The Great Five Elements Sword Array!
Its diagram was adapted from Han Zhan's modified Two Instruments Five Elements Sword Array, freeing the formation from the need for puppets to wield blades by substituting sword pellets instead.
The pellets required to lay the array had been gathered piece by piece from three people: Feiyunzi of the Northern Sea, Pavilion Master Li of Wan Jian Pavilion, and Lin Qingxuan of the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect.
Unfortunately, because the sword pellets were of unequal grades, the array had always possessed flaws.
In previous battles, whenever Luo Chen deployed this sword array, he had never quite been able to achieve full victory with it.
Only recently, when Canglong underwent her tribulation and Luo Chen used the power of heavenly lightning to refine three of the sword pellets into True Artifacts in a single stroke, had this perfect sword array of Han Zhan's design finally taken complete form.
And the newly perfected array's very first battle was against an enemy Luo Chen had harbored hatred for across many long years!
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Five sword pellets slipped into the void like swimming fish.
The next instant, sword light blazed with blinding brilliance!
With the enemy, Perfected Shenyuan, as the center, countless threads of sword silk burst forth, weaving through the eight directions like an immense loom.
The sword silk shifted and multiplied endlessly, crisscrossing through the air as it surged to strangle Perfected Shenyuan.
That crystalline flying sword was a True Artifact that Perfected Shenyuan had painstakingly tempered for hundreds of years; its killing power was not in the least inferior to his natal Five-Colored Pagoda.
Yet within this Great Five Elements Sword Array, it seemed to have lost its way.
Though the flying sword darted left and lunged right, slashing apart innumerable sword threads, the silk streamed without end, diminishing not in the slightest.
Chhh! Chhh! Chhh!
As the sword silk struck his body, deep lacerations immediately scored Perfected Shenyuan's protective robe.
The hood shrouding his head was shredded completely, laying bare his bizarre, contradictory countenance.
"How can it be so sharp?!"
Perfected Shenyuan's pupils constricted. Never had he imagined the sword array's edge would be so terrifyingly keen.
What he did not know was that although the array originated with Han Zhan, its ceiling had completely surpassed Han Zhan's original concept. Luo Chen had fused that top-grade piece of Nine Yang Geng Metal into it; apart from a handful of peerless treasures across the world, few things could rival the sharpness of the sword silk born from those pellets.
Luo Chen's fingers flicked in rapid succession, hand seals shifting without pause. Unfurling the completed Great Five Elements Sword Array gave him a sense of effortless mastery.
At long last, the former flaws were gone!
He no longer needed to worry about an enemy spotting an opening.
Now that the old thief Shenyuan was trapped within the sword array, he had only to await death!
Yet the moment he caught sight of the face beneath the hood, Luo Chen paused slightly.
"It changed!"
"That isn't the face from before!"
He remembered clearly that when they clashed last time, the face beneath the hood had belonged to another man—one said to closely resemble the late Perfected Linmu.
Yet now, the visage before Luo Chen felt far more like… Old Ghost Motian?
"You're distracted!"
Amid a sinister burst of laughter, the crystalline flying sword transformed into a brilliant rainbow of light, wrapping around Perfected Shenyuan to tear directly through the tightening layers of sword silk, intent on breaking out of the formation.
Luo Chen frowned and suppressed the doubt in his heart. His sword seal shifted sharply, and he gave a low shout.
"Sever!"
The countless threads of sword silk instantly coalesced into a colossal golden broadsword of light.
With a thrust of Luo Chen's sword finger, the great sword crashed down upon its heels.
Facing this strike, Shenyuan's eyes looked ready to split with fury. Instead of retreating, he sprang forward and flicked his finger.
"Go!"
The crystalline flying sword wrapping his body detached itself, using its tiny frame to meet the golden greatsword head-on.
Clang!
The ringing screech of blades resonated across the four directions.
The collision in that split second unleashed boundless devastating might.
