Chapter 706: Eight Directions Thunder Roaring

Huang Qing believed that breaking through a single bolt of heavenly lightning would not be difficult for Xu Fengnian, but he absolutely did not believe Xu Fengnian could suffer punishment on behalf of another. This was akin to the imperial court, where even if someone like Tuoba Bodhisattva possessed unparalleled martial arts and immense military merits, they could not prevent the Northern Mang Empress from executing someone in her rage. It was not about the level of cultivation; the Dao of Heaven had its own rules. Yet, the scene before him forced Huang Qing to believe, as it truly surpassed the imagination of Jian Qi Jin of Northern Mang.

After the Bronze Man Ancestor summoned his hundreds-of-feet-tall, solemn Heavenly King Dharma Body—a colossal figure towering over all, its head level with the black clouds—his true body approached Huang Qing. Though a blade had pierced his chest, no blood flowed. This deeply hidden exiled immortal calmly explained: "This young man anticipated Xu Longxiang's breakthrough day and had already laid groundwork for it. However, I don't know what secret art he used to transfer Xu Longxiang's qi-fate to himself. Such a reverse method will only incur more retribution from the Dao of Heaven."

Huang Qing had a sudden realization and exclaimed, "It's likely that the Talisman General Red Armor, which recently resurfaced, is at play. Otherwise, for Xu Longxiang, with his vajra-like physique from birth, adding an extra set of talisman armor to boost combat power would be like drawing legs on a snake. Originally, I thought it was a curse from Longhu Mountain, the ancestral home of Taoism, used to suppress Xu Longxiang's realm advancement. Now it seems I still underestimated Xu Fengnian's schemes. Huang Qing once happened to hear that Patriarch Lu of Wudang Mountain possessed a 'cup overturning the sea' technique. If I'm not mistaken, that talisman armor is the 'cup,' used to transport Xu Longxiang's qi-fate."

The Bronze Man Ancestor, whose aura was surging, thought for a moment and nodded, "That's probably it."

This Ancestor, despite all his calculations, had not anticipated the young man's immediate use of his left-hand blade, directly forcing him into this battleground. The strike was swift and decisive, infused with a profound technique similar to that used by an unnamed Taoist master a century ago to seal the demon Liu Songtao. Even the Bronze Man Ancestor could only retreat repeatedly, unable to resist. Had Xu Fengnian not chosen to proactively withdraw his blade, being uninterested in killing, he might not have even been able to summon his Heavenly King Dharma Body and would have perished there. In the Bronze Man Ancestor's sight, Xu Longxiang finally, in a fit of rage, advanced into the Celestial Phenomenon realm. The aura of a malevolent flood dragon enveloped his entire body. At this point, Huang Qing was likely no match for him at all, and even his own Dharma Body might not be able to subdue him.

The Bronze Man Ancestor calmly said, "Huang Qing, you should retreat. The heavenly tribulation is about to descend; there's no need to be dragged down to perish together here."

Huang Qing replied bitterly, "Ancestor, if I retreat now, I would betray the sword in my hand and lose all hope of ever reaching the pinnacle of swordsmanship in this lifetime." He was well aware that whether the current crazed Xu Longxiang could withstand the heavenly tribulation was one thing, but he would certainly have enough energy to utterly overwhelm Huang Qing.

Huang Qing lowered his head, looked at the renowned sword 'Calming the Wind and Waves,' and exhaled slowly. A determined smile appeared on his face. He then looked forward, gripped his long sword, and stepped forward instead. "Sailing against the current, you either advance or retreat! Perhaps today is my opportunity to step into the Sword Immortal realm."

The Bronze Man Ancestor said softly, "My intuition tells me that today's events will be full of twists and turns. It's fine if you don't retreat. Keep an eye on those two brothers for me. I need to add some boiling water to the melting pot above us, to completely cut off Xu Longxiang's last sliver of life."

As the Bronze Man Ancestor slowly raised his hand beside Huang Qing, the colossal Heavenly King Dharma Body also lifted its arms, bringing its palms together abruptly. This action erupted in waves of golden ripples, and the reverberations lingered.

Something seemed to be forming in its palms.

Huang Qing held his sword upright in front of him, beginning to gather his power.

In the distance, another anomaly appeared: the arm Xu Fengnian had placed on Xu Longxiang's head pulsed with red threads, like hundreds of slender red snakes flicking their tongues in unison, frantically absorbing the seven or eight black flood dragon qi flames from Xu Longxiang. Those red threads were once the ultimate secret technique of Human-Cat Han Diaosi, used to kill Celestial Phenomena realm experts with a mere finger gesture. Now, Xu Fengnian was using them to "steal" his brother's Celestial Phenomenon realm.

The heavenly lightning, like colossal boulders, rumbled through the clouds that resembled black silk, growing even mightier. Thunder roared, purple lightning intertwined, and it was as if countless celestials in the heavenly court were angrily denouncing from the clouds above. When an ordinary man rages, blood spills five steps. When an emperor rages, millions lie dead. So, what would happen when the celestials in the Ninth Heaven raged at this moment?

