258: Chapter 258 The Sword Severes the Bond with the Witch

As the words fell, he held the nameless bronze sword and slowly raised his arm; it appeared slow, yet it seemed to traverse the barriers of time and space, pointing directly at the crumbling sub-altar of the Imperial Ancestral Temple.

At this moment, time seemed to stand still, and between heaven and earth, only this rusted bronze sword remained—along with that sharp intent capable of severing everything.

The bronze sword rose, silent and soundless.

There was no heaven-shaking anomaly rushing to the sky, no roar tearing through the firmament to shake the wilderness, and even the stagnant wind above Wuji City was not disturbed in the slightest.

The sword body remained rusted, with ancient dust still lingering in the notches, yet in the eyes of the four Ancestor Witches, this sword strike was even more heart-palpitating than the domineering and unparalleled Dragon halberd from just a moment ago.

It seemed to have silently stabbed out from a crack in time, its trajectory so profound and mysterious that it was impossible to track; it actually bypassed all possibilities of defense, and where the sword tip pointed was precisely the most fragile point deep within their Divine Soul—

This was the most fundamental flaw in the Witch Dao Legacy, and it was precisely captured by this nameless bronze sword!

"Witch God protect us!"

Ancestor Witch Xuanyuzi's eyes were splitting with rage, his roar filled with the despair of impending death.

His hands formed seals at a speed invisible to the naked eye, his knuckles turning white from the exertion. A vertical line suddenly split open on his brow, and amidst the dripping blood, a Witch bone covered in dark red blood vessels and exuding a barbaric aura flew out from within, hovering above his head.

This was his life-bound Witch treasure, the "Soul-Suppressing Witch Bone," which he had refined day and night with his own essence blood at the cost of a thousand years of Lifespan. Its texture was far harder than an ordinary Spirit Treasure, and it had once forcibly blocked a full-strength strike from a Mahayana Cultivator—

It was his trump card for saving his life!

However, the moment the bronze sword collided with the Witch bone, there was no earth-shattering roar as expected, only a faint, extremely subtle "crack" sound—

Like a withered branch being snapped.

This Soul-Suppressing Witch Bone, which was incredibly hard under the nourishment of Witch Dao power, was like rotten wood meeting a sharp blade; it began to shatter inch by inch from the point of contact with the sword tip. The speed at which the cracks spread was astonishing, and in the blink of an eye, it turned into powder filling the sky, drifting away with the wind—

It did not even provide the slightest bit of resistance.

The bronze sword's momentum did not diminish; the sword body carried all the sharp intent between heaven and earth, and the sword tip was less than three inches from Ancestor Witch Xuanyuzi's brow!

This restrained sharpness made Ancestor Witch Xuanyuzi's Divine Soul tremble, as if it would be completely obliterated in the next second.

"Pfft—"

Ancestor Witch Xuanyuzi violently spat out a mouthful of black blood; the blood droplets dissipated into green smoke before they could even hit the ground.

He used his last ounce of strength to forcibly twist his body to evade, barely dodging the vital point on his brow, but his left shoulder was swept by the unparalleled sword light.

His entire left arm slid off silently, the cut as smooth as a mirror. Not a single drop of blood gushed from the wound; only fine bronze-colored patterns spread across his skin. Wherever they passed, flesh, bone, and even the Witch power within his Meridians were completely "obliterated" by this extreme sharp force—

Even his Divine Soul felt a heart-gouging pain.

"Good... good a Human Dao authority..."

Ancestor Witch Xuanyuzi clutched his empty left shoulder, his body trembling violently from severe pain and fear, his eyes filled with unbelievable horror:

"You actually dare... actually dare to plunder the Luck of heaven and earth, and use mortal will to oppose the Witch Dao that has been passed down for ten thousand ages!"

"Legacy?"

Jian Xiaotian withdrew his sword and stood, his snow-white robes rustling in the wind. The rust on the bronze sword seemed to have thickened, as if that sword strike had exhausted the power of time it had accumulated:

"Letting the common people live in fear, using the blood of young children to nourish Witch Gu, using the Souls of Cultivators to sacrifice to evil gods, treating all living things as straw dogs, treating living beings as sacrifices—"

"What is the use of keeping such a rotten and filthy Legacy?"

He raised his sword to point at the crumbling sub-altar of the Imperial Ancestral Temple; although the sword body was rusted, it possessed an inherent determination to sever everything:

"Today, I swear by the ten-thousand-year Foundation of the Shenwu Dynasty, and rely on the will of the billions of common people—"

"To sever these rotten chains that bind the Southern Region!"

As the words fell, the bronze sword swung out again.

This time, the sword light was no longer restrained, but erupted completely! The rusted sword body instantly bloomed with ten thousand feet of green light, pure and fiery, turning into a pillar of light that pierced through heaven and earth, like a giant blade opening the sky—

Piercing directly at the Ancestor Witch statue that had been worshipped for ten thousand years deep within the sub-altar.

Wherever the pillar of light passed, the Void Realm was forcibly torn open with a long crack, the blood-colored mist instantly dissipated, and even the Witch Dao aura between heaven and earth trembled under this Human Dao sharpness—

As if it had encountered its nemesis.

"No!"

The four Ancestor Witches' eyes were splitting with rage; they roared in unison, their voices filled with monstrous anger and fear.

They could clearly feel that the Witch Dao Origin stored within the statue was trembling violently; this was the source of their power, the Foundation of the Witch Dao's rule over the Southern Region—

At this moment, it was actually going to be completely severed by this sword strike!

