Wang Sheng had rushed over as fast as he could to provide support. Fortunately, he arrived just in time. Before arriving, Wang Sheng had already extended his spiritual consciousness to probe the situation on the battlefield. He found that his master and the other six Daoist seniors were steadily holding the line. Their enemies appeared to be launching a fierce assault, but none of them were strong enough to decide the battle in one blow. Much of their momentum seemed exaggerated and hollow, like a paper tiger. While he was observing, his spiritual consciousness caught a powerful aura emerging in the northern skies. Judging from its fluctuations, it was likely an ancient devil from beyond the borders, and it had to be at least a thousand years old. Wang Sheng had only just been released from the Earth Qi Seal himself. He had no familiarity with these foreign forces, and he couldn't really care less who the ancient devil was or what "glorious" past it could have. I'll fight first and ask questions later. He howled deeply to inform his master of his arrival. He then soared over the battlefield and headed north to intercept the ancient vampire. "Yaoyun, can I use Spiritless?" "Mm. You may draw the sword as you please; you don't have to ask me. Do be careful, though." Without hesitation, Wang Sheng unlocked the sword case. Spiritless emerged, and starlight swirled into a violet radiance. Gripping the sword, which Yaoyun had reforged, Wang Sheng felt emotion well up from deep within. He felt as though he held an entire domain in his grasp. Even if he were to face the mightiest of immortals, gods, or devils, he would not hesitate to fight them with all his strength for as long as he had Spiritless. Catching himself entertaining the rather inflated notion that his opponent was nothing more than a measly foreign devil, he calmed his heart and observed his nature. He quickly suppressed all such arrogance, making him completely tranquil. Wang Sheng and the ancient devil rapidly closed in on each other. With his Daoist robe and his long hair tied up, Wang Sheng looked like a typical cultivator of the Daoist sects. However, at that moment, he exuded a sharpness so intense that others had difficulty looking at him directly. All three of his sword intents simultaneously shook within his Heavenly Abode, and his sword-shaped Golden Core shone brilliantly above his qi sea. For an instant, he even felt as though he were about to break through and form his Nascent Soul. Fortunately, the feeling quickly faded. A trace of pressure radiated ahead of him. Looking at his opponent, he discovered that the ancient vampire had already shed its formerly elegant and handsome humanoid form. It had transformed into a creature covered in pitch-black fur, with a pair of fleshy wings unfurled from its back. This was the true form of most vampires! They quickly narrowed the distance from a kilometer to a hundred meters! Wang Sheng and the ancient vampire attacked at the same time. Crimson light gathered under the vampire's left claw. It then fired two pitch-black beams from its scarlet eyes. Wang Sheng was so focused on the blood sphere in the vampire's left claw that the beams caught him by surprise. Since they were charging at each other at high speeds, he didn't even have time to dodge. ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ NoveI(F)ire.net If I can't avoid it, then I might as well take it head-on! Starlight flashed in Wang Sheng's eyes. His shoulder trembled slightly, and streams of enchanted power surged out from every part of him. They coalesced into a round, palm-sized, violet-golden shield before him. Though small, it was exceedingly durable. Due to its patterns and texture, it looked as though it had been forged from some sort of metal. A split second later, the black beams struck the shield of enchanted power, making it merely shimmer for a moment before the beams vanished. Clearly, the attack was only meant to be a feint. The ancient vampire had already raised its left claw high. It bared its fangs, seemingly in a mocking smile, as its blood sphere glowed dark red. They were now only ten meters apart—just moments away from a head-on collision! The ancient vampire seemed certain of its victory. In the blink of an eye, it thrust its left claw toward Wang Sheng's head. Now only five meters away from his opponent, Wang Sheng finally went on the offensive and unleashed the Seven-Star Sword Formation. He swung Spiritless as fast as a phantom, pushing the concepts of speed and precision to their absolute limits. Spiritless created seven