Sovereign of the Three Realms

Cao Jin had an ugly expression on his face when he saw the veritable flood of Goldbiter Rats carpet the ground. They were so numerous that every square inch within ten meters was completely covered. He knew that he was in great trouble now. As strong as the six wolverines were, his first thought when confronted by so many Goldbiter Rats was that they were done for.

“You have a lot of trump cards, don’t you, Jiang Chen?” Cao Jin’s face was dark as he lifted his gaze to stare at Jiang Chen. It wasn’t until right then that Cao Jin realized he’d still underestimated Jiang Chen. Jiang Chen seemed to have no end to the cards he could pull out, and worse, they were completely unpredictable! The six wolverines had been one of two major trump cards that he had held to use against Jiang Chen. He had hardened his heart to take Jiang Chen down, and had immediately slapped it down as soon as they faced off. But who would’ve known that his first trump card would be of no help at all, but rather end up being wasted instead! Cao Jin was rocked by astonishment as well as a growing anger.

“As one of the ten great disciples of the Sky Sect, Cao, you too have quite a few trump cards at your disposal, hmm? What else do you have? I’ll give you a chance to use them all.” Jiang Chen smiled faintly. He wasn’t the slightest bit afraid even though he was facing off against Cao Jin. Instead, the will to battle burned ever more brightly. Cao Jin did have another trump card left, but he didn’t want to use it lightly now. The loss of his first trump card still more or less affected him.

He sneered and burst upwards like lightning, giving a long whistle. “Why do I need to use a trump card against a mere petty thief like you? My usual techniques are enough to kill you!”

He pointed down at Jiang Chen as he spoke, and the heavens shone with a radiant splendor as they violently surged towards Jiang Chen. This was one of the trademark techniques of the Sky Sect, the “Milky Way Point”! It was as stunning as the celestial heavens, and the point as if a shooting star.

Jiang Chen was a bit surprised by this technique, but a somewhat strange smile crossed his face in the next instant. Of all things, he hadn’t expected such a coincidence! The “Milky Way Point” was actually identical to the “Supernova Point” he practiced, but the mysteries and changes encompassed within Cao Jin’s strike was noticeably less complex than the “Supernova Point”. This also meant to say that it was very likely that Cao Jin’s method was the novice version of the “Supernova Point”.

Jiang Chen sidestepped, easily evading the attack. Since he was familiar with the technique, he knew exactly what the enemy’s next move was. Cao Jin’s “Milky Way Point” was indeed bedazzling and very domineering, but much to his chagrin, his most vaunted technique seemed to be completely useless! He didn’t even hit a hint of Jiang Chen’s shadow, let alone striking down his enemy!

How… how was this possible?

Even the supremely confident Cao Jin felt that things had gone all too awry. Everything had taken a queer turn since meeting Jiang Chen. His best technique, one of the ultimate arts of the Sky Sect, was something that Cao Jin had always relied on to kill enemies, and it had never failed him before. In fact, he’d sent many of the Regal Pill Palace elders flying with a single point when he had shown up at the sect. But now it seemed ineffective against a minor disciple from the same sect!

What the hell is this?!

It almost seemed as though Jiang Chen had practiced his technique before since he seemed to be able to anticipate every one of Cao Jin’s moves. No matter how Cao Jin tried to switch up his rhythm to execute his “Milky Way Point” to its utmost power, it was all for naught. Jiang Chen was always able to anticipate his next step. How was this a fight to the death? This was more like a martial spar between peers!

“Tsk tsk, Cao, the Ninesuns Sky Sect is a first ranked sect at the end of the day, no? These little unorthodox tricks are all you’ve learned? It’s not enough to even scratch an itch!” Jiang Chen could see that Cao Jin’s dao heart had been slightly affected. After all, it was just one bizarre occurrence after anothe. As resolute as Cao Jin’s mentality was, it was impossible for him to be completely unaffected by this point.

Cao Jin grew incensed as he grabbed at the air, and an ancient sword with an exceedingly keen edge appeared in his hand. “Jiang Chen, your death is a worthy one as you’ve forced me to bring out my weapon!”

Cao Jin was thoroughly enraged now. His sword moved through the air like water, leaving scars in the air like a whip of stars as they layered and intersected with each to form a net that roiled towards Jiang Chen.

What seemed like a simple stroke was actually one that’d condensed many complex notions and embodied an exceedingly strong intent. “Jiang Chen, do you think you’re on the same level as me just by using a few tricks as a first level sage realm? I’ll use the truth to let you know just how ludicrous your thoughts are!”

Cao Jin’s sword technique wasn’t flashy at all, but every seemingly careless stroke had great meaning behind it. Every single move and strike came together to form a marvelous sword formation.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!

The air around them was quickly filling with Cao Jin’s furious sword intent. This prickly intent wasn’t just the demonstration of the dao of swords anymore, but encompassed even the very meaning of this profound technique within them. The space was fully enclosed by Cao Jin’s cutting sword intent before long.

Rumble.

The technique contracted violently, eviscerating at least a million Goldbiter Rats, leaving behind nothing but ground flesh and bloodied gore across the ground. Cao Jin laughed coldly as he sheathed his longsword. It was obvious that he felt that it was impossible for Jiang Chen to survive his “Sword Ocean Cover”, even if the latter had bones and tendons made of iron. However, he didn’t know which bloody pile was Jiang Chen out of the numerous ones in this area. After a careful look around, he started rummaging through the mess in search of Jiang Chen’s storage ring.