Xu Fengnian withdrew his hand, gently pushed the motionless Xu Longxiang, sending his younger brother Huang Man'er several miles away.

Xu Fengnian looked up at the sky, where streaks of purple lightning moved through the clouds like flood dragons swimming through the sea. Holding the Beiliang Blade, Xu Fengnian gazed at the sky, chuckled without reason, and muttered to himself, "Xu Xiao, don't you think that scene resembles an imperial dragon robe?"

For the first time, Huang Qing felt awe toward a person. It was rumored that Wang Xianzhi once possessed the magnanimity to face the entire world as an enemy, his grandmaster demeanor far surpassing the other nine on the martial arts rankings. And at this moment, Xu Fengnian, facing the heavenly tribulation alone, also displayed a spirit capable of standing against an entire nation.

Huang Qing closed his eyes, and the memories of his life, from the moment he first held a sword to practice, flashed before him like a fleeting dream. After his 'Rules' sword strike yielded no effect, Jian Qi Jin's state of mind was damaged, almost like abandoning a mountain-building effort just short of completion. However, upon witnessing Xu Fengnian standing with his blade, he realized that the experience of others can help refine one's own. He seized the opportunity to touch the threshold of a Land Immortal. His previously unstable cultivation realm, surprisingly, improved steadily, turning misfortune into a blessing.

Huang Qing opened his eyes, his expression solemn. "I, Huang Qing, will forge a new sword by observing the descending lightning. Afterwards, I will salute you, King of Northern Liang, with a newly enlightened Sword Immortal strike."

Lightning flashed and thunder roared, as if a hole had been blasted open in the sky.

The second streak of purple lightning plummeted! It didn't strike directly on Xu Fengnian's head but landed dozens of yards in front of the young King of Northern Liang, then veered sharply to shoot toward him. Its momentum was like the charge of ten thousand iron cavalry.

Xu Fengnian crouched slightly, his right hand with two fingers pressed together, the tip of his left-hand blade pointed directly at the purple heavenly lightning. Xu Fengnian said in a deep voice, "River Sever." The purple lightning, like a surging flood, crashed towards him. Xu Fengnian cut it in half with a single strike. The massive purple current split into two, rushing past Xu Fengnian's left and right sides, and quickly dissipated between heaven and earth.

From the heavens, the angry shouts of celestials seemed to reverberate through the clouds: "A mere mortal, how dare you defy the Dao of Heaven?!"

Then, a third, even thicker streak of rolling thunder swiftly descended upon the human realm.

Xu Fengnian thrust the Liang Blade into the ground beside him and adopted a stance. He took a step forward, raised both hands, and drew a semicircle. A starting move that shook Kunlun! With a single palm, he forcefully bore the purple lightning. The sky, the clouds, and the purple lightning all seemed to descend together, and the ground itself sank. Xu Fengnian stood at the bottom of a crater tens of feet deep. In Huang Qing's eyes, the purple lightning exploded brilliantly, spreading across the earth like water from a shattered vat.

As Xu Fengnian picked up the Beiliang Blade again and walked out of the massive crater, the fourth, incomparably magnificent streak of purple lightning, after breaking through the lower cloud sea, suddenly splintered into tens of thousands of arm-thick purple bolts, which haphazardly struck towards Xu Fengnian. Heaven's net is vast and all-encompassing. Surrounded by enemies, thunder roared from all directions. Compared to Huang Qing's 'Rules' sword, which formed circles in its latter half, this was infinitely superior. Many purple bolts rapidly drilled into the ground, then swiftly erupted, incrementally cornering and closing in on Xu Fengnian. It was truly an earth-shattering sight.

Xu Fengnian silently uttered a single thought: Six thousand li.

Just as Xu Fengnian was facing the crucial moment of the fourth heavenly lightning strike, the hundred-zhang Dharma Body behind the Bronze Man Ancestor, whose hands were pressed together, suddenly spread them apart. A vivid, animated scroll appeared in the palms of its hands. There were Buddhas meditating and chanting sutras, making stubborn stones nod. There were True Persons sitting and discussing the Dao, with celestial maidens scattering flowers. There were scholars holding books, facing the Jieshi Stone in the east. There were Sword Immortals riding the wind in mid-air, strumming their swords and singing. There were divine generals on horseback, holding spears, their golden armor shining brightly.

Although Huang Qing knew the Bronze Man Ancestor was an exiled immortal, he had no idea that this Ancestor was precisely the immortal who once guarded the very gate of the Dao of Heaven! The figures in that scroll were clearly all individuals who had achieved enlightenment and ascended hundreds of years ago!

At this moment, the black tiger, which had been pacing anxiously away from the battlefield, suddenly obediently crouched down. A middle-aged Taoist priest with a refined appearance stood with his hands behind his back beside the black tiger, gazing at the Bronze Man Ancestor's Heavenly King Dharma Body with a faint, enigmatic smile. For eight hundred years in this world, no one possessed a more ethereal and Daoist bearing than him.