Twenty-five hundred kilometers west of Posuo Island, a group of thirty-two people had just finished assembling. At the same time, a powerful psychic thought enveloped the void where the thirty-two stood, completely concealing their qi, spiritual power fluctuations, and all outgoing signals. This was Ma Ke, a great cultivator of the Xuanming Sect, a primordial psyche cultivator who could easily temper himself using Blazing Solar Lightning.

"For this confrontation, the higher-ups invested an enormous amount of manpower and resources, yet it still resulted in such heavy losses. Discontent has already accumulated throughout the sect. Even worse, if we are defeated, our allied sects could start thinking that our Xuanming Sect is weak. But we know the truth! As an ancient sect with a long lineage, our Xuanming Sect possesses power far beyond what the world can imagine!"

His psychic thought carried a bewitching force, fully igniting everyone’s fighting spirit. "Sect Master Song You personally issued the order. We must secure victory, display the strength that has always belonged to us, gain lasting glory, and shock the surrounding sects that behave like clowns! The Nine Cauldrons Sect’s Falcon and White Dove Squads are our prey!"

"Kill them! Wipe them out!"

"Heavenly treasures belong to the virtuous! Since our Xuanming Sect has taken control of this sea region, it belongs to us. No one is taking it away!"

"Damn Nine Cauldrons Sect! You already have more territory than you can even digest. What’s wrong with leaving the East Sea to us!? Kill them! Make them bleed rivers of blood. Only then will they learn to retreat, to fear, to tremble!" The killing intent and battle will of the thirty-two elite sword cultivators were fully unleashed, anger surging.

"Very good. I’ve already perceived the probing psychic thought of the enemy’s primordial psyche great cultivator. To prevent them from escaping, now listen to my command. Target—" Ma Ke’s psychic thought surged through the void.

Before he could finish speaking, an equally powerful psychic thought swept in like a storm. Psychic thought collided with psychic thought, scattering invisible, formless ripples through the void. In the minds of all thirty-two elite sword cultivators, it was as though a massive bell had been struck. Several cultivators with weaker psychic minds grew dizzy, nearly losing control of their flying swords.

"Bai Lu!" Anger flashed in Ma Ke’s eyes as he rapidly gathered the psychic thought that had been dispersed in the frontal clash.

Yet just as he reassembled it, twenty streaks of sword light arrived in two successive waves, tearing through the clouds at an astonishing speed and closing to within ten kilometers. The discovery made Ma Ke pause.

In the next instant, his psychic thought shook violently. "Flying swords incoming!"

"Defensive positions!"

All thirty-two elite sword cultivators shot upward at once, sword qi surging skyward. One of them shouted, "Elder Ma, where are the enemies!?"

In truth, the moment he sensed those flying swords, Ma Ke’s psychic thought had already expanded rapidly outward. Yet the result was... Even after extending more than fifty kilometers, he still detected no figures at all.

"How is that possible!?" Ma Ke was in disbelief. They have launched their swords from over fifty kilometers away!? But flying swords that lack flexibility and can only follow near-fixed trajectories wouldn't be able to cause much damage...

"Do you think you can pull off a surprise attack just by relying on speed? Under my psychic thought, every trajectory of your attacks will be laid bare!" Ma Ke sneered as his powerful psychic thought enveloped all thirty-two cultivators. "They’ve launched an extreme-range attack. Their speed is fast, but I will guide you to sever their flying swords. Once you shatter their life-bound flying swords, those high-tier sword cultivators will be crippled for a long time!"

"Extreme attack range? Do they think we’re made of clay!?"

"The Nine Cauldrons Sect is in disarray. Victory will belong only to us!"

"Everyone, advance! Crush their life-bound flying swords!"

All thirty-two high-tier sword cultivators unleashed their flying swords simultaneously, and sword light burst outward.

If it were a situation where the enemy had a primordial psyche cultivator but they did not, launching an ambush from beyond their perception might have made sense. After all, many sword cultivators relied primarily on visual perception. With cloud cover present, they might only detect incoming swords once they were within five kilometers.

At that distance, even if they counterattacked immediately, they might not be able to accelerate their flying swords to peak speed in time. But now, with Elder Ma Ke providing support from three hundred kilometers behind, the enemy attacking from such a long distance was tantamount to suicide.

As they thought that, all thirty-two sword cultivators struck at once. Ma Ke rapidly calculated the trajectories of the two incoming waves and issued instructions, and their sword light surged forward to intercept the twenty flying swords tearing through the clouds.

"So fast!" After a brief calculation, Ma Ke’s heart tightened.

The thirty-two sword cultivators he brought were elites among elites, each equipped with high-grade spirit artifact flying swords. But even when pushed to the limit, their swords had a speed that barely reached Mach 3.6. On the other hand, every single incoming sword exceeded Mach 4.

As he guided the interception, Ma Ke once again extended his psychic thought toward the direction from which the swords had been launched. Almost immediately, he collided head-on with the psychic thought of a Nine Cauldrons Sect primordial psyche great cultivator. The two psychic thoughts clashed violently in the void, preventing him from advancing further.

To avoid the psychic collisions interfering with his guidance, he decisively shifted from offense to defense. He drew the thirty-two flying swords together like a school of sharks, twisting them into a formation meant to grind down the twenty incoming swords.

