Translator: CinderTL
"Hold steady! He's just one man. How can he possibly stand against the thirty-one of us? Victory will surely be ours!"
This was the thought that echoed in the minds of all the Core Formation cultivators of the Chiyang Sword Sect.
Bai Fei, while secretly rejoicing, inwardly cursed Li Chunjun for his arrogance and recklessness, believing he was digging his own grave.
If Li Chunjun had his Dao Protectors by his side to share the burden, it might have been a different story. But now, with just one man, he dared to charge into the battle formation formed by thirty-one cultivators. Wasn't this a death wish? By killing him, she could not only replace Zhou Wu Gou as the True Inheritor Disciple overseeing the Great Shang but also receive generous rewards from the sect. Achieving Nascent Soul, extending her lifespan to a thousand years, and attaining the title of Eternal Life True Person would be within her grasp.
However, when the two sides finally clashed, the situation took an unexpected turn.
Under the overwhelming Sword Intent, even though everyone had mentally prepared themselves, they couldn't help but be affected by the aura of destruction, their hearts trembling with fear.
By the time they managed to shake off that fear and trembling, Li Chunjun had already broken into their formation, unleashing a massacre.
The sharpness of his sword…
As the Core Formation cultivator had said earlier, neither True Core nor Golden Core could withstand it!
In the span of a single breath, several Core Formation cultivators had already fallen, and a storm of blood and carnage quickly swept through the crowd.
This outcome threw the Core Formation cultivators, who had just snapped out of the Sword Intent's suppression, into panic.
"Don't panic! He's just one man. He can't possibly kill all thirty-one of us! Soon, he'll run out of strength and become a lamb to the slaughter!"
Bai Fei shouted, urgently rallying the others to reform their formation and close in on Li Chunjun, leaving him no room to catch his breath.
But…
Li Chunjun's sword was too fast! So fast that even Zhan Wuji couldn't compare.
With his speed and razor-sharp perception, he repeatedly slipped through the encirclement of the Core Formation cultivators, always avoiding direct confrontation with more than six at a time.
In this situation, despite the numerical advantage of the Chiyang Sword Sect's Core Formation cultivators, they struggled to effectively surround him. Instead, he stretched the battlefield across dozens of miles.
In this vast battlefield, whenever one…
Or two or three Core Formation cultivators found themselves isolated, they would immediately face Li Chunjun's thunderous strikes.
His Sword Flight speed, which even Zhan Wuji couldn't match, combined with his perfected Sword Intent capable of shattering the will of any Golden Core cultivator, ensured that anyone targeted by Li Chunjun had no chance of survival.
Casualties quickly rose into the double digits.
This terrifying slaughter and display of power soon shattered the morale of many Core Formation cultivators. Finally, someone couldn't hold on any longer and fled the battlefield on their Flying Sword.
But at this moment, Bai Fei's Divine Sense erupted once more: "Hold on! We're just one step away! While a Sword Cultivator's Lifebound Flying Sword can severely injure us, it also suffers damage in the process! He's killed so many of us that his Flying Sword is nearing its limit! If we retreat now, the sacrifices of our Junior Brothers and Sisters will have been in vain! Their deaths will mean nothing!"
This outburst of Divine Sense stirred the hearts of the other cultivators who had also considered fleeing. Whether out of hope, guilt, or hatred…
They suppressed their fear once more and threw themselves back into the encirclement against Li Chunjun.
This scene earned a subtle nod of approval from Li Chunjun, who had already secretly locked onto Bai Fei twice.
"Capture the leader first to capture the bandits!" In theory, the first ones he should kill are the leaders, Zhan Wuji and Bai Fei.
But this Golden Core cultivator had such courage, repeatedly rallying the Core Formation cultivators who should have scattered and fled, making them charge at him in a desperate assault one after another. How could he bear to kill them?
If he really let these Core Formation cultivators scatter and flee, how many could he kill by chasing after them alone?
Therefore, this Golden Core cultivator was intentionally left for last.
And she...
Indeed did not disappoint him.
When the third wave of collapse was about to form again, this Golden Core cultivator once again entered an inspiring mode.
"Do you want to be cowards for a lifetime, despised by others, or do you want to be heroes of the Chiyang Sword Sect, revered by all!? Even if it's just for a few minutes!?"
Thus, the Core Formation cultivators, who were on the verge of scattering, hesitated slightly in their actions.
Rather than being despised for a lifetime...
It's better to fight! Just as Bai Fei had said earlier, no matter how strong Li Chunjun is, he is still just one person.
Even the Flaming Phoenix Sword Prodigy of the past found it difficult to break through a battle formation set up by more than thirty elites alone. Could Li Chunjun possibly have the same combat power as that Jiang Jianzi now?
Especially at this moment, with many friends around him already dead, and he himself somewhat blinded by bloodlust.
The battle resumed.
...
A few minutes later.
"Why is this happening... why is this happening... he is just one person!"
Bai Fei gasped for breath, her entire right arm almost shattered at the shoulder.
This was the price she paid for forcefully blocking Li Chunjun's Flying Sword to save a Junior Brother.
But in the end...
That Junior Brother still couldn't escape the sharpness of the Flying Sword and perished under the scorching flames of the Flaming Phoenix.
At this moment, Bai Fei drew her sword and looked around.
Of the twenty-nine Core Formation cultivators who came with her and Zhan Wuji, except for a few who couldn't bear the pressure of this near one-sided slaughter and fled in panic, the remaining twenty or so all became Li Chunjun's sword victims.
