Chapter 346: Severing Emotion and Righteousness!

Yu Liancheng flicked his sleeve, and a sword appeared in his palm before anyone knew when it had arrived.

It was a long, narrow, ancient, and pitch-black sword; it looked unremarkable, but before it was even unsheathed, a sharp aura was already diffusing from it.

It was the long-lost "Duoqing Sword".

The Duoqing Sword had been taken from the Storage Space within the Stone Gate.

As the host's strength increases and more worlds are traversed, the authority obtained becomes higher, eventually allowing for complete control over the Stone Gate; this was the information Yu Liancheng received when he first actively traversed, and it is also one of the driving forces for his continuous ascent in Martial Dao.

And now, Yu Liancheng is already a Peerless Grandmaster, having even touched the barrier of a Heavenly Human, so the Stone Gate naturally opened up many permissions to him, including a Storage Space.

The Storage Space is not too large, a square space of a dozen or so square meters. Time seems to be frozen in this space; placing rare treasures inside ensures there is no need to worry about them deteriorating.

Yu Liancheng placed the Duoqing Sword inside to be ready for any unexpected needs.

In reality, there are many weapons in the Yang Gong Treasury far superior to the Duoqing Sword. But whether it is the Duoqing Sword or the weapons in the Yang Gong Treasury, their use to Yu Liancheng is minimal.

If it were not for divine weapons like the Fire Scale Sword or the Snow Drink Saber, Yu Liancheng would not bother to collect them; the Duoqing Sword has more of a collection value, a nostalgia for those days of wearing fine clothes and riding spirited horses, wielding a sword across the world.

Now, with the sword in hand, Yu Liancheng's temperament changed again, as if he had transformed into a peerless swordsman, wishing to dominate all living things with the sword in his palm; even his aura became sharp and murderous.

"Old friend, long time no see."

Yu Liancheng's gaze rested on the Duoqing Sword, his wrist turning lightly to form a sword gesture.

His movements were as natural as flowing water and moving clouds, without the slightest sense of abruptness to anyone. Yet, an intangible and formless Sword Intent surged to capture the firmament, going straight into the clouds.

"An expert, a super expert in Sword Dao."

Daozhong Buer gripped the hilt of his saber tightly, the veins on his hands bulging; his arms were trembling.

—A trembling of excitement.

Japanese sabers are very similar to swords, so although there are differences between saber techniques and sword techniques, they can also learn from each other; Daozhong Buer's forty-nine forms of "Kill Without Pardon" once referenced the sword techniques of Zhongtu Shenzhou.

When he traveled through Zhongtu Shenzhou, he had wanted to challenge the sword technique experts of the Central Plains to improve his cultivation.

It is a pity that with the death of the older generation of Sword Saint, the Sword Dao of the Central Plains declined, and the sword experts he could take seriously were few and far between.

It is said that there is a person named "Hua Yingxiong" among the younger generation whose sword technique is outstanding, but unfortunately, this person's whereabouts are uncertain. Even if Daozhong Buer wanted to verify his own saber technique against the other's sword technique, he could not find the person at all.

And now, a Sword Dao expert has finally appeared.

Just by observing with his "Mind-Cutting Decision", Daozhong Buer judged that this person's sword technique was likely even more powerful and exquisite than his own fist technique.

With just a simple movement, he had already merged with the sword, as if he had transformed into a Divine Sword, emitting a sharp aura that permeated heaven and earth.

"One sword, I will only strike one sword."

Yu Liancheng's movements were elegant and slow, his whole body exuding an indescribable meaning.

Like a breeze blowing across a pond of spring water, like a light mist shrouding a tavern, like the bright moon shining obliquely on a person leaving... it not only conformed to a certain truth of heaven and earth, but was also breathtakingly beautiful.

Swish!

The Duoqing Sword thrust out.

All the beautiful illusions shattered the moment the sword momentum unfolded, yet they also seemed to merge into the sword momentum, making this sword even more powerful.

Under this sword, all things in heaven and earth seemed to dim, and the world fell into a void, a dead silence.

Only a long rainbow of sword light flew out, cutting through the sky.

Wherever the long rainbow passed, volcanoes erupted, the earth cracked, rivers stopped flowing... revealing a scene of the apocalypse; this was no brightly colored rainbow, but clearly one revealing the deepest Darkness and doomsday.

Or rather, this was a sword technique cursed by the nine heavens and ten earths, by all Gods and Demons, a sword technique that should not have existed in time.

