Ancestral Master Zhang"s eyes lit up as he peered into the distance. He said rather excitedly, "Qin Yun"s Sword Dao is even stronger than it was three years ago. Although it"s relatively easy to make improvements after the initial stepping into the Dao, it"s still impressive for him to make a such breakthrough in just a few years! What a pity. He cultivates in the sword immortal lineage. It"ll be impossible for him to condense an Essence Soul."
"If he were to condense an Essence Soul, he wouldn"t be able to take part in operations like this. It"s because he is a mortal sword immortal that he can fight evil in this world," said Human Emperor with a sigh. "He will also receive great merit upon success. Perhaps, he might be able to condense a Merit Glow."
"So what if he has a Merit Glow?" Ancestral Master Zhang shook his head instead. "To become a Merit Immortal, one needs an immense amount of merit to obtain Merit Gilded Glow. Human Emperor, you suppressed a huge catastrophe but even you are still far from having Merit Gilded Glow, preventing you from becoming a Merit Immortal… It"s still too difficult for Qin Yun to attain eternal life."
Human Emperor nodded slightly.
It was already very difficult to become a Skyimmortal.
But in fact, Merit Immortals were even rarer!
Merit Immortals did not suffer the tribulations. Although they tended to be weaker in strength, they similarly could live eternally and carefree! Many experts were unwilling to be enemies of Merit Immortals too. They would rather be friends! Merit Immortals had the effect of ensuring the light from providence s.h.i.+ned on any faction they were in. Although they were weaker, they had connections all over the world. They were a lot more influential than typical Skyimmortals.
Of course, many cultivators in the Great Chang world had not even heard of Merit Immortals.
"Indeed, it"s too difficult for him to attain eternal life." Human Emperor sighed.
"With his talent, he might have become another Skyimmortal if he did not cultivate in the sword immortal lineage." Ancestral Master Zhang shook his head gently. As he chatted with Human Emperor, both of them found it a pity despite them being existences that stood atop the world.
Meanwhile, Hong Lingtong and Eighth Zhu were doing their best to crack the array formation. They also kept tabs on Qin"s Yun"s battle with the mysterious fiendish demon.
"What?"
"He"s even stronger than us reincarnated immortals?"
Hong Lingtong and Eighth Zhu were reeling in amazement but they also felt a little annoyed.
They were amazed because there was a chance at victory! They felt annoyed because they had been cultivating for very long periods of time. Despite them being reincarnations of immortals, they had still been overtaken by Qin Yun. It left them with mixed feelings.
"Again!" An angry roar sounded from the array formation with the billowing black fog. He Qian roared as he charged forward once again. This time, he was using all of the array formation"s might to repress Qin Yun.
"Kill!"
Qin Yun stood in midair as he used sword kinesis to control his Intrinsic Flying Sword.
The Intrinsic Flying Sword was like a swath of misty rain, flying gracefully through the sky, leaving blurry phantom streaks in its wake. He Qian struck out with his gigantic stone palms to block but the flying sword dodged them, causing the palm strikes to constantly miss!
"It"s too fast and unpredictable." He Qian panicked.
In terms of his realm, Qin Yun was indeed stronger than three years ago. His Dao domain now spanned thirty kilometers.
His Intrinsic Flying Sword had gone from the first-grade to the transcendent-grade, making it faster and more powerful.
He had improved in every aspect…
As for the Other Realm Fiendcelestial He Qian, all he had was a mountainous body that was at the pinnacle at the mortal level. Despite having an extremely high realm, he appeared overly clumsy in his new body.
"Puah Puah Puah!"
The flying sword tore into He Qian"s mountainous body, carving out deep cracks as large amounts of rubble flew out.
"I"m being dominated by him despite the aid of the array formation?" He Qian"s combat experience was very rich as well. He instantly understood the gap between them. "I"m unable to defeat him but all I need to do is to stall for time as best as I can. I won"t die with the array formation aiding me!"
Although rubble was repeatedly being sliced off of He Qian"s mountainous body, the injuries did not affect him much. The rubble would rapidly fly back and fuse into his body.
"They are very fast at cracking the array."
He Qian commanded with his mind as his Dharma treasures, Solar Treasure Wheel and Heavy Mountain Seal, flew out separately. One each attacked Hong Lingtong and Eighth Zhu! He had borrowed two first-grade Dharma treasures from the Boor Ancestral Sect. With his strength, he could keep fighting Qin Yun in close proximity while fully controlling the two first-grade Dharma treasures. Any more and he would not have been able to deliver his full strength.
"Dharma treasures?" When Qin Yun saw this from outside the array, he immediately waved his hand. The six Cosmic Bangles on his left wrist flew out in response.
"Whoos.h.!.+ Whoos.h.!.+ Whoos.h.!.+"
The six Cosmic Bangles split up, with three flying to Hong Lingtong and the other three flying to Eighth Zhu.
"Bam! Bam! Bam!"
While en route, the six Cosmic Bangles separately intercepted the Solar Treasure Wheel and the Heavy Mountain Seal!
It was a complete Numinous treasure set after all. Although it was not as powerful as Qin Yun"s Intrinsic Flying Sword, it was able to easily hold back the two Dharma treasures.
"It looks like ordinary flying sword attacks cannot vanquish this fiendish demon."
