Chapter 79 Cutting Wings

After Lian Bo’s strike was deflected, the energy in his body vibrated and he was momentarily rendered speechless. Seeing Zhao Yi still able to laugh madly, he felt threads of cold in his heart. Usually, he was much weaker than Bai Shanshui as Bai Shanshui’s cultivation was likely above realm seven second class, but he was still realm seven third class and would not have spent any less time in cultivation compared to Zhao Yi. He had fought for many years around the Xiong-Qiang border. But now, he could not even match Zhao Yi. Did he really lack the kind of spirit these great rebels had?

Today, in this minor situation within the broader situation, Zhang Kuangdao, who had the weakest cultivation but held the Tin Mountain Sword Box, was the most important person.

Amist Zhao Yi’s laughter, his expression was calm as he channeled the remaining vital energy in his body into the seal weapon.

Boom!

Completely void of vital energy, he could no longer control the backlash from the Tin Mountain Sword Box. He could not keep his feet under him and the small ship turned over. His body fell into the water. At the same time, dozens of swords once again flew out.

The dozens of small swords guided the vast primal energies of the universe through the air. They did not aim at Zhao Yi, but at Bai Shanshui who had left without resting. The sword formation formed by the dozens of swords was going to fall down like a jail and imprison Bai Shanshui.

Feeling the movement of these small swords, Bai Shanshui had no intentions of fighting. Her cold eyes were filled with madness.

“The Qin using swords of Chu, you do not feel embarrassed?” Zhao Yi laughed maniacally again. As his laughter rose, his black sword curved in the air and sliced towards these small swords.

Boom. Blackish-red true fire appeared out of thin air above his head like an enormous furnace that caught these small swords.

Pew pew pew … dozens of popping sounds. The vast energies gathered on these dozens of swords were all burned away by the fire and the swords were scattered by waves of fire.

At the same time, Li Daozhou attacked. The armored Li Daozhou was a general under Lian Bo’s command. After commanding the border army for many years, no one knew how much blood was on the two swords he carried. Yet this famed commander of the Qin army did not use his sword but punched with his two palms.

Two gusts of wind formed in front of him and was pushed to Lian Bo. Lian Bo flew as he screamed. In the next moment, he turned into a black dot in the sky.

At this moment in the sky, there was another black dot. That was his inky green sword. The sword had not fallen after being thrown backwards and had flown into the sky. Lian Bo reached out and caught this sword.

An ear-piercing roar appeared in the sky.

The two black dots grew larger in Zhao Yi’s sight. Zhao Yi’s expression became unusually grim. He could sense a mountain of primal energy gathering within these two dots.

He narrowed his eyes. Then he held his large black sword with two hands and swung it upwards like a hammer. In the next moment, a circular wave of energy formed around him and exploded outwards.

The flames around him disappeared. Some of the poplar trees among the burning reeds were turned into scraps of wood that danced upwards. The soil was shaken by the terrifying power and flew outwards. An enormous hole formed on the shore.

The figures of two people appeared at the bottom of the hole amidst the smoke and dust.

Zhao Yi still held the large black sword that now appeared slightly twisted and curved.

Before the Zhao Sword Furnace had been extinguished, the cultivators of the Zhao Sword Furnace spent most of their lives hammering metal. The sword nuclei of the Zhao Sword Furnace were known as the best in the world. Zhao Yi was the first disciple of the Zhao Sword Furnace and his sword nucleus was something ordinary people could not imagine.

Yet now his sword was bent. It could be seen what kind of power had been contained in the attack just now.

Lian Bo still held his sword in his right hand, but his entire arm was twisted oddly and hanging down. There was blood among his teeth and his face was unusually pale. It was clear that the bones in his right hand had broken in multiple places due to this attack.

“The world knows that Zhao Si is strong, but not that you are also this strong.” Lian Bo took his sword in his left hand. He watched as Bai Shanshui’s figure disappeared. Blood no longer flowed out of his mouth but as he spoke, the energy going through his chest popped. He looked with hate at Zhao Yi and laughed, “Does the Zhao Sword Furnace feel it is worth it to trade your life for Bai Shanshui?”

Zhao Yi also sensed something and slowly turned around.

There was a figure moving closer on the distant shore. That figure was extremely tall, like one of Changling’s corner turrets.

