Chapter 618: Shadow of the Beginning

Every Spirit Sword was a relic left by the Sword Sect’s past sages, imbued with their Sword Intent. Nurtured for years by the Sword Nurturing Stone, even the weakest of these Spirit Swords was a high-quality magical treasure!

“Ten Thousand Swords Return to the Root!”

The Jade Void Sword Master let out a low cry. Over ten thousand Spirit Swords swirled around him, resembling a torrent of innumerable golden-white shooting stars!

Beams of sword light crisscrossed as myriads of Sword Intents converged, forming a single, unstoppable torrent of righteous light. With the Sword Master at its core, this torrent slashed down at Su Ye!

“Bring it on!”

Su Ye’s gaze turned cold as he faced the torrent of righteous sword light.

He took a deep breath. An icy-silver light blossomed in his eyes, and the colossal Immortalized Dharma Body behind him erupted with a magnificent yet eerie expanse of deep blue radiance!

It resembled a starry sky, yet moved like a surging tide!

Immortalized Dharma Body: Sea of Deep Blue!

This was a completely new, upgraded version of the Sea of Deep Blue, one that fused three different laws and was supported by his Dao Source Prototype!

Faintly visible within the waves of the Sea of Deep Blue were innumerable demonic phantoms—ferocious, terrifying, malformed, and twisted. They flickered in and out of existence, carrying a world-ending might as they rose to meet the torrent of sword light!

“*Gasp…*”

“This power… Is he really not a Divinity Transformation Daoist Monarch?”

The two terrifying powers, so immense they made the spectating Nascent Soul True Monarchs tremble, collided violently in mid-air!

VMMMM!

For a moment, it seemed as if heaven, earth, and all of creation had frozen solid!

The next instant!

BOOM!

A deafening explosion ripped through the air!

The golden-white light and the deep blue expanse clashed, reacting with the violence of two utterly incompatible chemicals!

Rampant, surging energies continuously clashed and annihilated each other in the air, creating powerful shockwaves that radiated out in all directions!

CRACK.

Even the void itself could not withstand such power. It trembled and shattered like a mirror, revealing jagged, pitch-black fissures!

Even Peak Master-level cultivators like Xuanming and Chixiao had no way to interfere in the battle between Su Ye and the Sword Master. All they could do was raise a protective barrier of Magical Power to shield themselves and the surrounding disciples.

“Lord Sword Master… you have to win!”

Terrified of being corrupted by the Dharma Aspect, the Jade Void Sword Sect disciples didn’t dare to look up. They could only huddle under the protection of the Nascent Soul True Monarchs and pray silently for their Sword Master.

They knew full well that the outcome of this battle would determine not only the future of the Jade Void Sword Sect, but the very balance of power in the entire Yaoguang Sea Region!

“Lord Sword Master…”

Xuanming looked up, his gaze locked on the heart of the battle. His brow was tightly furrowed as he muttered worriedly to himself.

The power displayed by both Su Ye and the Jade Void Sword Master had already reached a level that could crush anyone in the Yaoguang Islands.

By grasping a Dao Source Prototype, they had already set one foot into the realm of Divinity Transformation!

Powerful late-stage Nascent Soul cultivators like them would be utterly powerless against such experts!

If the Jade Void Sword Master were to be defeated, the consequences would be unthinkable!

BOOM!

The battle between them grew even more ferocious!

The Jade Void Sword Master’s sword light grew ever more brilliant, blazing like a descending star that sought to completely annihilate Su Ye. In response, Su Ye’s Sea of Deep Blue expanded wildly, attempting to devour the light entirely!

Their powers clashed again and again, each seeking to annihilate the other!

But as the battle raged on, the Jade Void Sword Master’s expression grew increasingly grim.

Sensing this, Su Ye let out a wild laugh. “Hahahaha! I possess an Immortalized Dharma Body, which naturally formed its own Dao Source Prototype. But what about you?”

“How much longer can you maintain your Dao Source Prototype?!”

The Jade Void Sword Master and Su Ye were fundamentally different.

Su Ye possessed an Immortalized Dharma Body. The moment he stepped into the Nascent Soul Realm, the three laws he had mastered spontaneously condensed into a “Grand Triad” structure, forming his Dao Source Prototype!

The Jade Void Sword Master, on the other hand, had not even formed a Dao Embryo Dharma Aspect. His Golden Core had been forged from only four laws!

Therefore, like the vast majority of Nascent Soul cultivators, he had only mastered a single law.

Thus, the Sword Master’s Dao Source Prototype didn’t come from a stable foundation, but from his profound Cultivation Realm. It was something he began to form only after reaching Nascent Soul Perfection and completely mastering the law of the Sword Dao.

By specializing in that one path, he was attempting to force the transformation of his Sword Dao into a Dao Source Prototype!

A Dao Source Prototype formed this way was inherently unstable.

To make an analogy:

Su Ye was like a human child. Compared to an adult, his strength was far inferior, but all his organs, bones, and limbs were perfectly formed. He simply needed time to grow, and he would naturally master a true Dao Source.

Even before he was fully grown, this foundation caused no issues; it was perfectly stable.

The Jade Void Sword Master, however, was like a moth in a chrysalis. He needed to undergo a metamorphosis—to pass the trial of the Divinity Transformation Tribulation—before he could grasp a true Dao Source.

But now, Su Ye had forcibly dragged him out of his cocoon while he was still meant to be quietly accumulating power. The effect was, naturally, disastrous!

His Dao Source Prototype could only be maintained for a short time. If this dragged on, he wouldn’t just lose the prototype—he wouldn’t even be able to maintain the combat strength of a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator!

This was precisely why the Jade Void Sword Master had agreed to a one-move bout with Su Ye.

But he had never expected Su Ye to be so much stronger than he’d imagined. Not only had he failed to defeat his opponent in a single, decisive move, but his greatest weakness had been completely exposed!

“No… The thousand-year foundation of the Jade Void Sword Sect cannot be destroyed at my hands!”

A look of grim resolve flashed in the Jade Void Sword Master’s eyes. He clasped his hands together, gripping the golden-white Spirit Sword as his Magical Power surged wildly. Burning his own life force, he concentrated a myriad of Sword Intents into a single point and unleashed his ultimate attack!

“Ten Thousand Swords Return to the Root!”

Countless beams of sword light converged into a single, brilliant ray, hurtling toward Su Ye with peerless power.

“Putting your life on the line, are we?”

A cold glint flashed in Su Ye’s eyes. With a furious roar, the thousand eyes of his Immortalized Dharma Body snapped open, glowing with a brilliant, icy-silver light. He had activated his Immortalized Dharma Body: Thousand Pupils—Eyes of Eternal Union!