Chapter 369: Human Dao of the Sword! Breakthrough!

A soul-shaking sword cry and air being torn apart echoed. Sword radiance cleaved down from the heavens, endlessly transforming the stars.

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Wang Sheng pressed forward, paying no heed to the mass of blue light colliding from the side. All he could see now was the broken ancient prince and the hope of reversing the battle. The only thought in his mind was how to unleash his sword techniques. Explosions in the air, shrill howls, and terrified, desperate cries reached his ears, yet his focus remained unshaken.

He felt as though only his sword existed between heaven and earth!

When Wang Sheng burst out from the edge of the lightning, he had already stabbed Spiritless's tip into the ancient prince. Almost in the same instant, three successive waves of seven interwoven rays of sword radiance shot through the prince.

Wang Sheng was well aware that his enemy's life force was hidden within the small blood bats inside his body. The moment he broke apart the flesh, he locked onto the nine blood bats within and poured Pure Yang Enchanted Power into every sword phantasm. However, just as it burst forth, Galina reached Wang Sheng. Blood light flashed from her longsword.

In the blink of an eye, Galina crashed into Wang Sheng just as his power was about to destroy the blood bats, knocking him away, while the sword phantasms embedded in the prince detonated. Torrents of Pure Yang Enchanted Power surged out from within, swallowing Galina along with it.

The battlefield fell silent.

Even with more than half of the Dark Faction's top twenty fighters ganging up on him, the Hua Republic cultivator still managed to slay the ancient vampire prince, one of the Dark Faction's four strongest members and leader of the Blood Race.

It dealt a crushing blow to the Dark Faction's morale.

Meanwhile, having taken Galina's attack head-on, Wang Sheng fell straight to the ground. He still stood firmly, but his Celestial Combat Garment had been torn, and his left shoulder had been pierced through. A strange blood light clung to the wound, preventing his Dao Body from healing. He could only use his enchanted power to temporarily seal the wound, stopping the blood light from corroding his body.

The Dark Faction's experts had stopped in their tracks, but Wang Sheng had no intention of easing his assault. The moment he steadied himself, a flash of light swept across the sky.

A cultivator of the Dark Faction, weaker than the others, clutched his neck and crashed down from above. One of the dozen or so enemies shouted something in a foreign tongue and, together with the others, rushed at Wang Sheng.

"

Hmph!

"

Keeping his left arm down, he quickly took two steps. He then used the Reversed Seven-Star Sword Formation, making phantasms burst forth toward the sky.

Wang Sheng made sure to conserve his enchanted power, forcing himself to efficiently use every bit of it on killing his enemies. He formed a sword finger with his left hand and shook it as he muttered incantations. Soon, stars surged up from the earth and rolled across the heavens. Wang Sheng had unleashed the ferocity of the Heavenly Ziwei Sword Art, a limitless and profound art!

Among the dozen Dark Faction experts charging at him, all but the Fire Lord, who used flames to resist the sword light, were forced back. Half of them were lightly wounded.

In ages past, Ziwei used the same sword art to carve a bloody path through the divine spirits of foreign realms to aid the Heavenly Court and save the immortals. Now, Wang Sheng, who was partially Ziwei's disciple, wielded the same art beyond the borders of the Hua Republic despite not being an immortal yet. He single-handedly crushed the foreign corrupt cultivators before they could even voice their misery.

His enemies were confused. In their eyes, he was just as strong as their four leaders. The battle was supposed to be in their favor. Yet now, he was the one pressuring and suffocating them, as though he had surrounded them despite being alone.

"Stand aside!" Galina shouted coldly from the sky as she walked out of the Pure Yang Enchanted Power.

She was now even more fiendishly alluring, her matchless beauty seemingly enough to topple kingdoms. However, behind her stretched a pair of blood-red, fleshy wings. Ghostly and terrifying, their glow stained half the heavens crimson. In her hands were two blood-colored bats—the soul of the ancient prince.

Grief and sorrow filled her eyes. She raised her hands, crushed the bats, and swallowed the streams of blood light. From her spread a dreadful aura so overwhelming that even the modern vampire princes trembled and wished to flee. Her presence made the sky, which had just turned light blue, darken once more.

"I had only two friends left," Galina coldly said in the Hua language. "You've killed both of them."

Hatred filled her eyes as she locked on Wang Sheng. Blood light had completely enveloped the longsword in her right hand.

Wang Sheng flicked Spiritless, shaking off the blood. Calm and unflinching, he met Galina's eyes. At last, she had revealed her most powerful form.

Her appearance wasn't quite what he had expected, though.

"

I'll lend you my power,

" Yaoyun telepathically offered.

Threads of immortal light spread from the hilt of Spiritless, winding around his wrist.

Blood light erupted from Galina's wings. In a tone reminiscent of the Nine Nethers[1]' cold winds, she shouted, "I want you to pay for their lives!"

The moment her words pierced his ears, Wang Sheng's hair stood on end.

Before she could even finish her sentence, Galina had turned into a streak of blood light. Like an arrow shot from a divine bow, she shot straight toward Wang Sheng.

