Chapter 259 — Killing the Immortal

"Xiaofan, we shall meet again in the next life..."

The icy chill of the Divine Sword Tianxuan seemed to seep through her skin into her very blood. Smiling faintly, she gripped the hilt hard—when suddenly, at that very moment, Wen Pei beside her gave a startled cry: "Sister, wait."

Lu Xueling froze, lowered Tianxuan, and said in astonishment: "What is it?"

Wen Pei had turned and was gazing toward the rear mountain of the Jietian Peak, and in utter amazement she said: "Listen—listen... what is that sound?"

On the battlefield, so wild and clamorous but a moment before, all had suddenly fallen quiet for some unknown reason, without a sound; those hordes of the demon cult, all claws and fangs, stood frozen in place, every one of them.

In the silent stillness, the ancient Tongtian Peak—nay, the entire mountain range—began, ever so slowly, to tremble.

A low, long cry burst forth from the rear slopes of Tongtian Peak, rising steadily, sharpening into something fierce and clear, splitting stone and metal as it soared straight into the heavens.

Amid that cry, a vast beam of radiance shot skyward, like a dragon imprisoned for a thousand, ten thousand years bursting forth with a thunderous roar, galloping across the nine heavens, summoning wind and rain in its wake; gales howled, heaven and earth changed color, the assembled mountains bowed their heads, and the magic treasures and weapons in the hands of countless people began to quiver of their own accord.

"Immortal-slaying... Immortal-slaying... that is the Immortal-slaying!"

Suddenly a cry rang out before the Yuheng Hall, tinged with astonished joy, and among the surviving disciples of the Cang Lan Sect, even those gravely wounded seemed to forget their pain entirely.

One after another they struggled to their feet and looked up, at that brilliant, magnificent pillar of light piercing heaven and earth, insufferably proud—as though it were the peerless pride and anchor of their hearts!

The Immortal-slaying!

The sky, shrouded by crimson radiance, was instantly driven back by this sudden glory; the dazzling light soared beneath the nine heavens, came speeding on, and above Jietian Peak burst forth all at once, radiating a thousand rays, like the blazing sun fallen to the mortal world, driving every shadow into flight.

Deep within that radiance a figure slowly emerged, though the light was so resplendent that his features could not be seen; only, amid the flickering of light and shadow, the people clearly saw that the figure was slowly raising an ancient sword in his hand.

The Immortal-slaying Ancient Sword!

In an instant a thunderous roar of cheering erupted over the Yuheng Hall; Wen Pei and Song Dayi were both brimming with tears, and only Lu Xueling suddenly swayed on her feet, an expression of disbelief on her face. But at that moment every eye was fixed on the heavens, and no one marked her strangeness.

That figure above the horizon, though half-hidden in the radiance and indistinct, had long since been carved deep into her heart—she would not forget it even in death—so how could she fail to recognize it?

"Xiaofan..."

She called it a thousand times in her heart, clutching the collar at her breast with her hand, as though only thus could she still her wildly pounding heart.

By now the eerie blood orb in the sky on the demon sect's side had clearly long since detected this mysterious visitor; it rolled over with a rumbling sound, and both sides were cloaked in radiance, one white and one red, faintly poised in confrontation.

A moment later, a voice filled with furious rage came from within the blood orb: "So it's you!"

Faced with the King of Hell's demand, the figure within the radiance gave no answer at all; he merely raised the Immortal-slaying Ancient Sword in his hand, and in an instant an uncanny shriek arose, and beneath the boundless vault of heaven seven beams of colored light shot suddenly upward from the seven peaks of the Cang Lan range, rising into the sky like flood dragons coursing through the heavens, streaking across the firmament and at last converging upon the Immortal-slaying Ancient Sword.

The uncanny shrieking grew ever louder, filling all the space between heaven and earth, until a moment later it seemed as though past ages were replayed: beneath the vault of heaven that colossal sword of colored qi appeared, and the Immortal-slaying Sword Formation that had circulated in the hearts of countless people finally manifested once more in the mortal world.

"Die!"

Amid the furious shout, the eerie blood orb in the sky too underwent a change; the blood-qi rolled back to either side, revealing what lay within, and though the onlookers were widely experienced, they could not help but stare dumbstruck, drawing in a breath of cold air.

At the very center of the blood orb, shrouded in great masses of blood-qi, was—unmistakably—the Fuxing Cauldron, now wholly turned blood-red; but what astonished them most was that the King of Hell's body had for the greater part already dissolved into the cauldron, leaving only the portion above the chest and the head upon the ancient vessel, his features twisted into a hideous mask, staring with venom at the figure in the brilliant radiance opposite him.

With a single beckoning gesture, as though drawn by immense force, all the countless blood-qi across half the sky was rumblingly swept up, a spectacle beyond compare, and that flood-like red cloud of blood-qi in the King of Hell's hand was transformed into a gigantic crimson spear stretching ten thousand zhang across the heavens, searing bolts of lightning tearing wildly across its length—a thing of utter horror.

"Watch me hack you to pieces, you beast!" In a heart-rending roar, the King of Hell seemed to have lost all reason, left with nothing but a craving for slaughter, and the immense red spear came crashing toward the Immortal-slaying radiance.

Upon Jietian Peak, despite their boundless confidence in the Immortal-slaying Sword Formation, the sight of the King of Hell's world-shaking demonic might still turned every face pale and struck every tongue dumb; Lu Xueling in particular stared at the heavens, her face as white as paper.

The Immortal-slaying Sword Formation that appeared this time was not the same as the one Dao Yan Zhenren had driven forth twice before. In the heavens, besides that one insufferably proud, world-disdaining colossal sword of colored qi, the countless millions of lesser qi-swords in all their shifting, sky-covering multitudes did not appear. Yet, for some reason, though there was but a single qi-sword, the majestic power emanating from within the Immortal-slaying Sword Formation surpassed that of old; even a tiny movement of the colossal colored sword above the radiance seemed to faintly hold the terrible power to rend the firmament and drag at the stars.

As the colossal red spear came shattering through the sky, irresistible, some in the crowd cried out in alarm—but the figure in the radiance showed not the slightest intent to dodge. On the contrary, he met the giant spear head-on: abruptly gripping the sword with both hands, he swept it forward, and at once thunder crashed across the heavens, rumbling on and on; beneath the blue sky the Immortal-slaying colossus wheeled about with a roar and cleaved straight down at the crimson spear.

The two dread colossal weapons collided with a thunderous crash in the vault of heaven, and in an instant burst forth a searing flash a thousand times hotter than the sun; no one could keep their eyes open, and through the deafening roar the earth shook and the mountains swayed, and the whole Cang Lan range seemed unable to withstand the immense majesty of heaven and earth, cowering as though it would bow its head.