Chapter 34 Desire to Break Through the Southern Heavenly Gate

Having made up his mind, Yun Bai hesitated no longer. Utilizing his "duck waddle"—though unsightly, it was sufficiently swift—he dodged and maneuvered clumsily through the Heavenly Gate Guardian's violent axe shadows.

He no longer sought to inflict heavy damage with every strike. Instead, like a cunning venomous bee, he seized every gap in his dodging to thrust his sword, aiming directly at the same connection point on the armor at the opponent's waist!

"One strike!" A green light flashed, and a fissure cracked open on the armor!

"Two strikes!" The fissure widened, revealing the silver light circulating within!

"Three strikes!" It was on the verge of being pierced through!

However, something that made Yun Bai's heart sink occurred! He saw that where he had struck three times in a row, silver light flowed across the surface of the armor like spilled mercury. Within a few breaths, the fissure that was about to break open healed as if new at a speed visible to the naked eye! Even the hole in the right arm previously pierced by the huaying sword had vanished without a trace during their entangled struggle!

"Damn it! This ghost of a thing can even self-repair?!" Yun Bai cursed inwardly, pulling away once more.

Having struggled to this point, he was more certain that he held an absolute advantage in speed, and the initiative remained in his hands.

But how to break open this damn self-healing armor, and resist that annoying Divine Sense attack, had become a sword hanging over his head!

"Go around it?" The thought had barely arisen before it was rejected. The Black Tower's rule was "eliminate the opponent." Furthermore, if the Southern Heavenly Gate was truly ahead, there would surely be more and stronger guardians. If he didn't solve the one in front of him, he wouldn't be able to take a single step!

Yun Bai panted, looking down at the constantly humming huaying sword in his hand. Under the stimulation of spiritual power, the green light on the blade flickered like breathing. The blade transmitted a strong palpitation, as if it were a young Dragon yearning to break free from its shackles and soar through the Nine Heavens. That power, wanting to fly out of his hand, was almost impossible to suppress!

"Xiao Liu!" Yun Bai hurriedly retrieved information from his auxiliary brain that he had read not long ago in the State Religion Library.

"huaying sword..." A flash of inspiration struck Yun Bai's heart! The books he had collected while wandering with his younger sister in his childhood, which were regarded as "myths," along with the records in the "Records of Famous Swords" he had caught a glimpse of in the State Religion Library not long ago, instantly flooded his mind!

"Zhuanxu Gaoyang had the huaying sword and the Tengkong sword. If there were troops in the four directions, these swords would fly to them; point in their direction, and one would conquer..." "Fly to them"! These two words split the fog in his heart like lightning! He had always thought it referred to the Tengkong sword, but perhaps... the huaying sword could do it too!

There was also one very important question. For a Sword Cultivator to refine a Flying Sword, one must at least reach the level of "Telekinesis." He only had the strength of "Divine Sense sensing"; could he achieve it?

"Gamble on it!" Yun Bai then recalled the unfathomable cultivation of this body, and a look of determination erupted in his eyes.

He hesitated no longer. Taking advantage of dodging another heavy vertical chop from the guardian, he exerted force with his feet and retreated violently like an arrow off a bowstring, putting as much distance as possible between them.

"Where are you running! Leave your life behind!" The Heavenly Gate Guardian roared, taking large strides and charging straight at him like a crazed giant beast, each step making the ground tremble slightly.

At the same time, a more condensed "axe-shaped Divine Sense" carrying the intent to lock onto his soul clung to him like a maggot on a bone, once again striking Yun Bai's Sea of Consciousness.

Yun Bai endured the severe pain of his churning Sea of Consciousness, pouring all his focus and all the spiritual power he could mobilize into the huaying sword in his hand without reservation! He felt as if the blade had come alive, transforming into a roaring green Dragon, and that power to break free from shackles reached its peak!

"Now!" Yun Bai stopped suppressing it and suddenly released his hand holding the sword.

Hum—! A clear and impassioned sword hum that seemed to resonate like a Dragon's roar in the Nine Heavens echoed through the space! The huaying sword broke free from the restraint of his palm and hovered in front of Yun Bai. The blade shone with a brilliant green light, radiance flowing and flickering, emitting an alarming sharpness!

"It worked!!" A light of wild joy erupted in Yun Bai's eyes, as if he had found a way out of a desperate situation! He controlled his Divine Thought as easily as moving his own arm, pointing fiercely at the huge charging figure: "Go!"

Whoosh—! The huaying sword transformed into a green streak of light that tore through the Void Realm! Its speed was so fast that it exceeded visual capture, leaving only a beautiful, lingering trail of afterimages in the air! In an instant, it crossed the distance between them!

Splat! A dull yet clear sound of piercing rang out!

The Heavenly Gate Guardian's huge, charging body suddenly stiffened.

He looked down in disbelief at his own chest—there, a blood hole the size of a bowl had appeared! Boiling hot blood gushed out like a fountain! The silver armor on his body was still struggling to flow with silver light in an attempt to repair, but that destructive Sword Qi had long since destroyed his vitality.

"Ugh..." A rattling sound came from the guardian's throat, the light in his eyes quickly dimming, and his huge body collapsed to the ground like a gold mountain toppling over and a jade pillar crashing down, kicking up a cloud of dust.

"Huff... huff... huff..." Yun Bai panted violently, as if he had exhausted all his strength. His forehead was covered in cold sweat, and the lingering aftershocks of the Divine Sense attack in his Sea of Consciousness were still aching faintly.

Before entering the Black Tower, he had even been humming little tunes and singing songs, fully expecting that the intensity of the second stage of the Black Tower's first level would not be much stronger than the first stage.

Who could have known? This Heavenly soldier's Divine Sense attack was not even in the same league as the black-robed elder from before. The terrifying degree of the battle also exceeded his imagination. In reality, he was merely an Innate First Realm Cultivator. Yet the battles in the Black Tower were practically at a mythical level!

"Heavenly Palace... State Religion, Black Tower. What exactly is the connection between them?" Yun Bai's heartbeat accelerated. "Inside the State Religion, there must be an unimaginable, great secret hidden."

Yun Bai immediately recalled the statue of Nüwa that he saw every time he entered the State Religion. She always wore a faint, elusive smile.

With Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism merged into one, why was the central deity worshipped actually the Goddess Nüwa? What did this mean for the Heavenly Palace? A deep question was buried in the bottom of his heart.

He looked up at his surroundings, watching the guardian lying motionless on the ground and the huaying sword floating in front of him, its radiance flowing. A sense of achievement and wild joy diluted these many questions.

A Flying Sword! So this huaying sword was truly a Flying Sword of peerless power! The legend that a Sword Cultivator could take a person's head from a thousand miles away was not a false claim!

"Hahaha." The wild joy of surviving a disaster and the excitement of mastering powerful strength made Yun Bai suppress a low laugh, the laughter echoing in the empty space. With this divine sword, what difficulties and obstacles would he still fear?!

"First level, second stage passed! Continue forward!" The aged voice sounded at the right moment.

Go! Continue forward!

Yun Bai recalled the huaying sword and gripped it tightly in his hand, a heroic spirit suddenly rising in his chest, shooting straight up to the Nine Heavens!

Storming the Southern Heavenly Gate? This sounded like such a shocking and blood-boiling thing!

Looking through ancient and modern legends, among those who dared to cause trouble at the Southern Heavenly Gate, which one later did not become a peerless powerhouse who shook the universe and was renowned throughout the eight wildernesses?