Chapter 289 – The Limit of Speed … … … The Sword Faction Great Elder shook his head and said, “After Baoyun awakened the Sword Spirit within his body, he’s made 10,000 miles of progress every day. Even I find it difficult to estimate what level he is at now. During his four challenges this year, I accompanied him on three of them. The growth he’s made through every battle is just incredible!” Hearing the Sword Faction Great Elder say such praise, those present felt amazed. It was just too striking that even the Sword Faction Great Elder didn’t know the limits of Jiang Baoyun’s strength. This growth rate was just bewildering. Jiang Baoyun kept creating miracles, he was just like the main character of some fantasy novel. Shi Zongtian’s eyes shined and he couldn’t help but think in his heart, ‘Sword Faction’s Jiang Baoyun, Puppet Faction’s Mugu Buyu, Zither Faction’s Qin Wuxin, and now we also have an even more amazing talent, Lin Ming. With these four great talents gathered here in this single generation, is it time for my Seven Profound Valleys to usher in eternal times of prosperity?’ Xiu! On the martial stage, an icy blue radiance shone out. At the same time, the two Jiang Baoyuns both flourished their swords, and two sword energies instantly twined together, the imposing aura in the air sharply rising to the peak. When the two swords combined, the sum was greater than the parts. The sword energy pierced through the void, slicing through the reinforced martial stage array formation as if it were nothing but a sheet of tofu. The sharp aura instantly caused the audience to feel cold, as if that chilling sword aura was up against their own backs. Facing this combined sword energy, Lin Ming held his spear horizontally with both hands. Azure true essence erupted, and the sonorous roar of a dragon cried out as a black dragon shadow appeared behind him. This was the first time Lin Ming had released the power of the strongest True Dragon after consolidating his true essence in the Pulse Condensation period. Kacha! The martial stage began to shake, and cracks spread on the tiled floor under Lin Ming’s feet like a spiderweb. His spear thrust out, and vibrating true essence divided into 10,000 filaments, howling forth! Saber like tiger, spear like dragon. With the power of the True Dragon attached to the spear, it could display the ultimate power! Bang! Two terrifying energies collided in a deafening explosion; turbulent waves of true essence wantonly surged forth, the entire martial stage shook! Ka ka ka! The icy blue sword energy was constantly breaking, but the azure true essence was also constantly melting. However, the point of energy impact was slowly sliding towards Jiang Baoyun. This meant that Jiang Baoyun’s sword energy was losing against the azure true essence! “Even with two sword energies combined, Jiang Baoyun’s attack is inferior to Lin Ming!” “Lin Ming’s attack power is just too weird! In terms of attack power, Jiang Baoyun is weaker than him!” The audience was aware of just how powerful Jiang Baoyun’s sword energy was. When Jiang Baoyun had fought Ouyang Ming, he had only needed to slice out a few casual sword energies to scatter apart Ouyang Ming’s Absolute Life Purple Flame that he had summoned with his full true essence at the Perfect fifth stage of the ‘Divine Acacia Power’. At that time, Jiang Baoyun hadn’t even used a sword. But now, Jiang Baoyun and his Spirit Sword Avatar had combined together, and they were still weaker than Lin Ming’s spear! Peng! True essence waves crashed out. Jiang Baoyun and his Sword Spirit Avatar instantly flashed, his figure fading. Although his attack power was inferior to Lin Ming’s, his speed was still superior! Cha! Cha! Two sword energies pierced towards Lin Ming from two different directions, their speed already reaching the degree at which they was hard to see! However, Lin Ming hadn’t even turned his head to look. He completely liberated his perception, using his soul force to sense all the information in the air, determining where Jiang Baoyun’s attack would come from. “Flow like Silk!” The azure true essence had already congealed, and it erupted again! Lin Ming aligned his spear with the sword energy, and 10,000 vibrating true essence filaments divided in half, 5000 vibrating true essence filaments each directly impacting the sword energies! Peng! Peng! The sword energies broke apart. At the same time, a purple power of thunder ran out from the ruins of the sword energy, rushing towards Jiang Baoyun like a deadly blade! Ca! In the instant that the lightning struck, Jiang Baoyun’s body flickered and he only left behind a vague blur, not even giving Lin Ming the slightest opportunity to strike. ‘He’s too fast!’ Lin Ming was startled. This was the first time that he had encountered someone whose speed was so fast that he couldn’t hope to match them. With his thick cultivation true essence and his Sword Step, Jiang Baoyun’s speed was already beyond the limit that a Pulse Condensation period martial artist could reach. As for Lin Ming’s Golden Roc Shattering the Void, although it could be said to be one of the most powerful movement techniques that existed, his cultivation was just too low. Firstly, Lin Ming was only at the early Pulse Condensation period, and secondly, he hadn’t cultivated Golden Roc Shattering the Void to a high enough level. Golden Roc Shattering the Void had a total of 12 layers, and the Supreme Elder that passed away only had eight of them within his memories. As for Lin Ming, he had only truly learnt the first layer. With just some superficial ability in Golden Roc Shattering the Void along with Lin Ming’s lower cultivation, his movement was naturally slower than Jiang Baoyun’s Sword Step. Lin Ming was already considering that after the Total Faction Martial Meeting ended, he would cultivate a thunder-attribute movement technique with the aid of the Purple Flood Dragon Divine Thunder, and make up for his insufficient movement speed. After all, a thunder-attribute martial artist normally had an enormous superiority in terms of movement and speed. Peng peng peng! Another three sword energies were broken! The martial stage was run through with wide fissures in the ground, Jiang Baoyun’s sword light was just too terrifying. However, Lin Ming’s spear could actually break it. It could be said that the azure true essence combined with Flow like Silk was just too strong. Swish swish! Jiang Baoyun and Lin Ming’s speed was too quick; the audience could barely see vague blurs of icy blue sword light and azure true essence. When these forces collided in the same place, bursts of vibrant, dreamy blue light radiated out. Although Lin Ming’s speed was inferior to Jiang Baoyun’s, to the common viewer, their speed had already surpassed the limits of their sight. It was only when Lin Ming’s speed lowered a bit as he thrust out his spear was the audience able to barely see his movements. But this was only a very short moment. Because of the persistence of one’s vision remaining in the eyes, every action he made was like a ghost. In just a single breath of time, Lin Ming had already thrust out his spear several dozen times. These spears were not chaotic or random. Every spear was able to break apart three or four sword energies that Jiang Baoyun cast out. In other words, Jiang Baoyun and his Sword Spirit Avatar had already sliced out hundreds of swords! Just a day ago, the new reinforced protective array formation had been placed down. But now, it was fiercely shaking again. The entire martial stage was whipped into a tornado, and the broken tiles of the martial stage were picked up into the brutal winds. These fragments were like arrows that shot in all directions! The audience was dumbfounded. They could only see more and more cracks and fissures appearing in the martial stage at a terrifying speed. When had they ever seen such a competition of extreme speed? Was this really a battle between Pulse Condensation period martial artists? Even Houtian realm martial artists would not be so abnormal! “They are too fast, the realm their speed approaches in inconceivable. Even Senior-apprentice Sister Huan, who is a self-proclaimed speed master, can’t even match up to half of their speed. A young Zither Faction girl muttered to herself. Huan Xiaodie was a direct disciple who excelled most at speed. However, what she excelled most at was already worse than Jiang Baoyun and Lin Ming by far. She had no other aspect that she could even compare in. In normal years, direct disciples of the Mirage Faction were inferior to the Sword Faction direct disciples. However, the disparity usually wouldn’t be so great. At most it would be equal to the gap between Huan Xiaodie and Jiang Lanjian. It could only be said that Jiang Baoyun was too abnormal! But although Jiang Baoyun was abnormal, how could Lin Ming, a martial artist from the 36 countries, be such a monstrous talent? With his early Pulse Condensation cultivation, he