Chapter 2687 - Who Beneath the Heavens Won’t Know My Name?

“Not even remote mountains and seas were beyond his reach!”

This strike sought to reach foes wherever they were, not stopping until they were dead. Its imposing sword majesty was tyrannical to a simply unbelievable level.

The moment the Malevolent Sword Venerate was forced back, he tasted this strike’s power for himself.

But he hadn’t anticipated that this strike would be so terrifying.

Even as he was forced back, he attacked repeatedly in a bid to break through it, but it was to no avail.

It was only after he’d been forced three hundred thousand feet back that he finally steeled himself and bit through the tip of his tongue. His cultivation base instantly soared explosively, and he swung his bronze sword with all his might. Only then did he manage to neutralize this attack.

By the time he’d steadied himself, the Malevolent Sword Venerate’s face had paled, and his expression had darkened.

He’d severely underestimated how terrifying Xiao Jian was. He’d figured that even if Xiao Jian was strong, he couldn’t possibly exceed the bounds of the Five Realms of Eternity.

But now, it seemed that wasn’t the case at all.

The Malevolent Sword Venerate had fought in the Eternal Heavens Domain for countless years, establishing his reputation as the Greatest of Unthroned through slaughter.

But now, Xiao Jian had forced him three hundred thousand feet back in a single slash. The disparity was readily apparent!

All of this took some time to describe, but it happened in a flash.

When the other prominent Heavenly Monarchs saw that the Malevolent Sword Venerate had been forced back, their expressions shifted.

How could this guy be so unreasonably strong?

Just... just who is he?

Meanwhile, Xiao Jian stood there, alone, yet like an unpassable wall in his own right.

Every sword in the God Domain hummed in unison, the sound like a tidal wave or avalanche. It only lent to Xiao Jian’s majesty.

The swords hummed in the face of injustice.

Xiao Jian stood there, aura enveloping the dome of heaven. He was fighting for Su Yi, but wasn’t he fighting for the people of the God Domain, too?

He was single-handedly keeping their enemies from another world out!

“As the incarnation of Jiang Wuchen’s negative karma, creating a new path of the Dao of the Sword is a rare feat,” said Xiao Jian. “If I’m not mistaken, you’re either hiding your strength, or this is just a clone.”

The Malevolent Sword Venerate narrowed his eyes. “And what about you? You seem like no more than a wandering ghost, but you’re so strong. Why haven’t I heard of you on the River of Destiny?”

He truly didn’t understand why Xiao Jian was so powerful.

Was he a Heavenly Sovereign? He couldn’t be. If he was, he’d be famous throughout the River of Destiny.

But he had to be, because if he wasn’t, how could he be so strong?

Remember, the Malevolent Sword Venerate was the second incarnation, while Xiao Jian was the third!

No matter how long Xiao Jian had cultivated, the Malevolent Sword Venerate had started cultivating well before him!

Yet he was still this strong, and there wasn’t a single rumor about him to be found on the River of Destiny. It just didn’t make sense.

“A wandering ghost, huh...?” Xiao Jian repeated, a rare, uncharacteristic hint of grief in his gaze.

He murmured, “That’s right. I’m... all alone in this world....”

Weng!

The countless characters manifested of sword qi simultaneously wailed in grief, as if sensing the sorrow in Xiao Jian’s heart. A biting wind and bitter rain enveloped the entire God Domain in a somber atmosphere.

But within moments, Xiao Jian’s grief faded, and he laughed. “Very well. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Xiao Jian. I’m a scholar, and I’m neither of the present day nor of this world.

“But after today, ask any of the world’s cultivators and see who among them doesn’t know my name!”

Every word was like the chanting of classics, resonating with heaven and earth.

The clanging hum of a sword reverberated throughout the endless spacetime void.

The scholarly Xiao Jian suddenly seemed unfettered, dashing, and at ease, with unparalleled majesty!

Even the powerful enemies watching from the void were unwittingly astonished.

The Malevolent Sword Venerate, however, leaped into the fray, sword swinging.

He covered three hundred thousand feet in a single bound, the tip of his sword thrusting through spacetime barriers, as quick as lightning. He arrived in a flash.

He was so fast that the seemingly endless void might as well not have been there.

𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

The power gathered in the edge of his sword was immense, but none of it leaked, so it didn’t create even the subtlest of strange phenomena.

But the power of this strike was far greater than before!

Xiao Jian narrowed his eyes and tightened his grip on his scroll, which suddenly transformed into a sheathed longsword.

He drew his thumb along the sheath, revealing just three inches of blade, but it was enough. An all-encompassing, tyrannical streak of sword qi shot forth.

Clang!!!

A heaven-shaking impact rang out, and countless flecks of sword light scattered, leaving countless enormous, terrifying rifts in the spacetime barrier.

Xiao Jian stood in place, not moving an inch.

He’d only revealed three inches of his sword, but now, he resheathed it.

The Malevolent Sword Venerate, meanwhile, had been forced back thirty thousand feet!

Last time, he’d been forced back three hundred thousand feet, but he wasn’t injured in the slightest.

This time, he’d been forced back thirty thousand feet, but blood poured from his mouth, his clothes were damaged, and his sleeves were in tatters, revealing arms covered in dense, fine, bloody gashes.

Silence descended over the crowd.

If Xiao Jian’s earlier attacks were a display of his strength as a scholar, then these attacks represented his strength as a swordsman.

He now seemed like the very picture of a true sword cultivator. His sword had yet to even leave the sheath, but he’d forced a powerful foe thirty thousand feet back!

“So, this isn’t your true body. No wonder you’re so weak. You aren’t even worth drawing my sword for,” said Xiao Jian with a slight shake of his head. “Step back. I don’t want outsiders to watch us fight ourselves.”

