Seeking the Flying Sword Path

"Obliterate."

Seven stars descended once again, smas.h.i.+ng onto Patriarch Spirit Devouring"s body one after another. However, his translucent wings expanded in size and wrapped his entire body. He buried his head under his wings" protection since, under the thirty-six chains" lock down, all Patriarch Spirit Devouring could do was bear the brunt of the a.s.saults.

The blows left him trembling all over. His abdomen and various other spots were bleeding, but they rapidly healed at a discernible pace.

"T-to think that I have been reduced to this state." Patriarch Spirit Devouring silently endured, but his eyes were filled with insanity. "I"ve cultivated for so many years, but all I can amount to is suffering a beating?"

Mixed emotions from depression to anger filled his heart.

But as a perfected Great Dao expert, Patriarch Spirit Devouring had never thought of giving up.

"Qin Yun."

Patriarch Spirit Devouring roared, "It"s true I never expected you, as an Itinerant Immortal, would be able to reach the half-step Heavenly Dao realm in just a few thousand years. It was my underestimation of you, and I deserve my downfall because of that! But even if you are at the half-step Heavenly Dao realm, all you can do is repress me. Killing me is nothing but a dream!"

"You sure are tenacious when you are already on the brink of death." Qin Yun controlled his Misty Rain Array as well as the Fiend Annihilation Array to their full potential. Stars barraged his enemy with terrifying might.

"I do not have the power to fight back," roared Patriarch Spirit Devouring, "but my body has long been cultivated to match that of a Connate Numinous treasure! My wings have been cultivated to match that of a Connate Pinnacle Numinous treasure. It"s impossible for you to keep up this array formation forever, right? You will need to cultivate, won"t you? All you have is about three thousand years. You won"t be able to kill me! You won"t!"

Qin Yun ignored his angry bellows. All he did was frown slightly.

As he repeated Seven Star Vanquishment, Qin Yun got a deeper understanding of how terrifying Patriarch Spirit Devouring"s body was.

"This Daoist Wen"s body sure is powerful," Qin Yun thought. "Cultivators of the spirit-devouring lineage will cultivate a part of their body to an extremely powerful state. Daoist Wen"s strongest part is his sharp proboscis. It"s in no way inferior to a Connate Cardinal treasure. Legend has it that Daoist Wen, who has reached a perfected Great Dao, has always been attempting to cultivate the rest of his body to match that of a Connate Cardinal treasure. If he really manages to do so, perhaps even the Heavenly Dao realm existences would only be able to repress him and not kill him.

"From the looks of it, most of his body matches that of an ordinary Connate Numinous treasure. It"s easy to damage it, but his wings match that of a Connate Pinnacle Numinous treasure. They protect his entire body. It will be easy to repress him, but it"s indeed difficult to kill him."

Every perfected Great Dao existence had something they were most adept in.

Apart from having the best proboscis in the Three Realms, Daoist Wen could also cultivate another body part to an extremely powerful state. Although he had not yet cultivated for long enough to do so. Given another few million years, it was possible that the rest of his body could match a Connate Pinnacle Numinous treasure. If that happened, he could be said to be unkillable under the Heavenly Dao realm.

But even so…

Qin Yun was still facing difficulty in trying to kill him.

"Oh?"

The Heavenly Lord of Numinous Treasure who had set up the Immortal Vanquis.h.i.+ng Array outside the Huifeng Great World also noticed this fact. He knitted his brows slightly.

"Disciple, it"s true that this Daoist Wen has cultivated his body to a rather strong state. With your present strength, how long will it take to kill him?" inquired Numinous Treasure.

"Master, if I were to attack with Seven Star Vanquishment with all my strength while being supplemented with the Fiend Annihilation Array"s refinement abilities… it will take me eight centuries without any rest for me to kill him," said Qin Yun with a voice transmission.

"Eight centuries?" Numinous Treasure frowned and replied, "Daoist Wen is right. It"s impossible for you to power the array formation at full strength the entire time. You need to cultivate as well. You are still about three thousand years away from the final Itinerant Immortal tribulation. Wasting eight hundred years on him isn"t worth it."

"Master."

Qin Yun was working out a scheme as he sent a voice transmission. "In order to deal with the Itinerant Immortal tribulations, I have studied the Misty Rain Array and spent the most amount of effort on defense. I didn"t pay too much attention to the offensive capabilities of the Misty Rain Array… Therefore, I"ve decided to temporarily trap this Daoist Wen while I study over ways to make the Misty Rain Array deadlier. If my offensive means are strengthened, killing Daoist Wen would happen a lot faster.

"Also, I believe that although it might not be right to spend all these years on offensive measures, defense and offense are just two sides of the same coin! Perhaps pondering over offensive means might be helpful to my defensive cultivation as well," said Qin Yun.

"Okay." The Heavenly Lord of Numinous Treasure nodded slightly.

"I plan on cultivating for a thousand years first. If I"m unable to drastically improve my offensive means in that period, I"m willing to spend eight hundred years bombarding him day and night till he is vanquished! I"ll gladly give up eight hundred years to kill him," said Qin Yun. "Ridding the Three Realms of Patriarch Spirit Devouring would free us of a major fiend. It"s an astounding amount of merit. With all that merit augmentation, my Intrinsic Flying Sword will have a chance of becoming a Merit Cardinal treasure. Eight hundred years is worth it for that.

"However, I"ll need you to stay guarding outside the Huifeng Great World the entire time. I"m sorry, Master."

"These are your decisions to make. Don"t worry about me," Numinous Treasure said with a voice transmission. "One or two thousand years is nothing to me."

