These nine had all lingered at late Heaven-and-Man realm for years. To strengthen themselves, they could only keep refining their martial techniques and seeking greater power.
Faced with this unavoidable sword-light world, they unleashed their strongest martial techniques with all their might.
Some of their techniques shone brilliantly, some surged with overwhelming force, and some appeared dim and unimpressive.
But within the sword-light world, none of it was worth mentioning.
Ever since reaching late Foundation Establishment, Ian Song had felt as if he could tear open the void and leave this world at any moment. In other words, his power had nearly surpassed what this world could bear.
As for zhenyuan, his sword essence was at least ten times stronger than the true essence cultivated through the Origin-Nurturing Scripture.
And the true essence cultivated by martial artists in this world couldn’t even compare to that produced by the Origin-Nurturing Scripture—let alone come close to his sword essence.
What’s more, Ian Song cultivated the Azure Lotus Sword Codex, a sword immortal method. So he could easily crush opponents of the same rank—nine at once meant nothing to him.
Slash!
The nine peerless experts heard Ian Song’s soft command in their ears.
“Puff, puff, puff!”
Sword-light and blood burst forth—three heads flew into the air.
Slash again!
Puff, puff, puff!
Another three heads flew up.
Keep slashing!
Puff, puff, puff!
The last three heads, eyes wide open in death, flew into the air—and the battle was over.
“How... how is this possible?”
“How could his strength be this overwhelming?”
The ancestors of the Three Great Holy Lands and Three Great Empires stared in shock at the nine headless corpses. They had tried their best to overestimate Ian Song’s strength, but now, after this exchange, they realized they had never truly understood him.
One move, three forms—he had actually decapitated nine late Heaven-and-Man peerless experts.
These weren’t cabbages—across the entire Eastern Continent, there were fewer than a hundred late Heaven-and-Man peerless experts.
With one sword, he had wiped out a tenth of them!
“Now it’s your turn!”
Ian Song, holding his blood-stained refined steel longsword, looked at the six remaining ‘ancestors.’
“You might as well come at me together!”
“Young friend Ian, perhaps we can talk this out!”
“Talk my ass! The moment you all joined hands to plot against me, your deaths were already sealed!”
Ian Song swung his sword again.
“Just a month ago, I mastered the fifth form of the Azure Lotus Sword Codex. Today, I’ll let you old geezers taste the power of Soul-Light Severing!”
The fifth form of the Azure Lotus Sword Codex, Soul-Light Severing, targeted the enemy’s soul.
So, on the surface, this move didn’t look flashy at all—it even seemed quite ordinary.
But as Ian Song swung his longsword, all six ancestors’ expressions changed drastically, and they erupted with their strongest attacks.
But it was all in vain.
Because every one of the six ancestors’ attacks landed on empty air.
The next moment—
“Wah!”
Xiang Yunlong spat out a mouthful of fresh blood. His ruddy cheeks instantly turned pale as paper, and then the life force in his body rapidly faded until it vanished completely.
“Wah, wah, wah!”
Liu Zhan, Jiang Yunyan, and Fan Shijun spat blood in turn; after a moment, their life force faded and they died.
Ji Jichang and Sima Tianji held out the longest, but still spat blood and died three seconds later.
Soul-Light Severing was formless and invisible, immune to all physical attacks—there was simply no way to defend against it.
So these six ancestors died without injustice.
Sheathing his refined steel longsword, Ian Song glanced indifferently at Ji Qian’s pale face, then flickered away from the imperial palace.
Twenty minutes later—
Ian Song returned to Sunrise Peak. But at this moment, Sunrise Peak was empty—he had already completed two of his three tasks; as for the third, his ‘fancy robberies,’ Ian estimated he’d finished about a hundred and ninety, and could wrap up the few remaining ones at any time.
Now, all he had to do was wait for the Divine Temple to descend.
The next day, Ian Song brought Su Niang and the rest of Sunrise Peak’s people back to Sunrise Peak.
Meanwhile, the Three Great Empires, Three Great Holy Lands, and Nine Great Sects jointly issued a statement: the World Martial Tournament was canceled.
They had already lost the right to decide the fate of the Divine Temple—what could they offer as a reward? So, reluctantly, they had no choice but to cancel the World Martial Tournament.
At the same time, the Three Great Holy Lands, Nine Great Sects, and even the empires quietly withdrew their people from the Blackwind Mountains. None dared provoke Ian Song again—last night, he had slain the ancestors of the empires, the Holy Lands, and the strongest experts of the Nine Great Sects.
Three days later, the Black Heaven Demonic Cult, led by the Black Heaven Cult Master, attacked Clearheart Holy Land.
The battle lasted three days and three nights; in the end, Clearheart Holy Land was destroyed.
After wiping out Clearheart Holy Land, the Black Heaven Demonic Cult rested for ten days, then attacked Battle-War Holy Land.
Jade Pool Holy Land sent experts to support them, but unexpectedly, on the way they fell into the Black Heaven Cult Master’s trap; all the Jade Pool experts sent to Battle-War Holy Land were killed, none survived.
In the end, a month later, Battle-War Holy Land was destroyed; two months later, Jade Pool Holy Land was destroyed.
With the destruction of the Three Great Holy Lands, the Black Heaven Demonic Cult became the undisputed number one sect in the world, and the martial world entered an age of darkness.
As for all this, Ian Song didn’t care much.
Because he could already sense that the Divine Temple would descend any day now.
There were only forty-nine slots to enter the Divine Temple. Ian Song had no intention of keeping them all to himself; he allocated twenty slots to the Black Heaven Demonic Cult and another twenty to the Three Great Empires.
As for the Nine Great Sects—not a single slot for them.
Of the remaining nine slots, besides Ian Song himself, he planned to select eight people from his stronghold.
These eight were: Eve Autumn, Lone-Blade Gideon, Valerie Loneblade, Gavin Loneblade, Burt "Bull" Bolton, Lily Qi, and the two chiefs from the former Blue Dragon Stronghold.
Ian Song didn’t set the bar high for them—if they could just clear the First-Tier Challenge Domain, that would be enough.
Two days later, the Three Great Empires and the Black Heaven Demonic Cult arrived at Sunrise Peak.
On the night of the fourth day, as Ian Song sensed it, divine light poured down from the sky, illuminating tens of thousands of miles. A magnificent golden temple appeared, slowly descending toward Yuet Province.
For a time, everyone in the world fixed their eyes on the sky, and countless martial artists rushed madly toward Yuet Province.
Unfortunately, Yuet Province had already been completely sealed off by the Three Great Empires and the Black Heaven Demonic Cult. Any who tried to enter without permission were killed without mercy.
An hour later, the Divine Temple was less than ten thousand meters from the ground.
Ian Song could already deduce the temple’s exact landing spot—it would be atop the Blackwind Mountains.
At last, after another quarter of an hour, the Divine Temple landed on a peak of the Blackwind Mountains.
Ian Song led the group, flying swiftly toward the temple.
Soon, Ian Song and the others arrived before the temple.
The temple rose a hundred zhang high—vast and resplendent.
When the golden light faded, a portal of light appeared before the temple—this was the entrance, and only forty-nine people could enter.
"Come, let’s go in!" Ian Song waved his hand, leading Eve Autumn and the eight others straight into the portal of light. The other forty quickly followed, not daring to hesitate.