"It's the Walking Envoy Ling Shuang!"
Dharma King Shuangji's eyes instantly burst with a look of ecstatic joy as he hurriedly bowed toward the direction from which the aura came, performing the most respectful etiquette of the Great Snow Mountain.
Before his voice faded, a figure in white already stepped through the void, halting in mid-air a hundred zhang up.
The newcomer wore immaculate white robes with a long saber hanging at his waist.
Just hovering there caused the surrounding space to ripple with fine, intricate ice patterns. His gaze swept across the entire scene, as if no one present was worthy of his attention.
This person was none other than the Walking Envoy Ling Shuang, one of the three Walking Envoys under the Great Snow Mountain Holy Lord!
In the Beicang Territory, who did not know of the three Walking Envoys of the Great Snow Mountain?
The Great Snow Mountain Holy Lord sat high upon the summit of the snow mountain year-round, never leaving the mountain for even half a step.
All matters of the world were delegated to the three Walking Envoys to handle on his behalf.
Whenever any of these three stepped out of the Great Snow Mountain, it was equivalent to the personal arrival of the Holy Lord himself. Their cultivation levels were unfathomably deep, and no one dared to underestimate them.
And the Walking Envoy Ling Shuang was one of those three.
Before the crowd had even recovered from the pressure emanating from Walking Envoy Ling Shuang, two more figures broke through the void, landing on his left and right sides.
These two were none other than the two Dharma Kings of the Great Snow Mountain.
With this, the momentum of the Golden Court and Great Snow Mountain faction surged instantly, rolling toward the State of Yan faction like a dark cloud pressing down on a city.
Di Cang and Lie Qiong, two top-tier grandmasters, coupled with the Great Snow Mountain Walking Envoy--
The surrounding swarm of watching experts held their breath, retreating frantically for fear of being caught in the impending heaven-shaking battle.
Everyone understood clearly that the appearance of Ling Shuang had completely unbalanced the situation.
On the State of Yan side, there was only Marquis of Zhenbei as a grandmaster-ranked expert, but on the opposing side, there were a full three grandmaster-rank powerhouses, along with a group of eyeing grandmaster experts.
Marquis Weiyuan furrowed his brows tightly. He had already been heavily injured by the sixth-turn exploding pill, and could not even display three tenths of his original strength. Looking at the opposing lineup now, his heart instantly plummeted to the bottom.
Lu Yunsong, Ye Chao, and the others also wore expressions that were grave to the extreme.
Everyone present knew in their hearts that the stalemate had reached a critical tipping point, and a monstrous battle was about to erupt instantly.
Even masters of their caliber who roamed far and wide, once plunged into slaughter of this level, would see their souls scatter and face eternal doom with a single misstep.
Shen Qinghong stood by Chen Qing's side.
Even though there were several grandmaster-ranked experts across from them, her footsteps did not retreat by even half a step.
Chen Qing gazed at the figure in white suspended high in the air, his heart sinking abruptly as his hand gripping the Jingzhe Spear unconsciously tightened.
He knew all too well what this situation signified.
The Great Snow Mountain, the Golden Court, and the State of Yan were separated by nothing more than a thin layer of window paper ready to be poked through.
Inside the ruins, the Golden Court Eight Tribes had laid out killing traps multiple times to encircle and annihilate him, and the various State of Yan experts had also joined forces to hunt down Ling Xuance, leaving no room for maneuver.
As one of the three Walking Envoys under the Great Snow Mountain Holy Lord, Ling Shuang's personal arrival at this moment was definitely not for mediation.
Thoughts spinning rapidly in his mind, Chen Qing silently took a few steps back without attracting attention.
This was certainly not out of a lack of responsibility on his part; rather, there were already several seventh-turn grandmasters openly present in the field, not to mention top-tier existences like Ling Shuang, and countless hidden murderous intentions still lurked in the dark.
If he was careless even slightly, it would lead to eternal damnation, so he had to reserve sufficient trump cards to guard against anyone launching a sudden sneak attack.
High up in the air, Ling Shuang's gaze swept indifferently across the entire scene, as if looking at a group of ants.
