Chapter 533: Ten-Thousand-Sword Convergence, Youth Edition

What is happening?

Li Tianyao was linking his six immortal swords when they started trembling. Startled, he snapped his eyes open. The sword he held remained steady, but the other five shuddered nonstop.

He looked up sharply, pupils contracting.

A hundred meters away, Wang Sheng hovered in the air with a hazy sword phantasm floating before him. Yin and yang swirled across it and gathered at the junction of its hilt and blade, forming a tiny, slowly turning Tai Chi diagram.

With the sword phantasm enveloping him, even Wang Sheng appeared faint and unreal.

The sword phantasm's aura made Li Tianyao's heart throb, stirring an instinctive urge to retreat.

That's... a sword heart?! No, it can't be! Everyone said no sword cultivator below the Heavenly Immortal Realm could form one! How could a mere Primordial Immortal reach that Human Dao of the Sword realm, command the sword with the heart, and unleash the Ten-Thousand-Sword Convergence?!

Hum~

The five floating immortal swords around him shook harder. Their spirituality grew confused, as if ready to kneel to Wang Sheng's sword phantasm. Li Tianyao poured his True Immortal Realm immortal power into them, forcefully restraining them.

A fierce gleam flashed through his eyes as he growled, "By the power of heaven and earth!"

His five swords shone.

Slightly puzzled, Wang Sheng opened his eyes. He was sure he had heard him right.

"By the power of heaven and earth" was one of the Shu Mountains' usual incantations before unleashing a sword technique.

"The sword has no beginning, the sword has no end," usually preceded it. It didn't speak of two swords; it was a reference to the Great Dao of the Sword having neither beginning nor end, resonating with it. "By the power of heaven and earth," was then followed by a sword incantation.

Carefully examining it, Wang Sheng realized that Li Tianyao was forcefully flooding his swords with immortal power.

Isn't this just a more complicated and bloated version of the Sword-Controlling Art, which makes a flying sword draw out its own power? Has Li Tianyao seen it somewhere and created this so-called ultimate move from his own guesswork?

Where could he have seen it, though? The Sword-Controlling Art was a secret of the Shu Mountains and the Wenqu Star's proud creation. It shouldn't have spread outside. Unless... The Heavenly Court?! Are they our enemies right now?!

Wang Sheng's heart stirred faintly.

By then, Li Tianyao had already shouted, "Five Moon-Chasing Stars!"

Midway into his shout, the five swords burst into long, brilliant streaks of immortal light, like five azure dragons fiercely weaving and winding toward Wang Sheng.

I knew it.

Li Tianyao's counterfeit Sword-Controlling Art did not understand nurturing or nourishing the sword. It only controlled forcefully. It was not only a lesser path; it also relied purely on brute force to appear impressive. In the end, it was nothing but pressure through raw power.

"The sword has no beginning, the sword has no end."

With his sleeve hiding his movements, Wang Sheng placed his left hand behind his back. He then used a sword finger to swiftly draw Dao runes in the air, carving a sword symbol out of nothing.

His right hand pushed forward as the sword heart drifted ahead, rippling with layers of profound Dao Rhythm. The five swords shot toward him, but the ripples spilling from his sword heart struck and froze them in midair.

Li Tianyao frowned. His connection to the five swords had vanished. In that instant, he realized that it was the sword heart's power.

Ten thousand swords bent to its command! This alone is enough for him to be called a sword sovereign!

Killing intent fixed on Wang Sheng, Li Tianyao gripped the sword in his hand and lunged forward, unaware that a sword heart was not specific to the Human Dao of the Sword. It was simply a realm within the Dao of the Sword itself, the crystallization of Wang Sheng's comprehension.

Currently, Wang Sheng had yet to use his three other sword intents. Hence, the sword heart only radiated the Dual-Polarity Sword Intent's aura.

Seeing Li Tianyao rush in, Wang Sheng finished the sword symbol with his left hand. Calmly, he chanted, "The sword heart appears, and ten thousand swords converge! By the power of heaven and earth! Five Moon-Chasing Stars!"

The sword heart trembled. Li Tianyao's five immortal swords immediately shot skyward and then dove down, turning into five streaks of multicolored light that pierced toward their owner. They accumulated far more momentum and reached far higher speed than when they were under his control. The biggest mockery of all was that his own immortal power powered them.

Li Tianyao retreated at once as he tried to seize back control of his swords. However, the ripples from the sword heart had already filled the Xinghai Sect's grand defensive array. Not only Li Tianyao's five swords, but the countless treasured swords in the entire sect hummed in response.

Wang Sheng raised his sleeve. Using the sword heart as the guide, he secretly unleashed the Sword-Controlling Art. In a breath, a third of his immortal power was drawn away.

Sword cries erupted as immortal swords shot skyward from all corners of the Xinghai Sect, turning into streaks of flowing light. They circled the sword heart, enclosing both it and Wang Sheng in a ring of steel.

In the distance, the five swords hounded Li Tianyao all the way to the array's edge.

Wang Sheng stood in the midst of a hundred swords, watching Li Tianyao quietly. He seemed motionless, but in his sleeve, he kept slightly shifting his left hand.

Where did this pampered second-generation immortal learn the Sword-Controlling Art?

