179: Jin

Outside the council chamber.

Sword light was like a forest, shooting up into the sky.

Figures of Ling Shu Sword Guards transformed into streaks of light.

They raced to the various energy nodes across Cloud City that were sending out distress calls.

Their movements were incredibly fast, as if folding countless shortcuts in space, crossing layers of urban areas in an instant.

Below the "Bearing Tower."

A few Dark Star Empire destroyers had just used specialized alchemical explosives to blast open the outer defensive runes.

Before they could even place the "Disintegration Array," three swift sword lights had already pierced through their throats.

Next to the "Stabilizing Keystone," the Withering Shadows squad, responsible for the surprise attack, was locked in a fierce battle with the Crimson Scale Guards.

They utilized their strange movement techniques and decaying energy to suppress the guards for a time.

But as more than ten Ling Shu Sword Guards descended like heavenly soldiers, the tide of battle was completely turned within a dozen breaths.

The Sword Guards coordinated perfectly, excelling in both offense and defense.

With their formidable strength, they suppressed the Dark Star Empire’s professionals.

Although a few remote nodes were detonated due to a lack of timely response, causing severe energy disorder.

However, with the injection of the Ling Shu Sword Guards, a powerful boost, the situation was barely stabilized, preventing a chain collapse.

...

South of the city, at the Seventh Geomantic Hub.

This was one of the core nodes that supplied fire-attribute energy to the cloud heart.

The entire building resembled an inverted, crimson crystal heart, its surface covered with scorching energy circuits.

At this moment, this "heart" was covered with a layer of decaying death qi.

A Dark Star Empire warrior, clad in dark heavy armor and wielding a rusty great axe, stood at the top of the hub.

He was burly, radiating the oppressive aura of a Hero-rank.

The domain he spread out beneath his feet enveloped most of the hub.

[Domain: Myriad Rust].

Within the domain.

Metal corroded, energy stagnated, and even life force was slowly stripped away.

Dozens of Crimson Scale Guards lay fallen at the edge of the domain.

Their armor and weapons had turned into reddish-brown rust powder, their vitality extinguished.

Jin's figure moved at high speed within the domain, each swing of her longsword bringing forth a faint purple streak of light.

In her Mind Unleashed state.

Her speed and strength had reached their peak, her sword light so fast it almost merged into a continuous afterimage.

However.

These sword qi, powerful enough to cut metal and jade, would rapidly diminish once they penetrated the opponent's domain, their power greatly reduced.

"Clang!"

The longsword and great axe clashed, emitting a harsh sound.

A tremendous force, accompanied by a strong decaying aura, came from the axe blade, causing Jin's tiger's mouth to ache intensely.

She was sent flying backward, barely managing to twist her body in mid-air to stabilize herself.

"Blue Star Alliance swordsman, your speed is decent."

The warrior spoke.

"Unfortunately, in my domain, even the fastest sword will turn into a pile of scrap metal."

His name was "Rustbone," a Hero-rank unit of the Dark Star Empire.

He was one of the warlord for the Withering Shadows’ infiltration of Cloud City, renowned for his overwhelmingly powerful Rusting Domain.

Jin did not respond, only adjusting her breathing.

The opponent's domain was too restrictive for her style of swordsman.

Each collision not only forced her to contend with his brute strength but also to divert her mind to resist the erosion of the rusting energy.

Her weapon and spirit energy armor, in her Mind Unleashed state, already showed subtle cracks.

She couldn't drag this out any longer.

Jin's eyes narrowed, and her figure vanished from its original spot.

The next moment, countless faint purple sword lights simultaneously illuminated from all directions.

Like a dazzling storm of blades, it completely enveloped Rustbone.

"Rapid Sword: Thousand Flashes of Purple Lightning!"

"A futile effort."

Rustbone snorted coldly, slamming his great axe onto the ground.

"Buzz—"

Within the domain, the decaying death qi flowed back to the great axe like all rivers returning to the sea.

He gripped the handle with both hands, swinging it into a dense, impenetrable gray storm.

"Rusting Storm!"

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang…

The clashing of metal rang out in a continuous, sharp, and piercing sound.

Countless faint purple sword lights, one after another, crashed into the decaying axe-blade storm.

Yet, they were like grains of wheat thrown into a millstone, crushed, corroded, and annihilated the moment they made contact.

"A decent struggle."

