Boom!
The Mind Sword pierced into his body like a sudden bolt of thunder, instantly sending a piercing agony stabbing through Tianxin's mind.
Just how condensed was Tianxin's spirit?
Back then, even when Sheng Yuanyi repeatedly slashed with his Mind Sword into Tianxin's spirit, he had been utterly unable to shake it.
Yet at this moment, Tianxin felt as though his spirit were being torn apart.
"The Mind Sword?"
Tianxin's expression finally changed.
He was well aware of how terrifying the Mind Sword was.
That Sheng Yuanyi's Mind Sword could not cleave his spirit did not mean the Mind Sword was weak.
On the contrary, the Mind Sword was exceptionally formidable.
As the supreme secret transmission of the Mind Sword Sect, how could it be weak?
Weak was only Sheng Yuanyi himself.
That Sheng Yuanyi's Mind Sword could not shake Tianxin's spirit did not mean Lu Changsheng's Mind Sword could not either.
At this moment, Lu Changsheng's Mind Sword had nearly cleaved Tianxin's spirit in two.
However, it was not that Lu Changsheng's Mind Sword was stronger than Sheng Yuanyi's, but because of the Nine-Word Mantra Secret Method.
Lu Changsheng had unleashed the Nine-Word Mantra Secret Method to jolt and rattle Tianxin's spirit, and only then struck with the Mind Sword.
This was equivalent to coordinating the Nine-Word Mantra Secret Method with the Mind Sword.
The two complemented each other, releasing a truly terrifying might.
Even Tianxin's formidable spirit was shaken.
With his spirit shaken, Tianxin's Slaughter Conception instantly collapsed and dispersed.
Hum!
Seizing this opening, Lu Changsheng's three previously suppressed martial conceptions erupted all at once, infusing into his blade technique.
The sky darkened once more.
It seemed as though the blood-red hue from earlier had merely been a fleeting illusion.
Yet in the void, a ray of bloody light streaked forward, arriving in the blink of an eye.
At the hairsbreadth moment, Tianxin erupted with his Slaughter Conception once again.
"My mind and will are forged as one. To shake my spirit is impossible!"
Tianxin's voice boomed like thunder, exploding beside Lu Changsheng's ears.
At the same time, the three martial conceptions Lu Changsheng had infused into his blade technique were suppressed once more.
His slash at this moment carried six thousand tripods of force.
Formidable as it was, Tianxin still dispersed it with a single finger strike.
The two appeared locked in a stalemate.
Tianxin's advantage lay in his near-perfect Slaughter Conception, which could suppress Lu Changsheng's three martial conceptions.
Lu Changsheng's advantage lay in the synergy of the Nine-Word Mantra Secret Method and the Mind Sword, capable of jolting Tianxin's spirit and creating a momentary lapse and fracture in it.
Yet neither could decisively capitalize on the opening.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The two engaged in a contest of brute force.
Blow after blow, neither could fully deploy their martial conceptions, or at least not smoothly.
It became a pure clash of physical strength and secret methods.
Lu Changsheng possessed the Three Transformations of the Divine Dragon and Triple Waves, but Tianxin was hardly lacking either, wielding similarly fearsome secret methods.
However, through this relentless direct clash, Lu Changsheng noticed that Tianxin's spirit was growing more and more condensed.
Even though Lu Changsheng repeatedly used the Nine-Word Mantra Secret Method and cleaved Tianxin's spirit again and again with the Mind Sword, he still could not prevent Tianxin's spirit from tempering and condensing further with each impact.
On the contrary, it was as if he were assisting Tianxin.
Subconsciously, Lu Changsheng sensed a creeping crisis.
Tianxin was using him as a whetstone, aiming to elevate his spirit to a supreme realm in one fell swoop and bring his Slaughter Conception to absolute perfection!
Whoosh!
Lu Changsheng instantly retreated, putting some distance between himself and Tianxin.
He did not strike again.
Continuing to deploy the Nine-Word Mantra Secret Method and the Mind Sword served no purpose.
It would only fuel Tianxin's Slaughter Conception.
"Caught on?"
Tianxin smiled.
"No matter. Even if you understand now, it's already too late."
"The final thread of my Slaughter Conception has at last reached perfection."
"Your Mind Sword is quite good, and so is that secret method of yours that shakes the spirit. Otherwise, you couldn't have rattled my spirit, nor granted me new enlightenment to push my Slaughter Conception to completion."
"For that, I really ought to thank you."
As Tianxin spoke, he involuntarily released his Slaughter Conception.
