Chapter 520: Controlling the Sword and Controlling Water

Chapter 520: Sword Control and Water Control

High in the air, two streaks of sword-light clashed a thousand times in the blink of an eye, the flashing arcs of lightning and blade-glow nearly obscuring the flickering figures within.

On one side, a furious sea roared, its crashing waves endless and unbroken against the shore.

On the other, a purple mist swirled, layer upon layer, as if the raging tides had flooded into a vast landscape of mountains and rivers, quickly thinning to mere trickles.

Every time Wang Daoning crossed swords with Cui Wenjing, he felt this same sense of futility—a natural counter between them. That was why, on the rankings of the Book of Chaos, he had always lagged a step behind Cui Wenjing.

It wasn’t a matter of softness overcoming hardness… Cui Wenjing was not soft either.

He was vastness itself—purple qi filling mountains and rivers, a spectacle of boundless grandeur.

Wang Daoning had never understood how a man so consumed by family could harbor such a majestic vision of mountains and rivers. Yet these two contradictions, when embodied in Cui Wenjing, seemed perfectly harmonious. He was precisely such a paradox.

And precisely because of this, the sword-intent that seemed so clearly meant for the Qinghe Sword still failed to win its recognition. In the eyes of the sword-spirit, it was almost right, yet not quite.

But whether the sword-spirit acknowledged it or not no longer mattered. The Qinghe Sword had been stripped of half its energy by Xia Longyuan—that was an undeniable fact. The sword-spirit’s slumber was largely due to an irresistible force. Meanwhile, his Zhenhai Sword, replenished by the energy of the sea clans, had fully recovered. Perhaps Cui Wenjing would argue that the Zhenhai Sword was no longer what it once was, but Wang Daoning knew it still was.

The vast purple qi began to ripple, as if struggling to bear the strain.

“With your vast mountains and rivers, you try to contain the raging sea’s tide… Wenjing, have you ever considered that the sea is vaster than the land? What seems like a counter, when strength and weakness shift, may instead leave you utterly overwhelmed and drowned.”

The Zhenhai Sword seemed to advance before Cui Wenjing at an impossibly slow pace—so slow that every engraved pattern and inscription on the blade was visible, each character crystal clear.

But in Cui Wenjing’s eyes, there was no sword ahead, nor Wang Daoning.

It was as if he stood alone on a crumbling reef, facing a hundred-zhang-high wave that rolled slowly toward him from the distance—inescapable, suffocating, blotting out heaven and earth.

“Your cultivation has also progressed. It’s not entirely reliant on the Zhenhai Sword… No wonder you’re so confident.” Cui Wenjing’s eyes held neither sorrow nor joy. “But I, Cui, have not been standing still either.”

A faint purple light flickered within the monstrous wave. At first glance, it was barely perceptible—a mere speck. Yet that tiny gleam pierced through the raging tide, breaking through with sheer force. The ten-thousand-zhang surge could not extinguish that faint, fragile glow.

Wang Daoning’s pupils contracted. “You’ve also reached that realm…”

“Also.”

The towering wave suddenly condensed into an extremely fine line, like the distant horizon where sea met sky.

“Ding!” The tips of the two swords met. Both men shuddered, blood trickling from the corners of their mouths as they flew backward.

Two men at the bottom of the Heavenly Ranking—yet both had glimpsed the threshold of the Imperial Realm.

Even with the Zhenhai Sword restored, allowing Wang Daoning to draw more power from the divine blade than Cui Wenjing could from the Qinghe Sword, the result was still mutual destruction!

The Heavenly Ranking’s order was precise, without error.

But as Wang Daoning flew back, his left hand suddenly grasped at the empty air.

Cui Wenjing, who had only been lightly wounded and was quietly calming his disordered inner breath, suddenly felt his entire body tighten. It was as if his blood were being drawn out along the path of his earlier wound. He coughed up another torrent of blood, plummeting toward the ground like a kite with a broken string, blood spattering across the sky.

He could no longer even hold his longsword; it wobbled as it fell.

Cui Wenjing couldn’t even retrieve his sword. Struggling to suppress the uncontrollable surging of his blood, he whispered, “Drawing upon the water element within a human body… That is not the Wang family’s technique. It is not even a technique of this world. So it truly is the sea clans…”

“Forgive me, Wenjing.” Wang Daoning halted his backward momentum, shot forward like an arrow, and thrust his sword downward.

But Cui Wenjing revealed a faint smile.

If the Wang family possessed secret sea-clan techniques, how could he not have guessed? Over these days, he had pored through countless ancient texts and made many covert preparations. He might not be able to break the technique, but he was not so utterly unprepared as to be beaten this miserably, losing even his sword.

Just as Wang Daoning believed victory was within his grasp, the Qinghe Sword, which had seemed to be falling aimlessly, suddenly flew back upward in utter silence, straight toward Wang Daoning’s back!

