Chapter 41: Dragon-Slaying Power Fantasy (40)

"You actually have a contracted beast as well?"

Song Qichuan gritted his teeth. "How on earth do you have a contracted beast?"

Cultivators could indeed possess multiple natal magical treasures, and could simultaneously have both a natal magical treasure and a contracted beast. However, whether contracting a demonic beast or a magical treasure, it required a massive expenditure of spiritual consciousness. Generally speaking, when a cultivator contracted a demonic beast—especially a high-tier one—they needed to recuperate their soul for at least forty years before they could forge another contract for a natal magical treasure.

Yet her bone age was merely forty years. She had only entered the Sword Crypt six years ago, and she did not come from a family specializing in beast taming; she was a genuine, hardcore sword cultivator, with zero possibility of having contracted a demonic beast in her childhood.

Within such a compact timeframe, how on earth... did she manage to do it?

A three-headed dragon, draped in pale blue scales, hovered and coiled in mid-air. Its emerald-green eyes looked like deep, gloomy peridots. In the pitch-black forest, illuminated by the ghostly light of fireflies, its soft, slender dragon body was majestic and grand, surpassing even the works of heavenly craftsmanship. Viewed from afar, it resembled an ice-blue silk ribbon, or a dreamlike, hazy mist enshrouding the young woman.

Having failed its initial strike, the Heavenly Demonic Vermilion Luan held its head high, its slender, powerful talons clenched tightly, its orange-yellow eyes locked dead onto those three smugly swaying dragon heads.

*Stupid dragon, do you think growing a few extra heads makes you amazing?*

The Heavenly Demonic Vermilion Luan beat its wings, unleashing wave after wave of wind blades. The three-headed dragon refused to show weakness; it let out a roar and whipped its tail violently, stirring up surging shockwaves that battered the incoming wind blades away.

Its black pupils turned sharp and thin, and its three dragon heads flickered with forked tongues, baring their fangs to pull a face at the Heavenly Demonic Vermilion Luan.

The Heavenly Demonic Vermilion Luan was consumed by fury.

It flipped rapidly in the air, transforming into a blue halo that plunged downward toward the three-headed dragon like a streak of lightning.

The three-headed dragon was a dragon-type ice-affinity beast. Ordinary dragons possessed straight and short horns, but the tips of this three-headed dragon's horns split into minuscule forks—so faint that one would miss them entirely without close inspection. Yet Song Qichuan, well-versed in the arts of beast taming, how could she not recognize this as the precursor to a dragon ascending?

The more this disciple pondered, the more terrifying it felt.

This was no longer a gap between an ordinary person and a genius.

Song Qichuan took a step back, staring in shock toward the upper reaches of the arena.

The three-headed dragon and the Heavenly Demonic Vermilion Luan were locked in a fierce entanglement, sending sparks flying everywhere. The thunderous roars and the sound of beating wings were deafening.

Which of the disciples participating in the finals of the Three Thousand Dao Assembly was not a proud favored son or daughter of their respective sect? Even Song Qichuan, who was a once-in-a-millennium rising star within the Beast Taming Sect, felt a profound shiver of fear blooming within her at this moment.

Taking the Dragon-Singing Sword was not strange; contracting an ice-affinity demonic beast was not strange; reaching the Division-Spirit Realm was not strange; knowing the Water-Cloud Art and the Heaven-Deriving Sword Technique was even less strange.

The Dragon-Singing Sword had once been the Saint Sovereign's natal sword. There were those within the Beast Taming Sect who had also domesticated ice-affinity beasts. There were over fifty individuals at the Division-Spirit Realm in the Three Thousand Dao Assembly, and both the Heaven-Deriving Sword Technique and the Water-Cloud Art had been practiced by others in the past.

But what if someone had accomplished all of this in less than forty years?

The spiritual energy churned by the combat of the Division-Spirit Realm beasts caused even Song Qichuan's black pupils to tremble slightly like ripples on water.

This felt much more like—

The gap between mortals and gods.

"Now is hardly the time to let your mind wander."

A female voice, close enough to brush her ear, jerked Song Qichuan's attention back.

The Dragon-Singing Sword was right before her eyes. The Myriad-Illusion Iron activated, instantly transforming into a sharp black sword that blocked horizontally in front of Song Qichuan.

The Myriad-Illusion Iron remained unranked on the Divine Weapon List, not because it lacked power, but because it had never been forged by any artifact refiner. Instead, it was an intact piece of Primordial Mother Gold.

As the origin of all metals, the Primordial Mother Gold surpassed any sharp weapon in its own right. More importantly, when bound to the Heavenly Metal Spiritual Roots, a cultivator only needed to inject spiritual energy into the Primordial Mother Gold and manipulate it with their consciousness to make the metal morph into any shape according to the wielder's will.

