Fairy, return my flying sword to me

Chapter 244 All the trump cards revealed
However, just as he moved, a sudden change occurred within the formation.

Venus shone brightly in the sky, and a beam of light, several meters in diameter, descended from the sky and shot directly into the magic array.

Within the pillar of light, all things perished.

This is the ultimate killing move that Lin Jian developed for this formation after advancing to the Golden Core stage.

This overcomes the weakness of magic arrays that require sustained attacks, concentrating all power into a single point.

Even if the overall destructive power may not be as great as the continuous impact of the magic circle throughout its entire duration, the damage it causes is absolutely astonishing.

As the blinding beam of light slowly dissipated, the temporary magic array set up with talismans in the forest naturally dissolved and collapsed.

Amidst the golden, deadly wasteland, only a cultivator with slightly tattered robes stood disheveled.

"You didn't have this trick up your sleeve when you used this formation in front of me last time..."

The hood covering his head had been torn apart at some point, revealing an old face underneath.

Lin Jian looked at the other person with complicated emotions, his voice somewhat strained, "I didn't expect it to be a senior..."

The other party concealed their form and voice in front of him, making it difficult for Lin Jian not to guess that the other party was someone he knew or had seen before.

But to everyone's surprise, this person was none other than Elder Jianxu of the Chunyang Sword Sect, whom they had known since the Yunmeng Marsh!
With his true colors exposed, Jian Xu showed little embarrassment.

Instead, he looked down at his disheveled appearance and a relieved smile appeared on his face.

"I didn't expect I still underestimated you... To be able to force me to this point with your initial Golden Core stage cultivation, young friend Lin is indeed exceptionally talented. But is this all you have up your sleeve? My words still stand. If you are willing, the dark side of the four sects will henceforth be under your command."

"Feel sorry."

He raised his hand in the forest.

The sword of good brother is drawn again.

The moment the sword pierced the air, golden sword patterns on the golden core of the Qi Sea suddenly lit up, and the eyes burst forth with a three-foot-long cold light, like sparks being quenched.

As the sword light flashed, even the void appeared with the same Dao patterns as the surface of the Golden Core.

Under the sword's influence, even Jian Xu couldn't help but show surprise on his face, "What?!"

He felt his body briefly lose connection with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

The greatest advantage of a Nascent Soul cultivator over a Golden Core cultivator, besides the fact that the birth of the Nascent Soul grants them a "second life" and an astonishing transformation in their mana and recovery abilities, lies more importantly in their control over the external environment.

A peak Nascent Soul cultivator like him has almost completely lost his reliance on his own true energy. With every move he makes, he can communicate with heaven and earth and borrow their power to attack his opponents.

Powerful spiritual awareness and magical power can influence the surrounding environment to a certain extent, creating a pseudo-domain effect.

Cultivators within their pseudo-domain, if they wish to mobilize the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to restore themselves or cast spells, will most likely find it difficult to bypass their blockade.

Aside from their own true energy, low-level cultivators have almost no other options.

Therefore, ordinary low-level cultivators, once they enter his domain... even if it is a "pseudo-domain", will be overwhelmed by the immense pressure of heaven and earth and directly submit.

This is an absolute crushing of a low-level cultivator by a high-level cultivator.

But this characteristic doesn't seem to apply to this kid in front of me.

Since they met, his pseudo-domain has never stopped suppressing this kid.

But the boy's resistance never stopped.

The White Tiger Roaring Heaven Formation, which consumes a great deal of spiritual energy, was used without hesitation, showing no respect whatsoever to this pseudo-domain master.

And now, needless to say, not only are they ignoring his pseudo-domain suppression, but they are now trying to sever his connection with the world.

Reversing the Heavenly Ranks! What a brilliant reversal of the Heavenly Ranks!

Sword Void is enraged!

In a fit of anger, he got angry.

The sword strike came from afar, looking as light and airy as if a mere gust of wind could blow it away.

But besides making him feel that his connection with heaven and earth was temporarily severed, it also brought countless phantoms with it during the process of the sword strike.

I have been practicing for hundreds of years.

No one is perfect; everyone makes mistakes.

Over the course of hundreds of years, how many wrongdoings and regrets have been committed?

Under this sword strike, Jianxu felt as if a slideshow was playing before his eyes.

All the wrong and regrettable things I had done in the past rushed to my mind at this moment.

Now I keep questioning myself back then: why did I make that choice?
However, after only a moment of stunned silence, Jian Xu shook his head violently.

What's past is past; we must always look forward.

What has been done cannot be undone; the only recourse is to make amends to humanity in the days to come.

