Chapter 109: Silver Sword River

Breakthrough!

Lu Hangzhi had realized long ago, ever since the Mirror Spirit Cat reached the late Eighth Grade stage, that it was this little creature hindering its master and slowing down his advancement progress. However, considering the ample resources available and the fact that the kitten’s cultivation was slowing down, he did nothing about it. He allowed the Mirror Spirit Cat to continue absorbing the silver, high-quality Magic Power that transformed within him.

Only when Qi Yuanfeng warned him using Tiger Leopard’s Thunder Voice did Lu Hangzhi realize the critical situation at the Xuanxin Sect’s defense line. Without a word, he tossed Little Gray aside and smoothly advanced to the Ninth Grade of the Epiphany Stage. His Spiritual Power Pool stabilized at twice its original size, with a silver surface resembling a bright moon, full of strong mystery.

As the Spiritual Power Pool expanded, his Spiritual Sense increased many times over, quickly extending to a battlefield at the foot of the Spiritual Peak. His expression changed immediately.

Whoosh!

With a single step, he activated the Swift Movement Art, instantly moving out of the courtyard and landing beside Nangong Jun, Leng Wuya, and the others. A silver Spiritual Energy Vortex enveloped all five of them.

“Meow!”

Little Gray swiftly moved from Nangong Jun’s shoulder to Lu Hangzhi.

“Hangzhi!”

“Junior brother, congratulations!” “Congratulations, junior brother.” Before the others could finish speaking, a black shadow flashed before their eyes—Lu Hangzhi was already gone.

“Wow, so fast!” Xiong Qi exclaimed, staring with his mouth wide open in the direction Lu Hangzhi had left.

Lü Liang was still reeling from the shock caused by the Mirror Spirit Cat.

“Sister Jun, Lü Liang, did you notice?” Leng Wuya said with a delighted expression. “Just in that short moment Hangzhi was here, I felt my cultivation loosen a bit, as if I had trained hard for several days. Didn’t you?”

“Now that you mention it, it’s true…”

Nangong Jun, Lü Liang, and Xiong Qi each checked their own states, faces lit up with pleasant surprise.

Zhu Fuqin directly sat down cross-legged, her breath fluctuating unsteadily. After absorbing some of the silver high-quality Magic Power, she had instantly reached a breakthrough bottleneck. The other four didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“Alright, I’ll stay here to protect Fuqin. Sister Jun, you all should go help,” Leng Wuya said.

“Okay!”

…

Cultivating “The Path to Divinity,” Peak Eighth Grade was the strongest level in the Epiphany Stage. But after breaking through to Ninth Grade, Lu Hangzhi suddenly felt the whole world had changed.

His Spiritual Sense covered several miles around; the songs of birds and insects, the swaying of flowers and grass, the movement of wind and sand—everything became clear and vivid, as if right before his eyes!

With each step, it seemed there was no resistance from the world. Invisible Magic Power pushed his body forward, accelerating his movement…

The silver Spiritual Energy Vortex grew even larger!

Blending with the Power of Heaven and Earth! Surging and swelling, it absorbed Magic Power from all directions along the way, its scale expanding continuously, like a moving super Spirit Gathering Array, forcibly entering the battlefield.

“Whoa!”

“What is that thing…”

Everyone was shocked.

“So rich in Magic Power.”

“Hangzhi, what are you doing? So exaggerated!” Cheng Fei, Qi Yuanfeng, and others were the first to recognize the creator of the massive Spiritual Energy Vortex, both startled and overjoyed.

Entering the battlefield, his Spiritual Sense immediately detected dozens of casualties in the Xuanxin Sect. Lu Hangzhi’s face was as grim as water, and without a word, he spun the Tianji Umbrella.

Swish, swish…

Seven silver streaks tore through space, swiftly piercing through seven Ghost-Faced Demon Wolves, then even faster, entering seven more nearby Ghost-Faced Demon Wolves.

By the time the Flying Swords exited their last targets, the bodies of the first and second Ghost-Faced Demon Wolves suddenly split in half, two sections of their corpses heavily hitting the ground, the cut surfaces smooth as mirrors.

Seven Motions with One Thought, seven kills with one thought!

