Sword Qi Soars to the Sky

A long sword broke through the sky, carving out a thousand-foot phantom image, slicing down the galaxy, the sword shadow carrying a monstrous Sword Intent.

"Pfft."

The sword shadow struck heavily against that giant hand. The giant hand was almost severed in two by the sword shadow. What shocked Long Chen was that the seemingly illusory giant hand actually had fresh blood dripping from it.

"Ling Yunzi!"

That giant hand was wounded by a single strike and slowly retreated back into the spatial gate. From behind the spatial gate, a roar erupted.

Only now did people notice that behind Tu Fang in the distance, there was also a massive spatial gate.

However, standing in front of the spatial gate was a figure. It was not a real person, but rather seemed like an apparition, yet its appearance was identical to the Sect Leader of the Xuantian Branch.

Ling Yunzi stood with his hands behind his back and called out to the spatial gate opposite him: "Wu Li, it's been over thirty years since we last met. You've become increasingly pathetic, actually attacking a group of little brats. Where is the pride you once had?"

Although it was only an apparition, Ling Yunzi's body still carried a heaven-piercing Sword Intent. At this moment, he was like a long sword unsheathed, his sharpness chilling the Nine Provinces.

With the appearance of Ling Yunzi, the terrifying pressure emitted by the giant hand was neutralized by his Sword Intent, and everyone finally regained the ability to breathe.

However, everyone here was soaked in sweat, their faces pale as paper. In the face of that terrifying hand, everyone had thought they were going to die.

"Ling Yunzi, I never thought you would actually condense a Soul Clone." From the other side of the spatial gate, a shocked roar came.

The so-called Soul Clone was a technique where, after entering the Innate realm and reaching the pinnacle of Soul power, one could use that Soul power to condense a Clone of the Soul.

Such a Soul Clone was extremely terrifying, possessing one-tenth of the main body's combat power. It was a must-have skill for peerless experts to aid their juniors.

However, not every Innate realm expert could condense a Soul Clone. This required not only powerful Soul strength but also extremely rare talent.

"I can't be as pathetic as you, spending every day thinking about how to bully juniors." Ling Yunzi sneered, his voice filled with disdain.

"Ling Yunzi, are you trying to provoke me?" The other side let out a low, angry roar.

"Perhaps. Unfortunately, you are no longer qualified to be my enemy. Get lost!"

Ling Yunzi snorted coldly and swung the long sword in his hand once more. A monstrous Sword Qi flew out, striking heavily against the spatial gate.

That spatial gate was shattered by Ling Yunzi's strike and slowly vanished between heaven and earth. The moment the spatial gate shattered, it seemed like a roar could still be heard from within, though it was unclear what was being said.

After shattering the spatial gate with one strike, Ling Yunzi glanced at the battlefield, his gaze lingering on Long Chen.

Although Ling Yunzi's Soul Clone was very blurry and his features were indistinct, Long Chen could feel that Ling Yunzi was looking at him.

"Hahaha, Long Chen, you are good. You certainly didn't disappoint me." Ling Yunzi laughed heartily, stepped into a spatial gate, and vanished before everyone's eyes.

After Ling Yunzi's Soul Clone disappeared, that spatial gate also slowly dissipated, and the entire scene fell into silence.

Who could have imagined that this battle between the Righteous Path and the Evil Path would actually draw the intervention of an Innate realm expert? Everyone's hearts were trembling.

Although the black giant hand and Ling Yunzi had only struck a total of three times, the power to destroy heaven and earth with a wave of their hands shocked everyone's hearts. This was the Innate realm expert; it was too terrifying.

Compared to the power of those two people, everyone was like ants, completely unable to withstand a single blow.

After Ling Yunzi vanished, the Ghost Eye Old Freak knew that today's crushing defeat was a foregone conclusion. Of the five major Dao-Deriving experts, three were dead, one had been beaten into submission, and one had had a leg severed. This was simply a disgrace.

However, the situation was dire. Even if he had heaven-defying abilities, he could not salvage the defeat. He shouted sternly: "Retreat!"

Following the Ghost Eye Old Freak's shout, the remaining thousand or so Evil Path Disciples, as if granted amnesty, began to retreat en masse.

"You say retreat, and we retreat? Brothers, kill them! Their rings still contain the heads of our brothers. We must take them back; we cannot let our brothers die without being whole!"

Seeing the Evil Path Disciples retreating, Long Chen noticed that the Righteous Path experts, from Elders to Disciples, actually made no move to stop them, and he couldn't help but roar.

The Disciples had originally thought they had won and were just about to cheer, but upon hearing Long Chen's shout, they didn't even think about it before grabbing their weapons and charging at the Evil Path Disciples.

"Bastards, you are breaking the rules!"

The Evil Path's retreat already signaled their defeat. According to the previous unwritten agreement, the winning side would not pursue. Long Chen's shout was equivalent to breaking the rules, which left the Ghost Eye Old Freak both shocked and furious.

Tu Fang also felt that what Long Chen was doing was breaking the rules. He was just about to speak, but after a roll of his eyes, he said coldly: "Long Chen is the commander-in-chief of this battle; I have no right to interfere."

The Ghost Eye Old Freak was furious: "You are talking nonsense! Do you take me for a fool? You bastards who call yourselves the Righteous Path are clearly not following the rules!"

Seeing the Disciples below being crazily hunted down by the Righteous Path Disciples, and with the Evil Path Disciples now demoralized and unable to form any effective resistance, they were being slaughtered one by one.

