Imbued with the vital essence of Yu Ci's blood, a streak of lightning transformed into a long chain, cleaving through the lake and bursting through the fissure above. The speed of the lightning's flight was incomparable; in the blink of an eye, it had pierced the lake's surface and then merged into the starry sky. There, stimulated by some inexplicable force, the celestial bodies suddenly shone with intensified brilliance.
The Upper Cave-True Starlight Sensing Divine Thunder had two modes of application: one known as the Symbol Break, and the other as the String Snap. If one were to liken this symbol to a bow, the former would be akin to using the bow to directly strike a person—swift, yet less lethal—while the latter drew upon one's own strength as the arm and bowstring, borrowing the power of the heavenly stars as the arrow to launch a thunderous strike. Though slower to unleash, its might was staggeringly formidable.
Without hesitation, Yu Ci chose the second method.
In an instant, both Yu Ci and the Heavy Weapon Sect Leader entered the perilous interim before the Sensing Divine Thunder could be triggered. From Yu Ci's perspective, optimistically speaking, the Heavy Weapon Sect Leader was fully preoccupied with controlling the Earth Vein's spiritual energy, rendering him less mobile and an ideal target… perhaps!
The sight of the opponent's Ancient Bronze Face Armor, with its two dark, hollow eye sockets, sent a chill down Yu Ci's spine, but he maintained his composure. He raised the Slaying-Flood-Dragon Sword; if the enemy wished to turn the tide during this brief window, this was their last chance. Concurrently, his lips moved rapidly, barely perceptible, as he completed the incantation to activate the Upper Cave-True Starlight Sensing Divine Thunder.
At that moment, the opponent's tactic was deployed.
Still standing tall with a seal, the Heavy Weapon Sect Leader remained motionless in shoulder and arm, transmitting a thought through the hollow eye sockets. Yu Ci sensed nothing but void, and as he was taken aback, the surrounding lake water and the mud, sand, and rocks beneath his feet instantaneously dematerialized.
Caught off-guard by this sudden turn of events, Yu Ci had no time to react before he plunged downward—the lakebed had vanished, leaving a gaping hole, ten feet in diameter and unfathomably deep. In an instant, he was suspended in mid-air, while above him, an intense pressure condensed into a pinpoint of energy, striking him squarely at the crown of his head.
With a stifled groan, he was thrust to the depths. The sensation was all too familiar; it was the Heavy Weapon Sect Leader who, from a hundred miles away, had once pressed him into the earth, nearly suffocating him to death. Now, the opponent's technique was even more refined and difficult to counter, and what was most fatal was the surrounding void, which had transformed into a clearly defined spatial rift.
Disaster!
As the thought emerged, the rift took effect, preventing any of Yu Ci's signals from escaping. The final Curse Sound, the guiding program for the Sensing Divine Thunder, was rendered ineffective. What use was the power of the thunder and lightning if it could not be directed?
The opponent's timing was impeccable. Though the unleashing of the thunder was said to be extremely slow, it was only relative. In this brief delay, thousands of feet above the two combatants, the Upper Cave-True Starlight Sensing Divine Thunder had already taken shape, plummeting straight into the lake.
Illuminated by the Rune Patterns, the lake, growing ever more shadowy, saw a fist-sized orb of Starlight rapidly descending. The edges, where the thunder fire burned fiercely, twisted violently, triggering a reaction at the core. Due to the incomplete final incantation, it temporarily failed to find its target, its power restrained and not unleashed, falling short of the ultimate speed of "thunder striking a thousand miles in one shot."
Even so, the tremors caused by the lightning had already begun to propagate. Unable to sense them, Yu Ci could only observe the ripples on the lake's surface with his naked eye, using them to make his judgments.
There was no time left! Without his guidance, the thunder fire, no matter how potent, was nothing more than a slightly larger firework to the Heavy Weapon Sect Leader...
"Chi!"
The Slaying-Flood-Dragon Sword swirled with a cyan light as it thrust towards the sealing spatial rift. However, as the sword tip arrived, the light twisted violently, and the sharp Sword Energy was dissolved by the rift.
With a sword strike devoid of triumph, Yu Ci's expression remained impassive as the Slaying-Flood-Dragon Sword contracted, stirring his entire aura as if drawing a bow and twisting the strings at the six meridian points in his hand. The True Sha within him, unreservedly twisted into a steel wire, and with a "snap," it was unleashed.
The sword's brilliance tore through the air, transforming into a mist of light, and then swiftly coalesced into a single cold star, piercing straight ahead. The sword aura's cold star was one of the Mirage Light Nine Transformations from Half Mountain Island, a technique Yu Ci had mastered intuitively, capable of unleashing at least seventy percent of its original might.
It was certain to break through!
Within the Star Track Sword Realm, even the formidable Heavy Weapon Sect Leader could not surpass the Golden Elixir Level, especially since the majority of his power was consumed in controlling the shift of the earth's Spiritual Veins!
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The cold star, though appearing as a mere point, was in reality undergoing intense fluctuations. These fluctuations could warp space, and though minute, they neutralized the surrounding spatial rifts. With just a slight sway of the Slaying-Flood-Dragon Sword, it violently penetrated the barrier. Pulled by the momentum of the sword, Yu Ci's body naturally surged forward, on the verge of a direct collision with the spatial fault.
At that moment, he suddenly released his grip, and the Slaying-Flood-Dragon Sword flew through the air, while Yu Ci crashed against the barrier. There was no forceful counteraction, only the distortion of the surrounding lake waters. He was flung as if someone had grabbed his arm and spun him around, and the world turned upside down as he was thrown back.
But by then, the Slaying-Flood-Dragon Sword had already become a piercing beam, cleaving through the water.
