Sword Sect Outer Sect

Chapter 373 Both jade and stone are destroyed
High in the sky, a fierce wind howled.

Countless violent and surging spiritual lights collided and clashed continuously, and their source was none other than the two Golden Core cultivators in this battle, Zhang Cheng and Qin Yang.

Zhang Cheng's hair and beard flew wildly, and his originally thin and kind face now looked somewhat ferocious due to the fierce battle.

He was nearing the end of his lifespan, and given the strength and condition of the two opponents, he should have been defeated long ago.

Now that Qin Yang had taken a real hit from that sword talisman, his vital energy was severely damaged. Zhang Cheng had to consider whether this was the best opportunity to keep Qin Yang here.

This can be considered a means to intimidate the world, giving the Nangong family a chance to breathe.

It can be said that in order to protect Nangong, he had completely given up the idea of ​​surviving.

His will to die allowed him to unleash his full potential, burning his life force and spiritual power to control his flying sword. He no longer cared about any rules or formations; every move was aimed at mutual destruction.

As the saying goes, the stupid ones are afraid of the aggressive ones, and the aggressive ones are afraid of the desperate ones.

Zhang Cheng's dying act, dragging himself along on his final journey, actually forced Qin Yang into a series of defeats.

Afterwards, Song Yan and Qin Xijun slaughtered all the Qin family cultivators, barely managing to preserve the Nangong lineage, and Zhang Cheng no longer had any worries.

"Old man!"

Qin Yang let out a roar of extreme frustration, his once handsome and otherworldly face contorted with rage and pain.

The wound on his chest still retained traces of terrifyingly sharp sword energy, which gnawed at his body like a leech.

Most of his mental energy and magical power were forced to be used to suppress the spread of the sword energy.

What frustrated him even more was that the old man opposite him, frail and aged, was now an intractable piece of meat, trading his life for injury and suppressing him relentlessly, leaving him in a sorry state.

Qin Yang had wandered for thousands of years before finally having this opportunity to be reborn. How could he possibly be willing to be dragged down by this old man?

However, at this moment, he and Zhang Cheng were already locked in a fierce battle, and it was simply unrealistic to turn around and run away.

Zhang Cheng had no intention of living, nor did he intend to let him go.

Just then, two auras suddenly rose into the sky from the battlefield below.

One was a blazing white wave of flames, with the phantom of a divine bird flapping its wings and crying out amidst the flames; the other was pitch black, with demonic energy surging and rising, and the blurry outline of Song Yan could be vaguely seen.

It was Qin Xijun and Song Yan's illusory Shura form.

Qin Yang was taken aback at first, then laughed in anger, a surge of fury rising straight to the top of his head.

"Heh heh, what kind of Tom, Dick, or Harry dares to swagger around in front of me?! They're asking for it!"

Qin Xijun's phoenix eyes flashed with murderous intent, and her gaze toward Qin Yang was filled with nothing but deep-seated hatred: "You are not A-Yang, you killed him."

Qin Yang had no interest in responding to Qin Xijun's words. His demonic thoughts had wandered in this mortal realm for thousands of years, and finally, with the mercy of heaven, he found a perfectly suited body.

He has rebuilt his demonic arts so that one day he may rule the world!

And now, they've been attacked by two Foundation Establishment juniors who have temporarily boosted their strength using some secret technique.

What a shame!
"Roar--!"

Qin Yang could no longer care about the pain of the backlash from the sword energy in his body. He bit his tongue and spat out a mouthful of his life essence blood, which covered the blood-red halberd.

Om-!
A blinding burst of blood-red light mixed with demonic energy erupted!
The long spear let out a shrill shriek, its demonic patterns writhing and its blood flames burning fiercely. At the tip of the spear, faint phantom images of howling skeletal demon heads were faintly condensing!
Its oppressive aura suddenly increased by several degrees, and the appearance of the blood shadow forced Zhang Cheng's sword light to retreat a bit.

Clearly, forcibly activating this weapon came at a huge cost, but all that remained in his eyes was a frenzied killing intent.

"Old Zhang!" Qin Xijun shouted, showing no fear.

She's not much better off than Zhang Cheng. Once this secret technique ends, she'll either lose all her cultivation or die.

At this moment, there is nothing left to lose.

If I can manage to secure something for my two disciples, Ayan and Ziye, before I die, then I will have not wasted my life.

……

A chaotic battle erupted again high in the sky, while the people of the Nangong clan below seemed to awaken from a dream.

Everywhere there were broken walls and ruins, and the air was thick with the smell of blood and burnt food.

The survivors of the Nangong family sat motionless, sobbing, numbly tending to their wounds.

Looking at the corpses of his relatives scattered all over the ground, it felt like a lifetime had passed.

No one could have imagined that they would actually survive this catastrophic disaster.

