Chapter 211: Reversal

The golden hand seal unleashed by Xiong Shan slowly opened, and the silver flying sword, already stripped of its sword essence and bereft of all spiritual nature, immediately fell. Before it even touched the ground, it was torn to shreds by the sword aura filling heaven and earth.

Xiong Shan did not even glance at the flying sword that had been reduced to fragments; his gaze had already shifted to another longsword, its blade curved like a swimming snake.

His palm opened, and the golden hand seal in the void immediately reached toward that flying sword...

Han Li had only glanced at the situation here at the very beginning, after which he devoted himself entirely to comprehending the Sword Shadow Formation Diagram.

His previous study of the Ten Thousand Sword Diagram had been more for the purpose of cultivating the 'Mind Sword Art' and strengthening his control over the diagram; his understanding and application of the sword formation's evolution within it were actually quite limited.

However, combined with this session of comprehending the Sword Shadow Formation Diagram, he gained a great deal from it.

The essence of the Sword Shadow Formation is still the construction of a formation through the use of sword aura.

As long as it is a formation, it has a formation hub and formation eyes. Once these key points are found, there is an opportunity to destroy and dismantle it.

Time passed bit by bit, and before long, more than half a day had gone by.

Through his observations, Han Li had already located many important formation hubs, but making the formation fail without anyone noticing was something he could not accomplish.

If he forcibly did so, it would undoubtedly be no different from forcibly taking back his own flying sword—utterly meaningless. Hence, he had to continue his comprehension while quietly waiting for an opportunity.

During this time, Xiong Shan had gradually erased the sword imprints of several hundred flying swords in the eastern and southern regions of the grassland, extracting their sword essence.

At this moment, in half the sky above the grassland, flying swords in the form of spiritual bodies were suspended.

Xiong Shan's figure flickered, and he flew straight to an area in the western part of the grassland. His large hand opened, reaching toward a broad-bladed giant sword among them.

At this time, his face was faintly pale, as if this refinement had also consumed a considerable amount of his vital energy.

However, the expression on his face was quite gratified, and his eyes flickered with an increasingly fervent light.

Han Li's gaze was fixed intently on the formation diagram high in the sky, carefully observing the thousands upon thousands of sword shadows within it.

Just then, he suddenly noticed that the sword shadow formation in the sky seemed to have become somewhat different from how it was at the beginning.

But exactly what was different, he couldn't tell for the moment.

However, he vaguely felt that this slight difference might very well be the key opportunity to alter the formation and reclaim the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.

Yet, the more he concentrated on looking, the less he could see the crucial point, and he couldn't help but feel a bit anxious.

Before long, Xiong Shan had erased the original owners' imprints from over a hundred flying swords in that area.

At this point, more than half of the flying swords on the Sword Grave Grassland had been transformed into pure sword essence.

After completing this, Xiong Shan did not continue to the next area but instead flipped his hand to take out two medicinal pills and swallowed them, then turned around and looked toward Han Li.

His gaze shifted slightly, moving back and forth between Han Li and Zhu Feng twice, as if he was considering whether to go first to the northern area where Han Li was, or to the northwestern area where Zhu Feng was.

Han Li's forehead was already beaded with sweat, and he was extremely anxious, yet he still could not find a way to break free from his current predicament.

He took a deep breath, simply closed both eyes, and instead of looking at the sword-shadow formation diagram, he probed into it with his powerful spiritual sense.

The moment his spiritual sense entered the formation diagram, Han Li instantly felt a sharp pain in his soul, as if hundreds of sword lights were simultaneously slashing at his soul—the sensation was indescribable.

However, he did not retreat but gritted his teeth and endured it with his strong spiritual sense.

At this moment, Xiong Shan was entirely focused on erasing the original imprint on the flying swords, and the other elders also knew the formation diagram was formidable and dared not extend their spiritual sense to probe. Thus, none of those present noticed Han Li's bold move.

After the effects of those two medicinal pills had been fully absorbed, Xiong Shan's complexion recovered slightly. His gaze ultimately fell on the northwest direction, and with a flicker of his body, he flew swiftly toward it.

He reached out his palm, and a golden handprint coalesced in the void, grabbing toward a Green Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword.

That flying sword seemed to sense the impending crisis; its body trembled rapidly, emitting a series of low, deep buzzing sounds that resembled a woman's sobbing.

To Han Li's ears, this sound seemed to express a plaintive resentment and dissatisfaction at his refusal to come to its rescue.

Just then, Han Li, who had been meditating with his eyes closed, suddenly opened them wide.

The corners of his mouth curled up slightly, revealing a faint, almost imperceptible smile.

The next moment, the flying sword, which was already loosely grasped in the golden handprint, abruptly ceased its urgent trembling, its blade suddenly steadying as it hovered firmly in midair, without the slightest further movement.

The other seventy-one flying swords, which had been darting and crashing about wildly, also came to a halt as if receiving a command, each one like a soldier about to charge into battle, highly focused and utterly motionless.

Seeing these flying swords, which had been so unruly moments before, suddenly fall still, Zhu Feng was initially delighted, but for some reason, a foreboding sense of unease rose in his heart.

