398: Chapter 398 Sword Formation Like Rain, Chen Xiaodao Displays His Divine Power

Dawn had just broken over the horizon, and the battlefield was still thick with the scent of blood and scorched earth.

Five thousand rebels knelt across the ground, their weapons discarded everywhere. Many had soaked their pant legs halfway up, shaking like chaff in the wind.

The general of the central army was held by the throat by Sword Qi, unable to move, forced to watch as the forces he had brought crumbled before his eyes.

In that deathly silence of surrender, a soft sound echoed from the city wall—the sound of a boot crushing a roof tile.

A figure soared into the air, tapping the edge of the wall with his toes, and shot out like an arrow from a bow, heading straight for the heart of the enemy formation!

"Who is it?!" a Cultivator in the rear screamed in alarm.

Before the words had even faded, the person had already charged into the crowd.

A flash of silver light erupted as a longsword was unsheathed.

"Slash—!"

A Golden Core Protector was cleaved in two along with his shield, blood spraying three zhang high.

"It's Chen Xiaodao!" someone recognized him, their voice trembling. "That madman Young Lord is here!"

"Form the array! Form the array quickly!" someone roared.

But how could there be enough time?

While still in mid-air, Chen Xiaodao swung his second slash. This strike was not aimed at anyone but pointed diagonally toward the firmament, the tip of the blade drawing in Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi with a resonant hum.

"Meteor Fall Stance—Open!"

His entire being transformed into a silver meteor, descending from the heavens and crashing into the densest part of the enemy army.

Boom!

Dust exploded outward as all rebels within a ten-meter radius were sent flying like scarecrows. Web-like cracks spread across the ground, and several corpses were wedged in the fissures, their eyes burst and blood leaking from their seven orifices.

Chen Xiaodao landed steadily on one knee, his sword propped against the ground as he slowly raised his head.

His face was expressionless, but his gaze was cold enough to freeze fire.

"You all," he began, his voice not loud yet drowning out all the wailing, "should never have set foot into the Chen Family."

A burly man in the front row gripped a massive hammer, gritting his teeth as he roared, "We were forced! Your brother Chen Wuwang oppresses everyone! If we didn't rebel, we would have died anyway!"

"Oh?" Chen Xiaodao stood up and flicked the beads of blood off his sword. "Then you can die now."

Before the words had even finished, a flash of sword light flickered.

The man's head soared into the air, the cut on his neck as smooth as a mirror. His face still bore an expression of rage, and his eyes did not close until his head hit the ground.

"Who else wants to be reasonable?" Chen Xiaodao looked around.

No one dared to respond.

Only the wind carried the scent of blood as it whistled through the tattered battle flags.

"Kill!" someone suddenly shouted. "Attack together! No matter how strong he is, he's only one man!"

Seven or eight Golden Core Cultivators charged together, pouring spiritual power into their weapons as they formed a triangular formation, intending to surround and kill him.

Chen Xiaodao gave a cold sneer and leaped into the air.

"Since you want to die, I will fulfill your wish."

He flipped in the air, slashing his longsword nine times in rapid succession.

With every slash, a hundred-blade Sword Qi descended from the sky like a torrential downpour, leaving no room to breathe!

"Sword Array—Like Rain!"

In an instant, it was as if the sky began to rain silver.

Every strand of Sword Qi was incredibly precise, piercing through shield gaps, armor joints, throats, hearts, and Dantians... not a single one missed its mark.

Those seven or eight Golden Core Cultivators had only made it halfway when they were riddled with hundreds of Sword Qi strikes, their bodies full of holes as they collapsed like tattered sacks.

"Shield array! Raise your shields!" someone shrieked.

Dozens of spiritual shields were quickly pieced together, forming a semi-circular protective dome. Spiritual light flowed across it, barely managing to block the subsequent rain of swords.

"Hahaha! We blocked it!" cheers erupted from within.

But before the laughter could subside, the ground suddenly trembled.

The Sword Qi that had landed but not dissipated actually burrowed into the ground through the cracks, moving like venomous snakes. They instantly circled behind the shield array and erupted from the soil!

"Not good! It's the Earth-Cleaving Sword Net!" someone realized in horror.

It was too late.

The Sword Qi pierced upward through legs, abdomens, and spines... screams echoed from within the shield array as over a dozen men were shredded into remains, their shields rolling across the ground.

"This... this isn't a sword technique a human could master..." an old Cultivator slumped to the ground, muttering, "This is Heaven's punishment... it's Heaven's punishment..."

