54: Chapter 54: Martial artists shouldn't challenge immortal cultivators.
Dongfang Shuo stared blankly at the "Rebar Sword" floating in front of Jiang Ning, then looked down at the "Severing Water" sword in his hand—a divine weapon passed down through his family for centuries.
At this moment, he felt that what he held was not some treasure, but a piece of scrap metal.
Compared to her sword, the proud chill emanating from the "Severing Water" sword was like the light of a firefly before a full moon; it couldn't even cast a shadow.
"No... this is impossible..." he muttered to himself, unable to accept reality. "This is an illusion, it must be! How could a rusted piece of rebar... how could it possibly create such a sword?"
His logic told him everything before his eyes was fake. However, the slight trembling of the "Severing Water" sword in his hand—as if it had encountered its natural predator—reminded him with undeniable reality that he wasn't mistaken.
Jiang Ning had no interest in explaining to him what "Artifact Refining" or "Arrays" were.
To her, facts spoke louder than words.
With a single thought,
the "Rebar Sword" floating in mid-air emitted an even louder hum, its tip trembling slightly as it pointed directly at Dongfang Shuo.
Whoosh!
Without the slightest warning, the sword turned into a streak of light and shot toward Dongfang Shuo!
It was too fast!
So fast that everyone present, including Dongfang Shuo himself, couldn't keep up with their eyes!
They could only see a grey shadow flash through the air; there wasn't even time for the sound of breaking air to ring out!
Dongfang Shuo's pupils instantly constricted to the size of needlepoints.
Every hair on his body stood on end at that moment! An unprecedented crisis of death completely enveloped him!
He wanted to dodge, but his body couldn't react in time.
He wanted to block with his sword, but his arms felt as if they were filled with lead, unable to be lifted.
In the face of this sword strike, his previously proud footwork and swordsmanship became a joke.
He could only watch helplessly as that streak of death grew larger and larger in his vision...
It's over.
Only this single thought remained in his mind.
However, the expected agonizing pain did not come.
The streak of light came to a dead stop just an inch away from the center of his brow.
It just hung there quietly, the bone-chilling sharpness at the sword's tip causing goosebumps to rise on his forehead.
Cold sweat slid down from his temples, drop by drop.
He could clearly feel that if the opponent's thought moved just a tiny bit further, his head would be pierced through like a watermelon.
"This... this is..."
He struggled to move his eyes to look at the sword right in front of him.
How was this a sword?
This was clearly a killing machine endowed with life!
It didn't need a person to wield it; it could seek out enemies and attack on its own!
This... this is the legendary... Sword Kinesis?!
Dongfang Shuo's heart sank completely to the bottom.
Manipulating objects from a distance, creating fire out of thin air, instant artifact refining, killing with a flying sword...
These methods, which only existed in myths and legends, were being demonstrated before him today, one by one, by the same person.
He finally understood.
The person he encountered today wasn't some martial arts master at all.
But a real, living... Cultivator!
And he, a mortal martial artist, actually dared to try and challenge an "Immortal"?
At this thought, a massive sense of absurdity and despair instantly overwhelmed him.
Jiang Ning didn't pay attention to his internal turmoil. She was simply testing the performance of her new toy.
"The speed is okay, but the stability is a bit lacking," she critiqued in her mind.
Then, her thoughts moved again.
The "Rebar Sword" hovering before Dongfang Shuo's brow suddenly spun, circling his body at high speed.
Dongfang Shuo only felt a blur before his eyes, not yet realizing what had happened.
Then, he heard a crisp sound, like glass shattering.
Crack...
He subconsciously looked down.
He saw a tiny crack appear on the blade of the "Severing Water" treasure sword in his hand.
Immediately after, "Crack... crack..."
Cracks spread rapidly across the entire blade like a spiderweb!
Finally, with a "clatter"!
The entire sword shattered in his hand into a pile of shiny iron fragments!
Only a bare hilt remained in his grip.
Dongfang Shuo was completely dumbfounded.
He stared blankly at the hilt in his hand, then at the fragments on the ground, looking as if his soul had been sucked out.
"Severing Water"... shattered?
This divine weapon forged from meteoric iron, regarded as the clan's treasure... just shattered like that?
Shattered after being lightly touched by a sword casually made from rusted rebar?
Thud!
He could no longer support himself; his knees buckled, and he knelt on the ground.
His final pride, his final reliance, was at this moment completely and utterly smashed to pieces.
Meanwhile, the "Rebar Sword" that had shattered the "Severing Water" sword drew a graceful arc in the air and flew back to Jiang Ning's side, slowly circling her like an obedient pet.
The entire field was deathly silent.
Chief Engineer Wang Jianguo, Chief Engineer Wang Heshan, and those engineers all had their mouths hanging open, as if they had collectively been hit by a freezing spell, motionless.
They had witnessed with their own eyes what was called a "miracle."
Director Zhao Lixin was also full of shock. He swallowed hard, feeling his worldview being repeatedly refreshed today to an entirely new height.
He looked at the young girl standing in the middle of the field with a flying sword circling her, and only one thought remained in his mind:
The country... has truly invited a god this time.