Chapter 156 - 157: Drawing the Sword Formation
Chapter 156 - 157: Drawing the Sword Formation
Chapter 156: Chapter 157: Drawing the Sword Formation
Translator: 549690339
“Seems quite ordinary?”
This remark seemed to instantly hit Yun Zhonghe’s Achilles’ heel.
The Blue Sword in Yun Zhonghe’s hand trembled lightly.
His gaze fell upon Nan Lingsha.
After sizing her up for a moment, he coldly said, “I’ve heard about you, the painter Nan Lingsha. However, do you really think that a slight victory over Zi Miaozhu means you can defeat all the disciples of the Sword Sect?”
“If it were me dealing with this rabble, one move would suffice.” Nan Lingsha glanced at the Qi Clan descendants and Huang Sect disciples on Chaotic Stone Hill who were in a sorry state.
The battered Qi Clan and Huang Sect’s descendants struggled to their feet and were slipping away in defeat when they heard Nan Lingsha’s words; they slipped once more, tumbling back into the stones
Especially the Qi Clan disciples, who were also sword cultivators, couldn’t help the tears from falling.
Why whip our corpses when you’re vying for supremacy against each other? With so many people watching from atop the Mysterious Wall, their Family Door had already suffered enough humiliation!
“Who would use their full strength against someone not in the same realm?” said Yun Zhonghe with barely suppressed anger.
Nan Lingsha didn’t bother to continue the argument with Yun Zhonghe. Her hair danced in the air even though there was no wind, and her ink brush, unbeknownst to others, had already begun to move on its own. Around her, the shadow of an ink dragon emerged, coiling around her graceful figure.
Seeing that his opponent had already made a move, Yun Zhonghe hesitated no longer.
With a flick of his wrist, the tip of his sword slashed through the air, emitting a piercing sound. Sword Qi burst forth from the tip, forming an even more immense sword might, trying to blow Nan Lingsha away.
However, the ink dragon surrounding Nan Lingsha was as solid as a fortress, and the Sword Qi could not spread within that area. Instead, it splashed onto the trees at the sides, blasting them to pieces!
“Swimming Dragon in the River!” Nan Lingsha suddenly murmured.
The ink brush appeared in the palm of her hand in an unknown moment. With a flick of her wrist, just a few strokes sketched a majestic expanse.
Suddenly, inky waves surged!
A raging river formed within those long lines, and even though it was just a few simple strokes, one could feel the grandeur of a vast river, as if facing a wildly flowing stream.
Within the river, similar swimming dragons soared, their bodies imposing as they passed through the river, making the already roaring river of ink even more magnificent, causing the Chaotic Stone Hill to tremble incessantly!
“Boom”
The river roared down with a massive sound.
Initially, Yun Zhonghe thought that the river drawn was merely an illusion and believed that by keeping his mind calm and spirit serene, he could shatter her painting technique.
To Yun Zhonghe’s surprise, Nan Lingsha’s painting realm had long reached a level that brought her creations to life.
Whatever she painted, that’s what it became.
The river was truly a river, its impact powerful enough to collapse and fill in hills!
Yun Zhonghe’s face turned pale with fright. Using his swift movement technique, he tried to dodge the direct onslaught of the river, but within the river were the ink-drawn swimming dragons, which were hundreds of times more powerful than the water’s flow!
Chaotic Stone Hill collapsed in an instant, buried by the river, and every path the dragons took showed a horrifying chasm.
Yun Zhonghe reached the top of Chaotic Stone Hill, leaped up with his sword tilted toward the ground, and in an instant, beams of sword light shot out towards those dragons, decapitating all the pursuing dragons with precision.
Light as a feather, Yun Zhonghe maintained a gliding posture as he slowly floated down from above.
Before a smug smile could form on his face, he suddenly found himself above a vast abyss.
The abyss was pitch black, its depths invisible, and what was worse, it seemed as if countless ghosts were howling inside it, eager to drag him down and consume his flesh and bones!
Yun Zhonghe looked in Nan Lingsha’s direction and saw that this painter had produced another painting, which depicted a Ghost Door so eerie it made one’s scalp tingle just to look at it.
Yun Zhonghe looked up to find that very Ghost Door from the painting right above him, and he realized he had actually entered the Ghost Door!
Yun Zhonghe swung his sword wildly in an attempt to shatter the Ghost Door.
But the Ghost Door grew higher and higher as if “falling” into the clouds, and when Yun Zhonghe looked down, he saw he was in the depths of darkness
He was falling fast!
This sensation of falling made it difficult for Yun Zhonghe to breathe; his body felt as if it was weighed down by heavy lead, and he could barely lift his sword!
Completely soaked, Yun Zhonghe no longer dared to underestimate the painter.
He calmed his mind and used his sword as a stepping stone, swiftly leaping towards the ever-rising Ghost Door.
The sword fell at an extreme speed, while Yun Zhonghe passed through the Ghost Door, escaping the bizarre abyss of the Ghost Gate.
At last, the discomfort vanished, and Yun Zhonghe instinctively reached for his other sword, since he had left the Blue Sword in the abyss of the Ghost Gate.
To Yun Zhonghe’s chagrin, the Blue Sword was right beneath his feet.
It was stuck in the ground.
Around him, there was no Ghost Door.
He had not fallen into any abyss; he had been in the same spot all along.
What he had seen was merely a nightmare.
The Ghost Door Abyss that Nan Lingsha had painted was derived from a nightmare!
Illusion and reality.
Yun Zhonghe never imagined that it was the second painting that was the illusionary world of painting techniques, and the various discomforts he experienced were nothing more than the oppression of a dreamlike realm!
