Chapter Four Hundred and Thirty Six – The Unforeseen Consequences of Lei Peng’s Blow
The first level of sword essence, preliminary comprehension of sword essence; second level of sword essence, Heart Turn Sword Essence; third level of sword essence, sword essence manifestation.
Comprehending sword essence for a sword xiu meant they had talent and potential above others. When Wei Sheng had stepped into the second level when he was in ningmai, he had shocked many.
Comprehending sword essence was not as rare and attention-catching in other regions as it was in Sky Moon Jie. Large sects had numerous methods to allow their disciples to comprehend sword essence. For example, the sword cauldron, at its core use was similar to Zuo Mo’s five element sword formation.
However, comprehending sword essence was just the first step through the door, and the path onwards was not a smooth one. A disciple that comprehended the third level of sword essence in ningmai would not be ignored even those large sects that were full of geniuses.
The first two levels did not increase the power of sword moves greatly. The second level, Heart Turn Sword Essence, was also extremely unstable. But when sword essence reached the third level, and it could manifest, the power of each sword move would skyrocket!
So when the other side saw Ma Fan’s sword essence manifestation, many were very shocked.
Of course, they were just shocked, but no one was afraid. They were a battalion that were from Kun Lun. Geniuses were not rare in Kun Lun. While disciples that comprehended the third level of sword essence in ningmai did not fill the streets, they were not preciously rare. Even those subordinate sects had many.
On top of that, they had finished forming their formation. This filled them with confidence towards the oncoming assault.
Almost all battle formations had a similar attribute. That was once their assault started, it would be relentless, one wave after the other.
Seeing Ma Fan stop the seven sword energies, the battle formation changed again.
Seven people to each troop forming a small seven star formation. Seven troops to a team, forming a large seven star formation.
The one who was leading the Twinkling Brilliance team was a jindan sword xiu, He Jian. He was in charge of this seven star formation made up of forty nine people. When he saw the other’s sword move, he too had been slightly shocked. The other’s sword essence level was even one above his own. But he did not feel nervousness. At a glance, he saw that the cultivations of this group of people were all ningmai.
The gap between ningmai and jindan was deep. Even if the other had one whose sword essence was one level above his, they were not a match for him!
A fierce smile floated upon He Jian’s lips!
Who cares what genius that was; by his hands, someone like that would only die!
He opened his mouth and spat out a blue sword pill!
The sword pill was just the size of a rice grain, but it grew when it came into contact with the air. After flying for ten zhang, it had expanded to more than three zhang wide. Pulling along a long blue tail of light, it was like an enormous, blue axe that howled as it charged at Ma Fan’s group!
The howling was like sobbing wails, shocking people’s souls!
The other forty eight sword xiu saw their Head attack and showed smiles of relief. During all their time together, they had never seen a sword xiu below jindan escape Head’s attack!
The fight was going to end!
He Jian’s sword energy came extremely quickly and grew bigger. When it came near Ma Fan and the others, the sword energy was almost enough to cover all of them!
The sword essence was sharp and intimidating, pressing straight at their heads and making them feel it was unstoppable!
A jindan’s attack had an extraordinary presence!
———
On the Black Turtle, Xie Shan looked at the smile the sword xiu were showing. He twisted his mouth. “Pitiful Ma Fan, he is being underestimated again.”
“So pitiful … …”
“Pitiful? That Ma Fan is laughing inside, if he’s able, he’ll put on a sheepskin, this guy is black on the inside!”
The crowd discussed heatedly.
———
Ma Fan looked at the incoming sword energy. His eyes unconsciously narrowed as his figure suddenly flashed to the side.
Half a body-length behind him was Lei Peng. His eyes glaring angrily, he raised the Gold Crystal broadsword. His legs bent slightly at the knee in the sky as though there was invisible ground beneath the feet. All the muscles in his body expanded, the ling power gathered like a burning flame and erupting from his body.
But all of this was silent as though he was a statue.
It made everyone feel an extreme contrast. Lei Peng was covering the raging sword energy with a suppressing silence.
The enormous sword energy that came with a long dazzling tail tore at the air, rumbling like thunder.
Extreme movement against extreme stillness, roaring thunder against deathly silence!
At this moment, the two conflicted natures formed a frightening scene!
Lei Peng seemed to return that battle, the moment right before the three of them had fainted. All the ling power in his body was like burning flames that burned every strand of his nerves in this soundless silence!
The blurry scene, the distant voice, the unwilling roar … …
The chaos flashed through his mind like a tide. The rough sword hilt he was tightly grasping gave him a thread of security, a thread of clarity!
Something seemed to flow through his mind.
This single thread of clarity was lightly plucked like an invisible chord.
Without any hesitation, the ling power flooded into the sword hilt by travelling through his arms and then palms. The raised broadsword moved in a single motion, swinging up and then down in the air!
The restlessness disappeared, the howling disappeared, all sound seemed to disappear in this instant!
A silent blow!
———
Far away, He Jian’s expression changed dramatically. Terror showed in his eyes. Before he could react, the other’s broadsword struck his flying sword!
