Chapter 2686 - Remote Mountains and Seas Are Within Reach

Xiao Jian watched from beside the Five Elements Altar. He saw everything happening in the endless spacetime void.

Only now did he realize that the situation today was nowhere near as simple as he’d thought. Some had broken the rules and chosen to intervene!

And the rulebreakers weren’t from the River of Destiny!

If I were at my peak...

Xiao Jian started to think, then shook his head in self-deprecation.

All of that is in the past.

As I am now, I’m neither human nor ghost. I’m living a second life, but I’m still different from my true self.

“The true danger has arrived,” the yellow finch said suddenly. “If a battle takes place on Red Pine Mountain, a catastrophe far more terrifying than the Great Extinguishing will sweep across the God Domain, and he...”

The bird looked at Su Yi on the Five Elements Altar and continued, “I’m afraid...”

But before it could finish, Xiao Jian said, “I’ll ensure he has at least long enough to assume full control over Red Pine Mountain and become the Bringer of Order!”

He spoke with the utmost conviction, but the yellow finch glanced at him skeptically, as if to say, “By yourself?”

Xiao Jian stretched out his finger and thwapped it on the head. It toppled over backward and had to hurriedly beat its wings to steady itself.

Then, Xiao Jian stretched and said, “In the mundane world, they speak of solitary warriors defending a pass against an army of thousands. So long as I draw breath, they can forget about taking so much as a single step onto the Five Elements Altar!”

Over on the Five Elements Altar, Su Yi sat unmoving as the chaos mist churned around him. There was no telling when he’d awaken.

Xiao Jian gazed intently at him for a moment, but in the end, he said nothing. He simply walked through the air, rising higher and higher.

Boom!

With every step he took, his imposing aura expanded, rising like bamboo shoots after a spring rain.

It seemed there was no limit to his power!

His sleeves billowed around him. He looked utterly dashing and at ease.

By the time he left the area blanketed by the Laws of Red Pine Mountain, Xiao Jian’s aura had reached unbelievable heights, and his whole body looked shrouded in a clear breeze and radiant moonlight.

Xiao Jian was Su Yi’s third incarnation. He was thin and elegant, and he carried a book. He looked like a scholar, and indeed, in his youth, he’d sworn to become a schoolteacher immersed in literature.

He ultimately stepped onto the path of the sword, his knowledge and learning a splendid chapter in his pursuit of the Dao of the Sword.

It was only when he read that he could forget his practice of the sword, and it was only when he practiced his sword that he could forget his reading.

In the end, the Dao of the Sword was reading, and reading was the Dao of the Sword. There was no longer a distinction between them.

Now, when Xiao Jian stepped into the sky, his sword intent and scholarly air swept out like a windstorm!

In the end, he stopped just outside the closest spacetime barrier to the God Domain.

Countless streaks of sword qi condensed into a sea of text around him, each word a pearl.

In that moment, that resplendent text condensed out of sword qi illuminated the skies over all four Divine Continents!

No matter where in the God Domain you were, you could see the text manifested of sword qi. It rose and fell like the tides and glittered like stars. It was like the incarnation of the Dao.

It was just that vast and magnificent.

Countless people fell into a daze. Even cultivators felt like ordinary mortals who’d caught a glimpse of the Dao of the heavens.

Xiao Jian, meanwhile, gripped his scroll in one hand and placed the other behind his back. He whispered, “Xiao Jian, a humble scholar, requests your guidance!”

Boom!

Xiao Jian’s voice boomed throughout the endless spacetime void, echoing throughout the emptiness seemingly without end.

Those cultivators hidden deep within the void all saw this self-proclaimed scholar, but it was Heavenly Monarch Xun, Meng Tianya, and the other Heavenly Fate Realm experts who were located closest to him.

The only thing separating them from Xiao Jian was a single spacetime barrier. They glared at him from the other side, hostility on full display.

“You think you can block all of us just by yourself?” The Malevolent Sword Venerate appeared in the distance. He was headed their way.

With every step he took, his sword intent expanded too. His sword force shattered every spacetime barrier in his path.

“Why not?” said Xiao Jian, perfectly relaxed.

“I can’t help but find it strange. Why not go seize his Dao Fruit for yourself? It isn’t just your future pursuit of the Grand Dao on the line; your very survival is at stake,” said the Malevolent Sword Venerate.

Of those watching from the endless void, only he knew that Xiao Jian was yet another of Su Yi’s past lives.

But not even he knew just how high Xiao Jian’s cultivation base was.

“An ancient master said that there are some things a cultivated gentleman will do, and some things he won’t,” Xiao Jian said solemnly. “I’m no gentleman, but I understand that sometimes, you have to let something go to acquire something else. If you set aside your obsession, perhaps... you’d make the same decision as me.”

The Malevolent Sword Venerate sneered. “Setting aside my obsession would mean the abandonment of my Dao. How foolish would that be? To think I thought so highly of you. Now I’ve got to clean out my eyes.”

He was basically saying, “You’re an eyesore!”

But Xiao Jian just laughed. “The cultivated gentleman is in harmony with others even when he disagrees. We pursue the same Grand Dao while holding on to our distances. If the sight of me offends your eyes, I’ll personally help you pluck them out of your sockets.”

“Some people have eyes, but they do not see,” said the Malevolent Sword Venerate with a laugh. “I’ll just have to clean mine out carefully to avoid that fate.”