His gaze finally stopped on the empty space behind the State of Yan group, and his cold, clear voice rang out, instantly suppressing all the noise in the field: "Since you've arrived, come out."
A moment after the voice fell, the air rippled with several visible waves!
Several immensely tyrannical grandmaster auras swept across the land overwhelmingly like a tsunami, every single one steadily surpassing the level of a fifth-turn grandmaster. In an instant, they forcefully neutralized more than half of the pressure from the Golden Court and Great Snow Mountain faction, and the churning yellow sand filling the sky abruptly froze in mid-air under the collision of these auras.
The first to step through the void was Xie Mingyan of the Yunshui Supreme Sect.
He Sui in grey robes followed closely behind, his eyes sweeping coldly across the Golden Court members opposite them. The two of them landed neatly on the extreme left of the State of Yan camp, slightly nodding toward the Marquis of Zhenbei at the front of the formation as a greeting.
Chen Qing was all too familiar with these two; they were both top experts of the Yunshui Supreme Sect who had previously clashed with Hua Yunfeng at the Sunken Jiao Abyss, and their strength was truly extraordinary.
Xie Mingyan was already a seventh-turn grandmaster, ranking among the top three visible combat strengths of the Yunshui Supreme Sect, and He Sui also possessed the tyrannical cultivation of a sixth-turn grandmaster.
Following that, a figure broke through the void and walked out slowly.
The newcomer had white hair and a beard, yet his face was as smooth as jade. Clearly standing right there, he gave off an ethereal feeling of being completely integrated with heaven and earth.
The very instant he stood still, it caused Di Cang and Lie Qiong on the opposite side to turn their heads simultaneously, a flash of solemnity crossing their eyes.
"Greetings, Elder Xiao!"
Upon seeing this, Lu Yunsong and Jiang Tuo immediately quickened their paces forward, bowing deeply to the newcomer.
This person was none other than Xiao Changgeng, who ranked third among the nine grandmasters of the Taiyi Upper Sect. His cultivation had reached the peak of the seventh-turn, and he was renowned on the Beicang Grandmaster Rankings. Across the entire Taiyi Upper Sect, only the Sect Master and Feng Shuofang could surpass him by a notch.
Xiao Changgeng nodded slightly, a flash of biting coldness passing through the depths of his eyes before finally landing on the Marquis of Zhenbei, saying indifferently: "We have come to provide backup upon the orders of the Sect Master."
The Taiyi Upper Sect and the Golden Court Eight Tribes shared generations of entangled blood feuds, fighting without rest.
The eruption of this heaven-shaking battle today was precisely the time for reckoning they had waited far too long for.
The Marquis of Zhenbei cupped his fists slightly and said in a deep voice, "Thank you for making the long journey, Elder Xiao."
At that very moment, an angry shout exploded like a thunderclap, instantly igniting the already tense atmosphere in the field!
"Great Snow Mountain! You killed my Junior Brother, pay for this blood debt with blood!"
Crimson fire suddenly soared into the sky, and the Ziyang True Fire churned in mid-air like an enraged dragon, dyeing half the sky a blazing red.
Zhao Yanlie stepped through the void clad in red robes. He was the senior brother of Chu Xuanhe, as well as a seventh-turn grandmaster of the Ziyang Supreme Sect.
With his eyes spliting open in rage, the Ziyang True Fire around his body surged by several feet. Staring fixedly at the Great Snow Mountain members, he roared furiously: "If the Great Snow Mountain doesn't give my Ziyang Supreme Sect an explanation today, we will fight you to the death without rest!"
As his voice fell, Ye Chao of the Xuantian Upper Sect and Shen Qinghong of the Lingxiao Upper Sect stepped forward simultaneously, standing shoulder to shoulder with Xiao Changgeng, Zhao Yanlie, and Xie Mingyan.
Chen Qing stood with his spear in hand by Shen Qinghong's side, while Ke Tianzong, Nan Zhuoran, and other Tianbao Supreme Sect experts also gathered around.
In an instant, the experts of the six major supreme sects of the State of Yan were completely assembled.
