Yefutidaolu

Chapter 421 Confrontation
Just seconds before, on the eve of death—

To achieve such a near-enemy-like suppressive effect, the prerequisite is to thoroughly analyze each of their individual power systems and fully understand every detail and change in the path they take!
In the words of the cultivation world, it means that one must see through and understand the essence of the Dao and its principles at the same time, and then reverse-engineer and reshape all these different Dao essences to find their most essential operating logic and most vulnerable points in order to achieve such a "collapse at the slightest touch" phenomenon!

What terrifying vision, knowledge, and deductive abilities does this require? This is definitely not something a mere seventh-realm martial artist could accomplish! It's a feat that even many Earth Immortals might not be able to easily achieve!

What should a martial arts battle be like? It should be about overwhelming the opponent with superior blood and energy, a more concentrated will, and more exquisite techniques—using brute force to overcome skill, a head-on crushing victory! Not like this, where there is almost no noticeable confrontation, and their power collapses and dissipates on its own as if it has encountered its nemesis!

This is no longer within the realm of martial arts!
"Something's wrong!... Something's strange!" A ninth-realm cultivator exclaimed in shock. He looked at his natal magic weapon, which had lost its luster and whose spiritual essence was damaged, his face filled with horror and confusion.

"My magical power is circulating... it's as if every single point of it has been seen through! How is this possible?!" Another cultivator skilled in formations felt his magical power surging wildly within him, and the formations that were once perfectly smooth and in place were now difficult to maintain.

"It's that mortal energy! He used the Water Ancestor's mortal energy to pollute our Dao foundation?!" Someone tried to find an explanation, but couldn't even convince themselves.

Because it is not simply pollution.

They couldn't understand how Gao Jian had managed to analyze and reverse-engineer their various Taoist methods in the blink of an eye.

However, only Gao Jian himself knows the answer.

At this moment, all of the opponent's flaws have been magnified by the demonic energy, and when the Heart Lamp shines on them, these flaws become even more obvious.

This breakthrough wasn't even a deliberate act; it was a natural expression born from the illumination of his inner light and the broadening of his vision! It was a natural suppression brought about by a higher power!
Therefore, what seems inconceivable and impossible to everyone else is nothing more than the result of Gao Jian's inner light shining upon him and his sword intent revealing itself!

Gao Jian didn't need to deliberately understand the specific techniques of each of them. He only needed to grasp the subtle gaps and weaknesses, and his sword would naturally strike the place that needed to be struck!

So, from turning the tide in a desperate situation, to recovering by consuming ginseng, to unifying the mortal world with the Heart Lamp, to disrupting the enemy's mind with demonic thoughts, and finally to instantly dismantling the combined forces of everyone with the supreme sword intent—Gao Jian seems to have reversed the inevitable defeat and gained an absolute advantage! That sword intent, which was held back but was enough to make the world pale in comparison, seemed to be about to annihilate all the experts from these aristocratic families in the next instant!

However, Shui Wuyai was, after all, an old monster who had lived for countless years and held power over an entire state. After the initial shock, his mind, driven to the brink, unexpectedly revealed astonishing calmness and insight!
"No! His core power... is that sword!" Shui Wuyai's pupils shrank drastically, as if he had grasped a lifeline. He roared fiercely, his voice even drowning out the mournful cries of the magical weapon and the explosive bursts of energy! "All the wonders, all the suppression, originate from that rusty sword! It is his reliance, and also his weakness!"

Battles are never simple arithmetic problems! If victory could be determined by comparing strength on paper, the world would be at peace long ago! Shui Wuyai instantly realized that the almost "Dao Loss" level of suppression that Gao Jian was displaying was not because his own cultivation had truly reached an inconceivable level, but because he had cleverly used the characteristics of that strange rusty knife to create an effect similar to "using four ounces to move a thousand pounds"!

The key is to crush that knife!

If one can use absolute force to exceed the limits that the rusty knife can withstand or transform, this strange balance can be broken! Just like even the most ingenious lever cannot move a weight that exceeds the material's limits!
"Everyone! Don't let him bewitch you! Join forces with me, stop competing in skill and variation, and use the purest and most ruthless power! Use our foundation that surpasses his by a thousand times! Use the treasures formed from the wealth and power we have accumulated over countless years! Crush his magic weapon!" Shui Wuyai's voice was like thunder, carrying a do-or-die determination, instantly reaching the ears of every family expert whose mind was wavering.

