Chapter 308 - 48: Golden Saber Slashes the Fierce Tiger

Chapter 308: Chapter 48: Golden Saber Slashes the Fierce Tiger

At this moment, time itself seemed to slow to a crawl.

All eyes were locked on the slender figure charging to meet the golden tiger.

Before the massive Sword Qi tiger, dozens of yards long and radiating an overwhelming aura, Chen Ye’s figure seemed utterly small and insignificant.

Like an ant trying to shake a tree, or a moth attempting to halt a tsunami.

Tragically heroic, yet utterly laughable.

Almost everyone had already foreseen the outcome: this arrogant fool and his shabby saber would be ripped to shreds by the invincible tiger, leaving not a single trace behind.

Yet, just as the golden tiger’s gaping, bloody maw was about to devour Chen Ye...

Chen Ye’s saber moved.

There was no earth-shattering display of power, no dazzling flash of light from the blade.

He simply tapped the saber’s point lightly against the center of the tiger’s brow.

The motion was as gentle as a lover’s caress, as effortless as a single, inconsequential stroke on a painted scroll.

Yet it was this seemingly casual tap...

A sound, crisp and clear, echoed in everyone’s ears. It was like the chime of metal striking stone, or the patter of pearls falling onto a jade plate.

Then, the unthinkable happened.

The incomparably ferocious and aggressive golden tiger, at the very instant Chen Ye’s saber tip touched its brow, went rigid. Its massive body, as if struck by an Immobilization Technique, froze solid in mid-air!

CRACK...

A faint, yet perfectly clear, cracking sound emanated from the center of the tiger’s brow.

A dark fissure, centered on the point of Chen Ye’s saber, abruptly appeared!

Then, as if alive, the fissure began to spread across the tiger’s entire body at an insane speed!

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

A rapid succession of cracks rang out, like a string of firecrackers.

In the span of a single breath, the majestic golden tiger’s entire body was covered in a web of black fissures.

BOOM—!!!

With a world-shaking bang, the once-unbeatable Sword Qi tiger exploded violently. It dissolved into a sky full of drifting golden motes of light, which then scattered and vanished into nothing.

Silence!

The entire Central Square fell silent. You could have heard a pin drop.

But the dead silence was shattered by a volcanic eruption of incredulous gasps.

Even Yun Heqing and Xue Shan, watching from a distance, looked as if they had just seen a ghost.

"Holy shit... that... that fucking worked?" Yun Heqing’s face was a mask of sheer disbelief.

Xue Shan, however, trembled with excitement. He stared at the figure standing calmly with his saber, an air of nonchalance about him, his eyes filled with fanatical adoration.

A god!

This was simply divine Saber Technique!

But of everyone present, the most shocked was none other than the spectral image of Jian Jingchuan floating in mid-air.

"N-No... Impossible!"

The face that had remained so majestic and indifferent finally lost its composure, contorting with sheer horror and disbelief.

’How could my Fierce Tiger Sword Intent be shattered so easily?!’

’That sword strike may have been from a mere projection of mine, but the True Sword Intent within it was the culmination of centuries of bitter cultivation! It was the unique art I took the most pride in!’

’I was confident that no one, save for a few old monsters of the same Level, could possibly withstand it head-on!’

’But now, some kid who just broke through to the Inner Realm had shattered it with casual ease, using a method I can’t even begin to comprehend!’

’The blow to my Dao Heart is devastating!’

However, Chen Ye gave him no time to process his shock.

After shattering the Sword Qi tiger, he didn’t pause for a second. With a powerful stomp, his body once again became a streak of light, shooting straight toward the now-unstable spectral image in mid-air.

’Strike while they’re weak, go for the kill.’

This was Chen Ye’s unwavering principle.

’Not good!’

Alarm bells screamed in Jian Jingchuan’s mind. He instinctively tried to retreat.

But Chen Ye was faster.

"Trying to run now? Too late!"

Chen Ye’s icy voice echoed in his ears.

The next second, a flash of saber light ignited in his horrified eyes.

The light of the saber vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

Jian Jingchuan’s spectral image went rigid.

He looked down at his chest.

There was no visible wound, yet he could clearly feel it: the spiritual link between this projection and his true body had been severed.

An irresistible, destructive force was now rampaging within his spectral form.

"You..."

He raised his head to stare at Chen Ye in utter disbelief, his mouth agape as if to speak.

But in the end, he couldn’t utter a single word. Like a sand sculpture eroded by the wind, he crumbled away, inch by inch, and dissipated completely into the air.

As Jian Jingchuan’s spectral image crumbled and vanished, the golden barrier of light protecting Elder Jian and Jian Wuchen flickered out of existence, like an illusion that had lost its power.

Their last hope was gone.

"NO—!!!"

A bloodcurdling shriek, filled with endless despair and resentment, erupted from Jian Wuchen’s throat.

Without the suppression of the golden light, the tyrannical, destructive force within his body detonated completely.

A series of skin-crawling cracks, like a string of firecrackers, erupted from within his body.

His already ravaged body could no longer hold its shape.

First his limbs, then his torso, and finally, his head...

Before the horrified eyes of the crowd, the once-glorious Young Manor Master of Celestial Sword Manor, hailed as the greatest genius Qingzhou had seen in a century, fell apart completely—like a porcelain doll smashed to bits by a destructive child.