Zzzt!
The sound was like a cloth being torn and scratched through the air in an unusually clear manner. The enormous blue curtain of light was cleaved by this blow.
He Jian grunted; his face pale, and his eyes shocked! He was injured! He didn’t believe it, he had actually been injured! And injured by a ningmai!
His flying sword was destroyed! The other’s blow that brutally cleaved his flying sword into two!
For any sword xiu, their flying sword was connected with their life. If the flying sword was damaged, the sword xiu would also be heavily wounded!
It was the first time he had been so heavily wounded!
What was so hard for him to accept was that the other was a ningmai sword xiu!
How was this possible … …
His gaze was unfocused and his expression blank.
———
Ma Fan and the others were also shocked by Lei Peng’s blow. One move heavily injuring a jindan sword xiu, such an absurd event had truly happened right in front of them.
But when they noticed that Lei Peng was maintaining his attacking posture motionlessly like a statue, all of their expressions changed!
Damn it!
This guy was having an epiphany at this time! Ma Fan groaned inside. This was the battlefield!
An epiphany was a rare chance for a breakthrough and would occur randomly. No one knew what could consistently initiate epiphanies, but everyone knew that epiphanies were chances for a breakthrough! Yet if the state of epiphany was disturbed, that was undoubtedly wasting a great opportunity!
No one knew when the next epiphany would be activated.
But Ma Fan reacted quickly. He advanced rather than retreating, shouting, “Kill!”
At this time, the other side’s expert was heavily wounded, and their formation was at its weakest. In a conflict of dozens of people, one jindan xiuzhe could be the decisive factor in the fight.
If they shrank back at this time, it would give the other time to react. This was the other’s territory. If the enemy reacted under such conditions, then they, Ma Fan’s side, would be in danger.
Attack in substitute of defense was the wiser choice. As to the rest, they would have to rely on Gongsun Daren!
The inexperience of Ming Lie Battalion was given full exposure at this time. These sword xiu that had assumed that victory was in their grasp and hadn’t thought that the situation would suddenly reverse. This caused them to be two whole beats late in reacting, only then did they muster a panicky response.
On the battlefield, especially fights in such a small area, two beats slower was enough to be fatal!
Compared to the other side’s panic, the Sky Peak Platoon with Ma Fan at the lead didn’t hesitate and used their full power in their first attack!
The sword energies were like a sun that rose, unable to be looked at directly!
Three section wave killing charge!
They were like a burning blade that sliced through butter!
Fifteen sword xiu were killed upon contact!
The ling armor on their bodies only gave them a brief respite before their armor cracked like eggshells. The [Sharpness] formation technique on the Gold Crystal sword was used to great effect at this time. The fifteen sword xiu didn’t even have the time to wail before they were perforated, and lost their life!
Succeeding in the first attack, Ma Fan and the others didn’t hesitate and launched the second wave!
Only now did the enemy sword xiu seem to wake up and raise their swords to resist in panic.
Ma Fan looked at these slow opponents as though he was looking at a crowd of sheep waiting for slaughter. He did not show mercy.
How could the panicking sword xiu be a match for Ma Fan and the others?
Among the criss-crossing sword energies, blossoms of blood sprayed. The fragility of life showed itself. In a blink, another ten sword xiu lost their lives.
In just two waves of attack, more than half of the other’s division had been lost!
———
All of Ming Lie Battalion was shocked by such a ferocious attack. The pride in their hearts disappeared without a trace in front of those cold and bright sword energies.
Ming Lie’s expression also changed. The capabilities of this little troop of ningmai surpassed his imagination!
He didn’t know what those gold flying swords were made up of, but were at least fifth-grade. What shocked him the most was that every person in this little troop had at least comprehended the second level of sword essence. There were even several in the third level!
Truly elite!
Coldness flashed through his eyes. He did not feel fury at the fatalities of He Jian’s little team. For any battle general, it was a basic skill to maintain calm in the face of fatalities.
At the same time, he noticed the motionless Lei Peng. An epiphany?
A dark smile floated to the corner of his mouth.
A ningmai sword xiu that heavily wounded a jindan with one blow and activated an epiphany, there probably wouldn’t be a battle general that would be willing to give up this kind of subordinate!
Ming Lie admired that team leader’s response. But how could he not take advantage of such a good opportunity?
The strength of this little group of elite astonished him greatly, but he believed that this kind of elite skill couldn’t be the level of the entire troop. He was considering if he could capture these elite people alive and persuade them to follow him.
Calming down, Ming Lie quickly threw these absurd thoughts to the back of his head. What was most important now was to achieve victory!
The battle formation quickly changed and pushed towards Lei Peng’s position.
Inside the Black Turtle, Gongsun Cha lightly laughed. “This guy’s luck is pretty good.
As he finished, his expression suddenly became cold. He said peacefully, “Attack!”
The battlefield was full of unpredictable factors. No one had expected Lei Peng’s sudden epiphany. This caused the two sides to directly enter battle without sufficient probing!
Translator Ramblings: The plot is running in the same spot … … a little bit of character development.