cloud of blood mist.

The flow of Heaven and Earth resumed, restoring brightness.

Jiang Ding broke free from the extreme speed of space, slightly dazed, and looked ahead.

The Ten Thousand Immortal Mountains and Ten Thousand Water Realms Formation had been broken!

Chong Chong Yuanzi was blasted out of his spatial flight state. His lower half had turned into blood mist, while his upper half was protected by the Innate Eight Trigrams Chessboard. He had narrowly avoided death, his eyes wide, his face deathly pale, filled with sheer terror.

"You... how are you not dead yet..."

Jiang Ding sighed.

He was still not dead.

He glanced at the Innate Eight Trigrams Chessboard.

A deep scratch marred its surface, nearly tearing it in two, yet it ultimately did not break. Because of this, Chong Chong Yuanzi was able to preserve his life.

This was a Nascent Soul-level artifact embryo.

"Not dead..."

"Then die."

Jiang Ding spoke again.

Zzzzt...

Electromagnetic Lei Ting bloomed around the super-battleship Great Sun. Between Heaven and Earth, the phantom of the thousand-meter giant cannon appeared once more, solid as substance. It enveloped the Taiqing Flying Sword, which had merged with Jiang Ding's soul, and effortlessly locked onto the weakened opponent.

"No..."

"You cannot kill me. I am of great use..."

Chong Chong Yuanzi roared in terror.

Between life and death lies great terror. He could not respond calmly, revealing a shameful appearance, lacking the dignity of a Daoist Disciple.

Boom!

The muzzle of the Magnetic Cloud Star-Shattering Cannon roared, light blazed, and it spat forth an invisible beam, vanishing from sight.

In the next instant,

the Taiqing Flying Sword gently touched Chong Chong Yuanzi's skull.

Heaven and Earth seemed to fall silent.

Boom!

The head and body of Chong Chong Yuanzi, along with his divine soul, exploded into a cloud of blood mist; not even a piece of flesh or a fragment of bone the size of a thumb remained, all dissipating into the void.

(End of this chapter)