Chapter 1528: Liu Fu Yu Gets His Just Desserts, Another Round of Reverse Sword Control

The sword of Fengdu struck fiercely against Ling Jian's Shanhai Ping.

That soul barrier, constructed from countless "spider legs," suddenly caved in.

"Boom!"

In a direct clash of spear and shield, a chilling, dark-green wave of light swept through the void.

"Uh!"

Liu Fuyu's soul form shuddered violently, her expression freezing in shock.

Just like that, she couldn't understand Xu Xiaoshou's strike.

She couldn't fathom how Tian Qi Zhi had not only abandoned the essence of Prajna Wu but also forsaken most of the Dao patterns related to Gui Jian Shu that Xu Xiaoshou had once displayed—yet he could still resist.

She couldn't grasp why, after she had lured him into the trap with Tai Shang Bai Ri as bait and he had willingly jumped in, this guy could still extend a hand at the last moment... to stop it?

From start to finish, she had controlled the rhythm of the battle.

But at the critical moment of closing the net, something went wrong—Xu Xiaoshou stood up?

"Ling Jian Shu..."

As that phrase echoed in her mind, Liu Fuyu suddenly realized that while she had discarded Xu Xiaoshou's past experiences, his method of solving problems after abandoning the profound array diagrams had surpassed her own understanding of what is called "sword Dao."

In fact, it seemed to exceed the entire era of ancient Jian Xiu, veering onto an entirely unknown path.

"Success!"

As the Fengdu Sword's momentum stalled, Xu Xiaoshou on the opposite side seemed to gain immense encouragement, his face lighting up with joy.

This haphazardly cobbled-together Shanhai Ping had shed the lofty aura of ancient Jian Xiu, stripping down to its raw, hardcore essence and slapping it right in their faces—and it actually worked!

Since it worked, who cared about ambiance or enlightenment?

A black cat or a white cat, as long as it catches mice, it's a good cat.

"Shock!"

Xu Xiaoshou was truly going all out now.

He manipulated those countless spider legs, manifested from sword intent, using the "reverse shock" technique combined with the "Zhen Dao" from ancient Jian techniques, thrusting them forward violently.

"Rumble..."

The overwhelming momentum of the Fengdu Sword was suddenly flung backward.

The dark-green waves of light reversed like a tide, surging straight toward Liu Fuyu.

"Pfft!"

Already wounded, Liu Fuyu couldn't withstand this "spider belly thrust" and was shaken, spitting out a mouthful of soul blood.

At that moment, Xu Xiaoshou had a sudden epiphany, his mind flashing back to the scene where Shen Yi had imparted the knowledge of the Hungry Ghost Dao:

"Hungry Ghost Dao devours all spirits and swallows all laws..."

"All spiritual laws are empty; the three thousand are digested into substance, leaving only reversal... At the Ghost Gate, the virtual and real invert, allowing passage between yin and yang, reversing spirit and flesh..."

Was the Shanhai Ping, executed with Gui Jian Shu as its core and sword intent as its base, while referencing Tianji Shu and Lian Ling Dao, at its ultimate form?

At this point, his Ling Jian Shu Shanhai Ping was only barely holding its own against Liu Fuyu's Fengdu Sword.

The reason it injured her was because her body was frail, already weakened by Tian Qi Zhi's backlash.

But if he supplemented it with the power of Hungry Ghost Dao, devouring the laws of heaven and earth and redirecting all his physical strength to his soul force, could this Ling Jian Shu Shanhai Ping evolve from a defensive sword technique into an offensive one?

No sooner thought than done!

"Nine swords form an array, Shanhai Ping opens the Ghost Gate."

With a swipe, nine spatial swords swirled around Xu Xiaoshou, forming a sword array that suddenly opened another gate to hell.

Compared to Liu Fuyu's, this gate looked somewhat illusory.

But...

As long as it worked!

As the gate to hell swung wide, countless spider legs shot out from Xu Xiaoshou's body, piercing into the gate. The wailing spirits inside hadn't even emerged before they were completely devoured.

