Chapter 225: Ten Thousand Swords Return to One, the Beast God’s Roar

At this moment, Master Chi Lian, forced into a corner, had already decided to fight the Mountain Hermit Yunhe to the death. A disciple of Taichu could die in battle, but they absolutely could not bring shame upon the sect!

Master Chi Lian bit his index and middle fingers and, after forming them into a sword-finger, stabbed it viciously into his own sea of qi. A stream of spiritual energy, thick with the stench of blood, surged into the spirit tree in his dantian.

WHOOSH!

A giant spirit tree rose up behind him. The tree, which normally radiated an immortal aura and spiritual charm, was, at this moment… on fire!

In just an instant, his combat power suddenly soared. He clapped his hands together, and a pair of giant spiritual hands appeared in the sky, descending upon Yunhe with the force of the heavens.

“Yunhe! Die for this seat!”

Even Qin Haoxuan, who had fled a great distance, could still hear his furious roar. He looked back and saw that Master Chi Lian’s body had grown to a height of a hundred meters, like a small hill. With a raise of his palms, he had actually shattered Yunhe’s streak of sword light.

Seeing this scene, Xing, in his armor form, said, “Stop running. Those two Spirit Tree Realm fellows are at each other’s throats. Let’s hide here and watch. It would be best if they both end up grievously injured. We might even be able to pick up some benefits.”

Qin Haoxuan, on the one hand, felt that what Xing said was reasonable. On the other… Master Chi Lian was a man of Taichu. Although they had a life-or-death conflict between them, since this old man was stepping up for him under such circumstances, how could he really just leave?

An opportunity, Qin Haoxuan thought, waiting. The opportunity for a spiritual sense attack to appear, to create a fatal flaw in that old thing Yunhe. He knew very well that he probably only had one chance. This Yunhe was a being who had even managed to escape from Guyun. If a single strike couldn’t create a major opening, never mind being killed in a counterattack; even if he just escaped, it would be a great disaster.

So, with one hand on his Mortal Talisman to conceal his aura and the other gripping the Thousand-Mile Talisman, ready to flee at a moment’s notice, he hid behind a rock, peeking at the battle of the Spirit Tree Realm experts in the distance.

Master Chi Lian had used the forbidden art, the Reverse Primordial Art, to block that streak of sword qi with his bare hands. Seeing this, Yunhe’s eyelid twitched. “A forbidden art of the Taichu Sect? The Reverse Primordial? To be able to take my strike with his bare hands, as expected of an elder from the Taichu Sect. You have some spirit. But… it’s not enough! Behold this hermit’s Sky-Soaring Great Art!”

Yunhe’s body shook, and he instantly transformed into a hundred-meter-tall giant, clashing with Master Chi Lian once again.

Master Chi Lian knew he was no match for him in a direct confrontation; the attack power of that flying sword was simply too strong. So, gritting his teeth, he waved his hand and threw out a series of talismans. They transformed, sometimes into a small mountain that pressed down on Yunhe, sometimes into countless sharp blades that slashed at him, and sometimes into a shower of ice arrows that shot towards him.

Although Yunhe’s strength was great, and he possessed a rare artifact like a flying sword, under Master Chi Lian’s completely cost-disregarding, frenzied bombardment of talismans, he could only parry, with no strength left to counterattack. The two of them were both at the early stage of the Spirit Tree Realm. Excluding the flying sword, Yunhe’s own strength was a bit greater, but the items Chi Lian was throwing out were all life-saving treasures. If he were hit by one, he would surely be injured.

The sheer wealth of Master Chi Lian made Yunhe incredibly envious. With his own assets, he could never afford to be so extravagant.

Master Chi Lian, who was in the middle of this frenzied bombardment, was also secretly cursing his bad luck. His talismans had all been bought at a great price. Each one he threw was one less, and it made his heart bleed. At the same time, he was furiously cursing in his heart, You little bastard, Qin Haoxuan, you’ve made me spend a fortune to fight this Yunhe. When I come back to kill you, I will make you wish you were dead!

Finally, he had thrown all his talismans. He immediately formed a hand seal and chanted an incantation. His spiritual energy rapidly condensed into a giant fireball, like a sun, that shot straight for Yunhe. At the same time, he quickly took a Talisman Beast from his robes and, with a toss, it rapidly transformed into a giant black python that coiled towards him. The giant python’s tail swept out, and a hundred-meter-high small hill was directly leveled.

Xing watched the Talisman Beast with wide eyes, smacking his lips as his voice grew hoarse. “Compared to his Talisman Beast, my three are just ants!”

Even Qin Haoxuan could feel the cold, oppressive aura emanating from the giant black python, as if he couldn’t breathe.

Yunhe’s expression was grave. He had already consumed a great deal of his spiritual energy dealing with the talismans and was exhausted. He never expected him to have such a powerful Talisman Beast.

“As expected of an elder of the Taichu Sect. You have so many trump cards! But your Talisman Beast is worthy of me drawing this sword!” Yunhe, feeling the threat, laughed with extreme anger and roared, “Ten Thousand Swords Return to One!”

