Chapter 43: Mortal Shedding Demonic Beast vs The Final Bright Blade Sword
The air still trembled from the aftermath of the Sect Leader's fourth formation strike.
Where the Bright Blade Execution: Fourth Sword had detonated, a violent Sword Aura erupted, flooding the battlefield with radiance that seared eyes and souls alike.
The earth cracked.
The sky screamed.
Life essence was ripped from everything within a two-mile radius—the blood of the dead, the breath of the dying, even broken strands of Ki. All were consumed by the invisible hunger of the Sword.
From the chaos, a new form was born.
The Fourth Sword, sheathed in divine light, hovered for a single, silent heartbeat. But beneath its majesty lurked a darker hunger, as though it had tasted death and craved only more.
Without warning, it shot forward.
The sword became a beam of devastation, cleaving through hundreds of demonic beasts as it returned toward the sect. A corridor of gore and shattered bone was carved across the battlefield. Heads rolled. Bodies fell. Beasts wailed in terror as the tide faltered before one blade's wrath.
Near the sect's inner grounds, the Mortal Shedding Cultivator stood poised. His grin twisted into a sneer as he prepared to massacre the sect's defenders.
But then his senses flared.
A sharp aura—racing toward him.
Snarling, he conjured a barrier of dense energy. His shield glowed like a fortress wall.
It was not enough.
BOOOOOOM!
The Fourth Sword slammed into the barrier with apocalyptic force. A deafening explosion shook mountains and carved craters across the ground. The Mortal Shedding Cultivator was flung away like a rag doll, blasted clear of the sect's protective grounds.
As he tumbled, his aura warped violently. His body cracked. His flesh tore.
And then—
ROOOOOAARRR!!!
The facade split apart, revealing his true self. A Mortal Shedding Realm Demonic Beast.
Twelve feet tall, plated in jagged scales blacker than night, fanged jaws dripping corrosive saliva, and claws sharper than divine steel. Crimson eyes burned with killing intent.
He landed like a meteor, shaking the earth, carving a crater under his sheer weight. Roaring to the heavens, he charged forward once more.
The Fourth Sword answered, streaking toward him like judgment given form.
They collided outside the sect's walls. Blade against claw, divine light against abyssal darkness. Shockwaves tore the battlefield asunder.
Meanwhile, chaos devoured the sect.
Sectors One and Two, where earlier breaches had weakened defenses, were overrun. Wolves the size of bulls rampaged through ruined streets. Serpent horrors slithered across rubble. Bat-winged abominations rained blood from the sky.
Disciples fought desperately, their robes drenched in crimson. Entire halls collapsed under the siege. Fires consumed the medicine fields.
In Sector Three, Elton and his squad refused to yield. His star-forged sword flared as he clashed with a beast head-on. Ramiro's spear cracked the earth with shockwaves. Erica, guarded by her clan, summoned frost-wrapped lightning to annihilate a wave of enemies. Zoro, Kuroha, and Kageha fought as one, blades and shadows weaving death into every strike.
Their bond, forged in blood and fire, kept them alive while the world fell apart.
On the wider battlefield, Gold-Tier cultivators unleashed devastation. Formations of firestorms and thunderbolts reduced hordes of beasts to ash. Yet the Gold Tier Five monstrosities still strode unbroken, their cunning and power unmatched. Their coordinated strikes shattered weapons and crushed lives.
The sky ran red.
The earth drowned in screams.
Then, Sector Six's barrier shattered under the assault of the five Gold Tier Four demonic beasts. They rampaged into sacred grounds, flattening libraries, torching training fields, and scattering disciples like insects.
The sect trembled on the brink of ruin.
Above it all, a roar tore the heavens.
The Mortal Shedding Beast slammed his massive fist into the fractured Formation Sword, sending it spiraling away like a broken star. The sky cracked under the force.
"Your time is over!" he bellowed, voice dripping with savage triumph. "Prepare for death, Bright Blade trash!"
Panic rippled across the sect's defenders. Even the bravest faltered before the monster's looming form. His footsteps left craters as he marched toward the shattered barrier.
Then—
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Ancient formation runes flared, igniting in bursts of light. The sect's last hidden defenses unleashed their fury. Explosions tore through the battlefield, burning thousands of beasts to ash.
The Bright Blade Execution Formation roared back to life.
The cracked sword dissolved in a flash of light, reappearing in the Sect Leader's hands as he stepped onto the blood-soaked altar. His robes whipped in the storm, his eyes steady, his grip firm.
With a voice like thunder, he declared:
—Bright Blade Execution… Fifth Sword… Mortal Cleaving Body Sword Fusion—
The sword blazed like a newborn sun. Silver and blue fire wrapped around his body as his cultivation erupted. His Gold Tier Five foundation temporarily shattered and reformed, vaguely surging into the Mortal Shedding Realm.
The Vice Sect Leader and Elders no longer held back. Their suppressed auras erupted like volcanoes, filling the sky with killing intent.
FLASH!
The Sect Leader vanished.
BOOOOM!
He reappeared behind a Gold Tier Five beast, plunging his blade through its back. The monster shrieked, blood and flame pouring from the gaping wound. It fell to its knees before being kicked aside like refuse.
The Sect Leader did not stop.
He carved through lesser beasts as if they were paper, his sword dragging a river of light as he cut a straight path toward his true foe—the Mortal Shedding Demonic Beast.
The beast snarled, but its eyes burned with vicious delight. Muscles bulged, claws gleamed, and its roar split the heavens.
They met in the center of the battlefield.
BOOOOOOMMMM!
The clash of sword and claw shook the world. Shockwaves leveled mountains. Entire districts of the sect collapsed into rubble. Countless lesser beasts were vaporized by the rippling destruction.
The battlefield itself became a storm.
Every cultivator, every disciple, felt their blood ignite. Even as death loomed, the Vice Sect Leader bellowed, voice cracking with blood and rage:
"Protect the Spirit of the Sect! Protect our future! KILL, KILL, KILL!!"
The disciples roared with him.
Some burned their life force.
Some awakened hidden potential.
All chose to stand.
The Bright Blade Sect, scarred and bloodied, rose as one to meet annihilation with defiance.
The final battle had begun.