Chapter 226: We Are All People of Taichu

The Mountain Hermit Yunhe gestured with his hand, and the flying sword returned to it. He shot a cold glance at Master Chi Lian and said, “You have some skill! But you will not escape death.”

With that, he brought the index and middle fingers of his left hand together and stabbed them viciously at his own heart meridian. A mouthful of blood essence sprayed from his mouth onto his right hand. He then flipped his right hand, and a giant palm, condensed from the blood essence and spiritual energy of a Spirit Tree Realm cultivator, appeared in the sky. The palm was so large that its appearance blocked out the very light, pressing down on Master Chi Lian like it was blotting out the sun.

“Giant Spirit Hand!”

For Yunhe to use his own heart’s blood to form the Giant Spirit Hand, such a decisive action left Master Chi Lian dumbfounded. At this moment, no matter how fast he was, he could not escape its range before it came crashing down. A sense of powerlessness even rose in his heart. This giant hand was like the hand of a god, capable of crushing him to dust.

Seeing the despair in his eyes, Yunhe sneered. So what if you are from the Taichu Sect, have learned countless orthodox arts, and have many life-saving methods on you? You do not have a true flying sword and can only burn your own spirit tree’s lifespan to barely fight me. I possess a flying sword. Even if I am just a rogue cultivator, I can still wear you down to death! Once your cultivation realm falls back to the Spirit Sprout Realm, will you have any strength left to fight back?

He thought of how, as a rogue cultivator, he had been looked down upon by those from the so-called famous and orthodox sects. But ever since he had obtained this flying sword, who dared to look down on him now? Master Chi Lian was a perfect example. The feeling of having the world in his hand with a single sword was simply too exhilarating.

Not good!

Qin Haoxuan still had not found a surefire opportunity to kill him, but he could not wait any longer. If he waited any longer, he would be collecting Master Chi Lian’s corpse. It wasn’t a good opportunity, but he had to take it.

The Spiritual Sense Sword that he had already condensed shot out in an instant and struck Yunhe’s head. The golden sword, which could only be seen by spiritual sense, pierced through his brain, and the vast Giant Spirit Hand paused for a moment in the air.

It was just for an instant. But that instant was enough for Master Chi Lian to escape the range of the Giant Spirit Hand. A moment later, the hand came crashing down. But only the edge of its power swept over the already exhausted Master Chi Lian.

Pain! Yunhe was in so much pain he nearly fell from the sky. He didn’t know what had just happened, but his instinct for danger made him immediately release the Eight Trigrams Protective Great Art. A spiritual light composed of sixty-four trigrams protected his entire body, guarding against the unknown danger.

And it was at that very moment that Qin Haoxuan felt a sword qi! A sword qi as vast as the Milky Way descending, shot down from the sky. It locked onto Yunhe’s body, and within that sword qi was… the flavor of Taichu.

“Insolent madman! Hand over your life!”

The might of a single sword strike cleaved the heavens and split the earth, a thousand-zhang sword qi pouring down from the nine heavens. This strike came too fast, too ferociously. It came… right after Qin Haoxuan’s spiritual sense attack, at the very moment he was still in a semi-conscious state. There was no time to dodge, no time to even counterattack.

Yunhe’s protective art took the full force of the blow. Like a thunderclap on a clear day, the earth shook, and the surrounding trees were uprooted and sent flying. His Eight Trigrams Protective Great Art instantly shattered, and he spat out a mouthful of blood as he was sent flying backward. The sword qi had not only destroyed his protective art but had also struck him heavily. If not for the talismanic armor hidden beneath his Daoist robes, this single strike would have already taken his life.

Yunhe was horrified. The strength of the newcomer’s sword qi was actually able to annihilate his protective art. His strength was definitely far greater than his own, and it was clear this person also wielded a true flying sword. He looked to the southeast and saw an old man in a gray-brown long robe, riding a flying sword and trailing a seven-colored rainbow as he flew over at an incredible speed. And when Master Chi Lian saw this old man, a look of joy flashed in his previously despairing eyes.

“Ninth Elder!” From a distance, Qin Haoxuan quickly recognized him. It was the same Ninth Elder who had captured the Blood Demon—Elder Yufeng.

Recalling the strike that had just shattered the giant hand, which had seemed so simple and unadorned, yet its power was far greater than any of Yunhe’s earth-shaking blows, he realized it had already reached the realm of returning to simplicity.

“Powerful! He’s simply too powerful!” Xing, in his armor form, was stunned into giving this evaluation. “Ten Yunhes would not be a match for this one Elder Yufeng.”

At this time, both Master Chi Lian and Yunhe had returned to their normal size. The Ninth Elder rode his sword over to Chi Lian and shouted, “Insolence! To dare to harm an elder of my Taichu Sect! Do you think we have no one?”

The moment he saw Yufeng, Yunhe’s face was ashen. The Ninth Elder, Yufeng, a rank above even Guyun. When a Hall Master of the Taichu Sect retired, only then were they qualified to try and enter the Elder’s Council. And the elders in the council were the very essence of the sect, its divine protectors.