Many of them were cultivators who had fought their way up to the Nascent Soul stage, with hearts as firm as iron and wills as strong as steel.

However, even with his quick reflexes, he still saw a dark sword tip piercing towards his eyes.

Only now did he realize that everything he had just seen and heard was an illusion.

The sword strike in the forest was extraordinary from the moment it was drawn.

When the sword was drawn, it was as if an invisible brush had cleaved the heavens and earth, and wherever the sword light passed, the grass and trees withered and flourished in disorder, and the earth's energy surged like boiling water.

When the sword struck close, it seemed to sever all causal ties between him and his surroundings, forcing even a peak Nascent Soul cultivator to mobilize the primordial true essence within his Nascent Soul to withstand the attack.

Even with such a quick reaction, he had no choice but to temporarily avoid the sharp edge of the sword and flee in a sorry state in the face of its power.

With the causal link severed from his surroundings, he, a Nascent Soul cultivator, found himself unable to use even the spatial techniques he used to escape. He could only forcefully evade by channeling his true essence and using his movement techniques.

Having escaped a sword strike, Jian Xu breathed a slight sigh of relief, but the next moment he felt a long-forgotten pain in his body.

He turned his head to look behind him and found that his black robe had been torn at some point, and there was now a gaping hole about an inch wide in the flesh beneath it.

how many years?

Since he advanced to the Nascent Soul stage, how many years has it been since he felt this level of danger?
Even in such a disheveled state, he still inevitably took a hit from his opponent's sword.

And this opponent was just a junior at the second level of the Golden Core stage!
Even so, part of this was due to my indulgence of him, and part of my desire to see where this kid's limits really were.

But the near-disaster of this indulgence almost caused him to crash still left him feeling genuinely incredulous.

"How did you do that?" Jian Xu asked, his expression blank, as if lost in thought.

Lin Jian casually tossed aside his broken brother weapon, which was now useless, and summoned a new one, "Golden Core Dao Pattern."

The second level of the Golden Core stage is filled with true qi, an automatic gift from heaven and earth to every Golden Core cultivator.

If you can grasp its true meaning, you will make rapid progress on your own path in the future.

"Golden Core Dao Patterns?!" Jian Xu's eyes widened in surprise; he never expected this answer.

Even if it's a peerless sword technique given by a sword immortal from the Nine Realms?

How could it be a Golden Core Dao Pattern automatically generated at the second level of the Golden Core stage?
Everyone has Dao patterns, but how many people can comprehend them during the Golden Core stage? Let alone the Golden Core stage, even now that he has reached the peak of the Nascent Soul stage, he still doesn't fully understand the Dao pattern engraved in the core of his Nascent Soul.

When he obtains the Dao Pattern, that may be the opportunity for him to enter the Nascent Soul stage.

But right now...

Some say that he has just reached the second level of the Golden Core realm, yet he is already able to apply the Dao patterns that heaven and earth have just bestowed upon him to actual combat.

Is there any justice in the world?

Is there no human rights left?

Aren't ordinary cultivators like us human?
Does the gap between us and geniuses have to be this huge?

"What's the secret behind this sword strike?" Jianxu humbly asked for guidance on the spot.

Since the other party has already comprehended the Dao patterns, we can learn from their experience and perhaps gain a better understanding of our own Dao patterns.

Lin Jian internally examined the Golden Core, watching the Dao pattern on it, which was far more complex than the Divergent Spirit Pattern that Chunxue had once taught him, slowly rotate before him.

A name instinctively popped into his mind: "Heavenly Evolution - Calamity Break".

Tian Yan's forty-nine, one of them escapes.

This glimmer of hope is the chance to defy fate and overcome all calamities.

Lin Jian didn't know why the Dao patterns bestowed upon him by heaven and earth contained such a core inner meaning, but at a superficial level, it roughly meant this.

Those who gain enlightenment need to overcome tribulations, and those who are struck also need to overcome tribulations.

Only an opponent who confronts all their weaknesses head-on can ignore the impact of this sword strike.

If one cannot overcome one's own calamities, one will ultimately perish under those calamities.

“Good…” Jianxu pondered for a long time, then sighed with a sense of loss, “Not bad.”

After a moment of contemplation, Jian Xu spoke again, "It seems that young friend Lin's ability to gain the favor of the immortals of the upper realm is by no means just luck. But the person behind you is of great significance to our cultivation world... Young friend, today you have no choice but to submit, whether you like it or not!"

Lin Jian rolled his eyes. "What are you babbling about?"

Let's talk through my sword!
Sword Style: Sword Pierces the Rainbow!

