Chapter 34: A Sword Severing the Void, Battling the River God

One word spoken, and heaven and earth fell silent.

The River God was first stunned, then consumed by shame and rage: a mere Foundation Establishment Taoist dared to spout such arrogant nonsense in his presence!

Were all Taoists from Penglai this conceited?

"You seek death!"

With a flash, the River God appeared before Jiang Sheng, his massive trident descending with surging spiritual power.

It was as if a waterfall of ten million catties had crashed down!

Jiang Sheng’s expression remained unchanged as a three-foot green blade appeared in his hand.

As the spiritual power around Jiang Sheng surged, the spiritual sword erupted with astonishing might, sending a whistling streak of green sword light soaring upward.

The three-zhang sword qi collided with the trident in the River God's hand, causing the surging spiritual power to explode violently, shaking the surroundings for thousands of feet.

Both Jiang Sheng and the River God were forced back over a hundred feet.

The River God had regained his composure; from that mere testing strike, he had discovered that Jiang Sheng was absolutely unlike an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator!

"Is that a spiritual tool in your hand?" the River God asked.

Jiang Sheng did not answer. Instead, his figure lunged forward once more. With a flash of the green blade, a streak of green spiritual light tore through the air.

The River God let out a cold snort and met the attack head-on with his trident. Possessing the cultivation of the Purple Mansion realm, he naturally did not fear a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator like Jiang Sheng.

In the sky outside Qingping Mountain, the green and blue spiritual lights collided incessantly.

The sword qi whistled, tearing through curtains of water, while the surging waves transformed into countless water arrows, pouring down like a sky-covering rain of projectiles.

The commoners at the foot of Qingping Mountain looked up at the fierce battle in the distant sky, their hearts in their throats, fearing that if Jiang Sheng fell, they would perish along with him.

Xu Xiao and Qiao Xuan took the opportunity to retreat into the mountains to regroup with Zhang Qing and Zhang Qingyun.

"Where are Wang Tianfang and the others?" Zhang Qing asked.

"Hmph, they used some trickery; once they saw it wasn't the River God, they scattered," Xu Xiao snorted, his eyes filled with disdain.

Zhang Qing nodded; this was not unexpected.

Looking up at the two flickering lights in the sky, Zhang Qing exhaled a breath of warm air. "For now, we can only rely on Taoist Jiang's methods."

Xu Xiao’s expression was complicated. "Indeed. We can only rely on him."

Meanwhile, Jiang Sheng, currently locked in combat with the River God, maintained a calm expression, though his eyes were profoundly solemn.

This was the first time since leaving the mountains that he had fought a being of the Purple Mansion realm.

Although the River God exerted significant pressure, he also allowed Jiang Sheng to exert his full strength.

Streaks of green sword light crisscrossed, slicing through the surging curtains of water.

The River God clenched his left hand, gathering infinite water vapor which finally erupted as a roaring pillar of water.

The pillar was violent, reaching him in a few breaths. The ferocious water spiritual energy felt as though it could destroy everything; its mere approach made it difficult to breathe.

Jiang Sheng’s internal spiritual power surged, and he dodged the pillar with a flash of movement. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the pillar slam directly into a small mountain peak behind him.

With a thunderous roar and a surge of dust, the peak's summit was blasted apart, sending countless boulders tumbling down.

Jiang Sheng’s face remained unchanged. His left hand formed a seal before he swept his fingers across the blade; in the next instant, his movement increased in speed by thirty percent.

As if man and sword had become one, a green sword light traversed the sky, flashing from east to west like a sudden bolt of lightning.

The River God instinctively dodged to the side, but everywhere the green light passed was sliced open, spreading three hundred feet to the west.

It was an incomparably sharp strike—fast and ruthless!

"What a swift sword," the River God couldn't help but praise. Even by his standards as a former Golden Core True Person, such a strike from the Foundation Establishment realm was nothing short of stunning.

Jiang Sheng’s figure emerged from the green light. "Don't be so quick to praise, River God. Doesn't your face hurt?"

The River God stopped to touch his face, only to find a deep gash had been carved into his cheek.

Being a body of stone, driven only by the power of incense and divine sense, a stone body felt no pain when injured; thus, the River God had felt nothing.

He instinctively channeled his incense power to heal the wound, only to find to his shock that the incense power was blocked by a lingering sword intent surrounding the cheek.

Until he could wear down this sword intent, he could not heal the wound.

"This God has underestimated you."

Ignoring the sword mark, the River God gripped his trident and exerted his incense power to its limit. He had realized the problem.

From Donghe Town to Qingping Town, he had destroyed five towns and countless villages, and had fought Xu Xiao and the others twice. His incense power was severely depleted!

Most importantly, using the waters of the Taiping River to flood the six towns had consumed a massive amount of his incense.

He was now secretly regretting it. Once this battle ended, the incense power within this avatar would likely be exhausted.

The thought that the time required to refine his mortal body and condense an Incense Golden Core might be delayed by several years made the River God look at Jiang Sheng with eyes full of venom!

"This God will not give you another chance."

As he spoke, the River God exerted his incense power to the utmost. The surging river water on the ground was drawn toward him, forming a sky-reaching curtain of water that divided heaven and earth.

The surging water curtain connected the sky to the ground, obscuring the horizon and blocking the vision of everyone in Qingping Mountain.

They could only see a thick wall of water standing before the mountain, as if the heavens were about to collapse.

With a swing of his trident, the sky-covering water curtain, carrying the weight of ten million catties, washed toward Jiang Sheng.

The violent water spiritual energy made every drop within the curtain feel like a sharp blade.

