Although Shoudi Laoren had been imprisoned by the Divine Sword Sect for an extremely long time, enduring endless torment, he was not a remnant soul but a living, flesh-and-blood entity.
For some time now, he had been continuously taking the divine pills Ye Yunfei had provided. His body had been steadily recovering, and naturally, his battle prowess was also continuously being restored.
Shoudi Laoren had once been an esteemed and formidable figure throughout the entire Chaotic Void Sea. Once his strength was restored, his combat ability was naturally no small matter.
Even though he had been imprisoned in the underground palace for so many years, unable to cultivate and enduring suffering, it was precisely these years of torment, facing endless agony over and over, that tempered his Soul Body to become incredibly resilient.
Upon restoring his strength, his Soul Body and Soul Power had actually surpassed his former state.
Thus, he was now brimming with fighting spirit!
Back in ancient times, he was already a stronger combatant than Chihu Daozun. Now that his strength had returned, of course he had no fear of Chihu Daozun.
"Good! But, you'll be the main force. I'll provide support from the side," Sword Elder said immediately upon hearing Shoudi Laoren's words, nodding in agreement.
He knew that if they could eliminate Chihu Daozun, they might just be able to truly defeat the forces of the Divine Sword Sect.
"Sword Elder, I have long admired your reputation. Who would have thought we'd have a chance to fight side by side today? Let's begin!" Shoudi Laoren declared with a loud laugh.
Then, the compass above his head trembled slightly, erupting with even more profound symbols. A pointer shot towards the sky before turning and fiercely striking towards Chihu Daozun.
The compass continuously rotated and enlarged, becoming as massive as a mountain range, pressing down to suppress Chihu Daozun.
"Shoudi Laoren, you dare provoke me? You seek death!" Chihu Daozun roared, brandishing his long blade to slash at the compass descending upon him.
Sword Elder swung his longsword, unleashing a thick sword beam, attacking Chihu Daozun from another direction.
"The sword techniques of the Tianjian Sect emphasize simplicity over flashiness, yet they capture the Dao in its most fundamental form. Indeed, its reputation is well-deserved."
A long-robed elder holding a sword drifted over, glanced at Sword Elder's sword move, and praised.
Then, a verdant sword seal descended from the heavens, smashing towards Chihu Daozun.
This long-robed elder was a core elder of the Azure Dragon Sword Sect.
Back in the day, the Azure Dragon Sword Sect was a sword sect on the Sword Realm Continent whose fame rivaled that of the Tianjian Sect. This elder had also been a figure of great repute.
Thus, the situation evolved into Shoudi Laoren, Sword Elder, and the Azure Dragon Sword Sect elder joining forces to besiege Chihu Daozun.
Of course, Shoudi Laoren bore the brunt of the frontal assault, exerting the greatest combat pressure.
Shoudi Laoren employed earth techniques to conjure thousands of thick, towering earthen walls. Arranged in a specific order in the surrounding space, they resembled a labyrinth.
Driven by Shoudi Laoren, each wall rumbled and shifted at high speed, smashing towards Chihu Daozun.
Holding his long-handled broadsword, Chihu Daozun didn't retreat a single step under the siege of the three powerhouses, fighting with great majesty.
He constantly unleashed thick blade beams one after another. A vast ocean of blade energy centered on him, flooding out in all directions.
"Shoudi Laoren, today I'll kill you first, then annihilate those other two remnant souls," Chihu Daozun growled, somewhat frustrated by the various secret earth techniques Shoudi Laoren employed.
He knew his true foe was Shoudi Laoren.
With a loud *BOOM*, a gigantic white tiger materialized behind Chihu Daozun.
The beast stood upon the void, its body suffused with Chaotic Qi, emanating overwhelming killing intent. With a ferocious pounce, it lunged to kill Shoudi Laoren.
Shoudi Laoren stomped his foot. Tens of thousands of tall mud walls shifted, forming a barrier before him.
The white tiger, radiating rolling blade beams and immense power, smashed through a hundred tall mud walls in an instant.
However, the shattered walls quickly reassembled into a new earthen barrier.
This was because the earth itself originated from the ground beneath their feet. Even shattered, it remained earth and could be reused, a cycle repeating itself endlessly.
Shoudi Laoren continued to employ his secret earth arts, conjuring one tall mud wall after another, encircling Chihu Daozun and severely restricting his movements.
Sword Elder and the Azure Dragon Sword Sect elder constantly sought opportunities to strike Chihu Daozun.
The Five Elements Divine Sword in Sword Elder's hand was a renowned divine weapon of the Tianjian Sect. Each swing could channel the terrifyingly vast reserves of sword energy stored in the Tianjian Sect headquarters.
The Azure Dragon Sword Sect elder activated the Azure Dragon Sword Seal. Each attack spewed forth billions of dazzling sword beams.
Chihu Daozun had to counter Shoudi Laoren's frontal assault while also guarding against ambushes from Sword Elder and the Azure Dragon elder. Very soon, he began looking somewhat beleaguered.
"Try my Ten Thousand Dragons Suppressing God Formation!"
Shoudi Laoren suddenly let out a roar. He retrieved a yellow gourd and unsealed it.
The next moment, thousands upon thousands of Earth Dragons surged forth from the gourd.
