“What’s going on? The power of this array is not right!”
Huyan Yong felt a chill run down his back when he sensed the surging killing intent from the Nine Heavens Road.
Feng Ruoqing knitted her brows and said, “Why would the third stage have such incredible power?”
“That’s right! I was also present back then when Mo Yuntian challenged the Nine Heavens Road. There wasn’t such a piercingly cold sword intent from the third stage!”
“Could it be because Ye Yuan comprehended Heart Like Still Water?”
Huyan Yong sucked in a deep breath and said, “The Nine Heavens Road’s array will become stronger when it encounters someone stronger. Could it be that the Nine Heavens Road’s judgment of Ye Yuan had already surpassed Mo Yuntian? But he’s only at the Ninth Level Essence Qi Realm!”
“Even though he’s only at the Ninth Level Essence Qi Realm, Mo Yuntian had not comprehended Heart Like Still Water. It was said that he crossed the second stage with a ragged appearance, far from how effortlessly Ye Yuan did it.”
“There’s only this explanation. Hopefully, nothing happens to Ye Yuan.”
No matter how they guessed, they would never have guessed that the array possessed such incredible might because Ye Yuan himself requested for it.
To make the guardian of the stage invoke the array at full power, Ye Yuan was probably unprecedented and unrepeatable.
At the foot of the mountain, many students were forced back by the raging sword intent. The initially packed plaza was currently split into multiple segments.
The front rows were mainly Spirit Condensation Realm students. They were still able to withstand the encroachment of the sword intent.
Behind them was a vast stretch of empty space, and behind the empty space were those Earth Rank students. Those even further out at the periphery were students with inadequate strength.
Ye Yuan who was residing at the heart of the storm, on the other hand, did not show the slightest signs of discomfort towards the violent sword intent. He stood with his hands behind his back while the fierce wind worked up by the sword intent tore his clothes. But Ye Yuan himself remained completely unmoved like a pine tree.
But at this moment, Ye Yuan’s disposition was drastically different from usual. It was as if his entire being had transformed into a sharp sword, and he was resonating with those raging sword intents.
” Mm? You actually have your own sword intent as well!” Seeing the situation, Lu Yan was completely taken aback, as his voice transmitted from the void.
“This Junior was lucky to have comprehended some sword intent. Compared to Senior You Wuya’s sword intent, it’s still far from it. It’s just able to forcefully protect myself.”
Ye Yuan was just being modest. How could his Falling Flower Floating Zero Sword Intent possibly be inferior to You Wuya’s?
Except, Ye Yuan’s current cultivation realm was not high, and he himself also had the intention of restraining his sword intent to protect his body. That was why he did not unleash it around.
But in terms of the sword intent’s level, You Wuya was just a Lower Realm expert back then. How could he possibly be mentioned in the same breath with Ye Yuan?
One had to know that when Ye Yuan created the Falling Flower Floating Zero Sword, even the Extreme Sword Divine King could not stop praising it!
“Alright. Since that’s the case, you have to be careful! I’m going to attack now!” Lu Yan’s voice transmitted over.
Ye Yuan replied indifferently, “Feel free to attack, Senior!”
Then Ye Yuan trod across the steps while braving the sword shadows filling the skies.
One step, second step, third step . . .
Ye Yuan walked all the way for 30 steps, yet the azure sword shadows which filled the skies did not descend from start to the end. It just kept accumulating more and more.
It was evident that Lu Yan had already pushed the quantity of these azure sword shadows to the limits, all for the final 33 steps where the attack would begin to land.
Under so many sword shadows’ descend, even steel would also be shredded to rotten mud.
These sword shadows were formed by sword intent. Under the influence of Lu Yan, the killing power would be extremely bloodcurdling.
The students who challenged the stage in the past, including Mo Yuntian, all faced almost certain death under these sword shadows.
But the sword shadows that Ye Yuan was facing currently were several times, even dozens of times greater than what the others had experienced! Even if a Spirit Condensation Realm came to the third stage, it would be tough to say whether or not they would be able to retreat fully!
