Chapter 1074 - Nine Slashes

Sword hums swept out like a wave, surging throughout heaven and earth.

Su Yi stood in the air, blue robes fluttering about him. He was like an immortal swinging his sword, and the unmatched sword intent emanating from his tall, upright figure pierced the ten directions.

Without the slightest hesitation, he slashed nine times in rapid succession.

The first slash was like a sudden downpour and raging windstorm. Tens of thousands of streaks of sword qi followed a profound trajectory as they cleaved toward the nine heavenly gates.

The second slash was like a radiant sun rising above the blue ocean, illuminating everything around it, the nine heavens and the ten earths. It bore down on the first heavenly gate.

The third slash was like a deity swinging a massive axe, cleaving mountains and seas. Nothing could stand in its way.

The fourth slash was both reality and fiction, each giving rise to the other. Purity and filth alternated, as if dividing heaven and earth. It bore through the sky before it, and nothing could block its sharp edge.

The fifth slash followed, and the sixth…

These nine rapid-fire slashes were an almost perfect demonstration of the Rejoicing Sword Sutra’s power. They were utterly free and unrestrained, with a joyous quality.

They seemed capable of opening the heavens, rending the earth, severing Yin and Yang, and throwing the winds and clouds into turmoil!

And Su Yi was like an immortal of the sword descending from the nine heavens, dancing with his moonlit shadow, his sword qi filling all of creation! He had a proud, contemptuous bearing, free and unrestrained!

In the crowd’s eyes, these slashes seemed to overturn heaven and earth. Unstoppable sword light fired. The unmatched, terrifying might of his sword ran rampant throughout the Heavenly Yao Refines the Firmament Combat Formation.

Boom!

The formation trembled violently, dealing the nine heavenly gates an unimaginable blow.

The power of those nine slashes had yet to descend, but the power emanating from them was terrifying enough to make Profound Serenity Emperors’ hearts quiver. Who among them would dare to hesitate?

“Die!”

“Quick, use your full power!”

Heaven-shaking roars rang out.

The nine Profound Serenity Emperors each drew upon their full power as they directed the formation. They gathered the power of their eight thousand yao warriors and circulated the Heavenly Yao Refining the Firmament Combat Formation to its maximum potential.

Boom!

Formations churned like a volcanic eruption, and dazzling firelight charged like a rampaging bull, refining the entire landscape.

𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

But when Su Yi’s first strike landed, the terrifying power erupting from the formation was instantly suppressed, rumbling nonstop.

When Su Yi’s second strike landed, it was as if countless nails scattered. They embedded themselves throughout the combat formation, as if striking all of its vital points. The formation slowed and showed signs of freezing.

Then, the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth slashes landed…

Boom!

This mighty combat formation could have slain even Profound Serenity Emperors with ease, but it had been completely shaken, and it was badly damaged. The subsidiary formations within it exploded with audible bangs.

Many of the innumerable yao cultivators stationed within the nine heavenly gates died instantly, their bodies exploding with a spray of flesh and blood. Agonized, terrified cries rang out.

And the Nine Profound Serenity Emperors’ faces were ashen with rage and alarm. That terrifying sword force had shaken their hearts and minds to the core.

They couldn’t even imagine how a young Profound Illumination Emperor already trapped within the formation could be this unbelievably fierce. This was a direct confrontation, yet his attainments in the Dao of the Sword were suppressing the nine heavenly gates!

By the time the seventh, eighth, and ninth slashes landed——

The unmatched killing formation the Blue Ox Yao Emperor had poured his heart’s blood into broke. The nine heavenly gates collapsed, and the yao warriors therein toppled and disintegrated into ash.

The Blood Feather Yao Empress and the other Profound Serenity Emperors suffered the impact too. All of them staggered back as terrifying sword qi scattered them.

Some of them were even injured!

Nine strikes, and the Heavenly Yao Refines the Firmament Combat Formation broke!

This overpowering scene immediately astonished everyone present.

Misty light churned, and the landscape withered and collapsed. Destructive energy fluctuations ravaged the skies, leaving every expert present in a daze.

“This…” Wang Zhuofu was rooted to the spot, his chest heaving violently.

At first, he wasn’t at all confident that Su Yi could destroy this grand formation within ten snaps of the fingers. He’d even been so nervous that he’d poured everything he had into defending himself.

Who’d have thought that just nine strikes later, this terrifying, unmatched combat formation would split and shatter into pieces!?

“That was just… four snaps of the fingers… it really is as Master says. No matter how strong a combat formation is, if you kill enough of them that they can’t combine their wills, the formation is nothing but a paper tiger. Once the links are broken, one stab is enough to topple it!” Ye Luo’s eyes shone with emotion.

Beneath the distant dome of heaven.

The Ghost Fox Yao Emperor, Primordial Chaos Yao Emperor, and the other old monsters were terrified. Their expressions shifted dramatically.

When the battle began, they laughed and chatted with carefree ease. They thought they had this in the bag, and that now that Su Yi and company were trapped, they had no hope of escaping disaster.

The Blue Ox Yao Emperor had even worried that Su Yi would lose too quickly and waste all his hard work.

But now, all of them were dumbstruck.

Just nine strikes, and he’d destroyed the Heavenly Yao Refines the Firmament Combat Formation, killing until blood flowed like a river and injuring its nine mighty Profound Serenity Emperors!

This was unquestionably terrifying. It completely overturned their initial predictions.

To the point that even after witnessing it all firsthand, they found it difficult to accept and believe.

Su Yi paid none of this any heed.

In his eyes, breaking a combat formation like this just took a bit of effort. He had to shake his opponents’ minds, preventing them from coordinating. Then, he could find an opportunity to slip in and break it.

