Chapter 7 – The Coiling Dragon Devours the Sword’s Cry

Crimson flames and white sword radiance collided ceaselessly, unleashing wave after wave of violent explosions.

Below, Xuanjing was caught in the aftermath and plunged into a sea of fire.

The battle between the two did not last long. Kou Hong’s cultivation had always been inferior to Daoxuanzi’s, and having already been drained of vital energy by the Mortal Taint, he quickly found himself at a disadvantage.

Daoxuanzi showed no mercy either, his sword techniques growing ever more ferocious.

It was at this moment that the aged voice rang out once more.

“Daoxuanzi is fickle and vindictive — if he wins, none of us will survive. Warriors, heed my command! Aid Immortal Master Kou Hong against Daoxuanzi!”

Kou Hong was overjoyed upon hearing this.

He darted away from Daoxuanzi in a flash, and watching as Daoxuanzi was engulfed by the swarm of incoming bullets, he called out triumphantly: “As the saying goes, those who commit too many injustices will bring about their own destruction! Who would have thought that the ever self-righteous Daoxuanzi would betray his own word and suffer such karmic retribution!”

Daoxuanzi had already been seething with frustration over the hidden manipulator’s schemes, and hearing Kou Hong’s words now nearly made him vomit blood with rage.

“You imbecile!” Unable to contain himself any longer, he hurled the insult at Kou Hong.

“Wonderful! You’ve finally said what you really think!” Kou Hong shot back without hesitation. “You fancy yourself so clever, yet here you are — abandoned by all, with even the mortals you painstakingly recruited turning against you? That’s what they call being too clever for your own good!”

Daoxuanzi was rendered speechless. He decided to simply ignore this fool and instead swept out arc after arc of sword light, reaping the lives of every mortal soldier who dared attack him.

But these mortals were like locusts — no matter how many he killed, there was no end to them. After cutting down one wave, another would emerge from somewhere and rush in to fill the gaps.

And since Daoxuanzi had to be wary of the Mortal Taint, he could only rely on energy-intensive ranged attacks. For a time, the situation on the battlefield fell into a bizarre stalemate.

Just then, the aged voice rose again like a lingering specter.

“Immortal Master Kou Hong, our warriors are nearly all dead or wounded. Once Daoxuanzi finishes slaughtering every last one of us, will you be able to escape his blade? If not now, then when?!” The voice was urgent, tinged with a sobbing edge.

The words jolted Kou Hong to his senses.

He fixed his gaze on Daoxuanzi, his expression turning grave: “You make a fair point. Daoxuanzi, you and I have known each other for a hundred years. Though we turned against one another over the Core Formation technique, seeking longevity by our own means — that much is understandable. I’ll give you one last chance. If you relinquish the Core Formation technique and withdraw on your own, I won’t come after you. Otherwise, I’m afraid only one of us walks away alive.”

Daoxuanzi let out a soft sigh but said nothing. He simply raised his sword and charged toward Kou Hong.

“So be it. As it happens, during my recent flight, I comprehended a new art — perfect for sending you on your way!” Kou Hong’s face was dead serious.

He traced a sigil in the air with his hand: “Dao Art: Imprisoned Dragon!”

All around Daoxuanzi — above, below, and on every side — fiery shackles materialized, subtly linking together into a formation that coalesced into an enormous cage, trapping him at its center.

“Break!” Daoxuanzi felt the immense pressure crash down upon him, his expression turning solemn. He drew a deep breath, and behind him, the faint phantom of a rust-covered iron sword began to materialize.

Empowered by the phantom, the sword light he unleashed seemed to gain some manner of enhancement. When it struck the fiery cage, the roaring flames froze in an instant, then rapidly dimmed.

Kou Hong seemed to have anticipated this. He threw his head back and laughed: “Daoxuanzi, you and I have known each other a hundred years, fighting side by side countless times. Everyone says my cultivation falls far short of yours, and that’s true enough. But cultivation is cultivation, and killing is killing. In a true fight to the death, who wins and who loses — that remains to be seen!”

“Since it’s come to this, there’s no need for either of us to hold back. Let me see whether your Daoxuan sword is mightier, or my dao arts reign supreme!”

Boundless fighting spirit erupted in Kou Hong’s eyes: “Dao Art: Devouring Dragon!”

The dimming flames suddenly extinguished entirely — yet Daoxuanzi’s face, rather than relaxing with the cage’s disappearance, drained of all color.

Beneath the flames that had formed the cage, tea-colored branches had been lurking all along. Like venomous serpents they had lain in ambush, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Now, with the flames suddenly gone, they shot toward Daoxuanzi with thunderous speed. Along the way they spread and grew with wild abandon, forming in the blink of an eye a madly twisting monstrosity that threatened to devour Daoxuanzi whole!

“Daoxuan!” At the brink of life and death, Daoxuanzi remained composed despite his shock.

In the sky above, the colossal phantom of the rusted sword fully manifested.

The Coiling Dragon Branch recoiled as if confronting a natural predator, freezing instinctively for a brief moment. But then, as though its ferocity had been provoked, it surged toward Daoxuanzi with even greater frenzy.

Daoxuanzi swung his sword, and the phantom behind him mirrored his motion in perfect synchrony.

The space ahead seemed to freeze over layer by layer, as though a surface of water seized by bitter cold.

The writhing Coiling Dragon Branch collided with the Daoxuan phantom sword, held its ground for only a moment, then was beaten back inch by inch.

The branches shattered into glittering fragments and burst apart. For all its fearsome appearance, the Coiling Dragon Branch could not withstand even a single exchange with the Daoxuan sword!

His carefully prepared dao art had crumbled at the first blow, and the phantom sword was hurtling straight toward him — yet Kou Hong neither dodged nor retreated. There was not a shred of fear in his eyes.

“Dao Art: Dragon Transformation!”

At Kou Hong’s furious roar, among the countless Coiling Dragon Branch fragments drifting through the sky, a small portion sprang back to life in an instant.

They converged at blinding speed, fusing together into a brand-new Coiling Dragon Branch.

Its color was even deeper than the twisted monstrosity before, and at its very tip rose two protrusions — like the horns of a dragon!

The Coiling Dragon Branch shot forward like a piercing blade, heedless of all else, stabbing straight at Daoxuanzi — accompanied by the faint resonance of a dragon’s cry!

A glint of admiration flickered in Daoxuanzi’s eyes, but the phantom Daoxuan sword showed no sign of pulling back.

In a fight to the death, victory belonged to whoever was more decisive, more ruthless!

The victor lives, the loser dies — nothing more!

At this critical juncture, the aged voice that had been circling above Xuanjing rang out yet again.

“Immortal Master Kou Hong, we lend you our strength!”

Before the words had even faded, streaks of long exhaust trails — clearly premeditated — came screaming in from all directions, slamming into Daoxuanzi’s vicinity and erupting in a rain of blood!

“Aah!” Caught completely off guard, Daoxuanzi let out an agonized scream, his aura plummeting.

The Daoxuan phantom dimmed with him, and the Coiling Dragon Branch seized this opening to surge upstream, punching through the frozen space and burying its roots into Daoxuanzi’s body!

Meanwhile, the sword phantom Daoxuanzi had sent forth struck Kou Hong like a spent arrow, only managing to make him cough up several mouthfuls of blood before dissipating on its own.

“Cough, cough…” Daoxuanzi let out a bitter laugh, wanting to say something but unable to force the words out.

In mere moments, consumed by the Coiling Dragon Branch, he was reduced to nothing but a skeleton of white bone!