Longevity by Grinding Skills

He didn’t spare Sun Yue’s corpse on the ground another glance as his figure abruptly blurred.

In the instant before the Array Formation he had detonated completely collapsed, he made a grabbing motion in the air with his left hand. An invisible flash of lightning seized Ye Xuan—who lay on the ground with her restraints already partially undone by Zhang Qiaoluo—and lifted her into the air.

Grabbing her by the collar, Xu Yunfan and Ye Xuan instantly transformed into a blinding, bluish-purple Thunder Escape Light. Moving at extreme speed, they followed the chaotic channel of Spiritual Power blasted open by the Grand Array’s collapse and shot out of the canyon.

Behind him, Ye Yuan’s eyes narrowed. He clearly hadn’t expected his opponent’s escape to be so fast. Furthermore, the Escape Light contained a strong force that disrupted cause and effect, causing him to lose focus for a split second.

A cold glint in Ye Yuan’s eyes seemed to physically pierce the clouds as his icy gaze locked firmly onto the Escape Light ahead.

Xu Yunfan wrapped himself in an invisible web woven from his Triple Cause and Effect Secret Technique. Within the Thunder Escape Light, his figure flickered in and out of view, seeming both illusory and real.

However, Ye Yuan was an Elder of Phecda Peak in the Wansheng Sword Sect. His Sword Heart Perception, honed to Foundation Establishment Perfection, far surpassed that of an ordinary cultivator. To him, the aura of Ye Xuan’s bloodline was like the Big Dipper in the night sky—clear and searingly bright even from a hundred miles away.

"No matter how fast you are, can you possibly outrun the senses of my Sword Spirit?!"

Ye Yuan’s voice, like grinding metal, pierced the heavens from within the vast sword light.

He merged with his sword. A Platinum Sword Rainbow tore through the sky, its speed increasing by another thirty percent.

Wherever the sword light passed, the sea of clouds was mercilessly cleaved apart, and the mountains and rivers below receded into a blur of colors.

Up ahead, Xu Yunfan could clearly feel the bone-piercing sensation of being locked on growing ever stronger.

’What’s going on? Why am I such a hate magnet?’

Xu Yunfan glanced at Ye Xuan in his grasp. He knew Ye Yuan would never give up the chase for her sake.

Just then, Ye Xuan slowly regained consciousness in his grasp. As she took in her surroundings and sensed the sword light behind them drawing ever closer, a cold sneer appeared on her lips, and her voice dripped with mockery.

"You fool. We of the Ye Family share the same bloodline. Before the senses of the Shaking Light Sword Spirit, your pathetic Cause and Effect Secret Technique is like a child playing with fire in front of my uncle!"

𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Her voice wasn’t loud, yet every word was like a needle piercing straight into Xu Yunfan’s Heart and Spirit.

Her words brought sudden understanding.

He glanced at Ye Xuan and said coolly, "You really are as dumb as a pig to have been caught by Zhang Qiaoluo."

Ye Xuan froze, then instantly realized that she had just revealed the secret of the Ye Family’s bloodline to Xu Yunfan.

She sneered. "Just you wait. You dared to make a move on a disciple of the Wansheng Sword Sect. You won’t even make it to your next reincarnation."

Xu Yunfan’s expression remained calm, but his mind was racing.

’Abandon Ye Xuan?’

He crushed the thought as soon as it formed.

Once he lost this hostage, the Ye Family Sword Cultivator behind him—a man who had comprehended a Fierce Sword Intent and possessed killing power unparalleled among his peers—would have no more reservations. He would attack with the full force of a thunderbolt, and the consequences would be unimaginable.

Moreover, Ye Xuan carried the coordinates to an undiscovered World Heaven, which was the critical bait for their entire scheme.

’Unless it was absolutely necessary, he really didn’t want to abandon Ye Xuan.’

’Should I give it a shot?’

Xu Yunfan silently exhaled. It had been a long time since he’d truly had to go all out and use his trump cards.

"Shut up!"

With a low shout from Xu Yunfan, the Divine Sky Magical Power in his Dantian surged. The Thunder Escape Light around him flared, and he brutally widened the gap between them by another hundred miles.

His mind raced, considering the World Heaven Ye Xuan had mentioned.

’Ye Yuan might know that Ye Xuan is carrying a secret, but there’s no way he knows the crucial details. This is my only chance!’

’Otherwise, he would never be this relentless just for Ye Xuan.’

As the chase continued, the terrain below transitioned from rolling mountain ranges to a vast expanse of water.

On the dark blue surface of the sea, turbid waves crashed against the sky. A dense Innate Kui Water Essence Qi rose up, colliding with the violent Nine Heavens Gangfeng to form a chaotic and disorderly Energy Field.