With Yufeng’s appearance, Yunhe knew that his chance to capture Chi Lian was almost gone. But to just retreat like this? He was absolutely unwilling. In this battle… he had exhausted almost everything. If he left now, his position in the Tongtian Temple would be greatly reduced, and he would have no chance of breaking through to the next realm. All of his hopes for a fated encounter… were now pinned on Master Chi Lian. He knew that only by capturing him would he have a future. And right now, he was at his weakest moment.

Seeing Elder Yufeng arrive, Master Chi Lian quickly stopped the Reverse Primordial Art. If he let the forbidden art continue to burn, the spirit tree in his dantian would soon be consumed, and if he fell back to the Spirit Sprout Realm, with his remaining lifespan, all he could do was wait for death.

Elder Yufeng’s eyes were icy cold, without a trace of emotion. Strands of lightning, like small snakes, coiled around the flying sword in his hand. This was his famous Thunderous Sword. He raised it, and the originally clear blue sky instantly darkened. Dark clouds quickly flew in from the horizon, covering a thousand-li radius. The surrounding light instantly dimmed, and the Thunderous Sword in his hand seemed to grow even brighter, the lightning coiling around it gradually thickening until it drew down a massive bolt from the churning clouds.

BOOM!

A muffled thunderclap sounded, and at the same time, a bolt of lightning shot towards the sky-pointing sword. The moment it struck, Elder Yufeng moved. He swung the flying sword down, his target Yunhe. The lightning from the heavens was directly guided by him towards his opponent. The sword qi and the lightning mixed together, and the thousand-li-long bolt, containing a mournful sword qi, tore across the sky, illuminating the gloom, and slashed towards Yunhe with the force of a landslide.

As Elder Yufeng struck, Master Chi Lian did not remain idle. He hated Yunhe for forcing him to use a forbidden art, and he also condensed a spiritual art and shot it at him. However, compared to Elder Yufeng’s lightning sword, the power of his spell was almost negligible.

Watching from a distance, Qin Haoxuan was completely stunned by this method of summoning heavenly lightning.

However, Yunhe, who possessed a flying sword, was no soft persimmon. The moment the renowned Elder Yufeng’s strike came down, he also raised his own sword, madly pouring his spiritual energy into it. The body of the sword gradually grew brighter, until it was as dazzling as the sun, illuminating the surrounding dozens of li.

“You’ve forced my hand!” Yunhe was finally driven to madness. He knew that if he didn’t risk everything now, he would very likely die under their combined attack. A Heaven-Borrowing Pill, which could briefly increase his combat strength at the cost of future harm, was instantly consumed.

Power! Infinite power surged within his body, and the wounds that had been inflicted by Yufeng began to heal at a visible rate. He had dared to block the attack of the forbidden-art-wielding Chi Lian, but he did not dare to block this strike from Elder Yufeng.

After his flying sword had brightened to its peak, he swung it at Elder Yufeng’s strike. A heaven-shaking dragon’s roar echoed through the sky, and the sound waves shattered the grass and trees for a hundred li in every direction, even cracking the rocks.

Starting from the ground beneath Yunhe’s feet, a giant fissure, a hundred zhang wide and bottomlessly deep, appeared and spread at an incredible speed towards the two elders.

Master Chi Lian’s expression changed. Looking at the sword qi in the sky, which was like a scorching sun, and the giant fissure it had created, is this the true power of Yunhe’s flying sword?

In the sky, the two streaks of sword qi clashed. Yunhe’s was clearly weaker; his sun-like qi was scattered, and he simultaneously crushed a protective talisman and circulated his protective spiritual energy to barely block the remnant of Yufeng’s sword qi and Chi Lian’s spell. A mouthful of blood sprayed from his mouth, and he could no longer stand steady, collapsing to one knee after a stumble.

At the same time, an unexpected accident occurred. From the giant fissure beneath the two elders, countless frenzied sword qis suddenly surged out, instantly surrounding them.

Elder Yufeng frowned. He had wondered why Yunhe’s sword qi had been so weak. Had he been holding back at such a life-or-death moment? He never expected him to have split his sword qi into two parts: one to meet his own in the sky, and one to attack him and Chi Lian from below. He knew he certainly couldn’t fight two against one, so he was willing to risk injury to wound his opponents, giving himself a better chance.

Ten Thousand Swords… Return to One! For the third time in one day, Yunhe had overloaded himself to use this strike. This move was beautiful. Even Elder Yufeng, who had always been a master of the sword with an air of detachment from the world, was moved. He quickly swung his flying sword, scattering the frenzied sword qis.

As for Master Chi Lian, he frantically crushed several protective talismans, but these were just ones he had refined himself, and their defensive power was not strong. They were quickly broken by the sword qi from below. The dignified Spirit Tree Realm expert could barely protect his vital points with his own spiritual energy, but his entire body was covered in countless cuts, his clothes tattered and dripping with blood.