Chapter 51: Infinite Sword Qi, Victory in One Move

Xiao Yifeng stood motionless, his sword resting easily in his grip. He projected an air of effortless elegance—a jade tree facing the wind. His composed demeanor formed a brutal contrast to the twitching, manic energy of Li Lifang.

Li Lifang’s eyes burned with jealousy and humiliation. “Kid, you are courting death!” he screamed.

Xiao Yifeng didn’t waste breath on banter. His expression was cold.

“Take this. Heavenly Execution Sword Qi!”

He gripped the longsword Lin Ziyun had gifted him with both hands and drove it violently into the stone floor of the arena.

BOOM!

A massive sword formation instantly erupted from the earth, the glowing runic lines expanding to cover half the dueling platform.

Xiao Yifeng floated upward, suspended in mid-air by the rising energy. His long hair whipped around him, his gaze sharp as lightning. From the formation beneath his feet, countless streams of Sword Qi surged upward, roaring like an inverted waterfall defying gravity.

High in the air, the torrent of red sword shadows curved, aiming downward. Then, gravity took hold.

Like a torrential rainstorm, the Sword Qi poured down upon Li Lifang.

Li Lifang’s face went pale. He had never expected this rookie to unleash a technique of this magnitude instantly. The sword rain was dense, continuous, and seemingly infinite, blanketing the entire platform in a suffocating red glow.

His reaction was swift. A seasoned Foundation Establishment cultivator, he whirled his own sword, creating a sphere of defensive light. With a heavy stomp, he summoned a massive earthen wall from the ground to shield his front.

Simultaneously, thick vines burst from the stone cracks, weaving together to reinforce his defense. Li Lifang was a dual cultivator of Earth and Wood.

He just needs to exhaust himself, Li Lifang thought, gritting his teeth. Powerful moves like this burn out quickly. I just have to survive the initial burst, and then I’ll crush him!

But seconds ticked by, and the bombardment didn’t stop.

The red rain fell relentlessly, a storm without end. Li Lifang found himself pinned in place, unable to take a single step, forced to channel every ounce of his energy into maintaining his crumbling defenses.

On the high platform, the eyes of the observing Zhenren widened in genuine shock.

They recognized the technique—the Heavenly Execution Sword Qi. It was notorious for being flashy but impractical. It required a long casting time, consumed massive amounts of Qi, and lasted only a few moments. In the world of high-level cultivation, it was considered “chicken ribs”—tasteless to eat, but a pity to throw away. A useless skill.

But Xiao Yifeng’s version defied logic.

He had activated it instantly. And more terrifyingly, the Sword Qi wasn’t running out. It was a perpetual motion machine of destruction.

Below, Li Lifang was suffocating. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t counterattack. He could only watch as his True Essence was drained rapidly, consumed by the need to block the endless strikes.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The sound of metal on stone was deafening. Dust billowed into the air, obscuring everything but the flashing crimson light of the falling swords.

Li Lifang tried to gather his Qi for a breakout technique, but the pressure was too immense. Every time he tried to weave a spell, a dozen sword shadows smashed into his barrier, forcing him to abort and reinforce his shield.

The crowd realized the truth: This wasn’t a duel. It was an execution.

The frequency of the rain intensified. Li Lifang’s defense finally shattered.

Rip! Tear!

Sword Qi pierced his body, spraying blood across the ruined stage.

“Stop!”

An Elder watching from the sidelines intervened just in time, sweeping in to shield the defeated disciple.

As the dust settled, Xiao Yifeng waved his hand, and the terrifying storm of Sword Qi vanished instantly.

Li Lifang lay on the ground, twitching like a dead dog. He was covered in blood, his robes shredded, barely recognizable as the arrogant senior who had stepped onto the stage moments ago.

Xiao Yifeng descended gracefully, his boots touching the floor without a sound. He sheathed his sword behind his back, his breathing steady, his clothes unruffled.

“Senior Brother Li, you have lost,” he said calmly.

The visual contrast was striking. The Foundation Establishment expert was a bloody mess, while the Qi Condensation disciple looked like he had just returned from a pleasant stroll.