Rustbone's muffled laugh came from the center of the storm, carrying undisguised mockery.

"Too bad, your sword is wailing. Can you hear it? It's about to give out."

Jin's heart sank as her gaze fell upon her blade.

A spiderweb-like crack was spreading from the point on the sword's body that most frequently collided with the great axe.

Suddenly, the light of Thousand Flashes of Purple Lightning abruptly dimmed.

Crack—

A snapping sound.

The longsword in Jin's hand finally couldn't bear it any longer and broke in mid-air.

An opportunity!

Rustbone sneered, his eyes gleaming with ferocity.

The massive axe blade tore through the air, sweeping towards her.

Without time to think, Jin brought up the remaining half of her broken sword to block in front of her chest.

Clang!

A tremendous force struck, and the broken sword instantly shattered.

The axe face solidly slammed into her spirit energy armor.

"Pfft!"

Jin's spirit energy armor shattered in response, and she spat out a mouthful of fresh blood.

Her body plummeted like a kite with a broken string, crashing heavily onto the energy circuit below.

"It's over."

Rustbone, holding his great axe, walked towards her step by step.

With each step, a patch of rust appeared on the metal ground beneath his feet.

Jin struggled to stand, but her injuries were too severe, and the spiritual energy within her body circulated poorly due to the domain's suppression.

She gazed at the hilt of her sword, feeling the decaying energy constantly eroding her body; the breath of death had never been so close.

Damn it, that guy's axe is really ugly, and his voice is unpleasant too.

To die like this, it's just too uneconomical.

Jin thought.

Su Jin's calm face flashed through her mind, along with the figures of countless comrades fighting side by side.

She also remembered the newly opened pastry shop in the city; she hadn't even been there yet.

Jin bit her lip lightly, a look of determination flashing in her eyes.

Since there was no retreat, then... she would rise from death.

She closed her eyes, abandoning all superfluous senses, and immersed her entire mind into her sword.

The surrounding clamor, the intense pain in her body, the oppression of the domain, all receded at this moment.

In her world, there was only herself and the sword in her hand.

A profound resonance quietly established itself between her soul and the longsword.

Past scenes flashed rapidly through her mind, from the ignorant of first grasping a sword, to every battle, and now to this desperate situation.

All experiences, all insights, all obsessions.

All transformed into fuel, thrown into the furnace named "Sword Dao."

Rustbone saw her close her eyes and remain still, thinking she had given up. He was about to deliver the final blow when he suddenly stopped.

An aura that made his heart tremble rose from the female swordsman.

Jin opened her eyes.

In her pupils, a purple sword shadow that pierced through heaven and earth was reflected.

The fragments of the broken longsword transformed into specks of purple-gold light, re-converging.

Within the light, a brand new longsword, composed of pure energy, slowly coalesced into form.

On the sword body, flowing purple patterns undulated.

A pair of magnificent, energy-state light wings made of faint purple light feathers slowly unfolded behind Jin.

With a gentle flutter, they scattered specks of spiritual light, purifying all the decaying death qi in the surroundings.

[God Liberation: Instant].

"This is..." Rustbone's face showed horror.

But he hadn't had time to react at all.

Jin's figure disappeared.

No, not disappeared.

It was that, in his perception, time was infinitely stretched, while the opponent's speed surpassed the limits of his comprehension.

He only saw a purple line of light flash past his eyes.

Then, nothing happened.

Rustbone stood frozen, looking down at his body, perfectly intact.

He was about to mock the opponent for bluffing, but he found he couldn't speak, nor could his body move.

Crack.

With a soft sound, a subtle red line appeared on his dark heavy armor, from his brow to his chest, and down to his waist and abdomen.

Immediately after, this red line rapidly expanded.

His proud battle armor, along with his powerful physical body, and even the great axe in his hand, separated along this line, moving to both sides.

It wasn't until the last moment before his consciousness dissipated that he understood he hadn't been missed.

Rather, the opponent's sword strike was too fast, so fast that even the wound and pain had no time to register.

Jin's figure appeared several hundred meters behind Rustbone.

She knelt on one knee, gasping for breath, her longsword plunged into the ground, supporting her body which was on the verge of collapsing.

The God Liberation state receded, and a tremendous sense of exhaustion swept over her.

But as she watched the massive body slowly fall, her lips curved slightly.

She won.