Under the watchful eyes of powerhouses from both sects, the battle erupted!
Lin Ziyan might be a woman, but as the inheritor of the Azure Nether Sword Emperor, once the mightiest being on the Desolate Ancient Continent, her methods were anything but weak.
The moment she struck, her longsword whipped up waves of sword gang.
In an instant, purple clouds gathered and purple qi rolled in from the east.
Endless sword qi wove and crisscrossed, forming a dense net of blades that closed over Jiang Wuhen.
Seeing this, Jiang Wuhen narrowed his eyes.
“Opening with a sword formation of this magnitude, preventing me from using void piercing to dodge. It seems you know my methods quite well.”
“This battle must have been planned long in advance.”
Jiang Wuhen smiled. As he raised his hand, ribbons of ashen light gathered and solidified around him.
A profound, domineering aura flowed outward.
Supreme bone. Heaven’s calamity light!
The ashen light condensed and erupted like a dragon in an instant, shattering the oncoming sword formation with a thunderous crash.
The residual force surged onward without pause, charging straight for Lin Ziyan.
“The supreme bone?”
Lin Ziyan’s delicate brows drew together, and a new gravity entered her beautiful eyes.
Not far off, the spectators watched with varied expressions.
“Rumor has it this supreme bone doesn’t belong to Jiang Wuhen. Luo Qingning seized it from a disciple of some divine sect.”
“Though the supreme bone has fully fused with Jiang Wuhen’s bloodline by now, the fact that he opens with the supreme bone’s techniques shows just how heavily he relies on it.”
“That alone dooms him from achieving anything of note on the path of cultivation.”
“This man is nothing to worry about…”
Yun Lan mused.
Beside her, Luo Qingning’s expression remained placid.
“Hen’er opened with the heaven’s calamity light. It seems he has no wish to tangle with this Saintess for long.”
“Good. Crush her with overwhelming force and take the Divine Maiden Sect down a peg!”
Luo Qingning thought to herself.
Meanwhile, within the ring of battle.
Lin Ziyan watched the descending heaven’s calamity light, and her entire bearing shifted.
Less soft femininity, more cutting edge.
Even the way she held her sword seemed to belong to a different person.
“If you want a quick resolution… then I’ll grant you one!”
In a single instant, azure sword qi surged along the purple longsword, and twin streaks of purple and green sword light blazed along its edge.
Facing the oncoming heaven’s calamity light, Lin Ziyan’s eyes sharpened.
“Azure nether sword drawing technique!”
SHING!
One sword drew. Heaven and earth lost their light.
Within that space, everything seemed to lose its original color.
Only that one sword remained.
In a flash, the blade swept across. The oncoming heaven’s calamity light shattered to pieces beneath it.
But the scattered force sent Lin Ziyan skidding back several zhang.
At the same moment, her cultivation level was laid bare.
Divine martial realm, seventh level!
“Truly the Azure Nether Sword Emperor’s successor. To possess such strength at so young an age!”
“Even a Son of Fortune like Xiao Chen, before his epiphany, was a full major realm behind her…”
Jiang Wuhen thought to himself.
Yet he felt no trace of intimidation.
If anything, he was thrilled.
The stronger the Daughter of Fortune, the richer the reward for beating her!
Not far off, Lin Ziyan steadied herself and regarded Jiang Wuhen with a contemptuous smile.
“The supreme bone? Is that all?”
Jiang Wuhen chuckled.
“Is that so…”
“What about this, then?”
Before the words had fully left his mouth, a phantom dragon shadow flashed beneath Jiang Wuhen’s feet, and his figure became ethereal, impossible to pin down.
Divine-grade movement martial skill, illusory dragon roaming!
Though only at the Initiate stage, for a battle at the divine martial realm, it was more than enough.
In that instant, Jiang Wuhen’s figure vanished from the ring entirely. Only a dragon shadow, half real and half illusion, flickered and darted, closing the distance in a heartbeat.
“What speed!”
Lin Ziyan scanned her surroundings, her expression grave.
And just then—
“Emperor arrival fist!”
Jiang Wuhen’s voice rang out from right behind her.
The instant she sensed it, a ferocious, domineering blast of fist gang descended.