Now, Yu Ci truly had no means to guide it personally, but the Slaying-Flood-Dragon Sword, imbued with his essence, served as the finest guide! The Sword Light traced an arc through the lake, and at its apex, its speed unexpectedly increased by a third, parting the waters and waves, piercing downward with haste. At the tail end of its handle, the direction it pointed to, the sensing divine thunder had accurately plunged into the crevices at the lake's bottom, cascading down the rock wall, the lightning twisting and elongating, until finally, as if breaking through some obstruction, the light flared up, transforming into a long chain of lightning, striking fiercely.
The explosion of lightning was swift, overtaking the preceding Slaying-Flood-Dragon Sword and, in a flash, struck its target.
The entire Heavenly Dome Sword Pool trembled, followed by the rolling thunder.
The Slaying-Flood-Dragon Sword, obliquely thrust into the earth, vibrated with a deep hum, its blade scorched black by the lightning, its hilt nowhere to be seen. Yet the place it had pierced was not any part of the Heavy Weapon Sect Leader's body, but rather it had struck directly into the outer corner of the first layer, far from the top of the Altar.
Above the Altar, the distorted lightning completely struck down, and the purple-gold brilliance hidden within the Starlight lightning erupted, like a demonic sun rising from the lake's bottom!
Almost instantly, the "Sword in the Middle" of the Altar burst open, and cracks spread in all directions, rapidly extending to the second and third layers, and even to the very top of the Altar.
What followed, Yu Ci could no longer see. Lightning burst forth, the lake water churned, and the silt surged. The once-clear lakebed space was now shrouded with dozens, hundreds of layers of thick curtains, but none of these could halt the even more violent reaction that followed.
The lakebed shook, not from the impact of the surface lightning, but from a deeper source beneath the rock layers.
With a thunderous "boom," it was the Earth Vein groaning.
"Better to be a shattered jade than an intact tile."
This was Yu Ci's declaration-like slogan, yet he was not as heroic as it sounded; he merely fully understood the true intent behind Xuan Huang entrusting him with the care of the Altar.
Before departing, Xuan Huang must have anticipated that without its suppression, the Altar's fate would be grim. But "grim outcomes" come in two types: "grim" and "grimmer." The former meant the destruction of the Altar, leading to the loss of support from the earth's Spiritual Veins, and the imminent collapse of the Three-layer Talisman Seal; as for the latter—if those seals were to be exploited by others, would they still have a path to survival?
Between two detriments, Yu Ci naturally knew to choose the lesser.
As the Earth Vein shifted within the control nexus, it suffered such a violent impact. Unstable elements erupted simultaneously! An overpowering force burst forth from the deep rock layers beneath the lakebed. Yu Ci only felt a numbness envelop his body before the aftershock of this power brutally expelled him from the spatial rift. The momentum, still not spent, thrust him upwards. Reacting swiftly, he sidestepped, narrowly evading the brunt of the shockwave.
Such impacts were not isolated incidents. In but a few breaths' time, the lakebed experienced seventeen or eighteen similar powerful shocks, each creating slender yet mighty whirlpools, writhing like struggling Flood Dragons, their movements abrupt and their presence formidable.
Amidst the murky torrents, Yu Ci could see that the lakebed's rock layers could no longer withstand the chaotic onslaught of the Earth Vein. They began to bulge upwards, forming mounds that swiftly took shape. As for the once prominent Altar, it had long been shattered into oblivion by the force.
The Secret Domain's Three-layer Talisman Seal was on the verge of collapse.
In this chaos, the purple-gold brilliance of the Upper Cave-True Starlight Sensing Divine Thunder continued to spread wildly, pulverizing and scorching everything tangible in its wake. Yu Ci's senses connected with the lightning, granting him a modicum of awareness within the scope of its ravaging path.
Because of this, a sharp cry echoed suddenly in his heart.
With a "bang," Yu Ci struck backhand, hitting his target squarely in the chest. The metallic texture of the Armor made contact without leaving a single mark. However, his opponent's counter was lightning-fast, aiming straight for his throat.
Without uttering a sound, Yu Ci's arm, pressed against the Armor, trembled with the slightest amplitude, and from within his sleeve, a new edge was born!
The Primordial Formless Sword!
He had earlier captured this sword from the air, and because the Primordial Qi was formless and intangible, if not for his Sword in the Middle intent, it would have dissolved into the void unseen, making it quite troublesome to store. A Storage Ring was useless; it couldn't contain it. To internalize it without being affected, one must at least possess the cultivation of a True Immortal. Thus, Yu Ci could only bind it to his right wrist, gathering it with his own breath, treating it with the same care as the Divine Bronze Mirror.
It was a move born of necessity, yet now it yielded an unexpected effect.
The formless and intangible Sword Energy penetrated, rendering the Armor's defense virtually nonexistent. With such a move, taken by surprise, anyone would be hit, and the Heavy Weapon Sect Leader was no exception.
But at that moment, Yu Ci was taken aback. The feedback from the Primordial Formless Sword revealed that within the Armor, there was nothingness, utterly devoid of substance.
Where was the Heavy Weapon Sect Leader?
"Excellent, the Starlight Sensing Divine Thunder, and the Primordial Formless Sword!"
The voice of the other was right before him, and behind the cracked visor, lit by the lightning, two orbs of Blood Light suddenly ignited, so intense they seemed like flowing blood.
At any other time, Yu Ci would have assumed it to be the opponent's pupils bloodshot, with divine light spilling out. But in this moment, he understood—the Armor was empty, housing no person. It was clearly just a projection, a mere fragment of the spirit, similar to the Master of the Sunken Sword Cave!
So that was the reason!