Chapter 528 - 519: Sword Domain, Sword Palace

Chapter 528: Chapter 519: Sword Domain, Sword Palace

The faces of Toad Child, Black Lotus Child, and Sun Yi drained of color. A palpable sense of danger and the stench of death washed over them in an instant as a cruel, savage voice locked onto them and boomed.

"You are worthy of facing my Eighth Sword! From the Twelve Sword Realms, the Eighth Sword—Sword Palace!"

With a sharp cry from Dilaka, the Golden Sword was thrust high, unleashing a blinding golden radiance. An aura of Gold Attribute Primordial Power surged toward the heavens, unlocking the sky like a key, and a colossal golden palace descended in an instant!

The palace was magnificent, towering, and resplendent. The moment Toad Child, Black Lotus Child, and the Dragon Spear King were dragged inside, the battle was already over...

The Sword Palace: a palace forged from swords. Inside, Dilaka was its king. Anyone weaker than him suffered immense and indiscriminate suppression. This was his Domain! An absolute Sword Domain!! Here, life and death rested on his whim!

And the verdict Dilaka passed on them was—

"Death!"

At his command, the entire palace of golden swords began to tremble violently. This was no chaotic, arrhythmic noise. If one listened closely, it sounded more like a triumphal anthem, filled with a bleak, murderous aura. Amidst the roar of this anthem, countless golden swords seemed to erupt from the ground, suspended in the air. Their tips were aimed squarely at Toad Child and the other two, yet the trio stood as if petrified, unable to move a muscle.

Their paralysis wasn’t just from the Sword Palace’s suppression, but also from the oppressive power unleashed by Nameless. As a result, the trio offered not a shred of resistance before being ground into a bloody pulp by the myriad golden swords. But Dilaka was confident that even without Nameless’s help, he could have killed all three in a single blow. As the stench of blood dispersed on the wind, Dilaka grunted. With a wave of his arm, the Immortal Extinction Sword plunged into the heavens and vanished into the Array. As the sword disappeared, the massive Sword Palace rose into the void, and the sky returned to normal.

Dilaka shot a sideways glance at the dozen or so remaining High-tier Saints, who were still in a stupor. He snorted coldly and said with indifference, "Considering your Cultivation has not come easily, and that you are rare Independent Martial Artists on the Extreme Martial Continent, I will forgo punishment this time. However, your faces will be displayed at the Holy Punishment Field on Holy Tomb Mountain! From this day forward, if any of you are spotted within a ten-thousand-mile radius of Holy Tomb Mountain, you will be killed without mercy!"

With that said, Dilaka turned, his hands clasped behind his back. He took a single step, and his body vanished in a flash of golden light. As for Murong Yan, a glimmer of understanding lit up in her eyes after watching Dilaka’s battle. Lost in thought and paying no mind to the survivors, she whispered to herself, ’That child, Mo Qing, should be coming out soon. It’s time to take her to the Elder Space for one-on-one instruction.’

As she murmured this, the watery curtain around her body rippled outward slightly. Her figure seemed to melt into thin air, vanishing from sight and leaving behind only the dozen or so people standing outside Holy Tomb Mountain, dumbfounded and shaken to the core.

...

「In Holy Beast Mountain.」

The golden orb of light surrounding Mu Chen and Xiaohai abruptly dissipated. Mu Chen’s form, transformed by the Illusion Spirit Fusion, was suddenly revealed before the Lightning Armor Dragon King and the rest of its clan.

His emotionless, ice-blue eyes stared into the distance. It felt as though his physical transformation had also tremendously amplified his senses. He could feel that something had happened far away in that direction—something that concerned him, something that caused a faint ache in his heart. It was as if he had a reason he absolutely had to go there.

And that place was the Ding Palace.

SWOOSH! SWOOSH!

Mu Chen slowly flexed his newly grown wings, feeling no discomfort. With a light tap of his toes, his Steel Wings snapped open, sending a massive shockwave spreading outward in two vortexes. In the blink of an eye, he had leaped out of the Lightning Armor Dragon clan’s territory!

’I’ve found my Magical Beast partner. The next step is to wait to leave the mountain. But before I go, there’s one more thing I need to do: absorb the dense Light Attribute Elemental Power within Holy Beast Mountain!’

’I can’t let this go to waste.’

...

「Two hours later.」

It was finally time to leave the mountain. Ending his state of Cultivation, Mu Chen subconsciously glanced at the arcane symbol on his right wrist, a faint smile touching his lips. He had undone the Illusion Spirit Fusion an hour and a half earlier.

Because he had been in the Illusion Spirit state, his Primordial Power had been consumed at an abnormally fast rate. Even though his Primordial Power reserves had multiplied several times over after his transformation, it was still not enough to sustain the drain from the Illusion Spirit Fusion.

’I have to increase my strength. That’s the most important thing right now. Otherwise, the Illusion Spirit Fusion will only last for half an hour, and that’s without using any Combat Skills or Secret Techniques. If I use any, the Illusion Spirit state probably won’t even last ten minutes before collapsing.’

