The True Dragon Realm was a land with numerous fauna thought extinct. Despite the vast and myriad animals, strangely, there were no hints of humans at all. And these animals all had a certain trait. They all had scales.
It wasn't part of the Three Thousand Immortal Realms System. At least it hadn't been since the Human-Divine Beast War ended in their defeat. Along with the Qilin Realm and Phoenix Realm, it formed the Divine Beast Pseudo System.
Unlike a true system, the Divine Beast System was part yet not part of the Three Thousand Immortal Realms System. It was much like how the Oort Cloud was part of the Solar System but didn't follow a proper orbit around the sun. Under normal circumstances, no one could enter the Divine Beast Pseudo System.
A certain mountain, known as Blue Horn Mountain, turned into a volcano and erupted, massacring all the nearby scaled beasts. The most abnormal aspect of the volcano, aside from its sudden eruption, was the blue magma.
Inside the volcano's depths was a lake of pure blue lava, and thrashing about was a serpentine figure covered in blue scales. If Tianyi were here, he would immediately recognize it as the blue dragon that just got beheaded.
"Damn them! Damn the humans! How could I have fallen so easily if it weren't for the suppression of the Broken Primordial World!"
The blue dragon roared as he continued to rampage. The blue dragon that had appeared in the Broken Primordial World had been its avatar that he had created at the cost of half of his body. Without it, his strength had dropped from the Demon King Realm to the True Demon Realm.
"Numinous Sword Sect, Buzhou Immortal Sect brats, I'll have my revenge!"
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Tianyi's grip on the Kunlun Mirror tightened as he stared warily at the newcomer. He did not pay an ounce of attention to the decapitated dragon corpse, nor did he take this chance to snatch the Sovereign Nine Yang Lotus.
His instincts were screaming at him that the man before him was extremely dangerous. Not that he couldn't infer from the mere fact that the man decapitated a dragon at the True Demon Realm.
"Are you here to avenge that person from earlier?" Tianyi asked, his voice betraying none of his wariness.
Both the newcomer and the previous cultivator wore the same clothes. Tianyi already had a suspicion as to who the two's identities were. In the whole Three Thousand Immortal Realms System, the only other organization that could enter the Broken Primordial World was the hegemon of the Numinous Realm, the Numinous Sword Sect. So it was only logical to think the newcomer came to avenge the disciple who Tianyi and the true demon had chased down and killed.
Tianyi's eyes widened as the man suddenly unleashed a sword slash. The movement was seemingly very slow, allowing Tianyi to see every change, but that was only because of how mesmerizing the technique was. A sword-shaped crescent erupted and flew towards Tianyi.
Despite his best attempt, the sword energy still managed to hit his hand. Upon doing so, Tianyi frowned and looked at his hand. There was a faint white mark on his hand and a slight stinging sensation.
"What's your name?"
Tianyi looked to see the newcomer looking at him, but his eyes no longer looked as relaxed as before. "You aren't going to tell me that you will remember my name after killing me, will you?"
The man stayed silent, causing Tianyi's lips to quirk upward slightly. 'Who would be so stupid enough to leave their name at this juncture. Wait for you to find me in the future, you wish!'
"Bao Ling."
Tianyi blinked and only processed what the man said after a second. He squinted his eyes at Bao Ling. 'You aren't going to say that this is the name of the man that will kill me, right?'
"Remember it well because that is the last name you will ever hear," Bao Ling said as he slowly descended down until his feet stood firmly on the ground.
'Sure, enough,' Tianyi thought, but he didn't let his amusement affect his judgment. He shifted into a martial stance, ready to attack and counter at a moment's notice.
Bao Ling closed the distance between them, and a familiar feeling covered his sword. Aside from the Dragon Emperor, this was the only time Tianyi had seen a non-immortal cultivate an intent and a sword intent at that.
Burying the jealousy brewing within, Tianyi drew out his sword, and the screech of metal scraping against metal rang aloud.
"Hrah!" Tianyi increased his strength and knocked back Bao Ling, but upon glancing at his sword, he frowned. On the edge where the two swords had clashed, a nick could be seen. 'Just what is that sword? Not only can it leave a mark on my skin, but it even nicked my sword, which is of at least of the immortal rank!'
Bao Ling, on the other hand, shook his wrist, surprised by Tianyi's brute force. He didn't give Tianyi long to think as he attacked once more, sword intent covering his blade. Unlike the previous time, Bao Ling's movements were swift and ephemeral, avoiding head-on clashes with Tianyi and targeting his weak points.
