Chapter 32: Killing Sword Art
Boom~~~
A surge of spiritual power, strong enough to rival the peak of the Huahai realm, instantly swept out from Jian Wushuang's body.
By employing the Spirit-Seizing Secret Art, Jian Wushuang's cultivation had instantly soared to the peak of the ninth heaven of the Shendao realm.
The peak of the ninth heaven of the Shendao realm was equivalent to the great achievement peak of the ordinary Huahai realm. Coupled with the advantage in power at the same level granted by the Great Fortune Scripture, his spiritual power, fully unleashed at this moment, could indeed barely rival the Huahai perfection realm.
"This... what's going on?"
"How did his spiritual aura suddenly increase so much?"
The people around were stunned.
They didn't understand why Jian Wushuang's strength had suddenly surged so drastically, but if they lifted the floor below, they would see that the earth within a hundred meters around Jian Wushuang had been completely drained of all life.
"He... he was actually hiding his strength?"
Jian Meng'er, who had already retreated to the edge of the training grounds, watched that indomitable figure on the stage with a towering aura, her heart involuntarily trembling.
Jian Wushuang's face was completely twisted, his cold pupils fixed dead ahead on Ye Mo. He knew full well how great the burden the Spirit-Seizing Secret Art placed on his body was. With every passing minute, the pain in his body would grow worse, so in this battle, he had to end it quickly.
"Kill!"
With a roar, Jian Wushuang's figure moved, and the long sword in his hand turned into a ghostly phantom, instantly bursting forth.
Whoosh!
Sword light erupted—cold and dazzling!
Once again, it was the first form of the Nameless Sword Art, the Blood Shadow Form.
Just now, Jian Wushuang had defeated Jian Meng'er with a single move. The unparalleled speed that sword art erupted with was horrifying, and because of Jian Wushuang's surge in cultivation, the speed of this strike was now clearly even faster.
Unbelievably fast.
"Hmph!"
Ye Mo snorted coldly. A vast, righteous aura surged from his body, and in the next moment, a majestic, grand sword light slashed out directly.
What Ye Mo employed was also the Daqian Sword Art.
However, the Daqian Sword Art as wielded by Ye Mo was far, far more exquisite than when Jian Meng'er used it.
One must know that Jian Meng'er had only begun cultivating the Daqian Sword Art recently, while Ye Mo had grown up within the Tianyuan Sword Sect and had begun studying this sword art long ago. The difference in their understanding and mastery of this sword art was naturally vast.
Once again, it was a contest between the giant of heaven and earth and the King of Slaughter.
But this time, Jian Wushuang's Blood Shadow Form did not directly bypass that majestic sword light; instead, they collided head-on. In an instant, two terrifying forces erupted simultaneously.
But it was obvious—Jian Wushuang's Blood Shadow Form's strength lay in its unbelievable speed, while in terms of force and power, it was far inferior to the Daqian Sword Art.
At the sound of the clash, that cold, dazzling sword light immediately dimmed, and then it was utterly shattered head-on like dry rotten wood.
"It was blocked?" Jian Wushuang's expression changed.
"Your sword art is merely fast. As for force, it's utterly ordinary. My junior sister only began studying the Daqian Sword Art recently, and her grasp of it is not yet profound enough—that's why she was defeated by your earlier strike. But I am different!"
Ye Mo's expression was cold and indifferent as he said in a low voice, "Jian Wushuang, you think your sword art is fast, don't you? Then next, let me show you what true speed is!"
As his voice fell, Ye Mo's figure instantly turned into a streak of flowing light.
Whoosh~~~
Ye Mo appeared before Jian Wushuang, his sword light racing in.
Body like flowing light, sword like flowing light.
"So fast!"
"That speed!"
The numerous Marquis Manor disciples on the training grounds were all stunned.
"This is the Flowing Light Sword Art, one of the four ultimate sword arts of the Tianyuan Sword Sect—a terrifying sword art famed for its absolute speed." Bai Chong on the viewing platform couldn't help but be secretly alarmed.
