Chapter 136 - You Have a Sword? No! I HAVE a Sword!
The moment Chen Xiao spoke, the atmosphere in the Chen Clan's grand hall turned scalding and somber.
Ye Xingchen and Yun Xiao! One represented the Grand Temple and the Ye Royal Family; the other stood for the Chen Clan and the Nine Heavens Immortal Army.
A year ago, Chen Xi had been brutally defeated, allowing Ye Xingchen to rise, sweeping through the Immortal Empire with resolute force. Now, with the wedding turned into an insult, their relationship was like oil and water.
Inside the central hall, thousands of guests, sensing the brewing conflict, voluntarily vacated their seats, allowing space for the potential duel. In the center, two young men stood face to face—one in fiery red, seething with anger, the other in serene white.
"Xingchen," began an old man in gray robes, speaking from a mark on Ye Xingchen's hand. "From what I gather, Chen Xi's marriage to that Sword Immortal of the Galaxy grade wasn't really intended to insult you, contrary to the rumors."
Ye Xingchen cast a glance at Chen Xi, replying nonchalantly, "She called off our wedding. She thinks she can marry someone else in this lifetime? I won't kill her, but for every man she chooses, I'll kill them instead. So, what if I'm petty? I am Ye Xingchen, after all!"
The old man in gray robes chuckled in exasperation. "You truly are your father's son. The number of people who've regretted crossing paths with your family... they must've accumulated lifetimes of bad karma."
"And what kind of man is my father?" Ye Xingchen's eyes brimmed with reverence at the memory. His life's mission was to protect his family.
"Someone who'd obliterate whole worlds over a slight," the gray-robed man reminisced, rubbing his temples as if the mere memory induced a headache.
"Exactly! Insult me a little, and I'll annihilate generations of your lineage. That's acting from the heart," Ye Xingchen declared passionately. "Once I fully absorb the power of this Cosmic Star, not even a fly from the Chen Clan will survive. Dared to call off our wedding? Will her death not be a fitting tribute to my unparalleled destiny?"
"Your fervor truly surpasses even your father's," the gray-robed old man remarked, torn between laughter and tears.
Ye Xingchen's gaze sharpened, whispering, "Old man, just how powerful is a Galaxy grade Sword Immortal?"
"You're scared?" the old man teased with a sly grin.
"I've always let my enemies underestimate me, but I never underestimate others," Ye Xingchen said coolly.
"That's a good habit!" The old man, known as Grandpa Pagoda, glanced at Yun Xiao, chuckling. "Given your background and resources, the Galaxy grade is... well, rather ordinary for you. Once you've absorbed two Cosmic Stars, you'll be able to reforge your meridians into the Nine Heavens Star Meridians. Your realm may have declined, but your ability to overcome challenges has risen once more. Just keep his Sword Soul at bay."
"I understand," Ye Xingchen nodded seriously.
"That fellow's so superficial. It's clear he's not up to par. Just a random cat or dog," Grandpa Pagoda laughed.
"Mm-hmm!" Ye Xingchen joined in with a smile.
Across from him, Yun Xiao was also whispering with Blue Star.
"Why's he still talking with that old lingering spirit?" Yun Xiao was getting impatient. Everyone was watching, after all.
"It's fine, let him chat," Blue Star grinned. "After all, you're about to strike it rich!"
It was a Seed of Creation! An Immortal Meridians type!
"When the fight starts, you should hold back a bit. I want to gauge his strength," Blue Star whispered secretly.
"Don't hold back one bit? Got it!" Yun Xiao maintained his 'furious' demeanor. HUM! With a single step forward, the flagstones beneath him shattered, sending shards flying toward Ye Xingchen.
"Do we have a sword sealing formation?" Yun Xiao gritted his teeth and asked.
"What's a sword sealing formation?" Chen Mo nearby asked, puzzled.
"It's a formation that seals an area, so that no one from the outside can interfere, even if someone is about to be killed." Yun Xiao explained.
"Sealed area? A duel to the death?" Chen Mo's eyes widened in surprise. "This lad's got a fire in his belly and guts to match!"
Yun Xiao glared coldly at Ye Xingchen. "I've changed my mind. I challenge you to a duel to the death under the sealed battlefield. Do you dare?"
"No more forcing me to kneel for three days?" Ye Xingchen asked with a wry smile.
"You, a worthless wretch, wouldn't be worth watching even on your knees. Once I kill you, I'll still be getting married," Yun Xiao said with a snarl.
