Chapter 499: A Sword Binds an Azure Dragon

Boom!

The rain of light shook, and energy rumbled.

Huo Tiandu’s?pupils constricted.?What powerful sword intent!

An enormous rift existed between the Origin and Spirit Daos.

In the eyes of a Spiritual Manifestation cultivator like Huo Tiandu, Origin Dao cultivators and mundane martial artists were both ants; Origin Dao cultivators were just slightly stronger ants.

Even modern geniuses and monsters of the ancient era couldn’t take a single hit from a Spirit Dao cultivator.

When he struck earlier, Huo Tiandu assumed Su Yi would use his hidden trump card or life-saving treasure to neutralize it.?Otherwise, he’d die beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Who’d have thought that an Origin Palace Realm young man could destroy his attack in a single slash, relying on nothing but his attainments in the Dao of the Sword?

This was unquestionably unbelievable; it was beyond Huo Tiandu’s imagination.

However, he didn’t have time to think about it now. The power of Sun Yi's sword hadn’t decreased, and it was coming right toward him!

“Hmph!” Huo Tiandu snorted coldly. Netherworld Frost burst with a dozen-foot-long streak of dim, icy light, which turned with the sword’s edge.

Rumble!

It was like a waterfall descending from the heavens, heavy and forceful, with thunderous momentum. It shattered Su Yi’s sword qi in a single strike.

“Excellent!” Su Yi burst into laughter, then advanced, weapon in hand, displaying the Rejoicing Sword Sutra in the sky.

He seemed free and unrestrained, and his sword intent rose with the momentum of an avalanche or tidal wave as he initiated his attack.

It certainly didn’t seem like he was facing a Spirit Dao cultivator, an existence Origin Dao cultivators could only gaze upon from afar. No, it seemed as if he were facing someone of the same level.

This was an enormous affront to Huo Tiandu’s dignity. His expression darkened, and his eyes flashed with murderous intent.

He activated his killer move without the slightest hesitation!

Boom!

A grand battle broke out.

Sword qi arced through the skies above Cloudcomb Lake, like charging bulls. The rain clouds filling the sky soon burst apart and dispersed into nothingness.

The continuous humming of their swords was like thunder clashing in the nine heavens. It reverberated throughout the darkness nonstop.

These were like scenes from a battle between immortals, and they shocked the human world awake.

The countless cultivators gathered around the shore watched, dumbstruck and tongue-tied. They trembled, body and soul.

This was Nine Tripod City, the Great Xia’s imperial capital!

Who would dare believe that, this late at night, such an unparalleled duel would take place here?

“The River of Heaven Sword Classic! I know who that is! That’s His Excellency High Elder Huo Tiandu of Cloudsky Divine Palace, a renowned Spiritual Manifestation cultivator!” someone exclaimed, provoking a round of uproar.

To the world’s cultivators, Huo Tiandu was an expert who stood at the very pinnacle of this world. He was monstrously powerful, mysterious, and elusive. Ordinarily speaking, it was hard to even catch a glimpse of him.

Yet now, this towering, influential figure was fighting atop Cloudcomb Lake. Who wouldn’t have been startled?

“Who is Senior Huo’s opponent?”

𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Many of them were wondering the same thing.

It was late at night, and the battle was taking place in the center of Cloudcomb Lake. The onlookers were watching from afar, and many of their divine senses simply couldn’t reach. They could just barely tell that Huo Tiandu was fighting a young man in blue.

No one knew who he was.

Some of the older, sharper-eyed cultivators could roughly discern that the young man was in the Origin Palace Realm, but this discovery only made the onlookers feel even more shaken. They dared not believe it was true.

Who could imagine such a thing? Since when could Origin Palace cultivators contend with Spiritual Manifestation experts?

“Cut!” Huo Tiandu’s eyes flashed like lightning, and his hair and beard fluttered around him. As he swung his sword, a boundless, overflowing torrent of energy surged through the sky.

This was the power of the Azure Spring Sword Intent.

This was a first-rate Daoist intent. When Huo Tiandu swung his sword, a river seemed to follow every strike. His attacks were as furious as tidal waves, with incomparably shocking momentum.

Any casual strike could easily kill even peak Gathering Stars Realm cultivators!

Yet this terrifying offensive could do nothing to Su Yi.

As the battle proceeded, Su Yi neutralized each attack, one by one!

This left Huo Tiandu repeatedly stunned.

Before deciding to fight Su Yi, he had investigated him. However, he had obtained little information.

All he knew was that Su Yi had slain a monster of the ancient era, the Nirvanic Wind Holy Son, that he’d defeated Zhang Yuntao in just two attacks, and that he had killed Huo Yunsheng, Sun Feng, and Qian Tianlong.

All of them were Origin Dao cultivators. Thus, Huo Tiandu subconsciously assumed that no matter how heaven-defying Su Yi’s combat strength was, he was at best an extraordinary genius compared to others of similar cultivations.

Now, he realized that he’d made an enormous error in judgment.?This kid is no mere miraculous genius. He’s a monster; common sense doesn’t apply to him!

Hundreds of years had passed since Huo Tiandu began his cultivation. Even so, never mind seeing someone like Su Yi; he’d never even heard of an Origin Palace cultivator strong enough to fight Spiritual Manifestation cultivators!

He no longer dared be as contemptuous or negligent as he was at the start of their battle. His expression was already utterly solemn.

If I don’t kill this pup today, I won’t just disgrace the Huo Family; he’ll become a serious threat!?Huo Tiandu’s eyes surged with murderous intent.

That battle had broken out today meant that their relationship was irreconcilable.

Su Yi’s foundations were heaven-defying. If he left the lake alive and had time to grow, who in this world could possibly be his opponent?