Song Qichuan's gaze sharpened. Her wrist turned, and spiritual energy gathered swiftly in her palm, forming a light sword resembling a dagger. Bending one knee and lowering her body, she unleashed a gale with the light sword, thrusting straight toward Su Bai's undefended lower abdomen.

Yet halfway through its trajectory, a water sword intercepted the light sword's path.

The light sword, condensed purely from metal energy, was ostensibly far sharper than the sword made of water. However, the water sword radiated a searing, blazing sword Qi. Though it appeared to be soft, fluid water, the light sword could not breach it by even a fraction.

The sword Qi surrounding the water sword boiled, emitting a piercing, explosive whine that shockingly resembled the force of a real sword strike!

The light sword attempted a desperate struggle, but the sword Qi was fierce and irresistible. The light sword, formed of metal energy, flickered for a moment before finally being shattered by the overwhelming sword Qi. The gale and explosive force generated by the clash of power blasted Su Bai and Song Qichuan apart.

The Myriad-Illusion Iron spun and landed back in Song Qichuan's palm.

She exhaled a breath of stale air, feeling a slight, needle-like prick in her Sea of Consciousness.

The Myriad-Illusion Iron was indestructible, but forcing her spiritual consciousness to elongate and shape it in such a short span of time consumed not only spiritual energy, but heavily drained a cultivator's spiritual consciousness as well.

Yet that disciple had condensed such a water sword in an equally brief timeframe; the expenditure on her consciousness could hardly have been any less than her own.

Song Qichuan lifted her eyes to look toward the other side.

Su Bai landed steadily. Whether she was putting on a brave front or not, her cold expression remained entirely devoid of emotion.

Yin Xubai stood not far away, watching the combat on the stage.

Jiang Yuyang chimed in, "Well, well, Pei Yizhou is also competing over on the other platform. How come I don't see you standing over by his side?"

Jiang Yuyang materialized from out of nowhere.

Yin Xubai glanced at her and said coldly, "Sang Luoyuan is a fellow Dharma cultivator of yours, yet I don't see you crowding around her with such enthusiasm either."

Although he and Jiang Yuyang were disciples of the same generation and both prominent paragons of the Kunwu Sect, they were accustomed to walking alone. Naturally, he did not assume Jiang Yuyang had sauntered over just because he was standing here, nor that she was teasing him to foster fellowship between sect members.

Xie Niqing and Jiang Yuyang had always been close. On the day Su Bai froze Xie Niqing's Sea of Consciousness, Jiang Yuyang had spoken up to excuse her with the words 'a minor punishment to warn against future misbehavior'. From that, Yin Xubai knew Jiang Yuyang's interest in Su Bai was likely no less than his own.

Caught in the act, Jiang Yuyang showed no anger. Instead, she jutted her chin toward the front left. "Look over there. Do you see that disciple standing beneath the platform wearing black?"

"The best-looking and tallest one."

Yin Xubai followed Jiang Yuyang's line of sight.

That disciple possessed sword-like brows and star-like eyes, with a slender and tall figure. His dark-colored robes were inlaid with golden-threaded cloud patterns, giving him a refined and gentle appearance—unquestionably the type favored by young maidens.

"I see him," Yin Xubai replied.

Jiang Yuyang crossed her arms and sneered, "That is Qin Yang."

Yin Xubai fell silent for a moment before asking sincerely, "Who is Qin Yang?"

Jiang Yuyang stared at him in utter astonishment. "You're interested in someone else's little girl, and you don't even know who Qin Yang is?"

Yin Xubai said calmly, "Do I need to know him?"

He didn't even bother to refute the first half of Jiang Yuyang's sentence.

He rarely looked at posts on the forum. Ever since Yin Xubai rose to fame, praise and skepticism on the forum had come and gone in equal measure. But to Yin Xubai, the praise or malice of rumors meant nothing; it did not prevent him from being Yin Xubai.

Nor did it prevent Su Bai from being Su Bai.

Jiang Yuyang smiled and recounted the past events between Su Bai and Qin Yang from six years ago to Yin Xubai in a few concise sentences.

Yin Xubai stated, "When it is time to sever ties, one must do so decisively. Were it me, I would have done the same."

"I had vaguely heard someone mention this matter before, but I didn't know the names involved."

Though Jiang Yuyang was smiling, her eyes held a trace of chill. "Before Junior Sister Su became famous, everyone thought she ought to pander to Qin Yang. They all believed that rather than discussing illusory affections with him, she should focus on how much benefit she could extract from the relationship."

"Fallacy."

Yin Xubai kept his eyes locked on the commotion in the arena. "Engaging in duplicity with the likes of Qin Yang for personal gain is merely becoming the next Qin Yang."

