Chapter 168 — Sorcery
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 4 of 5
In the Beast Sovereign's pupils was mirrored the endless sword-shadows of the entire sky. He watched for a long while, then nodded, his face grave, and sighed: "Truly the work of gods. I never thought the Central Plains could produce such a peerless figure, one who could gather the spiritual energy of the mountains and create such a matchless sword formation. Truly remarkable!"
He clapped his hands in admiration, saying three times: "Remarkable!"
"Remarkable!"
"Remarkable!"
Such was his praise, yet there was not a trace of fear on his face—or perhaps no one could say whether a thing like him, half man and half not, half ghost and half demon, could still feel fear at all.
Amid wind and cloud, the gigantic White Bone Demon gave a low roar and rose slowly, standing in midair, facing the water-kirin that clawed and brandished before it, and Dao Yan Zhenren standing upon the kirin's back.
A wild wind swept past; the horizon fell silent.
The clamor of the crowds and beasts below seemed suddenly to grow distant; only the two of them remained, facing each other, the world vast and open, yet seeming too narrow to hold them both.
The two looked at each other.
Dao Yan Zhenren said coldly: "Beneath the Immortal-Slaying Sword, no demon or evil spirit has ever escaped alive. If you are wise, surrender now and shut yourself away in the Canglan Mountains for the rest of your life, and I may spare you."
The Beast Sovereign was taken aback, then laughed despite himself, and paid it no heed at all, only shaking his head slightly, a hint of mockery still on his face. Seeing this, Dao Yan Zhenren said no more; he drew a deep breath, gripped the Immortal-Slaying Ancient Sword in his right hand, and suddenly beckoned with his left. From the countless drifting swords of qi in the sky, an orange sword of qi broke from the formation with a shrill scream through the air and shot toward the Beast Sovereign.
The Beast Sovereign's face was indifferent, but his eyes were fixed on that flying sword of qi. The little orange sword came like a flash of lightning, and in an instant was less than a zhang from him. Suddenly the Beast Sovereign raised his left hand, fingers spread flat toward the direction the sword came from.
In midair, black vapor sprang up out of nothing; within a few feet before the Beast Sovereign it instantly condensed into a black shield-wall, square above and pointed below, blocking the orange sword squarely.
A moment later, the orange sword of qi struck the black shield!
For one instant, heaven and earth were still silent.
"Boom!"
Then, like the rising sun leaping from the water, like the thunderclap of creation's first dawn, a tremendous roar burst forth in an instant, almost like thunder; and within the black vapor and orange light, several bolts of lightning flickered and flashed before slowly fading away.
These two things, both of them formless qi, clashed against each other like the hardest treasures in the world; the whole vault of heaven and earth was shrouded in the tremendous roar.
Invisible sound waves swept past with the fierce wind; on the Canglan peaks, everyone's ears rang with strange hums and every face paled. Though all knew these two were masters of the highest arts, still, at their first exchange—what looked like an ordinary probing of each other—the power was so immense that it surpassed all expectation; and at the same time, the final outcome of this contest became all the more impossible to predict.
Some had even begun to think, faintly, what Canglan Mountain would look like after this calamity had passed, beneath such violent spellcraft.
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In midair, Dao Yan Zhenren and the Beast Sovereign looked at each other, both expressionless, no trace of surprise or shock to be seen. Beneath the brilliant colored swords of qi filling the sky, the ball of black vapor shrouding the Beast Sovereign looked especially glaring.