These Earth Dragons were not from the Sword Realm Continent, but ones Shoudi Laoren had painstakingly collected over a long period while traversing the Chaotic Void Sea.
Though imprisoned and tormented by the Divine Sword Sect, Shoudi Laoren had used his secret arts to hide these Earth Dragons, and they were never discovered.
One could say these Earth Dragons within the yellow gourd were among the trump cards Shoudi Laoren had managed to preserve over the years.
A moment later, the number of Earth Dragons pouring from the gourd reached several tens of thousands.
The tens of thousands of Earth Dragons plunged into the ground, merging with the land of the Sword Realm Continent. Then, the ground beneath Chihu Daozun began to emit huge, resonant dragon roars.
Enveloped by billowing yellow Earth Qi, giant Earth Dragons breached the surface, arranging themselves according to a specific pattern to form a massive battle formation.
The battle formation composed of tens of thousands of Earth Dragons presented a truly magnificent spectacle.
Moreover, these tens of thousands of Earth Dragons had just merged with the Sword Realm Continent. They could mobilize the continent's energy and laws at any time.
*Rumble…*
The tens of thousands of Earth Dragons surged around Chihu Daozun, unleashing powerful suppressive energy.
Then, the profound earth formation formed by these Earth Dragons began to rotate continuously, resembling a giant yellow millstone slowly grinding down towards Chihu Daozun's body.
Chihu Daozun immediately felt his form suppressed by a terrifying energy, while dreadful power constantly surged at him from all directions in the surrounding space.
"Get away from me!"
Shocked, Chihu Daozun unleashed the full extent of his Chaos God-level energy.
Chihu Daozun was an early-stage Chaos God, and coupled with his high proficiency in the blade path, his overall combat power far surpassed that of ordinary early-stage Chaos Gods. Every move and stance was the essence of his blade path.
*BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!…*
Amidst his furious roars, thick blade beams erupted continuously from his body. Each beam contained peerlessly tyrannical blade path energy, cleaving the space around him, causing it to collapse repeatedly.
"Chihu Daozun, back when I made my name in the Chaotic Void Sea, you were probably still suckling milk. What right do you have to act arrogantly before me?"
Seeing this, Shoudi Laoren gave a cold laugh.
In truth, back in the Chaotic Void Sea, Shoudi Laoren's prestige couldn't even be compared to Chihu Daozun's.
He was right; when he became famous, Chihu Daozun was just a low-level, ordinary blade cultivator in the Blade Realm, struggling desperately to climb the ranks.
It was only in later years, through chance encounters and good fortune, that Chihu Daozun's strength and realm continuously improved, his blade path cultivation also advancing, eventually making him a Chaos God.
But before an old-timer like Shoudi Laoren, he still remained inferior.
*BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!…*
Shoudi Laoren stomped his foot. Even more countless tall, thick mud walls emerged. Wave after wave of these walls roared in from all directions, besieging Chihu Daozun.
Chihu Daozun continuously swung his long blade. Each slash shattered several hundred mud walls.
But it was useless. The shattered walls would instantly reform into new ones.
The more Chihu Daozun fought, the more stifled he felt. It seemed the towering, thick mud walls besieging him were endless. No matter how many he destroyed, more would come.
Moreover, the attacks from Sword Elder and the Azure Dragon Sword Sect powerhouse placed immense pressure on him.
Because he absolutely dared not let himself be struck by the guardian treasures wielded by those two.
While his strength exceeded that of Sword Elder and the Azure Dragon elder, that didn't mean he feared their guardian treasures.
It was Sword Elder and the Azure Dragon elder who were relatively weak, not those two guardian treasures.
Every time Sword Elder and the Azure Dragon elder launched an attack, Chihu Daozun dared not meet the guardian treasures head-on, forced to evade.
This placed him in an extremely passive position.
During the fight, he employed a variety of sophisticated blade techniques and even took out several treasured trump cards. Yet, he was still forced into constant retreat by the combined assault of the three powerhouses, growing more and more disheveled.
"Today, let us join forces and slay a Chaos God from the Blade Realm! Let the Blade Realm know that even in its current state, our Sword Realm Continent is not to be bullied at will!"
Sword Elder suddenly spoke.
"Well said! Today, let those from the Blade Realm witness the might of our Sword Realm Continent," the Azure Dragon Sword Sect elder said with a loud laugh.
"I beseech the Azure Dragon Founding Patriarch!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, the Azure Dragon elder suddenly bowed deeply in the direction of the Azure Dragon Sword Sect headquarters, chanting several obscure-sounding incantations before shouting aloud.
*Rumble…*
Somewhere deep within the Azure Dragon Sword Sect headquarters, a statue that had sat cross-legged for who-knows-how-long suddenly trembled slightly, unleashing an unimaginable amount of sword path energy that shook the entire Sword Realm Continent in an instant.
The statue had originally been covered in a thick layer of dust, obscuring its original appearance. But now, all the dust was shaken off as divine radiance erupted from the statue's entire body.
Next, the statue suddenly soared into the air, pierced through space, and arrived at the battlefield in an instant, materializing above the Azure Dragon elder's head.
"That statue's origins seem extraordinary," Chihu Daozun exclaimed, startled by the statue radiating divine light. He could sense the terrifying energy contained within it.