Day turned into night. By coincidence, it was a full moon. Moonlight bathed the world below in its silvery glow.
The Xuan-Yuan Sword and sword spirit shone brilliant gold, like a miniature sun. The light was endless and unchanging.
Chen Jiannan, Yin Hu, and Jackdaw all waited solemnly in their respective camps, ready to act at a moment’s notice.
They’d already been waiting for days, but they dared not slack off in the slightest. Staying on edge for such a long time was rough. Even though all of them were earth and sky supremes, they were still exhausted. However, the two other races were here as well. They couldn’t lose the Xuan-Yuan Sword, so they couldn’t lower their guard at all.
Bzzzz!
The Xuan-Yuan Sword suddenly rippled with a wave of golden light.
The three camps all reached out with their divine awareness. They glowered warnings at each other, then looked towards the mountains.
That first golden wave was only the start. Several others followed in its wake. At the same time, the endless mountains showed signs of imminent collapse.
Deep, seemingly bottomless rifts formed beneath the three races’ feet, one after the other. The earth split into sections, and the cracks only spread further and further.
The uproar was so immense that even the nine cities on the outskirts of the Immortal Region, which were millions of miles away, sensed a mighty tremor. The Beast Region was in utter uproar. Birds shrieked in alarm and terrestrial beasts roared in terror.
Countless experts left seclusion. Some performed divinations, while others looked at the stars…
In every event, they all did everything they could to locate the source of this disturbance!
“Is it coming out?”
Chen Jiannan clenched his sword, his palms drenched with sweat. He spread out his divine awareness and enveloped the entire wasteland.
If everything was as Jackdaw thought, the reincarnation of the Yellow Emperor had just entered the wastelands.
Yin Hu grew solemn as well. His gaze flickered between the Xuan-Yuan Sword, Chen Jiannan, Jackdaw, and their changing surroundings.
The Xuan-Yuan Sword’s sudden illumination had put everyone on edge. The only exception was Jackdaw, who lit up with excitement. “I’m finally going to get the chance to fight!”
There was one other person among them whose mood didn’t quite match. He was a demon, the same one who’d urged Jackdaw not to linger in the Immortal Region, Quinn.
His gaze wasn’t locked onto the Xuan-Yuan Sword, nor was he looking at the humans and yao. Instead, he was looking at their outer perimeter, beyond the reaches of the three encampments.
“Is he here?” He looked around, but at that moment, a sudden cry drew his attention back to the mountain range.
“She’s opening her eyes!” One of the demons pointed at Xuan-Yuan Xiang. As her voice rang through their eyes, Xuan-Yuan Xiang slowly stretched her curled body.
Her bright, clean body radiated holy light, which thoroughly obscured her private parts. Her eyes opened fully, and green threads poured from her shoulders like a waterfall, forming clothing. Her bare, jade-like feet pressed gently against the sky. She took the Xuan-Yuan Sword in her right hand, then held it aloft.
“What a goddess!” Whether they were human, yao, or demon, quite a few of them sunk into infatuation as soon as they laid eyes on Xuan-Yuan Xiang.
As for the women among them, after she appeared, they seemed dull in comparison, like a street light against the full moon.
Xuan-Yuan Xiang clutched the Xuan-Yuan Blade and strode forth. Each step through the air left ripples in the sky.
When she reached the edge of the light barrier, she stopped. One look at her eyes and it was clear she was in a daze. Her eyes darted about, as if she were searching for someone.
“It’s just like Jackdaw said.” Chen Jiannan noted her behavior and furrowed his brows. His Divine Sense had enveloped the entire wastelands. If a blade of grass so much as blew in the wind, he’d find out about it right away.
It wasn’t just him, either. Yin Hu reacted the same way.
It seemed like the Yellow Emperor’s reincarnation would be key to obtaining the Xuan-Yuan Sword.
Xuan-Yuan Xiang stood at the edge of the barrier in a daze. She looked off into the distance, but her eyes gradually filled with disappointment. The men present felt a surge of pain in their hearts; they couldn’t bear to see such a goddess in distress.
“Does this mean the Yellow Emperor’s reincarnation hasn’t arrived after all?” Chen Jiannan murmured to himself.
However, just as the words left his mouth, he saw the despondent Xuan-Yuan Xiang light up with delight. He and Yin Hu felt a sudden chill.
Xuan-Yuan Xiang beamed. Then, as if she couldn’t hold herself back any longer, she melted into the blade. Just like that, the unadorned, ordinary sword lit up with brilliant golden light.
The light filled the air, reaching the heavens themselves, and shattered the protective barrier.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The instant the barrier shattered, three figures shot through the air.
Chen Jiannan was among their ranks. His divine blade glinted, and as he raced forward, he fired beam after beam of swordlight. The beams cut through the air and hurtled towards Yin Hu and Jackdaw.
Jackdaw grinned, and blocked them with his body. Purple blood flowed from a gash on his chest, but this only seemed to excite him.
“That’s right! That’s how you do it!” A mad light flashed through his eyes. Jackdaw smiled even broader, then pushed off against the sky. With each step, the sky split beneath his feet, leaving chaotic spatial rifts in his wake.
Meanwhile, Yin Hu’s eyes flashed. His tiger claws slashed, shattering the incoming sword light. Afterwards, he paused, sucked in air, and opened his mouth wide. “Roaaar…!”
The resulting sound wave was a vicious attack in its own right; it shattered the space in front of them, revealing the pitch-black, chaotic void. The rifts acted like powerful suctions. Chen Jiannan had no choice but to retreat, then proceed with extreme caution.
If someone carelessly slipped into a spatial rift, they’d get lost in the chaos forever. This was true even if they were a diviner.
Chen Jiannan, Jackdaw, and Yin Hu crossed blows, but the others didn’t just sit there idly. Countless brilliant combat arts, magical treasures, and talismans collided in the air, painting the night sky with countless splashes of color.
The space on the edge of their battlefield shifted, and a youth clad in black stepped forth. He coolly looked over the three warring groups, then up at the mountain range and the Xuan-Yuan Sword.
The sword seemed to sense his gaze; the blade quivered with anticipation.
With a boom, it transformed into a beam of golden light and flew in an arc overhead, bypassing Chen Jiannan, Yin Hu, Jackdaw, and all of their subordinates to land solidly in the youth’s hands.
“Big Sister Xiang.”
“I just knew you’d come!” Xuan-Yuan Xiang put her hands on her hips haughtily.
When he saw this, the youth couldn’t help but laugh helplessly. He ran his fingers across the blade, then looked coldly at the group gathered in front of him. “So… do you think we should run, or should we take them out first?”
