Chapter 047 - Why fear? We outnumber him one thousand to one!
Almost all the Divine Sea Realm disciples of the First Sword Peak had left for the Sword Cloud Walk! Of the people still gathered at the Ye Ancestral Temple, only two from the Divine Sea Realm remained, Ye Xuanying and Ye Tiance's wife, Fan Shi.
Given she had the surname 'Fan', she was almost certainly related to the Elder Fan of the Sea of Swords.
“Father, this young man just slew Ye Ziyan and Wu Yi. Clearly, he has formidable strength. Him daring to intrude on the First Sword Peak surely means he has some backing!” she whispered into Ye Xuanying’s ear.
“Go inform Tiance. I will lead the others to cripple him! How could a single powerful Sword Cultivator block a thousand swords?” Ye Xuanying's gaze was grim.
As Yun Xiao's power surged dramatically, they had no time for doubt. This young man had already killed his way to their presence, standing alone, yet bearing the pressure of a thousand!
“Yes, Father, please be careful!” Fan Shi advised.
“I've battled eighty years, slaying countless demons and men, why would I fear a young whelp?” Ye Xuanying scoffed with a sinister smile.
With her father-in-law's assurance, Fan Shi nodded and discreetly retreated into the crowd, stealthily soaring on her Sovereign Sword into the mountain forest.
Eyes cold and focused, Ye Xuanying stared at the white-clad young man. This was the youth who had murdered his grandchildren and one hundred and twenty of the top disciples of the First Sword Peak. And now he dared to ascend it? A disgrace beyond words!
“For eighty years, I’ve traversed the world, and you, a small beast, dare treat me like a soft persimmon?” Ye Xuanying roared. Despite his age and the waning of his vitality, his Establishment Divine Sea Realm power and the twenty layers of Sword Aura on his Sword Soul still remained.
“Even in age, a treasure sword never grows old!” Many Dragon Spring Realm disciples all coldly stared at Yun Xiao.
“Cripple him!” The descendants of the Ye Family, all behind Ye Xuanying, yelled with venom in their eyes.
HUM! In Ye Xuanying’s hand appeared a Sword Soul, the Diamond Sword Soul. It was an Upper Comet grade Sword Soul with a twenty-layer Sword Aura! In terms of quality, it ranked at the top of the Azure Spirit Sword Sect, and it was the highest quality the Rank Two Sword Inheritance Stone could measure!
In Ye Xuanying’s hand, the Diamond Sword Soul transformed into a three-foot Palm Sword, radiating the properties of diamond, like a shining golden sword, its twenty layers of Sword Aura gleaming sharply. In terms of hardness and sharpness, his Sword Soul was unrivaled. Even other Sword Souls with a thicker Sword Aura wouldn't necessarily match it!
“For my entire life, I’ve cut iron like mud, sliced mountains and seas. The souls that have perished under this sword are more than you’ve ever seen!” Ye Xuanying pressed down his hand, signaling his family and disciples to retreat, ready to showcase his past valor once again.
“The Old Sword Venerable is powerful and dominant!”
“Yun Xiao, within three swords, you will surely be killed!”
Seeing this, the disciples of the First Sword Peak and the members of the Ye Family all shouted in unison, their angry voices shaking the heavens. Their morale swelled and soared, pressing down on Yun Xiao..
Ye Xuanying brandished his sword, stepping forward with hawk-like eyes capturing all, a rolling murderous intent moved towards Yun Xiao.
“With Ye Tiance and his Divine Sea Realm lapdogs gone, you still dare to act arrogantly?” Yun Xiao chuckled with a cold smile. "Tonight, I'll rob his house bare, leaving not even the crumbs!"
Ye Tiance dared to host a Sword Venerable meeting, summoning the Divine Sea Realm experts from the entire sect to humiliate Sword Pavilion? Where did he get such balls? Did Ye Tiance truly think Yun Xiao would wait obediently within the Sword Pavilion for this ridicule? His greed, anger, and foolishness could bear many things, but not this insult!
"Ye Xuanying, the father of Ye Tiance and the foster father of Ye Guying?" Yun Xiao's black eyes narrowed, fixing on this despicable old man clinging to his years.