It heralded only death, only hell.

At this moment, Daozhong Buer's back was soaked with cold sweat.

He had never seen such a terrifying sword technique.

And he vaguely felt that this sword still held variations.

When those variations were unleashed, all things in heaven and earth would only be left to be slaughtered, with no room for feedback.

Of course, even if the variations of this sword had not been unleashed to the extreme, it was already astonishing; ninety-nine percent of the experts in the world could only close their eyes and wait for death.

But Daozhong Buer was worthy of being an expert standing at the pinnacle of the world; he had previously exchanged dozens of moves with Yu Liancheng, and his essence, energy, and spirit were already exhausted, at most only sixty or seventy percent of his peak state.

But at this moment, Daozhong Buer suddenly let out a roar, his white hair flying toward the sky, and muffled thunderous sounds echoed from his withered body, as if thunder was rolling within his frame.

At the same time, his figure underwent a heaven-shaking change in an instant; his originally withered skin suddenly became lustrous and firm, his muscles knotted like dragons, and his originally not-so-tall figure rose up, becoming unusually burly, a head taller than the Yin-Yang Envoy of the foreigners, giving off immense pressure.

Clearly, this number one saber master of Dongying not only had remarkable saber techniques, but his internal cultivation had reached a state of perfection, and his hard-body training was terrifying, having reached the pinnacle.

"Kill!!"

Daozhong Buer roared and slashed out with his saber again; he himself seemed to merge with the saber, turning into a brilliant and gorgeous blood-red light, suddenly meeting Yu Liancheng's Fourteenth Sword.

If "Kill Without Pardon" had a fiftieth move, then this was the fiftieth move.

The killing intent was so thick it was unheard of and unseen, as if it wanted to turn this cliff into a place of slaughter filled with blood and gore.

Wherever the saber light passed, the reef ground was as if it had suffered a thousand cuts, sliced into countless gravel by the fine saber Qi.

Daozhong Buer believed that even Huoyun Xieshen could not retreat unscathed when facing this slash, and might even be severely injured or pay with his life.

Clang!

Saber and sword collided, ringing out with a heavenly sound.

Centered on the two of them, within a radius of a hundred meters, it was as if they had been subjected to the continuous bombing of a hundred or so bombs; the hard reef was leveled and collapsed downward.

The dust settled, and the figures of Yu Liancheng and Daozhong Buer were revealed again.

Yu Liancheng had already sheathed his sword and stood tall.

He had said he would only strike one sword, and so it was one sword.

For him now, not only could he unleash the earth-shattering power of the Fourteenth Sword, but he was not afraid of the sword's backlash at all.

"Cough, cough!"

Daozhong Buer was coughing, half-kneeling on the ground; his lustrous skin had already become dull. His dragon-like knotted muscles had also become withered again. His tall and upright figure had also become withered and hunched.

And this process was still continuing.

In the blink of an eye, there was almost no flesh or blood left on Daozhong Buer's entire body, leaving only a layer of withered skin covering withered bones, yet it gave one the feeling of a tiger that remains standing even in death.

But Daozhong Buer did not care about his own physical condition; instead, he looked at his "blade" and muttered to himself, "Impossible, it's impossible."

As it turned out, his blade had developed a notch during the previous exchange, and a crack had even spread to the hilt, reaching the tang.

For a moment, Daozhong Buer's mind was on the verge of collapse.

Since this blade was forged, no one knew how many days it had accompanied Daozhong Buer, or how many experts it had slain. He believed his "blade" was the world's number one divine weapon, perfect and flawless.

Yet at this very moment, the "blade" was no longer perfect; the blade was damaged.

The "blade" was the repository of Daozhong Buer's essence, energy, and spirit.

The notch and crack in the "blade" were even more serious than the injuries he had sustained himself, and they affected the exertion of his strength even more.

"What a pity."

Suddenly, Daozhong Buer heard a sigh. He raised his head and looked at Yu Liancheng, his voice extremely cold: "Are you sighing?"

Yu Liancheng countered: "I heard that in order to refine your blade, you paid a great price, including your family and a pair of eyes."

"That is correct. To use the Heart Slash, where the heart and blade become one, besides self-mutilating my eyes, I also had to be heartless and righteous-less... The lives of my family of Twenty-Three were taken by my own hands."

