Ever since the actual battle started, Palace Attendant Rong did not see Ding Ning at all. Yet she still felt she would not lose. She only needed to find him, and then appear in front of him for him to die. On her part, she could endure many more attacks from a flying sword like this. But her opponent could not withstand even one of her blows.
She looked up. As she started to speak towards the alleys to her left, angry shouts suddenly erupted from under many black umbrellas.
Those black umbrellas started to fly like black lotuses and flew towards where the people were gathered most densely in the streets.
Palace Attendant Rong’s lifebond sword disappeared from her hand, but as she spoke, each of her words carried sword energy. They were still cold sword energies flashing with porcelain light.
The sword energies flew and landed on the streets where her gaze was locked.The straight sword energies were small, but when they fell from the sky, they pulled along primal energies of the universe which manifested into even smaller sword energies.
When these sword energies fell into the streets, nothing could escape. The roof tiles were cut up, the walls severed. Some of the cats and dogs, who had just then sensed danger, were cut into pieces.
The sword energies did not stop after hitting the ground. They penetrated deeply into the earth and created numerous white waves of energy.
Terrified screams accompanied the angry shouts of the cultivators with black umbrellas. Waves of energy flew from under the umbrellas, doing their best to protect the panicked and despairing ordinary people.
The white energies were still charging upwards when Palace Attendant Rong’s figure appeared among them.
She stood in the rubble, and appeared exceptionally cold and powerful against the panicked and despairing crowd around her. Yet the confidence in her eyes had disappeared.
“How is this possible?” She shouted.
Many cultivators felt the same. Some cultivators, who did not know each other but felt their cultivation was similar, could not help but exchange looks, wanting to get answers from each other’s eyes.
When that sword had produced so many stunning secret swords in one go, they had finally managed to sense the presence of the user from the chaotic energies. They were certain that Ding Ning was in that area. Even if he could flee into the ground, he could not hide his tracks under Palace Attendant Rong’s attack.
Yet Ding Ning was not there.
Then where was he?!
To the confusion and panic of these cultivators, they discovered Ding Ning’s flying sword had also disappeared.
Just now, when Palace Attendant Rong’s sword energies made contact, their attention had been focused on the destroyed courtyard. But the flying sword, still in flight, had suddenly left everyone’s perception. This was not possible.
Yet Ding Ning had managed to do it.
The dusty ruins grew even hotter.
Palace Attendant Rong’s fingers felt colder.
That flying sword also disappeared from her perception.
Coldness started from the fingertips and extended towards her entire body.
This was obviously a duel of life and death, but Ding Ning turned it into hide and seek.
She did not feel fear but was very angry.
She had finally decided to live a day for herself. She had come to kill Ding Ning at all costs, but she was afraid that she could not kill Ding Ning.
Blood finally dripped from her blood-red lips. She bit her lip. Then she opened her mouth, wanting to curse in fury.
But at this moment, dust behind her flew up.
She turned around, and her body naturally floated out in the opposite direction from the dust.
There was a soft sound and a wave of blood surged from under her feet. There seemed to be a white energy stroking the bottom of her feet.
The white energy had been created by her sword move just now. At this time, it carried no sword essence and had no power.Yet there was a silent flying sword without any murderousness within this white energy.
The flying sword quickly pierced through the sole of her left foot then flashed and disappeared into a crack under her body.
The sword wound was not large, but it was devious in cutting through multiple important blood vessels at the bottom of her foot.
Blood furiously spurted out of her feet, and even sprayed in front of her face.
Out of fury and pain, Palace Attendant Rong’s face twisted. Even so, she could do nothing, the flying sword had disappeared from her perception again.
Hide and seek is a game that Changling children like to play. Yet right now, looking at the blood on Palace Attendant Rong, everyone did not feel this was a child’s game.
Palace Attendant Rong used vital energy to stop the bleeding with a thought.
But she had lost a lot of blood in this instant. This was the first attack to pose a threat to her.
**
Palace Attendant Rong landed back on the ground.
At the moment of landing, the wound on her left foot stopped bleeding. A layer of porcelain light sealed the wound. The ground under her feet seemed to boil.
Powerful vital energy surged out of her fingers, not towards the ground, but the sky above her. The rising wind carried all the air from the ground upwards along with the sand.
A rising sandstorm formed. Each grain of sand grew heavier, brushing against each other in the wind, and growing sharper.
Everyone in the surrounding streets sensed the heat was fading, but their breathing became more difficult. All of the heated energy and air were pulled into the sandstorm Palace Attendant Rong had created.
Boom!
The sandstorm turned bright red. It had combusted.
Explosion!
The heated air currents with countless sharp burning grains of sand exploded outwards.
Previously, one of Ding Ning’s secret sword attacks had been like a rising sun, but that was just light.
This explosion carried an enormous and tangible power, it was like a red sun exploding.
So even from far away, one could see the ball of red fire expanding, and sense the enormous energy vibrations.
This was a power that even realm seven cultivators would not display.
Most realm sevens would not use their vital energy so recklessly.
“Such a great disturbance? ”
Xu Fenqin, dressed in black, sensed the energy vibration. He raised his eyebrows in surprise.
Bai Shanshui was still looking patiently at him.
He and Bai Shanshui had been here for a long time.
The bamboo hat on his head had exploded into threads a while ago, yet these threads were still floating slowly above his head. It was like time had stopped still in this space for him and Bai Shanshui.
There was a boom, thunder roared again in the sky.
Unlike the previous thunder in clear skies, black clouds appeared over Changling accompanying this roar. A wet presence floated in from afar.
Bai Shanshui suddenly smiled at him. A wave of water vapour floated over from the river behind her.
Xu Fenqin’s heart suddenly jumped. He suddenly understood. Bai Shanshui had not attacked because she was waiting for this opportunity, and not because she was waiting for his weakness.
Waiting for a weakness, and waiting for an opportunity to attack were completely different concepts for people like him and Bai Shanshui. The former meant that she was wary of his power, while the latter was just waiting for a chance to kill him.
His confidence suddenly disappeared, just like Palace Attendant Rong when she could not find Ding Ning.
With a scream, the floating bamboo threads flew outwards and wove into a large seal. The black sword that revolved around him furiously spun, forming black sword light that shrouded his body into a black top.
Unlike Palace Attendant Rong who was in no hurry to kill Ding Ning, in Changling, if Bai Shanshui did not kill him quickly, Bai Shanshui would be the one to die.
It rained around Gourd Hall.
As the rain fell, the figure of a woman in white appeared among the black umbrellas. This white robed woman looked like a delicate young girl, but most cultivators felt great respect when they saw this figure.
She came down from the sky with a rain that carried the presence of realm seven. She fell to the street and protected the panicked common people and the weaker cultivation students in the surroundings. However, she did not block the spread of the violent energy and sand. She just wove a large net outside the battlefield.
The red hot air and sand danced. A residence on the right was the first to collapse and reveal Ding Ning’s figure.
