Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

The Golden-winged Great Peng's shadow had paused in the air several hundred li in front of the mausoleum. The edges of its wings exuded a golden light, yet it only brought darkness to the mausoleum. As it proceeded towards that darkness, its two eyes were like two balls of blazing divine fire. Nanke's black hair danced around her, her petite body calmly suspended between those two balls of divine fire. Although she seemed relatively insignificant, she gave off the feeling that she had already formed a link with the Golden-winged Great Peng that was almost impossible to sever. In other words, right now, she was the Golden-winged Great Peng's divine soul.

In the middle of that shining golden light, an unimaginably terrifying pressure pressed down on the plain. Along with this pressure came a gale of wind. Even the most frenzied winds of the South Sea were not as powerful as this wind. The shredded grass crazily danced in the air and the foul water on the ground was shocked into drops. There was not a single monster that could continue to stand firm. One by one, they all fell down to the ground. The ten thousand broken swords around the mausoleum were buffeted up and down by the wind, just like countless boats on the expanse of the ocean, at any time at risk of being swallowed up by a heaven-shocking wave.

With a cold and arrogant cry, the Golden-winged Great Peng flapped its wings and began to fly even faster towards the mausoleum. It felt like the sky itself was pressing down upon the mausoleum. The golden light at the edge of its wings scattered and then gathered together again, just like a leaping fire, almost as if it were alive. Thus, the entire plain began to burn. Whether it was blood or water, it all began to fiercely blaze.

Atop this burning plain were the countless monsters that formed a black ocean. This black ocean also began to burn, turning into a sea of fire. From the highest-ranked monster to a vole that had been born in the plain, they all stood in the sea of fire, filled with reverence and piety towards that pair of wings that spanned several hundred li in the sky, and howling with an almost crazed devotion.

As the Golden-winged Great Peng approached, the blazing plains shone with light, but the mausoleum sitting in the center of the plain grew even darker. The many swords did their utmost to resist the strong winds brought about by those two massive wings. In quick succession, they all flew to the front of the mausoleum.

The densely packed damaged swords formed into a semi-circular sword array in front of the mausoleum. Chen Changsheng stood in the middle of this vast sword array, also looking relatively insignificant; yet he was also the divine soul of this sword array. His left hand still gripped the Yellow Paper Umbrella, not letting that sword intent return from those ten thousand broken swords. This was because he knew very well that after those broken swords had engaged in that bitter battle with the monster tide, there were many swords that were almost about to give out. If he were to withdraw that Mount Li sword intent, the Golden-winged Great Peng would not even need to do anything for the swords to perish.

Right now, he could only use the sword intent of the Dragoncry Sword. However, several hundred years had passed. Would this sword's sword intent still be strong enough? As the Golden-winged Great Peng approached, he silently sensed the Dragoncry Sword's pride and amiability. Yes, it was a very familiar and even amiable sense of pride, like he had been born to use this sword.

This indescribable sense of familiarity fiercely shook his mind. Just like whenever Zhexiu fell ill, his heart began to suddenly beat several times faster and his true essence began to move through his meridians at a much faster pace. The hand gripping the sword incessantly trembled. The trembling grew increasingly serious until his entire body began to tremble.

Even the snowy plains in his body began to tremble.

That thick mantle of snow which once rested upon this snowy plain had been the fruit of several hundred nights of bitter cultivation in the Orthodox Academy. It was the purest radiance of the stars. In the Grand Examination and in those several dozen days of battle, this mantle of snow had been burned up. Now, only a shallow layer remained.

The shallow snow was easily shaken. The external shock jolted the snow into the air and tossed it into a collision with those rays of light that were reflecting off that spherical lake. With a boom, the snow began to burn. The star radiance instantly melted into clear water, which turned into a mist, which transformed into the purest true essence. This true essence flooded into his body, then it began to flow through those dry meridians of his that were ruptured like cliffs and incessantly moved forward… for Chen Changsheng, this was an extremely painful course of events, but he did not give off the slightest sound. He only stared at the approaching Golden-winged Great Peng, continuing to hold on. He allowed that shock to continue burning up his snowy plain and allowed that true essence to continue its progress through his body.

At some point, that true essence finally arrived at his wrist. The shock that originated from his heart met with the shock that came from the sword hilt, then they melded together and transformed into an indescribable battle intent!

The Dragoncry Sword was damaged, its sword intent no longer like it was in the past, but its battle intent still existed!

Carrying a proud and unyielding sword intent, Chen Changsheng's hand wielded the Dragoncry Sword and stabbed it at the Golden-winged Great Peng!

A bright and ancient dragon cry, its meaning difficult to understand, roared out before the stone platform!

A magnificent and shining sword glow carried along an almost real dragon's breath and flew dozens of li through the air. In the middle of the air, it chopped at the space between those two sacred balls of fire that were the Golden-winged Great Peng's eyes!

Nanke was there...

Compared to the sword glow of the Dragoncry Sword, she was so insignificant, just a little black dot. Yet her expression was unchanging. To that extremely bright sword light, she extended a finger.

Through the Soul Wood, she and the Golden-winged Great Peng were one. She was the Golden-winged Great Peng, possessing the strength and spirit of the Saint realm.