When the time came, how could Cloudsky Divine Palace and the Huo Family contend with Su Yi?

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Huo Tiandu struck with even more terrifying force. His sword intent was like the boundless ocean, and it drew upon the force of his surroundings. He attacked in fury, every strike containing enough force to destroy mountains and shake cities.

This put enormous pressure on Su Yi!

At the end of the day, the gap between their?cultivations?was enormous. As an Origin Dao cultivator, the strength at his disposal and the power of his abilities paled in comparison to a Spirit Dao cultivator’s.

However, he had three advantages:

First, the power of his soul. It was at least as strong as Huo?Tiandu’s, if not stronger. This meant that as they fought, he could discern his opponent’s intentions before the opponent acted on them.

Second, his attainments in the Dao of the Sword and the power of his Grand Dao were far beyond Huo Tiandu. After all, the Dao Charm of the Five Elements was unmatched, and Su Yi’s swordsmanship had the support of all the combat experience of his past life. His knowledge of combat left Huo Tiandu in the dust!

As they fought, this awareness gave him a sort of precognition. He could anticipate his foe’s intentions and seize his weaknesses to deliver a heavy blow. Similarly, when he faced a potentially lethal threat, he picked up on it in advance, giving him time to dodge or counter.

Third, although Su Yi’s cultivation boundary was inferior to his opponent’s, his foundations and accumulations were so high-quality that they partially made up for the deficiency.

Both the Strongest Dao Seed that he had condensed in the Grain Avoidance Realm and the “Immortal Palace Reflected in the Sky” phenomenon that he had caused while breaking into the Origin Palace Realm were unique and unprecedented even in the Nine Provinces of the Wilds.

This meant that Su Yi’s combat strength far surpassed his cultivation boundary. He revealed the first signs of this earlier, when he slew more than ten Gathering Stars Realm cultivators in a single blow.

It was thanks to these three advantages that, even now, Su Yi had yet to call upon any of his trump cards. Even relying on nothing but his own strength, he had the capital to contend with those in the Spiritual Manifestation Realm!

.

He had 108,000 years of accumulated combat experience. How could a Spiritual Manifestation cultivator like Huo Tiandu compare to him in this regard?

Thus, in the battle thus far, Su Yi neutralized one attack after another with ease.

It was only now, as Huo Tiandu’s killing intent surged and he called upon the full extent of his abilities, that he put such enormous pressure on Su Yi.

However, this didn’t alarm Su Yi. No, it delighted him!

He didn’t lack means of seizing victory. What he lacked were whetstones with which to sharpen his edge!

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have shown up for tonight’s duel without a second thought.

There was nothing for it. At Su Yi’s current level, worthy opponents were just too rare….

“Die!” Huo Tiandu’s imposing air soared, and his sword intent intensified.

The vast majesty of the Spiritual Manifestation Realm stirred up Cloudcomb Lake. The water churned as if it were boiling.

Even just watching from the shorelines, the onlookers felt their hearts quiver with fright, and they were visibly stunned.

Even Weng Jiu, who sat in the teahouse strumming his zither, felt his heart and mind shake.

Someone of his level didn’t find Huo Tiandu’s cultivation all that scary. No, what stunned him was that even after all this time, Huo Tiandu had failed to kill Su Yi. Instead, he’d been forced to use his full strength!

Weng Jiu naturally understood the implications.

He dared say with conviction that an early-stage Spiritual Manifestation cultivator wouldn’t even have been a match for Su Yi!

Ee? The kid’s sword force is getting stronger too!?Weng Jiu’s eyes flashed as he sensed Su Yi’s sword force rising like waters at high tide!

His blue robes billowed, and his long hair fluttered around him. He swung his sword, dashing and unrestrained, and he only grew stronger as the battle continued. Rather than being suppressed, he displayed an unstoppable sharpness.

“This kid really is the most monstrous genius beneath the heavens…” After watching all of this play out, even Weng Jiu was starting to lose his composure.

As he watched Su Yi’s display of power, Weng Jiu finally understood that even if he hadn’t intervened last night at the Song of the Sandy Creek, Su Yi would have gotten out alive.

Only now did he understand why Su Yi dared speak of using Spirit Dao cultivators as whetstones.

It was because he really could do it!

Furthermore, he was doing it with his own strength; he’d yet to call upon any secret treasures or external trump cards!

“Azure Spring River of Heaven, the Dragon-Binding Slash!” Suddenly, Huo Tiandu’s voice boomed throughout the night sky.

The onlookers watched as he stabbed, blanketing Su Yi’s surroundings in an enormous current. It formed a several-thousand-foot cage formed entirely of the overflowing Azure Spring Sword Intent.

This was one of Huo Tiandu’s ultimate attacks, his famous killer move—the Dragon-Binding Slash!

He once used it to cut down a vicious aquatic flood dragon of the Spiritual Manifestation Realm. When word spread, his name shook the Great Xia.

There was no doubt about it; the mighty Spiritual Manifestation Realm Huo Tiandu was starting to get frantic. He was now using the killer move that made him famous!

Su Yi now resembled a caged beast. Bars formed of sword intent surrounded him, forming an almost material cage.

“Capture!” Huo Tiandu emanated divine majesty as his voice boomed like spring thunder.

The enormous cage of sword intent suddenly compressed, bearing ruthlessly down upon Su Yi. Its power was terrifying beyond limit, and it approached on all sides at once.

Huo Tiandu watched from a distance, a hint of a cruel grin on his lips.

This was the Dragon-Binding Slash.

A slash like a cage, one that could bind even an azure dragon.

How could it fail to kill an Origin Palace youth?