Chapter 56: Joining Forces Against the Demonic Tiger, Sudden Forest Abnormality, and Li Zhexian's Encounter

The sword of Li Zhexian...
Exceedingly swift! Exceedingly sharp!
At times biting like a bitter frost, at times blazing like a scarlet flame, and at times scattering a firmament of starlight.
His sword sought to encompass all manifestations of the universe!
In contrast, the sword scar left by the young Chen Xin possessed only the intent to kill.
Wherever the blade pointed, even the air was stained with the color of blood.
His sword existed solely to kill!
In the realm of the ethereal.
Two radically different swords collided in the void.
Instantly, sword qi surged and rippled, and the dust surrounding Li Zhexian was ground into powder by an invisible force.
After several breaths.
This clash of the Dao of the Sword that transcended time and space finally came to an end.
Facing the youthful Chen Xin.
Li Zhexian had not won, yet neither had he lost.
Just as he was about to open his eyes.
A sudden transformation occurred.
A strand of sword qi, dripping with a scarlet hue, actually shot forth from the rock wall like a living creature, attempting to entwine itself around Li Zhexian's Green Lotus Sword.
"Hiss—"
Feng Buyu and Elder Feng Xiao trembled violently, their eyes overflowing with an intense envy that could not be dissolved.
"This is a wisp of Sword Douluo's true intent of the Dao of the Sword!"
"Li Zhexian has actually obtained such a fortuitous opportunity!"
Dugu Yan, Ye Lingling, and the others likewise revealed joyful expressions.
However.
Li Zhexian suddenly opened his eyes, pressed his fingers together like a sword, and slashed through the empty air.
Scree—
That strand of bloody sword qi dissipated in response.
He did not want it.
The Dao of the Sword not comprehended by himself was something Li Zhexian would not deign to glance at.
His sword had to be independently pioneered by himself alone.
Sword Douluo Chen Xin was undeniably immensely powerful.
The sword scar he left behind was such that even under the prolonged observation of the Blood-Toothed Demonic Tiger, its claws would give birth to sword qi.
Yet Li Zhexian believed more firmly in himself.
He firmly believed that upon the future summit of the Dao of the Sword, the three characters "Li Zhexian" would inevitably be engraved!
His Dao of the Sword possessed its own soul and had no need to be tainted by the aura of others!
Moreover, if he truly learned the sword intent of another, he would still have to grind and polish it.
Instead, it would delay his own cultivation in the Dao of the Sword.
The scarlet sword qi slowly dissipated into nothingness.
Everyone was stunned and lost their color in astonishment.
Feng Xiao and Feng Buyu were even more grief-stricken and indignant.
"Ugh ah..."
Feng Buyu clutched his chest, practically beating his breast and stamping his feet:
"Brother Zhexian!"
"You... why have you done this?!"
"That is the true intent of Chen Xin's Dao of the Sword!"
"Such a waste of heavenly treasures, simply a heinous waste of heavenly treasures!"
The grief and regret on Feng Xiao's face gradually settled.
As he looked into Li Zhexian's aged eyes, an unprecedented solemnity emerged.
"Young Hero Zhexian... This old man is now all the more convinced that you will undoubtedly tread a path reaching up to the heavens upon the Dao of the Sword."
Dugu Yan, Ye Lingling, and the others still wanted to speak further.
Suddenly!
A foul wind howled, and the color of the world changed!
Billowing scarlet mist swept across the sky and covered the earth!
"Watch out!"
"That ten-thousand-year demonic tiger has returned to its lair!"

