This sword strike from Quinn Shepherd was none other than the first form of his Calamity Sword—the Opening Calamity Sword—the most powerful sword technique he had ever created.
The Sword Pill spun faster and faster. This was a spirit weapon Quinn had refined not long ago. It rotated at a staggering speed, skimming the surface of the sea, and countless slender swords leapt from the Sword Pill, their tips all aimed at Venerable Vast-Sky.
Behind the Sword Pill, Quinn charged forward at full strength, pouring all his power into the sprint.
His divine power surged into the Sword Pill, linking each flying sword together with vital qi. Runes danced along their blades, crackling like lightning, jumping from sword to sword.
Each flying sword shifted and darted, moving like a school of fish in the ocean—silvery blades leaping and weaving, perfectly displaying the beauty of swordsmanship.
In this moment, his countless flying swords seemed to merge into a single entity, woven runes and surging vital qi revealing boundless change and agility.
The streaming sword flow traced a brilliant arc across the sea’s surface, while the changing swords perfectly displayed all eighteen basic sword forms.
From afar, it looked like a single, impossibly long flying sword—one deceptively simple sword move: a thrust.
But up close, countless hidden variations could be seen within that single, simple move.
This was the first time since creating the Calamity Sword that he’d ever executed this sword technique so flawlessly.
Suddenly, space itself seemed to thicken. Normally, space offers no resistance—only air does. But now, a strange force filled the air, and his sword move met tremendous resistance as it raced ahead.
Quinn drove himself forward, the Opening Calamity Sword piercing ahead like a battering ram, its tip drawing ever closer to Venerable Vast-Sky!
But the resistance surged even higher!
This wasn’t ordinary divine power—it was a bizarre, rule-level pressure.
Quinn had faced this kind of pressure before—when he entered the South Heaven Gate of War-Ox Palace. There, the pressure came from all directions, pressing on both body and spirit.
Even his Opening Calamity Sword!
It was the first time Quinn had ever seen his sword-dao divine art suppressed like this!
The tip of the Opening Calamity Sword kept thrusting forward, but its speed slowed—by the time it reached Venerable Vast-Sky, the sword-light crawled like a snail.
Just then, bands of radiant light surged behind Venerable Vast-Sky, thousands upon thousands converging from all directions.
It wasn’t his mother’s true body descending, but her projection.
Her true body should have been in the Heavenly Court, but she hadn’t descended in person.
A goddess appeared, surrounded front and back by radiant light streaming like ribbons—dazzling and beautiful.
Her figure was graceful, unlike the rough style of Lady Tianyin. Her makeup was exquisitely done.
The ribbons of light both concealed and accentuated her body’s finest features.
Lady Tianyin, in contrast, simply used divine radiance to block her private parts, leaving everything else exposed. She wore no jewelry at all, while this goddess was adorned with many finely crafted ornaments.
There were more than ten ornaments: hairpins and clasps in her hair, a tasseled jade band across her brow, a pendant like a luminous moon at her collarbone, jade bracelets on her wrists, rings on her fingers, and glass beads with bells around her ankles.
Venerable Vast-Sky looked at the sword-light frozen before him and breathed a sigh of relief, while Quinn kept pressing forward, determined to unleash the Opening Calamity Sword’s full power and break through the goddess’s suppression.
But the sword could barely advance. It moved only an inch before reaching the limit of Quinn’s strength.
Venerable Vast-Sky smiled.
“Shepherd Venerable, you’ve gone too far.”
The goddess’s projection spoke, her voice clear and piercing, calm yet cold: “You returned from death, so you should tread carefully, as if walking on thin ice. Have you forgotten how you were suddenly suppressed before you died? The Serpentine Palace—I borrowed it from my elder sister. Did you not realize that was my power?”
Quinn stubbornly pressed forward, bull-headed, determined to kill Venerable Vast-Sky.
The goddess frowned. “You don’t know what’s good for you. Vast-Sky, send him on his way. This time, leave no corpse behind.”
Venerable Vast-Sky bowed in reply, circling around the ten-li-long sword-light.
The sword-light was frozen in midair, as if solidified.
Venerable Vast-Sky relaxed and walked toward Quinn, ten li away, smiling. “Mother, he’s not actually Shepherd Venerable.”
The goddess looked at Quinn in surprise, but couldn’t see his true face.
Venerable Vast-Sky was in high spirits. “He’s Shepherd Venerable. The real Shepherd Venerable is probably still in a coffin, buried underground.”
“Is this the Shepherd Venerable His Majesty just conferred?”
The goddess nodded. “His divine arts truly are extraordinary, full of incredible mysteries.”
Venerable Vast-Sky stopped at the center of the ten-li sword-light. “He used a strange divine art to alter his face, making himself look exactly like Shepherd Venerable. Perhaps Shepherd Venerable passed the God-Making Method to him before dying, so he could impersonate him. But I wonder—was his original face truly his own? I suspect even his Shepherd Venerable face is a disguise.”
The goddess smiled. “My son is clever. If you kill him, he’ll be forced to show his true face. I’ve already suppressed him—go ahead and finish the job…"
Just then, the sword-light contracted sharply!
