Chapter 291 – The Final Strike … … … In that moment, Jiang Baoyun’s sword energy had pierced through Lin Ming’s azure true essence, splitting atop his spearpoint. There was a black stream of light that sunk into the Heavy Profound Soft Spear, piercing Lin Ming’s body! Mm!! Lin Ming wobbled, a strange feeling directly rushing into his spiritual sea. He could hear the clear whistling of a sword flying past his ear. This clear sound seemed very pleasant, but it was very uncomfortable to listen to. Soul attack? Lin Ming instantly reacted, but that sword sound that was in his ears had already flown into Lin Ming’s spiritual sea! Bang! Within Lin Ming’s spiritual sea, a mighty black sword appeared, cutting down! “Roar!” The sea boiled, massive waves of water rolling around; a Purple Flood Dragon shot up into the sky, crashing into that great black sword! Both forces struck each other, and thunder exploded. The black sword energy radiated outwards, causing monstrous surges within the spiritual sea. Lin Ming shook, his face paling to the extreme. Was this great black sword the so called Sword Spirit body? Lin Ming had only heard of this before. Sword Spirit. So this so called Sword Spirit was actually a sword-shaped soul. Those who had an inborn Sword Spirit were extremely rare individuals. They could fuse their own soul into their sword intent. Their perception in all sword arts was astonishing, and they could cultivate the sword path with half the effort and twice the result. Obviously, Jiang Baoyun had fused the sword intent within his soul into this strike, therefore he was able to create a soul attack! Jiang Baoyun’s soul force wasn’t powerful, but with the fusion of sword intent, it wasn’t something that a normal martial artist could compare with. “What a strong Sword Spirit!” Lin Ming’s spiritual sea had integrated the Purple Flood Dragon Divine Thunder, his soul defense ability was beyond what anyone could imagine. And yet he could not actually immediately stop the soul attack of this Sword Spirit! However, this Sword Spirit’s indomitability had aroused the Purple Flood Dragon Divine Thunder’s own arrogant heart! “Roar!” The Purple Flood Dragon Divine Thunder burst into a loud roar, its entire body shining with a dazzling purple light. Its heavy claws smashed down on the Sword Spirit, shaking it and causing its radiance to dim. Peng! Jiang Baoyun received his sword and drew back. In that strike a moment ago, he had felt sick to his stomach. Although Jiang Baoyun was aware that Lin Ming had an incomparably formidable soul defense power, he never thought that it would be to such a ridiculous degree where it had easily broken his soul attack. If his soul wasn’t wrapped in the sword intent where its defense was greatly strengthened, then he might have suffered a severe soul wound in that attack. Jiang Baoyun’s soul attack was nullified, and his sword energy attacks didn’t work. The endless azure true essence continually protected Lin Ming, and Lin Ming’s own bodily defense capabilities were just mind boggling; they were formidable to the point where it made anyone’s blood boil with envy. Jiang Baoyun could only break through Lin Ming’s defense in a close range attack, but because he feared the Purple Flood Dragon Divine Thunder, he also couldn’t get close. Even if it was Jiang Baoyun, who was known for and proud of his sword’s attack power, he also had a dreadful feeling of being forced into a dead end. And beyond that, Jiang Baoyun had discovered that even after all this fierce fighting that had occurred so far, Lin Ming hadn’t shown any difficulty in sustaining his true essence. This proved that Lin Ming’s own endurance far exceeded his own! If this fight dragged on, Jiang Baoyun wouldn’t be defeated, but if it were too long, then his true essence would slowly be whittled down, and his defeat would only be a matter of time. Realizing this, Jiang Baoyun pointed his sword at Lin Ming and said, “Lin Ming, you are the strongest individual that I have encountered in the younger generation in my 20 years of life. The speed and soul attack which I have been so foolishly proud of have no effect on you. Now, all I have is my final sword. If you can receive it, then I will admit defeat.” Lin Ming had also attained many insights through that soul attack just now. Hearing Jiang Baoyun say this, he responded, “Okay. After this battle, whether I win or lose, I am very willing to continue exchanging pointers with