Chapter 689: Obtaining the Sword (2)

Chapter 689: Chapter 462: Obtaining the Sword (2)

Something in the conversation must have struck a chord with Cui Taihao. He no longer hesitated and agreed on the spot, but with one condition: Fang Qingyuan could not use this sword against him or the other two alliances in the future.

This was likely a condition Cui Taihao had to establish to answer to the Sharp Gold and Thick Earth Alliances. Furthermore, his words implied that he now viewed the Qingyuan Sect as a power equal to his own.

Seeing Cui Taihao agree, Fang Qingyuan was overjoyed. He readily accepted, deciding to secure the Magic Sword first and analyze the rest of the situation as it developed.

In just a few words, Fang Qingyuan and Cui Taihao settled a matter that would affect the lives of thousands of Cultivators. In schemes of this magnitude, the Golden Core Cultivators of the White Mountain Sword Sect were nothing more than insignificant background characters.

“Since we’ve reached an agreement, I’ll ask Sect Leader Fang to fulfill his promise.”

“How should I go about it? Please, instruct me, Elder Cui.”

“Start by severely injuring me.”

“Huh!?”

…

A moment later, the cries of swords and beasts mingled. High above the Illusion Sword Alliance’s battle formation, Cui Taihao wielded the Mirage Dragon Power, clashing head-on with Bear Wind’s enormous ancient beast form in a direct confrontation of their respective True Meanings of the Great Dao.

Countless ink-black rings materialized around Bear Wind, flickering within a thousand-zhang radius of his body. They were as dense as a field of stars, each with a center that was slightly collapsed inward, pulling and tugging at everything. Not even light could escape.

This was Bear Wind’s Dao Domain, a True Meaning of the Great Dao developed from Earth Element Divine Techniques. It had formed his own unique domain: the Heavy Ring Realm!

Within this domain, the gravity affecting any object was amplified by more than a hundred times. Furthermore, this gravitational force didn’t just pull from the ground below; influenced by the various rings within the domain, it could come from any direction.

As a result, Bear Wind had never worried about fighting other massive ancient beasts. With his Heavy Ring Realm, he had always held the decisive advantage in past battles.

One only had to look at Cui Taihao’s current sorry state to know how powerful Bear Wind’s Heavy Ring Realm was.

Cui Taihao’s True Meaning of the Great Dao was the Illusionary True Intent, a path that bewildered the senses and blurred the line between illusion and reality. This kind of True Meaning was highly effective against opponents of a lower cultivation realm, allowing him to toy with them until their death without them ever finding his true body. However, against Bear Wind, whose realm was even higher than Cui Taihao’s, this technique was completely countered.

“Ten Thousand Rings!”

With Bear Wind’s furious roar, tens of thousands of black rings pressed in on the Illusion Sword Alliance’s battle formation. An instant later, the dark points of light at the center of the rings simultaneously unleashed an infinite pressure, blanketing the six-thousand-strong formation.

Inside the formation, Cultivators stumbled and fell. The twenty giant elephants carrying the Mirage Dragon Banner cried out in agony and collapsed to their knees, causing the banner itself to topple to the ground.

At that moment, the Illusion Sword Alliance’s battle formation was declared broken.

Most of the Illusion Sword Alliance Cultivators wore looks of terror. Only the elite Core Disciples, who were truly loyal to the alliance, roared for everyone to get back on their feet and reform the formation.

But their Magical Power had been constantly drained by Cui Taihao, and they were now suffering from the backlash of the broken formation. Their qi and blood roiled, leaving them severely weakened and completely unable to fight back for the moment.

And so, as the members of the Illusion Sword Alliance watched helplessly, Cui Taihao’s Nascent Soul Dharma Body, now without the support of the battle formation, was even less of a match for Bear Wind.

“Why do the heavens treat me so cruelly! I cannot accept this!”

Cui Dong City’s hair was disheveled as he cried out forlornly, looking as though he was about to fly up and fight Bear Wind to the death.

The surrounding Cultivators rushed forward to hold him back, stopping him from acting so rashly.

“You mustn’t! A moment of impulse could lead to a lifetime of regret! If even the Ancestor is no match for him, you’ll only be throwing your life away!”

Tears welled in Cui Dong City’s eyes.

“I have failed our friends from the White Mountain Sword Sect! Ten years of life and death, now all is lost… How can I possibly face them now?”

Ignoring Cui Dong City’s performance below, high in the sky, Cui Taihao’s Dharma Body appeared even more tenuous without the support of the battle formation. And yet, his condition had actually improved somewhat.

While the formation’s Magical Power had granted his Dharma Body more power to wield, it was not his own cultivated energy and was inevitably difficult to control. Now that Cui Taihao was “traveling light,” so to speak, it was actually more in line with his Mirage Dragon’s Illusionary True Intent.

However, Cui Taihao had no intention of continuing the fight with Bear Wind. His earlier words to Fang Qingyuan about letting Bear Wind “severely injure” him were just for show. He had no real desire to suffer a grievous, hard-to-heal injury. A convincing performance was all that was needed.

“The time is about right. I am ready. Please, Fellow Daoist.”

Adopting a deferential tone, Cui Taihao invited Bear Wind to make his move. Bear Wind did not stand on ceremony. Thousands of rings vibrated in unison, and the resulting force sent a tremor of fear through Cui Taihao.

Even though it was only his Dharma Body, with no flesh-and-blood senses, the instinctual threat that originated from his soul made Cui Taihao feel a mortal danger.

A miserable cry rang out, and a figure turned and fled, speeding toward the three-way melee in the distance.

“Brother Nie, save me!”

A cry for help escaped Cui Taihao’s lips as his Dharma Body shot away like a lightning bolt. Bear Wind naturally followed close behind in relentless pursuit.

In the distance, three battle formations with over twenty thousand Cultivators were tangled together. Above them, three Nascent Soul Dharma Bodies clashed fiercely. With the two Nascent Soul cultivators from the Thick Earth Alliance and the Sharp Gold Alliance teaming up, Nie Xinyuan was unable to land a decisive blow.