Chapter 543: Fighting to the Death

Chapter 543: Chapter 544: Fighting to the Death

Zisang Jin’s attack looked as if it could shatter the very earth! The Peach Blossom Divine Sword left a long trail of faint red light in its wake.

Yun Mengshang was clad in a vibrant red phoenix gown, but behind her was a realm of silver-white light.

Before the two streams of light even collided, a SIZZLING sound of airflow filled the air as their projected auras grated against each other in midair.

Then, BOOM! The explosion wasn’t massive, but the resulting shockwave swept out for ten thousand miles. The land for a thousand miles around was instantly frozen solid, and within that ten-thousand-mile radius, countless wisps of Sword Intent rode the shockwave, carving long gashes across mountains and rivers.

Yun Mengshang’s figure was sent flying backward, plummeting like a meteor into the frozen mountains. In a head-on confrontation with a Sword Cultivator, she was at a slight disadvantage, even with her more powerful Demon Race physique.

Zisang Jin hovered in the air, her face deathly pale. Even her breath turned to ice crystals. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to pursue and kill Yun Mengshang, but at this moment, her very divine soul was frozen. Only a faint trickle of Power of Divine Soul was barely circulating, keeping her from collapsing into unconsciousness. The fact that she could still float was thanks to her sixth-tier Peach Blossom Divine Sword.

If not for the faint glow from the Dao Essence between her brows that sustained her vital aura, she would have already become a block of ice. It was also because of the Dao Essence’s protection that she wasn’t more severely injured than Yun Mengshang from that exchange.

‘This Yun Mengshang is so much stronger than before!’

Yun Mengshang had never possessed a Divine Technique that could freeze the divine soul. It had been years since they last fought; while she herself had grown stronger, so had Yun Mengshang.

With her divine soul frozen, she couldn’t even extend her Divine Sense. She had no idea if Yun Mengshang was dead or alive!

Zisang Jin had just swallowed a few medicinal pills with this thought in mind when the vast white snow clouds remained, but the once-pale sky turned an even deeper shade of gray.

The faint sound of a zither drifted through the air. Hoarfrost and goose-feather snow began to fall, flake by flake.

Zisang Jin’s expression changed drastically. ‘This is—the Frost Dream Realm Divine Technique!’

How could Yun Mengshang still have the strength to use a Divine Technique? ‘Impossible! She should be more injured than I am! And she burned her blood essence to chase me here. How could her condition possibly support casting a Divine Technique?’

Before Zisang Jin’s shocked eyes, Yun Mengshang, still in her phoenix gown, slowly floated up.

The exquisite phoenix gown was now tattered and torn. Her body was covered in sword wounds, some deep, some shallow. She hadn’t even had time to wipe the blood from the corner of her mouth, her weakened face a picture of dishevelment.

‘No, this Yun Mengshang is overdrawing her Demonic Power. She’s using her Demon Pill, the very foundation of her Dao path, to fuel this Divine Technique.’

‘She’s truly putting her life on the line. Even if Yun Mengshang wins with this move, her foundation will be damaged. If she doesn’t die, her Realm will drop drastically, and breaking through to a higher level will be impossible for her.’

The look of absolute resolve in those azure eyes earned Zisang Jin’s admiration.

But Zisang Jin had her own reasons for not backing down!

The light in her eyes shifted. She felt as if she were in a breathtakingly beautiful Spirit Fish Tea Garden, her hands unconsciously plucking at the strings of a zither. A stunningly beautiful Fairy seemed to be listening intently by the instrument’s side, or perhaps she was a Spirit Fish swimming by. It felt as if the one playing the ancient zither wasn’t herself, but the one she loved most in her heart. Even knowing it was an Illusion Realm, she couldn’t help but sink into it.

‘No!’ Alarm bells screamed in Zisang Jin’s mind. The leaf-shaped Dao Essence between her brows grew searingly hot, the pain sharp and real.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Zisang Jin instantly activated her Dao Essence at the cost of a thousand years of her lifespan. With her divine soul frozen, the only thing she could use to fight, the only thing that could resist the Frost Dream Realm, was her Dao Essence.

‘If I am a branch of peach blossom…’

Zisang Jin’s vision cleared. She was back under the same pale, gray sky, within the thousand-mile frozen world. She herself had collapsed onto the hard ice, her Peach Blossom Divine Sword stuck in the ground far away.

She looked down at herself. Half of her body had been torn apart by daylilies, exposing the Nascent Soul in her Dantian. If her Nascent Soul hadn’t also been frozen, and if she hadn’t activated her Dao Essence in time, she would have been annihilated in the Illusion Realm without even knowing it.

The Frost Dream Realm was truly terrifying!

‘If Yun Mengshang had used this Illusion Realm from the start, I wouldn’t have been so careless!’

The Dao Essence between her brows flowed out, and her body’s injuries were restored to their original state.

This was Zisang Jin’s newest comprehension of her Dao Essence. Withering leaves, the cycle of reincarnation—within it was a minor path of sorrow, but also the will to live.

Having already mastered the Life Sword Intent, Zisang Jin quickly grasped this aspect of her Dao Essence once she comprehended it.

Now, looking back at Yun Mengshang, both of them were in a truly wretched state.

“You’re actually not dead!” Yun Mengshang exclaimed in a cold voice.

“I see you’ve aged a bit as well. I won’t press you to death. Hand him over to me, and I will leave!”

“Impossible!” Zisang Jin said resolutely. With a raise of her hand, her Lifebound Spirit Sword, the Peach Blossom Divine Sword, flew back into her grasp. She had no Power of Divine Soul, no Spiritual Power, but she could still command her Lifebound Spirit Sword.

Yun Mengshang’s azure eyes narrowed. “Then let’s see how much lifespan you have left to burn for your Dao Essence!”

With a light tap of her fingertip, daylilies exploded one after another where Zisang Jin stood.

At the same moment the daylilies burst, the single streak of white in Zisang Jin’s hair instantly spread, turning her entire head of hair stark white.

An aura of withering sorrow manifested like the Great Dao itself, infusing the cosmos and descending upon Yun Mengshang.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH—!!!!!

Two agonized screams rang out. Zisang Jin’s body was torn apart once again, only to be healed by the power of her Dao Essence. The cycle of injury and recovery was a pain beyond ordinary comparison.

Yun Mengshang’s remaining Demonic Power was suppressed by the manifestation of the Great Dao. As it scattered like falling leaves, she aged rapidly, finally reverting to her demon form: a silver-white Frost Fox covered in wounds.

After just one more exchange of blows, the two collapsed to the side as if they had taken each other down in a final, mutually destructive attack.