sword phantasms, which then arranged themselves in the shape of the Big Dipper. In a single breath, Wang Sheng struck seven times. The seven sword phantasms trembled, splitting into forty-nine. Among the forty-eight illusions was one real sword, disorienting the ancient vampire enough to make its expression darken. The Hua Republic's ancestors had already mastered the tactic of blending illusion and reality to divert the enemy's attention thousands of years ago. Still, his opponent wasn't an idiot. Likely sensing the threat that Spiritless posed, the ancient vampire crushed the blood sphere, which it had spent so long gathering, just as Wang Sheng unleashed his sword momentum. Blood-red light burst like a dark-crimson star exploding. Powerful shockwaves blasted outward between the two, interrupting Wang Sheng's attack and blasting him backward. Nevertheless, his eyes remained locked on the ancient vampire. When he felt a sinister aura attempting to invade his body, his Golden Core shook softly. His Pure Yang Enchanted Power glowed like sunlight after snow, instantly dissolving the aura. Blood splattered across the sky, and waves of crimson light surged in all directions. Amid their fierce battle at the gorge's entrance, the Hua Republic cultivators and foreign cultivators turned to the northern skies. A gust swept through, clearing the view enough for them to see Wang Sheng and the ancient vampire being blasted away. Qing Yanzi sent a werewolf flying with a slap as he frowned slightly. Naturally, he was worried about his disciple. Soon, though, he smiled faintly. Thanks to his physique, which he had tempered using heavenly tribulations, Wang Sheng had only been knocked back several dozen meters. He swiftly stabilized himself amid the blood-filled air. In the past, being stopped mid-charge and flung back at full speed would have internally injured him, disrupted the flow of his qi, and left him bleeding. Now, apart from some pain in his chest, he only felt as though an ordinary human had punched him. His chest pain instantly vanished as well once he started circulating enchanted power again, eliminating even the slightest hindrance. Standing tall in the sky, Wang Sheng closed his eyes and opened them again, revealing lightning crackling in them. He formed a sword finger with his left hand and raised Spiritless vertically with his right hand, pointing its tip at the heavens. His long hair billowed behind him as cyan mist enveloped him. He then traced Spiritless from its hilt to its tip with his sword finger, swiftly wreathing it in lightning. With his Heavenly Tribulation Sword Intent bound to his blade, Wang Sheng stomped in the air. Arcs of lightning also lit up Flying Haze, which he had been riding. Right after, bolts of lightning burst forth from the blood-red sky like dragons surging from the sea. They scattered the crimson clouds in the blink of an eye. Countless small sparks had formed the thunderbolts. Hence, though not particularly destructive, their momentum was overwhelming. The largest bolt streaked across the sky like a blade. It cleaved straight toward the ancient vampire, who had just flapped its fleshy wings to regain balance. At the forefront of the lightning was Wang Sheng himself. Seven sword phantasms burst forth and then fused into one. The ancient vampire's eyes, which were now pitch-black, clearly reflected Wang Sheng, who was engulfed in lightning. Before the vampire even realized it, it had lost focus, and its fighting spirit had quickly faded. Moving purely on instinct, it flapped its wings to evade, only to see lightning explode before it. The lightning-wreathed longsword had already pierced through its chest. The vampire let out an ear-piercing roar. "Argh—!" It lashed out at Wang Sheng with its claws, seemingly intent on locking him in a clutch. However, Wang Sheng simply sneered faintly and drifted backward. He swiftly withdrew the treasured sword in his hand from the vampire's body, its blade unstained by even a drop of blood. Several drops of pitch-black blood dripped from the ancient vampire's wound. Having had its heart pierced, it flew into a rage and began lunging wildly at Wang Sheng. Remaining composed, Wang Sheng controlled his sword to evade while observing the vampire's injury. Unfortunately, it was not a fatal blow. Stepping lightly on Flying Haze, Wang Sheng effortlessly dodged two attacks. After a moment's thought, he formed forty-eight qi swords with his left hand and made them hover around him. During his seclusion over the past decade, Wang Sheng had carefully pondered his