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Lei Jing and Chen Ying retreated and stood at a distance, giving Zhang Ruochen and Di Yi room to fight.
Chen Ying’s gaze was bright and his face was particularly serious. “The result of the battle between Zhang Ruochen and Red Wish Emissary is enough to propel him to stardom in the Eastern Region and make him one of the most outstanding warriors in the young generation. You shouldn’t have let him duel Di Yi. If anything goes wrong, the Half-Saints and Saints in the School will definitely put the blame on us.”
Lei Jing placed his fists inside his sleeves and stood proudly. “He’s still young. We should let him experience some setbacks. Even if he loses to Di Yi, it’s still a good exercise to improve himself. On the contrary, if I stop him now, it’d affect his Martial Arts heart.”
Zhang Ruochen’s victory over Red Wish Emissary had indeed shocked the great influences in the Omen Ridge, but still, no one favored him in his battle with Di Yi.
Di Yi was a Saintly Being, after all. It could be said that no warrior in the same generation was his rival.
Furthermore, they were in the same realm. In the same realm, Saintly Beings had a crushing advantage over their peers.
“Zhang Ruochen, do you really not want to know where Zhang Tiangui went?” Di Yi asked.
“This battle must happen. I wouldn’t be distracted no matter what you say. On the contrary, talking so much just shows the fear in your heart.”
“I know I’ll win for sure. Why would I be afraid?”
Di Yi laughed coldly. “Since that’s the case, let’s start our battle.”
He extended his hand to the back of his neck, clasping over his backbone. With his fingers digging into his flesh, he tugged hard and slowly removed the bone.
Each piece of bone was like a piece of beautiful white jade that emitted a brilliant holy light.
He removed the entire spinal cord from his body and held it in his hand. It was more than one and a half meters long and had a total of 19 pieces. Its shape was like a white bone sword, radiating a powerful aura.
There seemed to be an illusory image of a loose-haired Saint floating on the surface of the bone sword and enveloping the bone sword.
From a distance, lines of inscription appeared on the surface of the bone sword. It gave off an icy air.
Di Yi hadn’t immersed his Genuine Qi into the white bone sword. The Icing air from the white bone sword was cold enough to freeze the water particle in the air into ice. Snowflakes fell down from the sky.
He ran his finger lightly across the sword. “This sword is called Snow River. A master weapon forger stripped the backbone of a Half-Saint and tempered it in heart fire. It’s only a sword, yet carries the Half-Saint and Saint Power of the Snow River. It can be considered a human sword.”
It wasn’t a strange practice to use the bodies of strong warriors and savage beasts to refine weapon.
Some people would use a warrior’s Meridian to make a whip while others would use the leg bone of a Half-Saint to forge a conquering stick. There were also those who used the head of a Saint as an evil container.
The stronger the warrior or savage beast was, the higher the price of the Refine Weapon.
The bone sword in Di Yi’s hand contained the power of a Half-Saint. With such power, it had reached the Peak, tenth level of the Genuine Martial Arms. It could even stand against an eleventh level Genuine Martial Arms.
Genuine Martial Arms were typically only split into nine levels.
When it went above nine level, they would be beyond the category of Genuine Martial Arms. Instead, they were known as Holy Weapons.
However, there were always masters of Refine Weapon who made high-level weapons much more powerful than a nineth level Genuine Martial Arms, yet were far from a Holy Weapon.
Thus, those masters added three other levels: tenth, eleventh, and twelfth level.
Di Yi’s Blackdragon Ghost Claw could only be considered an Inferior Class tenth level Genuine Martial Arms.
Snow River, the white bone sword, could be considered a best tenth level Genuine Martial Arms. It was much more powerful. When it came to his offensive force, it could be considered invincible.
“Three months ago, I used the Snow River bone sword to defeat Bu Qianfan. I ranked first on the Earth Board just in three moves. And you insist on using a broken sword to fight me?” Di Yi asked.
Zhang Ruochen glanced at his Abyss Ancient Sword. “It’s enough to use a broken sword against you.”
“Zhang Ruochen, I have a tenth level Genuine Martial Arms sword. I can lend it to you,” Chen Ying offered.
“Many thanks. Though the broken sword in my hand is only a nineth level Genuine Martial Arms, it’s what I’m most familiar with. It’s the only one that will work well for me.”
As if it felt his determination, the sword began shaking violently. It gave off an eye-piercing light as if telling the world that it wasn’t a useless sword.
Swords also have spirituality.
Swords also have their dignity.
“Pluto’s Blades.”
Di Yi waved his arm and ice cold sword Qis shot into the sky in an instant, becoming a dark cloud of sword Qi.