The giant flying sword that had been quietly floating in front of him suddenly transformed into countless smaller versions. As the innumerable swords appeared, their sharp sword qi tore through the clouds in the sky. The sharp qi filled the heavens and the earth, all of it aimed at the giant black python. Then, the countless flying swords, with the force of a thousand thunderbolts, shot towards it. The black python’s body swept wildly, knocking down many of the endlessly appearing swords.

Seeing that his sword-clones could not deal with the python, Yunhe’s eyes hardened. He clasped his hands together, and instantly, the countless clones that had been knocked away rapidly condensed in the air, forming the phantom image of a giant flood dragon. The power of the flying sword, having transformed into countless clones and then re-condensed, suddenly increased tenfold.

After letting out a heaven-shaking roar, the flood dragon crashed directly into the python’s head.

BOOM!

The giant black python Talisman Beast exploded directly. The flood dragon phantom also dissipated, and the flying sword, its luster now dimmed and its power spent, returned to its original form and flew back into his hand.

When the two beasts had collided, a huge fluctuation of spiritual energy had been released, causing the very earth to tremble. In the vicinity of the battle, patches of forest and small hills were directly leveled by the shockwave. For ten li in every direction, not a single tree or rock remained; they had all been turned to dust.

The shockwave, even from dozens of li away, still kicked up a hurricane, sweeping up yellow sand that filled the sky. Head-sized rocks were swept into the air as if they were as light as paper, and countless large trees were uprooted. Even from a great distance, Qin Haoxuan felt as if the heavens were collapsing and the earth was splitting apart.

This was the power of the strongest strike of two Spirit Tree Realm experts. Qin Haoxuan was horrified.

After his beast was broken, Master Chi Lian also suffered a backlash of spiritual energy and his face turned pale. At the same time, his heart was bleeding. This had been his strongest Talisman Beast. With his own strength increased several times by the Reverse Primordial Art, the beast’s power had also been greatly enhanced, yet he never expected it to be destroyed by a single sword strike. The might of a flying sword was this great! He roared in his heart, If only I had a flying sword, I would have cut you down long ago!

Yunhe, who had injured him, was not in a much better state. He also felt the qi and blood in his body were in turmoil. But at this moment, neither of them could stop. They each prepared their strongest ultimate move for another clash.

“Ten Thousand Swords Return to One!” This was Yunhe’s most proud technique. It consumed a huge amount of spiritual energy; with his current strength, he could at most use it twice a day. This was his second time, and it was clear he intended to kill Master Chi Lian quickly.

Master Chi Lian’s robes and hair fluttered. The sharp sword intent was making his skin crack and bleed. He stuffed a pill into his mouth, formed a hand seal, and the phantom image of a hundred-zhang-tall white tiger appeared behind him. As his hand gestures came together, the white tiger phantom, under a frenzied infusion of his spiritual energy, solidified and then let out a heaven-shaking roar. It opened its bloody maw and pounced nimbly at Yunhe.

“Tiger God’s Roar!”

Struck by the roar, Yunhe, whose qi and blood were already in turmoil, felt as if he had been hit in the chest by a giant hammer. He stumbled back several steps before he could steady himself, and he coughed up several large mouthfuls of black, clotted blood.

The white tiger then met the giant sword. The injured Yunhe’s eyes were full of killing intent, his expression growing even more sinister. “To be able to injure me, as expected of someone from the Taichu Sect! Die!” He clasped his hands together, and the sword intent in his body completely erupted, madly pouring into the giant sword. Its body grew several times larger, the flood dragon phantom reappeared, and it met the white tiger head-on.

BOOM!

The white tiger shattered again, and the flood dragon phantom formed from the flying sword still charged forward relentlessly.

Their strengths were on par, but Yunhe possessed a true flying sword. Even with all his tricks, Master Chi Lian was at a disadvantage. The sword qi that had formed the flood dragon phantom still slashed towards him. His expression was panicked. He crushed another talisman, and a giant shield with an ancient pattern appeared in front of him, finally blocking the attack. The sword qi was blocked, the flood dragon dissipated, and the flying sword returned to its original form, but the shield also vanished.

Seeing the talisman he had crushed, Yunhe sucked in a cold breath. “A protective talisman refined by a late-stage Spirit Tree Realm cultivator. The people of the Taichu Sect are truly wealthy!” Seeing that Master Chi Lian, whose strength was inferior to his own, had so many good things on him, his resolve to capture him, seize his valuables, and force his cultivation arts out of him grew even stronger.

Hiding behind the rock and watching, Qin Haoxuan sucked in a cold breath. “It seems that day, Master Chi Lian wanted to capture me alive and was holding back. Otherwise, I would have died a hundred times over.”

“But of course,” Xing said. “The difference in strength between the Spirit Tree Realm and the Spirit Sprout Realm is simply too vast. If he really wanted to kill you, he could crush you with one hand. That Yunhe is even more formidable. If not for your quick reaction and activating the Thousand-Mile Talisman to escape, he could have killed us both with a single strike.”

Thinking of Yunhe’s methods, a chill ran down Qin Haoxuan’s back.