263: Chapter 263 Shock

Almost at the exact same instant Mu Tianye made his move, Xiao Bieli's sword arrived as well.

The Moon-Hiding Sword was completely silent, and even its sword light was invisible; only the tip of that slender longsword flashed away in the Void Realm, and when it appeared again, it was already three inches in front of Elder Jianchi's brow.

This sword strike was fast to the extreme, and hidden to the extreme, while the timing of the strike was even trickier to the extreme, precisely choosing the instant when Elder Jianchi had just blocked Lin Boyuan's strike and his sword momentum had yet to reverse.

Yet Elder Jianchi acted as though he had expected it long ago, that pitch-black longsword having somehow already been laid horizontally before him, its spine precisely blocking the tip of the Moon-Hiding Sword.

With an extremely light and fine sword hum, Elder Jianchi did not move an inch, yet Xiao Bieli's pupils constricted slightly.

That sword strike of his was the fastest stance, "Moon Falls Silently", in the Xiao Family's sword canon, and even among opponents who were also at the Peak of Tribulation Transcendence, very few could block it head-on.

But Elder Jianchi not only blocked it, he also completely dissolved his sword force into nothingness.

This Grand Elder of the Heavenly Sword Sect had a mastery of the Dao of the sword far higher than he had anticipated.

Lin Muhan did not participate in the frontal attack, instead hovering outside the battle circle, his hands continuously changing hand Seals while the Heaven-Sealing Disk slowly rotated before him; with every rotation, an invisible sealing power was added to Elder Cangwu and the other two.

Elder Cangwu only felt his entire body sink, as the circulation of his Sword Intent was suppressed by that sealing power by at least thirty percent.

Mu Tianye pressed his advantage with a fierce attack, his soul slaughtering saber slashing down blow after blow, each strike laden with a terrifying, world-destroying Evil Qi that forced Elder Cangwu to retreat repeatedly.

After recovering slightly, Mu Jiu and the other three also rejoined the battle, though their injuries had yet to fully heal, and their strikes were clearly a few fractions slower than before, temporarily unable to pose too much of a threat; still, mere containment was already enough to keep Elder Cangwu and the other two unable to divide their attention.

Cang Song fought Xiao Wanren and Lin Boyuan alone, the sword momentum of the zhenyue sword as steady as a mountain, and every sword slashed out carrying the force of a collapsing mountain.

However, Xiao Wanren's broadsword likewise followed a fierce and mighty path, and every collision between their sword Auras exploded into a visible circle of shockwaves.

Meanwhile, Lin Boyuan stood aside using a jade-bone folding fan as a weapon, occasionally pointing out tricky finger-winds specifically targeting the gaps in Cang Song's sword momentum transitions.

Even though Cang Song was fighting two against one, his expression remained steady, and his swordsmanship was completely unflustered.

As for Elder Jianchi, he was suppressed by the joint efforts of Xiao Bieli and Lin Qingyin.

Xiao Bieli's Moon-Hiding Sword was fast to the extreme, every strike silent, lightless, and shadowless, shuttling through the Void Realm like a phantom.

Lin Qingyin hovered on the other side of Elder Jianchi, her plain white dress gently fluttering in the spiritual wind, her slender fingers constantly plucking through the Void Realm as if playing an invisible zither string—that was the Lin Family's unique sound-killing technique, using sound waves as blades to directly attack the Divine Soul.

One fast and the other bizarre, the two cooperated seamlessly.

Yet Elder Jianchi still wore that unperturbed expression, that pitch-black longsword in his hand seeming to have gained a life of its own; every thrust accurately intercepted the tip of the Moon-Hiding Sword, and every parry impeccably sealed off the attack nodes of the sound-killing technique.

But he could only barely protect himself, finding it difficult to counterattack for the time being.

In the shadow of the alley below, Duan Xinghe looked up at the crisscrossing figures in the air, a rare expression of concentration bordering on piety appearing on his cold face.

All of his mind and spirit were locked onto Elder Jianchi, his eyes staring unblinkingly at every angle of Revered Master's sword strikes, every timing of the sword momentum's transition, and the circulation trajectory of every wisp of Sword Intent.

