Chapter 296: The strongest sword! |
Chapter 296 The strongest sword!
Sunlight shone down on Gu An, and to You Yingying, it looked like he was cloaked in a layer of radiant clouds, his entire being glowing with brilliance.
She actually believed he was being sincere.
Gu An’s eyes landed on her, and he raised an eyebrow. “What’s wrong? Overwhelmed by my righteous aura?”
You Yingying snapped back to reality and glared at him. “Anyone can say that kind of crap. If your sword was really that amazing, would you still be hiding out here?”
“Heh, what do you know! Move along, don’t mess with my wellness regimen!”
Gu An chuckled and smoothly sheathed his sword. He thought he looked super cool doing it, but sadly, You Yingying was totally blind to it.
She huffed and turned to leave.
As she turned away, a smile quietly crept onto her face.
Meanwhile, under the tree, Shen Xinzi opened his eyes. They were deep and unreadable. His fingers, still gripping the prayer beads, began moving faster—clearly tense.
Nearby, Qie Wuxing and the Nine-Fingered Divine Lord, who had been playing Go, stood up.
“Let’s call this match a draw,” the Nine-Fingered Divine Lord said firmly.
Qie Wuxing’s eyes widened in disbelief. “I completely wiped the floor with you, and you still dare call it a draw?”
Unfazed, the Nine-Fingered Divine Lord replied, “It’s not over till it’s over.”
Qie Wuxing shook his head and laughed, choosing not to argue. He vanished into thin air.
The Nine-Fingered Divine Lord’s gaze swept over Medicine Valley, eventually settling on Gu An in the distance.
“Too bad… I still haven’t beaten you.”
He muttered under his breath, then disappeared too.
While Gu An was stretching his limbs, he sensed many cultivators and demons soaring up from the continent, heading for the edge of the land.
On the eve of catastrophe, some chose to flee, others to fight.
Those who chose to fight did so either out of courage, a sense of justice, or simply because they had no other choice. But in this moment, they had all made up their minds.
The question was, once they truly saw what the Grand Cold Demon Sect had brought… would they still have the guts to fight?
Gu An turned and walked toward the teleportation platform. Along the way, fewer and fewer disciples greeted him—everyone was preoccupied with their own thoughts.
Arriving at Xuan Valley, Gu An headed beyond Medicine Valley.
Once he entered the forest, he pulled out the Tianxiu Sword and held it in one hand, then drew the Qinghong Sword from his waist with the other.
The Qinghong Sword quivered slightly. Gu An used his own spiritual power to block its connection to the Bailing Sword.
He could feel that his junior sister was unsettled.
“Don’t be afraid, Junior Sister. It'll all be over soon,” Gu An murmured.
As he spoke, dark purple demonic energy surged from his body, rapidly enveloping him in a blaze.
Then, his figure vanished into the depths of the forest—gone without a trace.
…
At the edge of the continent, waves crashed against the cliffs.
Above the mountains, powerful grandmasters floated in midair. Behind them were the vast lands, and ahead—an endless ocean.
They hailed from different sects: Taixuan Sect, Three Pure Mountains, Cang Heaven Sect, Dao Tian Sect, Sword Sect, Candle Sky Peak, Flame Sect, Gathering Flower Sect, and many more.
Sects from across the world had been dispatching cultivators toward the edge of the continent. This group was just one of many, and their numbers had quickly surpassed a hundred, with more still arriving.
As the crowd grew, their confidence started to rise.
Qiao Dai, a Grand Ascension Stage, Ninth Level** cultivator from Taixuan Sect, took the lead. He was calming the others and giving battle instructions.
Then, a terrifying pressure suddenly descended.
Everyone instinctively turned to look—and in the next second, their expressions changed drastically. Even the usually confident Qiao Dai’s mouth fell open in despair.
At the horizon, from the edge of the sea, surged an overwhelming black fog like a tidal wave, unstoppable and devouring all.
Before the black fog, islands and demonic beasts were like dust—insignificant. Some flying demon birds were swallowed from behind mid-flight, their fate unknown.