"Yes."

Qin Yun had already made up his mind.

He planned on using the Fiend Annihilation Array to trap Daoist Wen and set up the Misty Rain Array without attacking him. Instead, he sat cross-legged on a cloud and began cultivating.

After consuming Samsara Dew, he would figure out new offensive means with the Misty Rain Array. Occasionally, he would test them out on Daoist Wen.

Killing a perfected Great Dao existence was very difficult.

Although Daoist Wen had the best proboscis in the Three Realms, he was still killable given time. In contrast, attacking the weaker Patriarch Blood Sea, whose Boundless Blood Sea was part of the Tenebrous Fiend Abyss, would never bear results. Even Heavenly Dao realm existences could not truly vanquish him, much less Qin Yun. This was the different advantages of different people.

Daoist Wen"s life-preservation means appeared very powerful, but it was only considered typical among perfected Great Dao existences. He could only be considered equal to the Chaos Three Banes.

Compared to Mahamayuri, Rushou, f.u.xis.h.i.+ and others, he was far inferior.

…

"This Qin Yun is an Itinerant Immortal. He only has three thousand plus years left to his twelfth tribulation. I want to see how many years he will spend to kill Patriarch Spirit Devouring." Fiend Ancestor sneered. He remained outside the Huifeng Great World to prevent other perfected Great Dao existences from entering the Huifeng Great World.

After all, just Qin Yun alone would take a very long time killing Daoist Wen.

If more powerful helpers came, things would get different.

Fiend Ancestor was still thinking of every possible means to save Patriarch Spirit Devouring.

…

"He is also a patriarch, a perfected Great Dao existence, but he"s being locked down and repressed. He might even be refined to death. Pitiful, lamentable, and deplorable."

"This Qin Yun sure is powerful. Having just become a perfected Great Dao, he is already at the half-step Heavenly Dao realm. It reminds me of Hou Yi. Hou Yi also had a half-step Heavenly Dao realm strength the moment he became a perfected Great Dao existence. Now, his bow and arrow can even match that of a Heavenly Dao realm."

People sighed wistfully.

They lamented over Qin Yun"s strength, as he had become one of the few strongest existences beneath the Heavenly Dao realm.

They lamented the pitiful state which Daoist Wen was in. Despite his stature, he was being repressed in lock down. He was even close to death.

******

Days pa.s.sed one after another.

A few ancient existences could tell that Qin Yun had only repressed Daoist Wen. He did not fully attempt to refine Daoist Wen away; instead, he was cultivating!

"I"ll wait. You only have three thousand plus years left. I"ll be freed when you die due to the Itinerant Immortal tribulations. I"ll still lead an eternal life." Patriarch Spirit Devouring waited patiently in his prison.

"Boom!"

A crescent fell from the sky. It was extremely sharp as it lacerated Patriarch Spirit Devouring.

"Testing another move? It"s useless." Patriarch Spirit Devouring scoffed.

He was already accustomed to his life of repression. Attacks would descend upon him occasionally every three to five days, or a month or two at times. Clearly, they were moves that Qin Yun was testing out.

The Huifeng Great World continued operating as usual, but when the people of the Great World looked up, they would see thirty-six chains reaching across the firmaments. They were like the sun or the moon, which the Huifeng Great World residents eventually became extremely familiar with.

There were even some mortals who were born to see the thirty-six chains in the sky. Even when they died of age, the thirty-six chains remained. It was as though the thirty-six firmament chains… were something that naturally existed in their world.

In a blink of an eye, 160 years had pa.s.sed.

"These thirty-six Fiend Annihilation chains are said to be set up by the mighty figure, Sword Immortal Qin. They"re being used to imprison a powerful fiend." On an immortal boat, a Skyimmortal led his sect"s disciples on an expedition. "This array formation is so huge that it spans the entire Huifeng Great World. This is testimony to how expansive Sword Immortal Qin"s Dharmic powers are."

"Uncle-Master, why doesn"t Sword Immortal Qin kill the fiend directly? Why is he using so much effort to imprison the fiend?" a disciple asked, puzzled.

"That"s because the fiend is too powerful," explained the Skyimmortal with a smile. "All of you should be aware that among the fiends, there are two lineages known as fiend among fiends."

"The spirit-devouring lineage and sea of blood lineage," answered a disciple immediately.

"Yes, legend has it… the imprisoned fiend is the founder of the spirit-devouring lineage," said the Skyimmortal. "He"s one of the most terrifying fiends in the Three Realms. That is why an array formation that envelops an entire Great World is used for his imprisonment. As for us, there"s no way for us to communicate with the outside world or leave it. It"s because the entire Huifeng Great World is sealed! It"s all to imprison and repress that one fiend."

"Sealing off an entire Great World just to repress a fiend?"

"Our Huifeng Great World has become a cage to trap that fiend?"

The disciples found it inexplicable.

They were only at the Essence Soul realm, so they felt such means were completely unfathomable.

Moving the mountains to fill the sea…

Such matters were nothing compared to the imprisonment they saw before them.

The Skyimmortal laughed and said, "Also, according to legend, Sword Immortal Qin is presently inside the array, constantly refining away that fiend."

"Sword Immortal Qin is inside the array?"

"Is that Sword Immortal Qin able to see us?"

The disciples looked fervently at the array and imagined the peerless mighty figure within.

Above the Huifeng Great World.

Inside the Misty Rain Array.

Qin Yun was seated on clouds as he slowly opened his eyes. He looked down at the immortal boat that flew past before smiling.