The four ultimate sword arts of the Tianyuan Sword Sect were all the very pinnacle of super-first-class sword arts. Once any one of them was cultivated to a certain degree, it became extraordinarily terrifying.
This Flowing Light Sword Art, for instance, was a peak sword art that entirely embodied the principle that speed is unbeatable.
It was too fast. As the sword light waved, streak after streak of afterimages actually formed in the air, densely overlapping one another, looking as if the whole sky was filled with sweeping sword light.
Jian Wushuang's expression turned grave. As Ye Mo's sword art swept toward him, he immediately employed the Extreme Light Sword Art.
The Extreme Light Sword Art also emphasized speed above all else, and Jian Wushuang's attainments in this sword art had long reached an incredible level.
Once employed, it too was astonishingly fast.
"Clang!" "Clang!" "Clang!" "Clang!" "Clang!"...
Countless sounds of collision rang out one after another, but it was clear that in terms of speed, Ye Mo's Flowing Light Sword Art was a notch faster. Though Jian Wushuang strove with all his might, the Extreme Light Sword Art was, after all, merely a first-class sword art, while the Flowing Light Sword Art was of the very pinnacle—even within a vast sect like the Tianyuan Sword Sect, which specialized in the way of the sword, it was hailed as an ultimate sword art.
The gap in sword art tiers was simply too great. Even though Jian Wushuang had already mastered the Extreme Light Sword Art to an incredible degree, he still could not bridge such a massive gap.
On the stage, Jian Wushuang had been forced back step by step, when suddenly, the sword that had been thrusting rapidly forward in Ye Mo's hands instantly transformed into a furious slash, chopping fiercely down toward Jian Wushuang.
Jian Wushuang reacted immediately, raising his long sword along the motion. The moment it made contact with the furiously slashing sword shadow, his body sank slightly, and then he burst backward.
"Jian Wushuang, your sword art is nothing more than this," Ye Mo said, regarding him coldly. "If your strength only amounts to this much, then this battle ends here."
As his voice fell, a majestic sword intent abruptly burst forth from Ye Mo's body. Then, the long sword in Ye Mo's hand slowly swept through the air, and with this sweeping motion, a towering, hazy phantom appeared behind him. This phantom stood over three zhang tall, likewise holding a long sword, slowly sweeping it in unison with Ye Mo's movements.
At last, the sword art was ready.
"Daqian Sword Art: The Sword of a Thousand Ages!"
The long sword in Ye Mo's hand abruptly slashed out, and the towering three-zhang figure behind him swung its sword at the same time.
This strike seemed capable of cleaving apart everything between heaven and earth.
Its suffocating power and its terrifying, all-destroying sword intent plunged everyone on the training grounds into shock.
"Not good."
On the viewing platform, Bai Chong's expression changed. Spiritual power surfaced in his hand as he prepared to move and save Jian Wushuang, but when he saw the expression on Jian Wushuang's face, he hesitated.
Jian Wushuang's expression on the stage at this moment was very subtle—there was gravity, there was astonishment, but there was even more excitement.
"This strike!"
Jian Wushuang stared fixedly at the majestic sword light slashing furiously toward him. At this moment, an intense sense of crisis rose involuntarily in his heart. He even subconsciously felt that this single strike could split his body in two.
Yet it was precisely this unprecedented crisis of life and death that instead stirred something within his heart.
At this juncture between life and death, he became calmer than ever, and his eyes closed.
"So that's it? So that's how it is?"
"I finally understand what has been missing—the thing that has troubled me all this time, that kept me from unleashing that one strike."
"It is the heart to kill!"
"If it is a sword of slaughter, how could it be without a heart of slaughter?"
Jian Wushuang opened his eyes, a trace of wild joy flashing through them. Then, the Three Kills Sword in his hand slashed out directly.
The Nameless Sword Art, Second Form... the Killing Sword Art!