Chapter 553 - 512: The Sword Array Rises Again (2)

Chapter 553: Chapter 512: The Sword Array Rises Again (2)

Whether the stories were true or not, the Spring and Autumn Cicada was indeed most often sighted in the Hundred Thousand Evil Mountains and the surrounding regions of the Southern Border.

’The consensus in the Cultivation Realm is that the Spring and Autumn Cicada can only reach Tier Three Low Grade at most... An insect’s humble body can only withstand a limited amount of the Power of Time. Any stronger, and its lifespan would be completely scoured away. Yet here a Four-Winged Spring and Autumn Cicada appears before me. Could the Six-Winged Spring and Autumn Cicada depicted on that beast hide actually exist and not be some wild fabrication?’

Bai Zichen recalled the beast hide he had obtained from the Hundred Skills Sect’s Secret Vault. It depicted a Tier Four Spring and Autumn Cicada, which everyone had assumed was a creature of pure fantasy.

At the time, he had scoffed at it, thinking his predecessors were just passing down myths and deliberately exaggerating what they had seen.

But now, seeing a Tier Three Peak Spring and Autumn Cicada with his own eyes, a creature that shattered the long-held consensus of the Cultivation Realm, he realized it meant a Tier Four Spring and Autumn Cicada might have actually existed.

Judging by the astonishing Divine Techniques of this Four-Winged Spring and Autumn Cicada, if a Six-Winged one truly existed, it could probably sweep away any Nascent Soul True Monarch below the Divinity Transformation realm with ease.

If a Tier Two Spring and Autumn Cicada could merely draw upon the Power of Time, then a Tier Three one was actively wielding it.

A Tier Four Spring and Autumn Cicada could likely merge with time itself, roaming freely within the River of Time.

In the Human World, it would be the very embodiment of Time True Intent.

Bai Zichen’s eyes lit up. The Four-Winged Spring and Autumn Cicada’s efficiency at exterminating the other insects was horrifyingly effective, but that only served to prove the immensity of its Power of Time.

With his current Great Dao Mastery, he couldn’t hope to achieve the same results he once did with an ordinary Spring and Autumn Cicada; that was out of the question.

If he wanted to make another breakthrough in his Time True Intent and master the complete version of the Qing Emperor Longevity Sword as quickly as possible, this was the perfect opportunity.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Nascent Soul Xiaobai leaped out. With a flick of the Supreme Qingwei Sword Box in its hand, twelve Flying Swords shot out in succession.

The Star River Sword Array was formed!

The artificial sky darkened, and the Four-Winged Spring and Autumn Cicada was trapped inside the Sword Array.

Different methods were required for Spirit Insects of different value.

For a prize like the Four-Winged Spring and Autumn Cicada, it was worth the gamble, even if it meant risking the attention of a Tier Five Demon Insect.

Trapped by the Sword Array, the Four-Winged Spring and Autumn Cicada was not the least bit flustered. One half of its body radiated vigorous life force, while the other half was as withered and dry as a carcass.

With a beat of its wings, the streaks of Star Sword Light raining down from high above seemed to deliberately swerve around the Four-Winged Spring and Autumn Cicada, all of them slamming into the empty space beside it.

Amidst the shower of starlight that had already shaved dozens of feet off the mountaintop, the Spring and Autumn Cicada remained completely unscathed.

Of course, it wasn’t that Bai Zichen was deliberately missing his target. Rather, the Spring and Autumn Cicada was using the Power of Time, stretching and compressing the temporal flow to make the Sword Light misjudge its position and miss every single time.

’My Star River Sword Array, once formed, flows unceasingly and never rests... To a fellow Cultivator who walks the Time Path, this level of temporal manipulation is far too shallow.’

Bai Zichen chuckled softly. With a wave of his hand, a heavenly furnace seemed to overturn, as if a rift had torn open in the firmament, pouring out fiery magma from above the Nine Celestial Heavens. Then, several more stars rushed forward: one covered in lush bamboo groves, another in swirling blizzards, and another in golden flames, sealing off every possible point of retreat for the Spring and Autumn Cicada.

The Spring and Autumn Cicada’s true power of time was ultimately finite. There was no way it could contend head-on with the Star River Sword Array, whose swords transformed into stars and were infused with Starry Sky Sword Intent.

Even if he made no further changes to his strategy, Bai Zichen had a high chance of victory.

But Bai Zichen wanted more. He actively changed his approach, eager to see what other surprises and Divine Techniques the Spring and Autumn Cicada had in store for him.

Several streaks of Star Sword Light closed in, surrounding and intercepting the Spring and Autumn Cicada, putting it in a perilous situation.

CHIRR! CHIRR!

After a few more chirps, a line of blood appeared on the Spring and Autumn Cicada’s back, splitting it right between its wings.

Its aura weakened drastically, and it lay there, barely breathing. From the void, a great river inexplicably burst forth.

It enveloped the Four-Winged Spring and Autumn Cicada, shielding it completely from all outside attacks.

Even the most terrifying beams of Sword Light vanished without a sound the moment they touched the great river.

Even a direct impact from one of the stars only made the great river tremble slightly, leaving the Spring and Autumn Cicada protected within completely unharmed.

"The River of Time..."

Bai Zichen cried out involuntarily.