Tianyi grunted as he felt more and more blades landing on his body. The white marks previously started to turn red from how frequently Bao Ling struck him. It was no longer a matter of less skill but an overwhelming disadvantage.
He stopped on the ground, creating a distraction that allowed him to distance himself. Bao Ling rushed forward, intent on keeping the distance between the two as small as possible, but Tianyi was far faster in pure speed.
Upon realizing that only Bao Ling's attack speed was faster, Tianyi switched tactics, using hit-and-run strikes. But, no matter how many times he tried, or even thrust towards Bao Ling's back, Bao Ling would always be able to block or deflect Tianyi's strikes with his own sword.
'Should I just grab the Sovereign Nine Yang Lotus and run?' Tianyi thought. He didn't think he would lose Bao Ling, but that didn't mean that he wanted to entangle with him for much longer. He came to the Broken Primordial Realm to search for treasures to cure Xi Ri, not temper himself.
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Bao Ling must have somehow sensed Tianyi's thoughts because he raised his sword, and a myriad-colored light shot out of it and to the sky. The light separated into ten pillars and encased the surrounding hundred meters in a dome.
Tianyi smirked. One of the things he was least afraid of was restraining formations. He turned tail and rushed towards the edge with his fist reared back. With a devastating momentum, Tianyi unleashed a full-powered punch.
With a face still smiling, the location of impact rippled for a second but stayed firm. Not only that, the ripples that flowed out from Tianyi's punch returned to the point of impact and caused a backlash. Tianyi's body shot backward like a cannonball to the other side of the dome, which repeated the process.
After ricocheting a few more times, the force finally disappeared enough for Tianyi to stand on his two feet once more. Across from him, Bao Ling blinked, shocked by the sheer force, and his wariness towards Tianyi increased even more.
Tianyi grumbled under his breath and glared at Bao Ling. If his robes weren't immortal rank artifacts, they would have likely burned out or turned to rags from the event. He didn't have the interest in playing cannonball again, so after a few moments of consideration, his third eye opened.
Bao Ling raised his sword in a defensive position. As a disciple of the Numinous Sword Sect descended from the Heavenly Lord of Numinous Treasures, he had naturally heard of Erlang Sheng's Truth-Seeking Eye. To his knowledge, only immortals could successfully cultivate the eye, but everything was possible.
Tianyi narrowed his eyes. With his newly increased visual prowess, he could sense the extraordinariness of Bao Ling's seemingly plain sword. It was like it existed in its own dimension and not suppressed by the Broken Primordial World.
His eyes shifted towards Tianyi's forehead. 'Pew.'
Bao Ling's eyes widened as a black beam shot out of Tianyi's third eye, straight towards his head. He narrowly avoided the black beam and only lost a few locks of his hair, but Tianyi wasn't done.
The black beam wasn't pure black but contained tiny traces of light like Tianyi's true qi of primordial chaos. It had the power to disintegrate all creation as long as there was enough energy and time.
The beam stayed condensed and struck the myriad light dome. Upon impact, it rebounded in another direction. Had it been towards the ground, it would have been fine, but the problem was that it reflected towards another part of the dome. Luckily, this time, it would reflect onto the ground, but abnormally, the beam curved and hit another part of the dome.
As the number of black beams increased, Bao Ling found himself struggling to dodge them all. Tianyi, who saw this, couldn't help but be reminded of laser tag, if laser tag meant dismemberment with one hit.
Finally, at wit's end, Bao Ling struck the black beam with his sword. The scene of the sword being struck out of Bao Ling's hand didn't happen, nor did Bao Ling seem to feel any sort of resistance. Rather, the sword in his hand seemed to have absorbed the black beam.
Tianyi felt it even clearer than Bao Ling. The sword in Bao Ling's hand didn't just want to absorb the black beam but wanted to absorb all his cultivation as well! As such, he quickly disconnected the eye beam and deepened his frown.
"What is that sword?"
Hearing this, Bao Ling was stunned for a moment and then revealed the truth. It wasn't a big secret. He wasn't afraid of others coveting it either. If you recklessly grabbed it, you would receive a backlash and might even have your soul extinguished. "The Immortal Slaying Sword of the Four Immortal Extermination Sword Array."