Ye Xuanying grinned with a menacing smile. "Kneel and kowtow, you little beast, and perhaps—"
"Kowtow?" Before the old man could finish, Yun Xiao suddenly lunged at him. He stretched out his hand, and an azure Sword Soul materialized in his palm. It appeared ordinary, but it was enveloped in an aura of death. Upon its emergence, it cloaked the world in a realm of death. A twenty-two-layer Sword Aura wrapped around it like the depths of hell. The tormented souls of Ye Ziyan, Wu Wu, and Yao Qingqian were trapped within, their anguished faces periodically emerging amidst screams.
"Twenty-two-layer Sword Aura!" A sudden uproar rippled through the crowd. Over a thousand people instantly changed color. During the day, Yun Xiao only had fifteen layers. How did the number increase once again? The thousand-year demon bone had been absorbed by Ye Ziyan!
Ye Xuanying, in his lifetime, had only forged twenty layers of Sword Aura. Within the Azure Spirit Sword Sect, twenty-two layers already ranked among the top three, surpassing even Ye Guying before he went to the Sword Sea, second only to Zhao Jianxing and Ye Tiance.
"Where did you get the demon bone?" Ye Xuanying's heart trembled.
"How about you guess?" Yun Xiao's white shadow accelerates, flickering in the night, his killing sword thrusting out.
Azure Lightning Crane—The third move, Azure Bird!
A sword strike was unleashed as twenty-two layers of Sword Aura weaved into an azure lightning bird, its chaotic sword energy rushing forth, its killing intent unstoppable!
"Hmph!" Ye Xuanying grasped his Upper Comet grade Diamond Sword Soul. With one sword strike, golden sword rays shone in the night sky.
"Is that all?" Yun Xiao’s attack suddenly changed. Amidst his dancing white clothes, the Sword Soul pierced out, the Azure Lightning Crane brushing against the side of the Diamond Sword Soul.
Klang! The Sword Souls collided with a screeching sound. Then, a loud crack rang out. As the sharp azure sword tip slid past, a large crack appeared on the twenty-layer Diamond Sword Soul!
"Ah!" Ye Xuanying's once-stern face crumpled, immediately contorting in unbearable pain. His body spasmed, agonized by the sword stroke that sent shockwaves through every bone.
Boom boom boom! Repelled by Yun Xiao's sword, Ye Xuanying's palm throbbed, his bright red life blood splattered on his ruptured fist.
Hum! Yun Xiao’s countenance grew colder. In his hand, the Palm Sword shrunk into a Flying Sword in the blink of an eye. And then, with lethal momentum, it was thrust forward.
Ye Xuanying, still staggering in retreat, suddenly saw a burst of azure light headed his way. "No!" In a desperate attempt, he swung his sword to defend, but it was too late. The Swallow Tail Flash suddenly pierced through his abdomen, emerging from his lower back with a vicious onslaught.
"My Dantian!!" Ye Xuanying's complexion turned ashen white as he convulsed, his body smashing into the dirt. Magic power resembling a squall flowed out from his abdomen, forming an energy wave that sent more than a dozen of his kinsmen flying. His body, once full of vitality, now resembled a deflated balloon, rolling in the dirt.
Sputter sputter sputter! The last vestiges of his Establishment Divine Sea Realm power dispersed into the surrounding world. His Dantian ruptured, decades of painstaking cultivation returned to the world in a few breaths' time. His lifelong dedication was annihilated by a single sword!
"Ye Xuanying, you've traversed the world for eighty years, is this all you've got?" Yun Xiao appeared before him, stomping his foot into Ye Xuanying's dantian, hollowing out his belly.
"Agghh!" Ye Xuanying screamed, his eyes nearly bursting with rage. His once youthful countenance now looked two decades older.
"You couldn't take even one of my swords, yet you had the gall to claim you could take me down in three?" Yun Xiao taunted with a smirk.
"Y-you..." Ye Xuanying's heart quivered with shame.
"Had your old life not still held some use, my sword earlier would have aimed for that wretched face of yours!" Yun Xiao finished, slapping him across the face.
Smack! Ye Xuanying's face swelled, his teeth flew, and his eyeballs nearly popped out.
"Are you going to keep shouting?"
SMACK!
"Go on, keep shouting."
SMACK SMACK SMACK!
A series of slaps left the father of Ye Tiance and Ye Guying, swollen and pig-headed at Yun Xiao's mercy. Stripped of his cultivation, he was left to sit in painful despair, wailing in anguish!
