Chapter 441: A Sword to Split the Heavens
Finally, Lu Yuqing drew to a halt in front of the ancestral hall at the center of the daoist temple.
Her brows furrowed slightly as her gaze roamed over the memorial tablets before her, and she was looking a little dazed.
Right at this moment, a thunderous boom rang out in the sky, and she shuddered as she instantly snapped back to her senses, then hurriedly made her way out of the daoist temple to look up into the sky.
A streak of dazzling azure light was in the process of rising up from the sea of flames up above, and it transformed into a pillar of azure light that erupted straight into the heavens.
Tremendous sword qi was emanating from the pillar of azure light, stirring the sea of fire up into a frenzy, and the lightning that was crashing down from above was also thrown into a state of disarray.
Han Li's eyes immediately lit up upon seeing this, but before he had a chance to do anything, another resounding boom rang out as yet another pillar of azure light rose up from the sea of flames while releasing aextremely formidable sword qi.
One pillar of azure light rose up after another in rapid succession, and a total of 72 pillars of light had emerged in the blink of an eye, all of which were giving off terrifying sword qi fluctuations.
The sea of fire was snuffed out with ease by this burst of collective sword qi, revealing the white stone altar inside.
The dark clouds up above were also completely scattered by the enormous sword qi in the air, while gusts of ferocious wind swept forth in all directions.
Han Li wore a calm expression as he made a hand seal, conjuring up his True Extreme Film to protect him.
As soon as the film took shape, a wave of scorching heat instantly surged over him, causing the True Extreme Film to crackle and flash incessantly.
However, Han Li remained as still as an immovable mountain within the formidable shockwaves, and his gaze remained focused intently on the altar in an unblinking fashion.
The shockwaves were so powerful that all of the greenery on the mountain summit down below was reduced to powder, and a thick layer of earth was also scraped up from the ground, producing an extremely flat area.
The daoist temple was also swept up in the shockwaves, and the restrictions around it had already been broken by Xiong Shan, so it wasn't going to take long before the temple was also razed to the ground.
Right at this moment, Lu Yuqing summoned her azure feather fan before waving it vigorously through the air, releasing a gust of fierce azure wind that formed an azure tornado to encompass the entire daoist temple.
After traveling over such a long distance, the power of the shockwaves was already significantly diminished, but the azure tornado was still trembling incessantly.
Lu Yuqing's face paled slightly as she bit through the tip of her tongue, then expelled a mouthful of blood onto the azure feather fan in her hand.
The fan immediately began to radiate bright spiritual light, and all of its feathers spread open like the train of a peacock before detaching themselves from the handle of the fan and vanishing into the azure tornado in a flash.
The tornado instantly swelled drastically in size while radiating bright azure light, and it became far more stable than before.
The shockwaves quickly subsided, but the entire mountain continued to sway violently as countless rocks of different sizes came tumbling down in a catastrophic avalanche.
Moments later, the azure tornado around the daoist temple faded, and the temple remained completely unscathed.
Lu Yuqing was panting slightly, but her expression was quite calm, and she quickly swallowed a pill before looking up into the sky.
At this point, the sea of fire and cascade of lightning up above had already disappeared, and all that remained in the sky was the white altar.
Above the altar was a radiant ball of azure light that was several hundred feet in size, and it resembled an azure sun.
An ecstatic look appeared on Han Li's face upon seeing this, and he unconsciously took a step forward.
Right at this moment, the azure sun exploded violently, sending rays of blinding azure light erupting in all directions.
Every single ray of azure light was a peerlessly sharp streak of sword qi that howled through the air, and the white altar was instantly punched full of holes before shattering into countless pieces.
The surrounding eight pillars suffered the same fate, reduced to countless pieces of scrap metal.
An alarmed look appeared on Han Li's face as he flew back in retreat while sweeping a sleeve through the air, and his Heavy Water True Axis instantly emerged before him, then released a thick heavy water barrier to shield him.
He was retreating very quickly, but he was still unable to outrun these rapid streaks of sword qi, and he was only able to get a small distance away before the streaks of sword qi struck his Heavy Water True Axis.
The axis instantly began to tremble violently as a string of metallic clangs rang out in rapid succession, and the black water barrier that it had released was quickly being worn down.
A rumbling thunderclap erupted out of Han Li's body as he accelerated drastically in his retreat, flying back to several dozen kilometers away in the blink of an eye.
As for the azure sword qi, all of it abruptly dissipated after reaching a certain distance away from the altar, much to Han Li's relief.
After waiting for a moment to ensure that there would be no more sword qi coming after him, he swept a sleeve through the air to stow his Heavy Water True Axis away.
