Chapter 651 - 178: Force Against Force, I Am Invincible Below the 5th Realm

’So strong!’ This was leagues beyond the Ghost Bone Elder’s clone I encountered the other day! It was also far stronger than her sword strike back in the Burial Demon Marsh... ’Is this her true power?’ Chu Fan looked up, the reflection of a sword clearly visible in his pupils. The sword descended from the nine heavens, impossibly immense. Its blade, wreathed in purple lightning, seemed solid and real. Wherever it passed, the air tore apart, leaving behind visible black fissures! Before the sword even arrived, its sharp Sword Intent pressed down on his shoulders like an invisible mountain. The ground beneath Chu Fan’s feet sank silently by an inch, and spiderweb-like cracks spread out in all directions. Yet, a scorching flame burned in his eyes. Instead of stagnating under the pressure, his blood began to seethe like molten lava, his will to fight soaring to the heavens! His thoughts suddenly raced back in time... A few months ago in the Burial Demon Marsh, his Vajra Undying Body was only at the first layer. When he faced that woman’s sword, he could only fall to the ground and take it head-on with "Immovable as a Mountain, Pillow Sea as Emperor." "Immovable as a Mountain" could increase his Guardian Power severalfold, making him unshakable even against a strike of immense force. "Pillow Sea as Emperor" required him to be prone on all fours, connecting his physical body to the pulse of the earth. This pushed his defense to its peak, creating an absolute defensive field within a one-meter radius around him. Any attack that entered this field would have its force dissipated layer by layer by the vast "Sea of Earth," like a clay ox sinking into the sea. Months had passed... His Vajra Undying Body had already reached the third layer! This was a qualitative leap... Facing this sword strike, which was even more powerful than before, Chu Fan didn’t move a single step, nor did he lie down to use "Pillow Sea as Emperor"! With a single thought. BZZZT! A translucent shield of light, as solid as if it were cast from molten gold, instantly enveloped him. At the same time. WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! The canyon floor trembled violently as endless yellow sand, as if controlled by a giant, unseen hand, defied gravity and surged into the sky. The sand and stone spun wildly in the air, coalescing in the blink of an eye into a massive Sand Shield above his head, over ten feet thick and thirty feet wide. The surface of the shield glowed with a heavy, earthy-yellow halo, as steady as a mountain! "Run! Run!" Dozens of yards away, behind a pile of rubble, Yun Bufan watched Chu Fan erect two layers of defense. His face was as white as a sheet, and his voice was strained! Beside him, Tang Tinghua’s lips trembled. His face was drained of all color, and his eyes were filled with despair. "There’s no escape... His qi is locked down; the heavens and earth are a cage. He... he’s been completely locked on by the Sword Intent. No matter how fast he is, that sword will catch him!" Before his words had even faded, the colossal lightning sword in the sky suddenly accelerated! BOOM! The sword’s edge touched the Sand Shield. There was no stalemate, only the power of utter annihilation! The great shield, hastily formed by the Silent Extinction Quicksand Technique, was pierced by the irresistible sword edge as if it were made of paper! The thick Sand Shield exploded with a roar, turning into a cloud of dust that filled the sky... The Sword Momentum barely slowed as it slashed down onto the gilded Shenxiao Imperial Golden Shield! BOOM! The Shenxiao Imperial Golden Shield couldn’t hold for even a moment, instantly shattering into a shower of golden light that scattered in the air. With nothing left to stop it, the terrifying lightning sword, carrying an aura of absolute destruction, chopped straight down at the crown of Chu Fan’s head! In that instant, time seemed to stretch. Chu Fan could clearly see every crackle of purple lightning on the sword’s body. He could feel its ultimate sharpness, a force that could almost freeze his soul and tear his body apart. A heavy, profound aura, like that of an ancient mountain, began to emanate from him. BOOOOOOM!!! The great sword finally struck home! There was no sharp clang of metal on metal, only a terrifying roar like a meteor striking the earth! A visible, ring-shaped shockwave mixed with destructive Sword Qi and raging sand erupted from where Chu Fan stood, sweeping madly in all directions! The solid ground was torn asunder as if by a giant, unseen plow, creating chasms of unfathomable depth. Countless millstone-sized boulders were flung high into the air, only to be instantly pulverized into dust by the dense Sword Qi. The towering cliffs on both sides of the canyon cracked apart with countless massive fissures, as if hewn by a giant’s axe, and rubble rained down like a torrential storm! The entire Wind-Rising Valley was Earth-Shaking, as if it were the end of the world! Yun Bufan and Tang Tinghua were long since pale with fright, standing frozen in place. Their minds were frozen by the world-destroying sword strike. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to run, but under the pressure of the Sword Intent that enveloped the world, they couldn’t even lift a single finger! Their Divine Souls trembled and their bodies were as stiff as puppets. All they could do was watch as the wave of destruction swallowed Chu Fan and then spread toward their position! The stench of death was bone-chillingly cold! In the nick of time... A soft white light enveloped the two of them without any warning. They both felt their bodies lighten as the white light blocked most of the terrifying Sword Intent that had locked onto their Divine Souls. Before they could even react, the scene before them abruptly blurred and distorted... SWOOSH! The white light faded, and the two of them vanished from where they stood, leaving only a faint spatial fluctuation behind. The very next instant, the wave of Destruction Sword Qi roared past where they had been standing, devouring and pulverizing the ground and the cliff wall behind it! RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE! An unending series of thunderous roars echoed and overlapped throughout the canyon. Large sections of the cliffs on both sides collapsed, and countless boulders tumbled down, colliding and piling up like mountains. Dust and smoke shot into the sky, blotting out the sun! In just a few breaths, the once-deep Wind-Rising Valley was changed beyond recognition, completely buried by the collapsed rock and transformed into a ruin of jagged, uneven rubble. Only the lingering dust and the slowly drifting grit and gravel spoke of the terror of that last sword strike. At the edge of the valley, on an eagle-beak-shaped rock that jutted outward, the masked woman stood. The hem of her robes fluttered, whipping in the gales of Sword Qi that had yet to disperse.