Chapter 270: Chapter 265: Sword Shattered
"Boom!"
The temperature, which had fallen due to midnight, rose once again. The blazing sword light surged, instantly engulfing the central region of the Heaven and Earth Furnace and shrouding both figures and the Xuanyuan Sword.
The entwined swords seemed stimulated, their Sword Qi erupting upon collision with the Xuanyuan Sword, making the intermixed auras even more intense.
Gongsun Qingyue’s Flame Qi surged violently, and suddenly, her eyes flashed red as the Great Circle Sword’s Sword Qi soared.
The clash of Qi and sword light caused the two to finally lose their balance and plummet from mid-air.
But at this moment, Jiang Li’s killer move finally revealed its edge. His body gleamed, manifesting an enigmatic Qi mechanism, with strands of black Qi rolling in, eroding the surrounding Essence Qi. The Great Circle Sword instantly became coated with a layer of ash; the sword marks no longer healed, and the Flame Qi around Gongsun Qingyue was suppressed.
Without a doubt, the situation allowed no room for Jiang Li to hold back any longer, and Gongsun Qingyue’s abnormal condition needed to be curtailed.
Like a madwoman, Gongsun Qingyue thrust with her sword and struck with her palm, one hand trying to use the sword to break free from restraint, while the other absorbed unmatched Flame Energy. The flame light on her body faintly transformed into a woman’s shadow, overlapping with her figure, emitting an intense and scorching aura.
Drought God Palm·Thousand Miles of Barren Land.
The palm and sword acted as one, Flame Qi within the Great Circle Sword greatly intensified, even suppressing the infiltrating Five Vile Qi. The Drought God Palm absorbed the surrounding flame light, and with a palm strike, Jiang Li’s blood felt as if it were boiling and burning. The Fire had already ignited within him.
Although the palm force had not yet invaded his body, the Fire had already arrived, so mighty—truly a technique from the "Form Tomb."
At that moment, Jiang Li let the Three Flowers visible atop his head, while in his eyes, three forms rotated. His left hand, like a Dragon Claw, amassed eight qi, intertwining with each other.
"Boom!"
The two executed their techniques simultaneously as they fell. Flame Palm met Dragon Claw, and the scorching aura of the Thousand Miles of Barren Land collided with the eight qi, immediately damaging one but stimulating the rest. Water Qi within the eight qi countered the Flame Power, causing the balance of the eight qi to be lost. The remaining All Qi burst forth like tigers released from cages, eagles pursuing rabbits, fiercely rushing out.
Spreading like wild fires, sweeping like fierce winds, layering like rocks... Different forms of Essence Qi engulfed Gongsun Qingyue’s arm, while simultaneously, the Heavenly Will Sword channeled a massive amount of Demon Cleansing True Qi and gathered Five Vile Qi into the Great Circle Sword, which then violently quivered.
"Clang—"
Amidst a crisp sound, the Great Circle Sword was crushed by the Heavenly Will Sword, its pitch-black shards scattered, flying past Gongsun Qingyue’s body, piercing into Jiang Li’s arm, passing through the flame light, and striking the mountain wall.
The golden light of Three Flowers Gathering at the Top, the protecting Cloud Clothes, and his tempered physical body all failed to resist the severity of the Shattered Blades. A surge of Flame Power emerged from the shards, causing a wisp of smoke to appear on Jiang Li’s shoulder.
Perhaps it’s cooked.
But he had no time to deal with it.
As the Great Circle Sword shattered, Jiang Li’s body manifested dragon form with the intertwining eight qi. The dragon body twisted around, entwining like a serpent onto Gongsun Qingyue, simultaneously gathering the raging eight qi on his arm.
Gongsun Qingyue’s face showed a trace of ferocity, with the red light in her eyes growing even more intense. Faced with the constriction, flames blazed around her body, and she was about to stimulate her True Qi for a counterattack.
However—
Scales of the Yinglong Dragon protruded from its body. As it coiled around, it pierced through the flames, touching the major acupoints on the body, particularly focusing on the Fuliu Kidney Acupoint at the waist.
