Jade Pivot Sword Pavilion.
In Jiangnan, these four words commanded immense prestige and carried countless legends. They were a heavy mountain pressing down upon every sect in the region, large or small.
One might not notice the sheer weight of it.
But in this moment, as the defensive formations inside and outside the Sword Pavilion automatically activated, even Lu Yang, who was mentally prepared, felt a surge of shock.
The entire Sword Pavilion was situated upon a perilous Extreme Heaven peak. It contained a vast universe within, encompassing countless summits. It stood tall between heaven and earth, a pillar connecting the sky and the ground, filled with an ancient, imperishable, and magnificent aura. Every stone and every grain of sand on the mountain seemed steeped in history.
Compared to this, everything else seemed insignificant.
After all, a Foundation Establishment cultivator lived only five lifetimes, and a Golden Core Perfected Lord had a lifespan of a thousand years. But how long had this divine mountain stood between heaven and earth? There was simply no comparison.
In the face of this heavy accumulation of time, anyone would appear insignificant.
"Rumor has it that the Ancestor of the Sword Pavilion searched the entire world but couldn't find a mountain gate to his liking. So, he simply unsheated the sword at his waist and threw it to the ground."
"Upon hitting the earth, the sword took root, growing with the wind."
"Finally, it became the current mountain gate of the Sword Pavilion. The personal sword of a Nascent Soul Dao Lord... I don't know if it's true. The Saint Sect certainly doesn't have anything like that..."
Lu Yang sighed inwardly. Although the Perfected Lords were in seclusion, Perfected One Vanquishing-Demon was gone, and Perfected One Warding-Evil was heavily injured, the Sword Pavilion remained the behemoth dominating Jiangnan. With its mountain-protecting formation activated, it stood like an impregnable fortress, firmly barring him from the gate.
Looking ahead, he could vaguely make out a few figures.
Although the central Extreme Heaven Cliff was obscured, Lu Yang's senses could pick up activity on the peripheral peaks. Among the figures was the Ye Family Patriarch, Ye Shaoying.
Dong—
A melodious bell tolled from the deepest depths of the Sword Pavilion—the alarm for a foreign invasion. Instantly, streaks of Sword Qi rose from within the sect.
Moments later, a figure appeared.
It was Ye Shaoying, followed by the young Perfected One of the Ye Family, Ye Cheng. Both eyed Lu Yang outside the mountain with vigilance.
"Fellow Daoist."
Ye Shaoying spoke first. "My Sword Pavilion does not wish to receive guests today. Fellow Daoist has come rashly without sending a greeting; this is truly rude. Please return."
"A greeting? Sure, I'll send one right now."
Lu Yang smiled coldly. Five Divine Abilities linked into a ring behind him, blooming with brilliance. He casually pinched a wisp of energy from the ring, molding it in his palm. In a heartbeat, a spiritual sword emerged, sharp and chilling. With a flick of his finger, he launched it slashing toward the Sword Pavilion.
Clang!
The spiritual sword slashed directly into the layers of formations, startling Ye Shaoying. He hurriedly activated the defenses to block the strike.
Rumble!
A deafening boom echoed. Lu Yang's spiritual sword blasted into the array. Although it severed the brilliance of over a hundred layers of the formation, it was eventually swallowed up.
Boundless light cascaded down like the milky way falling from the Nine Heavens. Lu Yang's spiritual sword persisted for less than three breaths before it was crushed into nothingness.
Close call...
Seeing this, Ye Shaoying breathed a secret sigh of relief, then forced a smile. "Benefactor should go back to where you came from. Dont continue to make it difficult for yourself!"
Having said that, he sneered internally— He is just an outer heavens rogue cultivator after all. How could he understand the orthodoxy of my sect? He actually wanted to come here and pick at our bones... Does he think that just because Guangji is gone and Warding-Evil is injured, my Sword Pavilion is empty and defenseless? Ignorant... I'll teach him a lesson in thirty years!
"The formation is indeed impressive," Lu Yangnodded.
His strike just now hadn't used any special techniques, just the purest realm stature enhancement. Yet, even a Late Stage Foundation Establishment Great Perfected One would have struggled to deal with it.
But the Sword Pavilion blocked it.
And they did so relying solely on the power of the formation. It was evident that, like the Dragon Palace, there were arrays arranged by Golden Core Perfected Lords inside. Breaking through would be as difficult as ascending to heaven.
But I am not the same person I was before...