Senior-apprentice Brother Jiang. After this match, I have obtained many benefits.” “Haha, the feeling is mutual!” Jiang Baoyun’s momentum erupted once more. In that moment, it was as if his entire body had become a sword with violent potential, incomparably sharp! “Sword Shattering Clear Sky!” This was Jiang Baoyun’s strongest move. It used his own fused Sword Spirit and sword intent as the driving force in order to activate the ultimate legacy skill of the Sword Faction. With Jiang Baoyun’s current cultivation, he could only display the barest surface of this power. Yet even so, it still had the might of gods and ghosts! Sword energy cut through the void, and a sharp whistling sword wind howled through the entire mountain valley. Meeting this final strike of Jiang Baoyun, Lin Ming’s vision was steady, and both hands grasped his spear. His heart had already focused into the shaft, and the power of the True Dragon was revolving to its limit. Behind Lin Ming, the shadow of the True Dragon appeared once again. With a faint dragon’s roar, Lin Ming’s spear thrust out! Vibrating true essence screamed forth, violently smashing into Jiang Baoyun’s sword energy. The tiles under their feet were shattered into fragments; with this attack, they were evenly matched! For Jiang Baoyun to use a sword to meet a spear and simultaneously resist Lin Ming’s 10,000 vibrating azure true essence filaments without even being forced back, the power of this Sword Shattering Clear Sky could be imagined! At this time, another sword began to resonate. The Sword Spirit Avatar that Jiang Baoyun had created before had gripped onto its blue sword, cutting down at Lin Ming! “Ah!!!” The audience cried out in alarm. Qin Ziya, Qin Xingxuan, and everyone else felt their hearts stop. This Sword Shattering Clear Sky was already unstoppable, but there was also the Sword Spirit Avatar. This was a double attack! Lin Ming’s pupils contracted, and true essence quickened within the Heretical God Seed. The weapon that he hid within his body, the coiling dragon steel needle, roared forth! Bang! The coiling dragon steel needle struck above the sword light, the power of thunder exploded forth! Ka ka ka! It was like a glorious purple sun had dawned upon the martial stage. The Sword Spirit Avatar was immediately incinerated into nothingness, and the Blue Peak sword lost its consciousness, crashing down and slicing into the ground. At the same time, the coiling dragon steel needle rushed forwards. Although its power was greatly reduced, it howled as it flew towards Jiang Baoyun! Puff! The true essence protecting Jiang Baoyun’s body was torn apart, his entire body paralyzed. He was sent flying backwards, spitting out a mouthful of blood! Jiang Baoyun slammed against the protective light curtain and fell onto the floor. Because the light curtain array formation had been reinforced, it was now able to protect against an early Xiantian master’s all-out attack. This was why no matter how intense Jiang Baoyun and Lin Ming’s fight was, it still wasn’t able to shatter the array formation like before. The entire audience was deathly silent. In truth, Jiang Baoyun’s defeat was not beyond anyone’s expectations. It was more accurate to say that no one actually knew who would win and who would lose. This could be seen from the gambling houses odds before the match. However, as the audience truly saw Jiang Baoyun lying flat on the martial stage, severely wounded, they all felt as if they were living in some fantastical dream. To them, Jiang Baoyun was a myth. Within a single year, he had repeatedly defeated four third-grade sects’ direct disciples, which also included the top third-grade sect Peacock Mountain. This success felt as if it were out of reach for anyone else. Within the Seven Profound Valleys, Jiang Baoyun was considered invincible among the younger generation. Even if it was Ouyang Ming who had attained a higher rank during the last Martial Meeting, no one believed that he had even the slightest chance of suppressing Jiang Baoyun. But now, this myth known as Jiang Baoyun who was the greatest talent the Sword Faction had seen for centuries, was actually defeated by a disciple of the 36 countries. Not only that, but this disciple’s cultivation was only at the early Pulse Condensation period… This was no different than a dream! In the Grand Hall, Shi Zongtian was heavily breathing, gasping for breath. In this last match, he actually favored Lin Ming’s odds of