Chapter 506 - 487: Divinity Transformation Backing, Slay Him Regardless

Chapter 506: Chapter 487: Divinity Transformation Backing, Slay Him Regardless

In the most primitive form of physical combat, the Fire Dragon that Bai Zichen had transformed into was not outmatched by the Black Dragon. Each collision tore off large chunks of flesh and blood from both sides.

Unfortunately, after transforming into the Fire Dragon, his Five Crystal Glaze Body didn’t extend to his entire draconic form. Otherwise, he could have gained a significant advantage in the fight.

As the battle progressed, Ao Zhe’s attacks were clearly more methodical. He was often able to trade minor injuries to viciously tear a chunk of flesh from the Fire Dragon.

As a true member of the Demon Race, Ao Zhe had been trained in close-quarters Combat and how to utilize his physical body since youth; he even had specialized Cultivation Techniques for it.

In comparison, Bai Zichen was simply relying on the raw power of his draconic form to fight.

’Alright, the test is over!’

After the Fire Dragon took a claw to the head, almost getting its eyeball gouged out, Bai Zichen understood that it was impossible to gain the upper hand if the fight continued like this.

He retreated a hundred zhang, returned to his human form, and draped a brand new Magical Robe over himself.

The many scars left from his time as the Fire Dragon did not show on his human body at all, but the injured spots still throbbed with a faint pain.

’Although I’d love to slay the Black Dragon with my sword, sever its legs, and chew its Dragon Meat... alas, this is neither the time nor the place. I can only end this quickly.’

Bai Zichen shook his head slightly, and twelve streams of Sword Light flew out, instantly forming the Star River Sword Array.

Having activated it once, his mastery of the Sword Array had improved by leaps and bounds.

Knowledge from books was ultimately shallow; a thousand sessions of meticulous study and practice could not compare to a single instance of actually deploying the array to kill an enemy.

This time, as the Star River Sword Array unfolded, he learned his lesson from before. He didn’t rigidly follow the instructions in the True Understanding of Sword Dao and keep the twelve Flying Swords in fixed positions.

Instead, based on the needs of the situation, he greatly reduced its range, trapping only the Black Dragon inside.

"A Sword Array? You, a remnant of the Fish Dragon Sect, actually obtained the inheritance of the Taibai Sword Sect!"

Ao Zhe clearly knew his stuff. Feeling the Sword Intent converging and coiling in from all directions, a look of shock appeared on the Black Dragon’s face.

By the time the twelve stars began to revolve, it was already frantically channeling its Demon Power, attempting to break out of the Sword Array.

’If my Star River Sword Array were so easy to break through, it wouldn’t be worthy of being called the second-greatest sword array in the world... The inside of this array is like a vast, starry sky. Even if you, a Black Dragon, grew to a thousand or even ten thousand zhang, you would be but a drop in the ocean. There’s no way for you to break free!’

Bai Zichen watched as Ao Zhe tried all sorts of techniques. Its draconic body charged, only to be nearly pierced by several rays of Star Sword Light. Frightened, it no longer dared to confront them head-on.

It used a Dragon Race Secret Technique, its body swelling to several times its size, but the Star River Sword Array expanded along with it.

It spat out a stream of Lifebound Dragon Flame, but a Great Sun star rotated over to bear the full brunt of it, which only made the flames on the star burn even more fiercely.

It then activated a Bloodline Divine Technique. A Reverse Scale detached itself, seemingly summoning an ancient will, and an old, trembling Dragon Claw slowly emerged from the void.

This Dragon Claw had long lost its plump flesh, supple skin, and shimmering Dragon Scales. Everything about it was dim and lightless, devoid of vitality.

Yet, it casually sliced through the void and reached out to crush the nearest star.

Though it seemed to possess no force whatsoever, Bai Zichen had a premonition that this star would shatter under the old Dragon Claw.

If one sword were destroyed, the Star River Sword Array would collapse on its own.

"Shift!"

Nascent Soul Xiaobai leaped out and spat a mouthful of Lifebound True Essence onto the Ziwei Dazzling Thunder Sword. The Thunderbolt Star it represented broke from the Sword Array’s intended path, jumping out to block the Dragon Claw.

