The streak of light was as blue as the sky, like a section of the heavens had been clipped. It virtually merged with the space there. Before it had even fallen, the Hot Wind hell began to shatter and collapse, revealing Hua Chengzan.
With a white flash, Gu Yanying arrived before him. She received the streak of light with her delicate folding fan and furrowed her brows slightly. Even if she blocked this attack, she could not remain unscathed, while the aftermath alone was enough to kill Hua Chengzan.
Suddenly, a black shadow shot over and enveloped them, blocking the Heaven Leaning sword. As it turned out, it was a large, black hand.
Boom!
The King of Chu’s Seal crushed down heavily. Li Qingshan dropped down to one knee, and the ground cracked. His muscles bulged as he gritted his teeth, holding up the seal with a single arm and shoulder. He gripped the streak of light firmly as blood flowed from his palm like pouring rain. It all turned to fire in the middle of the air.
The light and his tiger bones clashed together like the sounds of rolling thunder.
“Qingshan!” Hua Chengzan looked over, only to see a smile on Li Qingshan’s huge, ferocious daemon face. He said, “I’m still not dead!” Then he said to Gu Yanying, “Take him and go!”
Jin Fugui sighed inside. Even a daemon possessed such loyalty to his friends, doing all that he could to save his friend, so just how wicked could he be? It was not without reason that the Unraging monk was determined to protect him. Compared to that, the palace master’s actions did not seem particularly honest and upright.
But given the circumstances, death was already certain for him!
With that in mind, the cloud of black sand swept back, and Yue Wuyang pulled back his spear. From the moment the golden seal landed on him and the palace master launched his attack, the outcome of the battle had been set in stone. No matter how they felt, all they could do was watch as he died.
“Don’t die.”
With a hawk’s cry, Gu Yanying grabbed Hua Chengzan and turned into a swift gale of wind, flying off into the azure sky. She moved extremely quickly.
“Elder Hua, are you trying to betray the sect?” The palace master’s voice rang out from afar, reaching Hua Chengzan’s ears. His face changed, and the sword on his back thrummed away. He suddenly drew the sword and swung it at Gu Yanying, roaring in a slur, “Sword destruction!”
Gu Yanying’s slender fingers on her right hand twisted and changed, catching the blade of the sword like a hawk’s claws. The atmospheric winds and the blade clashed together, sending sparks flying. With a ping, the sword shattered into pieces, falling to the ground.
Hua Chengzan spurted with blood and glanced back again, fainting completely this time. However, he still gripped the hilt of his sword firmly.
Li Qingshan eased up inside. His lifebound sword was destroyed, which definitely would have caused him great harm, but his life would not be in danger because he had Gu Yanying caring for him.
“”You’re asking to die!”
The palace master turned his cold, indifferent gaze towards Li Qingshan. Many accidents had happened, but it was about time for him to take this chess piece. With a twist and slash of his sword, several huge fingers flew into the air, landing on the ground heavily.
He strode over with composure. The Heaven Leaning sword brushed past Li Qingshan’s arm, landing on his mountainous body and sending blood spattering. A horrific slash extended from his left shoulder to his waist. Blood poured out like a river, going up in flames.
With a fierce whistle, his tiger tail swept towards the palace master with the Frenzy Flower Blade of Path’s End. The palace master caught it in the corner of his eye and slashed backwards without even looking back.
Clang!
The Heaven Leaning sword and Frenzy Flower Blade of Path’s End clashed, and a sharp wave of air erupted, shaving off an entire layer from Great Buddha mountain. The ruins of the grand hall were completely buried now.
In that instant, the blade and sword clashed a thousand times, demonstrating the greatest swordsmanship and bladesmanship the world had to offer. Li Qingshan only had a tail, but he had comprehended the Sword Collection Manual of Heaven and Earth, so he knew the palace master’s swordsmanship extremely well. For a moment, they were evenly matched as Great Buddha mountain was shaved down layer by layer.
“Slay!”