This was not the work of the Qinghe Sword’s spirit… This was Cui Wenjing controlling the sword!

“Slap!” Wang Daoning’s sword pierced through. Cui Wenjing clapped his palms together, letting the sword-qi pass through his body as he clamped the Zhenhai Sword tightly.

A great alarm rang in Wang Daoning’s heart. He knew something was attacking from behind, but for a moment, he could not bear to abandon his ancestral divine sword. That single instant of hesitation cost him the chance to dodge. Awkwardly gripping his sword, he twisted his body. The Qinghe Sword grazed his right ribs, piercing through, before returning to Cui Wenjing’s hand.

Cui Wenjing caught the sword and fell toward the ground like a kite with a broken string, laughing heartily.

Everything had gone as expected. For men like them, born into noble houses, anything could be set aside—but to lose the ancestral sword was like losing their very life. Wang Daoning could not bear to abandon his sword immediately, just as he himself could never have imagined willingly discarding his own ancestral blade.

In truth, he was no better. In the end, he had to call the sword back, or he would not die in peace.

Such an outcome was precisely what he had sought.

He himself had no strength left to resist. Wang Daoning probably still had enough energy to deliver one more finishing blow. But he was also severely wounded, unlikely to still attack Puyang. He would have to retreat immediately to heal and cultivate in seclusion… What came next would be up to their children…

Wang Daoning shook his head, clutching his rib injury. He could not help but admire his old friend’s cunning and resolve. Holding his sword, he floated down. “Wenjing, I am sorry.”

At that very moment, his heart suddenly leaped. He turned to look south in alarm.

A surge of murderous aura roiled at the horizon, blood-red staining the entire sky. Even from a distance, it made the heart pound with terror.

As if the power of a primordial beast descended from the heavens, a dark red wave of blood arrived before him in the blink of an eye.

Wang Daoning swiftly swung his sword to cut it, but he was too gravely wounded. The blood wave parted, yet the murderous aura remained, crashing into him with a roar. Even though he managed to summon protective qi in time, his flesh was torn and blood sprayed everywhere—a miserable sight.

Now both Cui and Wang were equally wounded…

This strike was definitely close to the Imperial Realm. Which Heavenly Ranking expert had come to claim the spoils?

Wang Daoning strained to look. A burly man, wielding a broad blade, came charging at full speed: “Fuck your mother! Hurting my father-in-law? Don’t you dare run!”

…Zhao Changhe? How could he have unleashed such a strike?

Wang Daoning could almost see Cui Wenjing, slumped on the ground, grinning from ear to ear.

Damn it.

The most infuriating thing was that he really had to leave now. Otherwise, the Book of Chaos might soon flash: “Cui Wenjing and Zhao Changhe jointly slay Wang Daoning at Puyang.” No… Just as Wang Daoning was about to turn, he suddenly stopped.

He should make sure Zhao Changhe died here. Otherwise, in the future, Zhaoling would not be able to match him.

As the thought flashed through his mind, Zhao Changhe had already charged close, leaping into the air with his broad blade swinging: “Die!”

A shadow, like a transparent watermark, rose silently behind Wang Daoning. A palm struck toward Zhao Changhe’s chest without a sound.

Cui Wenjing cried out in alarm: “Watch out!”

Suddenly, a dragon-shaped fist shadow descended from the sky, viciously slamming into the watery shadow.

Wang Daoning was horrified: “Xia Longyuan!”

Zhao Changhe had no time to bother with Wang Daoning anymore. He lunged desperately, grabbed Cui Wenjing, and fled sideways out of the fist’s range.

“Boom!” A earth-shattering explosion tore through the space.

Zhao Changhe could not fully evade the residual energy. He was sent tumbling several times before stopping, coughing as he turned to look. The riverbank plain had been shattered by that blow, leaving a crater dozens of zhang wide.

Wang Daoning had vanished. The watery shadow was also gone.

He looked down at the father-in-law in his arms. Cui Wenjing’s face was as pale as gold paper, completely unconscious.

Zhao Changhe panted heavily for a long while, then suddenly jumped to his feet and pointed at the sky: “Old Xia, fuck your mother! You were watching this whole fight, and you just sat there letting Old Cui die? The moment a sea clan shows up, you come running eagerly, and when you strike, you don’t even care if you hit your own people. Do you think that makes you look cool? Others are defending your kingdom—your kingdom!”

The air was silent. For a long time, no one answered.

At the same time, three thousand Blood God cultists appeared at the edge of the battlefield. Wang Zhaoling, after deliberation, had no heart for further battle and led his troops in retreat.

Cui Yuanyong threw open the city gates and led light cavalry in hot pursuit. After a chaotic skirmish, both sides withdrew.

The first battle of the Wang family’s rebellion ended in defeat.