Outside of Kongxuan city, Ye Futian and his party continued to blitz without stopping.
It was obvious that the power of Emperor Xia’s Realm was above that of Emperor Li’s Realm at present. Unless Emperor Li of Dali Dynasty himself were to give orders to wage war between the imperial realms and sent mighty ones to see to it, it would have been Li Yao’s personal agenda otherwise.
Li Yao wanted him dead.
As such, it would have sufficed to keep buying time, as that would have prevented Li Yao from accomplishing his objective.
The saints by his side continued to stand their pursuers’ way. Yaya returned to the pinnacle of her training. The Sword Matrix of the Void burst forth, the Swordmaster of Lihen lent his sword to Wuchen, the likes of Saint Xia and Saint Li took on the enemy without regard of dangers. There were also the village chief, his teacher and other saints from the Holy Zhi Palace. Even Saint Glass turned around to fight.
All those saints did what they did, just so that he was able to leave.
The weather in the sky changed and violent currents swept about. That was an area of barren land and there were even sandstorms whipping up below, which seemed to have been affected by the strong air currents.
Two saint swordsmen kept flying at great speeds, chasing after Ye Futian’s party, catching up to them soon enough.
They were saints after all and besides, swordsmen had always been versed in speed. When they traveled with their swords, the distance of 100 miles could have been covered within a heartbeat.
They closed in behind Ye Futian soon enough. Both of them pointed their fingers forward. Swords whooshed about in the air at greater speeds than the humans traveling, coming before Ye Futian’s party within an instant.
Voom. Ye Futian’s party split up within that split second, drawing arcs in the air.
Furthermore, they drew their arcs behind instead of forward.
As the two swordsmen continued to move forward, the arcs seemed to have drawn around them, surrounding the two saints.
The sages were actually surrounding the saints.
The two swordsmen halted their steps in an instant, feeling something was off when they saw what Ye Futian and the others were doing.
Despite their enemies being of superior numbers, they were nonetheless sages.
Sages and saints seemed to have been only a thin line apart, yet there were considerable differences in the nature of their powers, and such differences were not something that could have been compensated through talents in combat alone.
Sages were sages and saints were saints.
While Ye Futian and Xia Qingyuan had indeed worked together and killed Yuan Jin, who had borrowed the divine path and attempting to become saint, but Yuan Jin was still not a true saint. Those two that appeared right there and then, they were true saints—people who had truly developed powers of the great path and could have transformed as entities of the great path.
At that moment, Ye Futian and the others burst with formidable power, with some among them more powerful than the others.
They were Ye Futian, Yu Sheng, the Sword Saint and Huang Jiuge.
Towering demonic might burst from Yu Sheng and the Sword Saint, especially Yu Sheng, who had a terrifying devil appearing behind him, looking imposing and regal, as if the devil had truly advent. Silhouettes of devils appeared around him, cordoning the space off.
The Sword Saint relied on the blade he held onto. The power emanating from his entire being was being devoured by the blade. The will of his blade swept about in his surroundings and dark, demonic might coursed about him, making him look extremely terrifying.
The might of Renhuang coursed about on Huang Jiuge, looking extremely regal. He held onto the Renhuang Bow and fed all of his powers within. Might that far surpassed his current level burst from the bow at that moment.
Dazzling imperial light shot up from Ye Futian and his bearing transformed, as if he was born to become emperor. In that very instant, the bearing emanating from his being made even those two saints shudder.
While the aura was not very powerful, but they were nonetheless able to feel faint pressure from it. That was not some power that belonged to sages, unless he was of extraordinary birth and had regal blood flowing in his veins.
“Kill them.” The two saint swordsmen lashed out in an instant, heading straight for Ye Futian like they were swords themselves. They were extremely fast at doing so, yet towering demonic aura blocked their way of.
The Sword Saint looked emaciated throughout, his face devoid of colors and it seemed as if he had been using the powers in his body as sacrifice, letting the blade feast on them with impunity. He closed his eyes to feel the will of the blade. While he had yet to be able to touch the great path, his blade was equipped with powers of the great path nonetheless.
Doom. The Sword Saint took one step out and swung his blade. Terrifying shadow of a devil appeared on the demonic blade. The will of the blade was filled with aura of destruction and death. Dark demonic aura swept about and coalesced into a blade, cutting up dark gashes in the air as he attacked those two saints.
Gu Dongliu stepped out as well and it seemed as if Celestial Shadows fell from above. His entire being was coursing with celestial light and he looked imposing with the nine words circling about him. Countless seals of the nine words burst forth and headed straight for the enemy.
They attacked in pairs at each of the saints. Despite being only sages, they did not show any fear at all.
However, those two saint swordsmen were hardly intimidated. They held a sword in their hands respectively, extending the hand forward and focused the divine path on their fingers, turning into frightening maelstrom of the sword, which spun maniacally like blooming lotuses, tearing everything before them apart.
Both of them moved at frightening speed. Towering light of the blade clashed with the swords. The harrowing, destructive will of the blade was torn to shreds. The maelstroms of the sword continued to move forward as they devoured, intending to gobble up the Sword Saint and tear him to shreds. However, the Sword Saint brought his blade down at the center of the maelstrom. That frightening devilish shadow stood tall before him, but was devoured and torn to pieces by the terrifying sword will.
Gu Dongliu was in a ditch himself as well. Countless seals were being torn apart by the enemy’s sword. The enemy only needed one stroke of the sword to tear through the thousands of seals, breaking up the boundless ancient symbols with unstoppable force.
