253: Cut it off at the root!

"Bang!!!!!"

An indescribable, explosive roar shook the mountains. Visible ripples of physical force rippled out frantically from the point of impact, causing the space itself to shimmer with ripples.

The sea of fire below was pushed aside in all directions by this immense force.

"Crack... Crackle..."

A heart-stopping, crisp sound of shattering clearly reached Su Ling's ears.

On the green light barrier—which had endured the thunderous bombardment, the Azure Dragon's continuous strikes, the searing sea of fire, and finally a full-force blow from the jade ruler—countless spiderweb-like cracks finally burst forth, rapidly spreading across the entire hemisphere!

The Azure Dragon's body leaned back slightly from the counter-shock of the strike, but a dragon arm reached out at an incredible angle and speed. The purple lightning sky-splitting sword held tightly in its claws erupted with an unprecedented, blinding flash of electricity.

It turned into a streak of blue-purple lightning that tore through space, piercing with incomparable precision toward the central point where the cracks were most dense!

"Rip!"

Without much sound, the tip of the purple lightning sky-splitting sword sliced through the now-fragile light barrier as easily as a hot knife through butter.

Immediately after, the violent power of thunder contained within the blade erupted!

"Boom!"

Under this final sword strike—the straw that broke the camel's back—the already crumbling green light barrier finally shattered completely.

The green specks of light drifting through the sky were then incinerated by the surrounding Southern Bright Departing Fire that had yet to extinguish.

"Aargh!!!"

With its defense broken, the tree demon's true body suffered a severe backlash.

Dozens of terrifying, deep cracks, each a hundred feet long, exploded across its staggeringly thick main trunk.

Dark green sap, emitting a rich aura of life mixed with a pungent, fishy stench, sprayed and splattered frantically from the cracks like a fountain.

At the same time, without the light barrier's isolation, the remaining Southern Bright Departing Fire from above fell down.

In an instant, it ignited the massive, leafy canopy, turning it into a giant, frantically burning torch that illuminated the dim world.

The tree demon let out a sharp, piercing shriek of extreme pain and fury, its massive body trembling violently from the agony.

How could Su Ling give it a chance to breathe?

The azure dragon phantasm vanished instantly, revealing Su Ling's true body, which was slightly pale but had eyes still as sharp as knives.

He reached into the Void Realm and grabbed, and an ancient-looking longbow, wreathed in a chilling ghostly aura, appeared in his hand.

The Cultivation Technique inside his body circulated rapidly. Vast Dharmic power, mixed with pure Soul Power, condensed at his fingertips into a ghost soul arrow that was entirely deep purple, as if it could swallow light.

The bow was drawn like a full moon, and the arrow left the string as soon as it was aimed!

"Whoosh!"

The ghost soul arrow was faster than the eye could track, leaving only a faint black trail in the air.

It passed straight through the burning branches that the tree demon frantically waved in an attempt to intercept it, finally embedding itself with incomparable precision into the brow of the old face, which was distorted by pain!

"Hiss...!"

This strike hit the Soul directly!

The tree demon's shriek suddenly became incredibly shrill, filled with pain that reached the depths of its Divine Soul.

All of its movements stiffened for a moment, and its branches, waving across the sky, became chaotic and disordered, as if it were enduring unimaginable Soul-deep torment.

It was this very moment of stiffness!

Su Ling, holding the purple lightning sky-splitting sword, transformed into a brilliant flash of electricity that tore through the sky, performing the Void-Rending Art attached to the purple lightning sword.

In an instant, he crossed hundreds of feet and appeared before the tree demon's pained, aged face!

In the reflection of the tree demon's pupils, which contracted from the Soul-searing pain, Su Ling's cold face and the lightning-erupting sword in his hand were mirrored.

Su Ling poured all his remaining Dharmic power and Physical Body strength into this single strike and thrust forward violently!

"Rip!!!"

The extremely sharp sound of thunder seemed as if it would pierce the eardrums.

The blue-purple lightning sword glow transformed into an indestructible pillar of thunder and lightning, easily piercing through the hard face the tree demon had formed from wood and demonic power.