The fact that it could ignore the Sword Array and manifest from nothingness meant its fundamental nature surpassed his Starry Sky Sword Intent.

After all, while the Sword Array was active, all his Flying Swords were elevated by one tier, with the strongest reaching Tier Five.

Not even the Grotto Heaven Prototype of a Great True Monarch could hope to penetrate it in the slightest.

He was already intimately familiar with the River of Time that was summoned every time he activated the Qing Emperor Longevity Sword; there was no way he could be mistaken.

Seeing the Tier Four Spring and Autumn Cicada, protected by the River of Time and immune to all attacks, about to tear through the Sword Formation Space and escape, Bai Zichen’s expression grew solemn. He brandished the Ziwei Dazzling Thunder Sword and stepped directly into the River of Time himself.

Countless phantoms of light and shadow flickered past, and among them, he thought he spotted a few familiar faces.

Stepping into the River of Time was an extremely perilous act for a Cultivator. Even a Divinity Transformation Great Power could not properly control their passage; a thousand years could pass in an instant, turning them into a pile of withered bones.

But Bai Zichen dared to do so because he himself walked the Time Path and thus had a certain resistance to the erosive Power of Time.

He also wielded the Ziwei Dazzling Thunder Sword, hoping this Lifebound Flying Sword, whose true rank surpassed Tier Five, could act as a temporal anchor to stabilize his own passage through time.

Seeing Bai Zichen charge into the River of Time, a mocking sneer actually appeared in the Spirit Insect’s eyes, but it was immediately replaced by shock.

It watched as Nascent Soul Xiaobai’s plump, white hand reached through the river. The hand flickered in and out of sight amidst the layers of time, its palm scoured until it was nearly transparent.

Though the movement was slow, the hand did not disintegrate into dust. The Nascent Soul’s face showed no signs of the years passing—it didn’t de-age into infancy, nor did it wither with age—as it slowly but firmly closed its fingers around the Spring and Autumn Cicada.

CHIRR! CHIRR!

The Spring and Autumn Cicada was still struggling, its four wings flapping feebly. Summoning the River of Time within the Sword Array had exhausted all of its strength, unleashing centuries’ worth of accumulated Time True Intent all at once.

It was also bewildered. As a favored child of time, why hadn’t the River of Time, its ultimate bastion, attacked this enemy?

With its master captured, the now-aimless River of Time rapidly shrank, finally becoming specks of white light that flowed into the ’Time Ring Body’ around Bai Zichen’s arms.

He had burned away a portion of that river to activate the Qing Emperor Longevity Sword during his battle with Xiang Banshan, and it still hadn’t fully recovered after all these years.

The absorption of these specks of white light didn’t cause any major change to the river encircling him, but it did make it seem more mysterious and profound, flickering between light and shadow.

Before Bai Zichen could even decide what to do with the Spring and Autumn Cicada, as soon as the River of Time dissipated, this unprecedented Four-Winged Spirit Insect simply closed its eyes and went still.

Its half-withered, half-flourishing body began to crystallize, and within a few breaths, it took on the profound weight of ancient times.

If he hadn’t been holding it in his hand the entire time, he would have mistaken it for a Spirit Insect specimen that had been dead for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.

Bai Zichen retracted the Star River Sword Array. The stars vanished, and light returned to the world.

After a moment of thought, he found a secluded mountaintop, donned his mask, and returned to the Star Palace Secret Realm.

He was perhaps the first Cultivator in ten thousand years to lay eyes on a Tier Three Peak Spring and Autumn Cicada. The Spirit Insect had been hidden underground, completely undetected by his Divine Sense.

He didn’t know if the Hundred Poison Gold-Eating Insects had disturbed the Four-Winged Spring and Autumn Cicada’s hibernation, or if it had been drawn out by his own presence as a cultivator of the Time Path.

Otherwise, had it remained in hibernation, Bai Zichen could have paced back and forth all over that mountaintop and never discovered a trace of the Four-Winged Spring and Autumn Cicada.

This Spirit Insect was far more important than the Hundred Poison Green Scale Bone.

Perhaps, by studying the Spring and Autumn Cicada’s body, he could make some astonishing discovery that would advance his mastery of the Time Path.

He was never worried about his cultivation progress when it came to other Cultivation Techniques and Divine Powers.

Only on the Time Path, with not a single predecessor to learn from, could he only feel his way forward on his own. It was a completely new road.

He could only learn by analogy, so anything he could glean from this Spirit Insect would be a great help.

A quarter of an hour later, a streak of seven-colored light appeared on the horizon.

The next moment, it reached the mountaintop. Within the radiant light was a Seven-Colored Moth with a wingspan of dozens of feet.

Though it was a Demon Insect, it could only be described as beautiful—a beauty that made everything in its vicinity pale in comparison.

The moment it appeared, several large trees and all the grass and plants on the ground turned to face it, waving their branches and bowing as if in worship of the Seven-Colored Moth.

The Seven-Colored Moth revealed a human-like expression of confusion. It circled the mountaintop once, then vibrated its wings, scattering a silver pollen.

After several fruitless attempts, the seven-colored light flashed once more and vanished.

Only then did the plants and trees on the entire mountaintop return to their normal positions, ending the bizarre spectacle of them all bowing in unison.