Upon hearing this, everyone felt as if they had been enlightened! Yes, why bother getting entangled with him on that mysterious and profound level of conception? Where does our advantage lie? It lies in the profound foundation accumulated by our family over hundreds and thousands of years! It lies in those powerful artifacts that can serve as our family's most prized possessions and ultimate treasures!
"Fight!"

"I don't believe we can't smash that broken knife of his!"

"It's time to lay all our eggs in one basket!"

In dire straits, the will to survive overwhelmed all stinginess and reluctance! At this moment, the true wealth and power of the Cangzhou aristocratic families were revealed without reservation!
A magnificent sight! Radiant light soaring to the heavens!
Only saw:

A powerful cultivator at the ninth realm reluctantly offered up a chaotic-colored bead the size of a dragon's eye, with nine orifices on its surface—the Nine-Aperture Heaven-Shattering Bead! It was forged over a hundred years using earth vein dragon energy mixed with the core of a fallen star. Once detonated, its power would be enough to flatten a hundred-mile mountain range! At this moment, he activated it without hesitation, transforming it into a stream of chaotic light that shot straight at the rusty knife!

Another elderly man, who appeared to be the head of the family, bit his tongue and spat out a mouthful of blood essence onto an ancient bronze mirror—the Yin-Yang Mirror of Reversing Light! The mirror's surface captured the extraordinary phenomenon of the sun and moon shining together. This mirror was forged from the radiance of the sun and moon and could reverse the cycle of day and night. It was a family heirloom!
The patriarch of the same family went completely mad, directly smashing out three jade cauldrons connected by their auras—the Heaven, Earth, and Man Cauldrons! The cauldrons were covered with ancient witchcraft, and they grew as they faced the wind, transforming into three small mountains, which fell in the formation of the three powers of Heaven, Earth, and Man. The cauldrons spewed out innate fire that was strong enough to melt diamond, and they wanted to refine the rusty knife and Gao Jian together!
Even more outrageous, some directly unleashed a sky full of talismans, each containing the full force of a cultivator at the eighth realm or above! Various flying swords, pagodas, divine seals, chains... all sorts of things, dazzling and abundant, many of which were forbidden items or consumable treasures that could only be used once, were now being frantically offered up as if they were free!
In an instant, the sky above Gao Jian's head was completely engulfed by countless precious lights! It was no longer a simple torrent of magic, but a destructive galaxy composed of tens of thousands of precious magical treasures, talismans, and forbidden artifacts! The energy fluctuations it emitted caused the entire space at the edge of hell to tremble violently, as if it could not withstand the display and extravagance of such wealth!
Gao Jian's seemingly invincible strike finally collided violently with the "torrent of wealth" that had poured into the entire family's resources!
Boom! Boom boom boom! Boom boom boom boom—!!!
There are no tricks, no variations, only the purest exchange of energy!
At the center of the collision, bursts of light spheres a thousand times brighter than the sun exploded! Like a grand yet cruel fireworks display, the light clouds erupted, expanded, and vanished violently, one after another, with almost no respite!

It's hard to imagine how many priceless magical treasures and incredibly powerful spells wailed, burned, exploded, and were destroyed in the process of colliding with that seemingly ordinary rusty knife!
"Not enough! Still not enough! Bring out more! Hold nothing back!" Shui Wuyai's eyes were bloodshot as he personally activated a net-like magic weapon. The net unfurled in the wind, blotting out the sky and the sun. Each node on the net was inlaid with a radiant magic artifact, clearly a composite treasure composed of thousands of high-grade magic weapons! He cast it down like a fishing net, attempting to completely envelop and suppress the rusty knife!
With so many magical treasures and such a vast amount of energy gathered together, even a true Earth Immortal's magical treasure would probably be crushed and its spiritual essence destroyed!
however--

That rusty knife remained unmoved!
It silently endured all of this in Takami's hands, without the blade even trembling slightly!

Those attacks, powerful enough to shatter mountains and evaporate rivers, fell upon it like raindrops on banana leaves, making only a crisp clanging sound before their brilliance dimmed and their spirit vanished, leaving not even a scratch!

"What...what exactly is that?!"

"How could there be something so hard in the world?!"

"This is definitely not ordinary iron! Even the Nine Heavens Profound Iron or the core of a star could not be this!"

The rusty knife didn't even show the slightest change in temperature or fluctuation of its spiritual light! It was as if the attacks from the Cangzhou aristocratic families weren't even worthy of tickling it?

