Chapter 259: Heavenly Monarch Extreme Sword's Shock

“Let’s go.”

You stepped forward, vanishing from your spot.

This was your first time making a move since advancing to the Deity Transformation Stage, and you were eager to test yourself.

“All right.”

Heavenly Monarch Extreme Sword nodded, accepting your request for a spar.

Since you were the predestined person Heavenly Sword Peak had awaited for a hundred thousand years, Heavenly Monarch Extreme Sword had already secretly decided to hold back. He would not use any killing moves from the Sword Classic, much less draw upon the Heavenly Sword’s foundation.

He wanted to ensure you had a good sparring experience.

It was truly unprecedented that you had broken past your physical, magical, and spiritual limits during the Nascent Soul Stage. But this was the late ancient era. Under the world’s suppression, Heavenly Monarch Extreme Sword—relying on the Sword Lord’s inheritance—was invincible.

He was even confident he could severely wound a Rank 5 Void Whale possessing the True Spirit Kunpeng bloodline.

Although a True Spirit Bloodline struggled to fully mature in the current Human Realm, it could essentially crush anything at the same cultivation level. The Rank 5 Early Stage Void Whale Master possessed such formidable strength that an ordinary Deity Transformation Early Stage true lord would feel utter despair facing him.

Whoosh—

Deep within Heavenly Sword Peak lay a certain secret realm. Spanning thousands of miles, this isolated world had been specially opened by successive Heavenly Monarchs of Heavenly Sword Peak as a testing ground for their techniques.

Because this secret realm existed independently of the Human Realm, Heavenly Monarchs could fight here with their full strength without worrying about the world’s backlash.

You and Heavenly Monarch Extreme Sword stood in the center of the secret realm, facing each other from seven or eight hundred miles apart.

“Fellow Daoist Qingyuan, please make the first move.”

Heavenly Monarch Extreme Sword spoke while silently pondering how he should end the battle. A narrow victory? Or an evenly matched draw? If I lose on purpose, it’ll look too fake, and he won't believe it anyway.

“All right!”

You did not act modest. You placed enough importance on Heavenly Monarch Extreme Sword to take him seriously.

Rumble!

With a shift of your thoughts, your boundless Mountain and Sea soul dharma power unfurled. The energies intertwined and fused, faintly forming the embryonic shape of a grotto-heaven spanning a thousand miles.

“Mountain and Sea Realm!”

Deity Transformation Stage Heavenly Monarchs already possessed the means to carve out grotto-heavens and blessed lands upon the foundation of a secret realm.

This was exactly how the Thirty-Six Grotto-Heavens and Seventy-Two Blessed Lands of the Central Continent Territory came to be. Your secret art, the Mountain and Sea Realm, operated on a similar principle, although it fell far short of a true grotto-heaven or blessed land, which Heavenly Monarchs spent eons cultivating.

In the midst of a life-and-death battle, however, even an embryonic form was enough to cause massive trouble for an opponent.

“Oh? Fellow Daoist Qingyuan has mastered this domain-type killing move quite thoroughly. It has basically severed all connection with the outside world...” Heavenly Monarch Extreme Sword commented, not taking it too seriously.

A domain-type killing move? Sword cultivators were best at countering such techniques. The phrase “one sword breaks ten thousand dharmas” was no joke.

No matter how strong a domain was, it could not stop a sword cultivator’s blade.

Crash—

Your expression turned slightly serious as you controlled the power of the Mountain and Sea Realm to suppress Heavenly Monarch Extreme Sword.

Under the enhancement of the Surpassing Oneself by Half a Move talent, the quality and quantity of your dharma power stepped directly into the Deity Transformation Middle Stage. Combined with your already thick and majestic Mountain and Sea soul dharma power, the fully activated Mountain and Sea Realm was terrifying. If an ordinary Deity Transformation Early Stage true lord was even a step too slow in running away, they would find it nearly impossible to escape in one piece.

