Chapter 307: You Think You're Worthy?

Brother Yun. Ling Chen instinctively bowed his head at the sight of the young man in white. His heart felt as if it was locked in ice.

What did you call me? Yun Xiao raised an eyebrow.

Ling Chen, hiding his right hand that had lost five fingers, replied without a change in his demeanor, Sword Slave Ling Chen, greets his master.

In his most downtrodden moment, he encountered the very person he least wished to meet. How could his heart not be in turmoil? Moreover, had Yun Xiao always known his whereabouts? If so, that spelled big trouble.

Concealing the turmoil in his heart, Ling Chen forced a smile and said to Yun Xiao, As per your instructions, I have gathered evidence of the Withered Bone Keeper secretly using the Heavenly Mirror. Now that most of the Ku Family's forces have been slain by devils and Inscription Cultivators, with my testimony, you can return to the Sword Ruins to seek justice. He suppressed his boundless frustration and anger.

Word is you brought the Heavenly Mirror here, and now that the Ku Family's forces are dead, where is the mirror? Yun Xiao extended his hand.

Ling Chens expression darkened upon hearing this.

Just now, I was ambushed by two Sword Cultivators from the Ku Family. In desperation, I had to use the power of the Heavenly Mirror to protect myself Ling Chen could only reveal his right hand, which was now just a bare wrist, the palm having been blown to pieces.

Is it because you played around with other people's wives again? Yun Xiao asked with a faint smile. For a reincarnated true Immortal, you have such unique tastes.

Ling Chen coldly raised his head, his eyes filled with a hint of frost. I've made a fool out of myself in front of you he muttered.

Haha. Yun Xiao suddenly laughed, pointing at Ling Chen's lower abdomen, What's with all the blood there? Don't tell me you lost your manhood? Wow, karma's a real bitch, huh?

"..." Ling Chen clenched his only remaining fist beneath his sleeve. He understood. It was clear Yun Xiao knew everything! Each remark was further rubbing salt in the wound!

Ling Chen forced a sheepish smile, It just so happens Im now purged of earthly desires, ready to devoutly follow the master on his heavenly path.

Is that so?

Such humiliation, yet Ling Chen bore it, surprising Yun Xiao. He took a few steps forward, standing beside Ling Chen in the wind, gazing at the battlefield strewn with corpses and blood.

After a while, he said coldly to Ling Chen, Hand over the Calamity Seal Sword.

Ling Chens frown deepened, and he replied softly, The sword is not with me.

Oh? Yun Xiao reached out, and from a nearby icy pond, with a buzz, a wooden sword flew out, landing in Yun Xiaos hand.

Ling Chen's face twisted momentarily!

The wooden sword, unbearably heavy in others' hands, seemed as light as a feather in Yun Xiao's. He flicked the sword casually, smiling at Ling Chen.

"It's not in your hands, but hidden in the pond. Does that mean it wanted to be concealed until you recovered enough to monopolize it?" Yun Xiao inquired, looking straight into his eyes.

Ling Chen stepped back, took a deep breath, and said, "Your control over it means you killed Fu Longxiang. You framed me and the Ku Family Sword Cultivators, and with the Inscription Cultivators, you eliminated them effortlessly."

"You missed a detail," Yun Xiao replied, gazing into the distance. "The Divine Continent is my homeland, and demons are a perpetual scourge. I also used the Inscription Cultivators to decimate the demon army."

The demons were a legion; for Yun Xiao to slay them alone would be too arduous. He played it smart.

"Master!" Ling Chen bowed deeply. "I've publicly become your sword slave and am willing to serve you for life. Why do you still need to scheme against me?"

"Have you lied to yourself so much that you started believing it?" Yun Xiao chuckled.

Ling Chen shook his head. "I indeed had my reservations, which is why I coveted the Calamity Seal Sword. But now, I am utterly convinced by you!"

At this point, he looked up at Yun Xiao and declared earnestly, "From now on, I harbor no ill thoughts. Should I betray this, may I be struck down by heaven and earth."

"You're only afraid of death now. If you weren't in mortal peril, you wouldn't speak like this," Yun Xiao observed, his hair fluttering in the wind.

"It's true," Ling Chen said with a wry smile. "In my past life, I never encountered a being like you... When I was first reborn, I couldn't believe someone in this world could surpass me. Now, I do! You're not a calamity of this life, but the noblest person I've ever met."

Yun Xiao glanced at him, surprised, then smiled, "Wow, you're good. I'm actually starting to believe you."

Ling Chen's eyes reddened with joy, about to kneel before Yun Xiao. "I swear to the heavens I will wholly and fully devote this second life of mine to you.."

However, before he could finish, Yun Xiao raised his hand, preventing him from kneeling. "Sorry, it's already too late."

"Why? In my previous life, I was a great Cosmic Immortal, the supreme Divine Sky Sword Emperor of an Immortal court. I'm still not worthy enough to follow you?" Ling Chen asked intensely.

"Indeed, not quite worthy," Yun Xiao stated.

"You" Ling Chen stared at him intensely. The Divine Sky Sword Emperor, unworthy of even being a follower? Where did this confidence come from?

Even as he bowed low, the humiliation of this moment was enough to ignite a volcanic eruption in his chest.

Yun Xiao's words mercilessly shattered all the confidence Ling Chen had built since his rebirth.

"You needn't be angry," Yun Xiao said, calm as a drifting cloud, looking at Ling Chen. "Remember? Right after your rebirth, I saved your life. Without me, this life of yours wouldn't exist."

"So what?" Ling Chen's eyes were bloodshot.