"Alright then," Ye Xingchen replied nonchalantly.
"Well, aren't you brave? Fitting for the once top student of the Grand Temple," Yun Xiao said with a face full of disdain.
Chen Mo sneered. "Mu Tianshi, Ye Qingli, any objections?"
The couple exchanged glances with Ye Xingchen.
"Mom, Dad, trust my hubby. These lowlifes just don't learn their lessons," Mu Lingyi said, visibly annoyed by Yun Xiao's arrogance.
"Seal it!" Mu Tianshi declared, his eyes sharp. He agreed to the duel.
The crowd gasped, realizing that blood was going to be spilled.
"Reduced to nothing, and yet he still comes to my Chen Heavenly Mansion seeking death?" Chen Mo said resentfully, glancing at Ye Xingchen.
Chen Mo promptly activated a sealing formation, trapping the furious Yun Xiao and Ye Xingchen within a domed combat zone.
"This won't interfere with the wedding ceremony later." Chen Mo chuckled sinisterly.
"Unless there's no groom left," Ye Qingli quipped.
"My soon-to-be nephew is a Sword Emperor! This crippled boy will soon know the harsh realities!" Chen Mo scoffed.
As the sealing formation, buzzing with raw energy, locked the two young men inside, the crowd held their breath and watched in silence.
"Fight!" The crowd's roar pierced the air.
Inside the sealed arena, the tension had hit a peak. Yun Xiao's face contorted with anger. Across from him, Ye Xingchen's expression was the very picture of calm. The odds seemed clear.
"Make your move." Ye Xingchen murmured with a smirk. His eyes slightly widened, a faint luminescence dancing within their depths. His once-fractured Immortal Meridians now sparkled, connecting like stars in a constellation.
"You're so pathetic I doubt you could even handle a single stroke of my sword!" Yun Xiao taunted, channeling his inner Holy Son Chu. Holding the Heaven Burial Sword Soul, a tempestuous concoction of water, fire, wind, and thunder erupted around him, turning the arena into a tumultuous storm.
Ye Xingchen simply smiled. Inside his Dantian, a dazzling, starry core burst forth with an energy that not only surpassed the Late Origin Core Realm but even reached the power levels of the Late Sovereign Dragon Realm. This potency, however, remained locked within him, undetectable to outsiders.
"Yun Xiao really is something else!"
"Ye Xingchen, relying only on his Origin Core Realm power, doesn't stand a chance..."
Eyebrows twitched in anticipation. From an outsider's perspective, it was hard to fathom any strategy Ye Xingchen might deploy.
"Nephew-in-law, finish him with a single strike!" Chen Mo bellowed, confidence oozing from every word.
"Don't you worry, Uncle Five!" In Yun Xiao's grip, the Sword Soul transformed into a Flying Sword, its aura fierce, radiating an enchanting and overwhelming might of a Sword Cultivator that captivated the audience.
"Ye Xingchen! I'll grant you the chance to strike first!" Yun Xiao sneered menacingly.
"I insist, you first. As a show of respect to a true Sword Immortal like you, I'll also use my treasured magic sword," Ye Xingchen replied with a gentle chuckle, caressing the weapon sheathed on his waist.
"Oh, you have a sword too? Alright then!" Yun Xiao said. Like Blue Star said, he wouldn't hold back!
Without a moment's hesitation, Yun Xiao channeled all his magic power into the Heaven Burial Sword Soul. Inside his Dantian, the nine primordial void dragons roared in unison. His magic power, although at the Early Sovereign Dragon Realm, rivaled that of someone at the Establishment Sovereign Dragon Realm. The might of the nine dragons converged onto the Sword Soul, where the forces of life and death violently clashed.
With a deafening roar, Yun Xiao's Flying Sword lunged forward.
Sun Moon Divine Light, Rainbow Through the Sun!
This was, without doubt, the most potent sword strike Yun Xiao had ever unleashed.
KLANG! A blinding flash of white light burst forth and zipped through the air, the sound of its flight echoing throughout the area. But light traveled faster than sound.
"Oh...?" Just as Ye Xingchen prepared to draw his own sword and counter, the bright flash blinded him momentarily.
It was in that split second, when he reached up and touched his forehead, that he felt the warm blood gushing out. The back of his head was bleeding too. Pierced straight through by a sword!
It happened so swiftly.
