IOAFD - 1150. The Sword Master of the Limitless Sword Hall (II)

Five bright beams of moonlight descended like divine lances. Luo Ming dodged frantically and managed to avoid the first two beams. His sword met the third beam, deflecting it away at a sharp angle. He then retreated rapidly, trying to put as much distance as he could between himself and these two divine beasts.

As he flew, he discovered that his speed was noticeably slower than before. Even the sword aura that was wrapped around his body like protective armor was behaving strangely. He realized something and glanced sharply at the heavenly dog and its wide-open mouth. It was constantly inhaling, not air but all of the spiritual energy around it.

Tiantian didn’t have enough time or enough yang energy sources to recreate the Yin Heaven Swallowing Array. What she was doing now was the most fundamental art of the Heaven Swallowing Grand Law. This was her strongest ability, to swallow the spiritual energy of her enemies, suppressing them without the ability to fight back.

Luo Ming also understood this and instantly took her as the most dangerous foe. He stopped retreating and charged directly at her, aiming to break her heaven swallowing.

“Where do you think you are going?” King Huo Tu spat out a barrage of reddish flames.

Luo Ming barely dodged, leaving half of his robes scorched. But his speed didn’t slow down at all. He merely sent a casual sword swing towards the toad.

King Huo Tu was too slow to dodge, and the sword left a deep gash on its fat body. Red blood poured out like lava, producing a cloud of smoke as it met the cold air of the underground cavern.

Queen Sundew let out a strange insect roar as she blocked his way. She waved her four arms, first launching a dense array of poisonous spines and then swiping at him with her sharp claws.

Ping! Ping!

Kacha!

Luo Ming blocked all of the attacks with sublime sword movements and finally cut off one of the giant mantis’s four arms with an elegant twirl. As the arm flew away, green blood spurted out and Queen Sundew roared in pain.

This was the sword master of the Limitless Sword Hall. Against ordinary Spirit Kings, he could easily fight one against five.

He swept past the two beast kings and closed on the heavenly dog. He almost made it close enough to launch a powerful attack but he was blocked by Chen Wentian and Jasmine.

Jasmine’s moonbeams descended once more, forcing Luo Ming to retreat hurriedly. The destructive power of her moonlight made his hair stand on end. With every passing second, the moonbeams drew closer and closer until they burned off locks of his hair and even singed tips of his eyebrows. All the while, he had to worry about stray fireballs and sword strikes from Chen Wentian.

The battle continued like this in the underground world. Chen Wentian and his allies wore down the powerful sword master with their combined efforts. They spared no effort to slowly grind him to death.

The two beasts, in particular, sacrificed their bodies to make up for their lack of strength. They were eventually covered in blood. Queen Sundew lost three of her arms. King Huo Tu had to retreat into a pool of lava to save himself from life-threatening wounds.

Luo Ming didn’t fare much better. After a long, brutal battle, his body was scorched all over. His robes were so tattered that he was almost naked. A bloody hole had been blown through his right leg by Jasmine’s moonlight and it was now lame. Still, he was filled with defiance and sharp sword intent.

The key remained Tiantian. During all this, she continued to suck away at Luo Ming’s spiritual energy. The result was that he had already fallen from the peak of the Spirit King Realm to the fifth level of spiritual strengthening. He knew that the battle couldn’t go on like this. They all knew. It was time for the final struggle.

Luo Ming glared hatefully at Tiantian. He despised this heavenly dog even more than Chen Wentian’s deceitful face. This divine beast was feared throughout the world and for good reason. They were treated as ill omens. Even other divine beasts hated them.

“Cough… cough…” Luo Ming patted his chest and coughed up a mouthful of blood, “Not enough, not enough, all of you together is still not enough to kill me.”

Chen Wentian looked down at him and smiled, “Oh? What other tricks do you have? You’re about to die, so you shouldn’t be stingy.”

Luo Ming stood straight and defiant, despite his wounds, “I may die but you all won’t survive either. The Limitless Sword Hall isn’t something a few orphaned divine beasts can mess with. You have yet to understand the true strength of human cultivators and why divine beasts fear humans with all their hearts. Behind me exists true strength. Behind the Limitless Sword Hall stands the Limitless Sword Mansion. Maybe you have heard of it. Maybe you haven’t. The Limitless Sword Mansion is an immovable foundation of the current era. We don’t just have saints. We even have a demigod who can destroy the entirety of the eastern subcontinent with a wave of their hand.”

Chen Wentian let the old man finish his ramblings and said, “Stop bragging. What do saints and demigods have to do with you? You are just a Spirit King of a backwater subcontinent. Nobody knows you are here. Nobody will know that you died.”

He raised the White Star Sword, “Now, it's time to send the sword master on his way.”

“I was thinking the same!” Luo Ming said as his figure suddenly burst out with tremendous strength.

His spiritual aura surged, returning to the peak of the Spirit King Realm. His whole body transformed into a sword that shot towards Tiantian.

“Go die!” Jasmine shouted and launched five beams of moonlight.

Chen Wentian also sent out a barrage of blue fireballs.

But this time, Luo Ming was simply too fast. His sword aura was too powerful. His sword couldn’t be blocked.

This had to be an ultimate treasure of the Limitless Sword Hall. Because at this instant, his strength had already surged past the limit of the Spirit King Realm. Even if it was for the briefest of moments, he had already touched upon the Spirit Emperor Realm. This was an entirely different Luo Ming from just before.

His figure raced past Chen Wentian and Jasmine and charged towards Tiantian. He was so fast that she had no time to react. He was even faster than her teleportation. She had only partially formed a spatial crack to escape but he had already arrived.

“Tiantian!” Jasmine shouted.

“No!” Queen Sundew shrieked.

“Stop!” King Huo Yu bellowed.

Even Tiantian’s eyes were filled with helplessness.

The only one who did not panic was Chen Wentian. Instead, his face was a mask of deep concentration as he poured all of his soul energy into a particular soul.

Woosh!

Just as Luo Ming’s sword stabbed towards Tiantian’s heart, a shadow appeared and blocked the way. Chen Mo’s shadow powers burst out, controlling all of the darkness between Luo Ming and Tiantian. There was no secret art or special skill. Chen Mo simply used his body and the entirety of his Spirit King Realm cultivation to stop the sword, letting it pierce into him instead.

Ka!

There was a terrible cracking sound as Chen Mo was split apart by the overwhelming power of the sword strike. The strength of the Spirit Emperor Realm completely tore Chen Mo’s shadow body into pieces until nothing was left, not even specks of shadowy dust.

“Pu…” Luo Ming spat out a large mouthful of blood and stumbled backward, “You… you… actually had another Spirit King! You sacrificed a Spirit King beast just to kill me?”

He laughed angrily, “Stupid! So stupid!”

Tiantian frowned, tired of the old man’s chattering, “Enough, time for you to die.”

She locked him with her divine art and started swallowing. His spiritual energy soon returned to the fifth stage of spiritual strengthening and rapidly decreased from there. After a few breaths, it broke through to the fourth stage.

But Luo Ming still had one more trick to play. He took out two white pills and swallowed them in one go. Soon, his spiritual energy surged once more. Unlike the last time, it was only to the peak of the Spirit King Realm and it was also filled with unstable fluctuations.

“Fine, fine. Let’s go, I won’t be satisfied unless I take you with me. Let’s kill each other!”

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