Sage Monarch

The third-ranked Inexorable Slasher had made some dramatic accusations toward Sword Matriarch Ice Spirit, and was clearly trying to put her in her place.

In response, she smiled coldly. "So, the God-Slashing Sword Sect has already picked sides?"

Inexorable Slasher snorted coldly. "Picked sides? How dare you say something like that! The God-Slashing Sword Sect is the leader of the eighteen swords sects. We have the power and authority to enforce the law, and you abandoning your post has nothing to do with the Emptydeath Sword Sect. If something bad happens at Castle Heaven-Devil, you'll be at fault. You know full well how we handle people like you. Offer an apology to Sectlord Emptydeath immediately, and maybe we can let you off the hook for your other crimes. Otherwise I'm going to punish you for breaking the rules set by our sect alliance."

"The exalted Inexorable Slasher is absolutely correct," Sectlord Emptydeath said. "And he's talking about a formal apology, not just a few words. As part of the apology, the Ice Spirit Sword Sect will send a hundred—no, a thousand female disciples to the Emptydeath Sword Sect to serve as slave girls. Only then can we call things even."

RIIIIP!

In response to his words, the eyes of the young women from the Ice Spirit Sword Sect burned with fury. The altercation had progressed from light insults to ignominious humiliation. To send a thousand female disciples to the Emptydeath Sword Sect would be shameful beyond belief, and it would cause the rest of the disciples from the Ice Spirit Sword Sect to be forever incapable of holding their heads up with pride. It would also affect the lower-ranked immortal worlds their sect controlled, and they would likely lose control of them.

By this point, Sword Matriarch Ice Spirit's killing intent burned with incredible intensity, and yet her face seemed like the picture of calm. "What's your decision here, Inexorable Slasher?"

Snorting coldly, he replied, "You will do exactly as Sectlord Emptydeath demands. Giving them a thousand servant girls is a reasonable way to resolve the situation. However, that doesn't address the issue of you abandoning your post. There are sixteen other sword sects present, and you will give all of them a thousand female disciples to be servant girls. Of course, the God-Slashing Sword Sect is bigger than the other sects, so you'll give us five thousand."

Sectlord Emptydeath was vicious, but Inexorable Slasher was even more vicious! With his single pronouncement, he had put the Ice Spirit Sword Sect on the brink of destruction.

To the surprise of everyone present, Sword Matriarch Ice Spirit just started laughing. "Ah, Inexorable Slasher, it seems that I really do need to carry out a big purge. You want to dismantle our dao of the sword, but sadly for you, things aren't going to turn out that way. And since your motives are so vile, I'm not going to go easy on you. You think that because you're a Tempered God, you can push me around? Big mistake. Since we have so many witnesses present, now is the perfect time to show you that the Ice Spirit Sword Sect is no longer a second-tier sect around here. We're first-tier!"

RUMBLE!

A beam of sword energy shot out of her, transforming into a majestic dragon of sword energy that crushed everything in its path.

The faces of both Inexorable Slasher and Sectlord Emptydeath flickered with shock. "You reached the Tempered God level?!" Inexorable Slasher blurted. "How is this possible? Based on your talent, you should never have been capable of doing this! Well, considering you just broke through, you're dreaming if you think you qualify to show off in front of me!"

Whoosh!

Sword light shot out from him, millions upon millions of streams filled with spirits, souls, devils, and immortals made of swords. It was like an entire sword world!

The sun and moon went dark, and the stars seemed to fall as the sword light spread out to cover everyone from the Ice Spirit Sword Sect.

"That's… Inexorable Slasher's boundless dao of the sword. It's the Sun-Moon Heavenly-Body Glorious-God Sword Dao! People say that one strike of that sword can conquer all evil and fill the world with radiance."

"Incredible. I'm afraid Sword Matriarch Ice Spirit is in a bad situation now."

"Sword Matriarch Ice Spirit is definitely strong. I can't believe she actually reached the Tempered God level. Given some time, she could definitely be a very domineering figure. Unfortunately, right now she's pretty weak. After all, the God-Slashing Sword Sect is the top sect for a reason."

"So she actually dared to make a move on Inexorable Slasher. It doesn't matter if she is a Tempered God, she's going to perish here."