The ten-li-long sword-light suddenly shrank into a ball, stopping right in front of Venerable Vast-Sky!
Venerable Vast-Sky froze, a chill running down his spine.
The sudden contraction of the sword-light made him feel as if a savage ancient god had locked onto him—or as if he’d stumbled into a deadly calamity.
Quinn was five li away, pinned to the surface of the sea by the goddess, unable to move. His teeth ground audibly, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
The Sword Pill moved!
Quinn suddenly let out a thunderous roar.
“Raise the Calamity—!”
The goddess was startled, hastily pouring more power into suppressing the Sword Pill!
Her power was immense and overwhelming, locking the Sword Pill in place. Yet strangely, even though the Pill itself was suppressed, individual flying swords kept hopping free from it.
She pressed down again, but the leaping sword-lights refused to be contained, darting straight toward Venerable Vast-Sky!
Venerable Vast-Sky retreated at top speed, as the sword-lights hopped along bizarre trajectories—a sword technique beyond the eighteen basic forms, one even an ancient god’s projection couldn’t suppress.
Shhh—shhh—shhh—
Sword-lights pierced Venerable Vast-Sky’s body, opening bloody holes.
This was the second form of the Calamity Sword—Raise-Calamity Sword!
After Opening Calamity comes Raising Calamity—and the Raising Calamity must kill its target!
Faced with the ancient goddess’s projection, powerless to fight back, Quinn finally comprehended the second chapter of his sword-dao, taking another step forward on the sword path!
Not only that, his swordsmanship finally produced the Nineteenth Basic Sword Form, pushing the world’s sword-dao one step further!
Blood burst from Venerable Vast-Sky’s wounds as the Raise-Calamity Sword flickered unpredictably, breaking free from all suppression. Its moves were so strange and unfathomable, he couldn’t block them at all.
Not only was he helpless—even the goddess herself was powerless against these sword-lights.
In this era, even the Fourteen Basic Sword Forms hadn’t been created, let alone the Nineteenth!
At that same moment, the goddess’s projection swung a palm at the immobilized Quinn—since she couldn’t suppress the sword-lights, she’d kill Quinn first and shatter his attack!
Her palm struck with incredible speed. As it descended, the sea sank for a hundred li around, leaving a vast handprint.
Almost simultaneously, she saw another young man sprinting across the waves, the sea exploding beneath his feet.
As he charged, his hands danced, unleashing countless divine arts ahead of him, surging toward Quinn like a tidal wave!
“Too weak.”
The goddess ignored him—until suddenly, a colossal fist filled the sky. Before the young man’s arts could land, it collided with her palm in a thunderous boom!
The Jade Pool shook; countless lotus flowers were torn apart, old turtles and island-mountains were tossed skyward by the waves, struggling helplessly.
“Demoness, Ben Oxley is here!”
A thunderous shout rang out as Old Ox transformed into a bull-headed, man-bodied god-demon, his muscles bulging and monstrous. With a boom, he landed on the sea.
The surging water shattered countless divine arts from the Pioneer Emperor, flinging Quinn, Pioneer Emperor, and Venerable Vast-Sky far away.
The Pioneer Emperor struggled to maneuver in midair, leaping to catch Quinn in his arms.
Elsewhere, a band of radiant light swept up Venerable Vast-Sky, shielding him from the terrifying impact.
Blood spurted from Venerable Vast-Sky’s eyes, ears, mouth, and nose, his body riddled with wounds from the uncanny Raise-Calamity Sword.
The band of light darted into his body, sealing the wounds and stopping the bleeding, then whisked him away to a distant Jade Terrace by the sea.
Venerable Vast-Sky lay there, sprawled out, motionless.
The Pioneer Emperor carried Quinn and rushed away. Quinn’s bones were all shattered, but his flesh squirmed, ejecting broken bones and growing new ones.
“He can survive even under this pressure?” the Pioneer Emperor exclaimed in shock.
"My sword..." Quinn said weakly, his voice barely audible.
"Forget your damn sword!"
The Pioneer Emperor was furious. “I warned you not to stir up trouble! If I hadn’t been quick-witted and called Ben Oxley to help me search for you in the Jade Sea, you’d be dead by now!”
Quinn managed a smile. “Now you seem alive, like a real person. That makes me happy…”
The Pioneer Emperor paused, then smiled faintly. “Don’t talk. Focus on healing.”
Quinn opened his palm and beckoned behind him. Countless tiny sword-lights flew to him, clinking together and merging into a Sword Pill that followed them through the air, rapidly closing in.
“Let’s go kill Venerable Vast-Sky.”
Quinn spat blood and replied weakly, “He’s almost dead—one more sword strike will finish him…”
“Compared to him, I think we should be more worried about our own lives.”
The Pioneer Emperor sighed. As more and more demigods gathered around, he whispered, “You don’t have to kill him right now. Someday, I’ll do it myself—to avenge Shepherd Venerable. For now, I’m only worried about how we’ll escape.”
Suddenly, tears welled up in Quinn’s eyes. He turned away, thinking silently, "Ancestor, you didn’t… I don’t even know if you’re still alive… I once thought you should die a glorious death on the battlefield, but now I just hope you can live peacefully in the Land of No Worries…"