Chapter 617: Shadow of the Beginning

At that moment.

“Mind Sword, sever distracting thoughts! All wickedness, disperse!”

An ancient voice rang out from within Ten Thousand Peaks Mountain.

Following the voice, a sacred, golden-white flying sword appeared before the eyes of every Sword Sect disciple!

This sword was without form or substance—it was a mind sword!

SHING!

The Mind Sword slashed through. On Ten Thousand Peaks Mountain, the many Sword Sect disciples whose faces were twisted in a struggle against the encroaching Immortalized Body suddenly felt a great weight lift from them, their expressions relaxing.

“Phew…”

“We’re finally saved…”

The mental corruption caused by looking directly at the Immortalized Body was cleanly and utterly severed!

It wasn’t just them. As the Mind Sword swept by, it even reached the disciples who had already lost their minds and whose bodies had gruesomely mutated. The bloodthirsty cruelty of the beasts they had become was forcibly suppressed, and a sliver of clarity returned to their eyes.

“What happened to me…”

“Master, save me!”

“No… I killed her…”

The Sword Sect disciples who had turned into mutated beasts and killed their fellows looked down at their own bestial claws, caked with blood and shredded flesh. Intense agony and immense guilt flashed across their now-inhuman faces.

Their twisted, mutated flesh and limbs were beyond recovery.

But at the very least, these Sword Sect disciples had regained their sanity. They broke free from the Immortalized Body’s control and would no longer serve as Su Ye’s monstrous minions.

“Oh?”

Amusement flickered in Su Ye’s eyes.

‘The corrupting radiation of the Immortalized Body was actually suppressed!’

After all, as a Quasi-Dao Source, the corrupting power of the Immortalized Body had reached an unbelievable level. It could not only twist living beings into mutated monsters.

It could even, much like nuclear radiation, semi-permanently alter the environment, creating terrifying radiation zones!

Right now, at Linyue Immortal City and the gates of Tingchao Pavilion, the corruption of the Immortalized Body still lingered. Even Foundation Establishment cultivators could only last a few days at most inside the radiation zone.

As for mortals, contact meant instant death! Their corpses would even be twisted and transformed, filled with hatred for the living and becoming extremely aggressive. If not for their inability to leave the radiation zone for long, the surrounding seas would have been plunged into a bloodbath!

The radiation zones of the Immortalized Body were, without a doubt, forbidden zones for all living things!

And yet, now…

Someone was able to suppress this corruption and restore the minds of the mutated beasts right before Su Ye’s eyes!

The only thing that can suppress such a mysterious power is another mysterious power of equal or greater magnitude.

‘A Dao Source Prototype… I see.’

‘Just as I thought.’

A flicker of light passed through Su Ye’s eyes, his expression one of understanding.

He looked up and saw that, at some point, an old man in white robes had appeared in the distant sky. His hair and beard were snow-white but impeccably groomed.

“Lord Sword Master!”

Xuanming’s pupils constricted, and he cried out in surprise.

“It’s the Sword Master himself…”

Chixiao looked up, a hint of guilt on his face.

To him, the Jade Void Sword Master was more than a father; he had received the grace of his teachings. Before entering seclusion, the Sword Master had instructed the several Peak Masters to guard the sect, but he had failed in this duty.

He had forced the Sword Master to come out of seclusion to clean up this mess.

“So, you’re the Jade Void Sword Master?”

Su Ye stood on the prow of the Ghostly Flood Dragon, the corners of his mouth curling up as he sized up the old man in white.

Behind him, the sky-blotting Immortalized Body pulsed. Its tens of thousands of tendrils and appendages—something between flesh and energy—undulated like seaweed, continuously radiating corrupting power.

Half the sky had been transformed by the Dao Source power radiating from the Immortalized Body. It became a magnificent scene, like a Mysterious Starry Sky. At the same time, the thousands of stars seemed to writhe like living flesh—an incredibly bizarre sight!

“Yehai…”

A white light flashed and vanished in the Jade Void Sword Master’s eyes. Relying on his Divine Sense, in just a few breaths’ time, he had already learned the cause of all this from Xuanming and the others.

“I am now aware of the origin of the grievance between you and my sect,” the Jade Void Sword Master said, looking at Su Ye.

“In this matter, the Sword Sect has wronged you. It is also my responsibility. I did not teach them well.”

“Sigh…”

“The moon wanes when it is full, and water overflows when it is at its brim. Even the Blood Moon Demon Palace of old, a Divinity Transformation Dao Lineage, could not withstand the ravages of time. How could my Jade Void Sword Sect possibly remain prosperous for all eternity?”

The Jade Void Sword Master sighed softly, his voice low.

“However…”

“The Sword Sect was at fault for trying to kill you. But today, you flooded Luofu State and slaughtered those on Ten Thousand Peaks Mountain… You must give me an explanation for this!”

ZING!

The cry of a sword rang out!

Under the nervous and expectant gazes of the many Sword Sect disciples, the Jade Void Sword Master raised his hand. Countless golden-white particles swiftly gathered in his palm, forming a majestic and profound Spirit Sword!

A solemn and pure golden-white radiance spread around the Jade Void Sword Master’s body. A fluctuation that Su Ye was quite familiar with—that of a Dao Source Prototype—rose from the sword’s edge and pointed directly at the Ghostly Flood Dragon!

“Take this one attack from me, and all grievances between us will be wiped clean!”

The Jade Void Sword Master’s gaze was like a torch as he spoke with stern dignity.

Without waiting for Su Ye’s answer, he attacked the very next moment!

Survive this, and they could talk. Fail?

—And you die!

Who wouldn’t be furious after being disturbed and forced to end their secluded cultivation to comprehend the Dao, only to come out and see their own sect in shambles, with countless dead and injured?

If the Jade Void Sword Master hadn’t sensed the aura of a Dao Source Prototype on Su Ye, similar to his own, he wouldn’t have even bothered with the polite words from before!

HUMMM.

A magnificent, golden-white spiritual light bloomed abruptly, like a halo!

At the same time, from within Ten Thousand Peaks Mountain, in the Jade Void Sword Sect’s sword burial mound, the Spirit Swords of various shapes and sizes plunged into the Sword Nurturing Stones began to tremble violently!

WHOOSH!

One after another, the Spirit Swords broke free from the Sword Nurturing Stones and shot up from the ground!

The sound of rending air whistled as thousands upon thousands of Spirit Swords transformed into a sky-covering torrent of light, converging as one!