Meanwhile, the azure sun in the distance flashed a few times, and the azure light that it was radiating rapidly dimmed before fading away altogether, revealing the 72 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords hovering in mid-air in a circle.
Han Li's eyes immediately lit up as he flew over to the circle of azure swords.
Following this latest refinement, the outward appearance of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords hadn't changed much. They had become more translucent, and bursts of azure energy were just barely visible flowing inside.
Enormous spiritual power fluctuations were emanating out of the flying swords, causing the nearby world's origin qi to shudder and tremble, and a massive spiritual power vortex had taken shape around them.
Upon sensing Han Li's arrival, the 72 flying swords suddenly flew through the air in a blur, transforming into 72 streaks of azure light before vanishing into his dantian in the blink of an eye.
Han Li was quite startled by this, but he could sense that the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were merely hovering in his dantian in a still manner.
With the flying swords inside his dantian, he was able to get an even clearer sense of the changes that had taken place within them.
After absorbing such an immeasurable amount of sword essence, it was no exaggeration to say that the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords had been reborn anew.
In their current form, just a single one of his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords contained far more spiritual power than any of his other immortal treasures, including even the Heavy Water True Axis that he had painstakingly refined.
However, due to the fact that this spiritual power came from the sword essence of countless different swords, it was a little chaotic and erratic.
This was something that had happened once before after the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords had absorbed the sword essence from the Thousand Edge Spirit Gathering Sword Array last time, so Han Li wasn't concerned.
Looking at the 72 swords in his dantian, he locked onto one of them with his spiritual sense before sweeping a sleeve through the air, and only after a few flashes of azure light did the flying sword appear before him.
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon seeing this. It seemed that the flying swords had become more difficult to control, and they also felt heavier and more cumbersome.
However, this was only to be expected, considering how much more powerful they had become, and it should be possible to resolve these issues following another bout of refinement.
With that in mind, Han Li made a hand seal before pointing a finger forward, and a layer of azure light instantly appeared over the flying sword's surface.
The sword then moved a few times before falling still again.
Han Li's brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he opened his mouth to release a burst of azure light that enveloped the flying sword in a flash.
The azure light radiating from the flying sword became even brighter, and once again, it moved a little before falling still.
Han Li's expression darkened slightly upon seeing this, and he channeled all of the immortal spiritual power in his body, releasing two bursts of dense azure light out of the palms of his hands, both of which surged into the flying sword.
At the same time, his spiritual sense also flooded into the flying sword, and the azure light radiating from the sword's surface instantly brightened even further.
All of a sudden, the flying sword twisted around before shooting through the air like an azure spirit snake while expanding drastically in size, swelling to over 1,000 feet in length as it radiated blinding azure swordlight.
The entire surrounding space began to tremble in the wake of the tremendous sword intent emanating from the giant sword, and all of the nearby world's origin qi instantly converged toward it.
The light radiating from the huge sword continued to grow brighter and brighter as it pierced back and forth through the clouds like an enormous azure dragon.
The cloud in the sky surged and churned violently before rapidly dissipating to reveal the clear, blue sky up above.
Only then did a hint of relief appear on Han Li's face, and a look of elation surfaced in his eyes at the sight of the giant sword.
The sword had become far more formidable than he anticipated, and it wasn't inferior in the slightest compared with the combined power of the entire set of 72 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords in their previous form.
All of a sudden, he made a hand seal, and arcs of thick and radiant golden lightning instantly emerged over the giant azure sword.
The arcs of lightning were flashing over the blade of the sword like a flight of prowling dragons, giving off a violent and primordial aura.
In the blink of an eye, the giant azure sword had transformed into a golden lightning sword and was giving off a devastating aura of destruction.
Han Li faltered slightly upon seeing these.
The comparison between these arcs of golden lightning and his Divine Devilbane Lightning from before was no different from that between night and day. Not only had the lightning become at least several times more powerful, there also seemed to be some type of new, unidentifiable property about them.
Han Li hesitated momentarily before making another hand seal, and the giant lightning sword in the sky instantly stopped in its tracks before becoming even brighter.
Immediately thereafter, it swept through the air as if it were being swung by an enormous invisible hand.
A streak of gargantuan azure sword qi swept forth, and it was several kilometers wide with arcs of golden lightning surging over its surface, presenting an astonishing sight to behold.
The azure sword qi erupted in all directions, tearing through the very space itself to create countless black spatial rifts while also causing the surrounding space to warp and tremble violently.
The streak of giant sword qi vanished into space in the blink of an eye, but the disturbance continued to rage on, and the entire secret area was beginning to tremble and sway.
Only after a long time had passed were peace and quiet restored.
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