Previously, facing the Dragon Palace, he was alone and couldn't confront its formations head-on, forcing him to sneak in. But now? He was an honored guest of the Saint Sect.
With this thought, Lu Yang reached down and took off a cloth bag from his waist.
The object appeared to be woven from black silk. As he held it in his palm, it resembled a dark cloud, with lightning snakes shuttling through it, faintly emitting the rumble of thunder.
[Profound Thunder Entering Dao Cloud]!
Since he was here to cause trouble for the Sword Pavilion, the Saint Sect had to contribute something. This object had been given to him by Xiang Ye before he left the Heaven-Connecting Cloud Sea.
As spiritual power flooded into the cloth bag, the voice of a precocious child rang in Lu Yang's ear: "More! Use more force! With just this little spiritual power, who are you looking down on? You can't even open my mouth, let alone break the mountain gate of this bunch of sword-idiot."
This was the True Spirit of the [Profound Thunder Entering Dao Cloud].
Truth be told, as the current acting Sect Master of the Saint Sect, Xiang Ye possessed both vision and class. The item he lent was a True Treasure from the Saint Sect's private collection!
It even surpasses the [Wave of Tribulation]...
The quality of Spirit Treasures mirrored that of cultivators; five divine wonders were the limit for standard Spirit Treasures. True Treasures above that rank already possessed a stature comparable to Perfected Lords.
At this moment, the more spiritual power Lu Yang poured into the cloud, the more he felt the vastness within. Even with his current Divine Ability, it seemed he could only activate a fraction of its mighty power. It was clear that only a Perfected Lord could truly wield such a supreme treasure.
"..."
Lu Yang glanced sideways. He could feel several gazes locked onto him, filled with expectation... the gazes of the Saint Sect Perfected Ones.
Damn, a bunch of bastsard...
Lu Yang knew the mindset of these Saint Sect Perfected Ones all too well. If he failed to breach the Sword Pavilion, these people would never show their faces.
But the moment it broke?
They would charge in faster than him!
They'll back whoever wins...
Lu Yang took a deep breath and hurled the [Profound Thunder Entering Dao Cloud], infused with his full power, into the sky. Instantly, it expanded into a massive, sky-shrouding thundercloud.
Rumble!
Wherever the black clouds spread, the sun and moon vanished, and heaven and earth dimmed. Countless thunderbolts emerged from the swirling darkness, smashing downward with the force to topple the sky and overturn the earth!
In an instant, the color drained from the faces of Ye Shaoying and Ye Cheng!
Without a second of hesitation, Ye Shaoying vanished from his spot, completely ignoring Ye Cheng beside him. The latter was a step too slow.
Thunder fell.
"No—"
Ye Cheng's mouth gaped open, but his scream was drowned out by the roar of thunder before it could leave his throat. A bolt of lightning struck directly on his head, obliterating him into powder.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The endless thunder acted like an indestructible battering ram. Every clap of thunder was a physical impact, a bombardment unleashed without regard for cost. By the time Lu Yang's spiritual power was exhausted and the black clouds dispersed, the peripheral cliffs of the divine mountain—once lined with peaks—had been completely razed to the ground!
As for that impregnable great array?
The core remained intact, but a breach had been forcibly blasted open in the outermost layer. Spiritual Qi collapsed, impossible to repair in the short term.
"It's broken!?"
On the other side, Ye Shaoying, having escaped just in time, didn't even have a moment to mourn Ye Cheng's death. Looking back at the devastation, his eyes filled with horror.
But a heartbeat later, that horror turned to terror.
As the periphery of the formation was torn open, figures began to materialize behind Lu Yang, wearing grim smiles and eyes glowing crimson—
"Crusade against the Unrighteous! Annihilate the Sword Pavilion!"
"The cultivators of the world have suffered under the Sword Pavilion for too long!"
"Jade Pivot Sword Pavilion, preying on Jiangnan, enslaving all living beings... Today my Saint Sect will set things right and return the people's wealth back to the masses!"
—The Saint Sect had entered the arena.
Just as Lu Yang expected, these bastard were simply waiting for him to succeed. appearing now with such self-righteous posturing, they had even prepared slogans.
But that was perfect.
After all, he couldn't possibly invade the Sword Pavilion alone. But with the Saint Sect? That was a different story. They could also share the blame.
With that thought, Lu Yang immediately drove his sword light forward and charged boldly into the Sword Pavilion!
"Sword in hand, follow me!"