Gongsun Qingyue’s body suddenly softened, followed by a slight dimming of the red light in her eyes, replaced by a lunar-like clarity and sublimity.
But her facial expression...
Looked a bit distorted, a bit bizarre.
What kind of feeling was this?
It was like a tsunami’s surge, as intense as raging fire, and especially when the dragon entwined, that friction felt as though inside the Void Illusion Realm where the celestial Tianxuan’s delicate body trembled like a Goddess.
"How dare you!" Elder Tianxuan exclaimed in anger.
Jiang Li’s successful move caused Elder Tianxuan’s usually calm and collected Mental State to be disturbed for the first time.
Meanwhile, in the real world, Gongsun Qingyue suddenly reached out, her fingers like claws gripping the dragon’s neck. An invisible force of power from the Netherworld Void Realm made Gongsun Qingyue exceptionally strong.
Merely a claw strike broke through the dragon’s neck. Then, turning her claw into a palm, a vigorous palm force printed upon the materialized Physical Body.
"Boom!"
Jiang Li was struck by a palm and sent flying, still mid-air when the sword light threatened to sear him once more.
Seeing this, Gongsun Qingyue immediately suppressed her anger, ready to make a move to block for Jiang Li.
But at this moment, several grand Qi Mechanisms suddenly burst into the sword light, forcibly pressing down the violent Flame Qi.
As the sword light dimmed, Elder Kaiyang, Elder Tianpeng, Long Yue, Guangming Daoist, Jingyang Jun, Yuan Fu, and Master Su Nu—the participants of the Sword Discussion Conference of the fourth-ranks alike—were not there merely to fill numbers. Though shocked by the unexpected events, they acted decisively to Suppress the Flame Qi, revealing the two inside.
Gongsun Qingyue, seeing this, raised her figure slightly and floated to the platform behind where no one stood.
While Jiang Li swayed back, controlling the wind to land on the platform to the other side.
At the same time, the Xuanyuan Sword suddenly stabilized, the violent Flame Qi and Yinglong’s Breath disappearing in an instant, forcibly suppressed back into the Earth Fire Spring Eye beneath.
Everything seemed to return to the way it was before.
The Xuanyuan Sword calmed down, the anomaly dissipated, and the Sword Discussion...
The crowd’s gaze unanimously turned toward Jiang Li, then at Gongsun Qingyue.
The Heavenly Will Sword was still in his hand.
The Great Circle Sword was nowhere to be seen.
Guangming Daoist’s Divine Sense scanned the area, instantaneously perceiving the shards on the mountainside beneath the platform.
"Impossible!" he cried out uncontrollably.
"The Great Circle Sword is shattered!" Jingyang Jun also revealed a look of surprise.
The surrounding crowd, upon hearing this, burst into a buzz of discussion.
"A sword refined from solid to void, has just shattered like this."
"How on earth was this achieved?"
······
Even a group of fourth-ranks felt exceptionally astonished at this moment.
In just a few breaths’ time, merely obscured by a sudden burst of flame light for a few breaths’ time, the Great Circle Sword had actually shattered.
Due to the explosive aura being too ferocious and too powerful, even the fourth-ranks found it difficult to perceive what was happening within the flame light.
What exactly happened during these few breaths?
Why did the Great Circle Sword suddenly shatter.
Elder Kaiyang and Elder Tianpeng were intently watching below, their eyes showing a serious expression.
This abrupt change, appearing suddenly and vanishing just as unexpectedly, was definitely not normal.
Guangming Daoist, Jingyang Jun, and Yuan Fu simultaneously reached out, capturing shards of the blade, only to discover that the Great Circle Sword, which should have turned into a form of Qi, was now solidified like pieces of crystal fragments, with a faint trace of black Qi undulating within.
"Five Vile Qi," Guangming Daoist determined.
Immediately his gaze swept towards Long Yue, then shifted to the Heavenly Will Sword in Jiang Li’s hands, his eyes flickering, suppressing an urge to act.
Jiang Li felt himself locked by that gaze, his body jolted, hair standing on end, a sense of extreme crisis overtaking him.
