Chapter 72 - 70: Sword Unrivaled’s Horror, Pursuers Witnessing the Fall of a Genius

Chapter 72: Chapter 70: Sword Unrivaled’s Horror, Pursuers Witnessing the Fall of a Genius

Looking at the peerless figures clashing like two grappling suns, everyone was profoundly shaken. However, as time passed, a sudden roar pierced the air.

"Heaven-Overturning Slash!"

BOOM!

Sword Unrivaled unleashed an explosive slash. Boundless Sword Qi locked down Jiang Hao, the terrifying strike draining the color from the world.

When Jiang Hao met this strike head-on, he suffered a tremendous backlash. The Qingfeng Sword instantly flew from his grip, tearing through the void before stabbing into a stone wall with a loud CLANG, trembling violently. He was forced off the top of the ancient tree as well, knocked back over a hundred meters by the world-shocking Sword Qi.

Looking at that world-shocking strike, even Jiang Hao was stunned.

Atop the ancient tree, the young man with billowing robes looked down and couldn’t help but sneer.

"As a Sword Cultivator, you can’t even hold your sword properly. How can you possibly fight me?

"I thought too highly of you."

This strike allowed Sword Unrivaled to regain his arrogance, his expression growing even more contemptuous.

In response, Jiang Hao merely offered a faint smile. This battle had been incredibly exhilarating, and he had fought to his heart’s content. In less than fifteen minutes, he had unleashed almost every Sword Technique he had learned in the Qin family over the years. However, he had mostly been testing the waters to gauge his opponent’s true strength. Although the Qingfeng Sword was out of his hands, Jiang Hao had achieved his desired outcome.

The next moment, facing Sword Unrivaled’s arrogance, Jiang Hao revealed a confident smile. "So this is one of the thirty-six Sword Cultivators of the Celestial Sword Sect? Nothing more than this, it seems."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone—including Sword Unrivaled—experienced a change in expression. The latter jerked his head up, suddenly gripped by a rather ominous premonition. The moment Jiang Hao uttered those shocking words, everyone was dumbfounded.

The thirty-second-ranked World-Shocking Sword Cultivator of the Celestial Sword Sect was actually being mocked? This was Sword Unrivaled, a world-shocking genius of the Sword Dao! Even across the entire Eastern Domain, he was definitively a top-tier powerhouse in the battle for supremacy among geniuses.

Hearing the evaluation from the youth in white, Sword Unrivaled’s pupils suddenly contracted, his eyelids twitching slightly.

At this moment, Jiang Hao sprang into action. He leaped through the air and waved a hand. "Qingfeng Sword, come!"

With a loud CLANG, the Qingfeng Sword pierced through the void and returned to Jiang Hao’s grasp, letting out an almost jubilant hum. At the same time, the aura radiating from the white-robed youth surged wildly, and boundless Sword Intent permeated the air.

"Sword Intent? You actually merged Sword Intent with a Sword Technique?" Sensing the drastic shift in Jiang Hao’s demeanor, Sword Unrivaled began to panic. This was especially true as the Sword Dao coercion emanating from the youth in white peaked to its absolute limit.

"Heavenly Spirit 72 Swords!"

BOOM!

Following Jiang Hao’s light shout, an infinite barrage of Sword Qi infused with Sword Intent abruptly enveloped the peerless figure like a torrential downpour.

Watching the sky filled with Sword Qi, Qin Ye and the others were petrified on the spot.

"The Second Realm of Sword! Young Master Qin has actually stepped into the Second Realm of Sword?"

At this moment, Jiang Hao merged his comprehended Sword Intent with his Sword Technique. Wherever the Sword Qi passed, the void trembled endlessly, leaving everyone pale with fright. Even more terrifying was that the execution of the Heavenly Spirit 72 Swords instantly elevated this Sword Dao duel by several tiers.

"Impossible! This is impossible! How can a nameless nobody like you possess such profound mastery over the Sword Dao?

"Who are you? Who exactly are you?"

Facing the rain-like Sword Qi, even Sword Unrivaled found it hard to parry. Terrifying streams of Sword Qi sliced through the space between them. In just a hundred breaths of time, both combatants were wounded. However, compared to Jiang Hao, Sword Unrivaled was repeatedly forced onto the defensive, and the sword wounds on his body were far more gruesome.

As the battle raged on, Sword Unrivaled finally revealed a look of terror, sensing a genuine threat of death.

