C456 Using All of Your Strength!

Yu Yuan had already surmised that the cultivator wielding the Moon Slayer technique likely hailed from the Sword Sect. The sword spirit etched into Yu Yuan's arm bone brimmed with an expansive, majestic, and ancient sword's will, which presumably was the personal swordsmanship mantra of the Moon Slayer cultivator, a reflection of his Way of Heaven.

Yet, the sword scabbard extracted from the Shura's skull in the Forgotten Ruins, along with the residual sword lights within, were not entirely the fruits of the Moon Slayer cultivator's contemplation. It's quite possible that as the Moon Slayer cultivator traversed the Star River, he sensed the sword's will left behind by a deceased member of his sect in the extraterrestrial realm. He might have gathered these remnants into the scabbard, perhaps with the intention of returning them to the Sword Sect upon his return, ensuring that the sophisticated swordsmanship insights of those who perished beyond the stars would not be eternally lost in the frigid expanse of the Star River.

A sword or a sword spell devoid of sword's will, or whose true intricacies have not been fully grasped, could never manifest its ultimate power. Those ignorant of the sword spell's intricacies, unaware of the sword's will, and lacking the infusion of spiritual energy, are merely hollow shells. The integration of a sword's will can instantly endow both a sword and a sword spell with a soul!

Take, for instance, the scene before us: the slender Spirit Sword, summoned by a middle-aged cultivator of the Sword Sect from his mud pellet acupoint, saw its might increase tenfold upon merging with a strand of radiant yellow sword's will. The lightning orb, no larger than a thumb, burst from the gaunt elder's midsection with enough force to grievously wound archdemons of the seventh and eighth levels. The yellow lightning, striking his veins, elicited low roars from the Abyssal Leviathan.

His hands, studded with spikes, clawed at the gaping wound on his waist, now streaming with blood electrified by the lightning. "Yu Yuan!" Kong Banbi called out softly to catch Yu Yuan's attention. Upon seeing him, he immediately inquired, "Where did you acquire that sword sheath? How can the sword's will hidden within it merge with a Sword Sect blade? Yu Yuan, could this sheath be from the Sword Sect?"

Kong Banbi uttered a low call to catch Yu Yuan's attention. As soon as he saw Yu Yuan looking his way, he immediately asked, "Where did you get that sword sheath? How is it that the sword's will within it can merge seamlessly with a sword from our Sword Sect? Yu Yuan, could this sheath have come from our sect?"

The other trial-takers of the Sword Sect were visibly shaken by his words.

Could Yu Yuan be a lost disciple of the Sword Sect?

Perhaps a cultivator from the Sword Sect, while traveling through the Aetherius Continent, had come across Yu Yuan in his city, recognized his potential, and imparted to him the sect's swordsmanship, even bestowing a protective weapon upon him.

If so, why then did Yu Yuan practice the Evil Body Refining Technique and gain the approval of the Crucible of Evil?

"We'll discuss this later!"

Yu Yuan, under interrogation, clutched the sword sheath, feeling refined spiritual energy steadily stream into the Golden Sanctum of his lower elixir field.

The spiritual energy that filled his little world was quickly depleting.

Surprisingly, not a wisp of vitality escaped from his middle elixir field.

The Soul Forging through Enlightenment technique he had diligently practiced was unaffected, thanks to his strong and keen heaven soul.

Yet, the consumption of spiritual energy was so rapid that he feared it would soon be exhausted.

He lacked the strength to elaborate further and had no desire to reveal to Kong Banbi or the other trial-takers the secrets of the sword sheath or the tales of the cultivator known as Moon Slayer.

"Die!"

The emaciated elder, trapped within the sword light cage and impaled by the slender Spirit Sword, grimaced in pain as he crossed his hands over his abdomen.

With a "swoosh," the ancient totem-poles on the old man's back revealed themselves, adorned with archaic symbols of evilkind.

Dragons and snakes writhed, phoenixes ascended, Kylins breathed fire, and colossal elephants bellowed, all manifesting in a fleeting spectacle.

Inside the cramped confines of the cage, demon energy surged, thundering as if the heavens and earth were shattering.

Even the sword light webs confining the Abyssal Leviathan flickered and hissed, the cage forcibly expanding in the wake of these anomalies.

At that moment, the Abyssal Leviathan's hands seemed to harness the power of the totem-poles, causing the waters of the entire Embers Sea to become eerily still.

Time and space itself fell into an inexplicable hush.

His hands moved slowly, pressing against the incessantly darting strands of yellow lightning and the slender Spirit Sword that resonated with a sword's will.

The totem poles behind the Abyssal Leviathan shook violently, and the Fellbeast's howls reverberated through the heavens! On the Abyssal Leviathan's neck, patches of scales suddenly burst forth with blinding red and white lights, as if possessed by a deity.

