Chapter 119

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Chapter 119: Sword Domain that encompasses Heaven and Earth

Ming He’s pupils constricted sharply as she instinctively leaped into the air to evade the deadly blade light.

With the tips of her toes touching the ground, she sprang onto the roof from the stone bridge at the side of the ancient residence. Knowing she was no match for the foreign race behind her, she swiftly prepared to take flight with her sword to escape.

As long as she could return to Qin Huang Mountain, she would surely be safe.

Even if she couldn’t make it back to Qin Huang Mountain, Tianwu City had many powerful allies. If she created enough commotion for them to arrive, she would naturally be safe.

However, the ancient residence was not an ordinary one; it was sealed with a formation.

When Ming He’s body collided with the unseen barrier, a sharp pain coursed through her entire being. A faint blue light flickered in the air, and the forceful rebound came from that very glow.

Was this… a formation seal?

Ming He bit her lip, gathering her energy into her palm. When she struck out, the power she unleashed was enough to create great waves, yet when it hit the blue barrier, it vanished like a clay cow sinking into the sea, causing no ripples at all.

She could not break this seal.

Meanwhile, the blade light was already near.

There was no way to avoid it.

It seemed she could only confront it head-on.

Realizing this fact, Ming He’s eyes grew cold with determination, a mocking smile creasing her lips, while shadows darkened in her gaze with a hint of self-mockery.

What more was there to understand?

It was Shen Yue.

Shen Yue had led her here, revealing her location to the foreign race. The formation in the ancient residence had sealed off her escape route; she had betrayed her!

And she had thought of Shen Yue as a friend!

Ming He curled her lips into a low laugh, a sound tinged with an unbearable desolation, her expression reminiscent of a moon shadow, exuding a chilling demeanor.

But what was the reason?

Lowering her gaze, she slashed through the crumpled bamboo paper she had clutched in her hand; the paper instantly shattered into flakes that fell like snow. She focused on the two remaining black characters among the debris, her atmosphere deepening, and with a single sweep of her sword, she blocked the sweeping blade light that could cleave the sky.

The clash of blades produced a shockwave, the sword intent dispersing the dust. The noise was enough to alert the entire Tianwu City, yet as Ming He glanced around, she only saw cultivators in martial robes walking through the long alleys, as if they were deliberately ignoring her.

It wasn’t that they were ignoring her; it was that they genuinely couldn’t hear.

She let out a bitter laugh and spat out a mouthful of blood towards the sky. The Jing Ying Sword in her hand trembled uncontrollably. In the next moment, a thunderous boom echoed as the blade light, unmatched and unstoppable, swooped down and severed the Jing Ying Sword in her grasp.

Blood spilled from her mouth as she was propelled away, plummeting from the rooftop of the ancient residence. The Jing Ying Sword carved a graceful arc in the air before embedding itself in the distance.

Upon impact, her internal organs jolted violently, and her blue and white mystical outfit quickly soaked with the blood that seeped out, transforming in an instant into a blood-soaked garment.

“Ming He, are you okay?” Qiu Qiu perched on Ming He’s shoulder, its pitch-black eyes darting with concern and worry.

“I’m still alive,” Ming He strained to breathe, her heart racing as she relied against a nearby wooden stake to stand.

Moments before, when life and death were at stake, a gentle force had protected her heart; otherwise, she would have succumbed to the chilling blade light.

She realized this power came from Qiu Qiu, and thus her gaze towards it held a hint of gratitude.

“Thank goodness.” Qiu Qiu sighed in relief and turned to look at the incoming figure with her. It was a man resembling a middle-aged human cultivator, with black hair and eyes, holding a long knife, dressed in sturdy martial clothing, and bearing a rugged appearance.

He appeared completely unrelated to the foreign race, yet he was indeed one of them—of the Tian Yan Tribe.

Qiu Qiu fixed its gaze on the middle-aged man like a beast stalking its prey. In the next moment, the Little Black Beast leaped off Ming He’s shoulder, hovering in midair with a look of disdain in its eyes. To harm Ming He in its presence was nothing short of courting death!

“A divine beast, Pi Xiu?” The middle-aged cultivator sneered, his eyes gleaming with confidence and arrogance. “I’ve heard that slaying the Ancient Fiends invites divine retribution. Today, I’ll put that to the test!”

With those words, he gathered energy in his right palm, the light swirling intensely. In a flash, he lunged forward, hurling a radiant beam of light toward Qiu Qiu, who was gathering strength in the air.

That was…

Ming He’s heart clenched. Her instincts screamed danger, and she struggled to channel her spiritual energy through her meridians, attempting to intercept the attack with her bare hands.

She knew Qiu Qiu was a divine beast, a Pi Xiu from ancient times, who had slumbered in the Tian Cang Secret Realm, maintaining its form as a Little Black Beast to conserve spiritual energy.

Transforming back into a Pi Xiu would take time.

But Ming He had overestimated her own strength, weakened as she was, and underestimated her opponent—a peak cultivator of the Heaven Origin realm.