He quietly lamented in his heart.
He had originally planned to break the outer shell of the Great Circle Sword with the Five Viscous Evil Qi, then follow up by using the Heavenly Will Sword to forcibly scatter it, but for the sake of his senior sister, Jiang Li had no choice but to exert his full effort and aim for a quick resolution. As a result, the Great Circle Sword was contaminated, solidified, and then turned into what it is now.
Faced with Guangming Daoist’s scrutinizing gaze, Jiang Li quickly explained, "Junior once saw Fellow Daoist Zhang Daoyi of the Daode Sect utilize the Five Vile Qi, so I was suddenly inspired to draw in a bit of it, and then I assimilated it with the Innate Qi, injecting it into the Great Circle Sword that had shown sword marks... and then it turned out like this."
Innate Qi can assimilate with any Qi mechanism, naturally including the Five Vile Qi.
However, once assimilated with the Five Vile Qi, like Demon Cleansing True Qi, it can no longer return to its origin, as if this Innate Qi had fed the Evil Qi.
Undoubtedly, this was a counterproductive action, but theoretically, it made complete sense. As long as Jiang Li was willing to sacrifice some of his power, he could destroy the already scarred Great Circle Sword with such a method.
Upon hearing this, Guangming Daoist was both shocked and angry, never expecting their proud creation to be destroyed like this.
The Mo Sect’s Master Long Yue, however, took heavy steps forward, positioning himself between Jiang Li and Guangming Daoist.
"If it can be destroyed by the Five Viscous Evil Qi, it only proves that your Artifact Dao is outdated," the giant-like Great Master’s voice boomed like thunder.
As the beneficiary, the Mo Sect naturally wanted to back Jiang Li, preventing any threats against him.
And besides, Jiang Li had won.
Seeing his old rival blocking his way and hearing the Great Master’s words, Guangming Daoist couldn’t help but retort, "The Great Circle Sword was ruined by the Five Vile Qi, not by your Mo Sect’s Heavenly Will Sword."
"But the Heavenly Will Sword won’t be harmed by the Five Vile Qi," Long Yue laughed heartily, "Having a fatal flaw proves that the Great Circle Sword is still not perfect."
"You fringe practitioner!"
Magical artifact lights began to shimmer around Guangming Daoist.
"So what? You want to fight because you lost the Sword Discussion?" Master Long Yue countered sharply.
The destruction of the Great Circle Sword could not make Guangming Daoist’s side accept defeat with good grace, but the result was indeed clear.
The Sword Discussion Conference seemed set to devolve into a full-fledged martial contest. Seeing this, Elders Kaiyang and Tianpeng couldn’t help but cough to get attention. Then Elder Kaiyang stepped forward and said, "Gentlemen, we are at the Dinghu Sect. If you have any disputes, please resolve them after leaving our grounds."
"Our disciple has been injured during the sword contest and urgently requires treatment. Gentlemen, please do not delay the treatment of these injuries," Elder Tianpeng, enveloped in Purple Lightning, said in a deep voice.
As he spoke, Elder Tianpeng gave Jiang Li a knowing look.
Jiang Li immediately understood, put down the Heavenly Will Sword, and clutched his left arm injury, feigning severe injury.
As for Gongsun Qing Yue...
Her pretty face was tightly furrowed at this moment, her forehead already bearing a fine sheen of cold sweat, clearly suppressing the injury, enduring the pain.
Both sides were, after all, people of status, and seeing this state of affairs, they weren’t so shameless as to start fighting outright. But to say that they reached consensus was impossible.
"We absolutely do not accept such a result for the sword contest."
Guangming Daoist swept his sleeve and, along with the people of the Retro Party, directly departed.
This matter was far from over, and it seemed there would likely be more back-and-forth to come.
Jiang Li, seeing Guangming Daoist and others leaving, had a feeling. This sword contest was very likely not the end.
Even if one side truly shattered the other’s sword, it would still not be the end.
’However, for me, this sword contest has had a satisfactory conclusion.’
He touched the wound on his left shoulder, feeling the foreign substance inside, and thought to himself.