Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

Chapter 707 – The Breaking of Wang Po (II)

From Tianliang to Wenshui, from the south to the land of demons, from Xunyang City to the capital, from Tanzhe Temple to the snowy street, Wang Po had been preparing to unsheathe this blade.

He had accumulated energy for this blade for so many years so he could cleave open a path between the earth and the starry sky, to chop apart that threshold.

Tie Shu could clearly sense that once Wang Po’s blade intent had climbed to the peak, it did not come to a halt, but continued to rise, and even began to undergo some unknown transformations.

Wang Po had long since cultivated to the peak of Star Condensation. If he wanted to continue rising, what could it be other than breaking through?

A grim howl resonated along the two banks of the Luo River.

Tie Shu’s figure vanished from in front of Wang Po—but he had not truly vanished, as his figure could be seen everywhere between the snowy clouds and icy surface.

The Qi of the world and the principles contained within had been affected by his body. The incorporeal flower giving off a metal luster descended from the heavens and enclosed Wang Po’s blade within.

He used the world to bind Wang Po’s blade intent.

This flower went into full bloom through the use of his flourishing body and those hands imbued with a cold light!

The iron tree bloomed into thousands of flowers, each flower and each petal symbolizing a law or principle of the world, possessing abnormal strength.

If Wang Po wanted to survive, he needed to either see through these laws or directly break through them.

He had only cultivated for several decades, so how could he see through the technique that Tie Shu had tempered through his endless years?

And no matter how high his blade intent advanced, it could not cleave through Tie Shu’s strike imbued with the laws of the world.

So what could he do?

Wang Po’s blade intent surged upward.

With a squelch, his left arm was severed and flew into the sky.

A spurt of blood appeared amongst this monotonous world of snow white.

The clouds in the sky and the dancing snow were instantly smeared by this garish red.

The ghastly sight of a sky filled with blood seemed like both flowing lava and rotten plums, wanting to burn everything clean away, to contaminate all things.

Within this blood was an extremely terrifying and awe-inspiring Qi.

From some place in the sky came a furious roar of utter disbelief, Tie Shu’s cry.

From the moment Wang Po cut off his own arm, his arm became his blade, his blood became his Dao, and so what blade intent was he using?

How could this blade intent be so powerful and terrifying? Why could it so easily break through the laws of the world?

If the Pope or Shang Xingzhou were present, perhaps they would understand.

This blade intent was called ‘The World Ablaze’ and it was a part of Zhou Dufu’s Halving Blade Style.

At the end of cultivation, different paths often rejoined, but that had nothing to do with the Halving Blade Style blade intent that Wang Po was using now.

Earlier by the Luo River, Chen Changsheng had spoken of his understanding of the Halving Blade Style for Wang Po to hear, but he had only casually listened and didn’t seem to care too much.

But was he really completely indifferent?

Of course not.

Zhou Dufu was publicly acknowledged as the supreme expert under the starry sky, and he used the blade.

Wang Po was publicly acknowledged as the strongest master of the path of the blade since Zhou Dufu, and he obviously also used a blade.

Whether he admitted or denied it, Zhou Dufu’s path of the blade had always been influencing his cultivation.

As long as his name existed, as long as the Halving Blade still existed, this influence would always remain.

He was keenly aware that if he used the blade intent of the Halving Blade today, even if he could break through Tie Shu’s attack imbued with the laws of the world, his cultivation in the path of the blade would be greatly affected in the future.

But he still swung this blade down.

If he were just inheriting this blade, his strike would still not be enough to cleave through Tie Shu’s flower.

But he had first swung this blade down upon himself.

This blade had come from Zhou Dufu, but what it cut at was all the influence Zhou Dufu and other practitioners of the blade had on him.

This he was not inheriting or succeeding to this blade, but accepting it and then giving it up.

No one in the world could do this.

Even Wang Po needed to cut off his own arm.

But as his arm flew into the sky, all the fog in his heart was driven away, and all shadows vanished. Everything before his eyes was bright and clear.

Only then did his blade cleave at Tie Shu’s blooming flower.

Thus, blood filled the sky and flowers fell like mud.

.……

……

.……

……

Wang Po’s Dao heart had reached an unprecedented level of calm, but the blood that sprayed in all directions was blazing hot, melting away the snow in the air and the ice on the river.

His blade infused with his blood had broken through those petals representing the laws of the world and reached Tie Shu.

The blade was still sheathed, but its intent had already pierced through the world.

Those terrifying and destructive auras, those cold and resolute Qis, had all disappeared. Only he remained.

An unmovable snowy mountain, an unshakable pine tree..

If his blade were now unsheathed, perhaps he really could defeat Tie Shu.

Fortunately, his blade still could not leave its sheath.

Tie Shu knew that this was an opportunity he should seize.

In today’s battle on the Luo River, Wang Po had displayed a talent and resolve that far exceeded his imagination and shocked him to his core.

But since Wang Po could defy all logic to suddenly break through that threshold, Tie Shu still firmly believed that he would easily grasp victory.

Because he had long seen Wang Po’s problem.

Wang Po had been saving this blade for too long.

When one had spent enough time and accumulated enough power, new problems would often occur that one had never imagined.

For example, Wang Po’s blade was still in its sheath, and his sheath was even bent.

If he wanted to unsheathe the blade, it would be somewhat more troublesome and slower than it was before.

Even if it was just the instant that it took for a lightning bolt to descend, it was enough time to change this battle.

With a cold howl, Tie Shu’s body appeared above the Luo River in the center of the thousands of flowers, his palm crashing towards Wang Po’s head.

Just as he had done in the beginning.

Wang Po seemed as if he did not know that his blade was still in its sheath. He continued his action of brandishing his blade, his expression serene and even somewhat wooden.

Suddenly, an extremely faint sound resonated through the world.

It was a very light crack.

It was like the sound of a yellow leaf in Tanzhe Temple being blown by the wind, the sound of someone stepping on the snow of a long street.

No, it was like something had broken.

It was the layer of ice thinned by heat, the winter willows on the banks cut apart by the ripples of power!

It was a silver vase bursting, the arrival of a great army!

It was the ice breaking and spring flourishing across the mountains!

It was the breaking of breaking through.

It was the breaking (破) of Wang Po (王破).

Wang Po had broken through!

His blade broke through its sheath and cleaved at Tie Shu!

……

……

This was naturally the most powerful blade Wang Po had struck with in his entire life.

The heavens and earth had to give some reaction to show their respect.

The snow falling from the clouds suddenly stopped.

Countless cracks appeared on the layer of ice of the Luo River, transforming into several thousand thick and heavy ice floes.

Those ice floes constantly bobbed up and down as if some giant monster was violently thrashing about below.

In truth, the waters of the river had been disturbed by the Qi of the heavens and earth and surged about.

After some time, all returned to stillness.

Wang Po gripped his blade and gazed ten-some li away.

His severed arm had flown off to parts unknown. He was covered in blood, his face pale, yet his eyes extremely calm.

Ten-some li away, Tie Shu stood on the ice. It seemed like he wanted to say something, but he ultimately just shook his head.

He fell backwards into the river littered with chunks of ice and willow branches, and died.