On ordinary days, these six major supreme sects coexisted within the borders of the State of Yan, and their open and covert struggles never ceased.
There were friction and clashes everywhere over cultivation resources, sect territories, and orthodox inheritances, and there was even no lack of sordid backstabbing and tearing off of masks over a single chance opportunity. The estrangement and gaps between each other had accumulated for over a hundred years.
Yet at this moment, with the Golden Court and Great Snow Mountain eyeing them covetously, and the Night Clan lurking in the shadows eyeing the entire territory of Beicang, the common enemy of life and death stood before them, instantly pressing down all private grievances.
The momentum of all the grandmasters acting as one and sharing a common hatred soared into the sky, forcefully pushing back the pressure from the three grandmasters opposite them--Di Cang, Lie Qiong, and Ling Shuang--without losing the upper hand by even a fraction.
At the rear of the formation, Qu He, a True Disciple of the Tianbao Supreme Sect, watched this scene before him with slightly trembling hands, a monstrous storm churning in his heart.
He had followed Ye Chao all the way here from the outer periphery of the ruins, having previously only seen records of grandmaster gatherings in sect classics. When had he ever witnessed such a grand spectacle with his own eyes?
Right now, there were a full four seventh-turn grandmasters alone in the field, and the rest of the grandmasters numbered over twenty, practically gathering nearly half of the State of Yan's top combat strength.
A scene of grandmasters gathering like this had not been seen in the Beicang Territory for several hundred years.
He knew very well in his heart that this was not merely because of the inheritance within the Ruins of the Xuanmo Ancient Kingdom.
In recent years, the Night Clan had emerged, repeatedly creating bloodshed across the Beicang Territory, while the Golden Court Eight Tribes plundered border towns. The situation between the State of Yan and the nations of the Beicang had long been undercurrents surging, with a storm about to break.
This competition for the ruins merely brought all the accumulated contradictions thoroughly out into the open.
A storm sweeping across the entire Beicang Territory had already raised its curtain.
Several miles away behind a sand dune, a group from the Que Sect was hiding there.
Su Linyuan stood in a green robe atop the sand dune, looking into the distance at the confronting sides with an expressionless face. Two Que Sect grandmasters by his side wore solemn expressions, ready at any moment to deal with sudden situations.
One of them lowered his voice and asked Su Linyuan: "Elder Su, the State of Yan and the Golden Court and Great Snow Mountain are on the verge of a life-and-death battle. What should we do? Should we go forward to help?"
Su Linyuan shook his head slowly, his gaze still firmly locked onto the field as his voice remained steady without a trace of fluctuation: "The main forces and experts of our Que Sect have not yet arrived. There is no need to rush into the fray; let's watch first."
He paused, then continued: "That person from the State of Yan never thought of making our Que Sect exert much effort from start to finish. As long as we don't stab them in the back, it is enough for him."
Hearing this, the two Que Sect grandmasters said no more.
Over the desert, the wind suddenly grew stronger, whipping up flying sand across the sky that battered against the weapons and made crisp, crackling sounds.
Lie Qiong's face sank abruptly at this moment.
He had expected that today's counterattack by the six major supreme sects of the State of Yan would not be small in scale.
Yet he never imagined that in the blink of an eye, the seventh-turn grandmasters of the Taiyi Upper Sect, Yunshui Supreme Sect, and Ziyang Supreme Sect would appear one after another!
This was no ordinary confrontation; it was clearly a heaven-shaking array intended to overturn the entire Beicang Territory!
Meanwhile, suspended in mid-air, Ling Shuang furrowed his brow sharply--an expression that was usually as aloof as ice.
His eyes locked tightly onto the depths of the desert, and the saber intent around his body tightened instantly like a fully drawn bow, causing even the frozen ice crystals around him to vibrate slightly.
"The Sect Master has come?"
Ye Chao's expression changed abruptly, and he instinctively lowered his voice, his body tensing up slightly.
Before his voice faded, a figure walked out slowly from the distant yellow sand.
