Chapter 210: A Dance of a Hundred Swords

Xiong Shan kept chanting softly, gripping the hilt of the golden longsword with both hands as he slowly inserted it into the opening of the white jade altar.

A series of hissing, grating sounds arose.

The moment the longsword was inserted into the altar, the entire Sword-Sacrificing Platform shook violently, and a dazzling white pillar of light shot up from it, soaring straight into the sky.

At the same time, the spirit stones embedded in the black stone pillars beneath Han Li and the others suddenly burst into bright radiance, and streams of abundant spiritual power flowed out, filling the grooves on the pillars like liquid.

All ten black stone pillars trembled simultaneously, glowing with a blinding black light, each transforming into a pillar of light that shot into the sky.

In the high sky, the already scattered clouds were further churned to shreds by this light, and a layer of gray light screen visible to the naked eye emerged from within, like an inverted cauldron covering the entire Sword Tomb Forbidden Area.

Seeing this from the high platform, a look of inexplicable excitement appeared in Xiong Shan's eyes.

His previously low chanting suddenly turned into a loud, thunderous incantation that exploded across the nine heavens!

On the gray light screen, golden light suddenly flickered, coalescing into countless golden threads that intertwined, linked, and wandered unpredictably.

At the same time, the buzzing sound like the fluttering of wasp wings throughout the Sword Tomb Forbidden Area grew louder and louder.

Han Li looked around and saw that within his area, the hundred or so flying swords were simultaneously shaking violently, as if struggling to break free from the tombs' restraints.

Due to their extreme speed and amplitude, continuous fan-shaped afterimages flickered above the tombs.

Through his spiritual connection with the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, Han Li sensed a strong feeling of fear. His lifebound flying swords, like all the others, seemed to be in intense terror, wanting to flee this Sword Tomb Forbidden Area.

Thinking back to how he had painstakingly nurtured the Golden Lightning Bamboo in the mortal world and how he had painstakingly refined the entire set of seventy-two Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, a strange feeling welled up in Han Li's heart.

Throughout his long journey of cultivation, aside from the little bottle, the ones that had accompanied him the longest, shared life-and-death trials with him, and been most unwaveringly loyal to him were probably these Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, weren't they?

And now, these lifebound flying swords, connected to his very soul, were facing the situation of having their imprints erased and their sword essence extracted. This filled him with anxiety and even more with a sense of guilt.

He wished he could immediately rescue his flying swords and then leave once and for all.

The Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords within the formation seemed to sense their master's helplessness, each trembling with even more intense cries, faintly revealing a touch of tragic grandeur.

Han Li seemed to glean some of the swords' intentions from this.

It was a resolve of preferring to be shattered rather than compromised—once he could not save them, they would rather self-destruct than have their spiritual imprints erased and merge into other swords.

Just then, a buzzing sound suddenly came from the sky.

Han Li immediately looked up and saw that on the gray light barrier high above, all the golden threads had stopped moving and had converged into countless golden sword shadows.

These sword shadows varied in posture and shape—some blades were straight, some curved, some resembled ancient rulers, and others were like sharp awls...

Their sizes also differed—some were as huge as several hundred zhang, looking like large ships, while others were less than an inch, appearing like embroidery needles.

Han Li's eyesight was astonishing; upon closer inspection, he found that even the tiniest sword shadow had complete runes with every detail visible, showing no flaws.

With the appearance of this massive sword shadow formation, the sharp sword aura within the entire Sword Grave Forbidden Area surged dozens of times, and the green grass on the ground was almost instantly shredded into powder, while the air seemed to gain a touch of killing intent.

The ten Inner Sect Elders, including Han Li, standing on the black stone pillars, watched this scene with slightly changed expressions, marveling inwardly.

The three teams stationed in each area also looked solemn, firmly holding their positions, not daring to move even a little, fearing they would be caught in the sword aura and meet a miserable end of being sliced into pieces.

Amid his astonishment, Han Li felt a sense of doubt; he vaguely felt that the scene before him seemed somewhat familiar.

Just then, the elders scattered across the grassland, who were looking up at the sword shadow formation, seemed to be struck by a powerful blow from some invisible force, letting out muffled groans and averting their gazes.

Even Mo Xie, after gazing for only a dozen breaths, found his sea of consciousness stinging unbearably and reluctantly shifted his gaze away.

Although Han Li also suffered the impact, his far superior spiritual sense, far beyond his peers, meant he was naturally unharmed; he merely blinked slightly and continued to observe.

“Let me remind you fellow Daoists, the sword aura contained in this Thousand Peaks Spirit Gathering Sword Formation diagram has a considerable impact on spiritual sense; prolonged viewing is unwise,” Xiong Shan's voice suddenly rang out in everyone's minds.

Upon hearing this, the others naturally did not covet the mysteries of the formation diagram and dared not attempt to probe its secrets further.