"Crack!"

The bloody wound at his waist and abdomen, where his hands were placed, suddenly shattered, and the Spirit Sword, wielded by the middle-aged cultivator from the Sword Sect, was instantly destroyed. The Abyssal Leviathan then mercilessly seized the broken blades and crushed them further into fragments with its hands.

At this moment, the Abyssal Leviathan, with a fierce expression, coldly glared at the bewildered middle-aged Sword Sect cultivator and let out a sinister laugh, "You ant-like creature, daring to defy me?"

The Sword Sect cultivator's forehead split open, and his mud pellet acupoint crumbled to pieces. His face became a bloody, unrecognizable mess.

"Junior Brother Liu!"

"Senior Brother!"

Kong Banbi and the other Sword Sect survivors screamed in horror at the sight of him.

The middle-aged cultivator hit the ground, his three souls of heaven, earth, and man, along with his flesh and blood, scattered as if dismantled. Devoid of any life force, he perished from the backlash of the Spirit Sword's destruction.

A swordman of the Sword Sect might spend a lifetime cultivating a single sword, using the upper, middle, and lower elixir fields, along with their spiritual energy, blood, and soul, to nurture it. Due to their focused practice, their lethality was formidable. However, if the sword they dedicated their life to was destroyed, they could suffer severe injuries or even death.

Swordmen who advanced to the Lunar Spirit, Solar Spirit, and primordial spirit levels could enhance their survival odds with each ascension. Yet, this cultivator had only reached the Subtlety level and had not attained the Lunar Spirit. With the sword's will returning and its power surging, the backlash he suffered was devastatingly amplified.

His cultivation, physique, and three souls simply couldn't endure the sword's power. The backlash, intensified by the sword's destruction, killed him instantly, severing all his life force.

"Hu!"

The gaunt old man who had crushed the sword wore a grim and sinister expression. No longer standing upright, he sat down in the manner of a human cultivator.

Using the ancient totem-pole's power to obliterate the Spirit Sword, imbued with the sword's will, had clearly taken a toll on him.

His waist and abdomen, torn open by the blast, required time to heal.

As he sat, the gaping wound was exposed, with meridians pulling together like anacondas, and chunks of flesh visibly squirming and regenerating.

The extensive wounds stitched themselves together as if by invisible threads.

"This is beyond bizarre! His healing speed rivals that of a ninth-level archdemon!"

Du Huang of the Forgeroses addressed Yu Yuan while rallying the sect's survivors behind him, "We must devise a new strategy! It won't be long before he's fully recovered. If we don't find an alternative, none of us will escape!"

"How about giving him the Crucible of Evil?" a young Forgeroses girl suggested timidly.

"Would you all please be quiet!" Su Yan's face was etched with frustration and resentment, overwhelmed by a sense of powerlessness. She felt incredibly weak, unable to offer any assistance.

"Quiet!" Du Huang shot the girl a stern look and huffed, "That elder is not one of us. After being oppressed by the ancient evilkind for years, his recent brutality is evident to all. Handing over the Crucible of Evil to such a cold-blooded being won't change his ways. I fear that none of us, including those from the Devil Palace, will make it out."

The girl's face was deathly pale, her large eyes filled with sorrow. "Again with the Tears of the Azurefiend, and now this extraterrestrial creature. What secrets are the Devil Palace and Shadow's Keep hiding in the Embers Sea? Every trial before went smoothly, never like this."

Because the Fallen Star Eyes were saturated with the Abyssal Leviathan's psionic power, the artifact soul suffered a heavy blow, and Liu Ying was also gravely injured. She was at her wit's end.

After the Spirit Sword of the middle-aged cultivator shattered, the rest of the group became hesitant to make any sudden moves.

Du Huang wanted to lend a hand, but he couldn't even hope to enter the sword light cage, let alone know what to do next.

Yu Yuan, gripping his sword sheath tightly, pointed at the Abyssal Leviathan. As he felt the sword light slipping away, he grew secretly frantic, desperately trying to devise a strategy.

Just when he was at his wits' end, seemingly out of options, the Crucible of Evil within his elixir field stirred once more!

Hei Xun's Soul Voice reached out from the Devil Palace in the Embers Sea, "Yu Yuan, are you still among the living? After encountering the Abyssal Leviathan, you should be dead, right? And the Crucible of Evil, has it been taken from you?"

"Is that you, Yu Yuan, or is it the Abyssal Leviathan?"

Hei Xun inquired cautiously, his Soul Voice faint and sporadic, as if he feared that the Crucible of Evil's master was now the Abyssal Leviathan.

He was concerned that the consciousness and remnant soul of the Abyssal Leviathan might use the Crucible of Evil to trace his Soul Voice back to him and find his location.

"I'm still alive."

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