Of his nine slashes, the first two had been intended to shake his opponents’ hearts.

The next four were used to break in and destroy the formation’s layout.

The last three crushed the damaged formation with room to spare, destroying everything his opponents were relying on!

To Su Yi, this wasn’t particularly difficult.

And while the crowd was still dazed, he held Moonlit Shadow and charged.

Whoosh!

He struck like a quick, ethereal beam of flowing light. He appeared before the Blood Feather Yao Empress in a flash, shifted his wrists, and swept Moonlit Shadow through the air.

The Blood Feather Yao Empress’s will to fight had long since crumbled. She was trembling, and when she saw Su Yi’s slash descend, she didn’t even stop to think before retreating explosively back.

Meanwhile, she swung her indigo feather fan with all her might, stirring up a pale blue, bone-chilling windstorm.

Alas, even if she’d reacted quicker, she’d underestimated how terrifying Su Yi’s slash was.

Moonlit Shadow swept past her, and a thousand-foot streak of sword qi flashed into being, effortlessly shattering that blue windstorm of the power of the Grand Dao.

Bang!!

The Blood Feather Yao Empress’s defensive treasures and secret arts popped like soap bubbles.

And her body was cut in two at the waist!

“You…” The Blood Feather Yao Empress’s beautiful eyes widened, and she opened her mouth as if to speak. However, before she could form any words, she died on the spot.

Before the halves of her bisected corpse hit the ground, Ye Luo quickly gathered them and put them away.

This was the type of ingredient you could only happen upon by chance. His master hadn’t destroyed her body with that attack, had he? How could they waste these things?

Meanwhile, Su Yi charged ahead, sword swinging.

He was just too quick. He never paused in the slightest. He’d executed the Blood Feather Yao Empress in a single attack, and she’d barely even slowed him down.

“Die!”

Moonlit Shadow cleaved through the air.

It was as if the air itself had been ripped apart. Several thousand feet away, a bloodied head flew through the air.

It was a Profound Serenity expert who’d been killed. He did try to dodge and block, but his efforts seemed pitifully weak in the face of Su Yi’s sword. One slash, and Su Yi took his head clean off.

The other Profound Serenity Emperors were scared out of their wits. They scattered, fleeing in all directions as their will to fight collapsed.

Su Yi naturally wouldn’t hold back. His expression remained as calm as ever, but his momentum was unstoppably forceful. In the blink of an eye, he cut down three more mighty yao of the Profound Serenity Realm.

Without exception, each fell to a single slash!

This was an absolute, one-sided suppression. Nothing could stand in his way!

“Quick, retreat——!” The Blue Ox Yao Emperor let out a heaven-shaking roar.

The Yao Emperors and soldiers making up the formation were their subordinates.

Now, the formation had broken, and most of their followers had perished. After taking such heavy casualties, how could they not be surprised? How could they not be furious?

And Su Yi’s display of heaven-defying strength terrified them, dealing a massive blow to their Dao Hearts!

“That’s the formation you prepared with all you had? It’s a bit too pathetic, isn’t it?” Su Yi said flatly.

He now stood in the skies atop that divine mountain. He didn’t pursue those who fled.

Instead, he casually swung Moonlit Shadow.

The ten-thousand-foot-tall mountain instantly split open and collapsed with a bang, revealing the prison carved in its interior.

There were three bloodied figures imprisoned inside. All of them were riddled with wounds.

“Those are the Wang Family’s three high elders!” Wang Zhuofu said excitedly.

He was just about to rush to their aid when Ye Luo blocked his path. “Wait for now. Watch out for traps.”

Wang Zhuofu’s heart shook, but he instantly suppressed the impulse to save them.

Ye Luo was right. How could the Blue Ox Yao Emperor let them save the prisoners so easily?

Meanwhile, beneath the distant dome of heaven, the Blue Ox Yao Emperor and the other old monsters gathered. There were more than ten of them, and their lineup was extremely powerful.

But none of them attacked.

“Su Yi, don’t think you can get away with this! We might have lost our combat formation, but this show is far from over!” The Blue Ox Yao Emperor took a deep breath, and his eyes glinted with cold light as he pointed at the dungeons. “I’ve placed a cursed seal in each of those three old-timers’ souls. If you want to save them…”

But before he could finish, Su Yi casually swung his sword, cut open the prison, and lifted the three captive Wang Family old-timers out of confinement.

Wang Zhuofu rushed up to them and held them aloft. After a cursory examination, his expression turned utterly unsightly.

“Your Excellency Su, their souls have indeed been sealed,” Wang Zhuofu said with a grimace.

Su Yi said coolly, “No problem. Look after them for now. We can naturally save them once I’ve captured that stupid cow.”

“Shameless! I’m not afraid to tell you that I can eradicate their souls with a single thought!” The Blue Ox Yao Emperor said grimly, his eyes flashing with cold brutality. “If you care at all about their lives, you’ll lose beyond a shadow of a doubt!”

He paused, then grinned. “Of course, there’s also that Wang Que. His situation isn’t any better than those three old-timers.”

Ye Luo furrowed his brow, and Wang Zhuofu’s heart sank.

A threat like that was enough to trouble anyone.

But Su Yi said dismissively, “If they die, I’ll kill every Yao Emperor in the Ten Directions Yao Mountains to accompany them to the grave.”

The old monsters couldn’t help but feel stunned; Su Yi’s response wasn’t at all what they’d expected.

But it was then that cold laughter echoed throughout heaven and earth. “Su Yi, you’re as cold and heartless as ever, but rest assured! We never thought the hostages’ lives would be enough to force you to lower your head!”