World's No. 1 Swordsman-Chapter 488: The Battle to Annihilate Immortals (II)
In the command room near Mount Dajian, the smaller screen showed that the energy signature labeled "Tropical Storm" had been lured close to a red circle.
The worry in Xiaomiao's eyes deepened. A few minutes earlier, she had already caught on to her brother's plan.
For him to make such a decision meant he found the female immortal too difficult to handle. He feared she'd escape or overpower him. Hence, he decided to draw her into the trap array first.
Xiaomiao also quickly reached another conclusion: if Wang Sheng wanted to keep his opponent inside the array, he would have a hard time escaping it himself.
To dance with a lion meant to share its cage.
Despite her findings, Xiaomiao didn't know what to tell the others. She turned toward another screen, which showed Mount Daijian. The Shu Sword Sect's buildings had already been reduced to ruins, and the immortals were still locked in fierce battle. The situation was developing in ways she hadn't predicted. Contrary to her hopes, the tide of the battle wasn't tilting toward Earth's cultivation world.
Shen Qianlin still held the upper hand against the golden roc, which she fought at astonishing speed. On the other hand, after the roc and the old man unleashed their full strength, the twin-saber immortal seemingly unleashed some secret technique. His fierce assault had suddenly intensified two minutes ago, forcing Nameless onto the defensive.
Fortunately, Xi Lian acted in time. She brought out two Buddhist artifacts that she had not used earlier against the roc, barely managing to stabilize the battle.
Xiaomiao constantly tracked their reinforcements. She watched as Huai Jing and Mu Wanxuan rushed to join the fight.
Mu Wanxuan's Great Dao of Yin and Yang provided strong support to the immortals on their side.
As for Huai Jing...
Xiaomiao mentally calculated Huai Jing and Mu Wanxuan's time of arrival at the Shu Mountains' mountain gate. She also assessed how long it would take for them to support her brother after the battle here.
They were hundreds of thousands of kilometers away from him. Under these circumstances, helping him was nearly impossible.
Instead of pursuing Wang Sheng's energy storm, the energy storm representing Ziyun stopped near the array. She seemed to have caught on.
Without hesitation, Wang Sheng charged at the female immortal, launching a fierce attack. He moved so fast with Lightning Flash that the primal qi detectors couldn't track him smoothly, making his energy storm flicker.
Xiaomiao kept her eyes fixed on the monitor. The battle on her brother's side had reached a critical point. Whether he could lure the female immortal into the center of the array would directly determine the outcome of this war.
A war between a few immortals could seem insignificant in the endless space, even in this corner formed by the ancient battlefield and a dozen nearby celestial stars inhabited by cultivators. But for Earth's cultivation world, it was an unprecedented trial.
The view shifted to the boundary between the near and far sides of the Moon.
***
Just two or three kilometers from the edge of the array on the Moon, a mass of immortal light floated in the air. Within it, Ziyun looked as cold as ever, sending waves of immortal light across the lightning-filled sky.
Between Lightning Flashes, Wang Sheng kept briefly appearing from a lightning bolt, attacking her, then vanishing again into another lightning bolt as she retaliated. He no longer limited himself to the Heavenly Ziwei Sword Art; he had started mixing in the Pure Yang Sword Song and Heavenly Tribulation lightning bolts into his offense.
Each attack was countered, depleting Ziyun's immortal power bit by bit. Although Spiritless was sharp, Wang Sheng never had the chance to fight at close range.
Despite the situation, Wang Sheng still hadn't become one with Yaoyun through the unity of man and sword, which he had learned while cultivating in the Small Immortal Realm. He wasn't opposed to it; it just made him feel a bit strange when he first used it to merge his soul and enchanted power with Yaoyun's.
Now, in the face of such a powerful enemy, Wang Sheng absolutely required Yaoyun's spiritual power and their unification as his trump card. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦
He would definitely use it, but he was still waiting for the right moment—for the perfect opportunity to strike.
If he still couldn't take down Ziyun even after becoming one with Yaoyun, defeat was inevitable. His trump card failing at a crucial time would leave him at his opponent's mercy afterward.
Heavenly Tribulation Lightning Flash had become one of his few reliable advantages throughout their fight. He also had an ample supply of alchemical pills, which allowed him to temporarily make up for the difference in immortal power.
Moreover, Spiritless and his Dao of the Sword still posed a real threat to Ziyun. If he could make that threat stronger, he would gain more control over the fight and more chances to turn it in his favor. Unless he merged with Yaoyun, though, his immortal power would remain less refined, its bursts weaker, due to his shallower cultivation. His sword strikes simply weren't strong enough to kill her.
In this situation, relying on Yaoyun's power seemed to be his only way forward. His only other option was to risk everything to close in on Ziyun and rely on Spiritless's sharpness to cut through her Immortal Body.
Flying Haze and his Sword-Controlling Art were of no use now. The Sword-Controlling Art made battles against equal foes far easier, and the Heavenly Ziwei Sword Art allowed him to fight multiple opponents at once without strain. Against stronger enemies, though, Wang Sheng could only rely on his own Dao of the Sword to fight and endure.
He could not run, and he could not afford to lose. This was the heaviest burden pressing on him now.
"She's probably refusing to approach the array because she sensed that something's off," Yaoyun telepathically said.
While still moving, Wang Sheng asked, "The array got exposed?"