"Inexorable Slasher is definitely going to kill her. And good riddance." Sectlord Emptydeath was already backing away from the conflict; he was only a Seer God, and thus, was sweating with fear. Only now did he finally understand why Sword Matriarch Ice Spirit had been so arrogant earlier. Without the God-Slashing Sword Sect there to intervene, he would have been in a very dangerous situation.

There was absolutely no way he could stand up to a Tempered God. In fact, he would likely have been defeated with the first move, and the rest of his sword sect wiped out of existence shortly after. Thankfully, the God-Slashing Sword Sect was here, and now he could sit on the mountaintop and watch the tigers fight, then reap the spoils when they tired out.

In his heart, he was absolutely convinced that Sword Matriarch Ice Spirit would be defeated shortly.

But then something completely unexpected happened. Sword Matriarch Ice Spirit opened her eyes and a stream of sword light shot out that could illuminate all nighttimes throughout history. In fact, it was so bright that all of the onlookers were forced to close their eyes.

Whoosh!

All of Inexorable Slasher's sword energy was wiped out of existence, leaving not a trace of it behind.

Then the light proceeded onward, shattering Inexorable Slasher's defensive empyrean energy, destroying his minor world, and slamming into his god armor, which collapsed. A wide gash opened up on his face, and blood spurted in large quantity.

Within him, magical laws were broken and virtual godhood cracked. A look of confused shock appeared on his face. A long moment passed, then he reached up and touched his cheek, wiping away some of the blood. Only then did he let out a hysterical shriek and stagger back like a wounded animal, his eyes radiating both terror and fury.

"You… I can't believe you actually hurt me!" he raved madly. "How could I have been injured! Damn you! You deserve to die! Everyone in your entire Ice Spirit Sword Sect deserves to die! You should be wiped out from the Sage Sword Heaven! You should cease to exist!"

"Is that so? I guess we've reached the point where either the fish dies, or the net splits. I'm about to kill you, Inexorable Slasher. Let's see if you can defend yourself. My bet is that you're a scummy piece of trash who can't possibly stand up to me. Without Traceless Slasher to help you, you would never have reached the Godmyth level."

With Yang Qi to support her, Sword Matriarch Ice Spirit wasn't afraid of anyone present.

She knew that 'Yellow Future' could easily destroy all of the experts in this immortal world, but had instead decided to back her attempt to seize power. So therefore, she was going to do just that.

Having already come out on top in the fight with Inexorable Slasher, she gathered her sword energy in preparation to finish him off. She wouldn't hold back, that was for sure.

Inexorable Slasher had just been preparing to fight back. But then he heard her words and saw the deadly sword energy bearing down on him, seemingly locking down both his virtual godhood and his nascent divinity. Unable to fly and unable to flee, he suddenly felt himself gripped by terror.

"Y-you're… you're actually using a deadly move?" he stammered. "How dare you! You're actually trying to kill me!? That's the Grand Life-Killing Sword Technique! That's the aura of King Life-Killer's sage swords…."

At this point, a cold snort rang out like thunder, accompanied by a devastating stream of sword energy that wrapped around Sword Matriarch Ice Spirit's sword light like a snake, giving her no other choice but to back up.

"You've really got some damn guts, Sword Matriarch Ice Spirit! How dare you use a deadly move on my third brother. Trying to kill one of the leaders of the God-Slashing Sword Sect right at our front door is completely outrageous behavior!"

Traceless Slasher had finally made a move! His voice rang out like the booming of a bell and his sword technique obviously existed at the most peak, ultimate level. Even the most consummate of experts would have a hard time matching up to him.

Furthermore, he had a unique constitution. Although Yang Qi couldn't see him yet, he could already tell that Sword Matriarch Ice Spirit wasn't a match for him. Instead of doing anything openly, though, he surreptitiously sent a stream of true energy into her, causing King Life-Killer's sage swords to fly out into a sword formation. The fifty-six swords hit Traceless Slasher's snake-like sword energy and shredded it out of existence.

Sword Matriarch Ice Spirit also knew that she wasn't a match for Traceless Slasher, and that Yang Qi had helped her just now. And she also knew that now was not the time to show weakness.

"Nice move, Traceless Slasher," she said. "Unfortunately, you can't do anything to me. I already cleared out Castle Heaven-Devil and acquired fifty-six of King Life-Killer's sage swords. These swords represent the essence of our immortal world, and whoever controls them leads us all. Now that you can see them with your own eyes, drop down and kowtow immediately! Or would you rather show disrespect to our founding ancestor!?"