Normally, domain-type secret arts like the Mountain and Sea Realm scattered too much dharma power to be controlled with precision. However, after defeating the Outer Domain Heavenly Demon, your divine soul had received a massive boost. Paired with your various talents, your divine soul’s strength was fast approaching the Deity Transformation Middle Stage Peak.

The crushing suppression of your dharma power, along with your terrifying soul control, allowed you to perfectly command every wisp of energy within the Mountain and Sea Realm. Layer upon layer of dharma power merged and dispersed, crashing toward Heavenly Monarch Extreme Sword like a tidal wave.

Buzz—

The space inside the secret realm continuously twisted, triggering widespread collapses and annihilations as a terrifying aura permeated every inch of the air. Heavenly Monarch Extreme Sword, who had been standing there leisurely, felt his pupils violently shrink at the sight of this might. The sword dao dharma power within his body surged, surrounding him with wisps of sword intent, right before he was entirely submerged by the crushing waves of the Mountain and Sea Realm.

Riiip—

A dazzling ray of sword light emerged, seeming capable of severing all things. It cleaved through the surging waves of dharma power, slicing a rift directly into the Mountain and Sea Realm before bursting out.

The radiant sword light halted in the distance, resolving into a figure. It was Heavenly Monarch Extreme Sword.

His expression was utterly grave. Although he had not suffered any injuries, the endless suppression of the Mountain and Sea Realm had subjected him to unprecedented pressure.

Even back when he traveled to the Deep Sea and faced the Void Whale Master, he had not felt anything like this.

While he had not drawn upon the Heavenly Sword’s foundation just now, he had been forced to use a killing move from the Sword Classic. Otherwise, breaking out of the Mountain and Sea Realm would have been incredibly difficult.

“Fellow Daoist Qingyuan, have you truly just entered the Deity Transformation Stage? Why does it feel like you’re at the Deity Transformation Middle Stage...”

Heavenly Monarch Extreme Sword was in sheer disbelief. Through their brief exchange, he realized that while your domain secret art was immense and heavy, the true core of its terror lay in the sheer quality and purity of your dharma power.

Your dharma power was simply too high in quality. If it had only been at the standard of the Deity Transformation Early Stage, it would have been impossible to manifest such an overwhelming sense of oppression.

“Too strong. Fellow Daoist Qingyuan, your strength is likely no weaker than the Deity Transformation Middle Stage. How is this possible? You didn’t even rely on external items; you reached this level through pure secret arts and dharma power alone!”

Heavenly Monarch Extreme Sword found it inconceivable. He possessed the greatest combat prowess in the Human Realm, but that was reliant on the Heavenly Sword’s foundation.

And strictly speaking, the Heavenly Sword’s foundation was an external power.

Without it, relying purely on his lethality as a sword cultivator and the secret arts of the Sword Classic, he was at best an equal to the Void Whale Master. Severely wounding the beast? That would be utterly impossible.

But what about you?

What were you relying on? Dharma power and divine soul? Those were things that required slow, methodical cultivation. How could someone who had just stepped into the Deity Transformation Early Stage be this overwhelmingly strong?

“Hahahahaha.”

A smile surfaced on your face, though you did not offer much of an explanation.

Mainly, it was because you could not explain it. You could not possibly reveal the existence of your various talents to outsiders, even if Heavenly Monarch Extreme Sword seemed absolutely trustworthy right now.

With another shift of your thoughts, the torn rift in the Mountain and Sea Realm rapidly mended. The domain continued to expand, once again engulfing the space where Heavenly Monarch Extreme Sword stood.

“Since Fellow Daoist Qingyuan is this strong, I will have to go all out.”

The illusory sword mark between Heavenly Monarch Extreme Sword’s brows faintly boiled, gathering an unprecedentedly sharp aura around him. The moment the suppressing power of your Mountain and Sea Realm touched this sharp aura, it instantly crumbled and melted away.

“Oh?”

You narrowed your eyes, knowing that Heavenly Monarch Extreme Sword was about to draw upon the Heavenly Sword’s foundation.

The so-called Heavenly Sword’s foundation was a trump card left behind by the ancient Sword Lord. It could only be wielded by the successive generations of sword cultivators who trained in the Sword Classic.