Looking higher, countless figures hovered above the fog. Each had different attire and magical artifacts—some glowing treasures floated behind them, some rode ferocious beasts, others stood arrogantly on streams of sword energy, hands clasped behind their backs.
Behind each of them loomed a towering, thousand-foot shadow identical to themselves—like demonic gods.
As far as the eye could see, it was a sea of colossal demonic shadows, too many to count, suffocating in their presence.
In that moment, every cultivator fell silent. No matter their cultivation, they all stood frozen, as if struck by lightning.
Qiao Dai spotted an even more terrifying existence beyond the demon shadows—a pair of feet stepping forward.
The demon shadows didn’t even reach the ankles of this mysterious being.
No one could fathom how massive its true form was.
Some tried to look to the sides—the more vast the ocean, the more densely packed the shadows.
Even without considering cultivation level, the sheer numerical gap crushed all hope.
“How do we win against this…” someone laughed bitterly.
No one answered. The will to fight had drained from them.
Up in the clouds, the Nine-Fingered Divine Lord and Qie Wuxing stood side by side. They saw the entire continent surrounded, with Grand Cold Demon Sect disciples coming from all directions.
“How many are there… even the Divine Anomaly Realm has shown up…” Qie Wuxing muttered in awe.
He felt that the number of demon cultivators was on par with the Divine Anomaly Wraiths, and their combined momentum was terrifying. Many among them radiated an aura that even he would fear alone.
The Nine-Fingered Divine Lord took a deep breath and scanned the continent, as if searching for something.
“If the Saint King of the Burning Era really reincarnated here… this is a bit excessive, no? Is a reincarnated body really worth this much fanfare?” Qie Wuxing asked, unable to hold back.
The Nine-Fingered Divine Lord replied, “If the Sacred Heart awakens, the Saint King will rise again in no time. What the Grand Cold Demon Sect fears most… is that the Holy Court might sense his presence.”
That explanation made sense. Qie Wuxing nodded and stepped forward.
“What are you doing?” the Nine-Fingered Divine Lord asked quickly.
Without looking back, Qie Wuxing strode into the air and waved casually. “Oh, by the way—I forgot to mention. I am the Divine Anomaly Wraith King Qie Wuxing. Wu Xing was just an alias!”
The Nine-Fingered Divine Lord frowned, but wasn’t angry. He simply watched him go.
“Qie Wuxing, return to your post at once!” boomed the Lord of Divine Anomalies.
Qie Wuxing immediately accelerated—but then his expression darkened.
He looked up—and saw an enormous hand reaching out from behind the demon army, blotting out the sky, grabbing for him.
It was so massive, words couldn’t describe it.
Qie Wuxing was horrified to find he couldn’t move!
Crap!
Despair filled his eyes.
Just then, a flash of sword light pierced into his field of vision—and the monstrous hand vanished like smoke.
He turned instinctively and his eyes went wide.
He saw a figure—one he would never forget for the rest of his life.
Back in the Divine Anomaly Realm, this very figure had once scared him half to death.
It was Gu An, wielding the Nine Extremes Yin-Yang Body!
Gu An walked past him, dual swords in hand, both covered in dark purple demonic energy.
“Y-You… Senior…” Qie Wuxing stammered.
But before he could finish, Gu An blurred into motion—vanishing into a streak of sword light that tore through the black mist ahead.
Before Qie Wuxing could even react, a devastating shockwave swept through.
His jaw dropped, disbelief written all over his face.
A beam of sword energy erupted from within the demon army, cleaving through the thousand-foot demon shadows. The sword’s light drained all color from the heavens and earth.
The cultivators closed their eyes against the glare—ordinary beings couldn’t even look directly at it.
Up in the clouds, the Nine-Fingered Divine Lord’s expression changed dramatically, his mind reeling.
In his eyes, the demon shadows disintegrated, the black mist churned, and a single sword light stretched endlessly—like it could split the entire world in two.
At that moment, in all his 170,000 years, the Nine-Fingered Divine Lord had witnessed the strongest sword strike of his life.
“Who… the h*ll are you?!”
A furious, terrified voice echoed across the heavens.