But Ye Yuan was presently behaving like nothing was wrong, and he strode out to the first of the 33 steps without hesitation!
As expected, the sky full of sword shadows stabbed towards Ye Yuan like raindrops and looked like it was about to pierce Ye Yuan full of holes like a beehive.
Right at that moment, Ye Yuan wielded his fingers like a sword and pointed to those sword shadows. A streak of faintly discernable sword qi shot towards those sword shadows.
The imperceptible sword qi was engulfed instantly!
Ye Yuan did not seem to give up resisting. His sword fingers drew a half-arc in midair and finally pointed to his right.
At the next moment, an unimaginable scene occurred!
The sword rain which obscured the skies actually collectively flew out to the right of Ye Yuan in front of that arc Ye Yuan drew before him and vanished entirely into the void!
“What? Yo– How did you do that?” From the void came Lu Yan’s alarmed voice.
Ye Yuan smiled and said, “Senior, this Junior has some understanding in the application of sword intent. These sword intents might appear to be extremely powerful, but in reality, they are just rootless grass. scattered and not condensed. I used sword intent to tow them, so they would naturally deviate off course. This is an artful way of using a weaker force to deal with a greater force.”
“Sss . . . Have some . . . understanding?” Lu Yan muttered to himself.
This sort of thing was easy to say, but to actually do it was extremely difficult!
Forget about ‘some knowledge’ towards sword intent, it would be incredibly arduous for even those who ‘understood sword intent very well’ to do this!
Lu Yan spent his entire life immersed in the Azure Dipper Purple Yang Sword Art, and he had remarkably profound understanding towards sword intent. But if he were the one just now, he might perhaps be able to do it, but he definitely could not do it like how Ye Yuan lifted a heavy object as if it was light!
Only now did Lu Yan knew just how exaggerated Ye Yuan’s ‘some understanding’ was.
But this way, Lu Yan could finally put his heart completely at ease. He could also totally unleash the array formations at the back now. The greater Ye Yuan’s strength was, the higher the hopes of the Tranquil Cloud Sect returning to the Northern Domain!
The second of the 33 steps, the quantity of the sword intent decreased to a thousand.
This time around, Ye Yuan used two fingers before he could draw the sword intent away.
The third of the 33 steps, the quantity of the sword intent decreased by another ten times. There were only a hundred!
This time around, Ye Yuan unleashed five fingers!
. . . . . .
The number of sword intents of the Azure Dipper Purple Yang Sword Art became increasingly lesser, while the number of fingers Ye Yuan used progressively increased.
It was very clear that while the number of sword intents lessened, the power was multiple times greater than before!
“The Azure Dipper Purple Yang Sword Art truly lives up to its reputation. To have such incredible power! The attack of my Falling Flower Floating Zero Sword is lacking, but it has no flaws to be exploited when using it for defense. Even so, this one hundred sword intents could actually force me to use five fingers. Truly impressive!” Ye Yuan was also full of praise in his heart.
In a blink of an eye, Ye Yuan had already arrived at the final step of the 33 steps.
This time, only one beam of sword intent condensed in front of Ye Yuan!
But when Ye Yuan laid eyes on this sword intent, this face changed to a never before seen solemnness!
This streak of sword intent was where the true meaning of the Azure Dipper Purple Yang Sword Art lied!
Like before, Ye Yuan took a step forward. The sword intent did not strike immediately but gradually became corporeal.
“Be careful, Ye Yuan! This beam of sword intent is the pinnacle work of Founding Ancestor, You Wuya! It has unbelievable power. Even if you comprehended sword intent, you still have to be careful when dealing with it,” Lu Yan warned.
Ye Yuan said with a solemn face, “Many thanks for Senior’s warning. Ye Yuan knows!”
Previously, those sword intents were overflowing with sword qi. But this time around, Ye Yuan could not even feel the slightest trace of sword qi leaking out!
From this, one could tell just how consolidated this streak of sword intent was!
When Ye Yuan’s foot landed on the Nine Heavens Road’s 999th step, the streak of sword intent finally mobilized!