Chapter 1365: Sword Array

Chapter 1365: Chapter 689: Sword Array

This series of changes happened in the blink of an eye. After Xu Liangyu was kicked out, his body was still rolling in midair when Huangfuming had already exited the array. His gaze flickered slightly, and as if shadow-following, he moved over, lifting his leg to kick Xu Liangyu’s chest, sending him flying into a small tree ten feet away.

At this moment, a furious shout came from not far away: “Stop!” Then a shadow swiftly flew over, rushing towards Huangfuming at incredible speed.

However, Huangfuming’s movements were too fast. Just as the shadow cried out, he had already kicked Xu Liangyu.

This kick seemed ordinary and not vicious, yet it directly shattered Xu Liangyu’s Protective Gang Qi. After he collided with the small tree, the tree merely trembled twice, but Xu Liangyu spat out two mouthfuls of fresh blood with some internal organ fragments, clearly severely injured. By the time he fell to the ground, he was already unconscious, with Huangfuming stepping on his chest. Only then did he look towards the newcomer, smiling slightly: “Finally not hiding anymore?”

The newcomer had high cheekbones and deep-set eyes, appeared to be in his forties, wore a blue cotton garment, and his black hair was tied with blue cloth strips. Although his attire was plain and unadorned, with no valuable ornaments on him, unlike the imposing presence of Ning Xiaoxian and Huangfuming, as soon as he arrived, the atmosphere in the field condensed, as if invisible threads connected everyone present. With each movement, he could determine everyone’s destiny.

The black-robed man and Run Qi also stopped their slaughter and looked over. The cultivators in the killing array were only venting their anger, and now that most of them were dead, the array couldn’t operate effectively, so the two simply turned to face the new powerful enemy, and their pupils slightly contracted.

“Immortal Tribulation?” Ning Xiaoxian’s eyes widened, incredulously. From this ordinary-looking man in blue, she sensed a strong and surging Spiritual Power, and even that power of controlling everyone’s destiny, familiar to her. It was the Divine Skill—Domain—that only an Immortal who had successfully crossed the Heavenly Dao Thunder Tribulation could possess!

In terms of realm alone, this person was naturally far from matching Changtian, but he was no less than the former top expert of the Hidden Stream, the Giant Demon Langya, currently leading the charge on the Northwest Front!

The man in blue heard and looked over, a touch of anger between his brows: “You woman, surrender yourself, and release Xu Liangyu. I promise you a swift death without humiliation within the Washing Sword Pavilion.”

She smiled bitterly: “The Washing Sword Pavilion indeed regards this demoness highly, actually dispatching an Immortal Tribulation to capture me. But I wonder, what place does your sect put the battle pact? Do you hope that after today, the Shaking Heaven God himself will come and slaughter the Washing Sword Pavilion clean?”

“I didn’t intend it.” The man in blue turned his head, feeling a little uneasy: “Capturing you today, naturally no one will know.”

The Washing Sword Pavilion intends to strike first, breaking the battle pact! Ning Xiaoxian looked at him deeply: “Your honorable name?” Her voice was full of sarcasm.

The so-called battle pact was an alliance reassured after Changtian led a group to the East Sea and eradicated the Tianling Pavilion. In recent years, as the Hidden Stream expanded too rapidly, major forces on the Pan-continent took notice. After the Tianling Pavilion was wiped out, several powerful Immortal Sects and Demon Sects couldn’t resist inviting Ba Snake and the equally turbulent White Tiger from the North for talks.

This talk reaffirmed an important content with far-reaching significance, which was the tacit agreement reached by various Immortal Sects and Demon Sects in the Southern Continent for nearly ten thousand years: In sect wars, forces above the Immortal level are not allowed to directly participate in the warfare. No sect may be the first to dispatch an Immortal Tribulation. Otherwise, other forces have the right to unite and punish them!

It’s known that, although the Heavenly Tribulation is a major challenge testing cultivators, once successfully crossed, cultivation will soar dramatically. Whether in terms of cultivation level or insights, it is beyond comparison with cultivators below the Early Stage Tribulation Crossing. Immortal Tribulations participating directly in battles greatly influence the course of the conflict.

Though the Middle Ages War was provoked by Yin Jiu You, in the later stages, the situation spiraled out of control, with many great powers making a move for their respective sects. The war immediately heated up. To put it into perspective, the existence of great powers above Immortal Tribulation is like nuclear|weapons; ideally, they should only serve as a deterrent. Once deployed in combat, the consequences would be unbearable for the Mortal World. Thus, the Middle Ages War not only dragged the entire continent’s situation into an abyss but also led to the mass death of ancient immortals.

After a thousand years, various sects have yet to recover their Primordial Energy from past losses. The most direct manifestation is that even massive sects like the Chaoyun Sect and Fengtian Prefecture have few Immortals in the Late-stage Tribulation Crossing on standby.

After this alliance was established as a tacit agreement, in the ensuing ten thousand years, although there were constant minor frictions and wars between the Immortal Sects, the Immortal Tribulations all but retreated from public action, essentially no longer intervening in mortal world battles, at least not overtly. Even in the Hidden Stream’s battle with the Northwest Alliance four years ago, only Jiu Mo appeared, not Langya. Though the giant demon led the army, guiding battles and boosting morale, it never personally intervened on the battlefield.

Changtian and White Tiger didn’t express much objection to this pact either. Even powerful as they were, they were merely individuals with superior strength, while their demon soldiers had to fight on multiple fronts simultaneously. If not for this pact, the army’s combat power would suffer more significantly, since it’s not a matter of fearing a thief to steal, but fearing a thief to remember. Neither Divine Beast could possibly guard the front line every day, defending against other sects’ Immortal Tribulations from causing trouble.

The fact that the Washing Sword Pavilion dispatched an Immortal Tribulation to capture Ning Xiaoxian shows how much they value her, also indicating how much pressure the Hidden Stream’s army has put on the Washing Sword Pavilion.

The man in blue spoke lowly: “My name is Wu Li. Little girl, come over yourself, and I’ll let your friends leave cleanly, with their bodies intact.” (To be continued.