Relying on its extra heads, the three-headed dragon could spit out three ice spikes simultaneously. But having multiple heads was both its advantage and its vulnerability. The Heavenly Demonic Vermilion Luan was not as massive as the three-headed dragon, but it made up for it with agility. It would peck the left head of the three-headed dragon, then dart over to peck its right head.

After pecking the right head, it would sneakily dash over to peck the middle head.

The three-headed dragon was played around with until it was utterly dizzy, its three heads spinning around to the point of almost tying themselves in a knot. Furious, it whipped its three heads around wildly while its three mouths hurled curses.

On the other side, the Dragon-Singing Sword and the Myriad-Illusion Iron traced streaks of glowing light.

Under such massive consumption of spiritual energy, Song Qichuan's reserves were exhausted, placing her at a distinct disadvantage.

"Indeed," Jiang Yuyang echoed. "Yet Qin Yang's faction was soaring to the skies back then, while Junior Sister Su was merely an unremarkable disciple of the sect. Put anyone else in her shoes, and who would dare casually sever a bond lasting decades?"

"People are always looking for shortcuts, willing to sacrifice things that seem harmless at first—starting with the love they consider most useless."

Jiang Yuyang's tone grew colder. "Who knows what they will end up sacrificing in the end."

Song Qichuan's decline became increasingly apparent.

Yet, having fought her way to the finals of the Three Thousand Dao Assembly, how could Song Qichuan, a Division-Spirit Realm cultivator, be willing to concede defeat in the very first round?

Failing to gain the upper hand with her sword, Song Qichuan landed back on the arena floor, the hard black iron beneath her feet cracking slightly from the impact.

She pulled out two medicinal pills and swallowed them, then tossed a third pill into the mouth of the Heavenly Demonic Vermilion Luan.

The dosage limit for pills during the finals of the Three Thousand Dao Assembly happened to be precisely three.

Yun Zhu recognized those three pills instantly. "Spirit-Gathering Pills, Heaven-Origin Blood-Burst Pills, and the Tribulation-Breaking Yin-Yin Pill, which is the most compatible with the Heavenly Demonic Vermilion Luan!"

"The Beast Taming Sect has truly gone all out this time!"

After consuming the Tribulation-Breaking Yin-Yin Pill, the cultivation base of the Heavenly Demonic Vermilion Luan skyrocketed to the peak of the Division-Spirit Realm in a short time. The flames it breathed became even more scorching, shifting from a bright red to a thick, purplish-red.

Song Qichuan once again felt abundant spiritual energy coursing through her meridians, and concurrently, her own cultivation realm surged to the mid-Division-Spirit stage.

The reason why the Heaven-Origin Blood-Burst Pill commanded such astronomical prices at auctions was that a heavenly-grade Heaven-Origin Blood-Burst Pill possessed almost no side effects. Even for a cultivator in the early Division-Spirit Realm, it could elevate their strength by more than a minor realm.

The three-headed dragon was only at the mid-Division-Spirit stage; the fact that it had been able to fight the peak-Division-Spirit Heavenly Demonic Vermilion Luan to a standstill was entirely due to how impeccably Su Bai had raised this dragon over the years.

Yet now, facing a Heavenly Demonic Vermilion Luan at the peak of the Division-Spirit realm, even the three-headed dragon began to feel somewhat overwhelmed.

Seizing the opportunity, the Heavenly Demonic Vermilion Luan activated its innate skill, Mirage, leaving three afterimages to steady the three-headed dragon's focus. Its true body flashed behind the three-headed dragon, its long beak suffused with violent purplish-red flames, aiming to bite clean through one of the dragon's heads.

The exact instant before its beak snapped shut, a vertical water sword rapidly condensed inside the Heavenly Demonic Vermilion Luan's mouth.

Though it was merely water, the temperature of the water sword was far more blazing than the Vermilion Luan's flames.

The Heavenly Demonic Vermilion Luan shrieked, thrashing its head and tail wildly, yet it could not spit out that water sword no matter what it did.

"Court death."

A female voice, chilled to the extreme, drifted from below.

Xu Hesheng, who had been paying attention to the commotion, let out an astonished "Ah."

"While fighting Song Qichuan, she still had the spare capacity to look after the three-headed dragon?"

The water sword inside the Heavenly Demonic Vermilion Luan's mouth froze inch by inch, expanding relentlessly until *crack*—it burst right through the upper and lower halves of its beak, punching out two large holes.

"Xiao Qing!"

Song Qichuan's eyes split with rage. The Myriad-Illusion Iron flew from her hand, forming a gigantic flying sickle in mid-air that traced a full semi-circular arc and hurtled toward the head of the three-headed dragon.

She was determined to hack off one of that stupid dragon's heads to avenge the Heavenly Demonic Vermilion Luan!