While Qin Yun controlled the Cosmic Bangles, he did not let up with his attacks. He immediately used his strongest flying sword move—Sorrowful Parting!
Rip!
The flying sword streaked across the sky like a nimble seamstress, slicing through the sky easily! It left behind a long black rift. At the same time, his Intrinsic Flying Sword slashed across He Qian"s gigantic rock palms. The sword penetrated his palm silently before stabbing into his body. A boom resounded from where he was struck as the stone palm exploded. Lots of rubble was sent flying from the mountainous body.
He Qian stumbled in retreat as he turned fl.u.s.tered.
"This attack"s strength is just too much. I"ll be doomed if he hits me with it approximately twenty times. I can"t let this continue." He Qian knew that he was facing the most dire situation. He was forced into a corner.
If he allowed the flying sword to continue a.s.saulting him… he would be killed!
"Must I cast a forbidden spell? I need to stall for a day. Even if I fail to stall them, killing two or three peak third Firmament Essence Soul realms would be considered a great meritorious deed," thought He Qian. "If I were to cast the forbidden spell, I would not gain any merit especially if I was forced to do so by a mortal sword immortal."
"Qin Yun, stop!" He Qian bellowed angrily.
However, Qin Yun directed his Intrinsic Flying Sword to produce a curved trajectory as it came attacking again. It cast Sorrowful Parting once again!
Although this strike burdened his soul, Qin Yun was able to cast it ten times at his present realm! As for what followed after the first ten strikes? He could recover using the Nine Revolutions Spirit Pills! In order to deal with the mysterious fiendish demon, Qin Yun was naturally willing to use the pills. Furthermore, back when he killed Black Dragon and Jadeface, he found three more Nine Revolutions Spirit Pills. Now, with so much treasure on him, it was not difficult for him to buy more than ten Nine Revolutions Spirit Pills if he so needed.
Attempts to wear him down?
He could handle it!
"Boom!" Rubble blasted apart once more as He Qian suffered tremendous damages again.
However, both parties produced terrifying explosive blasts at the third Firmament Essence Soul realm. Instead of blocking the remnant shock wave through the array formation, He Qian protected the shock wave and transferred portions of it to a corner in one of the closest villages.
There were many villagers watching from afar.
The black fog was billowing around a towering giant with ceaseless booms coming from the combat.
The villagers were stunned and flabbergasted.
"What"s happening?"
"I do not know."
"Perhaps immortals are fighting fiendcelestials."
The villagers were still speculating.
Suddenly, a shock wave swept through the area, immediately reducing several houses to dust. It also swept up more than ten villagers. Their bodies were incomparable to the rock used to construct their houses. The ten of them were similarly reduced to dust.
"Brother Er"niu!"
"Grandpa!"
"Old Man!"
Chaos broke out as the villagers who were watching the commotion panicked.
"Sword Immortal Qin, aren"t you supposed to care for the lives of mortal humans?" He Qian sent a voice transmission immediately. "I just sent a shock wave sweeping through that village. Fewer than twenty people died. If I wished it, the shock waves caused by our battle can extend through the entire array for tens of kilometers. Many of the fifty thousand humans living here would perish."
"As long as you stop attacking, I will naturally stop harming the innocent." The towering He Qian glared at Qin Yun. He was fl.u.s.tered.
He was unwilling to use a forbidden skill unless absolutely necessary.
Therefore, he came up with such a warped method.
It was worth it if he could stall for even ten minutes.
The fifty thousand humans had been prepared for the peak third Firmament Essence Soul realm cultivators. It would be a waste if he sacrificed them to stop a mortal sword immortal like Qin Yun! Therefore, he had ensured that the shock wave only killed less than twenty people as a warning.
"Qin Yun, ignore his threats," said Ancestral Master Zhang through a voice transmission. Despite watching the battle from a great distance away, he was able to determine that He Qian was threatening Qin Yun. "If we allow him to act as he pleases, the outcome will be hundreds, if not thousands, of times worse than the deaths of fifty thousand humans."
"I understand."
Qin Yun nodded.
With a sweep of his gaze, he saw the clueless fifty thousand villagers from the nine villages within the array"s billowing black fog.
"However, these villagers are indeed innocent. Because of this, I have to give it another try and attempt to vanquish this mysterious fiendish demon in one go." Qin Yun was unwilling to see fifty thousand humans die, but He Qian was clearly threatening him. He just needed to attack once and He Qian would likely use the shock waves from the battle to implicate more villagers.
"Whoosh."
Qin Yun grabbed with his left hand and a bronze calabash appeared in his hand. Qin Yun used his right hand to pull out the calabash"s stopper.
"Grotto-heaven Sword Calabash, vanquis.h.!.+"
There was a fierce glint in Qin Yun"s eyes as he instantly powered the Dharma treasure.
A million beams of Sword Qi spewed out from the bronze calabash instantly. Each one had terrifying might, and each one was extremely terrifying on its own. Under the Grotto-heaven Sword Calabash"s control, the million beams formed a terrifying sword array of decimation! Wherever the Sword Qi pa.s.sed, the void would be ripped to smithereens.
"Escape! Escape! Escape!" He Qian was so horrified that he instantly cast his forbidden spell. He charged towards the World Entrance behind him at his fastest possible speed in the form of a blurry stream of light. However, he was soon devoured by the destructive, storm-like Sword Qi!