World's No. 1 Swordsman-Chapter 661: Death Aura Flooding the Ground

Behind the hanging veil of his bamboo hat, Wang Sheng stared at the bronze mirror in his hand. "Where did he go?"

He had only taken a short detour to rescue someone, yet Li Tianyao had already vanished from outside the restriction where he had been moments earlier. With his thoughts, he made the mirror rapidly scan the area until he found Li Tianyao.

They were already past the outer array. The brilliant space stretched overhead, and dense crowds clogged the entrance.

He left? Just like that?

Wang Sheng was momentarily speechless. A corner of his mouth twitched.

What did he come here for? Sightseeing? Or was he just trying to earn favor with the female immortal?

However, the scene in the mirror revealed what had happened. Their group had clearly been beaten back.

The female Heavenly Immortal was clutching her left arm, dark qi seeping from her fingertips as her face turned deathly pale. Li Tianyao anxiously supported her at her side, gripping a jade bottle with its stopper removed.

Of the remaining four, two were injured, and one teetered on the edge of unconsciousness, held upright by an elderly woman.

The six had already rushed out of the array. If Wang Sheng wanted to kill them, he would have to chase them from behind and expose himself to numerous Golden Immortals and mighty experts. Taking such a risk just to kill the heir of the Celestial Wind Sect was simply not worth it.

Wang Sheng shook his head. Instead of wasting time, he headed back to the middle array.

Eliminating Li Tianyao amid the chaos would be ideal. Still, now that the man had fled with such keen instincts, he no longer found any reason to rush. He could simply settle accounts later. He felt dissatisfied to return empty-handed after going through so much trouble to reach the outer region, though.

Wang Sheng glanced once more at the bronze mirror and discovered that Li Tianyao's group had already merged with another cluster of cultivators. He memorized the emblem floating among them, which depicted an immortal sword piercing through a mountain peak. It was likely the banner of that sect or faction.

Unfortunately, the mirror couldn't play sounds. In his mild irritation, Wang Sheng began reading their lips and interpreting their expressions.

"Immortal Iron-Hammer Maiden, I apologize for being so useless that I can't even help you obtain the life-saving spiritual herb."

"No, Tianyao. My cultivation is simply insufficient. You came to help me, and we already did everything we could. That's all that matters to me. Anyway, why do you still call me Immortal Maiden?"

"Miss Iron Hammer..." 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"Look, you're calling me 'miss' again."

Tenderly, Li Tianyao seemingly called out, "Little Sister Iron Hammer..."

The female Heavenly Immortal smiled gently, rendering the people around them utterly speechless.

Wang Sheng's lips twitched as he amused himself with his imagined dialogue. His mood lightened considerably.

Reaching the outer barrier of the middle array, he found a secluded corner, conjured a patch of black cloud to conceal himself, and drifted slowly back toward the tree canopy.

Li Tianyao's sudden appearance had been nothing more than a minor ripple in the grand "drama" of Qinghua's Daoist heritage emergence into the world. It was also just a fleeting interruption in Wang Sheng's long vigil for his senior sister.

The complete Great Dao of Life and the legacy that one of the Four Heavenly Ministers had left behind was fatally alluring for cultivators. Powerful figures continually appeared outside the array, and major sects arrived in waves, each bringing large contingents of Heavenly Immortals. Once the middle array was breached, the forces that had been observing from the sidelines finally entered the fray as well.

Taking on the role of the array's "guardian spirit," Wang Sheng darted across the central region, intercepting and obstructing every group that showed any chance of entering the divine tree's immortal palace.

Without realizing it, more than half a month passed since the middle array had been breached, and more than a hundred powerful enemies had fallen to Wang Sheng's sword.

Half of them were stuck at the peak of the Heavenly Immortal Realm, unable to become Golden Immortals. The other half were elite disciples that prominent sects had painstakingly nurtured.

Wang Sheng's cultivation realm had always been lower to that of the ones he had slain. However, he had the forged spiritual treasures Spiritless and the Dragon Sword, had inherited Ziwei's and Chun Yangzi's legacies, and wielded the Green Lotus Ultimate and the power of heavenly tribulation. With all those factors combined, Wang Sheng developed a sweeping momentum against Heavenly Immortals.

Not even peerless talents could withstand the bloom of his green lotus, nor could supposedly boundless immortal power escape the brilliance of his starlight. In an all-out battle, Lishang could use her formidable divine abilities, yet even she would only be able to fight Wang Sheng to a draw.

However, Wang Sheng had met a handful of troublesome Heavenly Immortals as well. On several occasions, he even had to withdraw before he could take out his target because they were exceptionally difficult to deal with.

One was a brutish cultivator who specialized in tempering himself physically. He was impervious to weapons, and a powerful cauldron-type treasure protected him. Water, fire, wind, and lightning all failed to harm him.

Wang Sheng fought him for several hundred exchanges. Although he could suppress the brute completely, he could not land a decisive blow. Eventually, he was forced to withdraw since the tribulation clouds overhead were close to dissipating, making the brute one of the most memorable enemies that he had encountered.

Another was a male cultivator who wielded a short flute. He was strikingly handsome, rivaling even Liu Yunzhi, but he practiced a set of sinister arts and carried a bizarre silken thread. When Wang Sheng descended and launched a high-speed assault, the man released dozens of puppets from his sleeves and used the thread to control them in battle.

The puppets had likely been refined from real people. Each was a stunningly beautiful and seemingly fragile female cultivator with jade-like skin. However, they were all impervious to weapons. Their beauty only made their presence more unsettling. Unable to subdue the man swiftly, Wang Sheng dared not prolong the fight. He retreated once more before the tribulation clouds dispersed.

