Chapter 705: The Strongest Hand, Bearing Heavenly Thunder

Xu Longxiang began his charge, his speed far surpassing what he had shown earlier against Huang Qing. The Taoist divine ability of "shrinking the ground to an inch" simply could not compare.

Taoist texts, in their praise of deities, describe a technique called "scattering beans to form soldiers," a phrase obviously intended to mislead rural villagers. However, Huang Qing's sword energy had already permeated the surroundings, creating a similar effect of "grass and trees becoming soldiers." More importantly, combined with his Zhixuan realm of insight, Huang Qing could precisely track Xu Longxiang's attack routes. Before Xu Longxiang could collide with him or the sword "Calming the Waves," he would inevitably encounter the subtle sword energy, as tiny as midges, that filled the air. This allowed Huang Qing to anticipate events and plan his actions accordingly.

Huang Qing anticipated Xu Longxiang would circle behind him to deliver a hammer-like strike to his back. He did not turn around, instead shaking his sword out of its scabbard by an inch. Simultaneously, a sword rainbow suddenly burst forth two *zhang* behind him, cutting across the sky. However, the expected scene did not occur; Xu Longxiang did not arrive as anticipated, rendering Huang Qing's preemptive sword move meaningless. What was more miscalculated was that Huang Qing, after his initial move, had already begun to set up a follow-up for the boy to break through the sword energy and rainbow. In a life-and-death struggle between top martial arts grandmasters, a hair's breadth can lead to a thousand-mile error. Indeed, Xu Longxiang, who had deliberately paused, his phantom-like figure finally appeared beside Huang Qing and charged into him. Huang Qing's internal energy flow, originally like a waterfall plummeting three thousand feet, forcibly shifted across several major acupoints, like a great river changing its course. Although "Calming the Waves" had no time to be fully drawn, Huang Qing swept it horizontally while still in its scabbard, and a blade aura cut out in an arc, fanning out to separate heaven and earth with magnificent momentum.

Among all martial arts, speed is paramount. Xu Longxiang did not retreat from the blade's edge; instead, with terrifying speed, he lowered his head, bent his waist, and continued to charge forward. With an unparalleled, ferocious shoulder blow, he sent Huang Qing flying a great distance.

Xu Longxiang ran straight across the ground. Almost instantly, he reached out and grabbed Huang Qing's ankle, pulling down hard. This not only pulled Huang Qing's body towards the ground but also directly tore apart the internal energy Huang Qing had just managed to activate.

Huang Qing crashed onto the ground, and Xu Longxiang delivered a ferocious kick!

Huang Qing, unable to voice his suffering, could only barely block the kick with his arm, and his body was once again sent flying into the air.

In an instant, the leaping Xu Longxiang struck his chest with an elbow, sending him back down to the ground.

A dark shadow descended from above. Xu Longxiang clasped his ten fingers together to form a fist. If this punch were to land squarely, let alone Huang Qing, even the indestructible Murong Baoding would likely be shattered into pieces.

Huang Qing's back hit the ground, facing Xu Longxiang who was rapidly descending from the sky. The hilt of "Calming the Waves" was pressed against the sandy ground, its scabbard pointing straight up at the unrelenting, berserk youth.

The sword launched from its scabbard.

The scabbard stabbed towards Xu Longxiang.

This was how the famous sword "Calming the Waves" was first drawn.

Xu Longxiang slammed his fists onto the scabbard, knocking it aside. His body only paused slightly before continuing its downward smash.

Huang Qing lightly slapped the ground with his left hand, and his body suddenly spun. This motion caused "Calming the Waves" in his right hand to unleash a dazzling, circular blade aura.

It was like a bright moon rising over the yellow sand desert.

Although this sword strike was made in haste and its momentum was far from its peak, "Calming the Waves," once drawn, was still extremely astonishing.

Unfortunately, the old saying held true: "When the Dao is a foot high, the Devil is ten feet high."

Xu Longxiang did not weigh the pros and cons at all. He simply used his fists to smash through the circular moon blade aura. This was truly what "breaking bamboo with irresistible force" meant; this was Xu Longxiang!