His pace looked extremely slow; with each step down, it seemed he had only covered several feet, yet the yellow sand beneath his feet rolled backward like flowing water. In just the span of a breath, that figure had crossed several miles and landed steadily right in the center of the battlefield!
Never mind the experts from the Western Regions Nations and Tianbo City watching from afar, even Chen Qing, standing at the very front, only saw the light and shadows shift before his eyes without managing to see how the other party had moved at all!
Such astonishing speed!
Chen Qing's eyes narrowed sharply, his hand gripping the Jingzhe Spear tightening unconsciously.
He could clearly perceive that there was no overflowing true essence pressure leaking from the newcomer's body, yet standing right there, the surrounding wind, sand, and vital energy were slowly circulating with him as the center.
This level of control over the vital energy of heaven and earth meant he was at least an eighth-turn grandmaster!
The newcomer wore a dark robe, with a jade pendant tied around his waist and his hair bound by a wooden hairpin. Dressed quite neatly and looking to be around fifty years of age, his brows and eyes carried an air of worldly detachment and profoundness.
"Sect Master!"
Ye Chao hurried forward, bowing deeply to the newcomer.
The various experts of the six major supreme sects of the State of Yan around them--whether it was Lu Yunsong, Xiao Changgeng, Zhao Yanlie, or Xie Mingyan--all nodded slightly to greet the newcomer. Even the Marquis of Zhenbei gripped his saber hilt and cupped his fists toward him.
The grandmaster experts of the Golden Court Eight Tribes all furrowed their brows tightly at this moment. Di Cang and Lie Qiong exchanged glances, both seeing deep solemnity in each other's eyes.
"This person is the current Sect Master of the Xuantian Upper Sect, Jiang Huaizhou."
Shen Qinghong's voice quietly transmitted into Chen Qing's ear with a hint of solemnity: "Among the sect masters of the six major supreme sects, he is the most mysterious one. His cultivation has already reached the realm of an eighth-turn grandmaster, and he is only a step away from a ninth-turn grandmaster."
The Xuantian Upper Sect Master!? Hearing these words, Chen Qing's heart received a sudden, heavy jolt.
Every single sect master of the six major supreme sects of the State of Yan was a stabilizing pillar suppressing a region, standing at the peak of the entire Beicang martial arts world, and they rarely stepped out of their sects by even half a step on ordinary days.
Today, for the sake of the Ruins of the Xuanmo Ancient Kingdom, Jiang Huaizhou had actually come in person!
"When this person was young, he had a close relationship with Hua Yunfeng. The two of them braved the Mountains Beyond Mountains together, and at the risk of nine deaths, Hua Yunfeng once risked his life to save him twice."
Shen Qinghong continued transmitting her voice: "The two of them share a life-and-death friendship."
Hearing this, Chen Qing felt his heart stir abruptly.
Hua Yunfeng had once served as the Sect Master of the Tianbao Supreme Sect, acting with absolute discretion, leaving trump cards in everything, and keeping to strict limits. When he parted ways with Chen Qing and the others this time, he had secretly prepared a backup plan from the very beginning.
So this Xuantian Upper Sect Master turned out to be Uncle-Master Hua's good buddy?
Just as Chen Qing's thoughts were spinning rapidly, Jiang Huaizhou had already raised his eyes to scan the entire scene, his gaze sweeping over Ling Shuang, Di Cang, and Lie Qiong one by one before smiling and speaking: "It really is lively here. As for me, I just happen to love joining in on lively occasions."
"Not every lively occasion is worth joining."
Ling Shuang hung suspended in mid-air, speaking coldly as the chill around his body intensified and the long saber at his waist emitted a series of buzzing sounds, locking onto Jiang Huaizhou relentlessly.
"Is that so?"
Jiang Huaizhou raised his eyes to look at Ling Shuang, the smile on his face unchanged, yet deep within those gentle pupils, an extremely dazzling golden light suddenly ignited!