Hearing this, Tianyi's heart jumped. His eyes couldn't help but gleam with greed. Although he didn't have the talent to become a sword immortal, he still liked to collect swords. And what sword was greater than one of the Four Immortal Exterminating Swords?
Still, Tianyi quickly suppressed his greed. He could feel that something was awakening from within the Immortal Slaying Sword. Although it still appeared plain without any embellishing, Tianyi felt a grave crisis. It was like he was an ant about to be crushed by a sword, but he was too small to see the whole sword, so he could only see the tip as a giant hunk of metal crushing him.
Bao Ling didn't hesitate any longer and rushed towards Tianyi. The Immortal Slaying Sword was telling him to kill Tianyi and absorb him! Once he did so, Bao Ling had a feeling that the Immortal Slaying Sword would evolve to its next level. To be more precise, it was returning closer to its former strength.
Tianyi's third eye flashed, and numerous beams of black light shot forward towards Bao Ling. Each of these beams didn't contain the original power, but they were too much for Bao Ling to dodge if he continued forward.
Bao Ling, against Tianyi's expectation, used his sword to slice through all the beams. Or, to be more precise, each time his sword touched a beam, it would absorb it, rendering it into nothing.
Tianyi felt helpless. He was confident in his body's defense, but reality proved that the sword in Bao Ling's hand could injure him. Maybe it won't be the tenth or twelfth strike, but definitely, after a hundred, the sword will pierce his defense.
The Truth-Seeking Eye was an auxiliary technique, and its only offensive feature was the eye beam condensed from energy. After considering his options, Tianyi made a decision. As he unleashed a continuous barrage of eye beams, he charged toward Bao Ling with his sword drawn.
Bao Ling didn't seem surprised by Tianyi's actions at all. If anything, he anticipated it. He had already discovered that Tianyi had no other methods of attack aside from his third eye and physical moves. If he were Tianyi, he would also face himself head-on, since running away was impossible.
The moment the two reached within ten meters of each other, the world turned silent.
Tianyi abandoned all thoughts of defense, continuously slashing out with his sword and fists and used his body to defend against the Immortal Slaying Sword. He was like a mad berserker entranced by bloodlust.
In contrast, Bao Ling was like a glacier, unaffected by anything. His eyes remained clear as he dodged Tianyi's reckless assault. The Immortal Slaying Sword may not be afraid of Tianyi's strength, but he was different. His body was still undeniably weaker than Tianyi's.
As the two battled on, more and more chips and nicks appeared on Tianyi's sword, his body robes were shreds, and numerous red marks covered his body. All it took was another strike against any of them, and Tianyi's defenses would be pierced.
Bao Ling was slightly better off. His robes had nicks, and his skin had scratches, but compared to Tianyi, he was relatively unharmed. Mental fatigue was another matter. Taking a single strike from Tianyi would spell Bao Ling's instantaneous defeat, but under this pressure, his swordsmanship continued to be refined.
Tianyi made a mistake, and Bao Ling capitalized on it. He raised his sword high and cleaved downward.
To his shock, Tianyi's hand suddenly stretched out and grabbed the sword blade. "Finally caught you!"
Tianyi raised his sword in the sky, much like Bao Ling did, and cleaved downward. At the same time, he unleashed an eye beam just for good measure.
Bao Ling tried to dodge, but he discovered that the Immortal Slaying Sword was firmly grasped in Tianyi's clutches, and he could not outpower Tianyi. He gritted his teeth and shifted his head away, the eye beam grazing his temple, and he activated a steel-colored barrier. But he knew that this barrier was like paper in front of Tianyi's brute strength.
Clang!
His triumphant smile stiffened as his sword snapped in half upon contact with the steel-colored barrier and barely lacerated Bao Ling at all.
Taking this chance, Bao Ling counterattacked. The Immortal Slaying Sword started vibrating intensely, causing Tianyi's grip to loosen and almost pierce his skin. Bao Ling retracted the sword and pierced it towards Tianyi.
In the time that it would take to blink, the Immortal Slaying Sword pierced Tianyi's chest. He looked down in disbelief and felt his soul tremor with pain. Not only did the Immortal Slaying Sword break his defense, but it also injured his soul.
Worst of all, Tianyi felt all the progress from his cultivating loosen. And before Bao Ling could react, a massive explosion originating from Tianyi erupted. So powerful was its explosion that the whole continent was destroyed and shattered.
"GODDAMMIT!!! I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU, BAO LING!!!"