Taking a deep breath, Mu Chen wanted to let Xiaohai out to move around a bit. But after the Illusion Spirit Fusion, Xiaohai’s aura was extremely faint. Clearly, the toll of the fusion was not his alone to bear; Xiaohai had shouldered a great burden as well.

Still, his gains from this trip to Holy Beast Mountain were enormous. The holy radiance that now emanated from his ice-blue eyes was one of the greatest rewards of all.

Mu Chen could now clearly feel the abundant Light Attribute Elemental Power within his body. With reserves several times greater than his Dark Attribute Elemental Power, he was confident that the next time he lost control of his emotions, the risk of being consumed by darkness would be reduced to an absolute minimum.

He didn’t need to do anything else. Mu Chen simply stood in place, held his Token, and waited. About thirty seconds later, a colorful beam of light shot out from it. The beam was only as wide as a finger, but as it emerged, an Array Map for a formation about three meters in diameter materialized.

Mu Chen had seen the Runes on this kind of Array Map many times before, so he identified its type at a glance: a Teleportation Array Map.

Before Mu Chen could react, the Array sprang to life and enveloped him. Like a giant mouth, it swallowed him whole and then vanished without a trace.

The world went black for a moment, and when Mu Chen’s vision returned, he found himself standing outside Holy Beast Mountain’s golden Mirror Screen.

"Little Muchen! Damn impressive! To think you even successfully formed an Illusion Spirit Contract! I’m truly looking at you in a new light!"

He had barely regained his senses when a familiar voice boomed in his ear. A heavy hand clapped down on his shoulder, forceful enough to make him stumble.

No one else greeted people like that; it could only be Zhu Jiuqian. His eyes were crinkled in a wide smile as he clutched Jun Tian in one hand and continued to slap Mu Chen’s shoulder with the other, making Mu Chen yelp in pain.

But pain or no pain, Mu Chen had heard that last sentence clearly. He hurriedly asked, "Elder Zhu, you said Illusion Spirit Contract... D-does that mean you all saw it?"

"Of course. And it wasn’t just Elder Zhu. We could all see it perfectly clearly from inside Holy Beast Mountain, you know."

Suddenly, another familiar voice spoke up from behind him. Mu Chen turned to see Long Xiaotian. Behind him, Little Tiger, Ye Shuangshuang, and Mo Qing also came into view.

Surprisingly, even Liu Feiyuan and Ta Shan had been teleported out from the same area. However, when Liu Feiyuan looked at Mu Chen, his eyes held a deep and unmistakable wariness.

"So that’s what it’s called? An Illusion Spirit Contract? It sounds a little familiar."

Just then, on the other side of the golden Mirror Screen, Shi Mu Hua, Zhan Peng, Guo Zijie, Jilal, and Alice appeared all at once. The one who had spoken was Shi Mu Hua. He was all smiles, though it was clear his joy wasn’t from forming an Illusion Spirit Contract. He must have gained something else from his trip to Holy Beast Mountain.

At this thought, Mu Chen glanced over everyone’s faces. He noticed that, with the exception of the ever-unreadable Guo Zijie, everyone else looked pleased with their results.

’That’s a good thing.’

"Looks like none of you little rascals came up empty-handed this time, eh? That’s a good start. Anyway, it’s almost midnight, so the dining hall is probably out of food. But to celebrate your success, I’ll have Old Ling fire up the kitchen just for you when we get back." Then, shouting at the sky, "Old bird! Isn’t it about time you came back? What’s taking so long to visit your family?"

As he finished speaking, Zhu Jiuqian suddenly shouted at the sky. Immediately, as if in response, a cold huff echoed from above. A massive figure glided down, stirring up a gale-force wind before landing lightly in front of Mu Chen and the others. It was none other than Zhu Jiuqian’s Magical Beast partner, the Golden-Winged Emperor Eagle.

Without needing to be told, Mu Chen and the others, familiar with the routine, leaped onto the Emperor Eagle’s back, ready for the journey back to Holy Tomb Mountain.

"Old friend, it was great drinking with you," Zhu Jiuqian said with a light laugh, his gaze on Feng Chaoming tinged with reluctance. "I hope you’ve recovered a bit more by the next time we meet."

"Hmph. You talk too much," Feng Chaoming snorted, clenching his fists. "But next time we meet, I truly hope we can have a proper fight!" His aura surged, and everyone could feel his intense battle lust.

"If... I ever get the chance in this lifetime..."

But among everyone present, only Mu Chen and Zhu Jiuqian saw the flicker of anguish and despair in Feng Chaoming’s eyes as he spoke.

"Let’s go!" Zhu Jiuqian shouted to the Golden-Winged Emperor Eagle, turning his head away without another glance at Feng Chaoming.

The Golden-Winged Emperor Eagle let out a sharp cry, as if in answer. It spread its wings, kicking up two powerful gales, and its massive form soared into the heavens in the blink of an eye, shrinking to a dark speck in the distance.

Below, Feng Chaoming gazed up helplessly at the shrinking form of the Golden-Winged Emperor Eagle. Only after it had vanished completely did he shake his head and turn to leave. But just as he took a step into the void, a square of White Jade shot down from the sky...