"It is not Heaven's punishment," Chen Xiaodao said as he landed on a broken wall, looking down from above. "It is the result of thirty years of my sword practice."

He raised his sword, pointing it at the remaining troops. "Next, who's coming to die?"

"Fire! Fire!!" The archers in the rear finally reacted. Over thirty Nascent Soul archers drew their Spirit-Breaking Bows, the arrowheads shimmering with a faint blue poisonous light.

"Three volleys! Pin him to the ground for me!"

Whirr—!

The first wave of thirty-six arrows tore through the air, moving so fast they were a blur to the naked eye.

Chen Xiaodao did not move.

The moment the rain of arrows reached him, he shifted his sword to his left hand and used his right hand's fingers like a blade, tracing an arc in the air.

"Flow-Severing Form—Deflect!"

A surge of invisible Sword Intent expanded, and all the arrows suddenly veered off three feet away from him, grazing his clothes as they flew past and buried themselves deep into the mountain wall behind him, their fletchings still vibrating.

The second wave of arrows arrived.

He returned the sword to his right hand and spun in a horizontal sweep.

"Flow-Severing Form—Grind!"

The Sword Qi expanded in a spiral, and the arrows were ground into powder before they could even get close, falling like dust.

Just as the third wave of arrows left the strings, he suddenly leaped up and held his longsword high.

"Flow-Severing Form—Reverse Slash!"

A surge of Sword Qi shot upward toward the clouds. Everywhere it passed, the arrows were completely vaporized, not even leaving behind a trace of smoke.

The thirty-plus archers stared wide-eyed, their bows falling to the ground with a series of thuds.

"My god... he alone... has wiped us all out..."

"Run! Run away quickly!" someone shouted.

Clatter—!

The remaining army completely collapsed, turning and fleeing. Some even lost their shoes, but they didn't feel the pain of stepping barefoot on sharp stones, focused only on running for their lives.

But Chen Xiaodao had no intention of letting them leave.

Standing atop the broken wall, he pointed his sword at the sky, the Sword Intent within him surging like a rushing river.

"Since you've come, don't bother leaving."

He took a deep breath and suddenly pressed his sword downward.

"Star River—Judgment!"

The entire sky suddenly darkened as if countless stars were flickering behind the clouds.

In the next instant, thousands of Sword Qi manifested from the Void Realm, arranging themselves in the shape of the Big Dipper before crashing down like falling stars!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The earth exploded repeatedly. Every Sword Qi strike precisely hit a fleeing soldier, piercing through them from the top of their heads and pinning them into the ground. Their corpses stood upright in the soil like a forest of death.

Three hundred paces away, five Nascent Soul Cultivators tried to escape by flying on their artifacts. They had only risen three zhang when they were cut in half by a sweeping Sword Qi, their two halves crashing in different directions.

Eight hundred paces away, a group of routed soldiers hid behind a massive boulder to catch their breath, thinking they were safe.

However, a strand of Sword Qi as thin as a hair silently passed through. The rock split open, and red lines appeared simultaneously on everyone's necks as they slowly collapsed.

"Don't... don't kill me..." a young Cultivator knelt and begged for mercy, his face covered in tears. "I was just forced to come... I didn't want to fight..."

Chen Xiaodao landed in front of him, his sword tip pointing at the ground.

The two of them locked eyes for a moment.

The youth's entire body trembled, his teeth chattering loudly.

"Begone," Chen Xiaodao spat out a single word.

The youth froze for a second, then slammed his head on the ground in a kowtow before scrambling away in a panic.

"As for the rest of you," Chen Xiaodao's voice turned cold, "those who want to live, kneel now. Those who want to die, feel free to run."

A few breaths of silence followed.

Clang! A saber hit the ground.

Then came a second, a third...

More and more rebels threw down their weapons and knelt on the ground, bowing their heads and not daring to look up.

However, several hundred people still retreated three miles away, huddling together. They neither surrendered nor attacked, simply staring from a distance as if waiting for some kind of signal.

Chen Xiaodao did not give chase.

He stood at the edge of the broken cliff, slowly sheathing his longsword with a crisp "click."

The morning wind caught his battle robes, making them snap and flutter.

He gazed at the group of remnants in the distance, his eyes as sharp as blades.

His breathing was steady and his aura calm, as if the massacre that had just occurred was nothing more than a warm-up.

He didn't speak or move; he just stood there like a Sword God atop a mountain peak.

The wind carried the mist of blood past him, but he didn't even blink.

In the distance, the light of dawn grew brighter.

He remained standing in place, his gaze locked onto the movements of the remaining enemies, motionless.