Blade light cleaved the mountains to pieces and reached Zhang Ruochen in an instant.
The power of this strike far surpassed all previous ones.
Unable to employ his supreme spiritual-force sacred artefact, Zhang Ruochen could only form seals with both hands. The continental plate hundreds of li beneath his feet flipped upward, becoming a towering shield that connected heaven and earth.
“Wuma Jiuxing’s blade can shatter stars. How could a mere slab of earth possibly stop it?” the Four-Armoured Blood Ancestor laughed.
In the next moment, a sight unfolded that stunned every watching god.
The earthen plate shielding Zhang Ruochen turned pure gold.
Boom!
Blade light collided with the golden continental plate hundreds of li long. Dense cracks spread across it, chunks of golden stone rained down, and the plate was forced back a hundred li.
Yet it did not shatter.
Wuma Jiuxing’s gaze darkened. “Five-phase transformation. Earth into metal.”
The ravishingly beautiful Nether Flower Manor Lord sighed in admiration. “What exquisite control of spiritual force, especially his mastery of the five phases. It is simply divine.”
Spiritual-force gods could also comprehend the five phases and create divine arts related to them.
Though Zhang Ruochen’s martial cultivation had been utterly destroyed, his understanding of the five phases far exceeded that of other spiritual-force gods. He could create techniques with a single thought.
All paths of cultivation lead to the same destination.
Zhang Ruochen soared from behind the golden plate, hovering in mid-air. He pointed one finger at the ground and intoned, “Heavenly fire descends.”
The earth beneath Wuma Jiuxing ignited. Temperatures reached tens of millions of degrees, instantly melting the ten-thousand-li domain inside the formation into a crimson sea of magma.
Standing amid the magma ocean, Wuma Jiuxing remained unflinching, focusing entirely on the blade in his hand. He roared, “Earth unites with heaven. Four-Unities perfected!”
In that instant, the entire heaven and earth boiled. Countless strands of blade qi were born.
The ten-thousand-li domain spun around Wuma Jiuxing as its centre. Magma rose from the ground, forming countless crimson liquid blades.
At this moment, Wuma Jiuxing was the sovereign of heaven and earth. His presence reached its absolute peak. His divine body grew to three thousand zhang tall, the bronze battle blade in his hand capable of splitting heaven and earth asunder. One slash fell.
The momentum of that strike forced even the watching gods outside to stagger backward in shock, forgetting the formation stood before them.
At the eye of the storm, Zhang Ruochen felt there was nowhere to hide. Wuma Jiuxing’s blade seemed intent on cleaving everything across ten thousand li of earth. No place was safe.
“Four-Unities as one. Even an Upper God would not dare meet this blade head-on.”
“This is Wuma Jiuxing’s strongest strike, a flawless technique that gathers the momentum of man, blade, earth, and heaven.”
…
All the gods believed the old man would surely perish beneath this blade.
Yet at that very moment, from the centre of the battlefield came a clear, resonant strike, as though it rang directly upon the bodies of the watching gods. Their organs trembled, blood surged within them.
Bang! Bang! Bang…
The strikes came like a string of pearls, one after another, resonating.
The power of that resonance spread beyond the formation, tearing the earth outside, collapsing mountains, snapping rivers.
The sound was a musical movement that echoed across hundreds of thousands of li, as though the whole of Xinghuan Heaven could faintly hear it.
Even Divine Master Yuyao let out a soft exclamation and hurriedly mobilised more spiritual force to prevent the destructive sound waves from spreading further.
“This is a piece that conveys all the vicissitudes of mortal life,” sighed Nether Flower Manor Lord.
Liu Qingcheng said, “I have always prided myself on profound attainment in music, yet compared to this elder, I fall far short. His melody harmonises with the Heavenly Dao, draws the power of heaven and earth, and is filled with contemplation of life and death.”
Other gods only marvelled at the destructive force of the wooden-fish strikes, force that even the divine formation could not fully contain.
But the four manor lords of the Twelve Divine Maiden Manors understood better: the elder’s musical attainment had reached the realm of unity between man and heaven, a transcendent level.
Nether Flower Manor Lord’s lace gown fluttered in the wind generated by the sound waves. Passion blazed in her seductive eyes. “I truly wish to seek his guidance in music. Perhaps through music I could find the breakthrough to reach Upper God realm.”
Inside the formation, Zhang Ruochen sat cross-legged, striking the wooden fish.
The earth beneath him transformed from soil to water, becoming a clear, thousand-li lake.
Across the lake’s surface, divine radiance shone for ten thousand zhang. An illusory starry sky appeared, constellations brilliant, stellar rivers flowing, dissolving Wuma Jiuxing’s descending blade into nothingness.
The heavenly momentum, earthly momentum, and blade momentum he had formed with the Four-Unities Blade Art all collapsed.
Only the momentum of man remained unbroken.
With every strike upon the wooden fish, Wuma Jiuxing was hurled backward dozens of li, vomiting great mouthfuls of blood. Yet his gaze remained steadfast. He roared, “Fight!”
His battle intent was fully ignited, his presence rising rather than falling.
He raised his blade overhead. In that instant, every blade-path rule in the whole of Xinghuan Heaven surged toward him.
Every cultivator who wielded a blade, whether ordinary warrior or god, felt their weapons tremble and emit blade cries.
Bai Qing’er stood upon a plain not far from the battlefield, surrounded by a sea of multicoloured flowers. Watching billions of blades streak across the sky toward Wuma Jiuxing, she said, “Blade Venerable actually bestowed upon him the profound mysteries of the blade path. It seems the outcome of this battle, life or death, is already decided. If he is to be killed, I suppose I must do it myself.”