Han Li's eyes suddenly lit up with an unusual gleam, and he came to a sudden realization.

Back then, in the immortal's mansion in the Guanghan Realm, he had obtained a Ten Thousand Swords Diagram, whose sword formation evolution and aura were remarkably similar to the sword shadow formation diagram before him.

In some aspects, it even seemed to surpass this formation diagram in profundity.

A surge of joy welled up in his heart, and he quickly began to contemplate the sword shadow formation diagram in the sky.

A moment later, a thunderous roar from Xiong Shan came from the direction of the Sword Sacrifice Platform, his voice like a great bell, shaking the entire grassland.

"Bang, bang, bang..."

Immediately after, a series of sounds like exploding firecrackers rang out incessantly.

The dense clusters of graves burst open one after another, and the thousand-odd flying swords inserted into them all broke free from control, turning into a chaotic mass of sword light that flew wildly in all directions.

They charged about recklessly, seemingly trying to flee beyond the forbidden area.

The thirty teams guarding the sword formation immediately made their moves, using their divine abilities to bring these flying swords under control.

In the eastern part of the grassland, a flying sword wreathed in blazing flames surged with fiery light, its blade shooting straight upward with a roar, scorching the surrounding air with a crackling sound.

The three teams responsible for this area, upon seeing this, chanted in unison, and under the leadership of three Mahayana-stage cultivators, they jointly summoned a massive water dragon that coiled tightly around the fire sword, quickly pulling it back.

In the southern part of the grassland, a massive earth-yellow sword, three feet wide and over eighteen feet long, radiated an earthy yellow glow. Instead of shooting into the sky like the other swords, it pointed its tip downward and spun wildly with a "whoosh," burrowing into the ground.

The three teams stationed here were also well-prepared; under their spells, the ground in this area had already turned a dark blue-black, as hard as rock. No matter how the giant sword drilled, it only sparked violently but could not penetrate even a fraction.

After Han Li's seventy-two Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords broke free, they immediately gathered together like a swarm of bees, their bodies flashing with golden lightning, and shot toward Han Li.

However, at this moment, the entire area was filled with chaotic sword shadows flying everywhere, so unless one paid close attention, the intent of these swords was not obvious.

"Stop those flying swords immediately!" Zhu Feng ordered at once.

Ye Feng and the other two teams dared not delay, and they all used their divine abilities to channel the surrounding spiritual energy, forming a huge cage woven from azure spiritual energy that enveloped the Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.

The flying swords had just traveled over ten li when they were trapped by the azure cage from above, halted in their tracks.

"Zizi..."

A sound of electric current flowed, and the seventy-two Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords simultaneously blazed with golden light, their lightning bursting forth like a giant golden thunderball exploding, shooting out countless golden arcs that tore the azure cage to shreds.

Han Li sensed this, and he could even feel a hint of anger in the Evil-Repelling Divine Lightning erupting from the Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.

But now, he could do nothing; he had to cast spells like everyone else to control the flying swords in his area.

"A bunch of incompetents," Zhu Feng, standing on the black stone pillar, couldn't help but curse upon seeing this.

He reached out with one hand and grabbed in front of him, and several huge marks appeared in midair, enveloping the Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords and forcibly pulling them back.

Xiong Shan seemed to have anticipated the flying swords' resistance and struggle; he only cast a few glances at the beginning and then completely ignored them.

Soon, the fleeing flying swords were successively subdued, but some still refused to be controlled, constantly trying to break free, while most could only struggle and fly within a small area, colliding with each other, producing a continuous "clang" of metal striking metal.

Han Li steadily controlled the flying swords in his area, but his mind kept recalling the Ten Thousand Swords Diagram from before.

With this foundation, his comprehension of the sword shadow formation diagram in the sky was twice as effective with half the effort. He quickly saw many intricacies and gained some insights, but time was too short, and he was still far from fully understanding it.

Just then, Xiong Shan on the high platform suddenly stopped chanting, leaped into the air, and shot straight toward the eastern sky.

Flying into the area where Qi Liang was, he rolled his sleeves and grabbed with his hand in the void. A huge golden handprint emerged from the void, seizing a silver-white flying sword.

The silver-white sword immediately struggled wildly, its body blazing with silver light that burst forth like gushing water, transforming into hundreds of silver sword shadows that surged in all directions, trying to pry open the golden handprint.

However, the golden handprint clenched tightly, unmoved by the onslaught of silver light and sword shadows.

Seeing this, Xiong Shan raised his other hand, formed a blade with his fingers, and condensed another golden handprint in the air, which he wiped fiercely across the silver sword.

The silver sword trembled violently, and a layer of translucent light was peeled off inch by inch from its surface by the golden handprint, condensing in midair into a translucent flying sword that seemed to have become a spirit body, floating obediently without moving at all.