642: Chapter 642 The Strongest Trump Card

[Just at this critical moment—]

[Venerable Cang Xuan moved.]

[He simply raised his hand—no spiritual light, no Law, as if he had done nothing at all.]

[Then, Sanyuan Star fell silent.]

[It was not that the aftermath had vanished; it was that Sanyuan Star was no longer there.]

[Not that it was gone—it was that you could no longer feel it.]

[The entire Star Continent seemed to have been plucked from the Void Realm by an invisible hand and placed into a transparent box.]

[You could see it.]

[But it was not here, as if it were in a different dimension of space.]

[The aftermath swept past the location of Sanyuan Star—it passed right through, like passing through a shadow, hitting nothing.]

[No vibration.]

[No shattering.]

[No sound.]

[Sanyuan Star hung there quietly, as if nothing had happened.]

[The Cultivators were stunned.]

[Some had their mouths agape, unable to utter a single word.]

[Some were kneeling on the ground, trembling all over.]

[Not out of fear of the aftermath.]

[But out of fear of the person who had raised his hand.]

[Xuanyuan Ziyan's pupils shrank violently.]

["Plucking the stars..." she whispered, her voice filled with awe.]

[But soon, she shook her head again, "No, this is not plucking the stars."]

[Her voice was trembling, "This is... taking an entire star and plucking it out of this space."]

["Returning to simplicity... truly worthy of the Dean."]

[She looked at Venerable Cang Xuan, her face filled with disbelief.]

[Venerable Cang Xuan withdrew his hand, his movements light, as if he had done nothing at all, as if the matter were trivial.]

[He stood with his hands behind his back, his gaze calmly fixed on the firmament.]

[Above the firmament.]

[Liu Xuerong hung there, motionless.]

[She looked at the Mountain and River Map before her.]

[A large area of the stars on the painting had dimmed.]

[She had never seen an Integration Stage Cultivator who could withstand her Mountain and River Map.]

[Even a Mahayana Cultivator might not necessarily be able to withstand it.]

[But today, an Integration Stage Cultivator had actually withstood her Mountain and River Map.]

[She looked at you with an incredulous gaze.]

[Blood hung from the corner of your mouth; six immortal slaying swords hovered around you, Dao Patterns flowing across their blades.]

[You were panting.]

[Panting heavily.]

[But your eyes—were fixed on her.]

[No fear.]

[No retreat.]

["Is there a third move?" you asked with a smile.]

[At the same time, you were secretly shocked—the sixth form of the Immortal Slaying Sword Art actually couldn't kill her?]

[Although you knew that your Realm affected the power of your Divine Ability, you shouldn't be unable to do anything to your opponent, right?]

[This made you feel the power of a Mahayana Cultivator for the first time.]

[Liu Xuerong was silent for a long time.]

[Then she smiled.]

[It was not a cold smile, nor a bitter smile.]

[It was a smile of helplessness toward fate.]

["The second move, you withstood it." She paused, her tone still calm, "But you... do you still have a third move?"]

[You did not answer.]

[You simply wiped the blood from the corner of your mouth and smiled.]

[You still had your strongest trump card.]

[This trump card was not the seventh form of the Immortal Slaying Sword Art—the Big Dipper Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation.]

[Because the power of Six Harmonies Void Breaking and the Big Dipper Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation were roughly the same; one was your currently strongest single move, and the other was your currently strongest sword array.]

[If Six Harmonies Void Breaking could not do anything to your opponent, then the 'Big Dipper Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation' might not be able to deal with her either.]

[You had never tried this trump card, but you vaguely felt you could give it a try.]

[You took a deep breath and smiled, "How do you know I don't have other means?"]

[After speaking, you activated your Spotless Sword Body once more.]

[Sword Intent hummed, rising from your bones, surging through your Meridians, and exploding from your Dantian.]

[It was not the hum of a single sword.]

[It was you, your entire being, turning into a sword.]

[At the same time, the wisp of Sword Dao Origin within your body surged.]

[It was very thin, as thin as a strand of hair.]

[But the moment it moved—invisible fluctuations pierced through time and space, pierced through the stars, and pierced through the Void Realm.]

[The distant Wuji Continent.]

[The earth was shaking.]

[As if something were responding.]

[The Cultivators of Wuji Immortal City stopped in their tracks, looking at one another.]

["An earthquake?"]

["No... what is this..."]

["A foreign enemy invasion?"]

["I was arguing with my Dao Companion this morning; if I had known, I wouldn't have argued."]

[For a time, the city was filled with noise, but no one knew what had happened.]

[Only the high-level officials of the Wuji Immortal Sect knew that this was the immortal sword acting strangely.]

[But they did not know why it was acting strangely.]

[Meanwhile, deep underground in the Wuji Continent, tens of thousands of miles down.]

[A crack opened.]

[A sword emerged from the crack.]

[Simple.]

[Silent.]

[No spiritual light, no runes.]

[It hung there quietly, as if asleep.]

[Then it moved.]

[No sound.]

[The Void Realm was torn open, and it dove in, disappearing in the blink of an eye.]

[In the direction it escaped, the Dao was chasing behind it.]

[To it, one light-year and one inch made no difference.]

[It was not speed, but a transcendence of the concept of speed.]

[It moved, and then, it arrived.]

[Behind you, the Void Realm cracked.]

[That ancient sword emerged from the crack and hovered above your head.]

[The sword tip pointed down, the hilt pointed up.]

[It did not move.]

[It just hung there.]

[But the entire world—paused for a moment.]

[It was not that the wind stopped, nor that the clouds stopped.]

[It was the "Dao" that stopped.]

[Countless Cultivators below felt a kind of fear at the same time.]

[Not fear of death.]

[It was insignificance.]

[Like ants looking up at the firmament, like dust staring at the stars, like a fleeting moment gazing at eternity.]

[Someone knelt down.]

[Not voluntarily.]

[Their legs had given out.]

[Xuanyuan Ziyan's face was as white as paper.]

[She looked at the sword, her lips trembling, "What is this..."]

[No one answered her, because no one knew.]

[Liu Xuerong's expression changed completely.]

[It was not the contempt of the first move, nor the excitement of the second move.]

[It was solemnity.]

[She had never seen such a sword.]

[This sword was asleep—she could feel its artifact spirit sleeping, its power sleeping; most of it was asleep.]

[But its mere appearance "here" caused the world to pause for it.]

[Comparable to an Immortal Artifact.]

[No, this was an Immortal Artifact.]

[Or perhaps, far more than just an Immortal Artifact.]

[She looked at you, observing you with an equal gaze for the first time.]

["So that's how it is," she whispered, "This is your reliance."]

[You did not answer.]

[You raised your hand and grasped the hilt.]

[The moment the sword was in your hand, you felt that your body no longer belonged to you.]

[Not that you were being controlled.]

[It was being "elevated".]

[Your perception was expanding, your strength was surging, and your Sword Intent was burning.]

[You felt like a True Immortal, descending into the mortal world.]