Amid the clouds, the streaks of sword Qi appeared to have converged into an illusion of Pluto. With two enormous ghastly eyes, it screeched and struck Zhang Ruochen from above.
Hades Sword Skill was an Inferior Class Ghost Level sword technique.
Ghost level sword techniques were so much better than Spiritual Stage sword techniques, particularly those that had reached a succeed stage. They were capable of moving earth and heaven as well as waking the spirits. The power they contained far surpassed the category of sword techniques.
Watching Di Yi execute a Ghost Level sword technique, there were changes in the expressions of the crowd watching from a distance.
“No wonder Di Yi was able to defeat Bu Qianfan in three moves. With the power of the Snow River bone sword combined with the Hades Sword Skill, how many among the younger generation was capable of standing against it?”
“This is Di Yi’s true strength. If we were to fight, he’d need one strike to completely destroy me,” said Si Xingkong.
“How many of Di Yi’s strikes do you think Zhang Ruochen will be able to block?” Qin Ya held her breath and watched from a distance, anticipation reflected in her beautiful eyes.
Zhang Ruochen didn’t need to defend against many strikes from Di Yi. Only three and he would become a household name.
“I’m afraid it’ll be difficult for him to block even one strike,” said Hua Shenyi, the heresy Elder.
Even the warriors standing over 333 meters away could feel the breath-crushing pressure coming from Di Yi. The pressure on Zhang Ruochen who stood right under the sword cloud would undoubtedly be even stronger.
A star-like spot of light appeared in the middle of Zhang Ruochen’s glabella. The Heart of the Sword was moving quickly in his Qi Sea.
“Break!”
Zhang Ruochen pointed with his finger, sending his sword flying out. It became a light column that shot into the sky, striking at the Pluto illusion formed from converged sword Qis.
Though the Hades Sword Skill was profound and powerful, it also had its weaknesses.
Its weakness was its glabella.
His strike was aimed right at Pluto’s glabella.
BOOM!
The Abyss Ancient Sword struck Pluto’s glabella and went through it in the same way one broke a piece of bamboo. In an instant, it tore through the sword cloud and dissolved it into streaks of chaotic sword Qi that scattered in all directions. They made swishing noise as they flew through the air.
At the same time, Zhang Ruochen’s fingers clenched into a sword skill and controlled his sword to slash Di Yi instantly.
“What? Is Zhang Ruochen defending the sword? Did my eyes fail me?”
“There’s no mistake. He’s defending the sword.”
“Doesn’t that mean he has reached the realm of Heart Integrated into Sword? In the legends, weren’t Half-Saints the only ones who were able to reach that realm?”
“That’s not necessarily true. As long as the warrior has strong enough meditative powers and works hard, they’ll the opportunity of reaching the realm without being a Half-Saint. Only, these warriors are very rare. Those who achieve it are warriors of the Fish-dragon Realm. To reach the realm… isn’t impossible, but the stories only exist in legends. In history, those were the famous and powerful Saints.”
“Earlier, when Zhang Ruochen was dueling Red Wish Emissary, I guessed that he had reached the Realm of Heart Integrated into Sword but I just wasn’t sure.”
“No wonder he’s able to stand up against a Saintly Being despite not being one. It turns out that his comprehension ability is strong and his understanding of the sword technique is deep.”
…
Heart Integrated into Sword was the realm that every warrior aspired to achieve. Not even Lei Jing and Chen Ying, with their impressive cultivations, reached the realm.
Understandably, Zhang Ruochen using the Sword Defending Technique caused quite a stir among the crowd.
“Pluto’s Chaos.”
Di Yi released the Innate Magic Qi and once again struck with his sword, sending the Abyss Ancient Sword flying.
Swoosh!
He charged forward, lifting himself up as he went. He gripped the hilt of his white bone sword with both hands and slashed his opponent’s head, crying, “This is the third strike! It’s time to stop this! Pluto’s Destruction.”
Having defeated Bu Qianfan in only three moves, he planned to do the same in this battle against Zhang Ruochen.
How could Zhang Ruochen block his attack without the Abyss Ancient Sword?
BOOM!
Zhang Ruochen’s body burst with a strong Sword Comprehension power. It swept across the water city, traveling hundreds of meters.
Within those hundreds of meters, all the swords in the hands of the warriors’ hands began shaking uncontrollably before flying toward him.
“What’s going on? My sword…”
“My sword flew away!”
…
Nearly a hundred combat swords flew from all directions towards Zhang Ruochen. It was as if the swords were holding court as they flew above his head.