"You've aged well, your cultivation isn’t too shabby. Sadly, your Sword Soul is too weak!" Yun Xiao's chuckling voice echoed like a nightmare in his ears.
Upon hearing this, Ye Xuanying spat out a mouthful of dark blood. His Upper Comet grade Sword Soul had a twenty-layer Sword Aura! How could one of the mightiest Sword Soul of Azure Spirit be considered weak? However, the truth was undeniable. As they clashed, his Sword Soul was fractured, damaging his soul which gave Yun Xiao the advantage.
"But why? Just what realm are you in?" Desperation and fear surged in Ye Xuanying's heart. Why was this young man different every day? He had only been in Azure Spirit for a few days and had already wasted him, the number one Sword Venerable of the previous generation!
"Wanna know?" Yun Xiao arched an eyebrow.
"Speak!"
"When your son dies, I'll tell you!" Yun Xiao declared. After finishing his words, he once again trampled Ye Xuanying underfoot. He pressed hard. "I'll let you know exactly what realm I'm in?"
Yun Xiao had received over 320,000 Spirit Stones! How many Heavenly Dao Sarira did that make? He didn't know, since Blue Star and Red Moon were still producing them! He was still far from reaching his limit! His soul was that of a mortal, but his body belonged to the Creator Immortal. To advance in the Divine Sea Realm, the magic power needed was several times that of the Dragon Spring Realm, requiring several re-cultivations of the Dragon Spring Realm. But 320,000 Spirit Stones were indeed a sect-level fortune!
Yun Xiao had only broken through one stage for now, reaching the Mid Divine Sea Realm! With his Primordial Void Technique, taking down Ye Ziyan at the Perfect Divine Sea Realm was not a big deal. And now, after absorbing the thousand-year demon bone and possessing twenty-two layers of Sword Aura, it wasn't a big problem to take down this old Sword Venerable, who had one foot in the coffin.
Yun Xiao sneered inwardly, then turned to the nearly one hundred members of the Ye Family and laughed, "How about it? Watching me trample your ancestor like this. Are you Ye Family Sword Cultivators all just a bunch of useless cowards?"
The Ye Family disciples were already outraged, and Yun Xiao’s words ignited that storm of anger even more!
"Come on, kill me! Weren’t you very arrogant just now? Weren’t you going to destroy the Sword Pavilion and seize the position of the Sect Master? Can you really do that while being so useless? Aren't you disgracing your own ancestors like this?
"Or is it the fact..." Yun Xiao continued, "that your Ye ancestors are all just as useless and cowardly as you lot? Only daring to hide in the back and shoot arrows from afar? And you still want to enter the Hall of Heroes?"
Hum! Yun Xiao sent out his Flying Sword with a flick of his hand. Then, with a loud crashing sound, his sword pierced through each spirit plaque, turning all the plaques of the Ye Family ancestors to dust. "So this is the mighty Ye Family? I’ve pierced your ancestors' spirit plaques, how come there’s no reaction?
"Yet, all you cowards still have the face to think about digging the graves of my seven senior brothers and sisters?"
Yun Xiao had heard the whole conversation in the Sword Venerable meeting at Sword Cloud Walk! Each word, loud and clear, leaving him completely enraged!
Now, he was trampling on Ye Tiance's father and destroying the spirit plaques of their ancestors.
Ye Tiance planned to disgrace the Sword Pavilion? Then, Yun Xiao's had no qualms about arriving at the First Sword Peak and humiliating him to death first. This was his favorite way of settling scores. "You want to kill me? I'll kill you first! You want to humiliate me, I will humiliate you a hundredfold!"
"Yun Xiao!" A group of Ye Family members in the Dragon Spring Realm roared in fury. Even a portion of the disciples from the First Sword Peak were enraged!
"Those who wish to annihilate me, step forward. Those willing to give Sword Pavilion a fair judgment, stay where you are. I promise I won't treat you unfairly!" Yun Xiao said. The young man in white held his azure sword, his eyes filled with pride as his gaze swept over a thousand men.
"Our Ye Family ancestors are disgraced. This humiliation cannot stand!"
"We outnumber him a thousand to one! He's just one man with one sword! What can he do?"
"Attack!"