In the tremendous impact, a breach was blasted right through the Great Five Elements Sword Array, causing it to collapse under the strain.
The five sword pellets spun and hurtled back. Luo Chen snatched them from the air, feeling no displeasure at the breaking of his array.
He was entirely satisfied with the price his enemy had paid.
Crack, crack, crack…
A fracturing sound echoed faintly.
Shenyuan clutched the hilt of his sword, his face flushed deep red.
The next instant,
Spurt!
He coughed up a mouthful of blood. The crystalline flying sword connected to his very mind and soul had shattered into segment after segment.
This flying sword was no nameless trinket.
He had expended an unknowable quantity of precious materials to have it forged by the realm's finest master smiths.
He had then painstakingly nourished it for hundreds of years; it had not even been damaged during the great battle at Mount Cangwu.
Yet now, it had been destroyed by Luo Chen's sword array.
"You insolent beast!"
Ignoring the agony racking his soul, Shenyuan was consumed by rage. He pointed a finger at Luo Chen.
A hazy azure light erupted violently!
This move again?
Luo Chen remembered it well. Last time, the man had used this very technique to clash on equal footing against his Wither-Bloom Dao Finger.
Back then, he had assumed it was a divine ability.
Yet looking at it now, it seemed both similar and different, more like…
"So that's how it is!"
A realization dawned upon Luo Chen. He flung his hands upward. A fire phoenix soared into the sky behind him, carrying matchless majesty as it dove toward the hazy azure light with a piercing shriek.
Azure and crimson clashed in the void.
The shimmering halos continuously invaded and pushed back against each other, expanding outward. Heaven and earth trembled violently, and the vast heart of the Divine Sect was buffeted by the savage shockwaves.
Watching the collision between the two spells, Luo Chen found his inner hypothesis thoroughly confirmed.
When he had comprehended the Fire Origin, he had discovered that spells of the corresponding element were significantly augmented.
At the time, he had assumed the true intent of the laws had simply merged into them.
Only later did he realize that was not the case.
A spell in that state stood above ordinary spells, yet was still slightly inferior to a grand divine ability.
It was simply that the movement of the heaven-and-earth qi amplified the mundane spell, granting it far greater scale and destructive might.
A true divine ability was something that could mutually confirm and fuse with the true intent of the laws.
Evidently, old thief Shenyuan had never grasped any law's true intent; he had merely harmonized mundane spells with heaven-and-earth qi to bring about a qualitative leap.
The only reason he had been able to withstand the Wither-Bloom Dao Finger back then was by leveraging the advantage of his profound cultivation realm and abundant magic power.
"If that is all…"
Luo Chen pursed his lips. Looking toward the exasperated Shenyuan in the distance, he fired off a spell instantaneously.
"Courtesy demands reciprocity. Take one of mine as well!"
The next heartbeat!
A dragon's roar thundered from the high heavens. A massive dragon head suddenly coalesced, roaring as it lunged toward Perfected Shenyuan.
Wherever it passed, the void trembled as vast quantities of heaven-and-earth qi continuously poured into it.
Seeing this, Shenyuan's expression shifted slightly, and his figure blurred into rapid motion.
Yet no matter how he fled, the flame dragon remained locked onto him, refusing to lose its mark.
A divine-sense-guided strike spell!
Within just a breath or two, Shenyuan grasped the essence of the move.
He ceased dodging and came to a halt. Reaching downward, he gripped the air and pulled upward.
Immediately, the earth surged.
Countless yellow clods of earth flew into the air, assembling in the void into two colossal hands that shielded him completely.
Roar!
The flame dragon crashed resolutely into the two earthen hands, then dissolved bit by bit, returning to heaven and earth as pure spiritual energy.
Whoosh!
Luo Chen followed close behind, ensuring the man remained within his range of attack.
Yet seeing this scene, he could not help but furrow his brow once more.
Instant-casting high-tier spells?
In three hundred years of cultivation, he had never met another person capable of achieving this!
