Chapter 421 - The Battle in an Inch
Despite the fact that they could not be there, but the living beings who were hiding at every corner of Mount Zhong could all feel the unstoppable power of the sword, which blocked out s.p.a.ce and time where the two were battling.
Shen Lian"s "no beginning and no end" lost its flare under Chen
Beidou"s supreme technique. Chen Beidou"s technique served as a perfect ill.u.s.tration of power reaching an exceedingly high level, it could ignore the detail and profoundness of swordcraft. This was the reason Chen Beidou went on with the sacrificial ceremony despite knowing that the short increment in power had its flaws.
He chose power, and he believed in it.
Shen Lian had nowhere to run, and hence he did not. The sword will ignored the distance between time and s.p.a.ce and it came like a tide. It first entered Shen Lian"s heart. In his heart, it lit up a light, with the intention to show him the way in his desperation.
Under the command of Chen Beidou, the tip of the Celestial Trapping Sword was touching in between the brows of Shen Lian. Shen Lian could even feel that his Primordial Spirit was disappearing. The Heart Light was like the fire of a candle in the wind, fluttering under the imminent danger of the sword.
His light of spirituality was dim in the depth of his Primordial Spirit, as if it too had predicted the danger.
A deep sigh was heard. The Five Elements Magical Sword of Shen
Lian was akin to that of water. An unknown sword region all of a sudden filled up an area of up to several hundred miles. Moonlight was trapped inside.
That area was like the black hole in the universe – not even
light could escape. It was the area of true darkness and silence.
At the same time, the heat in heaven and earth were being
sucked away alongside the light. It became cold suddenly. There was a thin layer of ice in some regions of the river. The raft which Daoist Huanzhen and Qingyin were riding on was not moving as it was stuck in between the thin layers of ice.
After the sigh, Shen Lian"s voice was heard by everyone. That
was because the movement of Dao was made aware to everyone, that this technique was called "the void of Taiyin".
The deep voice seemed to come from the corner of the universe
which was the coldest and had the most Yin. It extinguished every agitation everyone"s hearts to the point where no one would know where they belonged. Even thoughts were frozen at that moment.
Since the heaven and earth were on a decline, might as well just freeze
all beings. It was said that the heaven and earth would go through a trial after a long period of time had gone by. By then, there would not be any light, and the world would be at its most Yin and coldest. Most living beings would be frozen.
Freezing was not an action, but when its presence could stop everything. Under the ultimate Yin and coldness, not even the smallest dust could be activated.
Shen Lian"s Heart Light was not extinguished, but the light no longer fluttered. The sword will in his heart stopped exploding and the
sword tip which was near his brows had turned from fast to slow. It was having difficulty advancing. There was no light in the surrounding, but only unresolvable Yin and coldness.
His first attack was "the sun nourishes every being" which represented the Yang part of heaven and earth, it was also Shen Lian"s understanding towards the state of immortality. The second attack was "no beginning and no end", which carried the meaning that Dao began from no beginning, and that sect had no end, and hence the name "Daoist Sect", where there was no beginning and no end. Daoist sect was also the teaching of Qing Xuan, and his interpretation of Qing Xuan"s tradition. The third attack was "the void of Taiyin", it was the dead or alive experience he went through with his grandmaster. The grandmaster obtained everlasting Taiyin, and he too gained something from there, especially the instant connection under Taixu Strategy. It had an indescribable profoundness.
The three attacks went out one by one, with "no beginning and no end" as the core of it, which turned Yang into Yin, following the natural principles of the development of heaven and earth, and subsequently constructed an indestructible power of Dao. Hence, he managed to turn the void into this most Yin and coldest darkness during the most critical time and froze it.
This time around it seemed that the flooding power of Chen Beidou"s sword had come across the strong dam which was being repaired. It could not deal any more damage.
Shen Lian used his supreme intelligence to identify the weakness Chen Beidou had in his heart due to the expansion of his power. He planned this out carefully and hence he managed to see an opportunity in the bleak situation.
The opportunity did not come by easily, and if he was careless, it would be gone. Shen Lian finally struck back, signaling that it was not the end yet.
All of a sudden Shen Lian swung his sword five times so quickly that the five swings seemed to be released at the same time. The green, yellow, red, black and white sword gleams appeared in the darkness of the void.
It was the last five steps of his Eight-Step Sword Art.
This was his trump card – it contained the sword aura of the five elements.
Once it appeared, it had the power to kill celestials and demons. Chen Beidou was trapped.
To the living beings who were watching the battle, they saw that there were five-colored rays of green, yellow, red, black and white which appeared in the dark void. n.o.body could believe that Shen Lian could come back with a counterattack in such a pinch.
When the five-colored rays were lit, everyone understood that the blessed child of heaven did not hold back.
Shen Lian"s Eight-Step Sword Art which was based on Dazizai Shapeless Sword Aura was something unprecedented. It had created a monumental moment in swordcraft.
Huanzhen looked at the s.p.a.ce and time where the two were fighting. Despite not being able to see anything, the appearance of the five-colored rays revealed a lot – it meant Shen Lian was using his origin of five elements. It also meant it was the last attack of Shen Lian, unless he could go above and beyond. During a battle however, Chen Beidou would not give him the opportunity.
If the Dazizai Shapeless Sword Aura which was propelled under the origins of the five elements could do nothing to Chen Beidou, Shen Lian had no other tricks up his sleeves.
He took out an imperial seal, and it seemed like there was chaotic air surrounding it, and at the bottom left corner, there was an edge which was black and yellow. Huanzhen spoke to Qingyin seriously, "If Shen Lian loses later, I will bring him over to the raft. I will let you handle the rest."
Qingyin asked, "Your Holiness, why do we have to save him?"
"It is all for Guangqing." Huanzhen sighed, and his eyes were sad as if he was mourning over something.
In the quiet darkness, an unimaginably fierce battle was happening.
The five sword gleams surrounded Chen Beidou, and they were advancing at an unimaginable speed as the area again shrunk to a perimeter of a hundred miles.
This distance was incredibly small for two top celestials. Only Taishang could have turned dust into a flood, but at this point, while the two were not better than Taishang, they had exceeded most cultivators in the human world. They already reached the essence of power.
Chen Beidou"s blood-colored sword gleam invaded the five-element sword gleam inch by inch. As the power of the impact was too huge, it caused the internal area of the frozen void to shatter. The two battled in the turbulence of the s.p.a.ce. The normal s.p.a.ce outside of the turbulence was however frozen. It reflected an odd imagery of the most active and the most pa.s.sive.
Shen Lian stood still, and his Primordial Spirit was dull. He was trying to command the five-element sword gleam to keep up with Chen Beidou"s
high speed. At the same time, the flesh on the skeleton of his right hand began to rot. His tough body was slowly collapsing.
A small wound can lead to major consequences. Shen Lian"s unhealed right hand was the biggest weakness of his body. At this point in time, it was as if the water of the dam was flowing through a crack – it was losing control.