Chapter 149 - 117: The Holy City in an Uproar

Chapter 149: Chapter 117: The Holy City in an Uproar

Upon his appearance, the void behind the stone door trembled. The terrifying aura emanating from him caused Jiang Hao’s expression to change drastically.

This was himself in his absolute peak state.

Looking at the other party’s faint demeanor of looking down upon the world, the original body was slightly taken aback.

"So in the eyes of others, when I completely release my aura, I possess such peerless magnificence?" Jiang Hao thought.

Jiang Hao was utterly astonished, yet he instantly felt an Alexander-level pressure.

The replicated figure before him was truly his absolute peak self; even his Extreme Sword Realm had reached the fifth level.

No, he should still be a tiny bit stronger than him.

As soon as the peak puppet figure appeared, it cast a faint glance at Jiang Hao.

"You are no match for me. Surrender," he said.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Hao suddenly raised his eyes.

Was he... being looked down upon by himself?

"Heh, if we don’t fight, how would you know I’m not your match?" Jiang Hao replied, somewhat unconvinced.

However, the other party slowly shook his head. "I am the peak Jiang Hao. I understand everything about you better than you do yourself. I am a hair stronger than you.

"This tiny difference is enough to render everything else meaningless.

"As long as I suppress and kill you, I can take your place, inherit this physical body of yours, and become a true living being. Although I cannot leave this stone door, behind it, I am the heavens."

BOOM!!!

At these words, Jiang Hao turned pale with shock.

For some unknown reason, he felt an unprecedented sense of crisis when facing this puppet figure.

Compared to the previous replicas, this ’Jiang Hao’ was far more vivid and lifelike, as if this bizarre space had truly granted him life.

What was even more terrifying was that Jiang Hao sensed the threat of death from the other party.

The root cause was that this replicated figure might genuinely understand him better than he understood himself.

This truly echoed the old saying: in this world, the most terrifying enemy is oneself, and the hardest battle is to defeat oneself.

"Want me to surrender?"

Jiang Hao sneered inwardly. Those words had never existed in his dictionary.

They hadn’t existed when facing the Qi Family’s Qilin Child, they hadn’t existed under the Heaven and Earth Net of the Celestial Sword Sect, and they certainly hadn’t existed amidst the overwhelming killing intent in Xingyue City.

A surging will to fight—an unprecedented battle intent—slowly rose in his heart.

Jiang Hao slowly raised the Chaos Sword Embryo, finally looking straight at the figure opposite him. When he spoke, his tone had shifted.

"Jiang Hao, let me see exactly where your limits lie!"

At Jiang Hao’s words, the puppet Jiang Hao suddenly lifted his head. A ripple that shouldn’t have been there surfaced in his no-longer-hollow eyes. The next moment, a roar echoed out.

"Kill!"

BOOM!!!

This time, Jiang Hao took the initiative to strike first. No longer passive, he confronted himself head-on.

In an instant, the sword might within the entire space was annihilated and reborn, and the power of the Chaos Sword Embryo was unleashed to the most terrifying height Jiang Hao had ever reached in his life.

Looking from outside the stone door, the space behind it seemed like a miniature world. Jiang Hao and the replicated Jiang Hao appeared as two great world sovereigns, their duel unfathomably terrifying.

Outside the stone door.

The silver-haired elder and his companion watched this scene, both feeling as if they had been struck by lightning.

"There’s... there’s more...?"

"Is this... the eighth... eighth transformation? One Vein Eighth Transformation?"

"No, both his eight veins and spine have reached the eighth transformation."

"What did you say?"

The two exchanged words, their shock growing with every syllable. Their eyes were filled with absolute horror.

Eighth transformation. This youth’s eight veins and his spine had actually undergone eight qualitative transformations.

"How... how is this possible?"

It was impossible. In this barren land, the seventh transformation was already the limit throughout history. How could anyone possibly achieve the full process of the eighth transformation?

Even looking at the entirety of Nanling, only a scarce few had ever reached the eighth transformation—you could count them on one hand.

Behind the stone door.

BOOM! The two figures clashed together in a true, desperate slaughter.

Jiang Hao’s long hair flew wildly, and he coughed up blood frantically from the corners of his mouth. His entire being had entered a state of near madness.

"Fifth Realm of Sword, Break—Heaven!"

"Eighteen Forms of the Heavenly Hand, Eighteen in One, Heaven-Flipping Seal!"

Sword Qi, Sword Intent, and the Heavenly Hand—various methods were unleashed simultaneously. The two were almost evenly matched, and both suffered extremely horrifying injuries.

SPURT!

At a certain moment, Jiang Hao spurted a mouthful of blood, his internal organs aching as if half of them had been shattered.