The Spiritual Energy Vortex whirled, creating rolling waves of air! Lu Hangzhi swept past the battlefield where the Xuanxin Sect Elders and True Disciples were fighting. The Ghost-Faced Demon Wolves were instantly wiped out, with the remaining twenty or so quickly surrounded and finished off by hundreds of people…

At this moment, the Matrix Tower was in imminent danger!

Boom!

Many Soul-Concentrating Demon Beasts tirelessly and frantically attacked the Barrier and the group led by Elder Zhao.

Under the continuous freezing energy from the Matrix Tower, the demon beasts’ movements were tightly restricted. A hidden voice constantly urged them to take down the Matrix Tower first.

Crack!

The Demon Ape and Crocodile-Dragon Turtle finally struck a fissure in the Barrier.

The Demon Ape’s hands shot like lightning into the rapidly closing crack, gripping the edges, veins bulging, revealing a fierce expression as it let out a deafening roar.

The crack widened!

Boom!

It stomped on the fissure in the Barrier, forcefully widening it into a two-meter-long and wide opening, squeezing half its body into the Matrix Tower.

Seeing this, Elder Zhao and the others grew extremely anxious!

They had managed to hold on this long entirely because of the Matrix Tower’s continuous release of wide-range freezing energy, restricting the demon beasts’ Vital Qi Power and movement, allowing them to fight back. If the Matrix Tower fell and they lost the Formation’s protection, dozens of Soul-Concentrating Demon Beasts would be unleashed, and the entire Xuanxin Sect would soon collapse.

Just then!

A powerful Heaven and Earth Power rapidly approached from behind.

“Huh?”

“The aura of the Spirit Condensation Stage…”

Elder Zhao and his group were overjoyed.

Before the person arrived, the swords came first!

Seven imposing Top-grade Magical Artifacts trailed silver Sword Qi over the heads of the Spirit Coalescence Elders, then abruptly landed one after another in the clearing behind the Demon Ape and Crocodile-Dragon Turtle.

“It’s him… He just broke through?”

“Unstable aura, unfamiliar control?”

Elder Zhao, Mo Li, and the others recognized the young man within the Spiritual Energy Vortex and couldn’t help sighing.

Having just reached Spirit Concentrating, one indeed needed time to get used to everything.

Yet…

Just as they felt relieved for Lu Hangzhi, the seven Flying Swords that had “mistakenly” landed on the ground suddenly connected. Then, like a tide, silver fish-shaped Sword Qi rose from them, instantly soaring into the sky.

The crowd fell silent.

Sword Formation!

It was the power of a Sword Formation!

And they clearly sensed the Power of Heaven and Earth unique to Mind Focusing Cultivators within each fish-shaped Sword Qi.

In the moment they were stunned, the Sword Formation was completed!

Forty-nine silver fish-shaped Sword Qi, carrying the soaring Power of Heaven and Earth, hovered above the Matrix Tower, forming a Sword Formation that intimidated even the late Concentration Stage Demon Ape and Crocodile-Dragon Turtle. Sword Qi crisscrossed, filled with deadly intent.

The Demon Ape and Crocodile-Dragon Turtle were both drawn to this sudden intervention, their eyes flashing with dangerous caution. Their movements unconsciously slowed as they gathered more Vital Qi Power around their bodies to strengthen their defense.

As the Sword Formation absorbed most of the Magic Power, before Lu Hangzhi could even consume the Spirit Honey, the silver Magic Power carried by the Spiritual Energy Vortex surged into his body, quickly replenishing the consumed energy. The silver vortex only shrank slightly from its original fifty-meter radius to forty-five meters.

Lu Hangzhi’s eyes lit up:

“Kill!”

Taking advantage of the twenty-plus Soul-Concentrating Demon Beasts being intimidated by the forty-nine Mind-Concentrating Sword Qi hovering in the air, he decisively released the five Sword Spirit seniors.

Compared to Mind-Concentrating Sword Qi, the Sword Qi personally controlled by the Sword Spirit seniors was more powerful! Faster!

“This crocodile’s scales are so thick, harder than the pangolin we met last time. Can’t even cut through!”

“Then focus fire on the Demon Ape! Wittle down its Vital Qi!!”

