"Slash!"
Ian Song called out lightly, and the Azure Flood-Dragon Sword in his hand slashed out like lightning, faintly accompanied by a low dragon's roar. At the same time, ten sword beams, each a foot long and colored azure, burst from the sword tip, colliding with the ten true-form palm and fist attacks unleashed by the ten mid-Tribulation elders.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A series of earth-shattering explosions erupted, ripping the surrounding void apart and opening up fissures everywhere.
One against ten.
The sword qi and the ten true-form attacks vanished simultaneously, but Ian Song swung his sword again, flying straight at all ten opponents!
Seeing this scene, the ten mid-Tribulation elders were all deeply shaken, but also a bit relieved—thankfully, none of them had tried to act tough and fight alone. Just from how easily this kid handled their probing attacks, any one of them would have been no match for him.
Just then, the ten elders suddenly began to circle around Ian Song, constantly sending out fist-intent true forms and palm-intent true forms.
Another series of collisions and explosions erupted, and the space covered by the Ten-Absolute Formation collapsed into a black hole. Yet the void's power was locked down by the formation itself, making it impossible to heal.
Meanwhile, as the ten elders kept circling and changing positions, the lethal aura of the formation grew stronger and stronger, affecting Ian Song more and more.
Ian Song was already a grandmaster of formations. The Ten-Absolute Formation itself wasn’t particularly sophisticated, but with ten mid-Tribulation elders working together, it became something else entirely. Breaking the formation was simple—just kill any one of them.
From what he knew, the Ten-Absolute Formation had two main traits: the longer it ran, the more Ten-Absolute true force it generated and the stronger it became; and it also had a damage-sharing effect—every attack he made would be evenly split among all ten. So, to kill any one of them, he’d have to put out ten times the killing power, which was almost impossible.
Of course, that only applied to those who knew nothing about formations.
For Ian, brute force wasn’t needed to break the array. Still, he didn't plan to shatter the Ten-Absolute Formation right away—he wanted to use it to test just how far his strength had come.
After breaking into the Combined-Body realm, he’d predicted he could walk sideways through the Tribulation realm. But after fighting Vulcan Pi and those four Tribulation experts, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d underestimated himself.
Even trapped in the Ten-Absolute Formation now, all he felt was pressure—never any real sense of mortal danger. Besides, he still had plenty of trump cards left unplayed.
Inside the array, fist-shadow true forms and palm-intent true forms surged at him. Ian Song met them all with his sword, nearly forced into a situation where he could only defend and couldn’t strike back.
Even so, no one present dared to look down on him. Instead, they were shocked and amazed at the strength he showed. If anyone had told them before that an early Combined-Body cultivator could last dozens of breaths inside a formation set up by ten mid-Tribulation experts, they’d never have believed it.
But now, they believed.
Now, let’s explain what exactly a ‘true form’ is.
A so-called ‘true form’ means that the power within an attack is infused with a certain Dao-truth, giving the strike a measure of spiritual intelligence.
Normally, only Tribulation realm cultivators can unleash true forms.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
When true forms collided with sword qi, they threw out terrifying shockwaves, constantly enlarging the black hole. If not for the Ten-Absolute Formation’s restraints, the entire Blazing Fire Hall would have been obliterated by now.
"Hmph!"
A fist-intent true form slipped past the sword qi, lunging for Ian Song’s chest. He snorted softly, formed a hand seal, and punched out, shattering the fist-intent true form instantly.
At the same time, he taunted the ten mid-Tribulation elders: "Is that all you’ve got? Don’t make me look down on you—show me some real skill!"
"He still dares to boast?"
The ten mid-Tribulation elders were all surprised. Several of them even looked visibly annoyed.
Their plan from the start was to trap this brat and drain his zhenyuan dry, but after dozens of breaths, he was still full of energy. It was making them very uncomfortable.
"In that case, let me show you my real skill—Dragon-Tiger True Form!"
Suddenly, one of the mid-Tribulation elders—disheveled and red-faced—let out a low shout and rapidly formed hand seals. Instantly, two true forms, a dragon and a tiger, appeared and lunged straight for Ian Song.
These two true forms were at least ten times stronger than the previous ones. The dragon and tiger were lifelike and fierce, unleashing a set of divine martial techniques as they attacked Ian Song.
"Kirin True Form!"
Another mid-Tribulation elder formed seals, and a massive fire-kirin leapt from the void, roaring as it charged Ian Song. Clearly, both elders had been genuinely provoked by Ian’s taunts.
"Good!"
Ian Song’s eyes narrowed slightly, and his sword stance suddenly changed. At the same time, a profound sword intent began to spread out.
The Heavenbreaker Sword Canon has nine forms, each one containing a different sword intent.
Ordinary warriors can grasp basic sword intent, but what they comprehend is only the most superficial kind. The sword intent within the Heavenbreaker Sword Canon, however, is all top-tier. If fully mastered, a single burst of sword intent could decapitate an Immortal instantly.
Unfortunately, even though Ian Song had always cultivated the sword, he still hadn’t truly comprehended the authentic sword intent of this canon.
Even so, the sword intent that followed his sword art was still terrifyingly powerful.
Buzz!
As sword intent spread out, the movements of the three transformed true forms faltered for a moment—even the operation of the Ten-Absolute Formation grew sluggish.
"Slash!"
The Azure Flood-Dragon Sword swept out in a flash.
Pop! Pop! Pop!
In an instant, all three transformed true forms disintegrated.
"Impossible!"
Seeing their transformed true forms broken so easily, the two mid-Tribulation elders were both shocked and unwilling to accept it.
"Again!"
Within the black hole, Ian Song’s figure seemed to rise into the air, the Azure Flood-Dragon Sword in his hand ringing with a crisp hum.
Heavenless!!
It was the same move as before. In that instant, Ian Song vaguely sensed his comprehension of this technique had deepened a little. So, when he performed it again, both his sword intent and sword momentum underwent subtle changes.
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
It was as if gears had jammed—the Ten-Absolute Formation suddenly ground to a halt.
Godpiercer!!!
Now’s my chance!
Ian Song roared inwardly; the Azure Flood-Dragon Sword transformed into a radiant streak neither the soul nor the naked eye could catch.
Pop!
A soft sound—one mid-Tribulation elder had his skull pierced through, the sword intent blasting into his sea of consciousness and exploding inside. His Primordial Spirit shattered like a porcelain doll, annihilated in an instant.
Bang!
Ian Song drew his sword, sending the corpse crashing to the far end of the grand hall—right at Vulcan Pi’s feet.
Staring at the lifeless body, Vulcan Pi couldn’t help but feel a deep chill and regret.
With the death of a mid-Tribulation elder, the Ten-Absolute Formation collapsed without further resistance.
Godpiercer!
Godpiercer!
Unleashing the sword technique twice in succession, Ian Song slew two more mid-Tribulation elders.
In an instant, three were killed—the tide of battle reversed. For a moment, the Blazing Fire Hall was plunged into dead silence.