The moment the scarlet torrent surged into Jiang Chen’s body, he felt as if his mind was forcibly split open, and a Sword Tomb was shoved inside.
Countless broken sword move projections, filled with sorrow and indignation, flickered madly in his Sea of Consciousness.
A young boy awkwardly swung a sword under a peach blossom tree, sweat drenching his clothes.
A young man, full of youthful vigor, astonished everyone with a single sword strike at the Family’s martial arts training ground.
A man, covered in blood, cradled his father's cold corpse, letting out a silent roar of anguish towards the heavens… These were the experiences of Ye Liuyun’s life.
Now, they all became Jiang Chen’s sustenance.
【Sword Dao Enlightenment (Incomplete)】: It doesn't mean you learned many exquisite sword techniques, but rather that you directly gained a part of the instincts and muscle memory of a “Sword Dao Genius.” When you see a falling leaf, your body instinctively knows how to strike with a sword to split it in half before it touches the ground.
“So… that’s how it is.”
Jiang Chen murmured to himself, blood-stained tears mixed with rain sliding down his face, yet his lips curved into a chilling smile.
He didn’t even have time to check the rapidly increasing “Formless Life Essence,” because a bone-chilling aura had already locked onto his back.
Zhao Wuliang.
This Elder of the Qingyun Sect, at this moment, had a face so grim it looked like it could wring out water.
He looked at Ye Liuyun, sprawled in the mud, his life force rapidly dissipating, even his threads of fate completely broken into nothingness; then he looked at Jiang Chen, standing there, his aura steadily climbing, and for the first time, shock, and a hint of… fear, appeared in his eyes.
If Jiang Chen destroying Lin Feng before was like throwing a pebble into a precise game of chess.
Then now, Jiang Chen devouring Ye Liuyun right in front of him was equivalent to flipping over the entire chessboard, then grabbing a chess piece and chewing it alive in front of the player!
This was no longer “anomaly”—this was “blasphemy”! It was the most blatant provocation against the Heavenly Dao itself!
“What… exactly are you?”
Zhao Wuliang spoke hoarsely, the Heavenly Secret Disc in his hand glowed brightly, and the surrounding air instantly became viscous, as if countless invisible threads wrapped around Jiang Chen from all directions.
He wanted to mobilize all the “coincidences” of this entire street to form a “certain” killing array!
In the next moment, the bluestone slab beneath Jiang Chen's feet would crack, causing him to lose balance.
The railing of the teahouse on the left would break, falling towards his waist.
A startled horse rushing out of the rice shop on the right would collide with his chest.
The sky, would even unleash an untimely dry thunderbolt!
In the Eye of Insight, all these “fate trajectories” were crystal clear, like a woven giant net, closing in on him.
A second ago, Jiang Chen would have had no choice but to flee in a desperate scramble.
But now… he moved.
He didn’t retreat, nor did he even look at Zhao Wuliang.
His gaze fell on the half-broken sword that he had kicked away, now lying quietly in a puddle not far away.
He reached out, grabbing it from a distance.
A suction force surged forth.
“Clang!”
The broken sword let out a mournful cry, leaped from the mud, and landed in his hand.
The sword body was broken, rusty, and felt like a cold piece of scrap metal in his hand.
But the moment Jiang Chen’s fingers touched the hilt, the fragmented sword move projections in his mind, as if finding an outlet, exploded!
He didn't even know what he was going to do; his body had already reacted a step ahead.
There was no spiritual power infused, no Sword Qi soaring.
He simply moved forward, delivering a plain, unremarkable sword strike.
This sword strike was slow, clumsy, even worse than a newly initiated sword apprentice.
However, the moment the sword tip cut through the rain curtain.
“Rip—!”
A soft sound, like fabric being torn, echoed in Jiang Chen’s ears and simultaneously in Zhao Wuliang’s heart.
That thickest brown thread of fate, which should have made the startled horse crash into him, was—in the Eye of Insight—forcibly severed by this sword strike!
At the corner of the street, at the entrance of the rice shop, the horse that was about to be startled suddenly snorted, lowered its head, and began to munch on the rotten vegetable leaves on the ground, as if nothing had happened.
Zhao Wuliang’s cold expression instantly froze.
How could this be?!
He manipulated “Heavenly Secrets,” and fiddled with “fate,” not by brute force, but by going with the flow, using countless “small trends” to converge into a “grand trend.”
These threads of fate were formless and intangible; unless one's cultivation was several great Realms higher than his, crushing them with absolute power, they simply could not be interfered with!
How could this anomaly “see,” and even “sever” it?!
“Is it that sword?” Zhao Wuliang’s gaze sharpened.
No.
That’s not right.
It’s that person!
Jiang Chen did not stop.
He swung the sword back again, casually slashing at the air to his left.
“Crack.”
The thread of fate indicating the “teahouse railing breaking” snapped in response.
Upstairs, a waiter happened to poke his head out, saw the shaky railing, cursed under his breath, and reached out to straighten it.
Jiang Chen then twisted his wrist, the sword tip pointing downwards, and gently tapped the ground.
“Thump.”
It sounded like tapping an empty drum.
The thin thread causing the “bluestone slab to crack” also shattered.
A passing child happened to step on that loose stone slab; the slab wobbled, but the child stood firm and even turned back to make a face at the ground.
In just three breaths, three sword strikes.
The killing array Zhao Wuliang had laid out was utterly broken.
Those “coincidences” he had forcibly twisted returned to their original trajectories.
The entire world, at this moment, seemed to become “normal” again.
“Pfft—”
Zhao Wuliang was struck heavily, violently spitting out a mouthful of fresh blood, his face instantly turning pale.
Forcibly altering fate would naturally incur a backlash, but as a “Corrector,” protected by the Luck of the Heavenly Dao, he could minimize the backlash.