Lu Changsheng could clearly sense the Slaughter Conception around Tianxin undergoing a rapid, violent transformation.
Perfection!
Tianxin's Slaughter Conception was truly beginning to evolve toward complete perfection.
Moreover, this process was irreversible and unstoppable!
It was just like entering an epiphany of the Dao.
Right now, Tianxin was immersed in enlightenment.
He had completely comprehended the Slaughter Conception.
Once it reached perfection, every gesture, every move and strike Tianxin made would carry the terrifying pressure of the perfected Slaughter Conception.
Any other martial conception, so long as it had not reached perfection, would be utterly suppressed before a perfected conception.
When that time came, neither Lu Changsheng's Nine-Word Mantra Secret Method nor his Mind Sword would be able to shake Tianxin's spirit.
"Using me as a whetstone?"
Lu Changsheng's eyes sharpened.
Earlier, he had intended to stack his three martial conceptions to erupt with thirteen thousand tripods of force and clash head-on with Tianxin.
Yet Tianxin had not given him the chance at all.
From start to finish, his three martial conceptions had never truly unleashed their full might.
They had been suppressed.
However, Lu Changsheng still had one final move.
Taking a deep breath, he walked toward Tianxin step by step.
"Hmm?"
Tianxin was slightly puzzled.
What gave Dao Twelve the audacity to walk toward him now?
At this moment, the void was filled with blood-red Slaughter Conception.
In this instant, the Slaughter Conception manifested directly, blanketing the sky and covering the earth to form a domain.
This was the Slaughter Domain!
Within the Slaughter Domain, all martial conceptions were suppressed.
Furthermore, one's spirit would be influenced by the killing intent of the Slaughter Domain.
One might only be able to bring out seventy or eighty percent of their strength, or even just fifty or sixty percent.
Such was the terror of the Slaughter Domain.
Or rather, any domain manifested from a perfected martial conception was this terrifying.
Boom!
The Slaughter Conception descended.
Lu Changsheng felt as though he were enveloped in boundless killing intent.
With every movement of his hands and feet, killing intent bore down upon him.
His strength was suppressed to the lowest point.
Yet Lu Changsheng showed no fear whatsoever.
He continued advancing toward Tianxin, step by step.
"I have a sword, forged over a dozen years, never once shown to anyone."
"Today, I shall slay you with this sword!"
Lu Changsheng's tone was calm.
Yet beneath that calm tone lay ironclad resolve, leaving no room for doubt.
"A sword?"
Tianxin's face was devoid of joy or sorrow.
Dao Twelve used a sabre; this was known to all.
Now he was going to use a sword?
Besides, what kind of sword took over a dozen years to forge?
However, no matter what fancy tricks Dao Twelve had, they were useless before his Slaughter Conception.
One had to know that the Slaughter Conception operated on the spiritual level; once the spirit was suppressed, physical strength was suppressed along with it.
Not to mention the Divine Strength Realm, even the Divine Gang Realm would be constrained by the Slaughter Domain.
Once the Slaughter Conception reached perfection and transformed into the Slaughter Domain, using it to condense Divine Gang would ensure that upon stepping into the Divine Gang Realm, Tianxin could still stand unmatched beneath the heavens and look down on martial artists of the same tier!
Much less a mere Dao Twelve.
"Blood qi sword!"
Lu Changsheng did not hesitate.
Once he made a decision, he harbored no hesitation.
Hum!
He released the blood qi sword.
The blood qi sword forged for fourteen full years—once released, its explosive power reached a staggering seventeen thousand tripods!
Moreover, Lu Changsheng did not simply release the blood qi sword by itself.
He unleashed it in the manner of a sword technique.
Clang!
As if unsheathing a sword, Lu Changsheng violently drew a sword forged of qi and blood from within his body.
Qi and blood compressed to the absolute extreme.
For this strike, Lu Changsheng's own power was suppressed by the Slaughter Domain; out of his six thousand tripods of force, he could perhaps only unleash around four thousand.
However, the blood qi sword was completely unaffected.
After all, the blood qi sword was an inanimate object; it possessed no spirit and was untouched by the state of Lu Changsheng's spirit.
Seventeen thousand tripods from the blood qi sword, plus four thousand tripods from his physical body.
This single strike carried a full twenty-one thousand tripods of force!
Ten thousand tripods could pierce Gang.
And twenty thousand tripods?
Thus, the instant Lu Changsheng drew the blood qi sword and struck out, Tianxin's heart jolted violently.
Danger!
Tianxin sensed peril.
Extreme peril!
"How is this possible?"
