Chapter 397: Nine Swords Unleashed, The Final Battle (1)

Chapter 397: Nine Swords Unleashed, The Final Battle (1)

"He's going to lose."

"Li Xia's strength is still a notch weaker. They're both employing Thousand Swords Arrays, but he's no match for Xing Luo. His defenses are on the verge of collapse." The audience observing the match from the viewing stands or within the Dragon Star Immortal Voidrealm discussed heatedly amongst themselves.

They might be weaker than the fighters, but could still roughly make out how the situation on the battlefield was turning out.

Master, lose? That’s not possible. Qiong Sea King watched the match with razor-sharp focus.

After decades of following Wu Yuan, he had come to view him as an unbeatable force among his peers.

Notably, having conquered level fifty-eight of the one-star tower, Wu Yuan had already proven his prowess.

The seventh artifact of Xing Luo’s is actually an array diagram? It coordinates the attacks and defense of the seven artifacts seamlessly. Watching the battle through the Dragon Star Immortal Voidrealm, Chen Jing turned pale.

Xing Luo had hidden his abilities well. Even during the last Dragon Star Tournament, Xing Luo hadn't revealed his array diagram.

Of course, Xing Luo was younger and weaker during the previous tournament. Even if he had revealed his strategy with the array diagram then, he wouldn't have won.

Interesting. Designating an array diagram as the core, and then integrating swords and cauldrons, the stability of the sword array has increased tenfold, greatly improving defense. How interesting. Hao Shanjing watched the match intently. Even if Li Xia were to deploy two Thousand Swords Arrays, I suspect he would still lose.

Within that special observation space.

"Haha, I never expected Xing Luo to study so many paths simultaneously – array, sword, artifacts. They may be varied, but work together perfectly in battle," Mountain Master Xu chuckled. "This combination array, I've never seen it before. He probably created it himself."

"Yes, Mountain Master is right."

"Xing Luo's strength surpasses Li Xia's." A few Earth Immortals from the Moonsilver World readily agreed.

"Abbot Wu, what do you think?" Mountain Master Xu asked with a hint of a smile. "The one who will take the first place might just be Xing Luo."

"Xing Luo is not bad at all," Abbot Wu responded mildly, his gaze falling onto the arena below.

Suddenly, he smiled and said, "However, Mountain Master Xu, it seems a bit early for you to draw conclusions. The situation has changed again."

"Hm?" Mountain Master Xu was taken aback.

"Something’s amiss." Findd new stories at novelhall.com

"Look at Li Xia’s sword array. How is its power so intense? It has stabilized again."

"How strange, the power of the sword array is burgeoning." The expressions of the other High Immortals and Earth Immortals turned to astonishment.

"Nine lifebound flying swords?" Mountain Master Xu's gaze tightened, catching onto something.

Abbot Wu couldn't help but smile.

For him, whether Xing Luo or Wu Yuan won was irrelevant. However, he enjoyed the flustered look on Mountain Master Xu’s face.

After all, which sect would be willing to have their members constantly poached away by Moonsilver World?

At this moment, those immortals weren’t the only ones staring at the scene in shock, but also the countless spectators inside the arena and through the Dragon Star Immortal Voidrealm.

...

Within the spherical arena.

Boom! Boom! Boom! The colors of the sky and earth transformed as the two great sword arrays clashed fiercely, colliding over and over again.

Earthy-yellow qi flows and turbulent flames swept through the air, but neither could establish dominance.

How is this possible? This! This! Xing Luo stiffened, staring in absolute shock at the massive sword array surrounding Wu Yuan that resembled a celestial body. Nine...nine lifebound flying swords?

As one of the combatants, he was able to sense it clearly. After dozens of consecutive clashes, he could tell that there were nine flying swords with exceptionally strong auras within Wu Yuan's massive sword array.

Within his realm of understanding, lifebound flying swords were the only explanation.

Nine of them? For many weak sword cultivators, cultivating three lifebound flying swords was a tough challenge, let alone six. Those who managed it were hailed as top-tier geniuses.

Starting from three lifebound flying swords, every additional sword only increased the difficulty of cultivation.

But likewise, for every extra lifebound flying sword summoned, one's strength would also surge dramatically.

Wu Yuan was unable to use his lifebound flying swords in the Seven Star Luminaries Tower, hence he could not clear level fifty-nine. He only felt confident that he could conquer it recently.