This was also Heavenly Sword Peak’s greatest reliance for looking down upon the Human Realm for a hundred thousand years. With the Heavenly Sword’s foundation, even a Late Nascent Soul Stage Great Cultivator could exchange a few blows with a Deity Transformation Stage Heavenly Monarch.

“Mountain and Sea Slash!”

The moment the thought formed, the vast, rolling Mountain and Sea Realm rapidly dissipated. Your boundless dharma power gathered and fused, compressing again and again until it manifested into streaks of sharp aura that hung in the surrounding air.

“Go!”

Without hesitation, you commanded the thousands upon thousands of Mountain and Sea Slashes to chop toward Heavenly Monarch Extreme Sword, who stood in the void, continuously brewing a terrifyingly sharp aura.

The Mountain and Sea Slash was the Deity Transformation Stage offensive secret art of the Mountain and Sea Lineage. The more Mountain and Sea edge you condensed, the greater its power would be. Because your divine soul strength was approaching the Deity Transformation Middle Stage Peak, you held a massive advantage when casting this art, allowing you to condense far more streaks of edge.

The mighty, sweeping sharpness of the mountains and seas transformed into an ocean of blades that surged toward Heavenly Monarch Extreme Sword.

Heavenly Monarch Extreme Sword stood firm. At some unknown point, an illusory longsword had appeared in his grasp.

“Heavenly Sword Slash!” Heavenly Monarch Extreme Sword swung lightly, and a silent, traceless ray of sword light emerged.

In the next instant, his sword light collided with your Mountain and Sea Slashes.

You had condensed thousands of Mountain and Sea Slashes, yet under the Heavenly Monarch’s single Heavenly Sword Slash, they were continuously shattered and ripped apart.

However, there were simply too many Mountain and Sea Slashes. Just as enough ants could bite an elephant to death, a quantitative change eventually led to a qualitative one. Through constant collisions and mutual annihilation, Heavenly Monarch Extreme Sword’s Heavenly Sword Slash obliterated your final Mountain and Sea Slash, but its own power was nearly spent. Before it could even reach you, it was blocked by the surrounding mountain and sea dharma power.

“A draw?”

You raised a brow. That Mountain and Sea Slash from earlier could be considered your full-strength strike.

Of course, “full-strength strike” referred only to your power in a standard state.

You still had numerous killing moves you had not touched, such as several major body cultivation divine abilities, particularly the True Dragon Transformation.

This transformation art could cause your physical body, divine soul, and dharma power to skyrocket. Paired with the Mountain and Sea Realm and Mountain and Sea Slash, your offensive output would receive a significant boost.

But since this was merely a spar with Heavenly Monarch Extreme Sword to gauge your current strength, there was no need to reveal all your trump cards. Knowing your own limits was enough.

Similarly, you were well aware that Heavenly Monarch Extreme Sword also had hidden methods he had not used. During the clash, you had vaguely sensed a terrifying power brewing outside, only for him to siphon off a tiny fraction of it to launch his slash.

The Heavenly Sword’s foundation? you thought, secretly alarmed. The Heavenly Sword’s foundation originated from the supreme sword left behind by the Sword Lord.

The Heavenly Monarch peak masters of the later Heavenly Sword Sect could draw upon this power to a certain extent, allowing them to sweep away all opposition in the Human Realm.

“Fellow Daoist Qingyuan wins,” Heavenly Monarch Extreme Sword said, looking at you with a highly complex expression.

If he had only used the various killing moves and secret arts from the Sword Classic, he could still claim that it was his own strength.

But just now, he had tapped into the Heavenly Sword’s foundation—the trump card left behind by the ancient Sword Lord.

Even with that, he had not managed to completely defeat you. Naturally, Heavenly Monarch Extreme Sword knew that he could absolutely never be your match.

Without the Heavenly Sword’s foundation, the best he could do against you was flee for his life. As for fighting you head-on? That was completely impossible.

From the start of the exchange to its end, in Heavenly Monarch Extreme Sword’s eyes, you were indistinguishable from a Deity Transformation Middle Stage Heavenly Monarch. You did not seem at all like someone relying on forbidden arts to temporarily boost their dharma power and divine soul.