The old, withered Dragon Claw gripped the Thunderbolt Star. The star seemed to buckle, shrinking to a fraction of its size before violently snapping back to its original form.

The more the surging Thunder Radiance was suppressed, the more violently it rebounded, until blinding lightning roared, never finding peace.

"Oh?"

A surprised and questioning sound echoed from an immense distance, clearly astonished that its strike had failed to shatter the star.

However, the old Dragon Claw summoned by the Lifebound Reverse Scale only had the power for a single strike. Having failed, it dissipated into the air.

’Divinity Transformation Power! To transmit such strength across countless thousands of miles... this is definitely no ordinary Divinity Transformation Cultivator!’

Bai Zichen’s heart pounded wildly. He had expected there to be members of the Divinity Transformation Demon Clan in the Outer Sea.

But he had not expected that a mere Transformed Great Demon could borrow the power of a Divinity Transformation Demon Lord.

Even if Ao Zhe had to pay a tremendous price, it wasn’t something a Divinity Transformation Demon Lord could accomplish so casually.

Otherwise, those Human Race Divinity Transformation Great Powers wouldn’t need to hide in Grotto Heaven Secret Realms, unwilling to act unless it was a last resort.

They could have simply used similar power-transference methods to manifest their presence in the world through Nascent Soul True Monarchs and accomplish many things.

This Ao Zhe’s status in the Star Constellation Sea was probably quite extraordinary.

’Thankfully, I wasn’t careless. I deployed the Star River Sword Array right away, letting the array take the brunt of that old Dragon Claw’s attack... Otherwise, if I’d backed it into a corner with my Flying Swords and *then* it used this move, I’m afraid I wouldn’t have had time to react and would’ve been instantly killed by that Divinity Transformation-level Dragon Claw!’

This served as a stark warning to Bai Zichen. In the future, when facing Cultivators from Divinity Transformation Level factions and Super Sects, he had to be extra vigilant.

No matter how great his advantage, he could never get complacent. Who knew if his opponent had a hidden ace for summoning a Divinity Transformation Ancestor or some other Tier Five technique?

To be on the safe side, using the Star River Sword Array to isolate these dangerous characters and trap them within it was the best option.

Just like before, he had even managed to evade a strike from a Divinity Transformation Demon Lord.

"Pain, pain, pain!"

A sharp, childlike voice rang out. The Ziwei Dazzling Thunder Sword was countless millennia old, yet it was still like a child.

"Xiaolei, just hold on a little longer. After we slay this Black Dragon, you can go back into the Sword Box and have a good rest..."

Bai Zichen glanced at the body of the Ziwei Dazzling Thunder Sword. There was no damage; not even its scintillating Thunder Radiance had been warped.

’I can only be thankful I have such a High-Tier Flying Sword. If it had been any other Tier Four Flying Sword, I really think it would’ve been crushed by that Dragon Claw.’

Although in terms of its displayed power, the Ziwei Dazzling Thunder Sword was still a Tier Four Flying Sword, its durability, sharpness, and hardness far surpassed its peers.

It could be said that Xiaolei’s existence made up for the Star River Sword Array’s only weakness.

’Even a strike from my Ancestor couldn’t break the Sword Array... Could it be one of those legendary sword arrays from the stories?’

Ao Zhe was being flayed of his flesh and blood by the endless streams of Star Sword Light, screaming miserably. Fortunately, the powerful life force of the Dragon Race allowed him to hold on.

On his gory wounds, new flesh was growing back at a rate visible to the naked eye.

"Stop! Stop the Array and let me leave! I don’t want the Holy Beast Essence Blood anymore! I’ll return to the Outer Sea today and won’t bother you again!"

’Begging for mercy now? It’s too late for that!’

Bai Zichen sneered. There was no such thing as getting off scot-free just because you admit defeat when you’re losing.

’A Self-Healing Body, or the even higher-level Immortal Body? Or perhaps it’s just one of the Dragon Race’s Bloodline Divine Techniques, one that overdraws other energies to accelerate healing...’

Watching the Black Dragon in the Sword Array being bombarded by endless Star Sword Light, having large pieces of flesh sliced off only to quickly grow back, Bai Zichen’s eyes lit up.

