Chapter 104 - 49: Seven Killings: The True Power of the Winter Solstice Sword Intent

Chapter 104: Chapter 49: Seven Killings: The True Power of the Winter Solstice Sword Intent

After killing Zhao Gui, the Talisman in Jiang Xuan’s hand grew slightly warm in his palm. Its cold silver markings lit up, and the two words "One Victory" clearly appeared. Two options popped up below: rest for half an hour, or continue the duel.

Jiang Xuan hadn’t consumed much of his energy, so he chose the latter without a moment’s hesitation.

SWOOSH!

As soon as Jiang Xuan made his choice, his vision shifted. When his sight returned to normal, he found that he had been transported from the forest to a dilapidated ancient castle. Thirty meters away, a youth holding a Dharma Seal was warily scanning his surroundings.

When he saw Jiang Xuan, a look of clear astonishment appeared on his face.

"You look that rough? Man, in your state, you might as well just withdraw and recuperate..."

Just like the person before him, this young man looked down on Jiang Xuan upon seeing his appearance.

But unlike the last match, Jiang Xuan had no intention of wasting words this time.

The very instant he saw his enemy, an invisible wave of winter crashed down.

WHOOSH...

As his Magical Power, Divine Soul, and the Frosty Winter Cold Qi that coiled within him day and night completely fused, they transformed into a chill capable of freezing the soul, which then swept across the arena. The relaxed expression on the youth’s face instantly stiffened, his pupils shrinking to the size of pinpricks. Just like Zhao Gui, he felt the strange sensation of sinking into an Ice Lake under the pressure of Jiang Xuan’s aura.

Boundless darkness began to envelop his vision. The breath of winter invaded his body and Soul Spirit. His blood was stiffening, and the flow of his Magical Power grew sluggish, causing his expression to contort in terror.

"What the hell is this!"

"Break!"

Just like the one before him, he too began to roar.

However, this person was far more decisive. Realizing something was wrong, he roared to bolster his courage while simultaneously stirring his Magical Power and rapidly forming hand seals.

The invading chill hadn’t affected him for long, so he could still circulate his Magical Power, allowing him to cast his Magic.

A massive, furiously burning Fireball materialized above his head. Its orange-red light illuminated his ferocious face and helped him regain some of his confidence.

"I don’t know what you did, but my Fireball Technique is the strongest! Watch me burn you to ashes!"

Roaring, the youth kept his eyes locked on Jiang Xuan and flicked his finger, intending to smash the Fireball toward him.

SQUELCH...

But just as his arm reached mid-air, his movement came to an abrupt halt.

An icy, excruciating pain suddenly erupted from his abdomen.

The youth looked down in disbelief, only to see frost flowers rapidly spreading across his chest. The next second, countless icicles burst forth from his body, riddling him with holes.

"What... is this?!"

Until the moment of his death, the Fireball he had conjured never left his hand.

Then came the third person, the fourth, the fifth, the sixth... Different terrains, different opponents, different Techniques—yet the outcome was always exactly the same.

All of his opponents were caught completely off guard, stabbed through the chest by the Ice Frost Flying Sword.

It wasn’t until the seventh opponent that Jiang Xuan’s attack was finally met with some resistance.

This time, the battlefield was an ancient town shrouded in misty rain. Jiang Xuan stood on a green-tiled roof, and opposite him, a youth held a long, narrow saber, his gaze as sharp as a hawk’s.

He didn’t offer any taunts like the previous opponents, nor did he show any unnecessary emotion. The moment his figure solidified, he tapped his toes against the tiles and shot toward Jiang Xuan like a black streak of lightning.

WHOOSH...

His opponent had no interest in talking, and neither did Jiang Xuan.

The very instant he saw his enemy, Jiang Xuan’s eyes became indifferent. A frigid breath of winter surged out like a tide, enveloping the entire rooftop in a bone-chilling cold.

The saber-wielding youth, locked in Jiang Xuan’s gaze, bore the full brunt of this wintery pressure.

But it had to be said, anyone who made it this far had to have some real strength.

The youth before him was a prime example. The wintery aura, tinged with the stillness of annihilation and death, affected him, causing his pupils to shrink and his face to pale. But he did not retreat. Instead, he gritted his teeth, and a flash of crimson flickered between his brows—he was directly burning his Essence Blood!

BOOM!

A virile and scorching Blood Qi exploded within his body, managing to disperse some of the chill that could freeze a Soul Spirit.

Moreover, burning his Essence Blood had instantly increased his strength by fifty percent.

This surge in strength also made him incredibly fast.

In less than a breath, he was only ten meters from Jiang Xuan. For someone who had just unleashed their Blood Qi, that distance could be covered in a single breath.

"Die!"

The long saber whistled through the air, chopping down toward Jiang Xuan’s Ghost-like figure.

Jiang Xuan, however, remained completely unfazed.

He simply continued to stare at the youth with an indifferent gaze, watching as the sharp saber grew ever closer.

This eerie calm sent a chill through Mu Lin’s heart that overpowered the scorching heat of his burning Essence Blood.

’Why isn’t he moving?’ The thought surfaced uncontrollably in Mu Lin’s mind, but he forcibly suppressed it in an instant.

’Whatever your reason, you’ll die if this hits! And you can’t block this strike!’

As the thought crossed his mind, he put another thirty percent of his strength into his strike.

However, just as his blade was a mere half-meter from between Jiang Xuan’s eyes—at the very instant the cold wind from the strike began to whip the hair on his forehead about—Mu Lin’s expression suddenly changed.

His pupils abruptly shrank to the size of pinpricks, and the ferocious look on his face instantly froze into one of utter terror.

