With a hum, the ten-thousand-year ice marrow coffin trembled violently, as if the woman inside was about to emerge.
Suddenly, two radiant beams descended from the sky, hovering before Ye Qiu, blocking Li Chengdi’s finger strike.
Li Chengdi’s eyes narrowed, focusing on the beams, which were two swords, each over three feet long, simple yet majestic. One was pure cyan, the other pure purple, clearly a paired set.
“These are Shu Mountain’s guardian treasures, the Cyan-Purple Twin Swords!” the Long Eyebrow Immortal, well-versed in lore, recognised them instantly.
Ye Qiu was surprised. Were these the legendary Cyan-Purple Twin Swords? Why would they appear to protect him in his moment of danger? Could it be the doing of the woman in the ice coffin?
He glanced at the coffin, but the woman’s expression remained serene, unchanged.
“What’s going on?” Ye Qiu was puzzled.
Li Chengdi smiled. “You’re quite lucky, kid. In a moment of crisis, Shu Mountain’s guardian treasures came to your aid. I came here seeking these treasures, and now these swords are mine.”
He reached for the Cyan-Purple Twin Swords.
“Get lost!” Ye Qiu threw a punch to stop him. These were Shu Mountain’s sacred treasures; he couldn’t let Li Chengdi take them.
Li Chengdi pressed a palm against Ye Qiu’s fist. With a bang, Ye Qiu was sent flying, his cultivation too weak to resist.
“Shu Mountain is long gone. These masterless swords are mine by right,” Li Chengdi said, moving to the swords. Dropping his protective shield, he smiled. “From now on, you belong to me. Don’t worry, I won’t waste your potential. After leaving here, you’ll come with me to Kunlun Mountain, where I’ll temper your edge with the blood of that cultivator and Ye Wushuang.”
As he reached for the swords, a sudden boom resounded. Five thunderbolts struck from above—the Long Eyebrow Immortal had used the Five Thunder Orthodox Method again.
Li Chengdi snorted, punching the sky. The thunderbolts shattered, blasting a hole in the Sword Tomb’s roof.
Then, Li Chengdi frowned, swiftly turning and catching a sword’s edge between his fingers—the Demon-Refining Sword. The Long Eyebrow Immortal had used the thunder as a distraction, his real attack being the sword, but it failed. Li Chengdi’s keen senses had detected it.
“Think you can sneak attack me? Naive!” Li Chengdi sneered, flicking the sword. A clang sent a surge of force through the blade into the Long Eyebrow Immortal, who flew backwards, crashing outside and spitting blood, his face pale.
“Old thing, run!” Ye Qiu shouted, summoning a Qiankun Cauldron to suppress Li Chengdi.
“Dream on. You can’t escape,” Li Chengdi said, opening his right hand. An invisible force gripped the Long Eyebrow Immortal, lifting him off the ground, choking and rigid, drawn towards Li Chengdi like a puppet.
“Suppress!” Ye Qiu roared, sending the cauldron crashing towards Li Chengdi’s head.
Li Chengdi raised his left hand, catching it, and sneered. “A mere cauldron? What can it do?”
Ye Qiu shouted, “Enlarge!” The cauldron grew to the size of a mountain, weighing a hundred thousand catties.
Caught off guard, Li Chengdi’s hand sank. But with a shout of “Rise!” white light flared from his palm, lifting it back up.
Ye Qiu, scalp tingling, summoned a second cauldron. With a clang, it stacked atop the first, doubling the force. Li Chengdi’s hand sank again, his arm bending.
Ye Qiu summoned a third cauldron, tripling the force, then a fourth. “Suppress!” he roared, stacking all four cauldrons.
Finally, Li Chengdi’s feet sank into the floor, seemingly overwhelmed.
“Kill!” Ye Qiu seized the moment, wielding his half-broken Emperor Sword to attack. Li Chengdi, with one hand holding the cauldrons and the other controlling the Long Eyebrow Immortal, had no hands free.
Ye Qiu’s aim wasn’t to kill but to force Li Chengdi to release the Long Eyebrow Immortal. Yet, he underestimated Li Chengdi’s strength.
With a boom, Li Chengdi’s body glowed with radiant white light, shielding him. Ye Qiu’s full-force attacks couldn’t breach it.
“A King Realm expert’s strength is beyond your imagination. To me, you’re as weak as an ant. Killing you is easier than crushing one,” Li Chengdi said, unleashing a massive aura that sent Ye Qiu flying.
Li Chengdi glowed with divine light, his presence dragon-like, his eyes like divine lamps, captivating and terrifying. Ye Qiu, thrown back, felt immense pressure and suffocation, struggling to stand.
With a roar like an enraged demon king, Li Chengdi’s sonic wave made Ye Qiu and the Long Eyebrow Immortal bleed from their orifices, their hearts trembling.
Then, countless dragon qi erupted from Li Chengdi’s back—twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety… ninety-nine dragon qi, each ten zhang long, dazzling, piercing the Sword Tomb’s roof like seventy-two rainbows, illuminating Shu Mountain’s sacred land.
Li Chengdi stood like a deity, lofty and untouchable, overlooking the mortal world.