The light swept past her in an instant, enveloping Qiu Qiu completely.

As the glow faded, Ming He looked up to see a small net, shimmering with a dark purple hue, trapping Qiu Qiu like a snare for birds. The net tightened gradually, a faint dark glimmer appearing at its opening—a cage specifically designed for the Pi Xiu.

“Ah!”

Trapped within the net, Qiu Qiu let out a piercing cry that shook the heavens. The sound was filled with agony, a guttural wail that seemed to emanate from its very bones, and its transformation into a Pi Xiu was abruptly halted.

The Little Black Beast was ensnared in the dark net, its vitality draining away. Its once glossy black eyes now glowed with a bloody hue.

It glared at Kuang San with a hatred and resentment that ran deep in the veins of the dragon clan.

This dark net had once stolen the lives of the dragon clan’s ancestors.

Now, it had come for Qiu Qiu.

“Qiu Qiu!” Ming He cried out, her heart aching. She stepped forward, ignoring Kuang San’s mocking gaze, and grabbed the dark net, channeling her energy to free Qiu Qiu.

Surprisingly, Kuang San made no move to stop her.

Ming He hesitated for a moment but pressed on, reaching for the net’s opening. The moment her fingers touched it, her entire body convulsed, and she nearly dropped the net from the sheer pain.

It hurt!

It hurt so much!

The pain was soul-deep, like electric currents coursing through her, threatening to shatter her entire body and extinguish her vitality.

No wonder Kuang San hadn’t stopped her.

Ming He bit her lip, her eyes dark with determination as she endured the agony. Summoning her spiritual energy, she drew the Blue Sea Sword from her back. With the Unsheathing Style, she executed the first move of the nameless sword technique, ignoring the backlash from the dark light as she slashed open the net’s opening.

Then, with her other hand, she gently lifted the weakened Qiu Qiu, cradling it in her palm. With a swift motion of her long sword, she shattered the net as easily as tearing through bamboo paper.

“Qiu Qiu, are you okay?” Blood trickled from the corner of Ming He’s lips, but her gaze was filled with concern as she looked at the Little Black Beast.

Qiu Qiu’s once-black fur was now stained with blood, just like her own.

Was this the power of a peak cultivator of the Heaven Origin realm?

Ming He clenched her fist and carefully placed the unconscious little beast on a nearby stone pedestal, infusing it with Star Power to protect its heart. Then, she turned, her eyes sharp as blades, locking onto Kuang San.

The middle-aged man from the foreign race, who looked no different from a human cultivator, had stood motionless throughout her actions, neither interfering nor attempting to strike.

He seemed almost indifferent.

Was it because the formation seal had sealed off the area, leaving him unshakably confident?

Was it because he saw her as a caged beast that he was indifferent?

A cold light flickered in Ming He’s eyes as she slowly raised the Blue Sea Sword. She watched Kuang San across from her, who curled his lips in a smirk, and then, unexpectedly, she closed her eyes. The bloodstained hem of her robes fluttered without wind, and her aura steadily climbed, sharp enough to pierce the heavens—a testament to the indomitable spirit of a sword cultivator.

Kuang San frowned at her. As a peak cultivator of the Heaven Origin realm, how could the sword cultivator before him, merely at the third level of the Wind Master realm, possibly be his match?

She didn’t even have the qualification to cross blades with him.

Yet, he felt danger emanating from her.

How could that be?

He sneered, ignoring the warning of his Tian Yan eyes, and stood patiently, waiting for Ming He’s next move.

The formation seal was a creation of the Alien Race Hunting Hall, perfected over nearly a decade. Though it isolated the world for only an hour, that was more than enough.

Ming He could not escape his grasp.

The deputy leader had ordered him to break her pride, to bend her spine, and to shatter her will, ensuring her death in the throes of ultimate agony.

So, he had all the patience in the world to play with her.

No matter how fiercely she struggled, she couldn’t even budge a finger of his. It was amusing, in a twisted way.

Humiliating and slaughtering a genius was his specialty.

But then, Kuang San’s pupils constricted. The Tian Yan eyes on his forehead blared a frantic warning, and the hair on his body stood on end—a sign that the Tian Yan Tribe faced a life-and-death crisis.

On the battlefield of the heavens, this eye had allowed them to evade the human race’s hunts time and again, carving out their own space in the chaos.

Now, the Tian Yan eyes were telling him that this sword cultivator had the power to kill him.

But how?

Kuang San stared in disbelief, just as Ming He slowly opened her eyes.

What kind of gaze was that?

Devoid of joy or sorrow, her dark pupils were empty of emotion, as if she were a creator gazing down from on high, cold and untouchable.

Ming He’s lips curled slightly, her emotions compressed to their limit. She forced herself to remain detached, her focus solely on the sword in her hand. At this moment, the world was nothing but the sword.

This was a world sealed by the formation, a world that belonged to sword cultivators alone.