Once struck by this curtain, one would surely have their flesh stripped away, or even be reduced to nothing but bones.

The water curtain roared toward him, blotting out the sun like a celestial river pouring into the mortal realm.

Watching the curtain approach, Jiang Sheng’s left hand, hidden in his sleeve, gripped a yellow talisman—the Bright Radiance Li Fire Talisman he had drawn.

As the water curtain closed in, the talisman was activated.

The River God watched as Jiang Sheng was swallowed by the water, but before he could breathe a sigh of relief, a loud dragon roar echoed out.

"Roar!"

A high-pitched dragon cry erupted from within the water curtain. In the next instant, a massive vacuum was evaporated from the roaring waterfall.

A complete fire dragon, with whiskers, scales, and claws fully formed, emerged from the water curtain, and Jiang Sheng was standing right within its dragon claw!

The true dragon, condensed from intense flames, circled in the air, staining the surrounding dark clouds into fire clouds.

Looking at the ten-zhang fire dragon, the River God recalled the information Huang Shiren had given him: *Jiang Sheng of Qingping Mountain is skilled in fire arts.*

It seemed this fire dragon was indeed Jiang Sheng's trump card.

Back then, Jiang Sheng had used a fire dragon to defeat the Eight Wolves of Dongjun; now, he intended to use it to defeat him.

"Mere fire arts? Do you think you can withstand the power of the Taiping River?"

The River God sneered, channeling his incense to the limit. Endless water vapor was drawn around him, transforming into a water cloud covering dozens of miles.

"Let us see if your fire is stronger, or if this God's water is stronger!"

As the River God brandished his trident, the sky-filling water vapor turned into infinite water arrows, shooting toward Jiang Sheng in a blinding barrage.

The dense forest of water arrows was so thick it appeared as a black mass without end, and every single arrow possessed the power of the Foundation Establishment realm.

With so many arrows falling, they could wear Jiang Sheng down to death.

However, under Jiang Sheng's command, the ten-zhang fire dragon let out another roar and spat out scorching flames. The intense fire surged forth, turning the surrounding dark clouds into burning fire clouds.

The incoming water arrows exploded continuously; the collision of water spiritual energy and fire caused them to cancel each other out, kicking up vast amounts of scalding steam that fell as a drizzling hot rain.

The commoners in Qingping Mountain watched with wide eyes as the sky-covering rain of water arrows was intercepted by a majestic fire dragon.

Only now did they realize that Taoist Jiang possessed such incredible methods!

Xu Xiao stared at the fire dragon in awe. "Taoist Jiang's fire arts are truly extraordinary!"

"The fire dragon has horns, whiskers, scales, and claws; it is incredibly lifelike. Clearly, Taoist Jiang has mastered this fire art to a great extent, otherwise, he could not have condensed such a miraculous dragon!"

Hearing Xu Xiao's praise, Zhang Qingyun hurriedly asked, "In that case, can Taoist Jiang defeat that demon?"

Xu Xiao shook his head. "It is hard to say. A being of the Purple Mansion realm has opened a Purple Mansion between their brows and possesses nascent divine abilities; their spiritual power is far beyond what a Foundation Establishment cultivator can compare to."

"Even though he used a lot of spiritual power to flood half of Qingshan County along the way, he is still a Purple Mansion being. The outcome is a fifty-fifty toss-up."

As they spoke, the battle in the sky suddenly shifted.

Seeing that the water arrows could not take down Jiang Sheng and feeling the depletion of his incense power, the River God finally used his own trump card.

With a swing of the trident, the sky-filling water vapor converged, eventually forming a massive fish over a hundred zhang in length.

The River God brandished his trident, and the hundred-zhang fish flipped and lunged toward Jiang Sheng.

Given its massive volume, the shadow cast by the mountain-like water spirit fish covered nearly half of Qingshan Town, and the aura it emitted was terrifying.

Xu Xiao even felt that if this great fish landed on Qingping Town, it would be enough to make the entire town vanish in an instant!

Compared to this great fish, the fire dragon Jiang Sheng had condensed was only ten zhang in size—less than one-tenth of the water spirit fish.

Though it possessed scales and claws, both its momentum and its fluctuations of power were far inferior to its opponent.

Qiao Xuan stared grimly at the two combatants. "Taoist Jiang is in trouble."

"What?!" Zhang Qingyun and Zhang Qing were both startled, their hearts turning cold.

Xu Xiao's expression was also incredibly solemn. "That demon has used a divine ability. That great fish should be a nascent divine ability condensed during his Purple Mansion stage, though not yet fully matured. Even so, it is not something a Foundation Establishment cultivator can withstand!"

At that moment, the fire dragon let out a heaven-shaking roar, and Jiang Sheng actually commanded the dragon to charge directly at the hundred-zhang water spirit fish.

Everyone watched with trepidation as the small fire dragon seemed to strike a mountain like an egg hitting a stone.

But in the next instant, the fire dragon exploded, its surging flames expanding to swallow the water spirit fish whole.

A deafening explosion roared, flames tumbled, and the water spirit fish struggled incessantly within the surrounding blaze.

Clearly, the fire dragon, condensed from the essence of the Great Sun, had inflicted severe injuries on the water spirit fish.

Amidst surging dust and rolling dark clouds, as the River God continuously replenished the water vapor, the water spirit fish eventually extinguished the sky-filling flames through its twisting and turning. The sky was once again shrouded in clouds and rain, and Jiang Sheng had vanished.

"In the end, this God has won!"

But before the River God could rejoice, a speck of light flickered within the clouds and rain.

In the next instant, a piercing green sword light sliced through the sky, traversing three thousand feet from west to east!