combat strategies, especially how to use his techniques to their fullest potential. Following the conclusions that he had reached from his brainstorming sessions, he waved his left hand to employ his Sword-Controlling Art. The qi swords assumed a formation and shot forward, while Wang Sheng gave chase on Flying Haze. Instead of immediately bombarding the ancient vampire, the qi swords hovered around it first. The vampire swiftly attacked them. However, with a subtle motion of his left hand, the qi swords pulled back, and Wang Sheng charged forward, forcing the vampire to engage him head-on. A flash of sword radiance sent black blood spraying from the vampire's palm. Before it could retaliate, Wang Sheng flickered to the left and leaped from Flying Haze. He stepped steadily on a nearby qi sword, struck the ancient vampire once more, and then vanished again. Flying Haze and the forty-eight qi swords arranged themselves in the foundational pattern of the Seven-Star Footwork. At first, Wang Sheng seemed slightly sluggish, but after a few shifts, he grew faster, and his attacks became more fluid. In just a dozen seconds, Wang Sheng moved through the air as if walking on flat ground, unleashing the Seven-Star Sword Formation and its reversed variant with ease. The forty-eight qi swords shifted according to his will, disorienting the ancient vampire completely. His sword radiance flickered nonstop as his onslaughts became more and more fluid. The heavily injured ancient vampire tried its best to defend itself. However, no matter which part of its body it used to block, Spiritless inevitably wounded it. It utterly demolished the defensive capabilities that the vampire took pride in. In just a few moments, Wang Sheng's opponent was already covered in sword wounds. Wang Sheng's gaze sharpened. Now that he had tested the combined power of his Sword-Controlling Art, Seven-Star Footwork, and Heavenly Ziwei Sword Art, he began to accelerate further. His swordplay also became ever fiercer. Gradually, sword howls drowned out all other sounds, and brilliant flashes of sword radiance eclipsed everything else on their battlefield. Wang Sheng was no longer in sight. Amid the sword radiance, the ancient vampire stood in ruins. Now fully suppressed, it could only put up a feeble struggle. Any blood sphere it managed to gather was promptly pierced. Any strike it launched only resulted in its arms being skewered through. Even if it blasted blood all over the area and managed to push Wang Sheng back momentarily, he would immediately return. From the ground, it looked as though the sky had formed a ring of light that was over ten meters wide around the ancient vampire. Sword phantasms shot forth from the ring like cannon fire, bringing the creature's supposedly indestructible body to the verge of collapse. The ancient vampire threw its head back and roared in fury. Its black skin began to swell, seemingly about to self-detonate. However, before it could, a cold snort echoed nearby. The surrounding sword phantasms flared with dazzling brilliance. Forty-nine phantasms of Wang Sheng, each in a different sword stance, then appeared all over the area and attacked the vampire all at once. As swift as lightning, as sharp as the heavenly sword! Every strike landed precisely on an existing wound. As if Wang Sheng had calculated this outcome in advance, his forty-nine swords merged into one. The Seven-Star Sword Formation's true potential was then unleashed to its fullest. Sword radiance flashed as the vampire was covered in wound after wound that seemed almost translucent. Its injuries crisscrossed until they had covered it from head to toe. Its roar was cut short. It looked down, only for its head to slip cleanly from its neck, followed by its arms, fingers, legs, and wings. Using his sword radiance, Wang Sheng had dismembered the vampire in midair. It never even had the chance to self-detonate! Reappearing beside it, Wang Sheng noticed six golden bats flying out from the vampire's severed remains. So it is a bat fiend after all… When the vampire found itself in a hopeless position, it clearly attempted to self-detonate and allow its true form—the bats—to escape. However, with its body already severed, it had no chance of fleeing. He formed another sword finger with his left hand and flicked it, making forty qi swords surge forth. They instantly reduced the six golden bats to dust. Wang Sheng then turned and flew toward the gorge entrance with a calm expression and a composed gaze. He looked as though the battle had been nothing but a trivial task to him.