Chapter 527 - 499: Reviving the Sword Dao

Chapter 527: Chapter 499: Reviving the Sword Dao

Every strike was imbued with Time True Intent; every strike was the Qing Emperor Longevity Sword.

Even the legendary Upper Realm True Immortals, said to be free from the shackles of mortality and blessed with longevity and vision, still had to face Celestial Tribulations and the Celestial Five Declines.

Under the Sword of Time, their lifespans would drain away, and they too would face a premature demise.

Unfortunately, the black-and-white river conjured by his Nascent Soul Phenomenon was completely consumed, providing only enough power for a single strike.

Otherwise, even if a Tier Four Great Demon stood before him, he would have cut it down without a second thought. It would have been a contest to see which was greater: the long lifespan of the Demon Race, or the speed at which the Sword of Time could drain it away.

The reason he hadn’t unleashed the Qing Emperor Longevity Sword from the start, instead holding on with his swordsmanship, was that he was waiting for the precise moment Xiang Banshan would use his full strength.

Judging from how Xiang Banshan had manifested his Realm and attacked with full force from the very beginning, Bai Zichen knew the man would not hold back in Combat.

And just as he predicted, after failing to secure a victory within a few moves, Xiang Banshan grew anxious and sought to break the stalemate with his Lifebound Spiritual Treasure.

This choice couldn’t be called a mistake; against any other opponent suspected of hiding a trump card, it would have been the correct move.

Unfortunately for him, he was facing Bai Zichen, who had been waiting for this very moment to successfully unleash his long-prepared Qing Emperor Longevity Sword.

Only a Great Dao True Intent can resist another Great Dao True Intent. Bai Zichen’s fear was that Xiang Banshan would use his Earth Power True Intent to ensnare the Sword of Time, then leverage his superior Cultivation to slowly wear it away.

For this reason, he hadn’t hesitated to use himself as bait, almost getting crushed into a bloody pulp.

The Profound Yellow Dragon crashed into the Sword Light. A series of cracking sounds echoed as the mountains on its back weathered and crumbled. The dragon aged rapidly, plummeting toward the ground.

Even the set of Thirty-Six Celestial Spirit Jade Talismans lost its luster, its Spirit Light dimming until they looked like nothing more than ordinary objects.

"Time True Intent... This is impossible..."

Xiang Banshan spat the words out through clenched teeth, blood seeping from his gums as his eyes bulged.

He had a premonition that if that Sword Light truly struck his body, the consequences would be absolutely terrifying.

But the crucial problem was that all of his techniques were useless against the Sword of Time. He could only watch, helpless, as the Sword Light descended upon him.

Shrouded by the Power of Time, Xiang Banshan felt his limbs grow sluggish and his Divine Thoughts slow to a crawl.

Otherwise, with the Divine Sense of a Late-Stage Nascent Soul, countless solutions should have materialized the instant a thought formed, leaving him with endless options.

At the last possible moment, Xiang Banshan slammed a fist into his own chest. With an audible CRACK of bone, he hacked up a mouthful of Essence Blood.

This mass of Essence Blood was granular, the viscous, solidified particles distinct from one another. They had a faint green tint, clearly indicating it was not from the Human Race.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Xiang Banshan detonated the Essence Blood, instantly unleashing a Primordial Magnetic Storm.

The world lost its sense of gravity as everything began to spin.

Shattered rocks lifted from the ground, only to slam back down an instant later, blasting out craters hundreds of feet deep.

This Essence Blood was one of the Nine Tribulations Sect’s ultimate treasures, left behind by the Tier Five Spirit Beast that had belonged to their Divinity Transformation Ancestor.

Before leaving the Nine Tribulations Sect, that Sect Spirit Beast had parted with a glob of its heart’s blood, a form of Essence Blood that contained a portion of its Origin Power.

By keeping it nearby, a cultivator could sense the True Intent within and gain insights into the Sect Spirit Beast’s Great Dao.

Even if one’s path of cultivation differed, they could still draw useful parallels and gain some benefits.

After becoming the foremost expert of the Nine Tribulations Sect, Xiang Banshan had absorbed this Demon Monarch Essence Blood into his body, meditating upon it day and night.

Now, at this critical juncture, he sacrificed it like a single-use Spiritual Object to summon Primordial Magnetic True Intent and defend against the Sword of Time.

’All Five Metals Flying Swords are countered by Primordial Magnetic Power. Even if Primordial Magnetic True Intent is no match for Time True Intent, the Flying Sword acting as its vessel is another matter entirely. As long as I can suppress the Flying Sword, the power of the Sword of Time will be reduced by at least half!’

Xiang Banshan felt no regret. The Sect Spirit Beast had left its heart’s blood behind for this exact purpose—to be used in a moment of crisis.

If he could block this strike and kill this boy, it would be tantamount to snuffing out a future Divinity Transformation Sword Cultivator.

He no longer held a shred of contempt for Bai Zichen; in his heart, he now saw him as an equally matched Great True Monarch.

WHOOSH!

The Primordial Magnetic Power battered the Sword Light, but it remained completely unaffected. The expected scattering of light and the fall of the Flying Sword never occurred.

’If it were a Tier Three Flying Sword, that might have worked,’ Bai Zichen thought. ’But I happen to be using my Ziwei Dazzling Thunder Sword to power the Qing Emperor Longevity Sword this time. And you actually tried to target the body of the sword itself...’

Bai Zichen felt the Primordial Magnetic Power surge through the blade, making his blood churn. If not for his Body Refining Nascent Soul, he never would have been able to withstand it.

The Sword Light fell directly upon Xiang Banshan. The mountains within the Realm behind him seemed to suffer an earthquake, collapsing one after another in a cacophony of roaring dust.

His hair instantly turned from black to white, falling out in great handfuls. Age spots bloomed across his face, and in a single moment, he took on the appearance of a decrepit old man.

Most critically, his aura plummeted, growing as weak as a candle in the wind, and an air of death clung to the space between his brows.

"AHH!"

Xiang Banshan let out a wretched scream, as if enduring an agony so immense that not even a Great True Monarch could bear it.

’As expected of a Great True Monarch. One strike only cut away one hundred and fifty years of his lifespan!’

The black-and-white river had burned away completely, leaving only two faint points of light upon the wrists of Nascent Soul Xiaobai.

In another 60-Year Cycle, the ’Time Ring Body’ would recover, allowing him to borrow the Power of Time once more.

Moreover, every time he stepped into the black-and-white river, it was a rare opportunity for Bai Zichen to rapidly shorten the distance between himself and the Time Path.

He had a premonition that, given some more time, he would be able to master the complete version of the Qing Emperor Longevity Sword, rather than the Great Divine Power of Time that was merely cobbled together from three separate techniques.

At that time, he believed the might of the Qing Emperor Longevity Sword could be elevated even further.

Although Xiang Banshan had not died of old age on the spot, the sudden loss of one hundred and fifty years of life—for a Cultivator already over eight hundred years old—meant he was now living on borrowed time.

In just a few more decades, he would reach the theoretical lifespan limit for a Nascent Soul True Monarch.

Take his life while he’s down,