But now, what Jiang Chen had severed was not his spell, but Karma itself!
This caused those backlash forces to surge unimpeded, all of them striking him directly!
“You… you severed the Heavenly Secret…” Zhao Wuliang looked at Jiang Chen, his eyes filled with disbelief and horror.
This person was not fighting against “techniques”; he was fighting against “rules”!
Jiang Chen did not answer him.
At this moment, his condition was also not good.
With each sword strike, he could feel that the “Sword Dao Enlightenment” talent he had just acquired was rapidly being consumed.
It was a sense of fatigue originating from the Soul, as if an infant who had just learned to walk was forcibly made to run a marathon.
At the same time, the “Formless Life Essence” within him was surging violently.
They spontaneously attached themselves to the broken sword, and it seemed to be this power that gave the ordinary iron broken sword the attribute of severing “invisible things.”
He understood.
“Formless Life Essence” was the fuel.
“Sword Dao Enlightenment” was the engine.
And he himself was the driver holding the steering wheel.
He raised his head, looking at the pale-faced Zhao Wuliang, and for the first time, a gleam of “hunter” appeared in his blood and rain-soaked eyes.
“Old man,” his voice was hoarse, “Now, who is ‘correcting’ whom?”
Before his words finished, he moved!
He shot forward like an arrow released from a bowstring, charging towards Zhao Wuliang with resolute killing intent!
He knew he was very weak, but he also knew that Zhao Wuliang, having suffered backlash and his mind in disarray, was at his weakest moment!
This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!
“You brat! How dare you!”
Zhao Wuliang was both shocked and enraged; he, a dignified Elder of the Qingyun Sect, a fate corrector, was severely wounded by the backlash from an “anomaly” he regarded as an ant, and it even dared to attack him actively!
He roared, forcibly suppressing his surging Qi and blood, and struck out with a palm!
Without mobilizing Heavenly Secrets, it was pure, condensed spiritual power to the extreme.
The palm wind howled, carrying a majestic and righteous pressure, as if to purify all the filth in this rainy night.
Facing this palm strike capable of splitting stone tablets, Jiang Chen did not dodge or evade.
In his eyes, there was only the most solid and complex thread of fate representing Zhao Wuliang's “main body.”
He forced out all the remaining “Formless Life Essence” in his body and poured it into the broken sword!
Then, facing that palm wind, he delivered his fourth sword strike of the night!
This sword strike no longer held any awkwardness or clumsiness.
It fused Ye Liuyun's lifelong grief and indignation, and Jiang Chen's own resolute determination to break free from his shackles.
On the sword body, a faint scarlet glow even lit up, like a flickering candle in the wind!
Rain of Sorrow Sword Intent!
The sword tip and the palm wind collided violently in mid-air!
There was no earth-shattering roar.
Only a faint “whoosh” sound, like a red-hot iron plunged into cold water.
Zhao Wuliang’s protective palm wind was actually torn open by that tattered broken sword!
The sword tip went straight in, pointing towards his glabella amidst Zhao Wuliang’s horrified gaze!
“Heavenly Secret… protect me!”
At the critical moment, Zhao Wuliang roared, and the Heavenly Secret Disc on his chest suddenly burst forth with a blue light, forming a light screen that blocked in front of him.
“Clang!!”
A crisp sound of metal clashing.
The tip of the broken sword was firmly pressed against the blue light screen, unable to advance another inch.
And Jiang Chen, exhausted of strength, went limp and half-knelt on the ground, panting heavily.
Zhao Wuliang, still shaken, stared at the sword tip so close to him, cold sweat streaming down his forehead.
Just a little… just a little more, and he would have been slain on the spot by an “anomaly” who had just stepped into the threshold of cultivation!
Boundless humiliation and lingering fear transformed into monstrous killing intent.
“You, deserve to die!”
He roared, about to activate the Heavenly Secret Disc to completely crush Jiang Chen.
But at that moment, Jiang Chen looked up and smiled at him.
There was no frustration of failure in that smile, only the delight of having succeeded.
Zhao Wuliang’s alarm bells rang loudly.
He suddenly lowered his head.
He saw that although the tip of the broken sword was blocked by the Heavenly Secret Disc, a faint, almost imperceptible wisp of power, carrying the aura of “Formless” and “Rain of Sorrow,” had penetrated the light screen and silently… imprinted itself on the surface of the Heavenly Secret Disc.
“Buzz—”
The Heavenly Secret Disc let out a violent wail, and a spiderweb-like crack actually appeared on its surface!
“My Heavenly Secret Disc!”
Zhao Wuliang let out a mournful cry; this Lifebound Treasure was connected to his Divine Soul, and the moment it was damaged, he felt as if his Divine Soul had been torn open.
He no longer cared about killing Jiang Chen, frantically retracting the Heavenly Secret Disc and using his spiritual power to warm the cracks on it.
And Jiang Chen, at the moment his mind was unguarded, used his last ounce of strength, grabbed the broken sword beside him, and turned to run.
He was like a wounded wild dog, limping but incredibly fast, disappearing at the end of the alley, melting into the vast shadows of Black Stone City.
The rain, at some unknown point, had stopped.
The cool moonlight streamed down from behind the clouds, illuminating the deserted street, and also Zhao Wuliang’s face, which was extremely distorted by anger and humiliation.
He stared intently in the direction Jiang Chen had disappeared, his chest heaving violently.
After a long while, he finally squeezed out a few words through gritted teeth.
“Pass on my decree… inform the seven great Sects, and issue a ‘Mandate of Heaven Kill Order’!”
“This fiend is no longer an ‘anomaly,’ but a ‘Sky Devil’!”
“Slay him… at all costs!”