<h4>Chapter 549: The Deity’s Bane</h4>


    He had fused his own energy with the sword to deliver a devastating attack.


    There was so much deadly force packed inside the de that it made Lin Shuming’s final blow pale inparison. In order to deliver the final blow, Lin Shuming had consumed all the de Qi he had umted over the sixty years. In contrast, Chen Fan’s attack had barely made a dent on his energy reserve.


    Such was the deadliness of the Sword Reigning Arts.


    “nk!”


    Chen Fan reappeared in the sky after he hadpleted the art.


    Although it usually required a cultivator to reach the Connate Spirit level to be able to control the sword by fusing with the de, Chen Fan’s Azure Thearch Longevity Body had given him an edge to use this advanced form of the Art of Sword Reigning. To unleash the full strength of the Sword Reigning Arts, you would need to fuse your physical body, True Essence and Divine Soul, all with the de.


    The power of such a Sword Art would have exceeded the imagination of the mortals.


    Lin Shuming had controlled the sword using his Primordial Essence alone, so his technique was a far cry from the real deal.


    “I can do this all day long, but how long can youst?”


    Chen Fan linked his hands behind his back and kept his chin up, looking proud and supercilious.


    Li Changsheng was quiet; his face was dark and heavy


    Yao Daoyi was still recovering from the shock. He would have already been killed by Chen Fan if he hadn’t used the Thunder Seal to protect himself. The blow had left a deep crack on the Thunder Seal, significantly diminishing its effectiveness.


    As for the other five warriors, they were either dead or unconscious.


    It seemed that the battle had ended.


    “Chen Beixuan, are you really going to wage a full-on war with us?” Li Changsheng loosened his fat sleeve and asked. His voice was firm and steady, and the energy inside of him had also gained more vigor and intensity.


    “I said that from now on, there will be no more Immortal State Warriors in the East.”


    Chen Fan’s looked into the distance, impassive as ever.


    “Bang!”


    Tantai Qingxuan emerged in the sky as another lotus flower petal fell from the tform. There were only two petals left, meaning her Dharma Treasure could only save her life two more times.


    Dharma-rāja Sakya didn’t possess any Dharma Artifacts, so he had to appear in the form of a Divine Soul after his body had been destroyed by Chen Fan.


    His Divine Soul was so condensed that it was nearly solid. It seemed to be constantly surrounded by the chants of the Tantric sutra. Tantric Buddhists emphasized heavily on the cultivation of a Divine Soul, therefore, Dharma-rāja Sakya’s Divine Soul was one of the strongest in the world. Even without his body, his Divine Soul was still a force to be reckoned with.


    As for Damon, his body healed in an instant. The attack had only brought a slight paleness onto his face.


    It turned out that Chen Fan’s attack didn’t manage to kill even one of his opponents.


    Chen Fan was not surprised by the turn of events. He knew those veteran Immortal State Warriors had one or two life-saving skills up their sleeves. If he couldn’t kill them in one blow, he would just have to do it all over again, until they were finally dead.


    With the de in one hand, Chen Fan yelled, “Come again!”


    His body shimmered a little and then turned into a flow of energy that gushed into the flying sword. The Sword Aura turned brighter as the sword itself picked up speed until it reached five times the speed of sound.


    While breaking the hypersonic barrier with his body, Chen Fan could do at the most two times the speed of the sound.


    However, once he had fused his life energy with the de, he could double that speed, making himself a killing machine. Because of their deadliness, the Sword Immortals had earned a reputation as fearsome warriors in the realm of Immortal Cultivation. Even Chen Fan couldn’t sustain this condition for too long, but it should give him enough time to put an end to his opponents.


    “Shu!”


    The attack gravely injured the seven again.


    Guru Rama’s arm was sheared right off of his body despite his incredible tough physique. Golden blood-like liquid sprayed out from the wound on Guru Rama’s incorporeal body. Tantai Qingxuan was killed for the third time and the same happened to Damon the Blood Fiend.


    Yao Daoyi, Dharma-rāja Sakya and Watanabe were able to escape death, but they had been gravely injured. They were forced to retreat as blood poured out from their mouths.


    Li Changsheng was the only one who had held out against Chen Fan’s blow using his Violet Protective Qi.


    “Bang!”


    When Tantai Qingxuan appeared in the sky, there was only one petal left on the tform. Life and colors were ebbed away from her face and, for the first time in her life, she felt her life was hanging in the bnce.


    Even the golden glow on Guru Rama’s ghostly form had diminished.


    Sword of Essence Restoring had proven its unequivocal effect by gravely injuring one of the most skilled Body Tempering Masters.


    The other Immortal State Warriors were all disheartened by Chen Fan’s lightning speed. Chen Fan was five times faster than the speed of sound, and he didn’t give his opponents any chance to react, much less to joining their forces to counter his attacks.


    “We can’t keep going like this. We are all going to die.”


    Blood poured out from Blood Fiend Damon’s wound before it was healed.


    He looked even more troubled than thest time. Thanks to his Awakened Bloodline, he was ranked among the top three on the Divine Roll. However, even his regeneration ability seemed to fall short while he was under Chen Fan’s relentless aggression.


    The Immortal State Warriors looked at one another and nodded knowingly as if they had just reached a consensus.


    “Try to counter this!”


    Chen Fanughed as he used his sword to hack at his opponent again. Rage coursed in his veins as deadly energies ran down from the sharp edge of the sword.