The two left the deepest impression on him. Since then, he had been occasionally checking on them using the bronze mirror.

A female cultivator and an elderly man had also forced him to withdraw. The female cultivator possessed a mist-shrouding treasure. It mirrored the life-saving immortal treasures that the Qiling Immortal Sect had gifted Wang Sheng, though hers was even more refined.

That day, the female cultivator had advanced too recklessly and ended up isolated. Wang Sheng charged in with his sword. She immediately cast her spells and scattered talismans across the sky, but before any of them could detonate, streaks of sword radiance had shredded them.

In response, she decisively used her mist-shrouding treasure. It dissolved her into drifting smoke, leaving behind only a blurred outline of a face that gazed quietly at Wang Sheng. Her look seemed to be saying, "as long as you and I don't fight, peace will prevail."

Wang Sheng struck with all his strength. Heavenly tribulation and true fire poured forth, yet none of it could harm the swirling smoke.

He did not linger. Turning at once, he withdrew and put the woman firmly on his blacklist.

His final opponent, the elderly man, was simply too powerful. Even with his full power, Wang Sheng failed to match him. The old Heavenly Immortal's counterattack had even nearly slammed him into the ground.

"More and more formidable experts keep appearing."

Wang Sheng reclined against a broad tree branch, resting his head on his left arm while crossing one leg over the other. He gazed at the changing scenes in the bronze mirror. Soon, he turned his head to look down at the immortal palace below. Protective restrictions surrounded it, making direct entry impossible.

Wang Sheng could not help feeling uneasy. The situation was growing increasingly tense, and the strangeness of this place was becoming more and more apparent. Moreover, he had no idea how long it would take for his senior sister to emerge. No one could predict what would happen next.

The greatest trouble was in the middle ring, where the battles among cultivators were far less intense than at the outskirts. Most Heavenly Immortals who entered it advanced cautiously. Nearly half even chose to form alliances. Under normal circumstances, they kept their distance from one another to avoid attracting the black clouds overhead. However, when danger arose, they helped each other.

The three layers of killing arrays, trapping arrays, and treasure restrictions in the middle region formed a protective moat. One layer had already been completely breached, and the second would fall in a matter of days.

Wang Sheng's range of movement within the middle ring was becoming increasingly restricted. Now that these cultivators had grown wary of the "guardian spirit," he often had to wait a long time before finding a suitable chance to strike.

Yaoyun calmly reassured, "The innermost array will be difficult to break. I studied its structure before, but I failed to see through it. I couldn't even find any gate of life."

"It won't be a problem if only one or two people enter. What worries me is if a large group breaks through together. I can't handle that alone."

Wang Sheng raised his right hand and gazed at the Ghost Heart Vine resting and recovering quietly within his Qiankun Ring. A fierce glint flickered in his eyes.

Yaoyun pondered for a moment. She then asked, "Why not consult the Apricot-Yellow Banner again? At the very least, we should secure a retreat."

"Good idea."

He sprang up and headed to the same tree hollow that they had visited before. His mentality had changed greatly since he had last gone to that place.

Yet as they descended toward the spiritual lake below, both stopped abruptly and exchanged a look, their brows furrowing as they held their breath.

Not a trace of the spiritual lake was left.

The emerald-green waters had turned dark gray, and the surging life aura before had transformed entirely into a death aura so dense that it had condensed into liquid. In a sense, this was also an exceptionally pure form of power, though its nature was the complete opposite of what it had replaced.

Wang Sheng released his immortal perception, but it vanished like a stone sinking into the sea. The death aura had dissolved it almost instantly. He dared not probe further.

He took out the bronze mirror and focused on the location of the Apricot-Yellow Banner, but the mirror only displayed a hazy, gray blur.

A soft sigh drifted from within the mirror. Xing'er's voice echoed in Wang Sheng's mind, tinged with quiet helplessness. "These auras are harmful to living beings. Do not enter rashly. What's the matter?"

"Senior, I wish to know where the gate of the innermost array lies and how it can be opened," Wang Sheng replied.

Xing'er remained silent for a long while. With each passing moment, his frown deepened.

Just as both he and Yaoyun were beginning to think she would not answer, Xing'er finally replied, "The divine tree is withering. When life turns into death, the inner array will open."

Wang Sheng blurted out, "What about my senior sister?!"

"She will be fine. Another restriction guards the immortal palace. In fact, half of the life force forced out of the divine tree will gather there, granting her even greater benefits."

Wang Sheng was about to continue when the death aura below churned violently, and the bronze mirror in his hand trembled faintly.

"Go," Xing'er said. "There is little else I can say. After all, I am only a treasure."

Softly, Wang Sheng replied, "Thank you for your guidance, Senior."

In his mind, he sighed deeply and extended a Daoist salute toward the surging death aura below.

Yaoyun wanted to speak, but Wang Sheng stopped her with a look.

Wang Sheng turned and flew upward. Just as they exited the tree hollow, a series of deep rumbles echoed from within, and the massive trunk of the divine tree shuddered slightly.

The passage through the hollow had been completely sealed.

***

Mountain gate of the Qiling Immortal Sect's island.

The glow of the protective array bathed every corner. Most of the sect's disciples continued their cultivation and daily lives without disruption.

A streak of light descended from beyond the heavens, passing effortlessly through the array before landing right before Zhuge Lin's pavilion in the Alchemy Valley. It condensed into a slender figure—Wensheng.

He stepped swiftly inside, activated the pavilion's arrays, and approached the bed where Zhuge Lin sat in meditation. He then lowered his head. "Master, you summoned me?"

Zhuge Lin slowly opened his eyes. The dim light within the pavilion cast shadows across the gaunt old man, giving him a somewhat grim look.