With a flash of lightning, the grandmaster of the school of Daoism flew over. The Lord of Thunder behind him wielded a wedge in one hand and a chisel in the other, slamming it against Li Qingshan’s head heavily.
Li Qingshan’s head was knocked to one side, and a hole appeared. His body swayed in the process too, allowing the King of Chu’s Seal to press another thirty meters lower. His body bent over deeply.
“Break!”
The palace master used this opportunity to land a slash. The tail was severed as the Frenzy Flower Blade of Path’s End spiralled away.
“Suck, Treasure Gathering basin!”
The eyes of the grandmaster of the school of Miscellany who had maintained a very low profile the entire time suddenly lit up. He leapt out and tossed out a metal, dark-green basin. Green light surged out, enveloping the Frenzy Flower Blade of Path’s End and sucking it inside.
The Treasure Gathering basin was the most renowned technique unique to the school of Miscellany. It was specially used for collecting the enemy’s arcane treasure. No matter what kind of arcane treasure it was, they would struggle to take it back once it ended up in his Treasure Gathering basin.
The Frenzy Flower Blade of Path’s End’s value had caught his eye a long time ago, but he also understood his limitations, so he refused to provoke Li Qingshan without good reason, just in case he ended up suffering the same fate as the Light Queen and Zhu Fuzi. That would be a horrible deal then. Now that an opportunity had finally presented itself, he obviously would not let it slip by.
“Myriad Sword technique!” The palace master formed a seal with his hand and pointed it at Li Qingshan. The Heaven Leaning sword began to multiply, turning into thousands of streaks of light. It assembled a river of light that completely swallowed Li QIngshan.
Li Qingshan’s bones shook and creaked. Swords were planted across his body, leaving him covered in slashes. Even the places where he was not hit split open with gashes, revealing his jagged bones. Blood poured out like streams.
This was the limit with the Frenzy of the Tiger Demon. His body was currently collapsing. The madman had reached the end of his path!
“Die, wretched daemon!” the Fierce King of Chu bellowed, pushing down with both hands. The golden seal fell heavily.
Boom! Great Buddha mountain shook violently, and Li Qingshan shook his head with a smile. “You’ve killed me!” His mountainous body of the demonic and divine was crushed under the golden seal. In the blink of an eye, his turbulent daemon qi vanished.
Northmoon was dead!
Everyone responded in different ways. The grandmasters seemed to feel some disbelief, but they also let out a sigh of relief. This bitter battle had finally come to an end.
Before the Demon Suppression hall, the Unraging monk rolled over and sat up, gazing at the top of the mountain in the distance. Fury flooded his face, and he smashed the tablet beside him with a single strike.
The palace master sheathed his sword. So what if he possessed supreme strength? If he had no sense of propriety and acted on impulse alone, death would be unavoidable.
The Fierce King of Chu stowed the golden seal away. Great Buddha mountain had become over thirty meters shorter now, while the grand hall, along with its ruins, had been completely destroyed, only leaving behind the four words “King of Chu’s Seal” on the ground.
Rumbles rang out constantly from beneath the mountain. The pagodas and stūpas fell one by one. Xiao An maneuvered her way through the structures, avoiding the great buddha in the process as she collected the śarīra one by one. The Skeleton Demons all gathered within the forest of pagodas too, harvesting away like diligent farmers. She was not affected by his death at all.
The Fierce King of Chu said, “Xuanyue, Li Qingshan is already dead. I can still give you a chance, so-”
Before he could even finish speaking, a familiar voice rang out and interrupted him. “Apologies, I’ve caused you disappointment. This was only round one. Round two has only just begun, but this time, I won’t give you any opportunities anymore.”
Soon afterwards, the clear cry of a phoenix rang through the world. Flames filled with vitality roared away, rushing into the sky and turning into a soaring phoenix with its wings spread.
Everyone was dumbfounded. Even something like this was possible!? It had already taken them tremendous difficulty to st kill him once, almost losing their lives in the process, and they had to do it all again now!?