Even the elders on the Elder's Platform were filled with astonishment and disbelief!
Finally, one of the elders, as if recovering from the shock, muttered to himself, Su Bei's sword... it's nearly transcending Refining Void...
Yang Tianqing's expression was solemn. His eyes narrowed on the figure in white, and he said softly, "Shi Zhen has already used his eighteenth blade, and yet Su Bei's sword still brims with endless Spiritual Energy. I've never seen such pure Spiritual Energy before. Could it be that he has transformed all the Spiritual Energy in his Dantian Qi Sea into Great Dao Qi?"
This person's talent and combat strength are simply too terrifying!
...
At the Blade Sect Residence, the Blade Sovereign's eyes shone fiercely as he watched the Spiritual Energy Vortex above the arena. After a long while, he sighed, "Shi Zhen has six more blades."
...
The two within the Spiritual Energy Vortex were unaware of all the chaos in the outside world, surrounded by vast, unbridled Spiritual Energy!
Shi Zhen's eyes were brimming with the will to fight. Now, he no longer saw the person before him as just a cultivator at the Mid Stage Refining Void; this was his opponent!
His desire for battle was insatiable. Blood streamed continuously from the corners of his mouth as he laughed maniacally and roared, "Su Bei!! I acknowledge you now!!"
"I have six more blades—if you can withstand them, then you win this platform!"
...
CLANG—
In the final clash, two figures were blown backward, the terrifying Spiritual Energy Vortex nearly solidifying!
A thunderous boom resounded.
Two massive craters appeared on the ground, dense mist spilling out.
Shi Zhen's eighteenth blade had blocked Su Bei's Sword One!!
Blood gushed from Su Bei's mouth, tracing a line along his sword. He knew this was the same old problem—his meridians couldn't handle the terrifying power that far exceeded his own strength!
Wiping the blood from his mouth, he felt every muscle in his body trembling as he fixated his gaze on Shi Zhen before him!
Shi Zhen's hair flew wildly, his warrior's attire already tattered, his pupils filled with a blood-red hue as drops of blood spewed from the corners of his mouth.
At this moment, carrying his Da Dao, he stood on the boundless sea of clouds, his black hair fluttering—like a devil emerging from the abyss of hell, a devil born of the blade!!
The next moment, boundless Spiritual Energy was seen to gather explosively upon the edge of the Da Dao in Shi Zhen's hand. His Blade Intent soared, layer upon layer, and a vast Blade Qi, as if ascending to the heavens step by step, finally reached its zenith. The terrifying blade momentum radiating from it instilled a sense of irresistible pressure in the onlookers!
Above the platform.
Shi Zhen laughed as he swung the blade, its speed slowing with each movement, while the wild, almost frenzied Blade Intent flourished, roaring like a fierce tiger!
His body seemed burdened with a weight of ten million catties. Each swing seemed to compress the very heavens, an arduous feat!
Five slashes were cast above the firmament, carving an unfathomably deep mark!
"Elder Su, receive this strike from me, Shi Zhen!"
"The Twenty-Fourth Blade! Immortal Slash!!"
...
Ascension to Heaven.
A streak of light, with the momentum of thunder.
Lightning struck within a small space, charging towards Su Bei.
In that moment, Shi Zhen's aura neared Half-Step into Dao Integration—or perhaps, had already reached it—only lacking the ability to borrow the power of Heaven and Earth!!
All the onlookers below held their breath as they watched the man in the sky.
Absolute silence. No one dared to speak, all eyes fixed intently on the terrifying blade in the heavens!
Some had already closed their eyes, unable to bear witnessing Su Bei beneath that blade, as insignificant as an ant.
It's all over...
Such a pity for Elder Su. If Shi Zhen were just an ordinary Peak Refining Void, Elder Su might truly have created a legend!
This Shi Zhen can probably fight a Half-Step Dao Integration expert, right?! How can he be so terrifying?!
On the Elder's Platform, Wang Tong watched with a complex gaze. Setting aside Sect grudges, he had to admit Su Bei had truly shattered his perceptions.
With a single sword, he had blocked eighteen strikes. It was just a shame their cultivation realms were ultimately too different.
Yang Tianqing sighed and said in a distant tone, "It seems the outcome of this duel has been decided..."
"That blade definitely holds the might of Half-Step into Dao Integration."
...
Everyone watched gravely, sighing with heavy hearts.
It was at this moment that the voices of the Sacred Land elders came from the other two platforms,
"Sword Sect, Dan Wuque defeated!!"
"Sword Sect, Li Ziyu defeated!!"
...
These somber announcements tolled like a death knell, heralding the Sword Sect's final twilight.
This was a fact everyone could have predicted.
Su Bei actually smiled and took a step forward.
He looked up, staring directly at the surging Immortal Slash, filled with boundless Sovereign power and tyranny!
That was the grand opening and closing of the blade, the blossoming of the Sovereign amongst all weapons!
Blood soaked his attire, dyeing his white robes embroidered with crabapple flowers red.
For some reason, a golden light bloomed in his eyes, an extraordinary gold. Within that dazzling brilliance, Su Bei seemed to transform into an emperor ruling the nine heavens!
The sword unsheathed.
Between heaven and earth, only the sound of a thunderous boom was heard.
A fierce golden Sword Qi connected the heavens and the earth!