However, he didn’t find it no matter where he looked!

“How is that possible?” Cao Jin was baffled. “Blood and flesh are reduced to nothing under the cover of the ‘Sword Ocean Cover’, so there should be a storage ring somewhere here.”

His ears twitched at this moment as he suddenly swept his arm backwards, snatching a few arrows out of the air. “Mm? Not dead yet?”

Cao Jin was flabbergasted. He’d seen with his own eyes just now how the raging “Sword Ocean cover” had enclosed Jiang Chen! He’s not dead? How’s that possible?

“Cao, you’re much better than that Ding Tong.” Jiang Chen’s voice sounded from the void.

Cao Jin regarded his surroundings as he fully opened up his consciousness, but still couldn’t locate Jiang Chen’s precise location. This made him feel vaguely uncomfortable. His consciousness was at the peak of the sage realm, with a corresponding level of power. How could he not sense where Jiang Chen was? How strong was Jiang Chen’s consciousness? He was still hesitating when a golden mountain came crushing down on him. When Cao Jin noticed it, he immediately remembered when Jiang Chen had used it to preoccupy him and taken advantage of the distraction to kill Fatty Wu.

“Repeating the same trick! Get the hell away!” Cao Jin viciously flung a punch out to send the magnetic golden mountain flying away. However, since Jiang Chen was manipulating the mountain, it only skidded back a few meters before it came hurtling back towards Cao Jin again. At the same time, twelve beads rolled towards him and transformed into twelve balls of golden light, shifting into twelve golden-armored warriors who charged towards Cao Jin.

The battle had already developed to the point where both of them were holding nothing back. There wasn’t a need to hide anything anymore. Of the twelve golden-armored warriors, three were of the sky sage realm, three earth sage, and six mortal sage realm. Their combat ability was certainly nothing to scoff at. However, Cao Jin’s potential was also very stunning given his ability to cultivate to the level of the ten great disciples. He was wholly unafraid of this kind of attack and met them head on with his fists and kicks.

He slowly defeated the twelve golden-armored warriors. If it wasn’t for the fact that they were puppets, those warriors with the lower cultivation level might’ve been reduced to bloody messes already. Jiang Chen sighed with admiration from his vantage point in the shadows. He had to admit that Cao Jin was the strongest and most difficult to handle opponent that he’d met so far in his life. He’d deployed almost all of his trump cards and had made use of countless schemes, but still had yet to take this person down. He hadn’t even caused any tangible injury to Cao Jin!

“Cao is a source of trouble alright. If I don’t kill him, I’ll be constantly plagued with trouble when I leave this area.” Jiang Chen knew that he had become the Ninesuns Sky Sect’s hated enemy. If he didn’t kill Cao Jin today, he would be visited by endless harassment in the future. It was a good thing that his plan had yet to come to an end.

Just as the magnetic golden mountain was slamming itself against Cao Jin without pause, countless lotuses had arranged themselves in a radius of thirty some meters around him. Although Cao Jin was being attacked by the magnetic golden mountain and the twelve golden-armored warriors, he still had enough attention to spare for his surroundings. He knew that Jiang Chen would certainly have kept a few tricks up his sleeve.

Indeed, there was suddenly a violent trembling beneath his feet as numerous ice lotus vines erupted from the ground, shooting furiously towards Cao Jin like innumerable tentacles.

“What the hell?!” Cao Jin was almost numb to Jiang Chen’s ever-changing techniques. It was a good thing that his own strength possessed an overwhelming advantage, so no matter what tricks Jiang Chen brought out, Cao Jin felt that he could solidly stand his ground in the face of it all. He’d be able to handle it all in the end!

Therefore, when he saw these countless vines snarling towards him, Cao Jin swept his sword in an arc and severed them. But in that moment, the magnetic golden mountain once again came hurtling down on his head. Resigned, he could only raise his fist and slam it into the magnetic golden mountain again. But at that exact moment, the twelve golden-armored warriors furiously pounced on him, and the vines beneath his feet split the earth like spring bamboo after a rain shower.

Even an expert like Cao Jin couldn’t maintain a perfect defense in the face of a simultaneous attack from the sky, the ground, and below the ground. “Jiang Chen!!” Cao Jin threw his head back and howled to the skies, thoroughly enraged by his opponent’s shameless methods. However, there was nothing he could do about it. Jiang Chen did indeed have more tricks up his sleeve than Cao Jin.

Bam!

As quick-witted and responsive as Cao Jin was, the furious stream of attacks was enough to tie up his defenses. A sky sage warrior managed to deal him a vicious blow in the back. Even though this blow wasn’t fatal, it still caused the blood in his chest to froth to the point where he almost spat it out in a bloody mouthful. This solid blow hadn’t been an easy one to withstand. Cao Jin had never once been forced to such a disgraceful state since he’d made his debut in the world. Even when he’d been defeated by that mysterious expert that day in the Regal Pill Palace, he hadn’t ended up like this either. That had also been at the hands of an emperor realm cultivator, so he hadn’t felt it to be an embarrassing matter.

But now, his opponent today was a mere ant of the first level sage realm! This really frustrated Cao Jin to the point where he wanted to spit blood!