Sure enough, the next instant, a sudden change occurred.

Just as the golden handprint was about to clench tight around the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword, a thunderous roar erupted from it, and a series of dazzling golden arcs crackled and popped, abruptly forming a massive golden ring that pushed the golden handprint apart.

At the same time, the other seventy-one Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords also began to flicker with golden electric light, simultaneously breaking free from the restraints of Zhu Feng and the others, shooting swiftly toward this flying sword.

"Rumble rumble"

A rolling thunderclap sounded, and the seventy-one flying swords, carrying rolling golden thunder, directly tore the golden handprint apart and merged with the other flying sword within.

"Useless fools! Why don't you quickly make the other swords return to their positions?" Xiong Shan shouted angrily upon seeing this.

He still thought it was merely another instinctive resistance from the flying swords and blamed Zhu Feng and the others, unaware that the latter were even more frustrated—they had not been unwilling to restrain the swords, but had been utterly unable to do so.

However, as soon as his words fell, the seventy-two Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords simultaneously emitted dazzling golden arcs of electricity, abruptly transforming into seventy-two streaks of golden light that shot out, instantly breaking free from Zhu Feng's control and flying toward the eastern part of the sword formation.

Seeing this, Zhu Feng was greatly alarmed and hastily activated his divine abilities to remedy the situation, but unfortunately, the flying swords, now imbued with the Evil-Crushing Divine Lightning, moved at an astonishing speed, flashing to the eastern grassland in an instant.

Not only was he unable to control them in time, but even Xiong Shan himself could not react.

After arriving, the seventy-two flying swords did not immediately break through the formation and leave; instead, they suddenly scattered, tracing unpredictable trajectories in the air, and finally dispersed to various points in that area, actually constructing a small sword formation within the Thousand Peaks Spirit Gathering Sword Formation.

The newly formed small sword formation suddenly blazed with intense sword light, emitting a dazzling radiance that shot straight up to the shadowy sword formation diagram high in the sky, causing the sword shadows formed by golden threads to shift one after another, and the boundless sword energy surged toward the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.

A single move affects the whole; in an instant, the sword energy of the entire Sword Grave Grassland became chaotic and scattered, and the entire Thousand Peaks Spirit Gathering Sword Formation underwent a startling transformation.

This feeling was as if the entire great formation had suddenly reversed itself at this moment.

Xiong Shan's figure flickered as he arrived, about to stop it, but because his own aura was closely linked to the sword formation, affected by the reversal, his immortal spiritual power became chaotic, and he suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, his body falling toward the ground.

By the time he barely managed to stabilize himself, it was already too late.

The other elders were also startled by this turn of events, and for a moment, none of them reacted. As for the disciples at the Great Vehicle and Body Integration stages, even if they wanted to help, they were utterly powerless.

Elder Moxie, watching from afar outside the formation, had noticed something unusual earlier, but from his perspective, he only thought it was a change within the sword formation itself and never considered doing anything.

Among those present, only Han Li had known about this in advance.

Earlier, he had endured the sword formation diagram's sword qi impact and forcibly observed it with his divine sense, discovering that the flow of sword qi and the proportions of various aspects within the diagram had changed.

He noticed that after Xiong Shan had transformed most of the flying swords, the concentration of sword qi in the area where these flying swords were located had increased significantly. Although not too obvious, there was a certain degree of imbalance.

So, using the sword formation formed by the Green Bamboo Swarm Cloud Swords, he rapidly expanded this imbalance, ultimately causing the reversal of the entire Thousand Peaks Spirit-Gathering Sword Formation.

All of this is easier said than done.

First, one must have an extremely sensitive perception of the changes in the Sword Shadow Formation Diagram, detecting the subtle shifts in sword qi.

Second, one must also precisely grasp the timing for reversing the grand formation; otherwise, if the timing is off, the reversal will most likely end in failure.

Finally, the small sword formation used to channel the sword qi originates from the Ten Thousand Sword Diagram itself, and is intricately connected to the Sword Shadow Formation Diagram, echoing it from afar.

Not a single detail in all of this can be off by even a hair's breadth; only then can the grand formation be reversed without damaging the sword formation. Otherwise, it would merely destroy the sword formation, causing it to collapse.

Suddenly, the hundreds of flying sword essences densely suspended in the high sky seemed to receive some summons, each flashing with light as they shot out, tracing strange arcs through the air.

At that moment, Elder Moxie seemed to think of something. He looked up at the Sword Shadow Formation Diagram above and was astonished to find that the trajectories of these sword essences were all identical to the sword shadows.

Meanwhile, at the sword formation formed by the Green Bamboo Swift Cloud Swords, a huge trumpet-shaped cyan vortex had taken shape, within which sword qi surged and golden lightning flickered continuously.

Hundreds of pure sword essences, brimming with sword intent, carried countless streams of fierce sword qi and sword light, converging into the cyan vortex. They complemented the countless sword shadows in the sky, forming a spectacular scene of surging sword tides—so grand that even the term 'Ten Thousand Swords Returning to the Origin' could not accurately describe it.