Many were burned by the Flaming Phoenix's fire, leaving no corpses behind.
"We lost."
Beside her, Zhan Wuji, who was still fighting alongside her, said bitterly.
He looked at the sword light that had just returned from chasing a fleeing Golden Core cultivator, his eyes filled with deep despair: "Li Chunjun... definitely has the strength of the Flaming Phoenix Sword Prodigy! His Sword Intent is too strong, each time he can intimidate his opponents with his Sword Intent, making them die under his sword without any ability to fight back. Without a direct collision, his Flying Sword can have a more lasting lethality..."
This powerful Golden Core cultivator, who was only half a step away from being a True Inheritor Disciple, completely lost all fighting spirit: "Perhaps his offensive power is not as grand and glorious as the previous Flaming Phoenix Sword Prodigy, nor as invincible as the previous Flaming Phoenix Sword Prodigy, but... in terms of killing efficiency, he is stronger than the previous Flaming Phoenix Sword Prodigy!"
Stronger!
These two words made Bai Fei's heart tremble violently.
Stronger than the previous Flaming Phoenix Sword Prodigy!?
"Flaming Phoenix Sword Prodigy! Flaming Phoenix Sword Prodigy!" Bai Fei muttered this title, glancing at the bloodstains scattered in the sky, some of which had not yet completely dissipated.
Thinking carefully about this battle, because she firmly believed that they could overwhelm Li Chunjun with their numerical advantage, which ultimately led to the number of Core Formation cultivators lost...
She completely broke down.
"I caused your deaths, I caused your deaths..."
Originally, so many people didn't need to die.
Realizing that the enemy was difficult to deal with, the Core Formation cultivators would have scattered and fled.
Li Chunjun, no matter how strong he was, was still just one person. How many could he possibly kill in a pursuit?
If the command had gone smoothly, at least two-thirds of them could have survived.
But now...
"Our defeat is not without meaning. At the very least, this frontal assault has revealed Li Chunjun's true strength! From now on, no one in the sect will underestimate him. Instead, they will regard him as the true Flaming Phoenix Sword Prodigy!"
Zhan Wuji held Bai Fei's hand and comforted her.
"Regard him as the true Flaming Phoenix Sword Prodigy..."
Bai Fei remained silent.
From Zhou Wu Gou's cautious treatment of Li Chunjun, it was clear that True Disciple Zhou was already treating Li Chunjun with the respect due to the Flaming Phoenix Sword Prodigy.
Unfortunately, she had believed that their numerical advantage would be enough to surround and kill him, leading to this unprecedented and devastating defeat.
She turned her head, watching the swift streak of light approaching on a sword, and shouted, "Li Chunjun, even though you've defeated me this time..."
In the next moment, ten thousand sword lights erupted, instantly filling Bai Fei's entire field of vision.
Each of these sword lights was filled with a suffocating sharpness.
Each one was like the full-force strike of a Golden Core cultivator.
Ten thousand of them unleashed at once, plunging anyone into the despair of facing ten thousand Golden Core cultivators simultaneously.
Faintly, she seemed to hear Zhan Wuji's furious roar: "Sword Intent!? Focus!"
But before she could gather her focus and see through the storm of ten thousand sword lights, one of them had already solidified, piercing through her at an unimaginable speed.
She looked down in shock at the charred hole in her body...
In the next moment, intense flames erupted from the hole, instantly consuming her entire being and the words she was about to speak.
...
Li Chunjun was killing.
While killing, he had no interest in hearing what those he killed had to say.
Even though this Golden Core cultivator had doubled the casualties in the battle formation, which would have otherwise resulted in only a dozen deaths, it didn't mean he wanted to listen to her lamentations and complaints.
He needed to finish off these Core Formation cultivators quickly and then head to the capital of Great Shang.
"No!"
At that moment, a cry of pain and unwillingness rang out.
Accompanying it was a sense of desperation, a last-ditch attempt to take him down with them.
"A Dao companion?"
Li Chunjun's movements didn't slow in the slightest.
His Sword Intent seeped in, directly igniting the self-destructive intent in the cultivator's heart, forcing him to release all his Qi.
The explosion of Qi would unleash even more devastating power, but it would also reduce the cultivator's control over their own Qi.
Just as the cultivator's Qi burned to its peak and before he could gather his strength for a final strike, the Scarlet Sky Sword, with its piercing edge, crossed the nearly negligible distance between them and pierced through his skull!
The burning Qi immediately went out of control, reducing his corpse to ashes.
With a wave of his hand, the ashes of Bai Fei were swept up.
The two streams of ashes were carried by the breeze, scattering into the sky.
Li Chunjun glanced at them calmly.
In less than a second, he turned, mounted his sword, and chased after a fleeing Golden Core cultivator.
...
"Killed Level 22 creature, experience +911!"
"Killed Level 23 creature, experience +3541!"
"Killed Level 23 creature, experience +3418!"
...
[Life Level: 26 (52,311/60,000)]
...
Since joining the Chiyang Sword Sect, the number of Core Formation Cultivators who have fallen by his hand has already exceeded fifty.
During the period when his life level increased to 26, more than thirty Core Formation Cultivators met their end at his hands.
Among these Core Formation Cultivators, eight were at the Golden Core stage, and over twenty were at the Core Formation stage.
Through sheer accumulation, his life level has advanced nearly 90%.
Therefore, this war is still far from over.
(End of the Chapter)
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