The Ye Family, filled with righteous indignation, rallied everyone, leading the charge. However, they overestimated their family's unity and underestimated Yun Xiao’s intimidating presence!
As they all drew their swords, within the First Sword Peak, only about three hundred stepped forward to attack Yun Xiao. The majority chose to stay where they were, gritting their teeth.
Among them, many were coerced from the Sword Pavilion, who had wept and grieved for it three years prior, only to bow to the present reality. During the day, with the return of Azure Spirit Cauldron, and Yun Xiao’s emergence, they were all prepared to return to the Sword Pavilion. Who knew that Ye Guying would oppress everything, once again suppressing their spirits?
And now, with Ye Tiance twisting the truth, trying to tarnish the loyal bones of the Azure Spirit's Sect Master and unearthing the graves of the Seven Prodigies of the Sword Pavilion, who wouldn’t be distressed? Yet in their weakness, helplessness, and sorrow, there was still a bottom line in the heart of every Sword Cultivator!
For most people on First Sword Peak, their limit was that they would not raise their swords against Yun Xiao in his righteous struggle. In these mountains of Azure Spirit, many had no say and could only go with the flow. But they had hearts, and they had fervor! They would eventually stand out!
When Yun Xiao’s gaze swept over and found that the majority were silently supporting him, he was moved! "This world is not as despicable as I imagined!"
Many loyal and righteous people simply didn’t have the chance to speak out! For Yun Xiao, this scene gave him the greatest significance to fight today!
"Thank you all!" Yun Xiao bowed. Then suddenly, his gaze turned cold, a killing intent erupted, sweeping towards another group! There were about four hundred disciples, all in the Dragon Spring Realm! Nearly a hundred were from the Ye family, and they all charged at Yun Xiao!
"Ye Tiance! Once you ascend the Sword Pavilion, I've got a grand surprise waiting for you!" With a sweep of his sword, clad in ethereal white like a demon unleashed, Yun Xiao plunged into the crowd. Those desiring his death met their own demise instead. His sword moved in sweeping arcs, heads soaring through the air.
"Where is he?"
"I can't see him!"
Earlier in the day, Yun Xiao's mastery of Leisurely Wander was enough to wreak havoc among the First Sword Peak's hundred and twenty top disciples! Now that he was shrouded under the cover of night, all these people were simply stepping into a meat grinder!
A white shadow flickered, amidst mountains of corpses and rivers of blood. One by one, people around them fell, and they couldn’t even see where Yun Xiao was! Fear finally gripped them. They broke.
"Run!"
"Ahh!"
"Save me!"
...
With the Swallow Tail Flash technique directing his Flying Sword, each strike pierced a heart.
"Think you can escape? All four hundred of you, where could you possibly go?" Yun Xiao said coldly. His sword cut across the sky, radiating an azure light. Each person who attempted to escape on their Sovereign Swords suddenly spurted blood from their chests and bellies, their eyes wide and filled with despair as they fell from the sky, their heads bursting upon impact. Before the ancestral temple of the Ye Family, a hell on earth emerged.
"Ye Tiance isn't here. Where's all your bravado now? Come on, fight me! Cowards! Die for me!" Yun Xiao shouted. Four hundred in the Dragon Spring Realm, how long could they last under his twenty-two-layer Heaven burial Sword Soul? To him, they were all tofu!
"My noble Ye Family, my First Sword Peak, ah..." Ye Xuanying, seeing all this, spat blood thrice in a row, his every hope turned to ashes.
"Ancestor! Ancestor..." One by one, the Ye Family members, their faces pallid, cried out in agony, their bodies drenched in blood, clutching their Dantians. Sure enough, they weren’t dead! But their plight was worse than death. Their Dantians were shattered, holes gaping, their magical powers lost, reduced to mere mortals. All of them, crippled!
For Cultivators, falling from such heights indeed brought more grief and agony than direct death. The key was that when others were crippled, it was just one. But Yun Xiao, with one move, crippled an entire family!
"Is this... the noble Ye Family?" At that moment, standing before the hundred crippled individuals, Yun Xiao’s laugh pierced at their hearts like a sword.
Amidst their sorrow and anger, the Ye Family all broke into tears. Yun Xiao had killed the others but spared them. They knew he was surely preparing an even more terrifying fate, waiting for them.
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