Lin Ziyan’s heart jolted. She raised her sword horizontally to block.
But that punch was savage and overwhelming. The divine sword caught the fist, yet the fist gang alone sent her hurtling back dozens of zhang.
She retreated all the way to the edge of the battle ring Luo Qingning had marked out.
“What speed! What force! With strength like this, suppressing Xiao Chen would be child’s play!”
“Was he holding back before, or has he grown even stronger these past days…”
“This battle concerns the interests of the Divine Maiden Sect. I absolutely cannot lose.”
“It seems… it’s time to use the move Shizun prepared for me!”
In that moment, Lin Ziyan’s gaze hardened, a flicker of resolve burning in her eyes.
Faintly, an azure brand began to surface from the center of her brow.
At the same time, a violent gale erupted behind her.
Beneath illusory dragon roaming, Jiang Wuhen moved like a specter, appearing right behind Lin Ziyan.
“Heavenly one sword finger!”
Two fingers pressed together, and a sword finger shot forth.
But at that exact instant—
BOOM!
A ferocious burst of gale-force wind exploded from Lin Ziyan’s lithe body.
In the space between lightning and flint, her aura surged. The moment she raised her blade and struck, endless sword qi slashed out without warning, cutting into Jiang Wuhen.
BOOM!
In a single move, blood sprayed wildly from Jiang Wuhen’s body as he slammed into the ground, kicking up a massive cloud of dust.
The turnabout had come too suddenly.
The reversal of the situation exceeded everyone’s expectations.
“Hen’er…”
Luo Qingning’s delicate brows furrowed, her pink fists clenched tight.
Beside her, Yun Lan couldn’t help but smile.
“Luo Qingning, the outcome is decided.”
“Your disciple… has lost!”
But before her words were fully out, Jiang Wuhen’s voice rang out from within the battle ring.
“It’s far too early to call it!”
“That single scratch was nothing more than an itch.”
The words left his mouth as that familiar figure strode out from the dust.
At this moment, Jiang Wuhen was clad in golden divine armor, majestic and imposing, his bearing supremely domineering.
Beneath his double pupils, streams of life energy poured forth endlessly.
The wounds on his body healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.
These were the invincible double pupils’ skills: heaven-bestowed divine armor and endless vitality.
Combined with the emperor devil tyrant body, fierce and unyielding, they granted him a formidable physique and recovery power sufficient to keep him undefeated.
Jiang Wuhen looked at Lin Ziyan from a distance, his gaze sharp.
“We agreed on a duel, yet you resort to secret arts, borrowing the residual power of the Azure Nether Sword Emperor to reinforce your body.”
“Even so, the might of that one sword was nothing impressive.”
Jiang Wuhen said gravely.
“One sword wasn’t enough? Then I’ll cut you with another!”
Lin Ziyan said coldly.
Her voice had taken on a heavier, raspier timbre, as though a second voice were layered within it.
Jiang Wuhen laughed.
“That was just carelessness on my part. From this moment on, you won’t get another chance!”
The words left his mouth as Jiang Wuhen swept his hand out, sword fingers aimed at the heavens.
An ancient, unadorned sword casket materialized from his storage ring.
It trembled faintly, as though stirring in its sleep.
Lin Ziyan’s delicate brows furrowed.
“This sword casket looks plain and ordinary, yet it feels like a slumbering colossal beast. Within it seems to hide incomparably powerful strength.”
“And there’s also… a deeply familiar aura.”
She had never seen it before, yet in some indescribable way, it felt intimately known.
Click!
Suddenly, the sword casket opened, and a beam of crimson light shot into the heavens.
Beneath the light lay a sharp longsword, crimson from hilt to tip.
The moment it emerged, every sword within a hundred zhang let out a low, resonant hum.
Like submission. Like trembling.
Lin Ziyan’s expression jolted.
“This aura… this… this sword is…”
Her lips parted slightly, her face a portrait of disbelief.
Jiang Wuhen spread his arms wide and rose into the air, his gaze sweeping over all with imperial disdain. He spoke in a low, thunderous voice.
“This sword casket is called the Azure Nether Sword Casket!”
“This sword’s name… is Yanri!”
The words landed, and sword gang blazed.
One sword fell. Ten thousand swords sang as one!
