168: A true swordsman deserves it!

"Awoooo——!!!"

A piercing, mournful howl, unlike any dragon's cry, suddenly resounded throughout Three Seas City!

Blood!

Black dragon blood, containing endless Death Qi, surged forth like a burst dam!

That indestructible dragon body, which even High Grade Magic Treasures could barely scratch, was, under this one sword strike...

Split right down the middle!

From the reverse scale, extending all the way to the tip of the dragon's tail!

The entire black dragon, thousands of feet long, was actually hacked into two symmetrical halves by this single sword strike!

The massive dragon corpse fell powerlessly from the sky, smashing a bottomless, terrifying giant crater into the garden behind the City Lord's Mansion!

And in mid-air, True Lord Jian Chen, who had delivered this stunning, eternal sword strike, saw his figure decaying at a speed visible to the naked eye.

His full head of black hair turned into snowy white in an instant.

His originally upright frame became hunched and withered.

On his skin, age spots representing the exhaustion of his Lifespan appeared.

The signs of the Five Decays of Heaven and Man were fully displayed on his body!

He had reached the end of his life.

"Cough... cough cough..."

True Lord Jian Chen coughed violently; every cough felt as if he were trying to cough up his own lungs.

But his cloudy eyes remained fixed on the black dragon in the deep crater, which was wriggling continuously, attempting to merge its two halves back together.

A look of gratification appeared on his face.

In the deep crater, black Qi surged.

The two halves of the black dragon's remains were forcibly stitched together, relying on its powerful vitality and the strange Secret Technique of the Yin Spirit Clan. Although the terrifying sword mark running through its entire body remained hideous, it did not die immediately after all.

It raised its half-remaining head and stared fixedly at True Lord Jian Chen. For the first time, its hoarse voice carried a hint of solemnity and... respect.

"You... are indeed not bad."

"This seat admits, I underestimated you."

"This sword strike has already touched the threshold of the 'Dao'."

"If..."

Its voice suddenly became cold and disdainful.

"If you were at the Nascent Soul Peak, or even a half-step Soul Transformation, today, this seat would undoubtedly die!"

"It is just a pity..."

"You are, after all... still too weak!"

The vitality of the Spirit Transformation Realm far exceeds what a Nascent Soul Cultivator can imagine!

Even after being split in two, it was not yet dead! As long as it was given enough time and living souls, it could recover as before!

And True Lord Jian Chen was already... at the end of his rope!

"Hehe..."

Hearing this, True Lord Jian Chen laughed mockingly, as if he had heard some great joke.

"Kill you?"

He shook his head while coughing up blood.

"I... naturally know that this sword strike... cannot kill you."

"However..."

A crazy and resolute sharp glint suddenly erupted from his dim eyes!

"——Being able to severely injure you, that is... enough!!!"

Before his voice faded!

A twist, happened again!

True Lord Jian Chen's withered Dantian suddenly lit up with a light more dazzling than the sun!

Hum——!

A small sword, crystal clear, only three inches in size, yet emitting a terrifying Sword Intent that made the very heavens and earth tremble, slowly rose from his crown!

Nascent Soul!

This was clearly the Nascent Soul of True Lord Jian Chen!

Unlike the Nascent Souls of other Cultivators, which resembled miniature versions of themselves, True Lord Jian Chen's Nascent Soul was actually in the form of a sword!

Nurturing the sword with his body, forging the sword with his soul!

He had long since dedicated his entire being to the Sword Dao!

"You... you!!!"

The moment it saw this small Nascent Soul sword, the black dragon, which had originally carried a hint of disdain, saw its expression... no, its dragon face, change wildly!

It screamed in shock!

"Self-detonating the Nascent Soul?!"

"You are crazy!!!"

For a Late Nascent Soul Stage great Cultivator to self-detonate their Nascent Soul, the power would be enough to raze everything within a hundred miles to the ground!

Moreover, this was the Nascent Soul of a pure Sword Cultivator to the extreme!

If this exploded, the power would likely multiply several times over!

It had just been severely injured by the "Mortal World Sword Strike", its Origin greatly damaged; if it took this self-detonation head-on...

It would really... die!!!

"Madman! You absolute madman!"

The black dragon roared in shock and anger.

"For the sake of a mere Sect! For a group of Mortals you don't even know!"

"Self-detonating your Nascent Soul, Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering, never to be reincarnated!"

"——Is it worth it?!!!"

It could not understand!

In the creed of their Yin Spirit Clan, only eternal benefit and one's own survival were the supreme truths!

Sacrificing oneself for others?

It was simply stupid to the extreme!

"Worth it?"

True Lord Jian Chen smiled.

That smile was brighter than ever before.

That smile was filled with disdain for the black dragon, and supreme pride in the Dao he followed!

He used his last ounce of strength to straighten his long-hunched spine!

His voice, though weak, clearly entered the ears of everyone present!

It resounded through the clouds!

"We Sword Cultivators..."

"——Only ask of our own hearts, we do not ask if it is worth it!!!"

As his words fell!

He suddenly turned his head to look at Shangguan Jing, who was being tightly entangled by Jia Wenmo, his eyes red and streaming with tears, and let out his final cry of this life!

"Fellow Daoist Shangguan!!!"

"——I shall go first!!!"

"Boom——!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Without the slightest hesitation!

Without a shred of doubt!

The small Nascent Soul sword suspended in mid-air suddenly...

Exploded!

Sword light that could not be described in words became the only thing in heaven and earth at this moment!

The entire Three Seas City was swallowed by this extreme white light!

Immediately following!

Was a Sword Qi storm that swept through everything!

Billions of strands of Sword Qi, condensed to the extreme, swept madly in all directions like a Universe big bang!

"No——!!!"

The black dragon let out the most desperate howl of its life!

Its remains, which had just been stitched together, were instantly shredded into fragments of flesh and blood under this terrifying Sword Qi storm!

Even its dragon soul, hidden within its head, was cut to pieces by this endless Sword Qi, emitting a shrill scream!

On the other side, Jia Wenmo, who was fighting the Five Elements Bull Demon, also had his expression change drastically!

He never imagined that True Lord Jian Chen would be so resolute to such a degree!

"Damn it!"

He cursed lowly, no longer caring about blocking the Five Elements Bull Demon. His figure retreated violently while he sacrificed several defensive Magic Treasures to protect himself in front!

Even so, the violent Sword Qi storm still made his protective spiritual light wobble, causing him to fly backward for hundreds of feet. A sweetness rose in his throat, and he actually spat out a bit of blood!

And in this chaotic moment where the heavens and earth lost their color and all things lost their voice!

"Moo——!!!"

The Five Elements Bull Demon, which had been suppressed all along, suddenly seized this sliver of survival!