Wang Sheng wanted to seize Li Tianyao right then and question him. However, two Heavenly Immortals were watching them below, and Li Tianyao already looked miserable enough. In a simple spar like this, he couldn't lay a hand on the Celestial Wind Sect's young master.

Forget it.

He would settle this matter once he was strong enough. Rushing this would be unwise.

Before countless gazes, Wang Sheng gripped the broken sword in his right hand, thumped his own chest hard, and then coughed out a large mouthful of blood.

His face turned deathly pale, and he dropped from the air, the sword heart returning to him. Having lost their guide, the hundred swords around him fell like rain. When he dropped to one knee, which he imagined would look heroic, sword rained down around him and stabbed into the ground, forming a ring.

The atmosphere had a faint hint of tragic grandeur.

However, everyone present—from the North-River Sword Sect's two Heavenly Immortals to the Xinghai Sect's sect master, vice sect master, protectors, and disciples—all looked at him with strange expressions.

Wang Sheng's self-inflicted injury had been far too obvious.

Still, the immortals of the Xinghai Sect quietly praised his cleverness. He lost openly to Li Tianyao to give face to the Celestial Wind Sect and the North-River Sword Sect, while still upholding the Xinghai Sect's dignity.

Everyone knew that Wang Sheng had not truly lost. The Xinghai Sect had not bowed in the slightest before the Celestial Wind Sect.

Yao Xingzi stroked his beard and sighed as he gave Wang Sheng an emotional look. Beside him, a rare hint of a smile appeared behind Lishang's veil. The more she looked at the sword cultivator, the more handsome he appeared.

Wang Sheng sighed deeply and loudly declared, "I concede, Young Master Li."

At the edge of the array, Li Tianyao looked from his five hovering beloved swords back to Wang Sheng. He then exhaled in relief.

Pushed too hard earlier, he failed to notice that his opponent had struck himself. After thinking it over, he assumed that Wang Sheng had simply pushed himself too far. Commanding the sword heart had to have consumed massive immortal power.

Hence, to him, he still won.

However, despite being the Celestial Wind Sect's heir, one of the North-River Sword Sect's core disciples, and a True Immortal, a mere Primordial had still forced him to such a sorry state.

His killing intent welled up, but he quickly hid the anomaly in his eyes.

He steadied his breath, raised his right hand, and drew a line with a sword finger. With his main sword guiding the way, he made his six swords return to the front of the palace and into their sheaths. Afterward, with his hands behind his back, he flew back and offered a faint, friendly smile.

Soon, however, he noticed something off about the looks being cast his way.

Eyes on Wang Sheng, he smiled gently. "Witnessing a sword heart control ten thousand swords has certainly given me insights. Let us call it a draw today. To be able to spar with you in swordsmanship brings me great joy, Daoist Friend Kachew. If you have time, please visit the Celestial Wind Sect. We can spar again!"

Still pale, Wang Sheng sighed softly. "I've rarely met kindred spirits in the sword. Though I have comprehended the sword heart, it remains incomplete, and my cultivation is too low. Once I reach the True Immortal Realm, I will seek guidance from you again, Young Master Li."

Li Tianyao smiled and was about to reply with some polite words when one of the North-River Sword Sect's Heavenly Immortals called, "Tianyao, let us go."

He could no longer bear to hear his martial nephew boast. After all, Li Tianyao's own five swords had chased him down, and he even failed to notice Wang Sheng's self-inflicted blow. However, the two Heavenly Immortals had seen everything. They knew the Primordial Immortal was a Dao of the Sword genius. The only reason he deliberately conceded was the powerful sects supporting Li Tianyao.

If their martial nephew kept talking, the two Heavenly Immortals felt they wouldn't be able to show their old faces.

Li Tianyao dared not argue. Thinking that his performance today had displeased his martial uncles, he dared not act carelessly. Instead, he hurriedly bid farewell to Yao Xingzi.

Meanwhile, The two Heavenly Immortals walked to the edge of the sword ring around Wang Sheng and studied his face. One asked, "Young Friend, have you heard of North-River Sword Sect?"

Still seated, Wang Sheng nodded. "I have heard of it often since I arrived here."

"If you come to understand the principle of the undying true spirit, you may visit North-River Sword Sect," the two Heavenly Immortals said calmly. "Provide us with an insight into the Sword Heart Realm, and the North-River Sword Sect will give you a treasure of immortal arts."

With a solemn expression, Wang Sheng cupped his hands. "In that case, once I reach the True Immortal Realm, I will certainly come visit."

He made sure he didn't sound like he was joking.

The two Heavenly Immortals glanced back at Li Tianyao, who had already signaled to depart and followed behind his martial uncles toward the mountain gate. He had arrived in splendor, but now he left in haste.

With heads lowered, the six sword attendants carried the immortal swords. The maids and celestial soldiers who had been standing on the palace steps also withdrew in order.

The Xinghai Sect didn't see them off; two elders simply flew over to open the array barrier at the mountain gate.

As the Celestial Wind Sect's group boarded their floating warship, Yao Xingzi chuckled twice. All gazes then shifted to Wang Sheng.

Wang Sheng had expected this. He gave two convincing coughs, and a thin line of blood traced its way from the corner of his mouth.

He slowly fell on his back within the sword ring. The immortals around him rushed forward at once.

"Protector Pi!"

"Hurry! He must have suffered an internal injury!"

"The Celestial Wind Sect's young master hit too hard! His good looks are wasted on him!"