After the five Sword Spirit seniors exchanged strikes on the Crocodile-Dragon Turtle’s body, they felt slightly dazed and shifted to focus on the Demon Ape. This also triggered the second wave of attacks from the other demon beasts.

Lu Hangzhi held the umbrella with one hand, stepping on the void, his robes fluttering. He quickly locked onto the weakest few Early Spirit Concentration Stage demon beasts among the Soul-Concentrating Demon Beasts.

“Kill!”

With a single thought, dozens of Mind-Concentrating Sword Qi transformed from stillness into motion, instantly forming a silver sword river that erupted with an aura intimidating to all Soul-Concentrating Demon Beasts.

Just as the group of Soul-Concentrating Demon Beasts activated their Vital Qi for self-protection, the Sword Qi split in the air and swiftly drilled into three Early Spirit Concentration Stage demon beasts.

These three Soul-Concentrating Demon Beasts had been fighting for a while, their Vital Qi not very robust. Suddenly targeted by over a dozen Mind-Concentrating Sword Qi, they shrieked in alarm. Their weak external Vital Qi Power was immediately scattered and shaken by the Sword Qi carrying the Power of Heaven and Earth, quickly breaking through their defenses and slicing their bodies into several pieces of flesh.

With one move, three Early Spirit Concentration Stage demon beasts were eliminated.

Not only did this intimidate the demon beasts, but Elder Zhao and his group were also deeply shocked.

Such a powerful young man!

Just after reaching Spirit Concentrating, he was already this sharp. His future achievements would surely be limitless.

“Congratulations, Venerable Mo! Your Xuanxin Sect has produced an extraordinary Venerable One,” Elder Zhao said while casting spells, congratulating Mo Li.

“Haha, it’s nothing, nothing,” Mo Li replied, also surprised that Lu Hangzhi had actually broken through successfully, smiling so widely he couldn’t close his mouth.

Just then, another Venerable One seemed to notice something and remarked:

“Strange… Hangzhi doesn’t seem to have successfully condensed a Divine Spark. Although this Power of Heaven and Earth is strong, it’s not quite comparable to a true Early Spirit Concentration Stage. It seems more like a pseudo Spirit Concentrating aura and half-step Spirit Concentrating…”

“Hiss, indeed. Look, Lu Hangzhi’s control of the Sword Formation is quite skilled, but the consumption isn’t that high. If an ordinary Early Spirit Concentration Stage cultivator truly supported such a powerful Sword Formation, unleashing forty-nine Mind-Concentrating Sword Qi in one breath, they’d be exhausted after two rounds of attacks. But Lu Hangzhi shows no sign of excessive depletion.”

Hearing this analysis, everyone turned their gaze back to the scene.

After the forty-nine Mind-Concentrating Sword Qi weakened, they quickly replenished their energy and charged toward two Mid Soul-Concentrating Stage demon beasts with renewed vigor.

Startled, the two Mid Soul-Concentrating Stage demon beasts let out desperate howls, spitting out a mouthful of Essential Blood. Their bodies’ Vital Qi Power solidified into a sphere, enveloping them as they faced the dozens of Mind-Concentrating Sword Qi.

Swish, swish, swish, swish…

A continuous series of collision sounds erupted.

The Early Spirit Concentration Stage Mind-Concentrating Sword Qi struck the Vital Qi shields and were bounced off, losing all their spirit.

After over twenty Mind-Concentrating Sword Qi struck continuously, the Vital Qi shield’s glow dimmed rapidly, weakening significantly, revealing the exhausted, panting faces of the two demon beasts inside.

So that’s how it was!

While Lu Hangzhi easily dealt with the Early Spirit Concentration Stage demon beasts, facing the Mid Soul-Concentrating Stage demon beasts, he struggled even when targeting two at once, unable to achieve instant kills.

But…

If truly attacked by over twenty Mind-Concentrating Sword Qi, Mid Soul-Concentrating Stage demon beasts wouldn’t be able to withstand it.

Just then!

The forty-nine Mind-Concentrating Sword Qi regained their power once more!

Under the desperate, bleak gazes of the two Mid Soul-Concentrating Stage demon beasts, the silver sword river made a comeback…