Even with the aid of his proficiency panel, it had taken him day after day and night after night of grinding spell proficiencies to reach the point where he could cast various formidable spells with a snap of his fingers or a wave of his sleeve.
Yet in their few brief exchanges, he had discovered that Perfected Shenyuan's attainment in spells was not in the least inferior to his own!
Whether it was the azure finger strike or this earth-attribute defensive art, from beginning to end, the man had barely formed a single hand seal. Just like Luo Chen, he could instant-cast them with a mere thought.
'Rumor has it that the Five Elements Divine Sect rose to the ranks of the Eastern Desolation's premier powers solely on Shenyuan's shoulders.'
'The countless high-tier spells that spread from within the sect were, nine times out of ten, created and developed by Perfected Shenyuan himself.'
'In the past, I took it for exaggeration, but today proves it is no empty reputation.'
'His casting speed alone demonstrates just how profound his attainment in this path truly is!'
As these thoughts flickered through his mind, Luo Chen could not help but feel a twinge of mutual respect.
Spells contained the foundational understanding of the Great Dao. The creation and mastery of any spell demanded an extraordinarily refined grasp of its underlying composition.
Compared to spells that took long to cast and consumed heavy magic power, ordinary cultivators far preferred relying on magic treasures, which yielded rapid results at a fraction of the cost.
Even powerhouses who reached the Nascent Soul stage often neglected spell cultivation out of longstanding habit.
Across his entire journey, Luo Chen had fought countless battles.
Yet the overwhelming majority had been clashes between magic treasures.
Battles like this—where spells were cast in rapid succession, each unfolding with sublime artistry—were extraordinarily rare.
Not only did Perfected Shenyuan share his five-element spiritual roots, but even their paths of cultivation and combat styles were remarkably alike.
How could he not admire the man?
However!
That brief moment of mutual respect gave way instantly to torrential, sky-filling killing intent!
A man like this was all the more dangerous. He had to die!
Luo Chen hesitated no longer. He opened his mouth and exhaled his ultimate technique.
Whoosh!
Amidst a bleak and howling gale, a small blue-and-white tree suddenly materialized in the void.
Its roots plunged deep into the void, sprawling to parts unknown.
Vast streams of heaven-and-earth qi poured into the small tree, joined by boundless waves of Luo Chen's own dense magic power.
The Wither-Bloom Divine Fire swayed its boughs, unfurling its true form with reckless abandon.
Infinite, scorching heat incinerated the surrounding space.
Trapped within it, Perfected Shenyuan's physical body began to melt.
He cast spell after spell, yet whether defensive arts of earth or shields of water, none availed him in the slightest.
A fifth-rank divine fire had already surpassed what a Nascent Soul cultivator could resist.
Even an entity as mighty as the Great Demon Emperor Huang Man had been left completely helpless before this strike.
"Shenyuan, farewell!"
Luo Chen carefully regulated the output of his magic power while tipping jug after jug of Golden Wind and Jade Dew spiritual wine down his throat to replenish the rapid drain on his reserves.
Even though he had broken through to the sixth layer of the Nascent Soul stage, even though he cultivated the Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture, and even though he had grasped the Fire Origin,
Driving the Wither-Bloom Divine Fire with a Nascent Soul realm cultivation remained an immense strain.
Coaxing the flame to reveal its true form was already his limit.
He was certain that under this strike, Perfected Shenyuan was doomed.
And yet!
The battle shifted once again, defying Luo Chen's expectations.
Gurgle!
Gurgle!
Amidst the hazy, shimmering flames, a Glazed Jade Pure Bottle rested in Perfected Shenyuan's withered palm.
A stream of clear spring water continuously welled from the bottle's mouth,
forming a massive water bubble that enveloped him completely.
No matter how fiercely the Wither-Bloom Divine Fire burned, it could not breach within three feet of his person.
Luo Chen's gaze narrowed, his voice tight. "What is that?"
