Chapter 589: True Dragon Level Prodigy

Chapter 589 -584: True Dragon Level Prodigy

Sword Decides Life and Death—the fourth form of the Divine Sword Technique and one of Ning Jiang’s signature killing moves. To this day, the technique had remained invincible.

Five rays of sword light erupted with Ning Jiang at their center. From afar, it looked like an exploding lotus.

The moment was over in the blink of an eye. With a gruesome tearing sound, five heads flew high into the air.

The Five Great Spiritual Bodies had fallen at the same time!

It was a scene so shocking it left everyone speechless. With their combined strength, the Five Great Spiritual Bodies could have suppressed even a King. Powerhouses like Chu Xinghun and Ao Lie—prodigies of the highest caliber—had been grievously wounded by them in a single move and were no match for them at all.

And yet, Ning Jiang had annihilated the Five Great Spiritual Bodies in a single instant. The sight was a brutal assault on the senses.

Outside the Linglong Tower, silence reigned.

“What kind of Sword Technique was that? It’s just too terrifying!”

After a long while, someone finally broke the silence, their voice strained.

The sword strike Ning Jiang had just displayed made every one of their hearts pound with fear. Faced with such a Sword Technique, they felt they wouldn’t stand a chance of survival. Subconsciously, all eyes turned to the White-robed Swordsman.

Like Ning Jiang, the White-robed Swordsman was a Sword Cultivator. For the longest time, he had been widely considered the number one Sword Cultivator in the Earth Martial Realm.

But at this moment, the White-robed Swordsman’s expression was grim. He pressed his lips together tightly, not uttering a single word.

‘Great waves crashed within him; he was shocked beyond belief. As a Sword Cultivator, he understood better than anyone the terror of Ning Jiang’s technique. When that sword strike was unleashed, it was as if the gates of the Yellow Springs had opened and Yama himself was passing judgment. Even though he hadn’t faced the blow directly, the sheer intent behind it affected him, and he felt an instinctual terror.’

After a long silence, the White-robed Swordsman heaved a long sigh and smiled bitterly. “It seems the title of number one Sword Cultivator in the Earth Martial Realm is about to change hands.”

“You don’t have to be so modest, White-robed Swordsman,” one of the Ten Great Earth Martial Realm masters couldn’t help but say. “His technique is powerful, certainly, but the one you used to slay the Fire Spirit Body was hardly weak, was it?”

He was one of the old guards, and the thought of a new generation replacing them left a bitter taste in his mouth.

“No, I’m nowhere near his level. If he wanted to kill me, I wouldn’t even have the chance to draw my sword.”

The White-robed Swordsman shook his head, his tone grave. “My technique requires me to gather my strength, to focus all my power before I can unleash it. But his is instantaneous. If I were to face him, he’d cut me down before I could even begin to launch my own attack.”

“Besides, from the looks of it, unleashing five sword rays at once isn’t even his limit, whereas my single strike is all I have. The gap between us is just too vast.” The White-robed Swordsman’s gaze was locked on Ning Jiang. “I never imagined someone so young could master such a terrifying Sword Technique!”

“This…”

The others were left speechless. If even the White-robed Swordsman himself admitted Ning Jiang’s superiority, who were they to question it?

‘Damn it! How did he get this strong? I won’t accept this! I refuse to accept it!’

Ao Lie roared internally. He had always considered Ning Jiang his rival, but the power Ning Jiang just displayed surpassed his own by far. Even with a trump card like the Bloodline Evolution Technique, he knew he couldn’t withstand a single one of Ning Jiang’s strikes.

Chu Xinghun and Gu Weidao felt the same.

Their fists were clenched tightly.

The other prodigies on the Hidden Dragon List were also a storm of complex emotions, unable to calm their hearts for a long time. In the past, while Chu Xinghun and Ao Lie were the two giants of the list who always held them down, they had never seemed outrageously powerful. The others believed they still had a chance to surpass them.

But Ning Jiang… he was like an Ancient Divine Mountain weighing on their hearts, a peak they felt they could never hope to surpass.

“What a monster. I doubt even a true member of the Dragon Race could do much better,” Little Dragon Girl muttered. As someone with half-dragon blood, she was practically a member of the Dragon Race herself, and she felt that even a full-blooded dragon might not be stronger than Ning Jiang.

Gu Huaying sighed to herself. ‘The Undying Celestial King’s judgment truly is extraordinary.’ Although she had long known Ning Jiang’s strength was exceptional, seeing him annihilate the Five Great Spiritual Bodies in an instant still sent a profound shock through her.

“I remember the Undying Celestial King once said that if someone could lead everyone on the Hidden Dragon List with absolute strength, then that person is no longer an ordinary hidden dragon, but a True Dragon!”

“Indeed. With his power, Ning Jiang can be called a True Dragon Level prodigy. He might even be on par with the legendary Golden Cicada.”

“Golden Cicada became a Celestial King; of course he was a True Dragon Level prodigy. But isn’t it a bit premature to be comparing Ning Jiang to him already?”

“Whether he can be compared to Golden Cicada will depend on if he can pass the Ninth Floor. Both the Undying Celestial King and Golden Cicada cleared the Ninth Floor.”

A heated discussion erupted among the crowd.

A Martial Artist capable of clearing the eighth floor might appear once a century. But in the last ten thousand years, only the Undying Celestial King and Golden Cicada have ever cleared the Ninth Floor.

And both of them went on to become Celestial Kings in their respective eras.

Of course, there were three other Celestial Kings in the Great Thousand Realms. However, since they were not in the East Sea during their youth, the Myriad Treasures Exquisite Tower has no record of their trials.

But everyone believed that those other three Celestial Kings could have absolutely cleared the Ninth Floor in their youth as well.

There had always been a saying about the Linglong Tower’s trial: the floor a Martial Artist clears indicates the level they can reach within the Celestial Martial Realm.

For example, Gu Huaying’s father, the Celestial Treasure King, had only cleared the seventh floor and became a Seven-Stars King. The ancestor of the Flood Dragon Clan, the Flood Dragon King, once cleared the eighth floor and is now an Eight-Stars King.

Needless to say, both the Undying Celestial King and Golden Cicada cleared all nine floors of the trial, achieved Nine-Stars Combat Power, and were revered as Celestial Kings of their eras.

“I wonder how that Xuanyuan Bi’an is doing now.”

The crystal showing Xuanyuan Bi’an’s progress remained pitch-black, as dark as ink.

…

「Eighth Floor of the Linglong Tower.」

Ink-black darkness shrouded the area, a place utterly devoid of light. All of this darkness originated from a pair of pitch-black pupils within it, eyes as deep as the Abyss.

Xuanyuan Bi’an stood there like a sovereign of shadow, so completely merged with the darkness that they were one and the same.

“Darkness is the most ancient Power. Before the world was born, heaven and earth were chaos, and the long night was eternal…”

A fanatical gleam appeared on Xuanyuan Bi’an’s face. “This darkness… it’s so beautiful, so utterly captivating!”

Within the darkness, the Five Great Spiritual Bodies were frozen in place, their forms slowly dissipating into nothingness.

Then, the passage to the Ninth Floor materialized before him.

Xuanyuan Bi’an took a single step, and the roiling darkness began to pour into the passage to the Ninth Floor, shrouding it completely.