novelraw Chapter 956: Out of Titles, I’m Crying
Chapter 956: Out of Titles, I’m Crying
Zhao Lingxian made a swift decision, paying no more heed to the space rift, and instead desperately cast out a series of black swirling light flame runes, enveloping towards the seven-colored light cocoon.Mu Hanyan understood her intention and wasn’t about to let her succeed. With a soft whistle, she charged towards Zhao Lingxian, followed closely by Huayue and Zhang Chihua.
"Stop them." Fourth Miss Zhao coldly ordered.
The seven swordsmen guarding her side turned sharply, blocking in front of Fourth Miss Zhao.
Mu Hanyan then noticed that although these seven people emitted the aura of a First Rank Sword Master, their eyes were hollow and lifeless, like seven walking corpses, or rather, seven puppets completely without self-awareness, acting only on orders.
In this critical moment, Mu Hanyan didn’t think much and directly thrusted her sword at the foremost black-armored Sword Master.
As the Sword Light emerged, it brought with it a spray of cold frost and snow mist, scattering a dance of ice crystals, turning the once hot and oppressive underground cave into a bone-chilling place, as if the cold winter was imminent.
Although Mu Hanyan was a Third Stage Sword Master, her cultivation mostly stemmed from the power of the Nine Heavenly Stars. The solidity and strength of her Qi was by no means comparable to that of Sword Masters of the same rank. Even though she relied on the help of the Little Auspicious Beast against Nian An Yao, ordinary Fourth Rank Sword Masters were certainly no match for her, and she had the strength to contend with Fifth Rank Sword Masters.
In Mu Hanyan’s expectation, killing this First Rank black-armored Swordsman should be a piece of cake. However, what she never anticipated was that just as her lightning-fast sword was about to pierce the opponent’s Heart Meridian, he slightly shifted his steps, twisted his wrist, and his sword tip deflected onto her sword edge, landing exactly on the weakest point of her Qi.
Mu Hanyan only felt her sword edge slightly tremble, surprisingly unable to pierce his heart’s vital point, but instead stabbed into his waist and ribs.
Fortunately, the power of Mu Hanyan’s sword was not weak. Although it didn’t hit the vital point, it still forced him to continuously retreat.
What precise judgment, what exquisite footwork and sword techniques! Mu Hanyan was secretly amazed.
It was indeed unimaginable that a mere First Rank Sword Master could avoid her fatal strike through precise judgment and exquisite footwork and sword technique.
Mu Hanyan questioned herself, knowing that in her past life when she was at the First Rank Sword Master, she wasn’t nearly as formidable.
Apart from the surprise, Mu Hanyan couldn’t help but wonder how Zhao Lingxian, without the support of the Zhao Family, neither rich nor powerful, managed to recruit such masters, and it wasn’t just one or two, but a dozen or twenty.
"These people must have been masters in the Great Sword Master Realm before they died. Although their prowess is limited by that bitch’s strength, only able to exert the capacity of a First Rank Sword Master, their adaptability in battle and swordsmanship skills are still at the Great Sword Master Realm. We mustn’t underestimate them." Mu Hanyan was full of doubt when she heard Fei Qianji’s icy voice.
"What, in life?" Mu Hanyan was even more surprised.
Looking again at the black-armored Sword Master, she saw that although he had taken her sword, nearly being pierced through, there was not a hint of pain on his face, nor did any blood ooze from the wound. Then, stabilizing his steps, he once again came at her in silence.
"Could it be the legendary Death Spirit Soul-binding Technique!" Mu Hanyan raised her eyebrows, unable to restrain her exclamation.
"That’s right, you do have some insights, this is indeed the unparalleled Death Spirit Soul-binding Technique! Mu Hanyan, with just you and these few good-for-nothing guards, you think you can thwart my grand plan? It’s just a pipe dream." Zhao Lingxian said arrogantly with a cold sneer.
Hearing Zhao Lingxian confirm her speculation, Mu Hanyan’s expression shifted slightly.
The Death Spirit Soul-binding Technique is a legendary ultimate evil spell!
Typically, the higher a Sword Cultivator’s cultivation, the stronger their Divine Soul becomes. Although once their lifespan is exhausted, their body dies and their soul gradually dissipates into the heavens and earth, the stronger the Divine Soul, the longer it lingers in the world. If suitable Heavenly Materials and Earth Treasures are available, it can even last for tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of years, as is the case with Mu Tianlie in the Heavenly Destiny Star Plate and Star Illusion Thousand Machine in the Mysterious Star Plate.
Of course, such senior masters like them are already rare in the world, even rarer are those with such fortuitous encounters, and they are considered few among the world. Generally, ordinary Great Sword Masters do not have such power and coincidences, nor can they exist for such a long time.
But if one manages to catch them before their Divine Soul fully dissipates, repeatedly refining their Divine Soul with an evil spell, and finding their corpse, even if it has turned to bones, it can be refined into a Death Spirit Sword Slave, completely at the behest of the spellcaster.
The Death Spirit Soul-binding Technique is such an evil spell, and among them the most powerful.
Typically, these kinds of evil techniques, even if they refine Death Spirit Sword Slaves, cannot regain their former cultivation. Besides being oblivious to pain, undaunted by death, their strength might not even match a regular low-level Swordsman, while Death Spirit Sword Slaves refined by this ultimate evil technique, the Death Spirit Soul-binding Technique, can restore nearly half of their life strength, and also some of their past combat skills, far surpassing common swordsmen in adaptability and sword techniques.
It is said that during the ancient wars, there were those who used this method to form an undead army, bringing untold misery to the continent.
Fortunately, generally, the Divine Souls of swordsmen and Sword Masters aren’t strong, and the remains of strong ones are hard to find, plus there are many restrictions on using this evil technique, so most of the undead army’s warriors are those low-level Death Spirit Sword Slaves who cannot recover their strength, with not that many true masters among them, so under the joint attacks of the continent countries, it quickly fell apart.
Afterwards, this evil spell was banned by the countries, any cultivators practicing this technique were exterminated to the last. Since then, the Death Spirit Soul-binding Technique was utterly lost, not appearing again for hundreds of thousands of years.
Mu Hanyan would never have dreamed that Zhao Lingxian actually mastered such an ultimate evil technique!
As Mu Hanyan was secretly astonished, the black-armored Sword Master, that is, the Death Spirit Sword Slave, attacked again, despite having been pierced through the side by Mu Hanyan’s sword before. However, being a Death Spirit Sword Slave refined from bones and residual soul, such an injury was of no consequence to him.
At the same time, under Zhao Lingxian’s command, two more Death Spirit Sword Slaves attacked Mu Hanyan from the left and right, while the other four respectively blocked Huayue, Zirong, Jiang Yuzhe, and Zhang Chihua.
Mu Hanyan now understood why Xia Youchen and Fen Qianji were so embarrassed, knowing full well that Xia Youchen was once a Beast Taming Sword Saint. Even if she hadn’t fully regained her former strength, she wouldn’t be weaker than she was now. Moreover, from Fen Qianji’s understanding, although he appeared to be only at First Rank Sword Master, his actual combat power was far above that of same-level masters, yet the two of them together were still so severely pressed by the opponent.
The reason lies in these Death Spirit Sword Slaves, although far weaker than in their lifetime, they still retain their instinctive combat reactions and swordsmanship skills, plus they feel no pain and have no human weaknesses, making them actually much more terrifying than an ordinary First Rank Sword Master.