"This is what you forced me to do!"

The last trace of hesitation in Ancestor Witch Xuanyuzi's eyes was replaced by madness. As his eyes split with rage, terrifying killing intent erupted without reservation.

Behind him, Hanyuzi, Ancestor Witch Moyuzi, and Mingyuzi, the three Ancestor Witches, also did not hesitate in the slightest. The withered aura around their bodies suddenly surged, and their Late Mahayana Stage cultivation poured out without reservation. The black Witch Dao power surged like a tsunami, dyeing half the sky in a dark, gloomy tone—

The temperature between heaven and earth instantly dropped to freezing point.

Seeing this, the remaining Witch Cultivators in the Imperial Ancestral Temple also knew that today was a moment of life and death. Without the slightest hesitation, they all erupted with their own cultivation, and countless streams of Witch Dao power converged into a river, surging toward the backs of Ancestor Witch Xuanyuzi and the other three, merging into that black tsunami of Witch Dao power, making this destructive force increasingly violent—

As if to swallow the entire Wuji City.

Ancestor Witch Xuanyuzi turned around abruptly, his gaze like a cold blade, sweeping toward those giants of the Southern Region who had been holding their ground—the Daoist priests of Taiqing Dao Palace, the Valley Master of Burning Heaven Valley, the high monks of Little Sumeru Mountain, and the leaders of other large and small Sects.

His voice was cold and bone-chilling, devoid of any emotion, each word like a knife:

"Everyone, do you not want your Soul Tablets anymore?"

This sentence sounded like a thunderclap, causing the expressions of those Southern Region giants to change instantly and uncertainly.

The Soul Tablets of their Core Disciples or Sect Elders were still stored in the Imperial Ancestral Temple at this moment. If the Imperial Ancestral Temple were destroyed and the Soul Tablets were ruined, those people would suffer Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering—

Never to be reincarnated for eternity.

For a moment, everyone's minds became active, and the gazes directed at Emperor Wu Tianba and Jian Xiaotian held a bit more wariness and hesitation—

The situation on the scene instantly became subtle.

The wind stopped again.

The air was filled with the stench of Witch Dao power, the bloody smell of rust, and that sharp aura originating from the bronze sword that severed everything.

Everyone understood that the next choice would determine the future of the entire Southern Region—

Whether to stand on the ruins of the old era, or to be buried with the rotten Legacy?

Ancestor Witch Xuanyuzi's words were like ten-thousand-year-old ice falling to the ground, bone-chillingly cold. The expressions of the Southern Region giants such as Taiqing Dao Palace, Burning Heaven Valley, and Little Sumeru Mountain suddenly became incredibly ugly, as if all the color had been drained from them—

Even the Spiritual Qi circulating around their bodies solidified a little.

Soul Tablet!

These two words were like a death warrant, smashing heavily into everyone's hearts, making them feel as if they had fallen into an ice cellar.

This was the ultimate means by which the Imperial Ancestral Temple controlled the major forces of the Southern Region, and it was a deadly shackle hanging over everyone's heads—

It was a taboo that no one had dared to touch for billions of years.

Every Sect's Core Disciple, Elder, and even the Sect Master had to leave a wisp of their life-bound Soul breath at the Imperial Ancestral Temple upon entering the Sect, to be condensed into a Soul Tablet.

If this tablet was not destroyed, even if the original body died and the Dao vanished, the Divine Soul could still find an opportunity to perform Possession and Rebirth in the outside world; but if the Soul Tablet was in the hands of the Imperial Ancestral Temple—

Their lifeblood would be forever gripped by others, and their life and death would be controlled by others, leaving them to be manipulated like puppets on strings.

What was even more terrifying was that the Ancestor Witches possessed mysterious Witch arts that had been lost for ten thousand ages; they could use the Soul Tablet to curse and kill the original body across the endless Void Realm, or trigger their Heart Demon, causing their Dao Foundation to collapse and their cultivation to be completely crippled—

Without even a chance to resist!

This Sword of Damocles had allowed the Imperial Ancestral Temple to rule the Southern Region for a million years, and no one had ever dared to truly tear off the mask—

Yet now, it had been sacrificed by Ancestor Witch Xuanyuzi without hesitation, forcing everyone into a desperate situation.

"Ancestor Witch Xuanyuzi! Does your Imperial Ancestral Temple really want to commit such an act of extermination and make an enemy of the entire Southern Region?!"

An old Daoist with crane-like hair and childlike complexion from Taiqing Dao Palace shouted sternly, but his voice carried a trace of imperceptible trembling.

His Dao name was "Qingxuzi," and he was the current Grand Elder of Taiqing Dao Palace, having reached the Mahayana Peak cultivation; yet at this moment, he felt bursts of sharp, stinging pain from deep within his Divine Soul—

That was an ominous sign that the Soul Tablet was being forcibly triggered, as if countless steel needles were fiercely stabbing his Soul.

"Make an enemy of the entire Southern Region?"

Ancestor Witch Xuanyuzi, his single arm stained with blood, his face as pale as paper, suddenly looked up upon hearing this. He revealed a crazy and tragic smile, his laughter hoarse like a broken gong, echoing in the vast sky, filled with endless sorrow and determination:

"It was you who first betrayed the million-year-old oath! It was you who first wanted to overthrow the rule of the Imperial Ancestral Temple!"

"Since the order is in chaos and the contract is broken—"

Fierce light erupted in his eyes:

"Then let us... all be destroyed together!"