The pillar of thunder burst out from the back of its massive trunk, its momentum undiminished as it shot out for hundreds of feet, piercing, carbonizing, and slaying all the remaining demon plants and Demonic Beasts along its path!

However, the vitality of plant-type monsters was tenacious beyond imagination.

This single sword strike, enough to blast a human Cultivator or Demonic Beast of the same rank into dust, had heavily wounded the tree demon but failed to immediately snatch away all its life force.

Green sap poured like a waterfall from the pierced trunk, but the ruthlessness and madness in the tree demon's eyes burned to the extreme.

"Human... Die!"

It let out a blurred, malice-filled mental roar.

In the next moment, the branches—already incredibly thick and now burning with fire across the sky—seemed to go completely mad.

With speed and density several times greater than before, they came crashing down and wrapping around from all directions like countless burning giant pestles and strangling demonic vines toward Su Ling in mid-air!

The space itself seemed to be frozen by this desperate, mad counterattack.

"Buzz!"

In the nick of time, the phantasm of an ancient, heavy bronze bell emerged from Su Ling's body and rapidly solidified.

The Xuantian Bell phantom firmly shielded his entire body. Runes flowed upon the bell's walls, emitting an indestructible defensive Dao charm.

"Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang...!"

A barrage of impacts, as dense as ten thousand drums beating at once, instantly exploded!

Countless burning branches, carrying the tree demon's final madness and immense force, slammed heavily against the Xuantian Bell phantom.

Each strike caused the bell phantom to tremble violently, its radiance flickering out.

Inside the bell, Su Ling received no direct damage, but the waves of terrifying vibrational force transmitted through it hit him like heavy blows.

As his blood and Qi churned, the Dharmic power maintaining the Xuantian Bell phantom was draining away like a flood through an open gate!

The power of the tree demon's deathbed counterattack far exceeded what it had shown before!

If Su Ling didn't possess the traits of two Great Immortal Physiques, and if his physical strength didn't far surpass that of an ordinary Body Cultivator...

He would likely have been shaken to death or severely injured by these continuous, immense strikes infused with the tree demon's life essence, even with the protection of the Xuantian Bell.

Even so, the Xuantian Bell phantom was still smashed dozens of feet into the ground by the sky-covering branches.

Su Ling felt a sweetness in his throat and forced himself to swallow the surging blood, a look of ruthlessness flashing in his eyes.

He gripped the hilt of the purple lightning sky-splitting sword tightly once more. Ignoring the waves of weakness and sharp pain from within his body, he poured all his strength into the blade's edge.

"Break... open for me!!!"

He shouted fiercely, and his figure spun violently under the protection of the Xuantian Bell phantom. Holding the sword with both hands, he unleashed a fierce upward slash!

"Swish!!!"

The purple lightning sky-splitting sword erupted with unprecedented lightning. The blade surged in size again, transforming into a hundred-foot-long giant blade of lightning that sliced into the tree trunk with unstoppable force!

The incredibly tough wood, comparable to refined gold, was torn apart by the extreme sharpness and power of the lightning.

The massive trunk was actually split nearly halfway through by this upward sword strike!

The branches that had been frantically attacking suddenly stiffened, their movements showing obvious lag and confusion, as if the core hub controlling them had suffered a fatal disruption.

But the tree demon's life force was not yet severed. After a brief moment of stiffness, the branches gathered and crashed down again in an even more chaotic yet still frantic pattern!

"It's still not dead?"

Su Ling's eyes turned sharp. Using the remaining momentum of his spin, he changed his upward slash to a diagonal one. The giant purple lightning blade drew a shrill arc of light horizontally!

"Crack!!!"

This time, it was the tooth-gritting sound of the connection between the roots and the main trunk being completely severed!

The massive tree demon trunk, several miles high, was severed at the root!

The cracked old face on the trunk had its expression completely frozen—malice, pain, resentment, and a hint of unbelievable daze were fixed forever.

The hundreds of thousands of branches waving across the sky—burning, intact, or broken—lost all their support at the same moment, falling limply and stiffly to the ground.