Hum! An intangible yet overwhelmingly tyrannical torrent of divine sense, like surging golden waves, pierced straight into the depths of Ling Shuang's sea of consciousness in an instant! This divine sense attack carried no earth-shattering roar nor visible anomalies, yet it was far more perilous than any flashing sword light or saber radiance! Those Golden Court grandmasters nearby whose cultivation was slightly weaker were merely grazed by the aftermath of this divine sense torrent, and instantly felt a tearing pain shooting through their seas of consciousness, turning pale as they staggered backward frantically, unable even to stand steady! Ling Shuang felt a sudden thunderclap explode within his sea of consciousness, and a torrent of scorching golden light rushed into his mind like molten lava. Wherever it passed, his divine sense barriers shattered inch by inch like thin paper! "Ugh!"
He muffled a groan, his saber intent instantly thrown into disorder, and the freezing chill that had filled the world dissipated by more than half.
Even though he instantly mobilized all of his divine sense to construct dozens of barriers to forcefully block this attack, he was still shaken to the point of severe pain in his sea of consciousness and churning blood qi, taking a step backward uncontrollably! The moment his foot landed, the ice crystals in mid-air shattered instantly, and the flying sand across the sky was abruptly frozen in place by this aftermath.
With a single look, he had caused the Walking Envoy Ling Shuang under the Great Snow Mountain Holy Lord to suffer a hidden loss! "Audacious!"
Upon seeing this, Dharma King Shuangji shouted angrily, stomping heavily on the ground as he prepared to step forward.
The Walking Envoy Ling Shuang was the embodiment of the Great Snow Mountain Holy Lord, representing the majesty of the Holy Lord! Jiang Huaizhou openly launching a divine sense sneak attack in public to make Ling Shuang suffer a loss was an act of extreme disrespect toward the Great Snow Mountain Holy Lord!
That lofty Holy Lord was the sky for everyone in the Golden Court and Great Snow Mountain; how could Dharma King Shuangji endure this?
"Spare me your Great Snow Mountain tricks of superiority and inferiority; I don't buy it."
The smile on Jiang Huaizhou's face instantly收敛 vanished, his gaze turning as cold and sharp as a saber as he swept a glance at Dharma King Shuangji: "If you have the ability, have your Holy Lord's primordial spirit come personally to question us. If you don't have that ability, shut your mouth--it's not your turn to speak here."
Pfft!
Dharma King Shuangji felt a tumultuous churning in his chest, stumbling backward several steps with a face as pale as paper, not daring to utter another word.
"Good, good, good!"
Ling Shuang suddenly burst out laughing, his laughter cold and devoid of a trace of anger on his face, yet the fury in the depths of his eyes had boiled to the extreme, freezing the surrounding space into solid ice patterns with this fury and saber intent.
He did not say another single word.
Clang!
A crisp saber chime resounded through heaven and earth as the long saber at Ling Shuang's waist unsheathed abruptly!
The moment the saber blade cleared its scabbard, the temperature of the entire desert plummeted to freezing point, and the flying sand dancing across the sky was completely frozen into tiny ice beads at this moment, suspended in mid-air without moving a fraction.
With this single saber strike, there was no earth-shattering roar, yet it seemed to condense all the wind and snow of the entire world into one blade!
A snow-white saber radiance traversed heaven and earth, carving a pitch-black spatial rift forcefully through space wherever it passed, freezing the surrounding time as all things perished in silence! A single strike of the saber, severing cold rivers and making all things perish in silence! The full-strength strike of an eighth-turn grandmaster was terrifying to this extent!
"Well struck!"
Jiang Huaizhou laughed aloud, neither dodging nor evading, still standing with his hands behind his back.
The very instant that freezing, world-shaping saber radiance was about to cleave down between his brows, ripples layered over layers erupted in the space before him, like a tranquil lake struck by a giant boulder.
"Xuantian suppresses the world, heaven and earth act as a cage!"
Jiang Huaizhou spoke indifferently, bringing two fingers together and pointing them forward gently.
Hum---! A mysterious black halo lit up at his fingertips, and wherever the halo passed, the surrounding space solidified instantly! That snow-white saber radiance traversing heaven and earth was actually frozen dead in mid-air at this moment. No matter how violent or rampant the saber intent was, it could not advance forward by even half an inch! This strike seemed to have cleaved into a thick, sticky mire; all the sharpness, all the chill, and all the intent of annihilation were being melted away bit by bit by that mysterious black halo!