Huang Qing quickly tipped his sword, and his body drifted back over ten *zhang*. Xu Longxiang's fists slammed into the ground, and the deafening explosive sound penetrated to a depth of hundreds of *zhang* underground.

Huang Qing stood firm at a distance, tightly gripping his sword and raising his arm to shoulder height.

Blood trickled from the corner of "Sword Qi Near" Huang Qing's mouth.

The long sword in his hand did not emit sword energy or a green rainbow to display its power. Instead, it was like an immortal feasting on twilight clouds and dew, madly absorbing the surrounding "green mist."

As "Calming the Waves" was fully drawn, especially after it assumed a "whale-swallowing" posture, the sword energy around Huang Qing and Xu Longxiang, which was previously invisible, rapidly condensed. Like fireflies in a summer night sky, tiny specks flew into the tip of the long sword.

Huang Qing's title was "Sword Qi Near."

What did "Sword Qi Near" mean?

It meant that even before Huang Qing arrived or drew his sword, his sword energy was already like countless, imperceptible midges, "filling the sky as if rain were coming," densely spread throughout the world.

Huang Qing held his sword with one hand and kept the other behind his back. He looked up at the sky where some dark clouds were drifting, then lowered his gaze to the youth slowly rising from the crater.

Huang Qing said softly, "In a person's life, every step leaves a trace between heaven and earth. But most people's footsteps leave no lasting mark; wind blows away the sand, snow covers paths, and water erodes stone steps. I, Huang Qing, am no exception, but the sword in my hand is different."

With each word Huang Qing spoke, a duplicate "Calming the Waves" appeared and stacked in each of the four directions around his long sword: above, below, left, and right.

Layer upon layer, they remained perfectly still, unmoving as a mountain.

Soon, nearly three hundred identical "Calming the Waves" swords were stacked in front of him.

Xu Longxiang could no longer see Huang Qing, but he could faintly hear the voice of Northern Mang's foremost swordsman.

"In the past century, two generations of Sword Gods have emerged in the Jianghu. Li Chungang was renowned for his spiritedness; his sword opened the Heavenly Gate, and with a flick of his sleeve, a green dragon appeared. Deng Tai'a, on the other hand, was famous throughout the land for his swift sword, excelling in subtle precision among all swordsmen."

"Huang Qing is unwilling to follow their paths. The 'Calming the Waves' in my hand seeks only two words."

"Unmoving."

Between Huang Qing and Xu Longxiang, a majestic mountain of swords appeared. This sword mountain continuously grew and expanded, pushing forward layer by layer towards Xu Longxiang.

Xu Longxiang did not retreat but advanced. With a single charge, he broke dozens of long swords blocking his path, regardless of their height. After his forward momentum was stalled, he pulled with both hands, tearing apart another dozen "Calming the Waves" swords.

No matter how Xu Longxiang charged and used brute force to break the long swords, new swords always replaced them the very next moment. The youth, obstructed by the sword mountain and sword wall, clearly became enraged. He retreated a distance from the sword mountain before launching a swift charge. With one impact, he smashed through no less than a hundred "Calming the Waves" swords in a single breath, his entire body crashing into the sword mountain, creating an indentation in its core. But the next moment, the sword mountain began to grow on its own. Far from diminishing, its momentum forced the youth to retreat. Even as the youth planted his feet and tried to shoulder the mountain's forward movement, his feet still slid back step by step.

The youth simply braced against the sword wall with his head, then supported it with both hands.

The youth, leaning forward, roared and pushed forcefully.

It was like a wooden prop against a wall!

The entire sword mountain seemed to tremble slightly and hummed, the swords clanging like a swarm of mosquitoes.

But the sword mountain, whose forward advance was checked but whose height continued to accumulate, still slowly advanced with steadily increasing momentum.

The youth's forehead was already bleeding profusely, and his palms were raw and bloody.

Even his boots were worn through.

The youth suddenly turned around, spread his arms, and used his not-so-broad back to forcefully withstand the sword mountain.