Thousands of afterimages flashed by, and the figure in the forest instantly disappeared from its original spot, only to appear simultaneously in several places centered on the sword.

Sword shadows flashed continuously in the air, almost forming a ball of light.

This time, the sword strike was particularly long, so much so that after landing, people in the forest were panting heavily, using the sword as a fulcrum on the ground.

"That's it?"

Jian Xu, who had escaped the sword light, laughed loudly, "It seems that young friend Lin has finally run out of tricks. Your sword strike is far less amazing than the previous two."

Sword Void was secretly delighted to have received all of Lin Jian's moves.

I knew it! Where in the world could there be such a powerful Golden Core cultivator?
If he could catch his eye with one or two moves, that would be considered incredibly lucky. How could he possibly have a single move that would be difficult for a peak Nascent Soul cultivator like himself to withstand?
"Is that so?" Lin Jian smiled faintly, his right hand pointing like a sword in front of his chest.

As a point of light flashed at his fingertips, countless sword lights appeared out of thin air in the void around him...

Swordsmanship: Empty Traces!

This is a sword technique from Lord Chunxue. As his cultivation reached the Golden Core stage, this move also took on a deeper form.

Only when one reaches the second level of Foundation Establishment can one achieve the entry-level skill of swordsmanship—the ability to leave a trace of light.

Now that he has reached the second level of the Golden Core stage, his swordsmanship has reached the level of "weaving the net of subtlety".

Not only are there more and longer-lasting sword energies remaining in the air, but more importantly, these countless sword marks resonate with each other and can intertwine to form an invisible sword array.

Those enveloped by this sword formation will have their sword energy trajectory disturbed and unpredictable attacks brought about by even the slightest breath.

What is a pseudo-domain?
This is also a pseudo-domain!

Moreover, it is an absolute sword domain. Cultivators within it will find it difficult to sense any other spiritual energy of heaven and earth besides the sword energy that isolates them from the world.

When Lin Jian intentionally manipulates the situation, he can control all the sword marks to instantly erupt into a "mark explosion".

All the sword marks exploded simultaneously, bursting forth with countless fine sword rays, as if being slowly sliced ​​to death.

Amidst the myriad sword marks, a cold voice finally rang out.

"Humph!"

A phantom that looked almost exactly like Jian Xu himself rapidly expanded from his dantian, and in the blink of an eye, it had expanded to cover the entire outline of his physical body.

A crystal-clear jade sword rose slowly but rapidly from above the phantom's head, bursting forth with countless rays of light in an instant.

Nascent Soul Sword Control!

This is the most trump card that a Nascent Soul stage sword cultivator holds dear.

Once the Nascent Soul is unleashed, it's either the enemy who dies or I who perish.

After all, the Nascent Soul is the essence of a cultivator's life. While it is used to kill enemies, it also exposes the cultivator to the opponent's gaze.

If two cultivators of the same cultivation level were to fight to the death, perhaps only the power of their Nascent Souls could decide the outcome.

Such powerful weapons are not methods that can be used normally. No Nascent Soul cultivator would be willing to expose their Nascent Soul from their Nascent Soul Purple Mansion unless they are forced to the extreme.

Now that the Nascent Soul has emerged, all other methods are inferior.

No matter how much Lin Jian understands about swordsmanship or how strong his mastery of Dao patterns is, he will ultimately pale in comparison to pure power.

Sword marks filled the air, and amidst a dazzling display of light, Jian Xu donned a black robe once more, exuding an aura of power and mystery.

"Enough." Jian Xu's voice, which had summoned his nascent soul, was calm to the point of being somewhat cold. "I have indulged you to this extent, so you should know when to stop."

"Not enough." Lin Jian panted heavily, looking up at him defiantly.

If things don't work out, there's always another plan!
I'd better run away!

After reaching the Golden Core stage, the mysteries of space are no longer a mystery to Lin Jian.

The Shrinking Earth Technique that Chunxue once taught him was difficult to use due to the lack of understanding of spatial nodes. Now that he has reached the Golden Core stage, this technique is no longer a challenge for Lin Jian.

His gaze swept across the distant jungle, and he flashed through the woods to Chunxue's side, grabbing her and leaping away.

"Shhhhh!"

The ghostly figure flickered through the woods, disappearing in the blink of an eye, having vanished a great distance.

Seeing this, Jianxu couldn't help but frown with some distress.

'This kid has a lot of tricks up his sleeve!'

With a thought, his figure vanished from the spot.

When they reappeared, they were already above Lin Jian and Chun Xue...

"Where are you planning to run off to?!"

(End of this chapter)