Channeling the spring water seemed to strain Perfected Shenyuan as well, yet he took immense relish in Luo Chen's astonishment.
"There are wondrous things in this world: fire called sourceless, water called rootless."
"This rootless water of mine is called the Inexhaustible Spring. It flows endlessly, inexhaustible and undying. I obtained it in the wild barrens and nurtured it for many years to achieve such power."
"Luo Chen, I know the might of your divine fire; even the likes of Lei Daozi and Huang Man were helpless against it. But since I dared to face you in battle, how could I come unprepared?"
"How long can your magic power sustain that divine flame?"
Even as he spoke, the water bubble began to expand, forcing the Wither-Bloom Divine Fire back inch by inch.
Luo Chen gritted his teeth and poured in even more magic power.
The Wither-Bloom Fire Spirit seemed to grow frantic as well, infuriated that a mere spring of water dared impede it.
In former days, it had possessed the might to scorch the heavens and boil the seas!
Bolstered by Luo Chen's magic power and the frenzied influx of heaven-and-earth qi, the blue-and-white tree's branches whipped with mounting fury,
pressing the bubble down and shrinking it inward.
Seeing that all of Luo Chen's focus was committed to commanding the Wither-Bloom Divine Fire, a sharp glint flashed through Perfected Shenyuan's eyes.
Now!
Holding the bottle in one hand, he formed a seal with the other and slowly closed his eyes.
Hum…
A strange, eerie force surged forth without warning.
Before anyone could perceive it, an invisible attack struck toward Luo Chen.
Luo Chen's entire body shuddered. His eyes closed reflexively, and even the Wither-Bloom Divine Fire withered by thirty percent.
Seeing this, Shenyuan was overjoyed.
Ever since Luo Chen had battled the three great demon emperors before his very eyes and personally slain Huang Man, Shenyuan had known this man possessed strength no lesser than a Great Cultivator's.
When Luo Chen returned safely from Mount Cangwu and joined the Mingyuan Sect, he knew the young man had soared beyond his reach, no longer someone he could scheme against.
Above all, though the man carried himself like a gentleman, his record showed he was someone who repaid every kindness and settled every score.
After targeting the Luotian Sect so relentlessly and ambushing Luo Chen, how could there ever be peace between them?
A battle between them was inevitable!
To that end, he had made extensive preparations.
The Inexhaustible Spring was meant to counter the fifth-rank divine fire.
And the soul art he had just unleashed exploited Luo Chen's short cultivation span; the young man's soul foundation could not possibly match his own.
Yet there was still one prominent strength of his opponent that had to be dealt with!
"It is a pity to lose this exceedingly precious physical vessel."
With a low murmur, Perfected Shenyuan struck a palm against the Glazed Jade Pure Bottle.
The next instant, the clear spring surged out in a gurgling flood.
The boundless torrent instantly blew open the encirclement of the Wither-Bloom Divine Fire.
Not only that, but the Five-Colored Pagoda that had been tangled in combat with the Hunyuan Cauldron also whirled back, spilling vast swaths of yellow light.
Perfected Shenyuan made a grasping motion with both hands. The fragments of the crystalline flying sword shattered by the Great Five Elements Sword Array converged toward him, turning into streaks of golden radiance.
Inhaling deeply, he opened his mouth and spat out a breath of pure Nascent Soul true fire condensed from magic power. It intertwined and spun with the golden light, the yellow light, and the azure glow of the Inexhaustible Spring.
"Nine Rotations of Golden Flame, Living Earth Fills the Sea!"
Spells in this world were divided into many kinds and attributes.
The basic ones merely dusted garments or cleansed the flesh; the powerful could rend heaven and earth, hailed as divine abilities.
And between the two, there existed a relatively special category of spell.
They were known as combination spells!
Luo Chen's Landslide technique, for instance, combined fire and earth; Mirror Flower, Water Moon was a combination of water and wood.
For the Five Elements Divine Sect, which specialized in the study of spells, how could they lack such arts?