"Huh?" As darkness began to cloud Ye Xingchen's vision and the world spun around him, an excruciating pain shot through his brain.
"Grandpa Pagoda, this isn't how the script is supposed to go..." Ye Xingchen muttered his last breath. In the final moment before his consciousness faded, he saw the groom—who had always appeared enraged and thoughtless—staring back at him with an ancient and suffocating indifference.
HUM! Yun Xiao caught the azure Sword Soul in mid-air. "There can only be one!"
With a swift movement, Yun Xiao appeared right in front of the young man in white, and with a fierce thrust, his blade pierced straight through Ye Xingchen's heart.
With a sickening squelch, the azure longsword pierced through Ye Xingchen's Dantian once again.
SLASH SLASH SLASH! In a gruesome flourish, Yun Xiao delivered five successive strikes, severing Ye Xingchen's head and limbs. His now six-part body lay motionless in a pool of his own blood. His eyes, wide with shock, stared up at the sky. In their last moments, they betrayed a hint of confusion.
And that so-called mindless groom, Yun Xiao, planted his foot on Ye Xingchen's face, spitting disdainfully into his mouth. "After all that buildup, I thought you'd put up more of a fight. Where's the hidden trump card, the reverse face-slapping? Is that all you've got?" he sneered.
The scene unfolded faster than lightning, too swift for many to even grasp. Such was the way of Sword Cultivators—swift, brutal, and final. With Yun Xiao's skills towering over Ye Xingchen's by three stages, how could they be of the same caliber?
The first to break the stunned silence, oddly enough, was Chen Mo.
"Wow. This is the first time I haven't put my own foot in my mouth...!" Chen Mo muttered in a daze. Then, he lightly coughed and turned to the crowd. With his hands on his hip and a smug smile on his face, he crowed, "See! What did I tell you all! A mere weakling dares to challenge my family's honor? My nephew-in-law has surely shown him the harsh reality. What a waste! There wasn’t even a hint of suspense."
Gazing once more at Ye Xingchen's mutilated remains, he burst into laughter. "The foresight of Young Master Ye was impeccable! Preparing a spacious coffin in advance, knowing he'd be sliced into pieces. At least he'll travel to the netherworld in style."
In the central hall of the Chen Clan, only Chen Mo's voice echoed. Every other individual seemed frozen, too stunned to move.
Many had believed that Ye Xingchen, daring to challenge openly, might have an ace up his sleeve. But he was dispatched...just like that. This was, after all, one of the most buzzed-about figures in the Heavenly Realm's Immortal Empire over the past year. The treasured prodigy of the Ye Imperial Family and the Grand Temple...
"Darn it!" Han Jingli, the head of the Ministry of Rites, who had never once uttered a curse in his life, suddenly crushed the teacup in his hand.
"Damn!" Chen Zhao and Chen Lin exchanged glances, both equally unnerved. They hadn't known what to expect before the fight, and the outcome had them both on edge. And just as another member of the audience seemed about to swear... among the gathered thousands, they stood frozen, statues in a tableau.
Every eye, every face turned toward three figures—Mu Tianshi, Ye Qingli, and the breathtakingly beautiful young woman, Mu Lingyi.
While the crowd resembled wooden dummies, these three looked worse off: they were pale and twisted, resembling three corpses anchored to the earth, shivering from head to toe.
"Xingchen..." Mu Lingyi's eyes blinked repeatedly.
The hand that had been playfully wandering just moments ago was now lifelessly severed. His once sweet and persuasive lips had turned a ghastly black. Those passionate, lively eyes, now seemed like the eyes of a dead fish, staring and unblinking.
"Ugh!" A tremor ran through Mu Lingyi's innards, and a stream of dark blood seeped from the corner of her mouth.
"The beacon of hope for the Grand Temple and the Ye Royal Family has just fizzled out?"
Whispers like these were sharper than a thousand blades thrust into their hearts.
"A mere nobody daring to insult my Chen Clan? Like an egg trying to break a rock. If not him, who should die?" Yun Xiao continued his morbid charade, thinking, This Seed of Creation, the Nine Heavens Star Meridians, is indeed remarkable...
Today, he was putting on a performance. Had he not played the fool, playing into Ye Xingchen's theatricality, how else could he have struck at the most opportune moment? But then, a foreboding chill washed over him.
A figure, cloaked in gray, suddenly appeared, wailing toward the heavens. "Immortal Emperor Hao Yang! Your son is gone!"
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