"Impossible! How can a nameless pawn defeat me?

"Celestial Sect’s Twelve Swords, Sword Obliteration!"

BOOM!

Finally, Sword Unrivaled was forced to unleash the strongest strike he had ever comprehended. A terrifying blade of Sword Qi, spanning over six hundred feet in length, violently crashed down.

"Qin Fan, be careful!" Qin Xiangyuan’s heart leaped into her throat as she watched the scene unfold.

With this strike, Sword Unrivaled not only erupted with unprecedented might, but he also mobilized that faint trace of Spirit Transformation Qi.

Watching this, Jiang Hao instinctively wore a solemn expression. He thought, "Do I ultimately have to use that strike?"

It was evident that his opponent was undeniably a renowned, peerless Sword Cultivator of the Celestial Sword Sect. To slay him, Jiang Hao now had to go all out. After a brief moment of thought, Jiang Hao hesitated no longer. He took a deep breath, channeled all of his Spiritual Power, and fiercely thrust his sword forward.

"Heaven Piercer!"

BOOM!

Silently chanting the name of this strike in his heart, Jiang Hao retracted the Qingfeng Sword and slowly closed his eyes. Then, he snapped them open, brought two fingers together, and pointed forward.

In an instant, boundless, terrifying Sword Intent manifested into an invisible sword. The entire cave dwelling trembled violently, as if struck by a category-twelve earthquake. As the Sword Intent coalesced into a blade, Sword Unrivaled sensed the sheer terror of this strike, and his expression underwent a drastic shift. Endless panic, chills, dread, and heaven-shaking horror surfaced in his pupils.

"Celestial Silkworm!"

SWISH!

As if feeling the horrifying power of the attack, Sword Unrivaled cried out. The Celestial Silkworm Leaf blocking the cave entrance instantly shot into motion, vanishing from the opening and appearing right in front of Sword Unrivaled the very next moment.

BOOM!

The Sword Qi and Sword Intent collided, creating an earth-shattering explosion within the cave dwelling. Just the residual shockwaves from the clash of the two swords caused the entire mountain to quake and sway.

"This is bad." Qin Ye, Qin Xiangyuan, and the third Spirit Transformation Realm Powerhouse all underwent a drastic change in expression.

This strike was the most powerful attack beneath the Spirit Transformation Realm. If the three of them didn’t step in to dissipate the aftershocks, the rest of their group behind them would inevitably be caught in the crossfire. Left with no choice, Qin Xiangyuan immediately took action, casting a series of barriers to shield everyone behind her.

Atop the towering ancient tree.

BOOM!

The Sword Qi exploded, blotting out the sun and the moon as the world-shocking sword radiance devoured everything in its path. After neutralizing Sword Unrivaled’s full-powered strike, Jiang Hao’s invisible Sword Intent was diminished by ninety percent. Yet, it still broke through the remaining Sword Qi and drove straight toward Sword Unrivaled, moving so fast that evasion was impossible.

"No!"

Accompanied by Sword Unrivaled’s desperate and unwilling scream, the invisible Sword Intent completely bypassed the protection of the Celestial Silkworm Leaf. As it appeared on one side of the leaf, it instantly dispersed, only to restructure itself on the other side, aiming straight for the center of Sword Unrivaled’s brow.

SQUELCH!

The invisible Sword Intent pierced right through his brow, passing entirely through his skull. A clear sword wound, as if a sharp blade had cleanly skewered his head, abruptly appeared in the center of the peerless young man’s forehead.

"Impossible... Impossible!" The young man, impaled by the Sword Intent, stared with eyes full of disbelief. As if unable to accept his own defeat, his body instinctively bolted toward the outside of the cave dwelling to flee.

WHOOSH!

Watching Sword Unrivaled fly out right over their heads, Qin Ye and the others were left dumbfounded, taking a brief moment to process what had just happened. By this time, however, Jiang Hao was already soaring through the air in pursuit. Under no circumstances could he allow his opponent to escape alive. If word got out, all of them would become targets for the countless peerless geniuses of the Celestial Sword Sect. When that time came, his true identity as Jiang Hao, rather than a direct descendant of the Qin family, would also be exposed.

With these thoughts in mind, Jiang Hao immediately chased after him for the kill, and Qin Xiangyuan and the others followed closely behind.

Meanwhile, outside the cave dwelling.

