Chapter 1084: The Sword of Life Prevails
“Who’s that guy? He’s only at the Golden Core realm, but he's acting so brazenly? Did he not just see Senior Brother Hua, a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, get taken down in a single blow?”
“That's Ji Zhaoxuan, an inner disciple! He's usually so quiet and unassuming. I can't believe he's the one stepping up now!”
“Excellent! A true disciple of our Heavenly Sword Sect! He knows he's outmatched, yet he still has the courage to draw his sword! That courage alone makes him one of the finest inner disciples we have!”
......
A buzz of discussion rippled through the crowd of Heavenly Sword Sect disciples. There were murmurs of disdain, gasps of admiration, and whispers of awe.
Li Fan, however, paid no mind to the surrounding clamor. His gaze was locked on Mr. Bai. “Your power, sir, is undoubtedly far greater than my own,” he stated. “But when it comes to understanding the way of the sword, I suspect you may not hold the advantage.”
Li Fan's confidence was palpable, yet Mr. Bai simply offered a faint smile, making no move to refute him.
“Therefore, in our duel today, let us compete only on the superiority of our sword Dao, not on the disparity of our power!”
A stunned silence fell over the crowd at his words.
“You can do that?”
“Bah! How utterly shameless!”
“I, for one, think it's fair. After all, this guest's power is immeasurable. If he were to use his full strength, I fear only our Eldest Senior Brother would stand a chance of defeating him.”
Mr. Bai seemed unperturbed by Li Fan's rather audacious request. He simply nodded and said with a smile, “Don't worry. I never use my strength to bully those weaker than me.”
With that, the unfathomable aura emanating from him instantly subsided, settling to a level identical to that of Ji Zhaoxuan, whom Li Fan was possessing—the late stage of the Golden Core realm.
Li Fan cupped his fists, his expression growing solemn. “Since you have agreed...”
“Then face my sword!”
But the words had barely left his lips before Li Fan struck.
By the time Li Fan's sharp cry reached the ears of the spectators, the phantom of a colossal sword had already materialized in the sky.
It descended from above, its tip aimed squarely at Mr. Bai's head.
Surrounding the colossal blade were phantoms of countless other divine swords, a veritable armory in the sky. The great sword at the center reigned like an emperor, commanding a tempest of crisscrossing sword-light and weaving energies that illuminated the air.
On the ground, every watching disciple from the Heavenly Sword Sect lost control of their personal swords the instant the great blade appeared. One by one, their weapons flew from their scabbards to hover in the air, blades humming softly as if in audience with their sovereign.
More than that, the very ground of the Heavenly Sword Sect began to tremble.
It felt as though something deep within the heart of the sect was stirring to life.
This earth-shaking spectacle naturally seized the attention of every cultivator in the Heavenly Sword Sect.
Countless figures began to converge on the scene.
The arrival of one cultivator in particular, a man clutching a wine gourd and reeking of alcohol, drew a collective gasp from the crowd. “The Eldest Senior Brother?!”
“Eldest Senior Brother is here!”
Situ Yao, the Eldest Senior Brother of the Heavenly Sword Sect, had shed his usual devil-may-care attitude. His expression was grave as he stared intently at Li Fan and Mr. Bai.
Yet the commotion outside the dueling grounds seemed to have no effect on the two combatants.
The instant the phantom blade materialized amidst its ten thousand brethren, a flicker of astonishment crossed Mr. Bai's eyes.
He felt the wooden sword in his hand suddenly grow lighter.
It was as if...
...the very essence of the sword Dao, once concentrated within his blade, had instantaneously transferred to his opponent!
False Claiming Heavenly Dao, Li Fan thought, combined with my understanding of the Wooden Sword as a Heaven's Wonder. With the element of surprise, I can instantly seize control of the Xuanhuang Realm's entire sword Dao!
But Mr. Bai is an incarnation of the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao itself. This trick will only work once.
I only have one chance!
Li Fan's mind was calmer than it had ever been.
At his command, the colossal sword shifted from illusion to reality, and the thousands of surrounding blades materialized in its wake.
They descended like a sudden, torrential downpour of steel.
Countless blades tore through space, coalescing into a terrifying storm that swept across the field.
The faces of the onlookers paled, and they scrambled back to avoid the onslaught.
Even so, many Nascent Soul and even Soul Transformation masters were sent staggering by the sudden gale of swords, struggling to keep their footing.
To say nothing of the disciples with lesser cultivation.
“You've got to be kidding me! Is that something a Golden Core cultivator can even do?”
“Don't tell me... has Ji Zhaoxuan been hiding his true power all along?”
“Monstrous! To think we'd be lucky enough to witness a duel between two absolute monsters!”
The raging storm of sword energy obscured the view of most onlookers.
But the Dao Integration cultivators, and those even more powerful, kept their gazes fixed on the heart of the tempest, their eyes unblinking.
To their astonishment, they saw that Mr. Bai made no move to dodge or evade the world-ending attack.
He simply allowed the countless whistling blades to slam into him.
But strangely, the swords seemed to inflict no harm upon him.
Instead, they vanished like stones sinking into the ocean, like snowflakes melting into a lake.
They simply vanished without a trace.
The only change was that the wooden sword in Mr. Bai's hand seemed to regain its vitality.
The storm of swords raged on, seemingly endless and with no sign of abating. Amidst the chaos, Li Fan himself had vanished.
Mr. Bai showed no intention of retaliating, standing perfectly still at the center of the maelstrom.
“The Sword of Xuanhuang...”
“I never imagined someone could master it to such a degree. Truly remarkable!”
Mr. Bai praised him with genuine admiration.
“A pity,” he continued, “that this alone is not enough to defeat me.”
Mr. Bai's voice echoed through the storm of swords.
His gaze swept through the chaos, searching for Li Fan's position.
But Li Fan had already become one with the storm, his very being dissolving into the thousands of sword paths. Even for Mr. Bai, an incarnation of the Heavenly Dao, finding him in that moment was impossible.
The roaring of the myriad blades reached a crescendo, a final, furious peak before the storm began to wane.
And in the instant that countless flashes of sword-light burst forth, a single, seemingly ordinary wooden sword appeared, hidden among them.
It shot silently toward Mr. Bai, its path unwavering, its intent absolute.
At first, it seemed no different from any other blade in the storm.
But as the wooden sword accelerated, its presence grew ever more powerful.
It blazed like a wildfire consuming the horizon, like a meteor streaking through the dark.
Beside it, every other blade in the storm paled into insignificance.
“This is...” A look of shock and regret crossed the faces of Situ Yao and the other Heavenly Sword Sect elders who were watching.
It was the ultimate strike, one fueled by the user's very life force.
And it would be their last.
The Sword of Life!
Mr. Bai, of course, recognized the nature of this strike.
He couldn't help but hesitate.
It was only a duel. There was no need for the young man across from him to sacrifice his life simply for the sake of victory.
Besides...
The young man's understanding of the sword was truly rare, in no way inferior to his own.
At this critical time, every talented individual was a boon to the Xuanhuang Realm. For him to die for nothing would be a terrible waste.
In a flash of thought, Mr. Bai made his decision.
“I concede.”
The instant the words left his mouth, he released the restriction on his cultivation.
Unleashing the power of the Longevity realm, he forcibly reversed the process of Li Fan burning away his life force.
However...
Li Fan showed no sign of stopping.
Even though the attack had lost all its momentum, his speed did not diminish.
In the end, the wooden sword in his hand still gently pricked Mr. Bai's body.
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