Chapter 909: Beheading Xu Yan, Reclaiming the Xu Domain

Xu Yan's Starry Sky Fortress has been breached.

One-third of it was severed by a single sword strike and crashed to the ground.

It can be seen that this fortress, built for war, had anticipated such a situation and implemented isolation measures; the terrifying residual sword qi and sword intent of destruction, scorching heat, and forbidden magic on the broken edge failed to travel along the pipeline routes deep into the fortress's core and completely detonate the Starry Sky Fortress.

Before the Great Sun Annihilation Sword Qi arrived, the Starry Sky Fortress had already performed an active self-severing maneuver; the remaining two-thirds of the Starry Sky Fortress can still maintain partial functions and is not completely destroyed.

The power of the Starry Sky Fortress has dropped significantly, but it still possesses the strength to fight; if there were comrades-in-arms nearby, it might not be impossible to push back the enemy, and it would not fail right here.

Xu Yan's face revealed a look of despair.

"The wars experienced by our predecessors back then can be imagined to have been very cruel."

Jiang Ding walked forward step by step and sighed.

As the military formation domain contracted around them, the Great Sun Annihilation Sword Domain expanded wildly, pressing the hundred-thousand warship military formation domains of the Xu and Wang families until they creaked and teetered on the brink of collapse.

The main body of the Starry Sky Fortress itself also dimmed, and the range of its array patterns spreading out was contracting.

Many warships and fighter jets of the Xu and Wang families, caught completely off guard, broke away from the military formation and instantly fell into the Great Sun Annihilation Sword Domain of tens of thousands of degrees Celsius, immediately turning to ash in the environment of terrifying high temperatures and sword intent grinding, crashing to the ground together with their warships and sky-fighter jets melting into molten iron.

Hundreds of thousands of warships gathered together, surrounding the broken Starry Sky Fortress; although they were numerous, their military formations densely covered all four directions with heavy pressure, yet compared to that small, dust-like young man in blue robes, it was like a cluster of quails huddled together facing a giant, trembling continuously.

"I have always been kind and dislike excessive killing."

Jiang Ding glanced at the groups of cultivators from the two families surrounding him and said indifferently, "Those who surrender now will only have their crimes compounded; they might not all face the death penalty. The laws of the Immortal Sects, you are all clear on them; consider it yourselves."

Attacking citizens of the Immortal Sects with the intent to kill.

This is an extremely serious capital crime!

For such a crime, even if interrupted midway, it is impossible to say it will be pardoned; absolutely impossible. The due price must be paid in full, regardless of the number of people involved, unless they were coerced.

"No, we should be turning over a new leaf to earn merit..."

Many desperate divine senses transmitted, bargaining, not satisfied with this.

Jiang Ding paid them no further heed.

Persuading surrender is out of benevolence.

It is not because the cultivators of the two great families possess some powerful force that must be won over at the cost of sacrificing interests.

They do not have such strength.

Whether they surrender or not is not a major matter; there is no need to pay deliberate attention to it anymore.

"Xu Yan, I will not accept your surrender."

Jiang Ding gazed at the black-haired, star-eyed youth on the broken Starry Sky Fortress and said calmly, "I can even state clearly to you that even if you surrender, you will certainly be sentenced to death within the Immortal Sects."

"The charge is clear: it is treason."

"You wretched beast!"

Xu Yan looked coldly at the young man in blue robes before him.

"I tell you this because I want to inform you."

Jiang Ding was not angry; with great patience, he said gently, "You are going to die."

"Before you die, please shine even more brightly; let me see more of your brilliance, and display your Immortal Dao wisdom as much as possible."

"This will make me happy."

Clang!

Jiang Ding placed his hand on the sword hilt and drew it out bit by bit.

His words were not a negotiation with anyone.

They were a declaration, a notification, followed by execution.

Just as the Great Sun Sword Disciples of past generations have done to their enemies.

Such things have occurred countless times in this realm; now they are repeated once again.

"If I were the one who obtained the final reserves of the Great Sun Sword Pavilion..."

"If I could become the Dao Disciple..."

Xu Yan whispered coldly.