“I know who this is. It must be that traitor Shen Xuan. The realm seven who lives like a rat, hiding in the sewers and eats dead corpses to avoid attracting too much attention.” Zhao Yi knew who this was. He also knew that Lian Bo was only wanting to delay him. He had no chance of victory against the two of them, but his expression showed the air of one who became more determined after each stumble just like Zhao Miao had shown after her lifebond sword was destroyed.

“I control my fate, not the heavens,” he said.

As he said this, the extremely tall figure in the distance gave off frightening sword essence. The grim presence on his body suddenly dissipated. The sunlight shone down and edged him in gold like he was a demon and a saint.

At the same time, an invisible bridge seemed to appear in the air. It was like there was a spatial opening in the sky. Ordinary cultivators could move the primal energies of the universe suited to them from far-off places, yet this person did the opposite. He turned the energy of his body into sword energies that were transported through this invisible bridge.

The lines of light above Zhao Yi’s head grew brighter until Zhao Yi’s body glowed white as though it was about to melt.

After Zhao Yi said the words “I control my fate, not the heavens,” he knew where the true danger came from. But at this time, he ignored the swords of light falling from the sky and attacked Lian Bo.

In the years he travelled the world with Zhao Miao, he had comprehended the meaning of retreat. But for the people of the Zhao Sword Furnace, even in retreat, this would be a retreat in order to advance.

The slightly curved large sword came down like a metal hammer.

When craftsmen beat metal, when the hammer fell, they would use almost all their power. The power in the blow was the sublimation of the craftsman’s life. Most could not imagine how a craftsman could produce a blow far surpassing their own strength.

A muffled explosion.

The enormous hole continued to sink.

Lian Bo’s left arm and even his body gave off the sound of bones cracking.

Lian Bo screamed. The hate and obsession of these years caused him to stand upright. The ground underneath his feet split. Two streams of river water flooded out and supported his sword.

But at this moment, the little sword, so red it was black, was already attacking. This little sword was like the small hammer the old masters helping out in the smithy used to shape the beaten metal. However, these hammers were the ones that would determine the final shape of the red hot metal.

Lian Bo’s inky green sword crossed with this small sword. The inky green longsword vibrated multiple times. The vibration passed onto his body and destroyed his energy.

Lian Bo fell dispiritedly to the ground. The powerful force pushed him to slide backwards. The curve of the hole caused him to be thrown upwards into the air as he slid back and left the hole.

Zhao Yi did not stop moving and charged forward. He did not look at Lian Bo’s figure as he had already closed his eyes.

The light coming down from the sky grew brighter. Sword energy that looked liked countless threads of light stabbed into his body.

He gave a muffled grunt. The vital energy in his energy sea all turned into true fire that burned ferociously. The sword energy was ignited in his body. But at the same time, the energies and blood in his body evaporated and his body withered.

The tall and thin figure in the distance gave a cold furious shout. The light stabbing into Zhao Yi’s eyes grew brighter, and the lines of light seemed to disappear from the sky.

The moisture in Zhao Yi’s eyes completely evaporated. His veins dried up and broke like pieces of sand.

Zhao Yi’s sight turned black. He knew that he would no longer be able to see any light or color, but his withered features grew more determined.

He swung the large black sword in his hand. The large black sword roared through the wind like an enormous stone from a catapult towards that thin and tall person in the distance.

His body used the recoil of this throw to disappear within the grass among the rivershore with a few jumps.

Shen Xuan grabbed ahead of him. With a metallic clatter, his fingers turned the color of copper as he managed to grab the sword tip of the large black sword. Li Daozhou landed behind Lian Bo and managed to catch Lian Bo with both hands.

In this battle, Bai Shanshui had been seriously wounded while Zhao Yi lost one of his swords and was blinded … yet even this fatal trap had been unable to catch these great rebels. This famed general of the Qin felt no joy inside. His entire body started to tremble uncontrollably.

Shen Xuan did not converse with Lian Bo’s two remaining subordinates. He held Zhao Yi’s large sword and looked back in the direction of Changling’s imperial city.

The streets of Changling criss-crossed and looked like a match board in his eyes.

These great rebels had managed to flee from this great battle but their wings had been cut. For a long time after this, these great rebels would only think about fighting for survival.

Emperor Yuanwu achieved his aim. There was completely peace before the Deer Mountain Conference.

Experts above realm seven were chess pieces. Could swordsmanship be stronger than schemes of the mind?

Translator Ramblings: And that’s the end of volume two!