"You old fart, shut your trap and stop releasing foul air over there."

Long Chen currently had no strength to kill, but his Soul power remained, and he had plenty of energy to curse: "If we're talking about breaking the rules, you were the ones who broke them first. That shameless old geezer of yours attacked me through the spatial gate; why didn't you talk about rules then? Now that you're at a disadvantage, you come to talk to us about rules? Is your skin made of shoe leather? How can you have the nerve to say such shameless things? Brothers, hack them to death! Hacking them isn't the goal; the goal is to kill them! Kill!"

Those Disciples had originally been exhausted to the point of death, with quite a few already teetering, suffering from severe overexertion.

However, Long Chen's words were like a stimulant, crazily stimulating their nerves.

Especially when they saw the Evil Path Disciples, who had previously been ferocious, now full of fear, their eyes turned red with excitement.

It was always said how brutal, terrifying, and fearless of death the Evil Path Disciples were, but now, seeing them scurrying away in defeat at their own hands was a kind of glory.

In the face of such glory, they felt their own lives were no longer so important, and one after another, they charged forward recklessly.

They didn't know that they had long since reached their limits, and were relying entirely on willpower to support their bodies.

Dozens of core-level Disciples, focused only on charging and killing, were completely unaware that a faint rune had lit up between their brows, continuously sending power into their bodies and supporting them without pause.

They didn't notice, but the Elders in the distance saw it clearly. Many of them had expressions of absolute shock and horror, and some were even streaming with old tears.

Perhaps among those core-level Disciples were their own clansmen. Previously, seeing the core-level Disciples of the Xuantian Branch all Awakening Ancestral Runes with monstrous combat power had filled them with both shock and envy.

Now that their own children had Awakened Ancestral Runes, how could these Sect Elders, who were not very powerful themselves, not be wild with joy?

With Long Chen's words, the entire battlefield descended into chaos, and everyone began to fight fiercely once again.

Because the experts of the Evil Path wanted to go and rescue their Disciples, but the people of the Righteous Path were not just sitting around idly, so how could they let them get their way?

"Long Chen, what exactly do you want before you'll stop?" The Ghost Eye Old Freak was both shocked and furious, yet helpless, and shouted through gritted teeth.

Because he discovered that at this rate of slaughter, within half an hour, before they could even break through the Righteous Path's defense, this entire generation of Evil Path Disciples would be wiped out.

"Have all your Disciples hand over their spatial rings and return our brothers' heads to us," Long Chen said decisively.

Because, unlike the Righteous Path, Evil Path Disciples were selfish and self-interested. After killing a Righteous Path Disciple, the first thing they did was sever the Righteous Path Disciple's head and place it into their ring.

They didn't clean up the battlefield at the end like the Righteous Path Disciples, because it was hard for them to divide the spoils evenly. After all, the heads of Righteous Path Disciples could be exchanged for generous rewards.

Therefore, these living Evil Path Disciples definitely had many heads of Righteous Path Disciples in their rings.

And it was precisely because of this that when the Righteous Path Disciples heard Long Chen's call, even though they were exhausted to the point of death, they still recklessly charged at them.

Because everyone had brothers, everyone had companions. Their companions were dead, and they couldn't bring them back to life, but retrieving their heads was something they absolutely had to do.

"Bullshit! Our Disciples' rings contain the treasures they've accumulated over time; how could we give them to you? We will only return the heads to you."

The Ghost Eye Old Freak was extremely angry, but in the end, he compromised and agreed to return the heads of the Righteous Path Disciples.

"Talking bullshit is your specialty. Don't think everyone is like you. You must hand over the spatial rings; otherwise, how would I know if you secretly kept a few heads? Do you take me for an idiot like yourself?" Long Chen snorted coldly, refusing to budge in the slightest.

"You are simply going too far! You are seriously breaking the rules!" The Ghost Eye Old Freak was trembling all over with rage.

Long Chen snorted coldly and said with disdain: "So what if I'm bullying you? Come and bite me! The so-called rules are just game rules set by the strong for the weak. Don't play these word games with me; it just makes me angry thinking about it.

If there really were rules, why does the time and place of every Righteous-Evil battle get chosen by you? If there really were rules, why must we be on the receiving end of the beatings? Why let those innocent commoners be slaughtered by you at will? Screw your grandmother, you tell me, what makes you think you can do this?"

By the end of his cursing, Long Chen thought of the innocent commoners who had died tragically, his eyes turning red, and he pointed at the Ghost Eye Old Freak and roared: "Isn't it just because you are powerful that you think you are the Dominators who can set the rules? When we were weak, you talked to us about strength; now that we are strong, you want to talk to us about rules? Go to hell, you old geezer!"

The Righteous Path experts, listening to Long Chen's foul-mouthed tirade, felt the pent-up frustration of so many years in their hearts suddenly ease significantly. Long Chen's cursing was incredibly satisfying.

The Ghost Eye Old Freak was so angry that smoke was practically coming out of his seven orifices, and he wished he could bite Long Chen to death, but with Tu Fang watching him, he couldn't move.

"I agree to let you inspect the Disciples' spatial rings; we absolutely will not hide any heads."

The Ghost Eye Old Freak finally had to swallow his pride and say this; he couldn't watch all his Disciples be slaughtered. However, just after he finished saying this, Long Chen responded with a single sentence that almost made him explode.