At that moment, wrinkles rapidly appeared on the old faces of the four brothers. Although the four of them were already old, they were still ruddy. They seemed to be in their sixties or seventies, but their skin was filled with life like an infant’s. However, as the evil spirit wildly devoured their life force, their faces immediately aged. Even their silver hair darkened. Their bodies became even skinnier than before as their life force and vital energies were drained away.
Four swords as one!
The four of them cried out together and their presence suddenly changed. They erupted with powerful sword Qi as the metal swords in their hands shone with white light. As the light flickered, the four swords seemingly fused as one, erupting with great sword Qi that seemed to far exceed their own strength to resist the devouring force.
With their full resistance, the rate at which their life force was being siphoned away immediately slowed down. The sword formation used by the four of them were even more powerful than ones that required several dozen Sainthood experts.
Nearby, there was another group of Sainthood experts who had been enveloped by the red mist from the evil spirit. There were several hundred of them in the group, but most of them were Saint Rulers and Saint Kings, without many Saint Emperors. Even when they poured their strength together to create a formation, they struggled to hold their ground against the evil spirit’s terrifying force. In just a short moment, all the Saint Rulers died as their life force had been drained away in the group. Even most of the the weaker Saint Kings suffered the same fate, while the few Saint Emperors there aged rapidly. They all became extremely old as their presence rapidly weakened.
On the other hand, the evil spirit was gradually recovering after absorbing the vitality and life force from the people. Its presence was rapidly strengthening.
Space trembled violently high in the sky. A terrifying pressure fell as the Origin realm experts of both worlds rushed over with the God-slaying Formation. The God-slaying Formation shone with a hazy glow, enveloping the evil spirit below.
At the same time, Shangguan Mu’er sat in the air as she played her zither. She was stern and concentrated, using her music to disturb the evil spirit. As her slender fingers danced across the strings gently, she played notes after notes which crushed towards the evil spirit’s soul. The space behind her distorted violently as thirty-six ripples had appeared. Each ripple was ten thousand kilometers in length, stretching from one horizon to the other. The thirty-six ripples in space seemed to have created a zither.
However, only twelve of the strings trembled among the thirty-six.
A power sword Qi expanded form outer space. The Spiritking rushed towards the Tian Yuan Continent with his metal sword and a pale face. He had paid an extremely heavy price from forcefully using the second move of A Will that Splits the Heavens, so he became extremely weak, but his presence was still enough to shake the entire planet.
A violet streak of light shot through the air with unbelievable speed behind the evil spirit. Jian Chen charged towards the evil spirit with surging killing intent, but he was just too distant from the evil spirit, so he required a few distance even when he travelled at full speed.
However, a few seconds was more than enough for experts like that to do a lot of things. The evil spirit knew that once Jian Chen and the Spiritking caught up, it would not die, but it would lose all the energy it had absorbed earlier. As a result, it immediately devoted itself to devouring as quickly as possible without any hesitation. In just half a second, all the people within the red mist, aside from the four brothers, passed away. Even the Saint Emperors had all their energy drained away.
Although the four brothers held in there with great difficulty with their sword formation, they clearly could last for much longer. The evil spirit was just too powerful. Even though their sword formation was extraordinary, they were unable to achieve the impossible with their strength at the Ninth Heavenly Layer of Saint Emperor. They had reached the end of their line.
The four brothers had considered charging out of the red mist, but the mist came from the evil spirit, so being enveloped was basically equivalent to being sucked into the evil spirit’s body. When Jian Chen had used the Linear Lightning Release before, he failed to charge out even with his speed, so it was even more impossible for the four of them.
As a result, the four of them were forced into defending within the red mist. They were unable to escape at all.
The God-slaying Formation fell rapidly from above the evil spirit, but due to their distance, the formation required a moment before it could get close to the evil spirit.
The evil spirit looked at the four brothers and produced a strange laughter. It said,
Although you four are very weak, my instincts tell me that you are very different from the others, as if I would benefit greatly if I devour the four of you. Bahaha, the two who can threaten me need some time before they can arrive to save you. That’s more than enough for me to devour you. I am filled with anticipation in regards to what I will gain after devouring you.
Desire filled the evil spirit’s thoughts. Without any hesitation, it immediately devoted itself to devouring the four brothers. It could afford to ignore the God-slaying Formation, but it needed to take on Jian Chen and the Spiritking carefully. As a result, it needed to devour the four of them before Jian Chen and the Spiritking had arrived.
As the evil spirit began to target the four brothers, the sword formation from the four brothers was able to endure it, but it could not last for much longer. In just a single moment, ninety-nine percent of their life force and vital energies had been drained away. The flame of their lives dimmed and could be extinguished at any time. As a result, their sword formation collapsed as well.
Jian Chen and the Spiritking are about to arrive. We will die without regrets if we can keep you busy for just a little longer,
the four brothers smiled. They felt no fear towards death. Instead, they felt at ease.
Jian Chen’s eyes suddenly narrowed as he hurried over as quickly as possible. He suddenly turned his head towards his right arm. He had been assisted by the four sword Qi from the very top of the Anatta Tower when he took it for himself. It was exactly because of the sword
Qi that he managed to kill the tower spirit and make it to the ninth floor, allowing him to obtain the treasured tower.
After being used many times, the four sword Qi did not completely disperse, but they were only effective against Receival experts. To Jian Chen, the four strands of residual sword Qi were no longer of any use to him. After all, a casual strike from him would have reached Reciprocity with his current strength and if he used his full force, it would reach Godhood. It was impossible for the four strands of sword Qi to match up to that, so he no longer paid too much attention to the four strands of sword Qi.
However, Jian Chen could clearly sense that the sword Qi slumbering in his arm suddenly began to tremble, as if their intelligence had been awakened. Before Jian Chen could think too much of it, the four sword Qi materialised from his arm and shot off as a streak of white light, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
Jian Chen immediately became surprised by this, because even with his current strength, he failed to sense just where the four sword Qi had travelled off to. They seemed to have vanished into thin air, without any traces at all.
A ball of white light suddenly appeared before the four brothers who were trapped in the red mist. The four strands of sword Qi had silently entered the red mist, arriving before their foreheads as if it had teleported. Afterwards, the four balls of light shot into their heads without any hesitation at all.
As the sword Qi entered their heads, the smouldering flame of their lives immediately stopped weakening. Not only did it stop smouldering, it strengthened at an extremely terrifying pace, allowing their strength to suddenly erupt in that moment. In just a short moment, they completely recovered their peak strength, but it did not just stop there. Their presences continued to soar, far beyond their peak condition and beyond Saint Emperor, into the Origin realm.
The four brothers snapped open their eyes which were closing. Their gazes were not weak at all, but brimming with life instead. They were sharp like swords.
The fusion of the four sword Qi allowed the four brothers to break through the Ninth Heavenly Layer Saint Emperor in that moment and reach the Origin realm.
How is this possible? How? I almost devoured you and you had reached the end of the line, so how have you become so much more powerful now?
The evil spirit let out a mental pulse of shock. It had been completely taken aback by how the four brothers were able to reach the Origin realm under such circumstances.
So what if you’ve become stronger? I can still devour you. This time, I’ll devour you even if I have to pay a great price. My instincts can’t be wrong. As long as I devour you, I will benefit greatly,
said the evil spirit in determination.
The four brothers looked at each other and saw the smear of shock in each other’s eyes. In that moment, several extremely foreign sword techniques had actually appeared in their heads. Every single one of them possessed unfathomable might, making them extremely powerful. At the same time, it was perfectly compatible with the cultivation method they practised.
