Cultivating with Top Enlightenment Chapter 853 - 361: Luring the Enemy (Part 2)

A powerful kick instantly shattered the sword light, easing the urgent crisis for a brief moment.

Leng Qingao appeared to exhale in relief, yet the following instant brought countless sword shadows bursting forth from the surrounding void.

Every single one matched the size of that earlier sword light!

These myriad sword shadows unleashed a stealthy assault on her without a sound.

Leng Qingao’s pupils contracted sharply.

"This is bad—if every sword light carries the same will impact as the last one, can I endure it?"

This notion raced through her thoughts, but she abruptly bit her lip until blood welled up.

Magical power erupted around her, swiftly gathering vast rule powers into numerous colossal sea demon beast kings.

These beast phantoms surged from her form, with some whirling protectively around her.

Others charged fiercely at the endless sword shadows, aiming to tear them asunder piece by piece.

Meanwhile, under Leng Qingao’s feet, another massive wave coalesced, crashing toward the gray-clad cultivator below.

She couldn’t confirm if the sea beast phantoms would halt the sword shadows, yet her iron will drove her to slay the gray-clad cultivator, even at the cost of mutual destruction.

Buzz!

At last, the gray-clad cultivator’s legion of sword shadows let out a sharp slicing hum.

In the overhead void, Leng Qingao’s unleashed sea demon beast kings shattered one after another under the sword shadows’ onslaught at astonishing speed.

By their total annihilation, Leng Qingao’s graceful form plummeting from above had traversed only half the gap.

And the horde of sword shadows had already overtaken her!

Leng Qingao’s eyes blazed crimson; she’d sooner shatter her own body than suffer the sword shadows’ strike!

From the Sea Ancestor, she had mastered a secret art known as the Great Art of Wan Shark Disintegration.

It sacrificed her body’s rule powers to spawn a fresh wave of ocean shark demons brimming solely with murderous fury!

The gray-clad cultivator’s Despair Soul Sword targeted her mind, but she’d flip his scheme back on him—stirring the sharks’ slaughter lust with his emotion-infused sword, convinced she could triumph.

Still, Leng Qingao would suffer a heavy toll.

Her dharma body must fully nourish the sharks for their rebirth, and even her harmonization body would heal at a torturously sluggish pace.

As Leng Qingao’s counterplan crystallized in her mind, a voice transmission pierced her ears.

"Keep diving downward—I’ll handle those sword shadows for you!"

Leng Qingao didn’t recognize the voice’s source, but it brimmed with unshakeable assurance.

Leng Qingao froze momentarily.

Yet amid battle, she refused to pin her survival on an unknown savior, so she prepared a contingency.

Should the sword shadows break through unstopped, she’d ignore the advice and trigger the Great Art of Wan Shark Disintegration without delay.

Ning Qi lurked in the void close to Leng Qingao.

He held a favorable view of this woman, since she had blocked Harmonization cultivators from Fan City and the Three Domains on his behalf earlier, shielding Sword Ancestor and the rest from peril.

Without her bold interference, Ning Qi would’ve been forced to expose himself then, complicating his future schemes.

Thus, witnessing her peril now, Ning Qi planned to act regardless, deciding to aid her and settle the debt.

With that resolve, Ning Qi sent his voice transmission to Leng Qingao.

As she pressed onward atop the waves in her descent, Ning Qi fixed his gaze on the sword shadows converging on her.

His right hand swiftly shaped a sword-sign, pointing it remotely at the swarm of sword shadows.

At once, the sword shadows froze as if seized by an alien command, halting en masse.

This sudden stop registered instantly with both Leng Qingao and the gray-clad sword cultivator below.

Joy flooded Leng Qingao’s heart.

The gray-clad cultivator’s dull, ashen eyes ignited with a fierce spark amid the gloom.

"Who dares meddle with my sword intent?"

His voice emerged raspy and rough, as if unused for ages.

But silence met his demand.

In that instant, the gray-clad cultivator abandoned his assault on Leng Qingao, desperate to unmask the one twisting his sword lights’ path.

As a sword cultivator, he knew full well.

Whoever could sway him along the Sword Dao path must wield superior prowess.

Leng Qingao paid it no heed—the colossal wave at her feet barreled straight for the gray-clad cultivator.