The two sisters, Nangong Wang and Nangong Shu, are assisting their father in treating the wounded. The battle of the Golden Core cultivators in the heavens is beyond their control. Only by doing what they can can the Nangong family continue to exist.

Li Yi leaned against a broken stone pillar, silently circulating his internal energy to heal his injuries. Xiao Ju was beside him, looking up at the sky.

A deep, bone-revealing wound on his shoulder slowly healed under the influence of spiritual energy, and Li Yi suddenly opened his eyes.

After glancing at Xiao Ju beside him, he turned his attention to the guests who had not yet left Nangong.

These people all saw Junior Brother Song transform into a demonic shadow. Once they leave this place, will they go out and spread rumors?
People generally think that Li Yi was a battle maniac who only knew how to fight and had no humanity, but that is not the case.

He could only focus on one thing at a time, and now that the battle was over, his brain naturally started working again.

He wasn't worried about the cultivators from the Nangong family. Junior Brother Song had saved their lives, and he was also a fellow disciple of the Nangong family's son-in-law, so there shouldn't be any problems.

But these people are completely different.

If the Qin family hadn't been so ruthless, most of them would have only thought about escaping and wouldn't have offered any help to Nangong.

Among these guests, there were no cultivators at the Pseudo-Core Formation stage; most were at the Foundation Establishment or Qi Refining stages.

In the recent battle, most of the opponents were causing trouble for Junior Brother Song and Granny Qin, while he only suffered some minor injuries and is still in almost full strength.

In theory, keeping them here should be a sure thing.

However, after thinking about it carefully for a while, he gave up the idea.

Many of them had a past connection with the Nangong family, and their camaraderie in fighting side by side was a testament to their life-or-death bond.

Making a move at this time would be inappropriate and could easily create enemies for Junior Brother Song, so the decision was abandoned.

"Master, will Master and the others win?"

Suddenly, Ju Luyi spoke. She still looked up at the sky, observing the movement of her Observation Sword Eyes, trying to discern which side had the upper hand from the changes in light and shadow and spiritual energy in the clouds.

"..."

Li Yi was stunned for a moment, then his brain stopped working and he burst into laughter.

“My junior brother Song, who is also your master, is a genius that appears only once in a thousand years. What do you have to be afraid of?”

Li Yi said this.

Looking up, he was puzzled. What was the reason for Junior Brother Song's sudden change? Why was he completely lifeless?

Did he really survive that attack from the Golden Elixir?

……

At this moment, Song Yan, high in the sky, was unaware of this, because he had no time to think about such things.

He had been confronting a fake Core Formation cultivator on the battlefield below, but when his consciousness returned, he found himself fighting to the death with a Core Formation cultivator.

Ha! This feeling is truly wonderful.

"Illusory Form, are you tired of living?"

His physical body seemed to have stabilized, but the illusory Dharma body still covered his body, supporting Song Yan's body to remain intact.

"meal……"

The intense pain was still there, but it was now within a tolerable range, and my sense of bodily sensation was gradually returning.

However, it is still an illusion in action. This is because Song Yan's consciousness is not yet stable, floating and sinking in a state of chaos.

When I was able to think, I took a moment to assess my physical condition.

It was a strange state that had never been seen before.

His body was extremely weak, and his internal energy was also very disordered.

Having withstood a direct hit from a Golden Core cultivator, Song Yan was already incredibly fortunate to have survived with arms and legs intact. He was more than content.

The reason it is considered strange is because it possesses a warm and vast spiritual energy.

It is like an inexhaustible spring, from which vitality and spiritual energy are continuously released.

Looking back now, I wonder if my shattered heart meridians and severely damaged dantian were forcibly repaired by this life force.

But his body was already intact, and the life force had nowhere to go, so it continued to burst and then repair itself.

It was precisely for this reason that the illusory form took over his body, and the pure demonic flames that forged his Dharma body acted like an outer bone, supporting his body so that it wouldn't fall apart and become neither human nor ghost.

Song Yan was unsure how long this situation would last.

Vitality cannot be actively consumed, but spiritual energy can.

Perhaps it was because the withered branch itself contained some spiritual energy, but at this moment, the spiritual energy within Song Yan's body was also inexhaustible.

And it was filling up at an alarming rate, overflowing and having nowhere to go, rampaging through his body and bringing another kind of bloating, bursting pain.

He needs to figure out a way to use up all this spiritual energy and restore the balance between the spiritual energy and sword energy in his body.

So, using the empty gaze of the illusion, he looked at Qin Yang.

Normally, he would never be so presumptuous as to attack a Golden Core cultivator, but the current situation is extremely unusual.

Firstly, as long as Qin Yang is alive, neither Nangong nor he nor his mother-in-law will be able to eat or sleep in peace.