This was precisely why Xu Yunfan had chosen to flee toward the East Sea.

The far reaches of the East Sea were known as a land of chaotic Spiritual Mechanism within the Great Realm of the Taihua Spirit Ruins Realm, a world where it was believed Heaven is Round and Earth is Square. Many Tribulation Cultivators came here to hide.

RUMBLE!

The shriek of a sword rang out like thunder from the nine heavens. A brilliant Sword Gang shot across dozens of miles of sea, cleaving through titanic waves.

It was none other than Ye Yuan’s signature technique.

Shaking Light Divides the Sea!

The Sword Intent drew upon the Beidou Star Power, carrying a tyrannical force capable of sundering heaven and earth as it locked onto Xu Yunfan.

In that hair’s-breadth moment!

Xu Yunfan’s body twisted in an impossible, bizarre way, as if he had merged with an invisible fold in space.

The Platinum Sword Light grazed the edge of his robes, tearing his sleeve with a sharp RIP! before plunging into the depths of the sea with undiminished momentum.

Instantly, a terrifying crater formed on the surface of the sea. It was immediately filled by the surrounding water, which then exploded upward, sending a colossal, turbid pillar of water blotting out the sky.

"Huh?"

The sound of surprise escaped Ye Yuan’s lips.

His figure, radiating Sword Qi that seemed to pierce the heavens, solidified several hundred yards away.

He had never expected that a Mid-Stage Foundation Establishment cultivator from the Primordial Sect—one who supposedly relied on Arrays and the Cause and Effect Secret Technique—could so precisely evade a strike guided by his own furious, locked-on Sword Intent.

Amidst the swirling mist, Xu Yunfan stood firm upon the waves. Under the pressure of his immense Magical Power, the sea beneath his feet instantly froze as smooth as a mirror.

With a flick of his hand, he imprisoned Ye Xuan in a cage of mist beside him. Then, he clenched his right hand in the empty air, and a simple, ancient Longsword wreathed in fine arcs of purple lightning materialized from nothing.

The True Martial Sword.

Facing Ye Yuan’s sharp, space-piercing gaze, Xu Yunfan’s lips curved into a cold sneer. "Daoist Master Ye, you needn’t underestimate me so," he said, his voice ringing out. "The Wansheng Sword Sect’s ’Shaking Light Breaks Sea’ is indeed tyrannical."

The True Martial Sword in his hand hummed and vibrated, its tip pointing directly at Ye Yuan as lightning crackled around it. "But this is one sword strike that I, Xu Yunfan, can withstand."

As his voice fell, the Innate Kui Water Essence Qi for ten miles around was stirred by the Divine Sky Nine Heavens Profound Vault Undying True Scripture within him. It transformed into a surging undercurrent of Kui Water Yin Thunder that swirled around his body.

Between sea and sky, lightning and Sword Intent faced off across the void.

Ye Yuan said nothing, merely swinging his sword once more.

When Ye Yuan’s Platinum Sword Rainbow—imbued with the True Intent of Shaking Light Divides the Sea—surged forward like a cascading river of stars, tearing through curtains of sea spray, a brilliant light exploded in Xu Yunfan’s eyes. He no longer dared to hold anything back.

"Sword, come!"

With a ringing cry, the ancient True Martial Sword, wreathed in fine arcs of purple lightning, sang as he unleashed its power.

"Thunder Strike: Sky Breaker!"

Xu Yunfan gripped the sword with both hands and thrust it forward without hesitation.

The True Martial Sword instantly transformed into a colossal, ferocious purple lightning dragon. Its horns were forged from Gold-breaking Sword Qi condensed to its absolute limit, and its scales were made of pulsing Divine Sky Profound Thunder.

Wherever the lightning dragon passed, the very air was scorched. This was the ultimate art of slaughter: controlling the sword with lightning, and controlling the Dao with the sword.

This was a collision of a pure Magic Sword against pure Sword Intent and Gang Qi.

BOOM!!!

The Platinum Sword Rainbow and the purple lightning dragon crashed into one another.

The two completely different forces collided furiously, annihilating one another.

The Shaking Light Sword Intent was fierce and tyrannical, powerful enough to cleave the Star Sea itself. In contrast, the Divine Sky Magical Power surging through the lightning dragon channeled the vast, heavenly might of all the thunder in creation.

The stalemate lasted but an instant before the Sword Gang and the lightning exploded simultaneously.

A terrifying shockwave blasted a ten-mile-wide crater into the sea below. Searing hot mist mixed with tiny serpents of electricity shot toward the heavens, and a blinding flash of light illuminated the entire sea as if it were day.