"Impossible. Perhaps her spiritual intuition is warning her," she answered calmly. "We have to think of a way to make her enter the array."
"Once she's inside it, we'll go all out," he firmly instructed, already preparing for a final gamble.
Once Ziyun had been lured into the array, their most rational course of action would be to keep evading until it had trapped her. They could then wait until their reinforcements arrived. However, that posed two problems: First, Wang Sheng could run out of celestial pills before the others reached them. Second, the female immortal's techniques, while ineffective against Wang Sheng's Heavenly Tribulation Lightning Flash, could easily endanger Nameless and Xi Lian.
Wang Sheng could not measure Lady Meng's true strength, but he knew that if she stayed out of the Small Nether Realm for too long, she would drastically grow weaker. She'd likely end up just getting in the way and becoming a burden.
Instead of relying on his allies, it was better to wait for her to reveal an opening, become one with Yaoyun, and go all out.
The fierce battle raged on.
Lightning burst nonstop across the Moon. Immortal light filled the skies, clashing with brilliant sword radiance. Within the blinding lightning, Wang Sheng moved like a dragon weaving through electricity.
Even though he didn't have the upper hand, Ziyun seemed completely on the defensive, forced to endure his relentless attacks. No matter how many techniques she used, she couldn't catch up to him.
Nevertheless, Ziyun remained composed, refusing to be drawn into the array. Hovering in the air, she reinforced the immortal light enveloping her, then used treasured artifacts and immortal arts to pursue Wang Sheng. She also resorted to verbal assaults, engaging him in psychological warfare. Her words came from every direction, likely through some immortal art.
"Brother Pi, do you know the origin of Old Lin's golden roc? That beast is a descendant of the giant golden-winged roc, a divine bird from the Primal Era. Old Lin used immortal arts to awaken its bloodline. Though their realms aren't that high, Old Lin's beast-controlling technique can make that roc as strong as I am. Why else would I call him Old Lin with such respect?"
Ignoring her, Wang Sheng maintained his rhythm and continued searching for her weakness.
Ziyun kept describing how powerful her two companions were, her words like devilish whispers entering his ears. She even mentioned that the cultivator surnamed Feng practiced devilish arts. At full power, he was just as ferocious as the golden roc. She revealed many other details, too.
"Brother Pi, how do you think we managed to survive in the ancient battlefield for so long? Ah, that's right. You've never left this place; you wouldn't understand how cruel the outside world is.
"Even though we're now fighting to the death, I still admire your sword techniques. If you're willing to eat the Gu bug I refined, I'll honestly still be willing to marry you. Considering your aptitude and fortune, I may have underestimated you."
Using a similar communication technique, Wang Sheng made his reply echo right beside Ziyun's ear. "Ten thousand years have already passed in the outside world."
He never stopped circling Ziyun using Lightning Flash, and he still swung his sword even as he spoke, sending a thirty-meter-long sword phantasm at her.
A hint of confusion flashed in her expression as she shattered the sword phantasm. "What?"
Wang Sheng calmly explained, "Didn't you notice? When you entered this place, time and space got distorted. This isn't just the dwelling of my master, the Grand Dao Golden Immortal you mentioned. It's also a special treasured artifact. To preserve my master's legacy until a suitable successor inherits it, time inside this artifact flows differently. One year here is a thousand years in the endless space.
"You three trespassed into this place at least ten years ago. That means over ten thousand years have already passed out there. Considering your personality and behavior, you probably have many enemies waiting out there."
Ziyun froze, her shock showing on her face. Wang Sheng also froze a moment later, having just realized a simple but fatal math problem.
A thousand multiplied by a thousand was a million, not a hundred thousand.
The Heavenly Court counterattacked about 1,300 to 1,400 years ago in Earth time. Outside, over a million years would've passed, not just ten or twenty thousand.
Where did that mistake come from? Ah, the bronze box. Our forefather's letter stated—wait, that's not right. The number in the letter had a hundredfold difference. Is one year here a hundred or a thousand out there?
It was a deadly elementary school math error. Wang Sheng felt once again deceived by his old physical education teacher.
If the ratio was one to a thousand, then over a million years had passed outside. Earth's long-standing worries about its connection to the Heavenly Court might no longer be a problem. After all, everyone but those who had attained true immortality would already have died in that time.
"The ratio is one to a hundred, not a thousand," Yaoyun corrected.
Through telepathy, they rapidly exchanged information.
"A hundred? One thousand years here is a hundred thousand outside?"
"Yes. From the Heavenly Court's entry into the Realm of Exiled Immortals to their counterattack a thousand years ago, tens of thousands of years passed in the endless space. Why would I get that wrong? You just assumed the ratio was one to a thousand. If it had been a million years since we had counterattacked, finding the other Heavenly Court immortals now would have been impossible."
Wang Sheng muttered, "Didn't you say earlier that you looked ten thousand years into the past using the Rewinding Light Art?"
"You misunderstood me. I only traced back in time and came up with an estimation based on when the bronze box left."
Wang Sheng was speechless. Despite being in the middle of an intense battle, he still felt deeply embarrassed. However, since he had truly believed earlier that ten thousand years had passed in the outside world, his tone and wording made his claim sound so true that Ziyun instinctively believed him.
This ironic case of two lies forming a truth unsettled the intruder's state of mind.