was managing to fight Jiang Baoyun to a draw! At this moment onstage, even Jiang Baoyun was startled. Lin Ming’s movement speed and spear speed was inferior to his own, but when he and his Sword Spirit Avatar cut out with five swords, Lin Ming was able to dodge two and block the last three with a single spear. That azure true essence that was attached to the silver spear was just too strong. It endlessly grew, and also contained a strange power of vibration. Lin Ming’s speed was inferior, but with his formidable attack power and freakish defensive capabilities, he was not at a disadvantage at all! 10,000 vibrating filaments of azure true essence surrounded Lin Ming, protecting him all around. Jiang Baoyun’s sword energy was able to puncture it, but was quickly worn down. No matter what he tried, he was unable to harm Lin Ming. The azure true essence that was lost was immediately replenished. ‘Lin Ming is truly a versatile combat talent. Even with my speed advantage, I cannot defeat him!’ Jiang Baoyun remembered that when Jiang Lanjian had fought Lin Ming and first used his Concept of Wind, the situation then was the exact same as it was now. Jiang Lanjian had sent out wind blades and sword energies, and still was unable to do anything to Lin Ming. Finally, he engaged in a melee battle, only able to meet Lin Ming head-on! A sword master’s Sword Spirit true essence and sharp sword energy could only display their greatest potential when attached to the sword blade. Naturally, the attack power of long-distance sword energy was inferior to directly striking with a sword. “Big Dipper Sword Step!” Jiang Baoyun’s eyes flashed and he and his Sword Spirit Avatar simultaneously displayed the Big Dipper Sword Step. Human and sword became one, as if they fused into the sword light, instantly arriving in front of Lin Ming. This extreme speed had already completely surpassed the limit at which anyone could respond! Cha cha! Two cold blue treasure swords stabbed into Lin Ming’s body like a bolt of lightning. These two swords contained Jiang Baoyun’s complete sword potential, and their attack power reached the limit of this instant blade! The azure true essence was simply unable to defend against such fierce sword strikes; it could only be blocked by the Heavy Profound Soft Spear! But the problem was, with such a fast attack speed that reached the limit, how would Lin Ming have any time to wield his spear? Even if he managed to bring his spear up in time, how could he possibly simultaneously keep of the attacks of two treasure swords? In that split-second, Lin Ming’s eyes burst with light, his pupils flashed with true thunder! Purple Flood Dragon Divine Thunder! True essence surged into the Heretical God Seed, the Thunder Soul had long been ready to explode with force! Kacha! Thick snakes of purple electricity ran out of Lin Ming’s body, recklessly dancing around him. At this moment, Lin Ming’s body burst into a dazzling purple radiance, it was like a god of thunder had been born unto the world! At such a close distance, no matter how fast Jiang Baoyun was, there was no way he could dodge! As this electric light entered his body, Jiang Baoyun’s entire body numbed. The power of the savage thunder flushed into his meridians, brutally destroying everything in sight. Over half of the sword potential instantly disappeared from his blade, the rest continued thrusting at Lin Ming! Facing Jiang Baoyun’s sword, Lin Ming simply had no way to avoid it. Since he was destined to not be able to evade, he wouldn’t evade. From the very beginning, he decided to go down with his opponent in a battle of attrition. He galvanized the azure true essence in his body to the max, preparing to meet this attack head-on. Pah pah! With two light sounds, the sword blades pierced through the true essence protecting Lin Ming, stabbing into his body. On his lower abdomen and back, two streams of blood shot out. Even though his blood shot out, Lin Ming simply did not care. He cried out, “Body Tearing Bone Shattering Fist!” Peng peng! He released the spear from his hands, punching out with two fists, directly smashing into Jiang Baoyun and the Sword Spirit Avatar’s faces! In short-distance attacks, a fist was faster than a spear! Under normal circumstances, Jiang Baoyun would have been able to use his extreme speed to avoid Lin Ming’s fists. However, as it was now, Jiang Baoyun’s body pulsed with a savage power of thunder; Lin Ming’s sudden attack had taken him by surprise!