"Hmph?"
The sudden turn of events made Qin Changkong narrow his eyes.
Within the Domain of the Sword.
He should have been the undisputed king, the sole master.
Yet now, the sword energies he unleashed were being repelled by Bai Zihe's Xuanyuan Sword, all turning to attack him…
Such power.
Such skill.
It made Qin Changkong marvel with a tsk-tsk.
It was utterly unexpected.
Utterly unbelievable.
But following it came boundless joy, endless shock!
Qin Changkong showed no fear, his eyes shining.
The Xuanyuan Sword…
Such a divine weapon, ordinary people could not wield its supreme might, only able to unleash a fraction, a minuscule part, of its power.
Bai Zihe…
With his mere Mahayana realm cultivation, how much of the Xuanyuan Sword's power could he possibly manifest?
However, even this sliver of power was already so terrifying. If the Xuanyuan Sword's full might were unleashed, wouldn't it be capable of destroying the heavens and earth?
Excitement!
Boundless ecstasy!
Qin Changkong was nearly roaring with joy.
He was too thrilled.
He had initially thought Bai Zihe would only have some spirit stones and a Heaven-tier artifact, allowing him to evade his divine sense.
Now, it seemed, Bai Zihe's secrets went far beyond that!
As long as he could capture Bai Zihe, all of it would belong to him.
What an immense fortune this was!
"Shua!"
Without a second thought, Qin Changkong waved his hand. The myriad sword energies assailing him in an instant crumbled, as if they had never existed.
After all, these sword energies had sprung from his will, and it was just as easy to extinguish them.
"Oh?"
Seeing him dissipate them with a mere gesture, Bai Zihe was not surprised, merely tilting his head slightly.
The next moment.
Bai Zihe's gaze turned cold, a chilling smile curling his lips. Under Qin Changkong's fervent gaze, he slowly raised his hand.
"Weng…"
The Xuanyuan Sword erupted with a brilliant beam of light.
It was a sword energy.
A sword energy…
Truly emanating from a fraction of the Xuanyuan Sword's might.
As soon as it appeared.
Qin Changkong's Domain of the Sword began to crack and disintegrate, as if unable to withstand even the slightest aura leaked from the Xuanyuan Sword.
So decisive.
So swift.
"Rumble…"
With a thunderous roar, Qin Changkong's pride, the Domain of the Sword which he had used to suppress and kill countless opponents, was shattered!
Then.
That single beam of sword light slowly took form and cleaved down from the sky.
"Hmm…"
"Strong, indeed very strong."
Qin Changkong watched this sword energy, his pupils contracting slightly.
Even as a Tribulation-crossing realm expert, he felt a suffocating sense of destruction at this moment.
This sword energy…
If not handled properly, it would place him in extreme peril.
As cultivators, everyone possessed an extremely keen sense for danger.
The moment this thought formed in Qin Changkong's mind, his immediate impulse was to flee, as far as possible!
To avoid a direct confrontation with the Xuanyuan Sword!
However…
Just as this thought arose and before Qin Changkong could act, he felt the surrounding environment tighten.
At this moment, space was sealed… locked, rendering spatial traversal impossible.
And Qin Changkong also felt.
A deathly aura had already locked onto him.
"Not good!"
Qin Changkong's expression changed for the first time.
However, the sword energy was already within three feet of him.
In mere moments, it would strike him.
"Since it's like this then…"
Seeing escape was impossible, a fierce glint flashed in Qin Changkong's eyes. He would fight with all his might!
How many times had he fought to the death?
How many times had he cheated death?
How many times had he turned the tide from a desperate situation?
He, Qin Changkong, had roamed the Longevity Realm for hundreds of years, what kind of scenes had he not witnessed, what kind of opponents had he not encountered?
Today, he was only facing a cultivator of the Mahayana realm.
Even if that cultivator held the Xuanyuan Sword.
"Weng…"
The next moment.
Qin Changkong chose the more stable approach.
A strand of divine sense, like a venomous snake, stealthily infiltrated Bai Zihe's sea of consciousness.
In Qin Changkong's view.
Bai Zihe, with his mere Mahayana realm cultivation, his divine sense and soul power, would surely be no match for him, a Tribulation-crossing realm expert.
After all…
Divine sense strength was directly linked to one's cultivation realm, the soul was tied to willpower; these were all things that required time and arduous tempering.
Bai Zihe, reaching the Mahayana realm before the age of twenty, must have unstable foundations, or be excessively arrogant, making this area a likely weakness.
"Shua…"
Upon entering Bai Zihe's sea of consciousness, Qin Changkong immediately began searching for Bai Zihe's spiritual consciousness, intending to destroy it.
Just as…
Bai Zihe had killed Qin Changsheng back then.
However.
Qin Changkong froze the moment he casually scanned.
Within Bai Zihe's sea of consciousness, there were even more secrets.
There was the Haotian Pagoda suspended in mid-air, the faintly discernible Nameless Heavenly Book.
And various other profound elements.
Qin Changkong's soul was seized with terror at this moment.
With divine artifacts like the Haotian Pagoda protecting the soul, it was utterly impossible for him to shatter and destroy Bai Zihe's soul.
On the contrary.
He was highly likely to suffer a backlash and perish on the spot.
"You, you…"
Qin Changkong looked at Bai Zihe's soul, utterly shocked, unable to speak. Then, he turned and fled, wanting to escape Bai Zihe's sea of consciousness.
However, how could Bai Zihe give him such an opportunity?
"Since you've come…"
Bai Zihe's lips curled into a smile, and he said indifferently, "Then stay here forever!"
"Shua…"
As his words fell.
Qin Changkong felt the stars shift, and he found himself transported into an unfamiliar world.
Dominating the sky was a giant blood-red sun.
Blood flowed from it, blood mist swirled, carrying an endless chilling aura, an unfathomable and bizarre scene, striking fear directly from the depths of his soul.
On the ground…
Countless piles of bones formed mountains, and boundless bloody waters converged into a sea.
Among them were billions of skeletal warriors, wielding bone spurs as weapons, ferociously charging towards him.
And hundreds of thousands of demons and gods were striding forward.
With each step they took, the very heaven and earth trembled, revealing their formidable strength.
"Die."
At the end of the land stood a throne.
Upon the throne sat Bai Zihe.
He let out a soft shout, as if pronouncing judgment upon Qin Changkong, condemning him to this fate.
"Illusion?"
"Inner demon?"
Qin Changkong, after all, was an old hand, having cultivated for many years, what scenes had he not witnessed? He immediately identified the essence of it all.
"Break…"
With a roar, these phantoms all shattered.
And he himself…
Was still within Bai Zihe's sea of consciousness.
Unlike moments before.
A sword energy was now hurtling towards his brow.
"Shua!"
At this moment of life and death, Qin Changkong dared not be careless, immediately unleashing a sword energy to block.
However.
Bai Zihe already knew his techniques like the back of his hand.
This sword energy was emitted by the Xuanyuan Sword, which Bai Zihe had just recalled from his sea of consciousness!
The next moment.
The sword energy, like an unstoppable force, pierced through Qin Changkong's brow.
Qin Changkong's divine sense was utterly annihilated, no match for the Xuanyuan Sword, offering no resistance.
"Bang…"
In the outside world.
Qin Changkong's body, without the support of his divine sense, was merely a shell. It suddenly fell to the ground.
The third elder of the Heavenly Mountain Sword Sect, a master of the Tribulation-crossing realm, Qin Changkong, had thus perished!