Chen Che’s eyes narrowed as well.
"Huh?"
Duobao was taken aback when he saw his opponent’s Sword Pill, but he quickly burst into a cold laugh. "Elder Ning, that Sword Pill you spent hundreds of years forging still hasn’t fully formed... You think you can beat me with that?"
He had personally participated in the forging of Sword Pills, so he naturally knew what was wrong with Ning Canghai’s.
He figured that when Ning Canghai was in charge, he must have scoured the world for Exotic Copper and Iron to forge a Sword Pill. But something went wrong at the last moment. This Sword Pill had only barely taken shape. It might be superior to a Sword Box, but it could never contend with a complete Sword Pill.
"It’s more than enough to kill you!"
Ning Canghai said, his expression calm.
BOOM—
The next instant, a deafening explosion ripped through the air!
The Sword Pill seemed unable to maintain its form any longer and instantly shattered into countless streaks of lightning that shot forward. At the same time, Ning Canghai took a step. The step seemed casual, yet it was like stepping into a raging sea; the Spiritual Qi for hundreds of miles around began to boil.
Before countless astonished eyes, his entire body transformed into a stream of light and merged with the lightning.
"Hah—"
In a flash, the scattered bolts of lightning vied to wrap themselves around the stream of light, coalescing into a Seven-foot Cyan Thunder Small Sword.
"You’re insane!"
Duobao’s face paled in horror.
Only then did everyone understand why Wen Yangxi had said, "Was it really necessary?"
Ning Canghai was burning his own flesh, using his Divine Sense to guide the sword and forcibly compensate for the incomplete Sword Pill. From the moment he had stepped forward, he had already resolved to die!
None of the Golden Core Cultivators present could even imagine how terrifying the power of this attack was.
The Seven-foot Cyan Thunder Small Sword had only just formed when it tore across ten miles of empty space, leaving behind nothing but dreamlike ripples of thunder and lightning in the eyes of countless onlookers. In the blink of an eye, it was right in front of Duobao.
Duobao’s hair stood on end. Without a moment’s hesitation, he pointed forward, and his Blood Sword Pill shot out as a stream of light to meet the attack.
"BOOM!"
The two Sword Pills collided with shocking force.
Before everyone’s eyes, a Spiritual Light a hundred times more dazzling than the midday sun erupted, accompanied by a colossal roar that rivaled the descent of Celestial Thunder!
Vast Energy swept outward, and the allied camp of the two sects was instantly overturned as if by a hurricane. Even the Celestial River Heroic Pass was not spared. Chains shattered with a series of CRACKS, and the several-hundred-zhang-tall city walls began to peel away layer by layer.
The Foundation Establishment Cultivators watching the battle were sent flying, and even the Golden Core Cultivators had no choice but to retreat again and again!
"What’s the outcome?"
In everyone’s opinion, the attack Ning Canghai had unleashed by burning his Divine Soul was unparalleled in this world. It was aimed at mutual destruction; no matter how strong Duobao was, he shouldn’t have been able to block it. The people of Jinyun Valley also stared with wide eyes, hoping the two would perish together.
After all, as long as that fiend Duobao lived, he would remain a constant menace.
However, at that very moment, a wild laugh echoed from within the Spiritual Light:
"Ning Canghai, you wanted to take me down with you. What about now?"
"What in the world is going on?"
Everyone strained their eyes, trying to see clearly what had happened.
They saw the Spiritual Light gradually dim, revealing an astonishing scene between heaven and earth—
Ning Canghai, his body now a semi-transparent phantom, held the Cyan Thunder Longsword, its tip pressed against a blood-red longsword. That blood-red longsword had grown dim and was even covered in cracks. Duobao, who held it, was bleeding from his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose.
It seemed that with just a little more force, he could have shattered his opponent. But Ning Canghai’s Divine Sense was exhausted, and he could not press on.
WHOOSH—
A gentle breeze blew past, and Ning Canghai’s form instantly turned to smoke and quietly dissipated. Along with him, the incomplete Sword Pill also vanished into motes of Spiritual Light...
"Did you notice?"
Chen Che’s gaze sharpened as he asked in a low voice.
"!?"
Zhao Shifeng was stunned.
Meng Qianxun, Meng Changtu, and Xiao Chan were all clueless.
It wasn’t just them. Chen Che’s gaze shifted to powerful figures like Wen Yangxi, Jiang Shaotian, Qiu Tianshui, and Ping Miaoxuan. Their eyes showed regret, pity, glee, or ecstasy—but no other emotions were mixed in.
"What is it?"
Chen Xi asked in a low voice.
"Perhaps it was just my imagination..."
Chen Che shook his head.
Hearing him say that, the others didn’t press him further and turned their attention back to the battlefield.
Having blocked Ning Canghai’s suicidal attack, Duobao was also severely injured. Without another word, he retreated to his camp, where the cultivators of the Primordial Sect’s Sacrificial Hall immediately surrounded him in a protective formation.
Of course, the cultivators of Mist Rain Tower’s White Tiger Hall were weeping bitterly.
Their situation was similar to that of the Azure Dragon Hall during the Chu State ambush; they had lost two top-tier figures in a single day. The Azure Dragon Hall was better off, as its foundation was solid. The Old Hall Master was still alive, and the new Hall Master had just proven his might in the recent battle.
The White Tiger Hall, however, had expended a vast amount of resources years ago when Ning Canghai was forging his Sword Pill, leading to a gap in the next generation of talent. Their third-in-command was only at the Golden Core Fourth Layer, and the remaining seven or eight Golden Core Cultivators had all achieved Core Formation within the last century.
For a time, a grim gloom hung over the upper echelons of the White Tiger Hall...
However, on the battlefield, the weak receive no sympathy.
No one was paying attention to the White Tiger Hall anymore. But the deaths of the two Sword Cultivators, especially Ning Canghai’s final, death-defying charge, had ignited the fury of the Mist Rain Tower cultivators. A Talisman Cultivator from the Black Tortoise Hall stepped forward.
Immediately, someone from the Star-Picking Sect stepped out to face him.
After a brief discussion, the two began to paint talismans in the void, using the world as their talisman paper and their blood as the Talisman Brush. Every stroke that fell carried with it flashes of lightning and thunder, a truly magical sight. Seeing this, Hu Yao took out a Memory Bead he had prepared earlier and began to record everything.