If he could wield nine lifebound flying swords? Wu Yuan felt that even challenging level sixty was a possibility. At least, he might be able to stand his ground.

Nine swords! How is that possible? Unless he has the legendary innate first-degree immortal root, it'd be hard to cultivate nine lifebound flying swords even with a second-degree root. [1] Xing Luo was unspeakably shocked.

He fancied himself a genius, managing to cultivate seven lifebound objects after exhausting countless methods.

Only Wu Yuan remained.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Countless flying swords circled back, and Wu Yuan swiftly collected them.

The next Dragon Star Tournament? Wu Yuan murmured to himself.

Considering my current cultivation speed, after the Moonsilver Tournament ends in ten years and a brief consolidation period, I'll move on to the Amethyst Cradle phase.

Many Golden Core hereditary disciples would certainly be demoted to inner disciple status if they rushed their advancement to the Amethyst Cradle phase due to their short length of cultivation.

Therefore, some hereditary disciples delayed their transition until they were two hundred. Normally, they would cultivate until they reached 120 to 130 years old to solidify their immortal roots.

But for Wu Yuan? Once he fully perceived the unique profundity of a perfect Golden Core, he wouldn't delay at all, charging straight into the Amethyst Cradle phase.

Thirty years? It was too long!

But this Xing Luo was much stronger than I initially thought. If he hadn't encountered me, he could have potentially taken first place. Wu Yuan thought.

Xing Luo was young yet incredibly powerful. He deserved to be called a peerless genius, a once-in-a-millennium prodigy of the Dragon Star Immortal Sect. Even if he failed to conquer level sixty of the one-star tower, his talent still shone brightly.

Wu Yuan quickly retreated through the arena’s passage after packing up all his artifacts.

"The first battle of the second round, Xing Luo versus Li Xia, Li Xia wins!" the voice of the Void Refiner Eminence supervising the tournament reverberated across the arena.

...

"Unbelievable!"

"Xing Luo is even stronger than the previous champion, but he still lost?"

"Xing Luo isn’t weak; Li Xia is simply stronger," the crowd discussed the battle spiritedly, all astounded by the outcome.

Before the battle began, most of them predicted Wu Yuan would win. After all, Wu Yuan's performance in the first battle was incredible. What's more, he was the top performer in the Seven Star Luminaries Tower.

Unexpectedly, Xing Luo demonstrated unprecedented strength right from the start. And yet, Wu Yuan still defeated him.

He did not resort to any tricks, relying solely on his divine swords to bombard Xing Luo's sword-cauldron array, utterly destroying it.

It was the epitome of 'one strike shatters all laws'.

No matter how unwilling one might be, they had to admit defeat!

"Li Xia, the number one genius of the sect! Number one!"

"Even Xing Luo couldn't stop him. Can anyone else? Chen Jing? Or Hao Shanjing?"

"Unstoppable!"

"Even a few thousand years ago, there wasn’t anyone as strong as Li Xia among our sect's Golden Core cultivators."

"Golden Core Great Senior Brother." Numerous disciples from the sect discussed, the vast majority already convinced that Wu Yuan would claim the top spot.

They even started chanting “Golden Core Great Senior Brother”.

Indeed, the strength that Wu Yuan displayed was significantly greater than the other Golden Core hereditary disciples. They were simply not on the same level.

...

"Unbelievably powerful."

"Junior Brother Li Xia is too overpowered. During his final move, I believe he showcased nine lifebound flying swords."

"It might be." In the Dragon Star Immortal Voidrealm, hundreds of Amethyst Cradle hereditary disciples gathered in the Hereditary Disciple Tower, discussing amongst themselves.

Their matches would come after the Golden Core disciples, hence they had time to watch the fights.

These Amethyst Cradle disciples were all shocked by the battle between Wu Yuan and Xing Luo.

"If both of them were in the ninth-stage Amethyst Cradle phase, Junior Brother Xing Luo could probably break into the top two hundred in the Amethyst Cradle ranking battle."

"Junior Brother Li Xia could at least break into the top fifty." The Amethyst Cradle disciples couldn't help but sigh.

Too strong. These hereditary disciples had trained for hundreds of years, some more than a thousand.

But Xing Luo and Wu Yuan? One had only trained for eighty-nine years, the other even fewer at fifty years.

The gap was too wide.

1. innate first-degree immortal root = first-degree immortal root established at the time of transcendence (Qi Sea/Communion phase). Non-innate = immortal root upgraded to this degree in later cultivation phases. ☜