In that instant, he burned his essence blood, burned his remaining lifespan, and burned this dharma body that he had carefully preserved for thousands of years, transforming it into immense power that surged entirely into the Heavenly Sword in his hand; then, using the Heavenly Sword as a projectile, it surged into the main cannon of the broken Starry Sky Fortress.

"Ah!"

"Ancestor! No! I am your son..."

Fang Master Dinghai Zhenjun screamed in terror, but it was useless; a wisp of crimson flame appeared between his eyebrows, instantly burning him to ash, transforming into a wisp of blood qi fire that returned to the Starry Sky Fortress.

"Fang'er..."

Xu Yan revealed a loving smile: "You were inherently of low talent; it was only by me throwing down vast amounts of heavenly treasures and earthly gems that you could advance to the peak of Nascent Soul, with no possibility of further advancement to Soul Transformation."

"You and I are bound together in weal and woe; no one will spare you."

"It is better to come with me, just as when you were born many years ago."

"Grandfather! No! No! I..."

Xu Jia screamed in terror, but his Nascent Soul early-stage cultivation was utterly useless; instantly, everything within him was ignited, his soul and spirit turned to ash, transforming into a wisp of blood qi returning to the Starry Sky Fortress.

"Ancestor! Spare my life..."

"Old thief..."

Around, clouds of blood qi flames burned; some were people of the Wang family, some of the Xu family, some were his sons, some his grandsons, great-grandsons, great-great-grandchildren...

Xu Yan no longer wished to know or think about any of this.

Two thousand years ago, for his own Dao path and for the prosperity of his family, he chose to break away from the Immortal Sects, making the Xu family flourish.

Now, everything has returned to the starting point.

Clouds of blood fire burned; except for a very few who luckily escaped, hundreds of thousands of people turned into flames filling the sky, blood light sprinkling everywhere between heaven and earth, turning the entire world a vivid red.

"Giggle..."

"Jiang Ding, I have a spell. Have a taste of it."

Xu Yan's entire body had become a blood-fire skeleton, yet he showed no dejection, letting out a strange laugh: "This is something I comprehended from Brother Brother Xuanwu's covert attack against me. It's very simple, involving bloodline and divine soul. That hidden hand made it so I can never break through to Hua Shen Zhong Qi. The computational load is small, but activating it is extremely difficult."

"It requires a great deal of blood—my own blood, my own life, the lives of many kin, and even my lifespan."

"I have named this technique Blood-Lifespan Stain."

A blood-red flame appeared in Xu Yan's hand, hazy, winding like threads of blood, as if suspended within an illusory web of cause and effect, yet deeply rooted in space, never to be extinguished.

"Blood-Lifespan Stain?"

A sharp premonition surged in Jiang Ding's heart.

He merely watched, doing nothing.

"Blood-Lifespan Stain!"

"Blood-Lifespan Stain!"

A gleam of excitement flashed in Xu Yan's eyes: "Do you know?"

"This is the fire of cause and effect, the fire of lifespan. When it acts upon a person, it carries no offensive power at all—it merely clings like a bone-rotting ulcer, fusing into the origin of your divine soul, causing your lifespan to drain away a hundredfold, a thousandfold."

"Hahaha!"

"You dog-bastard, haven't you always bragged about being a youth? The Great Sun Sword Child with boundless prospects!"

"Then I'll let you watch yourself, watch your lifespan drain away a hundredfold, a thousandfold, watch yourself die little by little!"

"Hahaha…"

Xu Yan mustered the last shred of his strength and thrust forward violently.

That wisp of blood-red flame drifted unsteadily, bit by bit floating toward the blue-robed youth, neither fast nor slow, occasionally blown back a few steps by the wind.

But Xu Yan wasn't worried at all, watching with wide, excited eyes.

Because this is the fire of cause and effect!

Because this is the fire of lifespan!

No matter the process, it will surely reach its target and act upon it!

An even sharper premonition surged in Jiang Ding's heart.

Gooseflesh rose all over his body, urging him away from the source of intense danger; his instincts sensed something.

"Cause and effect…"

"This is cause and effect."

