Chapter 315: Sword Dao Clone
As the Tianze Old Ancestor slowly raised the ancestral tablet.
HUMMM~
A profound and mysterious hum echoed through the sky. Shen Daoxing felt the entire world suddenly grow heavy, and his feet seemed to be cast from lead, rendering him unable to move a single step.
A white light flared from the tablet in the Tianze Old Ancestor's hand. The light intensified, then transformed into a streaking ray and shot forth.
Then, a figure robed in white materialized before them.
The figure was clad in flowing white robes, its long hair drifting in an unfelt wind. It held a small, delicate longsword. Its entire form was hazy and indistinct, giving off an unreal, dreamlike impression. Its features were impossible to discern.
The instant Shen Daoxing laid eyes on it, however, his guard went up. He sensed an aura of danger unlike anything he had ever felt before.
This feeling of danger was something he had never experienced before.
It was even more intense than when he had faced the Refining Dust Realm master in Ancient Moon.
The sword in its hand, in particular, looked utterly ordinary, yet it radiated an incredibly sharp and terrifying killing intent.
SKREEE!
Upon seeing the white figure, the Golden-Eyed Treasure-Seeking Rat shrieked. Its gray fur bristled as it opened its gaping, blood-red maw and lunged, aiming to bite the ethereal form.
Seeing this, Shen Daoxing cried out in alarm, "Wait!"
However, it was already too late.
The white figure merely lifted the arm holding the delicate longsword. With no other discernible motion, it simply vanished.
In an instant.
SQUELCH!
A crimson Blood Arrow shot high into the air.
The next moment.
A shockingly long Sword Mark split open across the Golden-Eyed Treasure-Seeking Rat's massive body, stretching from its abdomen all the way to its neck.
SKREE!
The Golden-Eyed Treasure-Seeking Rat shrieked in pain, spitting out a mouthful of blood. Amidst a surge of gray mist, its massive form shrank back to its original size.
At this sight, Shen Daoxing shot forward, leaping to the Golden-Eyed Treasure-Seeking Rat's side. He looked down at the creature, which was barely breathing. Seeing that its injuries were severe but not life-threatening, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Shen Daoxing scooped up the Golden-Eyed Treasure-Seeking Rat and immediately sprang to his feet, preparing to leap away.
But he had barely taken a step when the white figure stirred. Its spectral form flickered and reappeared directly in his path.
Shen Daoxing froze. A profound sense of crisis washed over him, and in that same instant, a lock of his hair was severed and fluttered down.
'Venerable Invincible, Huangliang's Moment!'
The thought barely crossed Shen Daoxing's mind.
Everything before him froze. The leaves drifting on the wind, the birds soaring through the sky—all of it came to a dead halt.
Only then could Shen Daoxing clearly see the white figure's attack: two streaks of white sword light were hurtling toward his face.
He swiftly sidestepped, narrowly avoiding the blades of light. Then, clutching the Golden-Eyed Treasure-Seeking Rat, he bolted toward the palace exit.
Yet, just as Shen Daoxing was about to pass the white figure, the supposedly frozen entity abruptly turned its head and looked straight at him.
Shen Daoxing was stunned. 'My Huangliang Divine Techniques... they're not working on it!'
At that same moment, the white figure swung its longsword once more.
Fortunately, Huangliang's Moment still managed to slow the swing.
Shen Daoxing kicked off the ground and leaped into the air.
BOOM!
The ground where he had just stood erupted, two Sword Marks dozens of yards deep instantly scarring the earth.
But in the next instant, the white figure flickered and reappeared in front of Shen Daoxing, once again blocking his path.
'That's the Ancestor's tablet... the power the First Ancestor left within it!'
Inside the grand hall, the Tianze Emperor's eyes shot wide open. 'I can't believe the Old Ancestor even used the First Ancestor's tablet. He's really going to stop at nothing to kill Shen Daoxing!'
The Tianze Emperor stared in astonishment. The tablet of Tianze's First Ancestor contained a Sword Dao Clone, a remnant of the Ancestor's power from his peak. It was the ultimate failsafe, meant to protect Tianze in its most dire moments. After the First Ancestor's disappearance, it had become the Tianze Emperor's final trump card—one he had been saving to deal with the Celestial Profound Sacred Land.
He never thought the Old Ancestor would take it out.
The Tianze Emperor suddenly raised his head and shouted with a Majestic Sound Transmission Technique: "Shen Daoxing, run! This is a Sword Intent Clone of my First Ancestor, possessing one percent of his power! It can instantly kill anyone below the Refining Dust Realm. You're no match for it, run!"
BOOM!
A deafening blast echoed.
An exquisite beam of sword light flashed by like a shooting star.
Shen Daoxing watched as a massive palace hall beneath him was cleanly split in two, its halves slowly toppling to either side.
Shen Daoxing paused for a fraction of a second before his body blurred again. A strand of hair drifted before his eyes; he had just barely dodged another of the white figure's attacks.
Shen Daoxing took a single step to leap away, but a colossal beam of sword light that seemed to cleave heaven and earth slammed down in front of him. The ground was instantly split in half. The earth beneath his feet then suddenly caved in, throwing up a towering rock wall that blocked his way.
Stunned, Shen Daoxing could only clutch the Golden-Eyed Treasure-Seeking Rat and leap backward.
Although Shen Daoxing could barely evade the white figure's attacks using "Huangliang's Moment," its power was simply on another level.
He couldn't escape its grasp.
And at this very moment.
HUMMM~
That same profound and mysterious hum echoed through the sky again, but this time, it emanated directly from the white figure.
Shen Daoxing felt the world grow heavy once more, his feet becoming like lead, impossibly weighed down.
SWOOSH!
A dazzling white light flashed from the figure's longsword.
The white figure simply raised its longsword.
Abruptly, Shen Daoxing felt the world grow heavier still as the very ground beneath him began to sink.
Without warning, a colossal meteor tore through the clouds. Wreathed in scorching flames from atmospheric friction, it plummeted toward the earth in a flash.
'Venerable Invincible, Huangliang's Moment!'
At Shen Daoxing's thought, a piece of flying debris froze in mid-air. A drifting leaf stopped its descent. Time seemed to solidify as everything around him came to a standstill.
Shen Daoxing launched himself backward, desperately and narrowly avoiding the crashing meteor.
Then, everything snapped back into motion.
The next moment.
RUMBLE-BOOM!
A colossal explosion.
The palace hall where Shen Daoxing had just stood was obliterated, exploding into countless fragments. Smashed to smithereens by the meteor, the rubble erupted into a raging inferno.
Even so, the force of the blast sent Shen Daoxing flying high into the air.
CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!
He smashed through three buildings in a row before his momentum finally came to a halt.
'This is the power of Divine Techniques... and it's far stronger than Xu Hong's.'