Chapter 73: Reunion
Her right hand was her sword-wielding hand. She was holding Ding Ning’s Last Flower remnant sword.
That strange presence seemed to first come from Ding Ning’s body, and then, like a spark igniting a pot of hot oil, it ignited a certain presence inside the Last Flower remnant sword.
She had no time to consider this or the consequences of this unknown presence. She only felt this was dangerous.
A sense of danger even stronger than when the flying sword pierced her foot caused her heart to contract violently. At the same time, her vital energy surged to gather on her right palm. Then it controlled the primal energies of the universe in the surroundings to create terrifying power.
The Last Flower remnant sword suddenly lit up.
Theoretically, Ding Ning had lost control of this little remnant sword. Yet, what stopped all the gasps was the blossoming of fine white flowers along the remnant sword.
The packed fine white flowers bloomed at terrifying speed along the entire blade. It was more stunning than when Ding Ning had used it.
A terrifying sword essence, as Palace Attendant Rong’s palm started to burst with power, came out of the Last Flower remnant sword.
This was like the Controlling Sword Essence. Or rather, the experts in this moment felt this was the Controlling Sword Essence.
But there were no marks on the surface of the Last Flower remnant sword. This sword essence came from the deepest part of each sword thread. They seemed to be the core of this sword, the soul.
With a boom, two forces collided in Palace Attendant Rong’s palm, and then there was a violent explosion.
“It’s Yan …”
An uncontrolled gasp sounded.
This voice was old, yet the owner of this voice was a realm seven expert, an old person who usually stayed in a cultivation place and did not come out.
So the two words seemed to be like two roars of thunder on the ground, like an ocean of primal energies exploding.
In this moment, this old person of Changling and some of the other cultivators who also experienced those times realized at the same time. They realized … the power coming out of the Last Flower remnant sword was one of the sword essences drawn out by the Controlling Sword Essence.
This sword essence came from the sword itself. It came from the master of the Last Flower remnant sword.
The Controlling Sword Essence was to form seals and mimic the sword essences of powerful swordsmen. Yet the sword essence Ding Ning activated at this moment came from the sword itself, and even carried the presence of its master from its last battle. It was like the sword was burning its soul.
Within the violent explosion, Palace Attendant Rong’s body suddenly shook. Her face turned snow white. Her right palm turned to bloody mist.
She had suppressed the power of the Last Flower remnant sword and the sword essence of that stubborn Ba Mountain Sword Field woman. But her palm was not as resilient as the Last Flower remnant sword. Blood and bone could not endure this kind of shock.
An extremely cold presence pierced through the bloody mist of her palm and stabbed towards her body with great killing intent.
“How is that possible!”
One of the Astrology Bureau officials under the black umbrella was shocked speechless, and could not help but gasp.
It was a serious matter when an official like him could not control their emotions even in Ye Celeng’s presence.
Yet no one noticed.
Even Ye Celeng did not notice. She, like all the cultivators, was still staring at the lingering remnants of the previous scene. But in their perception, they could sense the sword in Ding Ning’s hand getting near Palace Attendant Rong’s body.
No one could understand how Ding Ning could control his trembling vital energy and make such a stab.
Palace Attendant Rong could not understand either. Her vital energy was also in chaos right now. But she still had her left hand. So she did not sense the arrival of death. She still believed her left hand was enough to fend off Ding Ning’s blow and kill him.
Her left hand stabbed forward. She forced the chaotic energies through the meridians in her left hand and out of her fingertips.
Ding Ning took a deep breath. The Snow Mirror Sword in his hand collided with the power Palace Attendant Rong produced without any finesse. At the moment of contact, his face turned extremely pale. He once again vomited a bloody mist. Yet his Snow Mirror Sword did not retreat at all and flicked upwards.
This was the secret sword of White Goat Cave- White Goat Hanging Horn.
Palace Attendant Rong took a deep breath. She only needed a moment to breath and smooth out the energy in her body. If she had a breath, she could kill Ding Ning.
Yet at this moment, she felt a pain in her energy sea. She looked down in shock.
A hole appeared in her abdomen. A hole that went straight through.
Her body started to tremble, her mind still blank. She did not dare to believe this was true.
But true it was. Her cultivation, accumulated through many years of hard work, seemed to empty out like this, flowing out of her body through the hole. The feeling of power faded out of her body and her body flew up backwards into the sky, pushed by the energy shooting out of her body.
All the spectators in the streets were dumbstruck.
That was a sword light.
It was the Last Flower remnant sword that had fallen powerlessly.
But in that moment, the Last Flower remnant sword flew, penetrating through Palace Attendant Rong’s energy sea and flying in the sky behind her.
No one was able to understand how Ding Ning was able to control his vital energy when he was seriously injured. No one was able to understand how Ding Ning could use the White Goat Hanging Horn to withstand a force much stronger than him, and take control again of the Last Flower remnant sword on the ground.
No one could understand … This was a miracle.
A realm five challenging a realm six. This was a miracle.
And all the cultivators had witnessed this miracle.
Boom! Boom!
There were two heavy sounds of falling.
Ding Ning and Palace Attendant Rong fell to the ground.
Dust billowed.
Ding Ning struggled to sit up in the dust. He was covered in blood and dust. He appeared miserable yet he had a smile on his face.
The Last Flower remnant sword flashed with cold light, advancing with difficulty in the air, swaying and falling like a dragonfly with one wing. But it was falling towards where Palace Attendant Rong had landed.
Palace Attendant Rong laid within the dust, unable to get up. Blood spurted out of her large and small wounds, crawling through the dust like red earthworms.
The surrounding streets were deathly silent. The entire world seemed to be silent.
Everyone saw the sword swaying its way to Palace Attendant Rong and knew the result of this battle could not be changed.
Palace Attendant Rong had used all her power to flip over when she fell to the ground. She faced the sky now. Her gaze was unfocused, and dazed like she did not see the piercing sunlight. All of her emotions seemed to flow out of her body with her blood.
She felt her body very empty. She did not even see the flying sword falling towards her. She just felt everything was empty.
She suddenly found it amusing.
So, after being in Changling for so long and doing so many things, everything was empty.
In the end, she had nothing.
With a soft sound, the Last Flower remnant sword landed through her heart meridian.
Her body did not move. It was like the body the sword stabbed had nothing to do with her.
All those watching shook. The sword seemed to stab through them. Everything seemed to be quiet at this moment.
Only Ding Ning was laughing.
Everyone could feel his joy.
Inexplicably, maybe because of the White Goat Hanging Horn sword essence, everyone thought of Xue Wangxu of White Goat Cave, the old man who died before the Min Mountain Sword Trials.
Many people present had hoped that Ding Ning could win and Palace Attendant Rong could die. But when it happened, they felt no joy or pleasure looking at Ding Ning and Palace Attendant Rong’s expressions.
The sky suddenly darkened. No clouds covered the sun, but the sky abruptly darkened.
Ding Ning’s hands started to tremble minutely. This was a presence he was extremely familiar with.
He knew who had come.