The sword wall finally stopped!

High above the massive sword mountain, dark clouds gathered, and faint lightning and thunder rumbled.

The youth's pupils gradually constricted until they completely vanished.

Huang Qing said softly, "Your birth, Xu Longxiang, was not a matter of rules to begin with. You should not exist in this world for long. I will use rules to establish order."

Huang Qing, holding "Calming the Waves," drew a circle.

Such a simple movement, one that even a child could casually perform, was executed with extreme difficulty and stagnation by Huang Qing, whose sword energy reigned supreme.

Then the countless "Calming the Waves" swords that formed the mountain-like sword array began to shift their formation.

Long swords floated in the air around Xu Longxiang—in front, behind, and above him.

They formed a massive semicircle.

The tip of every "Calming the Waves" sword pointed towards the youth at the center.

Huang Qing looked towards the sky, following the back of the sword arc. The dark clouds grew thicker and sank lower, and purple lightning, as thick as a tree that required two arms to embrace, surged wildly.

Huang Qing, whose sword-wielding arm began to tremble, said softly, "Since you are seeking your own demise and aren't afraid of attracting heavenly tribulation, I will see you off on your final journey."

This last sword technique, named "Rules," Huang Qing had originally intended to use against Sword God Deng Tai'a in what would have been an unprecedented contest of speed versus slowness in the way of the sword. He never imagined it would be used on Xu Longxiang first.

Huang Qing suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, which splattered onto the long sword.

"Calming the Waves" fell to the ground.

The overwhelming semicircular sword array exploded with a roar.

Huang Qing's face was filled with shock and bewilderment.

In the distance, the youth stood bent over, his arms hanging low.

His face was obscured.

Seven or eight thick streams of dark energy, like evil flood dragons, freely coiled around the youth.

At this moment, Huang Qing's clothes fluttered without any warning.

The scene that flashed into view filled "Sword Qi Near" Huang Qing with horror.

Grandmaster Tongren was stabbed in the abdomen with a blade. He crashed forward, traveling a distance, as both he and the assailant, along with the blade, continued their charge, crashing into a hill.

A massive hill instantly shattered. The next sand dune was just as fragile, like a firecracker in a child's hand during New Year's Eve.

Huang Qing turned his head and saw the person wielding a left-hand blade standing still. Further in the distance, where a hill had exploded, Grandmaster Tongren rose amidst the swirling sand. Rising with him was a majestic Heavenly King Dharma Body, a hundred *zhang* tall.

Could it be that Grandmaster Tongren didn't even have time to summon his Dharma Body after that person drew his blade?

So, King Beiliang, Xu Fengnian, just arrived like this?

Amidst his shock, Huang Qing, who caught a glimpse of the anomaly in the sky from the corner of his eye, also let out a sigh of relief.

"Even if you, Xu Fengnian, arrived so swiftly, it's still too late."

"The great tribulation has arrived."

"Seven layers of heavenly thunder are about to fall!"

"Each layer is more powerful than the last. What if you are a land immortal?"

With a resounding crash.

A bolt of purple heavenly thunder struck down towards Xu Longxiang.

Xu Fengnian completely ignored Grandmaster Tongren and "Sword Qi Near." He went straight for the surging heavenly thunder and swung his blade.

It was identical to the green dragon unleashed by the old man in sheepskin robes with a flick of his sleeve back then.

He directly shattered that bolt of heavenly thunder.

Huang Qing watched, dumbfounded. "Are these brothers always so unreasonable in their actions?"

"That's a massive lightning bolt, symbolizing heavenly tribulation!"

"Do you, Xu Fengnian, truly intend to withstand all seven layers of heavenly thunder alone?"

"The immortal Qi Xuanzhen, when he faced heavenly tribulation at the Demon-Slaying Platform back then, only managed to endure six layers of purple lightning."

Xu Fengnian stood beside Xu Longxiang, placing a hand on his brother's head. He said softly, "Huang Man'er, Father is gone, but as long as I am here, even if the sky falls, it won't be your turn to bear the burden."