"I gave you a chance, but you never treasured it. Everything you did was typical of an ungrateful wretch, not once behaving like someone who repays kindness," Yun Xiao said with a slight smile. "I'd have to be a real idiot to let someone like that be my follower, isn't that right? Just like how you and everyone else thought I was a real idiot for stepping in to save you from Bai Wuque.

But that's life. We all make mistakes, me included. The difference is I learn from mine. Ling Chen, stop pretending. From your past life to this one, you've always been a self-righteous Immortal scoundrel."

"Haha," Ling Chen's gaze turned fierce. "You're only commanding the situation because you have the upper hand. If I were suppressing you, I could be the one to judge and evaluate you."

"That's why I say we have nothing in common. It's better to leave just one of us standing," Yun Xiao declared.

"You!" Ling Chen's expression was icy cold. "I have no grudge against you; why can't you just let me be?"

"Because you're a fat sheep, and you owe me a life." Having said that, Yun Xiao casually tossed the Calamity Seal Sword to the ground, then looked at Ling Chen with a chilling gaze, "I'll give you a fair chance to fight for your dignity."

"Fine!" At this point, Ling Chen dropped all pretenses. Feigning weakness and humility was suffocating. It was a crushing suppression of his dao heart!

Atop this mountain summit, Ling Chen's Dao Heart Realm sacred power surged, and he summoned the nine-colored Sword Soul with his left hand, now his only option for wielding a sword.

"The Divine Sky Sword Emperor," Yun Xiao said with a light laugh and hands behind his back. "You dont even understand mortals, yet you wish to be reborn as one to cultivate? Did you ever think in your previous life that you'd be reduced to such a sorry state by mere specks of dust?"

"You think saying that makes a difference?" Ling Chen said coldly.

"Just a spontaneous remark, to humiliate you," Yun Xiao replied.

It was a simple insult, yet it was like filth splashed on Ling Chen's dao heart, staining his newly reformed spirit with dirt. With his Dao Heart clouded, only the desire for murder remained.

"He is my dao tribulation. By slaying him, my million years of waiting may yet bear new hope!" This thought plunged Ling Chen into a state of frenzied madness.

Clutching the nine-colored Sword Soul in his left hand, he stared at it intently. "You are a divine sword born from the primordial cosmos, imbued with the might of nine worlds. Combined with the 3,000 realms of my Divine Sky Sword Dao, even freshly reborn, what do I have to fear from a devil obstructing my path?"

The nine-colored Sword Soul, sensing his rage, emitted nine world-shaking roars!

HUM!

The space around them trembled violently, a vast expanse pressing towards Yun Xiao!

Clearly, Ling Chen was even stronger than during the finals of the Immortal Sword Rankings!

If it weren't for Yun Xiao, no one in the Nine Hells could suppress him in the slightest.

Now, wielding the sword, he was like the world itself, his body seemingly multiplying infinitely. The whole world appeared to be under his control, a flick of his finger stirring heaven and earth!

"Kill!" With a low growl, Ling Chen let loose the nine-coloured Sword Soul. It twisted the mountain beneath them, pressing down on Yun Xiao with the weight of the entire world!

Even though Ling Chen was only in the Early Dao Heart Realm, the sacred power he released even surpassed that of Yun Xiao. His Dantian seemed to hover with nine blazing suns, their light piercing through, illuminating heaven and earth!

"Finally, he's ripe," Yun Xiao's lips curved slightly.

If Ling Chen's rage was like a volcanic eruption, shaking heavens and earth, then Yun Xiao was calm like still water, an ancient well without ripples, using stillness to counter motion.

"Die!" With one sword strike, the sky and mountains behind Ling Chen were uprooted, converging into the true essence of this world-spanning strike!

Mountains were elongated and twisted! The world itself appeared to be inverting. This spectacle could terrify anyone, but not Yun Xiao.

"Interesting." Yun Xiao summoned Heaven Burial between his fingers. Then with a casual flick, he sent it flying out!

WHOOSH!

The streak of azure light in the air morphed suddenly into a Taiji Yin-Yang fish, swirling and shooting forward, with a trail of black and white spatial forces behind it!

Taiji Sword Art, Taiji Flying Fish!

Just as the Taiji fish reached a third of the way toward Ling Chen, it abruptly changed into a strand of rootless gray grass, tearing open the gates of hell, bringing forth the power of death and merging with the Taiji!

It was a perfect fusion of Rootless Grass and Taiji Flying Fishtwo grand Flying Sword techniques!

Ling Chen thought this was terrifying enough. But in the next instant, the space around the Flying Sword twisted, the white clouds above and the mountains below were also distorted, ripped from their places, converging onto the Flying Sword!

"Fuck! That's my Spatial Inverse Slash! Ling Chen's vision darkened, and he couldn't help but curse.

Just as he had mustered enough strength to use this sword technique, the opponent immediately integrated his own Palm Sword technique into their Flying Sword technique, creating a greater spatial distortion than his own!

How was he supposed to compete with that?

Ling Chen didnt even have time to panic!

BOOM!

Carrying the triforce of Taiji, death, and space, along with seven demon magics, the Flying Sword appeared right before Ling Chen.

KLANG!

Ling Chen slashed fiercely and managed to strike the Heaven Burial Sword Soul!

Unfortunately, Heaven Burial twisted his nine-colored Sword Soul, scattering it away, while grazing and embedding itself into the back of his left hand!

As the Heaven Burial Sword Soul passed through, the fingers on his left hand were completely obliterated, leaving him with yet another bare wrist!

"GAGH!" Ling Chen screamed in pain, his face turning pale as he staggered back several steps! Even his nine-colored Sword Soul fell to the ground, trembling. He lifted his arm to see... both hands fingerless