The Innate Primordial Qi Great Handprint was merely the simplest permutation, hardly profound.
Back then on the Battle Arena, the Four Symbols Barrier cast by the Five Elements Divine Sect's Core Formation Great Cultivator Yin Sixiang had been the true pinnacle of the art!
However, limited by his realm, Yin Sixiang had required numerous external items to assist him, and his casting speed had been painfully slow.
Yet Perfected Shenyuan suffered no such constraints!
His art—the Nine Rotations of Golden Flame, Living Earth Fills the Sea—was not inferior to the divine abilities created by Soul Formation grandmasters, whether in subtlety or raw destructive power.
Its sole flaw was perhaps that it lacked the true intent of the laws!
Yet who in this world could master the true intent of metal, fire, water, and earth simultaneously, and fuse them all together?
"To kill Luo Chen, this is more than enough!"
With great effort, Shenyuan slowly pushed the spell forward.
Instantly, a torrential river of fiery magma surged across the world, washing over and devouring everything in its path.
Bereft of Luo Chen's active guidance, even the Wither-Bloom Divine Fire could not withstand its fury and was forced to fall back to protect its master.
Yet under that continuous deluge, deprived of Luo Chen's magic power, the divine fire grew dimmer and dimmer.
"Master, wake up quickly!"
Pushed to the brink, the fledgling Wither-Bloom Fire Spirit transmitted a desperate warning of alarm.
And to that…
Shing!
Luo Chen's eyes snapped open. In his right hand, a blood-red sword suddenly appeared.
He slashed downward!
The blood sword cut across the vast sky, cleaving the river of fiery magma in twain and riding the countercurrent directly toward Shenyuan's body.
A single sword strike!
Under the terrified gazes of countless Five Elements Divine Sect disciples, that aged body was split cleanly in two.
Even his vast, impure Nascent Soul hung frozen in the air, cleaved in half.
Luo Chen recalled the Wither-Bloom Divine Fire and stood poised with sword in hand.
As the fierce wind whipped about him, his face was cold and ruthless. "What gave you the illusion that your soul foundation was superior to mine?"
Within his sea of consciousness, the three sub-souls stood guard in their respective directions, the Prison-Suppressing Soul Art vigilant at all times.
Let alone a single soul art from Perfected Shenyuan,
even if three or five Great Cultivators had launched a joint soul attack, Luo Chen would not have feared it in the least.
His earlier stillness had merely been feigning weakness, luring the enemy into unleashing an ultimate move so he could seize an opening and sever him with one blow.
This old thing had lived for nearly a millennium and held far too many trump cards and hidden methods. If the battle dragged on, ghost knew what bizarre tricks he might still produce.
Only an instantaneous kill could cleanly sever this grievance.
The aged flesh plummeted to the earth, kicking up clouds of dust.
The Nascent Soul, cleaved in two, hovered blankly in the air, seemingly unaware of what had just transpired.
How could the man have remained entirely unaffected by the soul art?
How had his proudest, most exquisite spell been dismantled in an instant?
What in the world was that sword?
Was his path truly to end here?
It shouldn't be!
It shouldn't be like this!
"It shouldn't be like this!!!"
Watching the tiny Nascent Soul figure unravel and dissipate into the void, Luo Chen felt his thoughts gradually clear and unburden themselves.
Ignoring those despairing, unwilling cries, and disregarding the countless hateful, resentful gazes below, he recalled the Hunyuan Cauldron and turned to leave.
Suddenly!
The wind ceased abruptly, and the clouds froze still!
Luo Chen spun around, his gaze locking sharply onto the severed Nascent Soul.
Before his very eyes, the two halves merged back together. Not only that, but the tiny form began to balloon at a terrifying rate as oceanic quantities of heaven-and-earth qi poured into it.
And then!
"My disciples and descendants, with a great enemy before us, why do you stand idly by?"
"Are you afraid? Or do you no longer acknowledge me as your Supreme Elder?"
"In that case, return your strength to me!"