"My Slaughter Conception has reached perfection and evolved into a Slaughter Domain! In the Divine Strength Realm, who could possibly be my match?"
"Impossible! Utterly impossible!"
"Slaughter Domain, suppress him!"
Tianxin's expression changed drastically.
At the same time, the Slaughter Domain surged and churned, frantically pressing down upon Lu Changsheng.
Yet no matter how it pressed, the Slaughter Domain could not completely suppress Lu Changsheng, much less suppress the blood qi sword.
Swoosh!
Unnoticed by all, Tianxin had also drawn a sword.
When facing enemies, Tianxin almost never used sword arts.
Yet now, he had to draw his blade.
From that blood qi sword, Tianxin felt a lethal threat.
A beam of bloody sword light soared into the sky, carrying thick, choking killing intent as it collided violently with Lu Changsheng's blood qi sword.
After releasing the blood qi sword, Lu Changsheng retreated almost immediately.
Boom!
Finally, the blood qi sword collided with Tianxin's sword light and instantly detonated.
Yes, an authentic explosion.
The terror of the blood qi sword lay not in its sharpness, but in its explosive detonation!
The blood qi sword was originally countless amounts of qi and blood compressed into one.
Once released in an instant, how terrifying would the resulting explosive force be?
Tianxin's eyes went wide.
His once-unshakeable state of mind finally collapsed.
"No—"
Tianxin's features contorted in horror.
Formidable as the Slaughter Domain was, it remained a force on the spiritual plane, unable to interfere with physical reality.
No matter how potent the Slaughter Domain was, against the raw explosion of pure qi and blood force, it was utterly powerless.
Thus, when that horrific power surpassing twenty thousand tripods erupted, it instantly crushed the sword light Tianxin unleashed, sweeping forward with unstoppable momentum and immediately engulfing Tianxin's figure.
Under such conditions, let alone a Divine Strength Realm martial artist, even a Divine Gang Realm martial artist would surely die!
The explosion lasted for some time.
Lu Changsheng also endured the shockwaves of the blood qi sword's detonation.
Such was the nature of the blood qi sword: its explosion did not distinguish between friend and foe.
However, Lu Changsheng was able to retreat the instant he unleashed it.
As long as he reached a certain distance, his defensive capabilities were sufficient to withstand the brunt of the shockwaves.
And that was precisely what he did.
Even with the shockwaves slamming against him, Lu Changsheng held his ground and suffered no harm.
Still, the battle between Lu Changsheng and Tianxin had been nothing short of terrifying.
A radius of a hundred zhang had been virtually flattened to the ground.
At least several hundred, perhaps even over a thousand people were watching this duel.
All of them were martial artists, and many were Divine Strength Realm experts.
Watching the battle between the two left their minds reeling in shock, unable to recover for a long time.
"Are they even still in the Divine Strength Realm?"
"Can destructive power like this truly be achieved by someone in the Divine Strength Realm?"
"They say the Thousand Tripods Realm is the pinnacle of the Divine Strength Realm, but whether it was Tianxin or Dao Twelve, the power they unleashed far exceeded a thousand tripods of force!"
"Dao Twelve's final sword strike was earth-shattering. Even with Tianxin's Slaughter Domain, he's probably doomed. Just what kind of technique was that?"
"Could Tianxin have survived it?"
Everyone stared toward the spot where Tianxin had stood.
Such a horrific explosion had sent shivers through the Divine Strength Realm martial artists even from afar.
They asked themselves: if they were to face such an explosion, not even ashes would remain of their corpses.
Yet Tianxin was different.
Tianxin was ranked first on the Divine Strength Ranking, ruling over the chart and looking down upon all Divine Strength Realm martial artists.
Who could possibly kill Tianxin?
Yet the explosion of the blood qi sword finally subsided.
The smoke and dust gradually cleared away.
At a single glance, Lu Changsheng saw that the ground had been blasted into a massive crater.
The blood qi sword was an authentic explosion.
With so much qi and blood compressed together, what kind of immense might would it possess upon detonating?
Not to mention, Lu Changsheng had forged that sword for fourteen years!
A huge crater lay in the ground.
Inside the crater was blood—dyed crimson everywhere.
It was as though the entire pit had been soaked in blood.
Only... where was Tianxin?
Tianxin had vanished without a trace.
Lu Changsheng walked over.
One step, two steps, three steps...
When he stopped and inspected the crater closely, he fell silent.
Tianxin was right there in the pit.
Or rather, Tianxin's flesh, blood, and corpse were no more.
Only the crater soaked in fresh blood remained.
Tianxin had been left without corpse or bone; the blast of the blood qi sword had obliterated his physical body into fine powder.