But then again, the enemy’s swords were indeed held back somewhat. At the same time, the arrows fired from Huang Jiuge’s bow tore through space and burst with the might of Renhuang. The Renhuang will might have been inadequate to kill the saints, but they were nonetheless threatening forces anyway, so threatening that the two saints could not have afforded to simply ignore it. However, they only needed to swing their swords about to summon torrents of the sword, lashing out at the air.
Boom. Devastating demonic might swept about in the air. Yu Sheng stepped forward and walked towards Gu Dongliu’s direction, bringing down the axe from above. The devil seemed to have advent with that one swing, and their surroundings seemed to be on the verge on crumbling.
That swordsman actually shuddered somewhat. Such powers were of such a magnitude that it was near that of a saint, so much so that it was hardly any weaker than the power of a saint. If he were to be hit by the attack, he would have been destroyed even though he had a body of saint.
He continued to swing his hand about in the air. A huge sword appeared and he flicked his wrist. That huge sword zipped in the air, heading straight for Yu Sheng. The sword and the axe clashed and a high-pitched, loud bang was heard.
Other than that, the other mighty ones from Barren State—Zhuge Mingyue, Yuan Zhan, Luo Fan, Yi Xiaoshi and the others—all attacked the saint that the Sword Saint was attacking. Even though they might not have been able to kill the enemy, they nonetheless saw the need to create trouble for him, affecting how he fought.
The sword of that saint swordsman and the blade of the Sword Saint clashed. Extremely violent power of the sword tore through the will of the demonic blade. However, the blade remained where it was without flinching. Thousands of devilish shadows appeared at the same time. The sword cut them down one after another, but there did not seem to be an end to it.
The Sword Saint was trembling all over. Blood was seen oozing from all of his orifices and the sight looked harrowing. However, he continued to channel power into the blade, as if he was borrowing demonic might from the blade to resist the swordsman.
A silhouette zipped past and danced in the air. Terrifying might of space emanated, shrouding their surroundings. Space-time seemed to have stopped and that storm seemed to get increasingly powerful. The power of the heaven and earth seemed to be rushing into his body.
That silhouette was none other than Ye Futian, who was gathering strength.
Said force grew increasingly strong. The space felt stifling.
Everything in their surroundings turned silent eventually, as if they have stopped altogether. Even that powerful aura of the sword seemed to have stopped moving altogether. That holy aura took control of the great path in that vicinity.
A figure transformed into golden lightning and streaked through the sky, heading straight for the saint that the Sword Saint was fighting against.
That swordsman burst with even greater might of the sword from within. The bondage of the great path of space broke with a howl. The swordsman intended to leave the battlefield and head straight for Ye Futian, but quickly saw the Sword Saint howling and blood kept pouring out from his body. Multiple devilish shadows appeared, bringing down the sky as the will of the blade grew boundless. The attack continued to come at the saint swordsman, who was held back through sheer brute force.
He was only able to use his left hand as a sword, pointing in the air and making the terrifying maelstrom of the sword appear yet again, tearing the space apart and went on to devour Ye Futian.
Ye Futian did not bother to dodge that time and simply streaked through the space, charging into the maelstrom. The Halberd of Time and Space lashed out and the sword wills within the maelstrom crumbled in a frenzy. The weapon continued to travel straight downward.
That swordsman seemed to have noticed the intense threat and with a roar, turned his finger into a sword and pointed at the air, sending sword will of great path tearing through everything in its way.
Ye Futian seemed to have felt nothing. The halberd continued to destroy the aura of the sword, letting all residual power struck his body. He kept his eyes focused on the enemy.
The halberd clashed with the finger of the enemy, which was an embodiment of the great path in itself.
The aura of the sword tore through space and ripped into Ye Futian’s body, but he seemed to have felt nothing. The light he emanated looked extremely regal. The weapon continued its way downward. Blood was seen as the enemy’s finger continued to crumble bit by bit.
That swordsman’s face went pale in an instant. He roared and even with his finger broken, he arm nonetheless coursed with towering might of the sword. A blood sword was coalesced and shot into Ye Futian’s body along the halberd, breaking through his defense. The aura of the sword seeped into Ye Futian’s body.
Yet, Ye Futian’s body seemed to be burning with holy energy, preventing him from feeling anything while the weapon continued to strike its target.
The swordsman’s arm crumbled inch by inch and blood splashed about. He wailed in terrifying pain and finally, his arm was punched through and the halberd landed into his brain, punching through on the other side.
That swordsman watched Ye Futian coming down from above with harrowing eyes at that moment. The aura of the sword about him continued to dwindle. Despite his might continued to attack Ye Futian, but its power was no longer what it used to be. At the same, the Sword Saint brought the demonic blade down onto him, cleaving his body apart.
That powerful sword saint level figure, and furthermore, not one who had been saint not long ago, who had actually been a saint for many years, was wiped out within that instant. He was broken up by the Sword Saint, Ye Futian and the others through sheer brute force delivered at the greatest speed possible, with the strongest power that could have been mustered.
That scene seemed to have been sensed by the other saint swordsman. His face turned pale. Two saints fighting a group of sages should have been like tigers charging into a herd of sheep, slaughtering with impunity.
Yet for some reasons, within just a single moment, he was held back by powerful resistance and his cohort, was actually killed right there and then!