Chapter 169 — The Demonic Beast

No sooner said than done—that sky-covering rain of swords had already reached him, the fierce wind stinging his face. In that very instant, the figure of the Beast Sovereign flickered and vanished, disappearing into the swirling black qi. It was instead the giant demonic beast beneath him that surged with black qi, leaping up with a thunderous crash, its bones rattling and cracking; shrouded in black qi, it was more terrifying than ever.

The demonic beast raised its head and howled at the sky, exhaling a breath that turned the wind and clouds; in an instant the earth beneath its feet flew into sand and stone, so violent that a man could scarcely stand. Amid the storm, black qi billowed and merged with the demonic creature, which in a heartbeat swelled to more than three times its size, and from the white bones of its demonic body grew dozens of projecting streams of black qi, swirling through the air like tentacles.

By now the Slaying Immortals sword-rain had arrived. A thousand-year sword formation was no trifling matter; the outer black qi surged up to meet it, only to be torn apart by the sword qi before it even came close, wiped clean without a trace, and the formation drove straight on down, plunging at that most hideous of beasts.

The demonic spirit howled without pause, shrieking again and again. Just as that irresistible volley of sword-rain was about to strike the giant demonic spirit, those dozens of living-tentacle-like streams of black qi suddenly flew up to meet it, blotting out clouds and sun and blocking the qi-swords' path.

In the blink of an eye the Slaying Immortals sword qi drove down and locked in battle with those strange black qi tentacles. Yet these tentacles formed of black qi were nothing like the outer black qi of moments before, which had crumbled at a single blow, nor were they like the shield of rigid hardness the Beast Sovereign had first wielded. Over a hundred Slaying Immortals qi-swords plunged down, and the tentacles, as though alive, wrapped them round and round; not only did their momentum slow, but the radiance upon the swords themselves was slowly worn away, dimming little by little until it faded to nothing.

Still, the Slaying Immortals swords were no ordinary things. Though formed of formless qi, in dissolving these qi-swords the surrounding black qi tentacles were plainly wounded by the immortal keenness, steaming away in no small quantity—yet from the demonic spirit the black qi seemed to pour out endlessly, replenishing the front in an instant. Before long, those hundred-odd heaven-shaking Slaying Immortals qi-swords had all been dissolved into nothing.

Upon the Heaven-Reaching Peak of Canglan Mountain, there was dead silence, still as death itself.

In midair, Dao Yan Zhenren's expression grew even graver, yet there was no fear in it. His immortal-boned figure stood erect among the clouds, holding the blazing, glittering ancient sword Slaying Immortals, like a god of high antiquity.

They saw him give a cold smile; holding the sword in his right hand, he thrust it at the sky and slowly waved it. As the radiance flickered blindingly along the ancient sword Slaying Immortals, a faint rumble of thunder began to sound in the heavens; across the whole vault of sky came a rolling roar, and the entire Slaying Immortals sword formation began to turn as one, the seven-colored master sword blazing especially bright, unbearable to look upon.

Amid the white light, a stream of purple qi suddenly rose from the ancient sword Slaying Immortals and shot up into the sky, straight into the Slaying Immortals formation; in an instant, within a ten-zhang radius, purple qi-swords gathered together. Then, one by one, the other six colors of radiance rose up, dazzling and flickering, flying into the heavens, and in a moment took the positions of the Seven Stars within the Slaying Immortals formation, each a giant single-colored sword formation, majestic and awe-inspiring.

The wind and clouds howled; a fierce gale screamed.

In that soundless place, a thunderclap suddenly burst with a mighty roar, as though shaking the hearts of ten thousand people. Across the horizon sword-glints streamed and colored lights blazed; countless colored qi-swords streaked across the sky and shrieked downward.

Like the angry tide of heaven, they came surging on, purple qi at the fore, stretching beyond sight—mightier by far than before, no one could say how much. And behind the purple, every ten zhang apart, a sword qi of another color gathered and flew, rushing and roaring, surging and swelling, beyond anything human power could imagine.

At that almost world-destroying spectacle, not a face did not change; palms broke out in sweat.

The archaic song mingled amid the great thunder and the sky-filling shrieks gradually faded, and even those strange drumbeats had long since vanished. Yet the giant demonic spirit, facing this terrible tide of sword-rain, stood defiant and did not retreat; amid the rising black qi it shrieked all the more shrilly, as though taunting the heavens, utterly wild and unyielding.

In an instant the sword-glints struck home; dozens of black qi tentacles surged up at once. Though this sword qi was now beyond compare with the last, the ancient sorcery of the southern wilds possessed uncanny powers beyond the reach of gods and ghosts; the black qi tentacles fought more fiercely the longer they fought. Though in a flash they were pierced with a thousand holes by the countless qi-swords, the seemingly endless black qi filled them in the same instant, and their greatest reach actually expanded, stretching out to tens of zhang.

Yet this first wave of purple qi-swords, charging into the black qi, forced it down flat; but in but a moment the black qi struck back, rising up and swallowing the qi-swords one by one. Even so, before the black qi could recover its former shape, the second wave, a square of qi-swords, had already arrived.

Ten thousand phenomena, boundless keen radiance; in the vault of heaven the sword-glints came like rain, like locusts, thick and dense, while under Dao Yan Zhenren's urging of the true dharma, the ancient sword Slaying Immortals flashed with ever stranger light, and the seven-colored master sword in midair split off ever more single-colored qi-swords, faster and faster, wave upon wave forming heart-stopping giant sword formations that crashed down into the billowing black qi.

Beneath the Slaying Immortals formation's furious tide of assault, the black qi lost all its former arrogance, its range gradually pressed down from its first tens of zhang; and against wave after wave, ever stronger, of that almost endless, despair-making surge of sword radiance, the black qi too began to fail. The giant demonic creature roared without cease, yet the black qi around it grew ever thinner; each wave of sword-rain came closer to its very body than the last, the black qi thinned, the strange tentacles it formed grew weaker, and holding back that sky-filling sword-rain grew harder and harder.

At some point, after that long silence, the crowd below burst forth in cheering like a tide.

The last six black qi tentacles, after barely holding off a wave of azure sword qi, finally scattered and dissolved into nothing; in midair there remained only that giant demonic spirit.

Heaven and earth stood solemn; sword qi crisscrossed the air!

A faint ancient song; a vast wild desolation!

Like thunder, like lightning, boundless sword radiance descended from the sky, swooping in from all four directions, piercing through the giant demonic spirit in midair.

The enormous white bones burst apart in an instant; countless streams of black blood splashed outward. The demonic creature flung up its head and loosed at the vault of heaven a long shriek that tore the heart and lungs.

The wind died; the clouds scattered.

The sword-rain gradually ceased.