She required only a finger to block the sword glow of the Dragoncry Sword.

As it gazed from the plain to the mausoleum, a strange ball of black Qi appeared between the two eyes of the Golden-winged Great Peng.

The ball of Qi was at Nanke's fingertip, the result of a collision between two extremely powerful forces.

In the next moment, that black ball of Qi instantly disappeared. In the air, many faint and tiny cracks appeared, indicating that even the true space was breaking up. Simultaneously, an enormous sound resounded above the plain, like a clap of thunder.

A berserk wind instantly came down from the sky to the ground, then swept off to a thousand li out. The stubborn grass on the face of the mausoleum was all pulled out and blown off to some place. Even the moss attached to the stones at the bottom had been peeled off, and even the stone layer of the mausoleum was somewhat flaky. A massive tide swept through that black ocean atop the burning plain. Under those divine flames that were the Golden-winged Great Peng's eyes, at least several hundred lower-ranked monsters had been shaken to death. As for that sword array in front of the monster, there were also several dozen swords that were wavering.

Chen Changsheng did not hear that thunderclap and did not pay any attention to those previous scenes. He stared at the Dragoncry Sword, because in that previous moment, the Dragoncry Sword had given off an extremely light sound.

It was the sound of cracking.

The Dragoncry Sword was broken, the upper half of its blade falling into the pool of water before him and plopping against the floor.

In Chen Changsheng's ears, this plop was truly thunder.

A thunderclap exploded from the stone platform. Boom!

In the middle of the frenzied wind, Chen Changsheng retreated several dozen zhang and heavily fell against the stone gate, stirring up dust.

His face was pale and blood rushed up his throat, but he swallowed it back down. He felt like all his bones were broken, but he stood back up. Because although the Dragoncry Sword had been broken, its battle intent still remained. Only…

Even if this battle intent was so berserk, even if it had the encouragement of these ten thousand swords, was it still not an opponent for the Golden-winged Great Peng?

Chen Changsheng gazed at the broken sword and noticed that the breakpoint was very neat and smooth, yet it did not seem new. Then he remembered that when he had been holding the Dragoncry Sword, he had faintly noticed a barely discernible line on the blade.

Now he understood that the line was a blade scar.

Countless years ago, Chen Xuanba had brought this sword to the Garden of Zhou and lost to Zhou Dufu's blade. Although he died, he was unwilling to fall down. This sword had clearly already been broken, but it stubbornly insisted on not letting its opponent see. Only after countless years had passed and this proud sword had once again confronted a similarly powerful opponent was it finally no longer able to hold on.

He held the broken sword and then silently and slowly walked back to the edge of the stone platform, once more gazing at the dark sky.

For some reason, that Golden-winged Great Peng needed to combine with Nanke, but it had already proved its power.

Nanke had already disappeared. She had truly become one with the Great Peng. Those two divine flames were still holy and violent. They coldly looked at his insignificant self standing in the middle of the mausoleum as the Great Peng got closer and closer.

The sky changed color as the dark clouds roiled. Countless bolts of lightning flashed like snakes, lighting up the air above the mausoleum.

The Dragoncry sword was broken, so what sword should he use next? The Mountain Sea Sword or the temple sword? Or should all the swords attack together?

Just at this moment, he suddenly felt a strand of heat from the place on his right hand between his thumb and index finger.

He still had not put down the Dragoncry Sword. That strand of heat had come from the remaining half of the Dragoncry Sword. It was the Dragoncry Sword's sword intent—this proud sword intent, with a sense of broken-heartedness, left the body of the Dragoncry Sword. It took only an instant for that remaining half of the Dragoncry Sword that was still proud and unbending and incomparably bright to turn dim and lightless, as if it had died.

That sword intent entered Chen Changsheng's body, then went inside the dagger at his waist.

Although the heart of his sword had been perfected, he was limited by his cultivation and his sword intent could never become complete. Thus, it was only by using the Yellow Paper Umbrella that he could borrow that Mount Li sword intent to command the ten thousand swords to attack the monster tide. It was also for this reason that his sword intent had never truly fused with his dagger. In other words, this seemingly ordinary dagger felt that his sword intent did not match with it.

Now, the sword intent of the Dragoncry Sword had arrived.

The dagger was still in its sheath, but it began to hum.

Chen Changsheng understood the Dragoncry Sword's meaning. This was an inheritance.

He was somewhat melancholy.

The Dragoncry Sword had passed the sword intent into the dagger, and then it died, while the dagger came to life.

Right now, he could only hope that this method of the Dragoncry Sword could continue his own life, or perhaps his pride.

Then, he had to win.

He gently placed the broken Dragoncry Sword on the ground and then stood back up. Grasping the hilt of the dagger, he pulled it out.

With his actions, a sun appeared in front of the main entrance of the mausoleum.

This sun followed the blade of the dagger. It rose up from the sheath and illuminated the gloomy mausoleum and plain.

It was countless rays of golden light.

It was an incomparably brilliant sword.

A powerful Qi rose up with the dagger, shocking all life around the mausoleum.

Silence.

The sword intent of the Dragoncry Sword had perfectly fused with the dagger. It was just like when Chen Changsheng had first held that sword, like they had been made for each other. But this was still not enough.

This dagger's soul had not yet awakened.