Yet amidst the painful shrieks of the Heavenly Demonic Vermilion Luan, that ice sword was pulled out, planting itself firmly in the path of the Myriad-Illusion Iron.

Under Song Qichuan's stunned gaze, the Myriad-Illusion Iron—crafted from Primordial Mother Gold—was actually sliced into two halves by that unassuming ice sword.

At that moment, the three-headed dragon realized it had almost lost a head.

Furiously, it spewed a patch of ice crystals onto the ground. The crystals rapidly condensed into an ice dragon, standing alongside the three-headed dragon to form a pincer movement from left and right.

"That three-headed dragon actually knows a clone technique!"

Someone exclaimed in shock, "An ice-affinity dragon that has awakened an innate skill is one in a myriad! This girl's luck is simply too good!"

Bolstered by the ice sword imbued with Su Bai's spiritual consciousness, and aided by the ice dragon, the injured Heavenly Demonic Vermilion Luan was forced into a continuous retreat under the assault of the three-headed dragon.

Song Qichuan gritted her teeth and leaped into the air, intending to lend the Heavenly Demonic Vermilion Luan a hand, when a majestic, crescent-shaped sword Qi surged from bottom to top, knocking her plummeting out of the sky.

With a sharp pain in her back, Song Qichuan spat out a mouthful of blood.

Su Bai pursued relentlessly, slashing down with her sword. The two halves of the Myriad-Illusion Iron reconnected in a single line, spinning back into Song Qichuan's hand to block the aggressive onslaught of the Dragon-Singing Sword.

Yet, sensing Su Bai's emotional fluctuations, the Dragon-Singing Sword raged with sword Qi, once again cleaving through the Myriad-Illusion Iron in Song Qichuan's hand inch by inch.

"Your opponent is me."

Su Bai exerted force through her wrist, her eyes dark and heavy.

The second form of the Heaven-Deriving Sword Technique erupted once more.

Su Bai closed her eyes, merging her mind into the sword, communicating with the essence of heaven and earth. The body of the Dragon-Singing Sword vibrated, and the roar of a dragon echoed deafeningly.

The young woman suddenly opened her eyes and slashed forward with her sword. Simultaneously, a bright silver light burst from the tip of the blade. Sword Qi surged like a galloping cavalry force, expanding outward until it nearly blocked the sight of everyone watching from below.

The Dragon-Singing Sword carried the intent of the Heavenly Dragon; its purpose was to summon the true Heavenly Dragon. Summoning the Heavenly Dragon was the pinnacle technique of the Heaven-Deriving Sword Technique—using sword intent to rouse the power of the firmament, gathering the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and the wielder's pure willpower to summon a divine dragon soaring through the air.

The more steadfast the wielder's Dao,

The sharper the sword intent would be!

Standing below the platform, Qin Yang's expression grew murky and obscure.

This sword strike possessed even greater sword intent than the one she had condensed six years ago while crossing swords with the Saint Sovereign.

"As fellow inheritors of the Heaven-Deriving Sword Technique, how do you think this sword compares to your own?"

The [Dragon-Shattering System] asked in his Sea of Consciousness with undisguised schadenfreude.

Qin Yang gave no reply.

Song Qichuan condensed a light shield using metal spiritual energy. However, under this sword Qi, even the Myriad-Illusion Iron could be shattered; that light shield failed to last even three breaths before it exploded into golden dust.

She was heavily flung off the arena platform.

Seizing the moment, the three-headed dragon and the ice dragon clamped onto the wings of the Heavenly Demonic Vermilion Luan and hurled it away with the assistance of the ice sword.

"She won again."

Jiang Yuyang clapped her hands and remarked, "Such a waste of a Heaven-Origin Blood-Burst Pill."

Yin Xubai replied, "She was bound to win anyway."

As Su Bai walked down the arena platform, Qin Yang stepped forward, intending to strike up a conversation.

The three-headed dragon, shrunk down to a miniature version, was excitedly recounting its own heroic deeds right beside her.

Before Qin Yang could utter a word, he saw Yin Xubai walking over with Jiang Yuyang in tow.

Qin Yang's footsteps paused.

Wasn't Yin Xubai her defeated opponent?

Nearby, several people whispered among themselves, "It's Yin Xubai!"

"Why is he here?"

"Jiang Yuyang is following right behind him too!"

Draped in black Dao robes, Yin Xubai walked right past Qin Yang and gave a slight nod to Su Bai. "Congratulations."

Su Bai paused her steps, lifted her eyes, and replied, "Not bad."

Indeed, both of them were exceptionally sparing with their words.

Jiang Yuyang cared nothing for such restraint. Darting out from behind Yin Xubai, she smiled and fished out a communication jade slip. "Junior Sister, let's add each other as friends!"

To think of doing something is better than merely thinking about it!

Yin Xubai deserved to remain single!