Wang Sheng broke into a charge. Even though he was slower on the ground, he stayed calm under pressure. He thrust his sword forward and flicked it upward. Though simple and without flourish, he did them with flawless precision, intercepting the blood light and the longsword.

A sharp clang rang out. Though the earth under Wang Sheng split apart, he had put a complete stop to Galina's furious charge.

They swiftly swung at each other at an angle, making their longswords clash. Wang Sheng's and Galina's eyes were now only inches away.

Wang Sheng reversed his Seven-Star Footwork to retreat rapidly, dissolving the force he had taken. The grass under him split open again and again, the power he had guided into the earth proving too great for the land to bear.

Galina pressed on close behind, but her initial momentum had already faded. She swung and thrust her longsword like a phantom, unleashing simple stabs and slashes.

They fought with nothing but pure speed and strength.

Wang Sheng's injured left arm didn't hinder him from properly utilizing his Seven-Star Footwork. On the contrary, he still used his left hand to skillfully control Flying Haze, making it circle him and occasionally block one or two of Galina's attacks.

He flawlessly unleashed and connected the Seven-Star Sword Formation, the Reverse Seven-Star Sword Formation, the Taiyi Golden Immortal Sword Art, and the Shu Sword Sect's basic sword techniques. Every move flowed into the next without the slightest pause. With Spiritless in hand, he shifted between attack and defense, holding back Galina's explosive assault.

Even so, Wang Sheng kept falling back. Though his sword techniques kept him from being at a disadvantage, Galina's sheer power had begun suppressing him. Their duel had grown so intense that the Dark Faction experts circling above could no longer intervene.

It was not that they feared the shockwaves of the battle injuring them. Rather, they simply couldn't keep up with the rhythm of the fight. The force Galina now unleashed made their hearts tremble.

Each cleave with her longsword seemed capable of splitting the ground into ravines, and each thrust looked as though it could pierce the distant mountains. Nevertheless, Wang Sheng's sword techniques cut off her every strike and dissolved every power surge with effortless precision.

Sword technique, sword intent, sword momentum. Wang Sheng went all out, matching Galina blow for blow. In this situation, the Sword-Controlling Art was useless. Even Lightning Flash would only disrupt his rhythm.

He retreated for hundreds of meters. A web of cracks spread wherever he stepped, like a dried riverbed. Meanwhile, Galina's offense had grown weaker, and her momentum had waned. After all, starting strong meant faltering sooner and exhausting themselves faster."

In the midst of battle, Wang Sheng remembered Gao Shixing's silhouette. He seemingly found himself again in their small courtyard on Wudang Mountains, listening to Yuan Pu Zhenren speak on the essence of the Dao of the Sword.

In a haze, insights suddenly came to him. He felt himself growing stronger and his sword techniques becoming sharper, heavier, and faster.

In the face of Galina's storm-like assault, Wang Sheng became like a stubborn rock that yielded to neither heaven nor earth. Even if he were to be shattered to dust, he would still make his roar echo through all realms.

Wang Sheng suddenly launched a counteroffensive. Spiritless blazed with radiance. He made his techniques flow like drifting clouds and rushing water, yet they were several times faster and fiercer than before.

Galina was instantly caught in his rhythm. His swordsmanship crushed her momentum. Every time their swords clashed, a tremor coursed through her arm and forced her to step back.

The stronger the foe, the fiercer his spirit. The harsher the trial, the more unyielding his advance.

The sword in his hand was nothing more than an extension of himself. The true battle was waged with his heart, his spirit, and his soul! Only by entrusting himself to his sword and strength could he stand unshaken, no matter the thunder, no matter the storm!

Born as a man, he would bow to neither heaven, earth, nor any other!

A sudden clarity welled up within Wang Sheng. He had made a breakthrough in the first Dao of the Sword that he had encountered and understood!

Skipping past the Realm of Sword Control, he had now reached the Realm of the Sword Heart!

The realm's focus was not the heart of the sword, but the unyielding heart of the one who wielded it. And at that moment, Wang Sheng's heart became undefeatable as it pressed ever forward!

Purple-golden light flickered within his eyes. Drops of blood seeped from his fingertips into the hilt of Spiritless, making its blade gleam. With a plain thrust, he struck the hilt of Galina's longsword, driving her back in shock. He then leaped, turned, and carved a perfect arc of light with Spiritless.

Though ready to retaliate, Galina noticed she had become strangely slower. She instinctively raised her longsword sideways to block instead of trading blows at any cost.

Spiritless crashed down on the longsword, and Galina was hurled to the side. Right after, two dazzling beams of light shot from the sky, smashing her into the ground.

The Heavenly Swords had been fired again!

Simultaneously, a roar reverberated. Wang Sheng looked up, finding dozens of missiles crashing into the distant dome protecting the town.

Multiple raging flames erupted. The grand array flickered violently.

Just as Wang Sheng was about to charge at Galina again, her bright wings released a brilliant blue and crimson glow. Having withstood the two high-energy laser beams, she rose slowly back into the air.

Wang Sheng's narrowed eyes reflected Galina and the dome in the distance, which was already on the verge of collapse.

1. A symbolic term that essentially means "the deepest or most yin part of existence." ☜