Jiang Ding did not panic and flee. He shook his head slightly, as if helpless: "Is this some profound, unsolvable thing?"

"Hm?"

"A rogue cultivator from Xu Gao Jie?"

"The development of the Immortal Sect over these years has far exceeded your imagination."

"You really think you're playing house."

"One person, toiling away in some mountain ravine, oblivious to the outside world, and in the end invents a nuclear bomb?"

This was a fact.

Before Jiang Ding was born, the Immortal Sect's exploration of the Dao had already touched upon the arts of cause and effect; the later ability to seal secondary clues of immortal techniques was proof enough.

"Hehe, tough talk. Keep talking tough…"

Xu Yan let out a cold laugh, and his gaze suddenly stiffened.

A wisp of fine golden thread appeared within that illusory blood-fire.

Then, the illusory Blood-Lifespan Stain flame halted on the spot, frozen stiff in midair.

"No!"

"This is impossible! Impossible!"

"Two thousand years—merely two thousand years! How could such a technique have been developed!"

Xu Yan could no longer remain composed, roaring like a madman.

Those fine golden threads paid him no heed, continuing to spread, in the span of a breath spreading through the entire illusory blood-fire.

Then, showing no sign of stopping, following some unseen connection, they abruptly appeared between Xu Yan's brows.

Whether he had truly gone mad or was merely feigning madness, the fine golden threads kept spreading across his body, spreading and spreading, seeping into every cell, every corner of his divine soul.

Jiang Ding watched quietly.

At some unknown moment, his hand had left the sword hilt.

Because he had already drawn his sword.

His Golden Cause-Effect Art—the first complete Golden Sword technique he had created, born from the inspiration of slaying Wan Zhu Canghai Tianjun, refined over two years—had finally come into the world.

Golden Cause-Effect Formless Sword.

That was the name of this sword technique.

"No!"

"What is this thing!"

Xu Yan's dazed, blank expression suddenly turned to terror, his eyes sharp and alert.

He had indeed been faking.

Those fine, formless threads, following the path of cause and effect, in the span of a breath spread across his entire body, spread through his entire divine soul, and caused the vitality in those places to extinguish bit by bit—unhurried, methodical, orderly.

"Spare me!"

"I am a heaven-gifted talent of the realm; I am useful to the Immortal Sect!"

"I can stay in a laboratory for the rest of my life, become a slave to the Immortal Sect's research, never step outside!"

Xu Yan begged for mercy in terror.

Boom!

To survive, he self-detonated his physical body, easing the pressure somewhat, pushing aside some of the fine golden threads, and his Primordial Spirit fled madly into the distance, covering ten thousand li in an instant.

Jiang Ding didn't even glance at it.

He closed his eyes to regulate his breathing, as if he felt there was nothing left worth paying attention to.

Xu Yan's divine soul fled frantically, running an unknown distance, but in the end, he actually came back again.

The golden karmic threads of Jin Zhi spread through his entire Primordial Spirit, beginning to gradually extinguish the vitality upon it; the spiritual light of his divine soul gradually turned transparent and hazy.

"Master Canghai!"

"Master Canghai, please save me!"

"Master Canghai, do you still remember? It was I who brought you into the laboratory, teaching you bit by bit the most basic knowledge of experiments, knowledge of Gong Fa…"

Xu Yan knew it was useless to face Jiang Ding, so he came before Cang Hai Canghai Tianjun, pleading bitterly, tears and snot streaming down his face.

"Mentor,"

"It's been a long time."

Cang Hai Canghai Tianjun sighed, withdrew from the battle besieging Gong Wang Zhong, and quietly listened to Xu Yan's pleas and rambling.

He said not a word, only listening quietly, keeping company, his gaze drifting, falling into distant memories.

No one knew how long passed.

"Please…"

Xu Yan's divine soul suddenly stiffened.

Bang!

The golden karmic threads expanded to their limit, extinguishing all the vitality of his divine soul; it could no longer maintain its form, and the shattered fragments of faint divine-soul spiritual light scattered in all directions, dissipating between heaven and earth.

(End of this chapter)

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