"They’re inside! Surround the cave dwelling immediately! Don’t let a single one escape!"

A joyful roar echoed above the ruins. Under Lin Chen’s leadership, numerous terrifying figures materialized over the remnants of this ancient sect. Six Spirit Transformation Realm Powerhouses, personally leading over a dozen Cultivators at the Peak of Unity Realm, instantly surrounded the entrance so tightly that not a drop of water could leak out, effectively sealing off the airspace.

After nearly five months of relentless pursuit, Lin Chen had finally cornered this team of geniuses from the Qin family, his face displaying boundless delight.

However, right at this moment.

"No!"

A figure suddenly rocketed into the sky, soaring out from within the cave dwelling.

Lin Chen and his group were deeply alarmed and immediately went on high alert, mistakenly assuming that Jiang Hao and his team were fighting their way out. Instead, what they saw was a peerless figure with a sword wound piercing straight through his forehead.

Sword Unrivaled’s body rushed into midair before suddenly stalling. His eyes gradually lost their luster, and, harboring deep unwillingness and anger, he lost all signs of life and slowly plummeted to the ground. Jiang Hao and the rest all chased their way out at this moment, only to realize that Sword Unrivaled had already perished from the previous strike. The only reason he had flown out of the cave dwelling was that his body was being driven by an instinctual, obsessive desire to survive.

Watching this abrupt turn of events, Lin Chen and his men were caught completely off guard. When they recognized the attire on Sword Unrivaled’s body, everyone was even more shocked.

"A disciple of the Celestial Sword Sect?"

"Sword Unrivaled! It’s Sword Unrivaled!"

"Heavens, Sword Unrivaled of the Celestial Sword Sect actually fell here?"

Upon realizing that the figure was Sword Unrivaled, one of the thirty-six Sword Cultivators of the Celestial Sword Sect, all the pursuers felt as though they had been struck by lightning. Looking at Jiang Hao and his group, who had rushed out with their swords drawn, Lin Chen and his men instantly deduced what had happened inside.

"You... you killed someone from the Celestial Sword Sect?" Several Spirit Transformation Realm Cultivators felt as if they had been hit by a thunderbolt, stormy waves rising in their hearts. They stared at Jiang Hao and his companions with utter disbelief.

That was a disciple of the Celestial Sword Sect! Slaying a Cultivator from the Celestial Sword Sect was undoubtedly a declaration of war against them. How could this not be terrifying?

"Heavens... you people are incredibly brazen! You even dared to kill someone from the Celestial Sword Sect?" Not only did they dare to kill him, but they had slain a supreme genius among the peerless geniuses of the Celestial Sect—the thirty-second-ranked World-Shocking Sword Cultivator, Sword Unrivaled!

Seeing the dozens of figures surrounding them, the expressions of Qin Xiangyuan and the others instantly turned exceedingly grim.

"This is bad, Fairy Qin. What do we do?" Every member of the Qin City genius team bore an incredibly dark expression. The situation had grown extremely dire.

If Lin Chen and his men hadn’t been here, Sword Unrivaled would have just been a lone wolf; killing him would have been the end of it, and no one would ever know whose hands he died by. The critical issue, however, was that Lin Chen’s group had witnessed this scene. Once the news of Jiang Hao slaying a peerless genius of the Celestial Sword Sect spread, they would be met with endless, unrelenting pursuit and slaughter. Furthermore, the appearance of Lin Chen and his forces plunged everyone into even greater peril. Their opponents hadn’t come to watch a show; they were mortal enemies here to kill them.

Yet, compared to Qin Xiangyuan and her group, Lin Chen and his men were shocked beyond measure. This was especially true when they saw the white-robed youth holding a bloodstained longsword, his body bearing several sword wounds; they practically looked at him as if he were a divine being.

"Did... did you kill Sword Unrivaled?"

Lin Chen had already guessed the truth. The look in his eyes as he stared at Jiang Hao underwent a massive shift—one filled with shock, unease, panic, and an endless amount of dread. For a Sword Cultivator to be capable of slaying Sword Unrivaled, his talent in the Sword Dao was already sufficient to place him among the very best of Sword Cultivators. This was an exceedingly terrifying and dangerous signal.

There was no time to ponder how their target had crossed paths with someone from the Celestial Sword Sect. Lin Chen abruptly snapped back to his senses, his face turning pale.