Before Elder Feng Xiao's fierce shout had faded.
Roar—!!!
A fierce roar that could pierce metal and split stone.
Caused everyone's minds to hum and their blood to churn.
The foul wind was like a knife, carrying sticky blood rain as it smashed down head-on.
A red-and-black six-meter giant tiger, resembling a collapsed mountain of flesh and blood, plummeted from a height of a hundred meters, carrying an overwhelming baleful aura as it crashed violently to the ground.
Rumble—
The ground trembled violently!
Scarlet shockwaves swept across the wilderness like a wild tide!
Almost at the exact moment the Blood-Toothed Demonic Tiger appeared.
Hum—
Hum—
One soul ring after another suddenly lit up.
The Wind Sword Sect reacted the fastest.
"Wind and Thunder Sword Formation—"
"Rise!"
Amidst the sharp shouts.
The formation instantly took shape.
Elder Feng Xiao firmly occupied the main formation eye, Feng Buyu served as the right-wing formation eye, and more than a dozen Wind Sword Sect disciples had their energies linked together.
A dozen long swords hung suspended in the air, humming, as blue-cyan wind and thunder forces gathered between the blade edges, actually condensing into a giant wind and thunder light sword five meters in length!
The sword body was entwined with wind and thunder, stirring up flashes of lightning in the sky, and the churning violent wind tore open a gap in the surrounding scarlet mist.
Feng Xiao's hair and beard stood on end, his green robes fluttering as he gripped the giant wind and thunder sword with both hands, slashing down fiercely toward the Blood-Toothed Demonic Tiger.
More than a dozen members of the Wind Sword Sect shouted in unison, their voices shaking the mountain forest:
"Wind and Thunder Sword Formation!"
"Slay—!!!"
Boom-crack—
Boom-crack—
The giant wind and thunder sword tore through the air.
Issuing a screech that sounded barely able to bear the weight.
The wind and thunder shockwaves flanking the blade edges were like dazzling yet fatal auroras.
Faced with this heaven-shaking sword, the Blood-Toothed Demonic Tiger's fierce eyes turned crimson, and instead of dodging or evading, it raised its head and roared!
Its two millstone-like claws were raised fiercely, and sharp sword qi burst from the tips of the claws!
At the same time, its massive body erupted with an even denser scarlet baleful aura, enveloping its claws and increasing its momentum once more!
Boom—!!!!
The giant sword and the sharp claws collided violently!
The violent wind and thunder force and the scarlet baleful aura churned and annihilated each other crazily!
The shockwave ravaged outwards, tearing numerous cracks into this fierce land soaked in the blood of soul beasts!
Puff—
Feng Xiao, Feng Buyu, and more than a dozen Wind Sword Sect disciples flushed and staggered back more than ten steps, their formation even scattering.
The Blood-Toothed Demonic Tiger was also shaken back several steps, its body plowing deep gullies into the ground, and the baleful aura around its entire body grew a fraction thinner.
Right at this moment.
The forest surrounding the demonic tiger's lair began to tremble violently.
Soaring giant trees swayed, as if an army of thousands of horses was galloping toward them.
Everyone's expressions changed drastically.
"What is going on?!"
"Have the soul beasts nearby rioted?!"
While the Wind Sword Sect launched a fierce assault on the Blood-Toothed Demonic Tiger,
the offensive of Li Zhexian's group of seven had already fermented to its peak.
Caring nothing about any forest anomaly, the arrow was on the string and had to be fired.
Dugu Yan was wreathed in colorful poisonous mist, surging to envelop the demonic tiger like a venomous snake darting its tongue.
Yet that churning scarlet baleful aura actually dissolved the virulent poison entirely.
Ghost Leopard Oslo's soul rings flashed beneath his feet, his figure splitting into two, and he swept rapidly toward the demonic tiger alongside the Wind-Spirit Bird Yufeng.
The twin brothers surnamed Shi had their Xuanwu Tortoise martial souls manifest, their tortoise shells merging together to form a massive shield wall, and they charged fiercely toward the demonic tiger, intending to attract its attention.
Whoosh—

The demonic tiger's tail, resembling a siege battering ram, tore through the air and swept across horizontally.
Crack—
The Xuanwu Tortoise shield shattered in response.
The brothers surnamed Shi suffered a heavy blow, being violently batted away hundreds of meters.
"Nine Heart Begonia—Heal!"
Ye Lingling gave a crisp cry, the nine-petaled begonia in her palm revolving with brilliance as gentle life energy surged toward the heavily injured Shi brothers.
Taking advantage of this brief interval.
Oslo and Yufeng's attacks finally descended.
"Second Soul Skill—Leopard Claws!"
"Third Soul Skill—Wind Blade Division!"
Their attacks landed on the demonic tiger's tough hide, merely sparking a few points of fire, akin to an itch being scratched.
The Blood-Toothed Demonic Tiger roared impatiently, the foul-smelling baleful aura spewed from its mouth blowing the two of them away.
And right at this very moment—when its old strength had just faded and its new strength had yet to be born...
Li Zhexian, who had been constantly gulping wine to build up momentum and provoke the "wine-boiling sword hum," moved!
Soul power poured into his legs.
He soared up from the ground like an arrow released from a bow.
And appeared directly above the demonic tiger's broad spine.
A rich purple soul ring coiled around the Green Lotus Sword.
Above the gloomy forest, starlight seemed to cascade down, condensing at the tip of the sword.
At this instant!
The Green Lotus Sword was incomparably sharp, its light dazzlingly cold!
At the spine, that tearing sensation of wanting to burst out from within the body clearly struck once more!
Yet Li Zhexian had no leisure to attend to it.
He seized that momentary opening after the demonic tiger beat back Oslo and Yufeng.
Clasping the sword hilt tightly with both hands, pointing the sword tip directly at the center of the demonic tiger's back, and borrowing the crushing momentum of his descent, he poured his entire strength into this single sword.
"Second Soul Skill—Three Swords of Flowing Years!"
"First Style of Green Lotus Sword Song—Yaoguang!"
Puff-stab—
Roar—!!!
The Green Lotus Sword was incomparably sharp.
It sank all the way to the hilt into the demonic tiger's spine.
The demonic tiger emitted a painful roar.
Yet before the joyful expressions could rise upon the faces of the others.
Rumble rumble—
The trembling of the forest had grown earth-shaking!
The auras of countless powerful soul beasts approached like a tsunami!
Everyone panicked and retreated into the demonic tiger's cave, watching in absolute terror as...
A green wolf with three heads, a massive centipede cast entirely from silver, a golden python with half a giant elephant carcass clamped in its jaws...
Countless powerful soul beasts.
Driven as if by an invisible command.
Ran wildly past the front of the cave.
And that heavily injured Blood-Toothed Demonic Tiger actually emitted a low roar as well.
Disregarding the sharp pain in its spine and the Green Lotus Sword protruding from it, it abruptly turned around, merged into this surging torrent of soul beasts, and galloped wildly toward an unknown direction.
Along with it...
Li Zhexian, who clung stubbornly to the sword hilt and remained hanging from the demonic tiger's spine.
"Li Zhexian!!!"
Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling charged madly out of the cave...
Apologies, apologies, I am late...
It really, really is so difficult to write...
Begging for monthly tickets, dear readers, we are about to be overtaken by the ones behind...