In truth, right from the start, he’d never once struck to kill.

He was the Malevolent Sword Venerate’s only enemy at the moment, but Xiao Jian was up against everyone watching from the endless void!

Killing the Malevolent Sword Venerate wouldn’t have been overly difficult, but he didn’t want to do so unless absolutely necessary.

It was just as he’d said earlier. If he fought himself, he’d make himself a laughingstock!

“You don’t want to fight yourself?” The Malevolent Sword Venerate’s eyes glinted icily. “Juvenile. You’re you, I’m me, and he’s himself. We’re enemies, and irreconcilable ones at that. This won’t end until all but one of us is dead!”

Xiao Jian frowned. “Why insist on letting others use you as a weapon?”

A moment later, his interest seemed to wane. He shook his head. “Very well. We pursue different paths, so we cannot work together.”

Boom!

He raised his sheathed sword and pointed it at the Malevolent Sword Venerate.

It was a simple movement, but a streak of sword qi exploded into being.

Resplendent ancient characters surged within the sword qi, like an Edict of the Grand Dao: “Eroding the bones and stirring the soul!”

A strike appeared silently out of nowhere, then vanished without a trace.

The Malevolent Sword Venerate rapidly retreated, as if avoiding something. Within moments, he’d retreated past too many spacetime barriers to count.

A horrifying scene followed. As the Malevolent Sword Venerate retreated, chunks of flesh and bone sloughed off his body, like an actively crumbling, rotted clay statue.

In the end, the Malevolent Sword Venerate seemed to realize that there was no dodging this. He snorted coldly, tightened his grip on his sword, and swung.

Boom!!!

The entire stretch of void exploded into pieces. Time and space were thrown into disarray.

As that flood of destructive power swept outward, countless hidden cultivators revealed themselves, crying out and scampering for safety. They feared nothing more than the aftershock reaching them.

When the light and smoke dissipated, a horrifying scene came into view.

The Malevolent Sword Venerate stood in place, still positioned to hold a sword.

But his flesh and bones had vanished. All that remained was an illusory human figure!

Even the bronze sword in his illusory hands had dimmed as if stripped of its vitality.

“You’d better survive this. Things aren’t over between us!” the Malevolent Sword Venerate said icily. As his voice rang out, his illusory figure crumbled, too.

He’d vanished completely!

A single slash had crossed endless time and space, stripping the Malevolent Sword Venerate’s clone of its flesh and blood before eradicating him completely!

Many of those present had guessed that this was a clone, not the Malevolent Sword Venerate’s true body. Even so, the sight made their scalps prickle with terror, and chills coursed down their spines.

It was then that a mellow, gentle voice rang out. “Impressive! Even on the River of Destiny, someone of your abilities would be a rare expert of the Dao of the Sword. Even Heavenly Monarchs seem dimmer by comparison.”

Suddenly, purple radiance arose in a stretch of the endless void, then spread like tidewaters. In the blink of an eye, it had covered the entire vault of heaven.

A purple-robed man in a jade belt and a Daoist crown shaped like a fish tail appeared amidst the striking purple light.

Purple qi flew in from the east, blanketing the sky and blotting out the sun!

When they saw this, everyone in the endless spacetime void stirred.

That’s Heavenly Sovereign Yaoguang!! The founder of Sevendeaths Court!

Xiao Jian narrowed his eyes. “It’s about time all of you came out of hiding. Get on out here. Let me see if any of you are worthy of my attention.”

Heavenly Sovereign Yaoguang stood there with his hands behind his back. He smiled faintly. “Hear that, everyone? Fellow Daoist Xiao Jian is in a hurry to end this. Keep hiding, and it won’t just be Fellow Daoist Xiao Jian; even I’ll look down on you.”

“Who the hell do you think you are, Yaoguang? What need do I have for your respect?” A ten-foot-tall old man suddenly appeared deep in the endless void. His hair and beard were disheveled, and his skin was coppery. He dressed in worn-out Daoist robes and rode in a Daoist diagram.

When he appeared, terrifying, tyrannical, murderous intent swept outward, filling the void with visions of bloodthirsty fiends and the collapse of the Grand Dao!

Heavenly Sovereign Changhen, the ruler of the Court of the Southern Heavens!

He was the fiercest of the Nine Heavenly Sovereigns, and he killed without reservation, his combat strength enough to dazzle any age.

He glanced at Heavenly Sovereign Yaoguang, then pointed at Xiao Jian. “Are you perhaps another of Su Yi’s past lives?”

His voice rumbled and boomed like lightning throughout the endless void, shattering countless spacetime barriers.

His ferocious divine majesty was truly far too terrifying.

Xiao Jian said calmly, “Defeat me, and I’ll tell you.”

Heavenly Sovereign Changhen threw back his head and laughed, his eyes blazing with murderous intent, intense as twin suns, terrifying and imposing. “Good!”

It was just one word, but it shook the endless spacetime void.

“You fancy yourself a brave warrior blocking a pass against an army of tens of thousands, but doesn’t every ant that attempts to shake a tree feel that way?” a cold voice rang out.

A beautifully handsome man in white appeared, accompanying this voice. Even his long hair, which he’d tied back into a ponytail, was as white as snow.

Thunder boomed as he appeared, and arcs of silver electricity spread out like a net, interweaving in the endless void and flashing with heart-palpitating, destructive power.

Everyone couldn’t help but gasp.

Heavenly Sovereign Ling!

A ruler of the Dao of Lightning, and the most famous master of lightning in the Eternal Heavens Domain!

More than that, many even honored him as the Master of Divine Punishment!