He glanced at Madam Purple Blue, Meng Tianya, and the others. “I’ll hold him back. You seize this opportunity to attack Red Pine Mountain!”

Before his void had even finished echoing through the air, the Malevolent Sword Venerate attacked.

He took a step forward, and the sword in the bronze sheath on his back suddenly let out an earsplitting hum.

Immediately afterward, a plain, undecorated bronze sword flew forth and landed in the Malevolent Sword Venerate’s grip.

When his next step landed, he arrived at the spacetime barrier closest to the God Domain, then swung his sword.

It was just one slash, but it brought with it countless stars, like a boundless celestial river. Each star brought with it an indescribable air of destiny.

These were the Laws of the Starscape, among the nine strongest Laws connected to Destiny in the Eternal Heavens Domain.

Years ago, when the Malevolent Sword Venerate’s avatar fought Su Yi, he used these very Laws. They were powerful beyond measure.

Boom!

Where his sword qi pointed, the spacetime barrier shattered, and a boundless flood of sword qi poured forth.

Practically simultaneously, the Heavenly Monarchs attacked without hesitation. All of them charged at Red Pine Mountain at once.

At least, they started to. Before finishing their first step, they abruptly lowered their feet, their expressions shifting dramatically.

Because that self-proclaimed scholar in long robes said, “A natural barrier extends across the landscape, solid and impregnable.”

The shattered spacetime barrier instantly recovered, and countless words manifested of sword qi lit up with dazzling light, fusing into the barrier. He’d effortlessly severed the Malevolent Sword Venerate’s strike and trapped that flood of stars beyond the spacetime barrier.

Earlier, had Heavenly Monarch Xun, Madam Purple Blue, and the others attacked, there’d have been only two possible outcomes.

Either they slammed into that natural barrier and were forced back, or they were sealed within the barrier, suppressed by those countless characters manifested of terrifying sword qi!

The Malevolent Sword Venerate’s pupils constricted in obvious surprise. It seemed he hadn’t anticipated that Xiao Jian would be so powerful.

He snorted coldly, then leaped forward, sword in hand. Where his sword pointed, a massive millstone formed out of sword qi and bore down.

Kaboom!!

The spacetime barrier was instantly under immense pressure. Countless cracks arose on its surface, and many of the characters manifested of sword qi were ground away to nothingness.

When Xiao Jian saw that the barrier was about to break, he gently raised his hand, like a schoolteacher shaking his head as he recited the classics.

“A clay ox melts into the ocean.”

Every word was like a magic invocation, utterly wondrous.

It was as if that enormous millstone were made of clay; it suddenly melted into the “ocean” of the barrier.

The other Heavenly Monarch’s eyelids twitched.

Experts recognized each other. Old-timers of the fifth realm of Eternity like them could tell from Xiao Jian’s two attacks that he was terrifyingly strong, so strong that it was hard to gauge his true limits!

He couldn’t possibly have neutralized two of the Malevolent Sword Venerate’s strikes otherwise. After all, the Malevolent Sword Venerate was honored as the Greatest of the Unthroned.

“Three’s the limit. It’s my turn,” laughed Xiao Jian. He waved his scroll and said, “A sage said that not even remote mountains and seas were beyond his reach!”

Every word echoed throughout heaven and earth. Every sword in the God Domain hummed in unison, whether it was a cultivator’s personal weapon, on display in a weapon shop, a broken blade buried in a tomb, or a treasure sword sealed in the treasury of a major faction.

As if every sword beneath the heavens were bowing to a sage!

A boundless sword hum resounded throughout the entire world, echoing throughout the nine heavens and the ten earths.

A line of text appeared before Xiao Jian and condensed into sword qi. It effortlessly crossed the barrier between worlds and flew toward the Malevolent Sword Venerate.

The slash was imbued with a scholarly air, as if countless sages of olden days were reciting a classic text as one.

When the Malevolent Sword Venerate sensed its sword force, his brow furrowed. His cold, icy expression was more solemn than ever before.

He didn’t back down. Instead, he drew upon the full extent of his famed cultivation base.

It was as if he’d become a vast starscape, full of countless revolving celestial bodies and imbued with an air of Destiny. His sword intent seemed utterly endless.

The entire void rumbled and boomed as if boiling!

“Break!” The Malevolent Sword Venerate swung his sword with all his might, bringing with it that vast starscape.

The nearby Heavenly Monarchs retreated, not daring to face it head-on. More than that, they were afraid of the aftershock.

The terrifying existences watching from the shadows were stunned. All of them narrowed their eyes.

As for those Eternals of relatively weak cultivations? Even just gazing upon this attack from afar intimidated their hearts and souls. Their minds went completely blank.

Meanwhile, at the base of Red Pine Mountain, the black sheep bleated in surprise. “Baa!”

A’Cai, who was watching from near the spacetime fault, felt a piercing pain in her eyes, while Lin Jinghong’s purple eyes flashed with strange light.

Boom——!

Two starkly different sword qis clashed in the endless spacetime void, producing a shocking flood of destructive power. It swept out in all directions, throwing time and space into disarray.

The flood tore open countless rifts in the firmament of the God Domain, creating massive, criss-crossing chasms!

Only a tiny handful saw it clearly, but when these two powers clashed, the Malevolent Sword Venerate was forced back.

A streak of sword qi was shooting toward him, seemingly unwilling to give up until it had crushed him!

As a result, he was pushed back, again and again and again!