"Break!"
Ling Shuang roared angrily, pouring all his true essence without reservation into the saber blade. The saber light surged once more, forcefully tearing apart that layer of spatial confinement and cleaving toward Jiang Huaizhou again! Seeing this, a flash of brilliance crossed Jiang Huaizhou's eyes as he flipped his hand and struck out with a palm! This palm looked utterly unremarkable, yet the moment it was struck, a dark, profound phantom several dozen zhang tall abruptly manifested behind him. The phantom stood towering between heaven and earth with runes circulating around its body, resembling a Xuantian Emperor ruling over the order of heaven and earth. Falling with a palm, it carried the surging, magnificent might to suppress the world! Boom rumble!!!
The palm edge and saber radiance collided fiercely in mid-air! An earth-shattering roar instantly swept across the entire desert!
Dazzling golden light intertwined with snow-white chilling light, forming an energy pillar of light that traversed heaven and earth and soared straight into the firmament! The violent shockwave swept wildly in all directions like a tsunami, the ground collapsing several zhang deep instantly, and the yellow sand within a radius of a hundred zhang was completely blown away by this kinetic force, exposing the hard black rock layer underneath, which was covered in spiderweb-like fine cracks! The various distant faction experts watching from afar turned pale, retreating frantically toward even further distances for fear of being caught in the aftermath of this clash and ending up with their souls destroyed and bodies dead!
The world-shaking collision of two eighth-turn grandmasters possessed a terrifying and breathtaking might!
"Make your move!"
Before this heaven-shaking roar had even dissipated, a flash of biting coldness erupted in Xiao Changgeng's eyes as he shouted sternly: "Find Ling Xuance! Capture this kid! Avenge Elder Chu!"
Before his voice finished, he had already transformed into a stream of light. The sword dao divine ability of the Taiyi Upper Sect erupted at full force, and a cyan sword radiance spanning several dozen zhang, like a heavenly river inverted, took the lead in charging toward the Great Snow Mountain group of experts!
"Kill!"
Lu Yunsong and Jiang Tuo followed closely behind. The grandmaster experts of the Taiyi Upper Sect surged forward with crisscrossing sword lights like a tidal wave into the Great Snow Mountain's formation!
"Great Snow Mountain, return my Junior Brother's life!"
Zhao Yanlie's eyes split open in rage, the Ziyang True Fire around his body surging to transform into a fire dragon several dozen zhang long, roaring as it pounced fiercely toward Dharma King Shuangji!
"Follow me and kill!"
The Marquis of Zhenbei leveled the tiger-head saber in his hand and let out a fierce roar. The Jingwu Guards experts moved instantly, meeting the grandmaster experts of the Golden Court Eight Tribes with unyielding momentum!
"Seeking benevolence and obtaining benevolence, seeking death and obtaining death! Since you all refuse a path of survival, I will grant your wish!"
Di Cang roared angrily, swinging his profound iron giant saber down fiercely as a triple saber domain unfolded with a roar, colliding head-on against the saber radiance of the Marquis of Zhenbei! Lie Qiong felt murderous intent churning in his chest and was about to take advantage of the momentum to pounce directly at Chen Qing, but he was instantly surrounded by a throng of State of Yan experts, leaving him entirely without half a shred of spare energy to deal with the distant Chen Qing.
Meanwhile, at the rear of the Golden Court formation, the yellow sand rolled and churned as the Black Python Tribe, Stone Boulder Tribe, Blood Leopard Tribe, Jinxuan Tribe... the grandmaster experts of the Golden Court Eight Tribes all burst forth from beneath the earth!
Auras of tyrannical and peerless might soared straight into the clouds, saber radiances and sword shadows crisscrossing to tear through the heavens, and the roars of colliding true essences shook the surrounding wilderness! This earth-shattering melee sweeping across the six major supreme sects of the State of Yan, the Golden Court Eight Tribes, and the three forces of the Great Snow Mountain had, at this very moment, officially and completely broken out!
......
(End of chapter)