"I shall be the one to slay this thief!"
The immense Nascent Soul straddled the void, drawing in currents of spiritual energy that converged into vast torrents.
As its eyes opened and its lips moved, the sect-protecting array that had enveloped the Five Elements Divine Sect to trap Luo Chen began to shudder violently.
Beams of light cascaded down, sweeping across the low-tier disciples one after another.
With every soul the light grazed, a life was extinguished.
Their magic power, vitality, and even their souls were drawn up along the light beams to merge into that colossal Nascent Soul.
"Senior Brother, you cannot!"
Sect Master Shenhuo roared in agony.
Yet Shenyuan paid him no heed, continuing entirely undisturbed.
The colossal Nascent Soul grew and expanded until it gave Luo Chen a faint sense of familiarity.
"A Primordial Spirit?"
Back on Heaven and Earth Peak, before the Alchemy Saint Chu Yan ascended, he had briefly manifested his Primordial Spirit.
It had ceased to be an infant's form, becoming instead an immense soul giant that could blot out the heavens.
He knew that was the hallmark of a Soul Formation grandmaster—the transformation of the Nascent Soul into a Primordial Spirit!
At this moment, Perfected Shenyuan was clearly treading that very path in his death throes.
Frowning, Luo Chen swung the Yuantu Sword in a sharp arc.
Shing!
The sword light blazed. With a single strike, the illusory, towering Primordial Spirit was split in two.
Yet an instant later, sustained by the endless heaven-and-earth qi and the sacrifice of countless disciples, it rapidly fused together once more.
Luo Chen was stunned. His Yuantu Blood Sword was a top-tier True Artifact that had successively slain two Soul Formation powerhouses—Ancestor Blood Sea and Ancestor Heize—standing merely a step away from a spirit treasure.
How could it be ineffective against Shenyuan's Primordial Spirit?
'Could it be…'
With a thought, Luo Chen activated his Scarlet Eyes and Golden Pupils, gazing into the void.
Strands of spiritual opportunity were flowing along the vast spiritual energy of heaven and earth, merging into Shenyuan's body.
Assimilation!
Sure enough, while Shenyuan appeared to be storming the Soul Formation realm, he was actually in the process of being rapidly assimilated by heaven and earth.
At this moment, he was this corner of the world itself!
Though the Yuantu Sword could slay a Soul Formation cultivator, it was far from capable of severing a piece of the world itself.
Luo Chen began to retreat.
Doing the same were the remaining Nascent Soul cultivators of the Five Elements Divine Sect.
"Run, quickly! Senior Brother has gone mad!"
"As long as you live, hope remains for the Divine Sect!"
Sect Master Shenhuo screamed in sheer desperation.
Terror filled the eyes of Qi Emei and the other two as they scrambled backward, paying no heed even to Luo Chen retreating alongside them.
To this,
the terrifying Primordial Spirit straddling the sky, swollen to a height of thousands of feet, let out a low rumble of laughter.
"You cannot escape."
"From the moment you cultivated the method I bestowed upon you, you were doomed to never escape for the rest of your lives."
"Come back. Come back, all of you!"
Along with his bell-like chuckle, Qi Emei and the other two Nascent Souls discovered to their horror that their magic power was no longer under their control. Even their Nascent Souls could not leave their bodies. They were dragged through the air toward that titanic Primordial Spirit.
"It's the Nayuan Divine Art!"
Sect Master Shenhuo fell to his knees, understanding everything in an instant.
"Senior Brother, you left a hidden seal within it!"
Perfected Shenyuan ignored him entirely. That horrifying suction had little effect on his junior brother Shenhuo; it worked only on the low-tier cultivators and the three who had cultivated the Nayuan Divine Art.
Amidst their screams and pleas for mercy, Shenyuan devoured the three completely.
Then, the immense Primordial Spirit of thousands of feet locked its gaze onto the white-robed man.
"Luo Chen, it's your turn!"
Chapter 931