“I’ve heard of sword flying to the heavens, but I’ve never seen this sword control stepping in mud move, hahaha!” Laughter erupted from atop the Mysterious Wall.
The people couldn’t see the Ghost Gate Abyss drawn by Nan Lingsha, only Yun Zhonghe’s actions, which were truly bizarre and didn’t resemble those of a Sword Master at all. Instead, he looked like a child imitating actions from a play, somewhat comical and amusing.
Within the Divine and Mortal, some had good eyesight, some had good hearing, and others had powerful Spiritual Sense.
Unfortunately for him, Yun Zhonghe was of the type with good hearing.
He heard the laughter and ridicule directed at him from afar, beyond the Mysterious Wall.
It made him both ashamed and annoyed.
Picking up his Blue Sword, which was covered with dirt at his feet, he flicked his wrist, and in an instant, the Blue Sword shook off all the filth and shone brilliantly once more.
He realized he could not engage the painter from a distance, as the endless stream of painted shadows made it hard for him to distinguish the real from the fake.
He chose to rush in close.
Yun Zhonghe sprinted forward, transforming into several figures once more, not three this time, but five.
Just as he had said, he had held back a certain level of his strength when facing that group of people before.
This time, the speed and the realm he displayed were on an even higher level.
“After so many years, he still fancies flashy nonsense,” Zhu Minglang snorted disdainfully at Yun Zhonghe’s Sword Territory.
The five swift shadows meant simultaneous attacks from five different angles, yet Zhu Minglang saw through Yun Zhonghe’s moves in an instant; these seemingly powerful attacks were nothing more than illusions.
His real deadly move would arrive half a beat later, the five swift shadows merely meant to make Nan Lingsha panic and expose a flaw
Nan Lingsha didn’t see through it.
But her response was nonetheless simple and crude.
Under her feet appeared a black and white Bagua Map, and as Nan Lingsha stood up with her pen tip held ready, the black and white Bagua Map also stood up, blocking Yun Zhonghe’s attack!
Yun Zhonghe, as the Chief Big Disciple of the Yaoshan Sword Sect, how could he fail to recognize this Bagua Giant Stone Platform.
Wasn’t it the stone platform in front of their Mountain Villa?
Whether it was the five exploratory and oppressive sword shadows that surged forth, or Yun Zhonghe’s subsequent real deadly move, all were stopped behind the image of the Bagua Stone Platform.
Yun Zhonghe’s strength was indeed much greater than Zi Miaozhu’s. His final strike managed to break Nan Lingsha’s Bagua Stone Platform image, forcing her to retreat and maintain a certain distance from him.
“This painting technique, that’s all there is to it!” Seeing that he had forced Nan Lingsha to retreat, a smile formed at the corners of Yun Zhonghe’s mouth.
“Yun Zhonghe, oh Yun Zhonghe, when will you put away that moronic arrogance of yours and only then will your realm be able to ascend a level. If she can paint the Bagua Giant Stone Platform of the Yaoshan Sword Sect, then she can also paint our Sword Sect’s Swords Descend Formation, you fool!” Zhu Minglang shook his head and sighed.
Upon hearing these words, Yun Zhonghe immediately looked down at his feet.
On the ground where he had shattered the Bagua Stone Platform, a ground painting had appeared at some point!
This painting depicted one of the most famous scenes of the Yaoshan Sword Sect, the Swords Descend Formation!
This formation was made up of seventeen Ancient Swords, and each one was used by a past Sect Master of the Yaoshan Sword Sect. After their deaths, they turned their swords into meteoric blades to protect the Yaoshan Sword Sect.
Nan Lingsha had visited the Yaoshan Sword Sect, and the scene where she spent the most time wasn’t the Bagua Giant Stone Platform, but this ancient Swords Descend Formation, which could emanate endless power to lock the body and anchor the soul!
She had drawn it.
Right there on the ground.
As if she had copied the Yaoshan Sword Sect’s Swords Descend Formation down to this spot.
Though it was far from comparable to the real Swords Descend Formation, it already possessed a hint of its essence and might!
“Hummmmmmmmm!”
Sounds of resonance vibrated as the seventeen Sect Master Ancient Swords emerged from the ground painting, looking like seventeen peerless warriors exuding a majesty that sent shivers down one’s spine.
The first Ancient Sword, with its large blade, flew into the sky and then violently plunged into the earth.
In an instant, like ripples on a lake, a huge sinking force pressed upon Yun Zhonghe’s shoulders. He let out a soft grunt, using his own Sword Qi Hong to resist.
But soon after, the second Ancient Sword, slender in shape, fell from the clouds and pierced obliquely into the ground not far from Yun Zhonghe.
Suddenly, an invisible mountain weight pressed on Yun Zhonghe’s back, bending his body down and almost making him face-plant into the mud!
The third Ancient Sword whirled rapidly, its blade serrated. As it spun, the air began to stir violently, and Yun Zhonghe felt as if he were in the midst of a tsunami vortex, dizzy and nauseous.
As the fourth Ancient Sword appeared, Yun Zhonghe abruptly knelt to the ground, his knees seeming to shatter and making a bone-chilling crackling sound.
Yun Zhonghe was stubborn, though; he didn’t cry out.
His complexion was pale, his expression pained, but his eyes stubbornly glared at the painter Nan Lingsha.
“The Swords Descend Formation, I can only draw four swords But you have already lost,” Nan Lingsha approached and said to Yun Zhonghe.
Yun Zhonghe looked at her.
He saw that her cheeks, neck, and fair skin were bereft of even a single drop of sweat.