"What is that?!"

CRACK...

At the last possible moment, while still in mid-air, he aborted his charge and forcibly twisted his body, as if dodging an attack.

He didn’t care that such a move would injure him.

He even swung his long saber viciously at the empty space to his side.

BANG!

With a crisp crack, something in mid-air seemed to shatter, sending fine ice shards flying in all directions—he had actually hit something.

Unfortunately, although he had sensed the danger, he was ultimately a step too slow.

Half of a transparent Ice Sword was buried deep in his abdomen.

This time, however, Jiang Xuan didn’t immediately detonate the Ice Sword as he had before.

This was the first time anyone had managed to react to his sword, which prompted a slightly surprised Jiang Xuan to speak. "You can see it?"

In response to Jiang Xuan’s question, the youth staggered back several steps, gritting his teeth as he forced the Ice Sword from his body.

Only when he reached a safe distance did he gasp for breath and look at Jiang Xuan. All traces of disdain were gone from his eyes, replaced by a grave solemnity. "I can’t see your sword."

Because Jiang Xuan had held back, the youth answered honestly, "I practice a Technique from Absolute Peak. There’s a Secret Technique there called ’On a Whim.’ It enhances a Cultivator’s sixth sense, allowing me to perceive mortal danger."

"Just now, I had a premonition of mortal danger. I didn’t actually see your sword."

Having said that, the youth, now acknowledging Jiang Xuan’s strength, asked, "That Ice Sword of yours... is it invisible?"

This question made Jiang Xuan feel a little sheepish.

When he was learning Winter Solstice, he once thought that the Guicang Annihilation Sword he was studying was different from Iaido, which relied on sneak attacks. He believed it to be a sword of ultimate courage, one for facing death head-on and seeing beyond life and mortality.

But when he began to learn the One-Nine Swordsmanship, Jiang Xuan realized he had spoken too soon, and that his view had been too narrow.

Winter Solstice was a Dao, a path. It demanded its Cultivators to have the courage to face death directly.

But "One-Nine" and "Er Jiu" were different. These two Sword Techniques, which were not named after official solar terms, were just that—techniques. They were the lethal blades used by the disciples of the Valley of Winter to protect their path and slay their enemies.

The sages of the Valley of Winter were practical and would never tie their own hands. They wanted both the courage of the Dao and the lethality of the technique. This gave the One-Nine Swordsmanship that followed Winter Solstice a chilling, treacherous quality.

The One-Nine Swordsmanship was called Frost Shadow Companion. Initially, it simply allowed Jiang Xuan to use the chill of ice and snow to form a small Flying Sword and launch it the moment an enemy revealed an opening. After all, launching a Flying Sword was much faster than Jiang Xuan could strike with a physical blade.

At the Proficient level of the Second Realm, the technique increased the hardness and sharpness of Jiang Xuan’s Ice Flying Sword.

By utilizing its freezing Traits, a greater and more biting chill would allow Jiang Xuan to form an Ice Flying Sword as hard as refined steel and incomparably sharp.

But when his Cultivation of it reached Third Realm Minor Success, everything changed. Only then was the Swordsmanship’s true killing move revealed.

The focus of Cultivation at the Minor Success level was using the properties of ice and snow to turn the Ice Flying Sword into a completely transparent, colorless shadow.

Once this step of Cultivation was mastered, the Swordsmanship became nearly impossible to defend against.

What made it even more deadly was that Jiang Xuan himself, when channeling his Winter Solstice Sword Intent, became the most conspicuous target imaginable.

He was like a winter demon that had crawled out of the Nine Netherworld, a bone-chilling cold churning around him, his presence so strong it was impossible to ignore.

Whether his opponent was paralyzed by this wintery aura or struggled with all their might to break free, their attention would be irrevocably fixed on Jiang Xuan’s overwhelming presence.

Under these circumstances, the colorless, formless Ice Flying Sword became a true, life-reaping Ghost Shadow.

The six people Jiang Xuan had defeated before had all fallen to this exact combination.

With all their attention focused on Jiang Xuan’s physical body, they never even saw what took their lives.

But now, Jiang Xuan’s move had been countered.

"No, it’s not a flaw in the Swordsmanship. My Cultivation of Winter Solstice is just not yet perfected."

After muttering to himself, Jiang Xuan looked up at Mu Lin opposite him. There was no panic in his eyes from having his technique countered—only an increasingly indifferent, icy clarity. "Thank you," he said, "for showing me my own weakness."

"In return, I’ll give you a quick death."

BOOM!

Before his words had even faded, a wave of cold, far more frigid than before, suddenly erupted from Jiang Xuan.

And this time, the chill emanating from Jiang Xuan was no longer just bone-piercingly cold; it was now laced with a terrifying killing intent powerful enough to freeze the very soul.

SWOOSH!

The overwhelming killing intent made the hairs on Mu Lin’s body stand on end, and his frame instantly tensed like a fully drawn bow.

What made his expression even uglier was that while his ’On a Whim’ hadn’t failed, the vague premonition of danger no longer pointed to a single direction. Instead, it warned him of more than a dozen spots, coming from all sides!

This was the true power of the Winter Solstice Sword Intent: to cover Heaven and Earth with the Frosty Winter Cold, filling an enemy’s every perception with a sense of endless crisis.

When danger is everywhere, the true killing blow becomes completely hidden in the noise.

And that was precisely the case now.

Amidst the bone-chilling wind, Jiang Xuan’s voice rang out like shattering ice:

"Throat, spine, liver, carotid artery, kidney, heart... Care to guess which one my next sword will pierce?!"

CRACK!