"Even if you are the limit, the shackles, the bottleneck—I will shatter you!"

BOOM!!!

The more he fell at a disadvantage, the more utterly frenzied Jiang Hao became. Various streams of Sword Qi blotted out the sky, and even his pupils seemed to release sword might.

"You cannot kill me, just as you cannot kill yourself.

"You are me, but I am merely me. You are destined to never defeat me."

Looking at the endlessly suppressed original body, the puppet Jiang Hao grew more and more terrifying as he fought. Under the continuous deductions of the stone walls and that strange rock, the aura emanating from him became significantly more dreadful than the original body’s.

This scene made the two elders outside the stone door tremble with fear. They secretly prayed for that figure to quickly give up and tap the ground so they could extract him.

But at this moment, Jiang Hao was like a demon possessed, suppressing his opponent with no regard for his own life.

Until a certain moment, when a deafening BOOM!!! resounded.

"NO!!!" the silver-haired elder outside the stone door immediately cried out in alarm.

He saw Jiang Hao’s original body swept away by a single sword strike, sent flying backward amidst the sword might before slamming heavily against the stone wall.

This was a peak strike; its lethality could easily be imagined.

More importantly, the puppet Jiang Hao knew the original body like the back of his hand, and his combat experience was profound enough to make even the older generation blush with shame.

This sword strike was nearly fatal.

Inside the stone door.

Jiang Hao smashed heavily against the wall behind him as if crashing into an impenetrable fortress of iron and bronze, his body plummeting with a thud.

Half-kneeling on the ground with his right hand gripping his sword, he relied on the Sword Embryo to support his body. A mouthful of blood surged up, and Jiang Hao spewed it out.

"I said you could never be my match. No one in this world understands you better than I do."

The puppet Jiang Hao was in high spirits. Carrying the replicated Sword Embryo, he stepped toward the fallen figure.

Outside the stone door.

"Give up, child. Quickly give up!"

The silver-haired elder and the gray-haired elder were so anxious they didn’t know what to do. The Earth Realm of Xingyue City had finally birthed such a legendary figure; if he perished during the selection, it would be a monumental loss.

"Open the stone door and let him out!"

"We can’t! If he doesn’t give up, the Identity Stone won’t terminate the trial. If we force the door open, he’ll be crushed by the Array and inscriptions on the stone walls."

The silver-haired elder wanted to forcibly intervene but was stopped by the gray-haired elder, just as the two thought that the young figure was about to meet a premature end.

Inside the stone door.

"I understand. I understand now."

Jiang Hao, heavily injured and on the verge of death, spoke abruptly. His entire demeanor had completely calmed down.

Hearing the figure’s words, the two outside the stone door were slightly taken aback. They fell silent, staring blankly at the unfolding events inside.

At this moment, countless scenes of him cultivating Sword Techniques surfaced in Jiang Hao’s pupils. They flashed rapidly, culminating in countless streams of peak Sword Qi.

The scenes then shifted, subsequently revealing the countless Sword Techniques his counterpart had deduced while they were slaughtering each other.

At a certain moment, all the figures merged together, and an earth-shattering Sword Realm erupted from within Jiang Hao’s pupils.

"All things possess a Dao, and the sword also has its Dao.

"Though Sword Techniques may differ, their Daos do not conflict.

"Sword Dao!"

Seemingly having comprehended something, Jiang Hao slowly raised his head. His entire being underwent an earth-shaking transformation.

Boundless new sword might emanated from his body, transitioning from the old to the new, shedding the obsolete to birth the novel.

The sword in his hand vibrated endlessly, as if in deep resonance.

"Sword Dao?"

Seeing this scene, the two outside the stone door were completely dumbfounded, staring with their mouths agape.

"It’s the Sword Dao. He actually touched the realm of the Sword Dao?"

"That’s absolutely impossible! How many years has he even cultivated? How could he possibly touch upon the comprehensions of the Sword Dao?"

The two elders stiffened completely, looking as utterly shocked as if they had just discovered a new continent.

Merely by slaughtering against his past selves at various realms and comprehending the Sword Techniques he had once cultivated, he had actually touched the realm of the Sword Dao.

Just how monstrous were his talent and potential?

As time passed, Jiang Hao ceased his murmurs and slowly stood up.

At a certain moment, he quietly watched his replicated self charging at him. Suddenly raising his sword, he gently swung it out.

Meanwhile.

On the Celestial List.

The codename Ghost-faced Asura was still skyrocketing madly. Finally, at a certain moment, it came to an abrupt halt, no longer scrolling.

And as tens of millions of Cultivators looked at the position where that codename had finally stopped, the entire world fell dead silent.