From afar, it resembled an ocean cascade, offering no path of retreat.

The gray-clad cultivator swung his sword repeatedly in irritation, without a second thought.

Each beam blazed fiercer than the last, carving the immense wave beneath Leng Qingao’s feet into oblivion.

Leng Qingao clenched her pearly teeth, poised to invoke the Great Thousand Sharks Disintegration Technique.

But abruptly, a white-robed silhouette materialized in her path.

Leng Qingao stared in shock.

Before her loomed the slender yet imposing back of the white-robed figure, exuding an aura of supreme dominion over heaven and earth.

"Stop your frantic search—the one you seek stands right here." Ning Qi declared coolly.

The gray-clad cultivator, who had been scanning wildly, whipped around.

His gaze locked on Ning Qi’s features; those ash-gray pupils flickered with an odd gleam.

"You... are Ning Qi?"

"Indeed!"

Excitement flushed the gray-clad cultivator’s face.

"All Harmonizations in the Vast Realm—Ning Qi is here! Seize him no matter the cost!"

He bellowed the command, frantically broadcasting it via a special technique.

Instantly, Harmonizations from all around swarmed to the spot.

Leng Qingao sensed myriad eyes converging, yet for once, they ignored her, fixating instead on the white-robed man ahead.

"Does he truly hold such magnetic pull?"

Prior to the war realm, Leng Qingao had learned of Ning Qi from the Sea Ancestor.

She’d dismissed him then as merely a prodigious talent worth her casual watch.

Yet now, inside the war realm, she met Ning Qi at last, and the uproar he ignited dwarfed her own fame.

Leng Qingao prided herself on her might within the Mountain and Sea Realm and her striking allure.

But in this moment, Ning Qi before her eclipsed all her splendor.

It was as if Ning Qi commanded unmatched power, and Ning Qi possessed peerless beauty.

Leng Qingao couldn’t fathom the reason, sensing only Integration Realm peak fluctuations from Ning Qi.

How could an Integration Realm cultivator outshine her?

No leisure remained for Leng Qingao’s musings, as the white-robed figure ahead spoke once more.

"I’ve clashed indirectly with your Vast Realm’s Saint Ancestor twice and emerged alive both times, reaping handsome rewards." Ning Qi sneered suddenly, "No doubt he ordered you to hunt me down, but you’ll never lay hands on me!"

With that, he plunged into the void like a darting fish, ripples spreading as Ning Qi reemerged a thousand meters off in another direction.

Every Harmonization on site jolted in surprise.

They spared glances at their foes and, in a rare unity, dropped their battles to race toward Ning Qi’s position.

Suddenly, Mountain and Sea Realm cultivators beheld a bizarre spectacle.

Just seconds prior, their dueling adversaries had pivoted resolutely in unison toward a single point.

The frenzy mirrored mortals chasing rumors of buried gold.

Even numerous Mountain and Sea Realm cultivators teetered on death’s edge, yet their enemies forsook the kill to depart abruptly.

For a beat, confusion gripped everyone over this shift.

Soon, many Mountain and Sea Realm Harmonizations joined the pursuit.

In their ranks stood Fan City’s three Domain Masters and their followers.

Fan City’s eyes blazed as he tracked Ning Qi’s fleeting form, wordless.

At his side, Jin Guanghua and Mu Qingtian radiated thick murderous auras.

"Big brother, Ning Qi has finally emerged."

"Big brother, second brother, we can’t let this opportunity slip—or once he advances, revenge will prove impossible!"

At length, Fan City replied, "Fear not, I grasp the need to eliminate threats at the root. Though just Integration Realm, he’s whipped up this tempest. Should he reach Harmonization, our peaceful days end."

His grudge against Ning Qi had started over his son, but now Fan City sensed a looming threat.

He remembered journeying to Heaven-Reaching Peak to beg elixir from the Mountain Ancestor.

Then, upon mentioning Ning Qi, the Mountain Ancestor had queried how long he’d served.

Abruptly, Fan City realized the Mountain Ancestor must have marked Ning Qi too.

Given today’s chaos, Fan City figured he’d be blind as Mountain Ancestor not to notice.

After all, no one in the war realm had ever drawn Vast Realm Harmonizations into such a frenzied hunt like Ning Qi!