The experts from the Cangzhou aristocratic families were in utter shock; this was completely beyond their comprehension!

How could they possibly know—

This rusty knife is something that even the birth and death of countless collapsing universes cannot erase. It is a wondrous object that has witnessed the collapse of the Desire Realm and the shattering of infinite possibilities, yet still stands tall!

These so-called "treasures" and "foundations" before him were nothing but dust compared to the history of this sword! They didn't even have the right to make it "feel" any pressure! Finally, a look of despair and madness appeared on Shui Wuyai's face. He stomped his foot suddenly, as if he had made an extremely difficult decision.

"You forced me to do this!!" he roared, solemnly taking out an ancient-looking box from his robes. The box was devoid of any patterns, yet it naturally exuded an aura of majesty, suppressing the ancient past and ruling over all directions!

This was the very treasure he had obtained from the central government of the Divine Dynasty at a great cost!
Originally intended to deal with the life-or-death tribulations that would occur in hell, and as a key aid when breaking through to the eleventh realm, he never imagined he would use it to deal with a junior in the seventh realm!
But at this moment, the blade was already at his head, and the threat of death was so real!
Without further hesitation, he yanked open the box lid—

In the blink of an eye, from the moment Wanbao Qifa was launched to Shui Wuyai taking out his final trump card, everything happened in the blink of an eye, from beginning to end, in the time it took to make a single cut.

All the treasures have been gathered.

All the power gathered together to resist that blow.

Takashi's wrist seemed to move very slightly.

There is no earth-shaking momentum and no dazzling brilliance.

Only a silent trace flashed by.

Then--

That magnificent torrent of magical treasures, like a cascading galaxy, and that destructive tide composed of the foundations of countless aristocratic families, were like a pencil drawing erased by an invisible eraser, completely annihilated!
The dazzling light, formed by the convergence of countless magical treasures and spells, vanished in an instant.

The deafening roar of magical artifacts, spells, and colliding energies—a deafening noise powerful enough to rip eardrums—came to an abrupt halt at that moment.

It wasn't that it was drowned out by a louder sound, but rather as if a mute button had been pressed.

In an instant, all the magical treasures in the sky lost their spiritual light and energy support. The countless magical treasures that were originally majestic and awe-inspiring, which were floating in the air, became ordinary dead objects and began to fall downwards.

The network structure that formed the formation broke apart inch by inch, and the thousands of magical artifacts embedded in it flew and scattered everywhere like pearls from a broken string, falling everywhere with a crackling sound. In an instant, it turned from a rare treasure into a sky full of flying scrap metal.

The flying sword broke into several pieces, the pagoda snapped in half, the divine seal was covered in cracks, and the chains shattered inch by inch... The disposable talismans turned into the most primitive, inactive talisman paper ashes, which fell down like black snowflakes.

Crackling sounds... clanging and banging... booming and rumbling...

The sounds of debris of various materials and shapes falling intertwined, forming a chaotic and heavy symphony that struck the hearts of every survivor.

The voice was filled with bewilderment, astonishment, the destruction of wealth, and the loss of foundation.

Some debris landed on the glassy ground on the shore of the lava lake and shattered; some fell into the boiling magma and were instantly swallowed and vaporized; and some collided with each other and disintegrated further during their fall, turning into even smaller fragments and dust.

A strange odor, a mixture of burnt metal, powdered jade, and carbonized spirit wood, filled the air, replacing the previous aura of spiritual energy from the magical artifact.

Bang bang bang bang... crackling and popping...

Countless remnants of magical artifacts, stripped of their brilliance and reduced to mere rotten wood, fell from the sky like a massive rain of metal, crashing onto the shores of the lava lake or its scorching surface with dull or hissing sounds.

The world suddenly fell silent.

Only Gao Jian remained, standing with his sword, his eyes filled with a hint of doubt, as if he had just run over some insignificant obstacle. He glanced back at the "scrap metal" falling from the sky, pursed his lips, and muttered under his breath, "What was that? I thought it was a speed bump."

The foundation of the Cangzhou aristocratic family was completely wiped out after this one strike.

Unfortunately, they can no longer feel the pain in their hearts.

Apart from Wang Gang in the distance and Shui Wuyai in the present, everyone else was killed instantly!

Countless magical weapons clashed head-on with the rusty knife, yet nothing was left behind!
Shui Wuyai looked at the empty box in his hand.

He was stunned for the first time.

Where is the...treasure from the central authority?

(End of this chapter)