If Qin Yang doesn't die, there will be endless troubles to come.

Secondly, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

The old woman must have used some secret technique to raise her cultivation to near the Golden Core stage. With Senior Zhang Cheng backing her up, she might actually be able to kill Qin Yang.

"You old fool! Aren't you truly afraid of being annihilated, body and soul?!"

Qin Yang roared, his blood-red halberd deflecting Zhang Cheng's rain of swords. Demonic energy surged as he attempted to retaliate, but was fiercely forced back by Qin Xijun's blazing white flame wave.

"You, a cultivator from another clan, are willing to go to such lengths for Nangong?!"

Zhang Cheng remained silent, focusing solely on burning his spiritual energy and fighting desperately.

Forced to retreat by Zhang Cheng's Zhenyue Flying Sword, Qin Yang was immediately followed by a dark, demonic shadow that clung to him like a leech.

Under the control of the illusory Dharma body, Song Yan resembled a demon in the fog, emerging from Qin Yang's protective demonic energy.

"Hmph..."

The illusory figure grinned, emitting an inhuman laugh, and raised the hideous, jet-black heavy ruler in his hand, smashing it fiercely towards Qin Yang.

As it moved, the demonic flames wrapped around its body suddenly surged.

"Go away!"

Qin Yang was shocked and furious. He swung his palm out, and a huge demonic bone claw appeared out of thin air, grabbing at the head of the demonic shadow.

Surprisingly, the demonic figure neither dodged nor evaded, its heavy ruler maintaining its momentum; it merely shifted slightly to the side, its bone claws grazing past.

Bang-!
The black light exploded, and the demonic shadow staggered, half of its body and shoulder shattering apart. Yet it seemed to feel no pain, its movements continuing without pause.

The heavy ruler struck Qin Yang's protective aura squarely!
Boom-!
The methods of illusion were hardly a threat to Qin Yang, a Golden Core cultivator.

But like a mosquito, it kept bothering him, making him feel annoyed.

The illusory figure withdrew and flew away, but Zhang Cheng and Qin Xijun entangled him again, launching another round of relentless attacks, giving him no chance to kill the illusory figure.

Endless vitality began to mend the shattered shoulder.

At this moment, Song Yan's consciousness temporarily took over his body.

The intense pain nearly made him faint, but he still managed to raise his hand, and a sharp sword light gathered at his fingertips.

Song Yan was certainly not qualified to challenge a Golden Core cultivator.

Now that the illusory form is outside, he cannot mobilize his flying sword, and naturally he cannot unleash sword formations or sword intent.

However, if we were to say what other means we might have, we could certainly threaten Golden Core cultivators.

There really is one.

The Six Void Heavens descended with a sword pointing.

And it only applies at this moment.

The reason is quite simple: what affects the power of the sword pointing is actually the sword energy and the reserve of spiritual power.

The vital energy within him at this moment was like a vast ocean, boundless and limitless.

Previously, its effectiveness was inconsistent, causing significant problems. After improving his cultivation, it improved somewhat, but the issues still persisted.

Now……

If it doesn't work, just try again; there's plenty of spiritual energy anyway.

buzzing-

Three cyan sword beams pierced through the clouds, instantly traversing a distance of dozens of feet, and struck Qin Yang's protective demonic energy.

The surging demonic energy seemed largely unaffected, and the three sword energies shattered and dissipated with a bang.

Qin Yang sneered and was about to speak when he saw the scattered sword energy gathering again above his head.

buzzing-

The swords pointed to the sky and fell, three swords were drawn at the same time, and the demonic energy around him emitted a faint mournful cry.

"you!"

Qin Yang was stunned, gritting his teeth, but he couldn't spare the attention to catch the wandering brat.

Because Zhang Cheng and Qin Xijun's next attack has begun.

Knowing that he was currently being restrained, Song Yan didn't waste any time and raised his hand to unleash four more sword-finger strikes, but the fifth one failed to fire.

But it's okay, we can do it again.

After unleashing over twenty consecutive Lesser Strike Swords, the rate at which his spiritual energy and sword qi filled his body began to show signs of slowing down.

At this moment, the body had been restored to its original state, and then the illusory form took over the body again.

Amidst the chaotic battle in the clouds, Zhang Cheng's withered body seemed poised to be torn apart by the violent and chaotic spiritual pressure at any moment.

But a light burned in his cloudy old eyes.

His thoughts seemed to fly back to a long, long time ago, when he was young, vigorous, and full of ambition.

At the end of life, it wouldn't be so bad to be able to go crazy like this one last time.

A whistling sound rose from his body, and the brilliance of the nine flying swords, which had dimmed due to the great battle, suddenly became as dazzling as ever.

"Now that you're here, don't even think about leaving."

"Today, even if my soul is scattered, I will perish with you."

(End of this chapter)