Gold! It overshadowed the blue-purple—or one could say the blue-purple merged into this expanse of gold!
Su Bei tightly gripped the Qingping Sword, his Azure Crown having fallen off. His three thousand black hairs flew wildly, and the white robe he wore produced a WHOOSHING sound in the air!
He seemed to be laughing wildly, the longsword in his hand trembling!
An excited trembling, as if it finally felt an unprecedented pleasure!
All the Sword Sect Disciples were shocked as they looked at the swords at their waists, which seemed to be paying homage to something—a kind of reverence, a veneration stemming from the soul!
A wild cry, a roar!
Su Bei's voice was not loud, yet it resounded like thunder in the ears of everyone present, "The Sword Sect's Sword Scripture actually has two types of Sword Qi."
"The 'Underworld' in the name Underworld Sword Sect—those two words 'Tian Xia'—have never referred to the Immortal Dao Sword of the current Sword Sect."
...
Before Su Bei's words had fallen, Ji Nanjue on the Elder's Platform was staring at Su Bei's figure on the arena with shock in her eyes!
The elders from various Sacred Lands had changing expressions, looking at Su Bei with disbelief. Below, Wenren Pingxin's breath hitched, her chest heaving as her breathing grew ragged. She stared at the platform, at Su Bei, vaguely recalling that night!
On that night of fireworks, Xiao Ruoching's golden sword strike!
"Only a Sword Sect that follows the Sovereign Sword can truly be called the Underworld Sword Sect."
"Those two words, 'Tian Xia,' represent Sovereignty!!"
...
As Su Bei's words ended, in an instant, the entire world was enveloped by infinite golden lotuses. In every conceivable corner, one could see that magnificent scene.
In the midst of golden clouds, a colossal cloud vortex a hundred zhang high appeared. Within it, a sword rotated slowly, spreading endless Sword Intent to the surroundings. Frenzied Sword Qi blanketed every corner of the sky!
This technique was immense in scale; the entire world seemed to become Su Bei's stage, golden lotuses blooming everywhere.
A streak of Sword Qi fell!
Sovereign Sword Energy!
The Sovereign Sword Energy that the Sword Sect had lost for nearly a thousand years!
The Sovereign Sword Energy was majestic and boundlessly formidable. At that moment, Su Bei, surrounded by golden lotuses, looked down upon all beings like a Nine Heavens Emperor. Sword Qi filled the sky, and this profound Sword Qi surged forward, instantly shattering the already crumbling platform!
"Sword Two!"
"Mountain and River Divide!!!"
This was also Mountain and River Divide, with a hundred times the force!
The Selfless Realm, the Microcosmic World—both released at once, with the Energy of Great Dao wildly flooding into them!
The same overbearingness, the same grandeur, the same invincibility!
Su Bei shouted. The surging Sword Qi abruptly vanished from the Qingping Sword, then blossomed into countless golden Sword Qi that formed budding lotuses.
The frenzied Sword Qi shot into the sky, erupting with power that pierced like a rainbow, carrying with it a proudly blooming golden lotus!
Like a dazzling Golden Path!
BOOM—
This sword collided fiercely with Shi Zhen's Twenty-Fourth Blade.
Absolute domination!
The terrifyingly domineering Spiritual Energy instantly filled every corner within a hundred li!
The immense buzzing sound seemed capable of shattering eardrums.
Upon listening more closely, there was silence between heaven and earth!
The ground cracked, boulders tumbled. The aftermath of this battle far exceeded what cultivators of the Refining Void realm could withstand!
BOOM!
BOOM!
The formation around the platform seemed to be trembling.
Half the ground in that area was blasted away by these two terrifying surges of power.
Billowing clouds of dust filled the air!
Then, under the terrible turbulence, a figure was instantly blown away!!
Smashing into a distant Azure Cloud Mountain Peak, sending rocks tumbling down!
Deathly silence. Not a sound to be heard.
A cultivator gasped, gazing at the shattered platform, looking at the silhouette standing in the mist!
"Who... who won?"
"I don't know..."
The dust eventually dispersed.
Bloodied robes embroidered with crabapple flowers; Qingping sundering mountains and rivers!
"Elder Su has won..." a cultivator's voice was hoarse as he stared at that figure.
Silence across the world.
Su Bei was covered in blood. It gushed from his meridians, which had burst instantly, unable to bear such terrifying pressure. His handsome face featured crimson pupils, and the very air seemed to transform into a sea of blood, thick and viscous. Each step he took created a new expanse of this blood sea, each step a blooming blood lotus!
Lotuses formed by blood-colored Sword Shadows filled the entire platform!
Su Bei, amidst the countless lotuses, stood like an Asura, his longsword bathed in blood!
Crimson strands seeped from his pores, his body drenched in blood, yet he seemed oblivious. He merely lifted the blood-covered longsword, stirring a scarlet spray, and murmured as if to the sword in his hand, as if to the nearby Sword Sect's residence, "Has this Mountain and River Divide dishonored your name, 'Qingping'?"
"Has it dishonored those two words, 'Tian Xia,' which our Sword Sect has borne for a thousand years?"
...
The golden sky changed color, turning blood red!
The Sovereign Sword Energy, its sword momentum like a great mountain collapsing!
Su Bei looked around. Numerous gazes were fixed on him, silent.
Then, a quiet voice echoed between heaven and earth,
"Next!!"
...