    As long as he has the sword, he would be undefeatable. Thebined forces of the seven Immortal Warriors was deadly even for Chen Fan, but they were unable tond a solid blow. Therefore, these Immortal State Warriors more often than not found themselves taking on Chen Fan’s attack by themselves—something not even an Earth Level Deity could have pulled off.


    “Boom!”


    The de Qi made a ring sound akin to thunder.


    The Sword Aura sliced open the sky and quickly reached a sonic speed, trailing a streak of golden glow behind it. It was apparent that this attack was even deadlier than the previous one.


    “Array! Hurry!”


    Li Changsheng shouted.


    The other six warriors quickly started to weave their energies into a Dharma Array.


    A thread made out of light connected Li Changsheng with the other warriors.


    As soon as the array was formed, seven stars appeared in the sky. They beamed down seven rays of light onto the seven Immortal State Warriors, charging their bodies with astral energy until their mortal coil shone with sparkling brilliance. It made them look like celestial beings who had descended on earth.


    “Donnn!”


    When Chen Fan’s attacknded on the blinking energy, it was as if it hadnded on a metal te. The impact stirred the astral energy and caused a ripple on the surface, but it held out against the impact and remained intact.


    “What is that?”


    Chen Fan pulled back his de and examined the Sword Aura more carefully.


    By then, the seven Immortal State Warriors had lined up in a strange pattern ording to the alignment of the stars. They fused their True Qi with the astral energy sent down to them to form an energy screen around their bodies. Suddenly, Chen Fan felt that he was up against the entire world.


    Li Changsheng cracked a faint smile and said, “Immortal Master Chen, did you ask me what had emboldened me to challenge you? Here is your answer.”


    “This Dharma Array is called the Deity’s Bane. My Ancestral Master invented this array after suffering a defeat against the visitors from the Gate of Heaven. He created it with the help of many other Immortal State Warriors and was designed for killing Earth Level Deities. You should be proud that I’m using this on you.”


    By then, he was cloaked in ayer of astral energy, looking formidable and as stately as ever. His appearance gave people the illusion that he was a celestial lord.


    They were no less powerful than an Earth Level Deity when the seven warriorsbined their energies.


    “Hehe, Deity’s Bane? Bullshit. It’s just a Big Dipper Array.”


    Chen Fan sneered.


    Chen Fan remained unfazed despite the Dharma Array’s astonishing disy of power.


    The Big Dipper was the brightest constetion in the sky and therefore, its power was the most optimal to tap into.


    The most basic Astral Dharma Array had been built around the power of the Big Dipper. Although these seven Immortal State Warriors had only borrowed less than a fraction of the Big Dipper’s almighty power, it would allow them to im supremacy on earth. Unfortunately, Chen Fan was not an ordinary mortal on Earth.


    “I might turn on my heels if you can draw power from the sun or the moon. But what good is the Array of the Big Dipper? Humph!” Chen Fan snorted and then attacked, transforming himself again into an energy beam that fused into the sword.


    “Let me break it for you.”


    “Guard!”


    The seven used the array at the same time, fusing their True Essence with the Astral Energy and shooting it in the form of massive shockwaves. Carrying the Primordial power of the stars, the shockwaves crushed and annihted anything in their path. Suddenly, Chen Fan felt an intense pressure on all sides.


    Thebined power of the seven could rival an Earth Level Deity, and the usage of the Astral Spell had made them even deadlier.


    Many people at the foot of the mountain had also witnessed the astonishing sight.


    They watched as seven bright stars shone alongside the sun. Not even the clouds could have masked their brilliance.


    “It’s some kind of rare Celestial event!” someone murmured.


    It was the afternoon rush hour; many citizens of Chu Zhou City were on their way to home. Many of them paused to watch the incredible sight.


    “Kill!”


    Chen Fan was unaffected by his opponent’s amazing disy of power.


    He shouted at the top of his lungs as the de Aura transformed into a finger-sized golden line. The energy was so tightly packed in the gold ray of light that it would blind any ordinary man or woman foolish enough to look at it.


    The power of the attack was beyond words. It tore a hole on the fabric of space and severed reality into two worlds.


    “Siiiiii”


    A hissing sound was heard, as if a chunk of red hot iron had been thrown into ice water.


    The golden de sliced through the Astral Energy screen like a hot knife through butter. It cut through the bodies of the seven warriors, and reached the other end of the battlefield where Chen Fan’s body reemerged.


    “Pfft!”


    Chen Fan’s face was pale; he even struggled a second to regain bnce. Even the Sword of Essence Restoring shivered a little as if it were going to shatter at any moment.


    Thread of de Essence!


    It was one of the most advanced Sword Daos and required the user to be at the Golden Core Level as a minimum. Once a Sword Immortal mastered this art, he could counter any enemy with this one simple move. That was the reason that most sword immortals never relied on any other Dharma Spells.


    Since Chen Fan had used this art while he was only at the Divine Sea level, the spell had taken a toll on his system. Even the Spirit Artifact he was using, the Sword of Essence Restoring nearly shattered under the immense load.


    However, it was worth it.


    “nk!”


    Chen Fan heard a cracking sound and then the screen of energy trembled and turned into countless tiny fragments. The Astral Energy that beamed down from the sky had also disappeared.


    Guru Rama let out a wry smile. Although he had the most durable and resilient body in the world, Chen Fan’s attack had severed him into two halves from the waist.


    “What a shame.”


    Guru Rama closed his eyes and his palms as life slowly ebbed away from him.


    Chen Fan had outright annihted his Divine Soul.


    However, Guru Rama was not the only one who had perished.