"Burp."

The power fed back from various laws, souls, and spirits was so overflowing that Xu Xiaoshou couldn't help but let out a satisfied burp.

That strange sound was jarringly out of place on the battlefield!

"Oh no..."

Liu Fuyu's soul form sensed impending danger. She formed a seal with her fingers and swiftly sacrificed the soul blood she had just spat out, transforming it into a dark light that merged into the Fengdu Sword.

"Go!"

The Fengdu Sword glowed with a bloody aura.

This enormous ancient soul sword, standing in the air with its momentum faded, now seemed injected with fresh energy, launching a second assault toward Xu Xiaoshou.

"Bring it on!"

Xu Xiaoshou shouted.

Then, to the astonishment of Liu Fuyu and all the onlookers, he retracted his limbs, and the countless spider legs on his body withdrew into him.

How bizarre...

Not only was the sword technique strange, but this way of sheathing the sword had no trace of the elegance of ancient Jian Xiu—it was utterly unrefined.

Yet the effect was strikingly clear...

"Boom!"

As the spider legs of sword intent retracted, the Ling Jian Shu Shanhai Ping vanished.

With the obstacle gone, the Fengdu Sword tore through layers of green light in the void, about to pierce Xu Xiaoshou's soul form.

—Negative effects?

"Has Xiaoshou gone mad?" Feng Zhongzui exclaimed, completely baffled. "He was blocking just fine—why choose suicide?"

But just as Feng Zhongzui and the Five Domains onlookers felt, no one was Xiaoshou, so no one could understand him.

As the Fengdu Sword closed in, spider legs burst out from Xu Xiaoshou again, but this time, they didn't stab into the heavens or space—they all plunged fiercely into the massive soul sword.

"Reverse Sword Style!"

With a roar that made his eyes bulge, the Fengdu Sword, which was hurtling through the air, was forcibly twisted by Xu Xiaoshou's sudden surge of soul force, bending its blade.

It then grazed past his shoulder and thrust toward the onlookers.

"Damn!"

Feng Zhongzui jumped in fright, his transmission mirror shaking.

Of all the bad luck, the sword was slicing straight for his head, while Mr. Si Ren, that great shield, had already slipped away sensing trouble.

"Don't mess with me!"

Feng Zhongzui yelled, ducking awkwardly as the Fengdu Sword slashed over the transmission mirror.

In the three-dimensional projection, it seemed as if the sword was cutting from the old site of Yujing City in the Central Domain straight toward the heads of the Five Domains onlookers.

"Whoa..."

The crowd in the Five Domains recoiled in unison.

Only then did they realize it was just an illusion, not a real strike.

As Feng Zhongzui straightened up, the transmission mirror refocused on the battlefield. But after this brief disruption, the tide of battle had completely turned!

Had Xiaoshou thrown out his hidden trump?

The tip of Zangku Sword now pointed at Liu Fuyu, while Xiaoshou stood with hands behind his back, facing away from the battlefield?

"Huh?" Feng Zhongzui was baffled again. "Why is he turning his back on Liu Jianxian and smiling at us?"

This was too weird.

The fight was halfway through, and the style had shifted so abruptly?

It wasn't over yet!

As Liu Fuyu moved to act, Xiaoshou's expression unchanged, he raised two fingers and smiled:

"What is Yuhun Guishu?"

In response, the spider legs of sword intent embedded in the weak points of the Fengdu Sword suddenly drew in power.

"Sizzle..."

The Fengdu Sword shrank dramatically on the spot!

Liu Fuyu's soul form dimmed instantly, staggering in mid-air.

"My sword..."

"How can he control it?"

She had no time for more thoughts.

Because the Fengdu Sword, now forcibly redirected by Xu Xiaoshou, was aimed straight at Liu Fuyu herself!

Liu Fuyu's face paled in horror. She formed another sword seal with her fingers, trying to reclaim control with that mouthful of soul blood.