“Fellow Daoist Extreme Sword, you didn’t fully utilize the Heavenly Sword’s source essence. Otherwise, I would have had to run,” you said with a smile.

Through this exchange, you had pinned down your exact combat level. You were roughly close to the Deity Transformation Middle Stage Peak. If you truly went all out and used all your trump cards, you could likely exert the combat prowess of that peak level. However, you lacked endurance; your True Dragon Transformation could last a maximum of one to two days.

“The Heavenly Sword’s source essence...”

Heavenly Monarch Extreme Sword shook his head. “Its level is too high. Using it too frequently will shave away my lifespan.”

The Heavenly Sword’s source essence came from the Sword Lord’s personal blade, the Heavenly Sword. The sword operated on its own, its source essence endless and inexhaustible, but not just any cultivator could withstand bearing it.

Ultimately, Heavenly Monarch Extreme Sword was only a Deity Transformation Early Stage Heavenly Monarch. Whether he channeled too much of the source essence or used it too often, he would have to pay a steep price.

“I see.”

You nodded slightly. This was something you had not known before.

“With my current strength and yours, plus Heavenly Monarch Miduo, if we secretly band together and head to the Deep Sea to ambush the Void Whale Master, what are our chances?” you asked.

“I’d say about eighty percent,” Heavenly Monarch Extreme Sword replied after a moment of thought.

An eighty percent chance was already quite high. That was a Rank 5 Void Whale bearing the True Spirit Kunpeng bloodline, possessing numerous spatial talents. If it were not for you, the best Heavenly Monarch Extreme Sword could manage would be severely wounding it. While the Heavenly Sword’s source essence could sweep away everything in its path, it still had to actually hit the target. The Rank 5 Void Whale’s spatial talents allowed it to instantly tear through the Human Realm’s spatial fabric and briefly leave the realm. How could anyone fight against that?

Had Heavenly Monarch Extreme Sword not sensed that your Mountain and Sea Realm had a spatial suppression effect—which was a relative counter to the Void Whale Master—their chances would not even have reached thirty percent.

Defeating an opponent and killing them were entirely different concepts. The latter was unimaginably harder than the former.

“Eighty percent... is still a bit low...”

You shook your head privately before suddenly asking, “If Heavenly Monarch Qingcang joined forces with us, would our chances improve?”

“Heavenly Monarch Qingcang is a fifth-tier body cultivator. If he charges the front lines and directly pins down the Rank 5 Void Whale, we should have a ninety percent chance of killing it,” Heavenly Monarch Extreme Sword stated earnestly.

“Then contact Heavenly Monarch Qingcang. If he agrees to help, we can reduce the Extreme Dao Pavilion’s penalty of being unable to produce a Heavenly Monarch by a thousand years.”

You spoke plainly. If Heavenly Monarch Qingcang was willing to work for you, you did not mind lowering the severity of his punishment.

Of course, that was provided Heavenly Monarch Qingcang did not harbor any ulterior motives. Otherwise, with your strength combined with Heavenly Monarch Extreme Sword’s, you were more than capable of executing the body cultivating Heavenly Monarch in a very short time.

“All right.”

Heavenly Monarch Extreme Sword nodded. ...

After leaving the secret realm, you returned to your spirit vein dao arena.

You had gained a tremendous amount from this spar with Heavenly Monarch Extreme Sword, giving you a clear understanding of your own strengths and weaknesses.

As a dharma cultivator Heavenly Monarch, your greatest strength was naturally your vast array of secret arts and spells. The Mountain and Sea Realm and Mountain and Sea Slash fell perfectly into that category.

If my body cultivation base can also step into the fifth tier, my true combat prowess will jump another level—a massive level, you thought privately.

The Surpassing Oneself by Half a Move talent boosted you in all aspects. If your body cultivation stepped into the Rank 4 Early Stage, the talent’s enhancement would immediately push you to become a Rank 4 Mid Stage body cultivating Heavenly Monarch.