Chapter 395 - 192: Sword
Chapter 395: Chapter 192: Sword
Every road, no matter how long, has an end.
The steps before the gates of the Sword God Palace, no matter how treacherous, eventually led Fang Shuwen to its main entrance.
Standing before the gates of the Sword God Palace, he looked up at the magnificent, enormous plaque and the three grand characters for "Sword God Palace," written with strokes as sharp as iron hooks and silver brushes.
"You two wait here."
Fang Shuwen instructed Fang Dabao and Sun Buping before striding through the gates.
Beyond the massive threshold lay a vast training ground.
In the very center of the training ground stood a giant stone tablet, upon which was carved a single, large character radiating Sword Qi—"Sword"!
Fang Shuwen’s steps were light as he slowly walked forward, seemingly wanting to take a closer look at the character on the tablet.
The constantly retreating Divine Swordsmen felt as if they had nowhere left to run. Every step Fang Shuwen took brought them immense pressure.
Some people crumble under pressure, but others erupt.
Just like that, a longsword thrust toward Fang Shuwen’s face.
Fang Shuwen casually caught the blade in his palm. With a twist of his wrist along the edge—CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!—the longsword shattered into pieces.
The Swordsman lost his grip, and the flying hilt struck him square in the forehead, sending him falling backward.
This scene might have been the straw that broke the camel’s back.
The entire training ground instantly erupted with battle cries.
Fang Shuwen, however, frowned slightly, a hint of disappointment on his face.
"Don’t rush in!"
"Form up and face the enemy!"
At that moment, two voices called out from the crowd, one after the other.
The Divine Swordsmen, who had been terrified after witnessing the deaths of Zhang Feiyang and Chen Mengzhu, finally calmed down at these two commands.
SWOOSH, SWOOSH, SWOOSH! The sound of rushing wind filled the air as figures crisscrossed in a blur.
Fang Shuwen, standing in the middle of it all, suddenly let out a laugh. He reached out, grabbing a Swordsman by the head. CRUNCH! He crushed the man’s skull.
He then pressed a single palm to his chest.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!!
A torrent of Palm Power descended from the heavens. Everywhere Fang Shuwen passed, the Divine Swordsmen who were scrambling about fell from mid-air like dumplings being dropped into a pot.
But in that short time, the surviving Divine Swordsmen on the training ground had all found their positions.
After all, their numbers were still great...
Fang Shuwen had killed over a hundred people on Celestial Martial Peak, and another two hundred or so on his way up the mountain to the Sword God Palace.
But even so, there were still nearly twenty-six hundred Divine Swordsmen left in the entire Sword God Palace.
Even with his immense power, wiping out this group would be no easy task for Fang Shuwen.
The training ground was massive, likely able to hold several thousand people.
All the Divine Swordsmen present were now ready.
The moment Fang Shuwen took another step forward, a fierce sword gleam filled his vision.
Sun Buping and Fang Dabao hadn’t entered; Fang Shuwen had stopped them outside the main gate.
But seeing the scene before them, Sun Buping’s pupils couldn’t help but contract.
The Star River Sword Array was formed by one hundred and eight people. Now, with over two thousand people arranged into groups of one hundred, these twenty-six Star River Sword Arrays combined to form the Sword God Palace’s greatest formation: the Heavenly River Flying Star Grand Array!
Even with his absolute confidence in Fang Shuwen, Sun Buping’s expression turned grave at the sight.
This grand Array was vicious and brutal. Once activated, it was like a giant meat grinder.
An endless torrent of sword gleams brewed within it, so dense that not even air could pass through. Even a block of solid iron would be ground into filings by this Array.
Before he could warn Fang Shuwen to be careful, a wave-like tide of sword gleams began to ’flow’ across the training ground.
If one were to pull back their perspective, the swords and Sword Qi of all these men, when gathered together, didn’t actually resemble a heavenly river, but rather a lake.
The ’water’ in this ’lake’ was their swords and the Sword Qi they emitted.
To be submerged in such ’water’ was certainly not a pleasant experience.
And Fang Shuwen... was now completely submerged within it.
However, at that very same moment, the resonant toll of a great bell rang out.
A golden, ancient bell materialized, appearing like an ’unyielding rock’ in the middle of the ’lake’.
No matter how fiercely the ’water’ of the ’lake’ crashed against this ’rock’, it remained completely unshaken.
Instead, the ’water’ that struck the ’rock’ was sent recoiling with even greater ferocity, bringing with it a series of blood-curdling screams.
The toll of the bell and Buddhist chants sounded one after another, followed by the sound of tearing silk.
From the moment the first drop of blood stained the Heavenly River Flying Star Grand Array, the color crimson began to spread madly through the ’lake’.
Every strand of Sword Qi that landed on Fang Shuwen was converted into Formless Sound Gang. The Formless Sound Gang then transformed into Buddhist Thunder Sound, which was sent back to the attacker’s position in a faster, fiercer, and more merciless fashion.
Even though each person’s position within the Heavenly River Flying Star Grand Array was constantly shifting, there were so many people that their returned attacks never missed.
When someone died, another would take their place.
But as they watched Fang Shuwen, enveloped by the ancient bell in the center of the crowd, an inexplicable sense of powerlessness washed over them.
’What in the world is this Martial Arts?’
’How can it be so indestructible?’
Given the power of the Heavenly River Flying Star Grand Array, forget a Body-Protecting Divine Technique; even if Fang Shuwen had found a real ancient bell and placed it over his head, it would have been ground to dust under the ’scouring’ of the endless Sword Qi.