"What is Mo Jian Shu?"

It was as if Xu Xiaoshou had eyes in the back of his head. He leaned back slightly, treating the out-of-control Fengdu Sword as a massive, ownerless energy, twisting it with his sword intent into a accompanying Mo Jian for Zangku...

"Mo Jian?!"

Feng Zhongzui's jaw nearly dropped. "How could it be Mo... No! Is it possible?"

In that moment, he recalled the words the old family head had said when he first learned Mo Jian Shu, speaking to a group of children:

What is Mo Jian Shu?

First, you have to condense a Mo Jian.

So, what is Mo Jian? Or rather, what is "Mo"?

Mo means truth.

Mo Jian Shu, also known as Zhen Jian Shu in ancient times.

Mo Jian is first condensed through sword intent, transforming your own energy into a semi-virtual, semi-real state, allowing it to ignore defenses and inflict true damage.

"Sword intent, energy..."

These two factors flashed in Feng Zhongzui's mind, matching exactly what Xiaoshou was doing:

"He's using something more advanced than sword intent—sword intent—to condense the Mo Jian?"

"He's not using his own energy; instead, he's instantly converting the lost soul energy of the Fengdu Sword into his own?"

Even as he said it, Feng Zhongzui couldn't believe it.

Because while the theory held, putting it into practice was incredibly difficult!

In the heat of battle, seizing an opponent's momentary flaw and turning their sword against them—who could come up with such an outrageous move, and who would dare to execute it?

"Could I have misunderstood?"

Feng Zhongzui glanced at the old family head, Mr. Si Ren, and the others, only to see that these veteran Jian Xians and Jian Shengs were just as shocked as he was.

Until Mei Si Ren turned in shock toward the transmission mirror and nodded slightly.

"Did I get it right?"

Feng Zhongzui felt a rush of heat surging from his feet to his head, uncontrollably shouting:

"What is Yuhun Guishu? Your soul force can also be mine to use!"

"What is Mo Jian Shu? Even a sword as vast as Fengdu will one day bow to my Zangku Sword!"

"That's Xiaoshou—"

The frenzied screams from the sidelines didn't reach Liu Fuyu's ears at all.

She stared blankly at the figure controlling the sword with his back to her, feeling as if her mind had been struck by a hammer, unable to process it.

How had he done it?

Not knowing the true face of Lushan because she was in the midst of it.

Liu Fuyu couldn't find the answer for now.

And with the Fengdu Sword bearing down, she had to give up trying to regain control and turn elsewhere.

—She was already exhausted; it was impossible to instantly form another sword to rival the Fengdu Sword. After all, not everyone was like Xu Xiaoshou, with seemingly endless stamina.

"Protect!"

In a desperate move to save herself, Liu Fuyu disregarded the rules set before the battle and summoned her own sword.

The Hu sword, hovering at the battlefield's edge, shot through the sky, piercing space and arriving first, landing in Liu Fuyu's hand.

"Spacetime Leap!" Feng Zhongzui jumped excitedly: "It's broken! The rules are broken!"

Liu Fuyu's soul form without a sword was like a rootless duckweed, utterly ethereal.

As soon as she grasped Hu, her soul form solidified, and all human presence vanished, as if she had completely merged with the sword in her hand.

When the Fengdu Sword thrust forward, she held the sheath with her left hand and the hilt with her right, drawing it with a clang.

"Out-of-sheath Sword."

A soaring white sword light tore through the night, slashing fiercely against the shrunken Fengdu Sword.

The Mo Jian took the hit, and Zangku shuddered violently, shedding more fragments.

Xu Xiaoshou's figure shook intensely but wasn't flung away.

Instead, as Liu Fuyu abandoned control of the Fengdu Sword, the massive soul energy he had swallowed earlier surged back.

"Boom!"

The Fengdu Sword erupted, returning to its strongest form.

The sword light from Hu was forced back and even concave toward Liu Fuyu.

The tide had turned!