Suddenly, Xiao Yifeng closed his eyes.

A profound, mysterious aura began to swirl around him, resonating with the surrounding heaven and earth. The energy spiked, surging upward with terrifying momentum.

Pop.

A soft, almost imperceptible sound echoed in the spiritual perception of everyone present.

Xiao Yifeng’s cultivation jumped from the 9th Layer of Qi Condensation to Grand Perfection.

The breakthrough was seamless. His aura stabilized instantly, round and natural, as if he had been at this level for years. There was no instability, no struggle.

This was Xiao Yifeng’s gamble.

He had utilized a secret mental technique known as the Shattered Heart Vow. Similar to a Buddhist monk making a great vow, the practitioner sets a difficult condition for themselves. The harder the goal, the greater the backlash—or the reward.

Xiao Yifeng’s vow had been simple: Defeat the stronger enemy, Li Lifang, swiftly and decisively.

By crushing a Foundation Establishment opponent in a single move, he achieved a state of “Clear Thought,” shattering his bottleneck. Since his hatred for Li Lifang was only moderate, the reward was limited to a single layer breakthrough. But for someone already at the bottleneck, it was exactly the push he needed. It was a breakthrough where water flows, and a channel forms—natural and inevitable.

The silence in the plaza broke.

Deafening cheers erupted, shaking the heavens. The disciples had been conquered by the sheer, brutal violence of the sword rain, and now they were awestruck by his battlefield breakthrough.

Female disciples gazed at him with shining eyes, captivated by his dominance and elegance. Screams of adoration pierced the air. The scene verged on chaos.

Xiao Yifeng had done the impossible. He had achieved Yi Xia Ke Shang—a subordinate overcoming a superior.

Having achieved his goal, Xiao Yifeng cupped his hands to the audience and prepared to leave.

“Xiao Yifeng. Come forward.”

The voice came from the high platform.

Xiao Yifeng paused, then flew up toward the Taiji Hall. He landed before the Sect Leader and the Hall Masters, bowing respectfully but without subservience.

“Disciple Xiao Yifeng of Wuya Hall pays respects to the Sect Leader and the various Hall Masters.”

“At ease,” Guangling Zhenren said, leaning forward. “We are all curious. How were you able to cast the Heavenly Execution Sword Qi instantly? And how did you sustain it for so long?”

The breakthrough was trivial to them. The modification of the technique, however, was fascinating.

Xiao Yifeng glanced at his master, Su Qianyi, looking hesitant.

“Xiaofeng, speak freely,” Su Qianyi said, his chest swelling with pride. “The Elders here are all accomplished experts. They won’t take your technique for nothing. If you explain well, the Sect will reward you.”

Guangling Zhenren’s smile stiffened slightly, but he nodded. “Precisely.”

Xiao Yifeng suppressed a smirk. This was exactly what he wanted. He knew they would ask.

“Sect Leader, please do not misunderstand my hesitation. It is not that I wish to hide it, but rather that the method is… difficult to replicate. I feared wasting your time.”

He held out his sword with both hands.

“This move is my own creation. Please, take a look.”

The Hall Masters leaned in. The disciples standing behind them craned their necks.

The fiery red blade of the sword was covered in dense, microscopic crimson runes.

The runes were pulsing. Spiritual power was still flowing through them.

Instantly, the realization hit the Elders.

Xiao Yifeng had bypassed the casting time by inscribing the entire sword array onto the physical weapon beforehand. When he stabbed the sword into the ground, he didn’t cast the spell; he simply “plugged in” the circuit, expanding the dormant formation instantly.

The principle was similar to using a paper Talisman, but infinitely more difficult.

Paper Talismans held a static charge. But a sword was a conduit. Once these runes were carved, the infusion of spiritual power could never be interrupted. The user had to constantly feed a trickle of Qi into the blade, day and night, to keep the formation stable.

It required a level of microscopic control that bordered on insanity. If the flow was too strong, the fragile runes would shatter. If it was too weak, the formation would dissipate. And during the moment of activation—the expansion—one mistake would cause the entire array to implode.

To maintain that state, walk onto a stage, and release it perfectly in a split second?

The control required was terrifying.