winning. But after watching the entire battle play out, he was extremely shocked – this was because of the coiling dragon steel needle! The second time that the coiling dragon steel needle appeared, Shi Zongtian had a faint feeling in his heart of what it was. But he didn’t dare to affirm this guess, or it was more accurate to say, he didn’t dare to believe. In this match, Lin Ming had obviously integrated the coiling dragon steel needle within his body, using it to resist Jiang Baoyun and his Sword Spirit Avatar in melee attacks to make up for his disadvantage in speed. To use the coiling dragon steel needle to this degree, how could it possibly be some destructive instrument created by a master? Because of this, Shi Zongtian was able to affirm the guess in his heart that this weapon was created from the condensation of a Thunder Soul. And the grade wasn’t low either. It was at least a high-grade human step Thunder Soul, or maybe even an earth-step Thunder Soul! This was an extremely absurd and preposterous speculation. A high-grade human-step Thunder Soul could only be absorbed by someone at least at the Xiantian realm. As for an earth-step Thunder Soul, even a thunder-attribute middle Xiantian powerhouse would have to be cautious in absorbing it! How could Lin Ming possibly accomplish this? Shi Zongtian glanced at the other elders present, and he saw that only the Refiner Faction Sovereign and Array Faction elders were shocked with disbelief. As for the other elders, they showed no difference. Of course, they couldn’t be blamed for not recognizing what this coiling dragon steel needle truly was. Originally, a Thunder Soul was an extremely rare and scarce existence, and even the Seven Profound Valleys didn’t have a thunder-attribute master, so they weren’t familiar with it. Not only that, but the Thunder Soul in Lin Ming’s palm had also changed shape into a needle. Only those from the Refiner Faction and Array Faction suspected this. This was because they frequently dealt with the seven heaven and earth origin energies of metal, wood, water, fire, earth, wind and thunder. Of course, this was only a suspicion; they too weren’t sure, and couldn’t believe it. Shi Zongtian couldn’t help but glance at Mu Qinghong. Seeing that she didn’t show any difference in expression, his heart immediately sunk. This woman! She probably already knew! Shi Zongtian hesitated for a moment and didn’t say anything. This sort of matter was too shocking, if it spread out, then it would create unnecessary troubles. Mu Qinghong pursed her lips as she sat near Shi Zongtian. Her eyes were bright as she gazed at Lin Ming. ‘If his growth continues like this, then Lin Ming will enter into the Revolving Core realm. Not only that, but he will be a Revolving Core powerhouse who can fight above his realm!’ In the martial arts path, the further one walked, the more difficult it was to jump over realms to fight. This was because the higher one reached, the greater the gap between realms would become, and the higher the disparity in cultivation. This was because those that rose higher were all top-tier geniuses when they were young. For instance, when they were in the Pulse Condensation period, they were also like Jiang Baoyun and Mugu Buyu, first class geniuses that could jump ranks to fight martial artists with higher cultivation. But to jump realms in battle when facing even more talented geniuses, this was simply harder than ascending to heaven! Thus those Revolving Core powerhouses who could jump realms in battle were pivotal existences within the South Horizon Region! ‘It looks like even Qianyu underestimated him. He is a True Dragon within a deep pool. Soon, he will fly into the sky. It is just right that I came on this trip. No, I should have Qianyu come here personally!’ Mu Qinghong had a premonition that in the future, Lin Ming would become a main character who stood upon the greatest stage of the entire Sky Spill Continent, leaving his name for all of eternity! Such a powerhouse would only be those Supreme Elders who founded their own Holy Lands and soared into the Realm of the Gods! But, such mighty beings had already been absent from the South Horizon Region for thousands of years; it could be said that these figures no longer existed, and shouldn’t be considered. As Mu Qinghong thought this, she sent a true essence sound transmission to the maid behind her, “Inform Young Mistress Qianyu and have her come here personally.”