Earlier, she had Xu Xiaoshou on the ropes; now, he was using her own Fengdu Sword to press the attack relentlessly!

As Hu's sword light faltered, Xu Xiaoshou kicked off the sword tip, sending Zangku spinning into the air before catching it.

"Gui Jian Shu · Fengdu Sword!"

Xu Xiaoshou gripped Zangku with a cold face and thrust it back, plunging the trembling black sword into the vast white light of Hu.

The Five Domains onlookers were all stunned, watching as Liu Fuyu's Fengdu Sword shattered into endless energy, flowing into Zangku.

And as the small Zangku pierced into the massive white sword light of Hu, a heavy, towering ancient soul sword emerged from Xu Xiaoshou's wide-open gate to hell.

"Dian Dao · Spacetime Leap."

The massive soul sword thrust forward, vanishing in mid-air.

When it reappeared, half its tip had bypassed Liu Fuyu's drawn sword, stopping right before her forehead.

Under the giant sword, she was like an ant.

In that moment, the whole world fell silent.

Feng Zhongzui felt his heartbeat skip, then erupted in a wild shout: "Using his own methods against him... What a move, Xiaoshou!"

Mei Si Ren tightened his grip on Tai Cheng Sword, and the spatial ripples under his feet faded. As Xu Xiaoshou struck, he followed with a Spacetime Leap.

With a "boom," before the Fengdu Sword could shatter Liu Fuyu's soul form, he appeared at her side.

"Sword Image rises!"

The ten Yama Kings under his feet didn't hesitate, lunging forward one by one, raising their arms to press their palms against the blade of Xu Xiaoshou's Fengdu Sword.

"Xiaoshou, stop!" The voice from behind finally caught up.

"Interrupted, passive value +1."

Xu Xiaoshou parted his lips, glancing in a daze at the suddenly intervening Mei Si Ren.

His gaze shifted to the ten Yama Kings lined up like a serpent under the Fengdu Sword, each pressing their palms to the blade.

The Yama Kings' faces were fiercely menacing, but now they all looked somewhat awkward.

"I didn't intend to kill her," Xu Xiaoshou hesitated before saying.

An awkward expression crossed Mei Si Ren's face. He sheathed Tai Cheng Sword, his expression twitching as he finally managed to say:

"Har..."

Liu Fuyu was also stunned.

She hadn't expected so many twists in the final moment of her strike.

Xu Xiaoshou had enhanced her Fengdu Sword...

Xu Xiaoshou had shattered her Fengdu Sword...

Xu Xiaoshou had summoned his own Fengdu Sword...

With Dian Dao and Spacetime Leap, using just Zangku, he ignored Hu's sword light defense, nearly shattering her soul form up close...

All of this happened in the blink of an eye!

The Xu Xiaoshou who had been suppressed by her throughout showed no such countermeasures or sword flows earlier; his reactions at each stage were far from this swift.

So, after all that buildup, was it just to seize this moment of her fatigue for a counterattack, explosion, and finish?

Liu Fuyu took a deep breath, her soul form reverting to her figure in green robes under the white sword light.

She first turned to Mei Si Ren, who was tilting his head to the sky and scratching his sword, nearly whistling to show he didn't care, and said:

"Thank you."

Mei Si Ren, as if prepared, flicked out a paper fan.

This made his sudden appearance seem less abrupt, and not like he was breaking the rules.

He simply didn't want either Xu Xiaoshou or Liu Fuyu to die in this battle.

Losing either would be a loss for the ancient Jian Xiu world.

But Liu Fuyu stared at the paper fan, stunned, hesitating as she read: "Sin... has... its... due...?"

Mei Si Ren's hand trembled, and he quickly flipped the fan over: "You misread it."

With a glance at the words on the fan—something like "a trivial effort"?—Liu Fuyu smiled, the diversion easing her acceptance of the battle's outcome. She then looked at Xu Xiaoshou:

"I lost."

"As per our agreement, I belong to you."