His flesh and blood were blended completely into the crater's soil.
Not a trace of body or bone remained!
A true obliteration without corpse or bone!
Lu Changsheng knew his blood qi sword was powerful.
Yet, after fourteen years of sword-forging, that its might would reach this scale still surpassed his expectations.
Tianxin had evolved his Slaughter Conception into a Slaughter Domain.
And in the end, he had been blown apart by the blood qi sword without even a bone left behind.
In the distance, an uproar broke out among the watching martial artists.
Gone!
Tianxin was gone.
No matter where they looked, he was nowhere to be seen.
Some people had already guessed the possibility.
Obliterated without a corpse!
A few bolder figures even drew closer, seeing the scene inside the crater from afar.
Inside the pit, blood-soaked soil was everywhere.
They could even see bits of minced flesh mixed into the dirt.
All at once, realization struck them.
Tianxin was dead!
Truly dead, and reduced to nothingness!
Shock!
Incredulity!
Who could have imagined such an outcome?
The mighty number one on the Divine Strength Ranking—even if he hadn't dominated an entire generation, he had held sway over the Northern Region Battlefield for more than a year.
No one had dared challenge Tianxin.
That alone spoke to his formidable reputation!
Yet now, Tianxin was dead.
And not a scrap of his corpse or bones remained.
This was a head-on battle against Dao Twelve, where he was directly obliterated.
"Just what level of strength has Dao Twelve reached?"
"Perhaps even the Divine Gang Realm is no more than this?"
"They say ten thousand tripods can shatter Gang. Do you really think Dao Twelve's strike earlier had only ten thousand tripods of force?"
"Dao Twelve's sword strike was an explosion of pure qi and blood. Can pure qi and blood force truly be this terrifying?"
"Tianxin had comprehended the Slaughter Conception to perfection and even evolved the Slaughter Domain. Yet facing pure qi and blood, he had virtually no way to fight back. So qi and blood can actually reach such a degree, instantly killing the pinnacle of the Divine Strength Realm!"
Many martial artists had noticed the blood qi sword.
They naturally sensed that the blood qi sword was composed of pure qi and blood force.
However, upon reaching the Divine Strength Realm, practically no one paid attention to qi and blood anymore.
No one deliberately cultivated qi and blood.
Divine Strength Realm martial artists devoted almost all their energy to enhancing their physical constitution and comprehending martial conceptions.
Who would bother intentionally cultivating qi and blood?
Wasn't qi and blood something only Body Tempering martial artists cultivated?
Yet now, Dao Twelve had demonstrated to everyone the terrifying potential of qi and blood force.
It could completely disregard martial conceptions, and even disregard domains.
Once qi and blood accumulated to a certain degree, it could shake heaven and earth, power that peak Divine Strength Realm martial artists—and perhaps even Divine Gang Realm experts—might not be able to withstand.
"Perhaps we were all wrong. To boost combat strength in the Divine Strength Realm, one doesn't necessarily have to frantically comprehend martial conceptions. Perhaps qi and blood is another path."
For a time, many martial artists fell into thoughtful reflection.
Lu Changsheng, however, knew the truth all too well.
Martial conceptions were undeniably vital.
Simply cultivating qi and blood would not bring significant improvements.
He had only achieved such power by slowly accumulating his dissipating qi and blood over many years and releasing it all at once.
Now, his blood qi sword was gone.
If he were to face Tianxin again, the one to die would likely be Lu Changsheng.
However, on the Northern Region Battlefield, there was only one Tianxin!
"You Shifei, Yang Zhen, Tong Xuan, Tie Yuan."
"A year has passed. Today, I offer Tianxin as a sacrifice to you!"
Lu Changsheng thought of You Shifei and the others.
At this moment, the last lingering obsession in the depths of his heart finally dissolved completely.
His thoughts flowed unobstructed, and his mind felt thoroughly unburdened.
Lu Changsheng glanced down at the crater.
The only object remaining inside was a small medallion.
Neither metal nor jade, it was crafted from an unknown material.
Lu Changsheng reached out and drew the medallion into his hand.
Engraved upon it were several small characters:
"Northern Region Heavenly Sect..."
Lu Changsheng had never heard of the "Northern Region Heavenly Sect."
Judging by the name, it was likely a sect. Could Tianxin have been a disciple of this Northern Region Heavenly Sect?
Regardless, any medallion capable of surviving the blast of the blood qi sword was clearly extraordinary.
Stowing the medallion away, Lu Changsheng did not look back, heading straight on his return to Beiling City.
Chapter 128