The Blue Sea Sword rippled with waves around her, like loyal soldiers rallying around their sovereign. She raised her right hand, and the waves surged forward, crashing toward the tip of her sword.

The formation seal was no longer a shackle—it was her stage.

Though she stood in a narrow alley beneath the ancient residence, it felt as though she stood amidst an endless ocean. Amid the rising waves, her gaze was sharp, filled with a chilling murderous intent, and her sword moved with the force of a tsunami.

At only the third level of the Wind Master realm, she had already mastered the forces of nature to such an extent, and this was just the beginning…

Kuang San narrowed his eyes, his guard reaching its peak. He tightened his grip on his long knife, gathering his strength. His voice emerged hoarse and strained, “Swordsmanship, Fourth Realm—Sword Domain that encompasses Heaven and Earth!”

No wonder the deputy leader had insisted on her elimination, no matter the cost.

And he had to keep it hidden from the hall master and the envoy.

“Indeed,” Ming He confirmed, her gaze icy and unwavering. The tip of her sword shifted slightly, stirring the heavens and earth. In her eyes lay the vastness of the East Sea; beneath her sword loomed towering mountains.

This was the essence of the Sword Domain.

The domain of the East Sea, the domain of the dragon clan.

This is what she comprehended from the dragon scale of her life, obtained from the Giant Serpent at Dragon Mountain in the Eastern Sea.

Dragon Mountain said that the dragon clan does not practice Swordsmanship, and that is true.

But Swordsmanship can encompass all things; with a sword in the heart, anything can become a sword.

The Sword Master’s writings in the scripture tower of Qin Huang Mountain once stated that the elegance of a sword cultivator is unmatched by heaven and earth. A single leaf, a droplet of water, or even a line of air drawn with a finger can become a sword.

All things can become a sword, enveloping the realm of Swordsmanship that dominates the World of Martial Arts.

The master’s wife said that the sword domain is about creating a world belonging to sword cultivators, a world that is exclusively for them.

A supremely powerful sword cultivator establishes this realm like a land of the undefeated.

So here is her world, Ming He’s world.

A world formed from the foundation of the sword, a sword domain as vast as the ocean.

She shifted the majestic essence of the turbulent Eastern Sea, faced with the waves of the Giant Serpent, to this place, demonstrating it through her understanding.

Of course, she had not yet reached the realm of the undefeated, but it should be sufficient.

Ming He looked at Kuang San, whose face was filled with seriousness as he gazed at her, his bloodstained thin lips pursed, then slowly opened as a character that could shake the heavens came forth.

She said, “Lin!"

This was certainly not just an ordinary word.

This was the first of the Nine-Character True Words.

Since the moment she took the bone book from Qu Lingyun in Liu Yun Sect, she had relentlessly practiced this supreme technique of the Soul Clan day and night.

Though she had only grasped its surface, it was already enough.

Relying on it, the Soul Ancestor had once slaughtered a million of the alien race. Though she was not as powerful, she couldn’t fall too far behind.

Who isn’t a genius in their own right!

As she spoke, the white Ghostly Sword of her Sea of Souls shot forth, piercing through layers of space towards Kuang San’s Sea of Souls.

The alien race’s Sea of Souls was naturally solid and invulnerable, but it did not include the techniques of the Soul Clan and the Ghostly Sword.

Even though Ming He’s cultivation was still low, it was enough to hinder his movement for just a moment.

And sometimes, a moment can be eternal.

Ming He had already taken a step forward the instant she spoke, her long sword soaring straight toward him, closing in on a direct line.

There were no frills, no extravagant sword forms; the sword came from the Domain Lord’s mansion in the Eastern Region, a low-grade Blue Sea Sword, a sharp blade earned through her innate talent. The sword technique was the second form of the Nameless Sword Technique, a technique she realized through her mortal body in the Vast Ancient Realm’s cause and effect of the mortal world.

The sword domain belonged to her, the very essence of Ming He’s name.

Ming He smiled with a faint, shallow smile, disregarding Kuang San’s desperate strike aimed at life and death.

The Blue Sea Sword swirled with waves, crashing forward as she stood atop the edge of the storm, pressing down on the sword body. With an elegant maneuver, she directed the sword tip steadily into Kuang San’s chest, blood spraying forth and staining her face.

At the same time, Kuang San’s long knife also reached her heart.

Yet Ming He’s smile remained, unperturbed and fearless, as if she had long anticipated this moment.

Indeed, she had anticipated it.

The long knife pierced through Ming He’s bloodied garment, but failed to penetrate her heart.

The Radiant Heart-Protecting Mirror, obtained from the Domain Lord’s hand, shone brightly, blocking the knife in this life-and-death moment.

In the next instant, the Heart-Protecting Mirror shattered, falling onto the flagstone with a series of clattering sounds.

Amid the mirror fragments lay the knife’s blade and handle.

Kuang San’s long knife also broke apart.

With Wind Master cultivation, she severed the Heaven Origin!

This was the elegance that belonged solely to Ming He.