If not for this special self-healing ability, it would have been reduced to a skeleton of Black Dragon bones by now.

"My ancestor is the Black Sea Venerable, the King of Ten Thousand Demons! If you dare to kill me, my ancestor will not let you go!"

Receiving no response, Ao Zhe roared even louder, his voice now tinged with a hint of panic.

’All the more reason not to let you go!’

A grim light flashed in Bai Zichen’s eyes. He believed there was some truth to Ao Zhe’s words; he was surely connected to that Divinity Transformation Demon Lord.

Otherwise, it would have been impossible to summon a strike from a Divinity Transformation Ancestor with just a single Reverse Scale.

But even if he let the demon go, he had already offended this demon greatly. Besides, his feud with the Star Constellation Sea was already an irreconcilable one, born from them obstructing his path to the Dao.

Even without today’s events, he would most likely end up confronting the Divinity Transformation Demon Lords of the Outer Sea eventually.

A little more hatred, or a little less, made no difference.

Releasing Ao Zhe would only lead that Divinity Transformation Demon Lord to him that much sooner.

Ignoring Ao Zhe’s shouts and screams, he channeled all his True Essence to accelerate the operation of the Star River Sword Array.

Ao Zhe’s curses and roars continued for several days. Towards the end, they were no longer so powerful, leaving only whimpers and gasps as he hung on by a thread.

His self-healing Divine Technique was not enough to withstand the ceaseless, unending Star River Sword Array. After all, the technique worked by overdrawing his latent power; it wasn’t like a rootless tree, capable of growing flesh and blood from nothing.

It drew power either from his bloodline or his lifespan.

The Black Dragon’s flesh was now regenerating more and more slowly, exposing more of its white bones. It seemed that even the long lifespan of the Dragon Race was being depleted.

The flesh it had regenerated was enough to form ten more Black Dragons.

’My understanding of the Starry Sky Sword Intent has deepened again. By using the laws of celestial motion, I saved a significant amount of energy... Otherwise, against a Demon Race member with a self-healing Divine Technique like this, the Sword Array would have drained me dry long before my opponent fell.’

Bai Zichen felt a lingering fear. Compared to the Star River Sword Monarch, his mastery of the Sword Array was still worlds apart.

It wasn’t just the difference in their Cultivation, but also his grasp of the Starry Sky Sword Intent and his familiarity with the Sword Array.

There was another crucial point: most of the twelve Flying Swords that the Star River Sword Monarch used to set up the array were Lifebound Flying Swords.

But among Bai Zichen’s twelve Flying Swords, only the Ziwei Dazzling Thunder Sword was a Lifebound Flying Sword.

The issue of the compounding energy drain from commanding multiple Flying Swords simultaneously was solved by the Supreme Qingwei Sword Box, but he could in no way match the intuitive responsiveness and fluid movements of a Lifebound Flying Sword.

Unless he could construct a Sword Array made up entirely of Tier Four Flying Swords, using their inherent Spiritual nature to bridge the gap with Lifebound Flying Swords.

Only then could the power of the Star River Sword Array in Bai Zichen’s hands truly surpass the Star River Sword Monarch’s original version.

Another day passed before the Black Dragon finally collapsed with a thunderous crash.

A miniature Black Dragon flew out, but after being tormented by the Star River Sword Array for so long, even Ao Zhe’s Dragon Soul Primordial Spirit had become listless, staggering through the air.

Two stars descended, and Moonlight shone down, imprisoning the miniature Black Dragon where it stood.

The Star River Sword Array was retracted, and the surrounding space suddenly shook. The Exquisite Treasure Pagoda retrieved all its Treasure Beads, shrank back to a height of three feet, let out a whimper, and without circling, fled straight to the east.

"You’re not getting away!"

Bai Zichen had been coveting this Void Spiritual Treasure for a long time. He had his eye on it from the moment it appeared, so how could he possibly let it escape?

Just because a Void Spiritual Treasure could seal space didn’t mean it could traverse the void itself. Pursued and cornered by three Tier Four Flying Swords, it was quickly subdued.