He had watched Elder Jianchi's sword countless times since childhood, but he had never had the opportunity to observe it up close in such high-intensity actual combat.

Xiao Bieli's sword was fast to the extreme, that kind of fast not being purely speed, but a Concept resonating at the same frequency with the Laws of heaven and earth—when the sword was unsheathed, light did not reflect, wind was not startled, and even Divine Sense found it difficult to capture.

Meanwhile, the swordsmanship Revered Master used to respond was another kind of Concept—controlling motion with extreme stillness, supreme cleverness appearing clumsy.

Every sword was slow to the extreme, yet it could always accurately intercept right before the tip of the Moon-Hiding Sword, as if he had long since predicted the trajectory of every strike from Xiao Bieli.

Deep in his heart, Duan Xinghe silently engraved the trajectory of every sword from Revered Master into the depths of his memory, and unbeknownst to him, that surge of starry river Sword Intent within his body began to circulate on its own, faintly showing signs of a Breakthrough past a Bottleneck.

Zhou Tianchen and Lu Jinghan stood beside him, likewise looking up at the battle in the sky.

Lu Jinghan's gaze closely followed Elder Cangwu's sweeping light-cyan sword Auras, seeing in Elder Cangwu's Sword Intent many things that resonated with his own Dao of the sword.

That sharp, uncompromising Aura was precisely the core of the Dao of the sword he cultivated.

As for Zhou Tianchen, he paid more attention to the spiritual power ripples generated when the Sword Intent collided, keenly perceiving that the attributes of several of those forces shared a wonderfully similar principle with the mutual generation of Alchemical Fire, which perhaps could be drawn upon in his future alchemical Cultivation.

After the three family heads made their moves, the battle situation quickly began to tilt.

Mu Tianye's soul slaughtering saber grew heavier with each strike, the dark golden runes on the blade growing brighter and brighter through continuous slashing, and that baleful Evil Qi growing increasingly intense; later on, every slash carried the shrieking of wronged souls, a sound not heard through the ears, but acting directly upon the Divine Soul, shaking one's mind and spirit.

Although Elder Cangwu's Sword Intent remained fierce, under the dual suppression of Mu Tianye and Lin Muhan, he had begun to gradually fall into a disadvantage.

Every time his sword Aura collided with the soul slaughtering saber, it would be eroded by a fraction of the Evil Qi on the blade, leaving a few tears on his cyan robe sliced by the blade wind.

Coupled with Lin Muhan's Heaven-Sealing Disk continuously exerting sealing power, the circulation of his Sword Intent became increasingly sluggish, and his strikes were clearly half a beat slower than before.

Cang Song's situation was even more unfavorable; although he was at the Peak of Tribulation Transcendence, Xiao Wanren was also at the Peak of Tribulation Transcendence, and his sword momentum was not the least bit inferior to his in ferocity and might, which, combined with Lin Boyuan constantly launching sneak attacks with tricky finger-winds from the side, forced him into a state of passive defense under their joint efforts.

Although the sword Aura of the zhenyue sword remained heavy, after every head-on clash with Xiao Wanren's broadsword, Cang Song's arm would grow slightly numb, and that sense of numbness was continuously accumulating.

Elder Jianchi, on the other hand, remained composed, that pitch-black longsword in his hand acting like an iron chain lying across a river to block Xiao Bieli's fast sword and Lin Qingyin's sound-killing technique entirely outside his body.

But after all, he was advanced in years, and his spiritual power reserves were not as abundant as those of younger Cultivators, so if he were consumed by the joint efforts of the two for a long time, he would sooner or later reveal a flaw.

Just as the battle was at its most intense, the entire Zhongzhou land suddenly shook violently.

That tremor came without the slightest warning, yet it was as violent as heaven and earth collapsing.

The buildings in Huaiyang City all shook together at that instant, bricks and stones on the city walls rustled down, and the remaining bluestone slabs on the streets were shaken off the ground before crashing heavily back down.