If these words of Daozhong Buer were spoken to the outside world, they would be considered shocking and monstrous; for the sake of the so-called Martial Dao, to self-mutilate one's eyes and slaughter one's entire family was simply worse than a beast.

Yet his voice was flat and cold, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

"Everyone has their own path. Whether the path you chose is correct has nothing to do with me, but I still want to ask you a question..." Yu Liancheng's voice was calm and steady, his deep eyes coldly fixed on Daozhong Buer: "Have you truly achieved being heartless and righteous-less?"

Daozhong Buer was stunned.

"That you cherish the blade in your palm so much only shows that you have yet to grasp the true meaning of being heartless and righteous-less." Yu Liancheng turned to leave: "If one day you can truly be heartless and righteous-less, feel free to come find me again. I am curious what kind of blade technique a person who is truly heartless and righteous-less would unleash."

The higher the level of martial arts, the more it involves the secrets of the mind.

And Daozhong Buer practiced the path of being heartless and righteous-less; if he could not sever all attachments and devote himself heart and soul to the Blade Dao, he could not reach the highest realm.

But if one brushes away the dust on the mind and achieves true heartlessness and righteousness-lessness, then the mental realm elevates, rebounding onto the physical body, and the blade technique will ascend to a higher level.

Just like Daozhong Buer's disciple, who was invincible; in the battle at the Ziyou Nüshen Xiang, he was originally no match for Hua Yingxiong, but after he killed his own son and severed his last attachment to the mortal world, his blade technique finally entered a realm that terrified both ghosts and gods. In heaven and on earth, there was no one he could not kill, and even Hua Yingxiong was miserably defeated at his hands.

Daozhong Buer's body shook, as if deeply touched by Yu Liancheng's words. He lowered his head, constantly murmuring his sixteen-character mantra: "Heartless and righteous-less, seeking defeat with ambition, using the Heart Slash, Daozhong Buer..."

Just as Yu Liancheng turned and prepared to leave, he saw Daozhong Buer let out a laugh that seemed like madness, his grass-like hair flying upward, his whole person radiating a terrifying aura never seen before, like a prehistoric beast awakening from its slumber.

"Heartless and righteous-less, I understand, I understand." Daozhong Buer's face twisted, revealing a look of madness, and from those hollow eye sockets, two lines of blood and tears dripped down: "That's right, the reason I lost is because I still had attachments, still had delusions, and I had not yet truly reached the stage of being heartless and righteous-less..."

Yu Liancheng looked at Daozhong Buer with great interest; he had become interested in this old man once again.

"Blade... what kind of damn blade..."

Daozhong Buer suddenly exerted force, following the crack, and snapped the blade into two pieces, throwing them like trash into the surging waves of the sea.

A sharp light burst forth from his skin, and strands of blade Qi drifted out, cutting into the reef like cutting tofu. He looked up to the sky and roared: "Nothing is worthy of being called a blade by me, because I am the blade, I am the one and only divine weapon in the world!!"

Yu Liancheng's expression gradually turned serious. In his eyes, from the moment Daozhong Buer snapped the "blade," he was no longer a person, but a heartless and righteous-less blade. The blade Qi began to infect heaven and earth, making the firmament of the universe a part of the blade.

If any blade practitioner saw the current Daozhong Buer, they would regard him as a God of the blade and offer the most devout worship.

"Kid, your previous sword strike was brilliant; I will return a more brilliant blade strike to you."

Daozhong Buer ran toward Yu Liancheng with heavy, thudding steps. Every step he took, the ground seemed to be struck by lightning, shattering into pieces. By the time he took the ninth step, his momentum had reached its peak.

The next moment, Daozhong Buer's body suddenly underwent a strange change.

Cracks appeared on his physical body, and in the blink of an eye, they covered his entire body, just like a Broken porcelain Wawa. Finally, it turned into flying ash and drifted into the void.

And within the flying ash, an illusory figure identical in appearance to Daozhong Buer flew out, turning into a beam of light, projecting toward Yu Liancheng.

This blade light was neither sunlight, nor moonlight, nor starlight.

It was no longer any light of this world, but the blade light formed by Daozhong Buer condensing all his essence, energy, and spirit.

It was a blade light carrying tragic slaughter and nihilistic destruction.

Within the blade light.

One blade severs life and death!

One blade enters hell!

"What a brilliant blade strike!" Yu Liancheng praised. For Daozhong Buer, who had sacrificed his body to become a blade, he felt a trace of respect, and then, he "slowly" thrust out a sword.