The distance closed rapidly! Five kilometers. Three kilometers. One and a half kilometers.

Just as the flying swords were about to collide, the twenty swords hummed, shuddered, and swiftly changed trajectories despite their extreme speed. In an instant, they crossed paths with the intercepting swords.

Sonic booms erupted from the sword edges, manifesting as visible white streams of air. Of the first wave of ten flying swords, only two lost control after being shaken by the sword qi carried on the enemy blades. The lightning-fast change in the enemy swords' trajectories instantly caused Ma Ke’s expression to change.

"How is this possible!? With the sword cultivators more than fifty kilometers away, how can they still manipulate their flying swords this precisely!?" In the very next moment, realization struck him. His powerful psychic thought echoed through the minds of all thirty-two sword cultivators. "Careful! Eight flying swords have broken through! You have only 9.68 seconds!"

He did not need to warn them! The spot where the flying swords had clashed was just over ten kilometers away. With the clouds already torn apart by the incoming blades, they could clearly see the enemy flying swords streaking past the ones they controlled.

The Xuanming Sect's sword cultivators who had failed to intercept the enemy flying swords immediately forced their life-bound flying swords to turn sharply, attempting to chase the Nine Cauldrons Sect's swords.

However, flying swords accelerated to their limits had immense inertia. To turn, they would have to decelerate first, or execute wide-arc turns. Either way, inertia alone carried them several kilometers forward, costing precious seconds.

Moreover, their sword speed was already inferior to the Nine Cauldrons Sect’s Mach 4 swords. Even if they were able to turn, they still wouldn't be able to catch up.

Terror immediately appeared in the eyes of many sword cultivators. Those who reacted quickly were the first to use their sword techniques, splitting their sword qi into fine strands and spreading it in front of them like a net to intercept the incoming flying swords.

Others even hastily sacrificed their backup flying swords, attempting to flee. But for flying swords traveling at Mach 4, a distance of just over ten kilometers was far too short. They had less than ten seconds! The first wave of Nine Cauldrons Sect's flying swords had already crossed that short stretch of space.

"Dodge! Get out of the way!"

"Heaven-Soaring Sword Art, cut!" 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"Deploy backup flying swords! Activate the defensive artifacts!"

As the flying swords closed in, panicked shouts echoed across the battlefield. But it was useless. With a damage exceeding 8, the life-bound flying swords smashed through the dozens of sword qi slashes unleashed by the Xuanming Sect sword cultivators as easily as crushing dry weeds.

When faced with the improved Purple Firmament Type 12 flying swords, the sword qi unleashed by the Xuanming Sect's disciples was like snow beneath a blazing sun, dissolving instantly.

After tearing through the sword qi obstruction, the flying swords, still traveling at over Mach 4, did not slow in the slightest. Before the despairing eyes of the Xuanming Sect sword cultivators, they pierced straight through their bodies.

Sword qi arced like rainbows, and blood sprayed across the sky! Those who had deployed defensive artifacts or relied on non-life-bound flying swords fared no better.

Backup flying swords were inherently inferior to life-bound ones. Hastily deployed under pressure, they were utterly incapable of resisting the terrifying damage of the improved Purple Firmament Type 12.

The result was immediate. Swords shattered, and cultivators perished. Sword cultivators who carried defensive artifacts met the same fate.

Of the eight incoming flying swords, one was stopped by a high-tier sword cultivator who possessed a life-substitution treasure, and Ma Ke heavily interfered with another, causing it to miss its target. The remaining six flying swords tore straight through the Xuanming Sect formation, ripping apart the bodies of six high-tier sword cultivators. Clouds of crimson blood mist bloomed in the sky.

But this was only the beginning! The second wave of flying swords, slightly slower than the first, took advantage of the successful attack, following closely behind and taking eight more lives! Then, as the enemy’s life-bound flying swords rushed back to defend, they turned around and withdrew at high speed, their speed not dropping in the slightest during the directional shift.

"Bai Lu!" Ma Ke roared.

In a single exchange, fourteen of the thirty-two sword cultivators on his side had been slain! Such catastrophic losses made Ma Ke roar in fury. His vast psychic thought surged like a tsunami toward the direction from which the flying swords had come. Yet Bai Lu met him head-on without the slightest fear.

Their psychic thoughts clashed violently in the void, and an extremely intense confrontation unfolded. On the other side, the flying swords, having expended more than half their energy, returned to the hands of Yun Qing’s squad and the other sword cultivators. They were quickly nourished, repaired, and reinfused with true origin.

"Hahaha, did you see that? Instant kills!"

"Beautiful!"

"Heh, two Xuanming Sect guys even tried to blind strike us beyond their visual range. Their flying swords barely reached a few hundred meters before I sliced one open with my backup sword. Its power dropped by at least forty percent."

"This feels incredible. So this is the third-generation flying sword refined by the Purple Firmament Institute's chief? We can hit them whenever we want, but they can’t even touch us! Fighting like this is exhilarating!"

Cheers burst uncontrollably from the Nine Cauldrons Sect's sword cultivators. Every one of them was openly jubilant.

"Zhang Lie, Bai Ge, your flying swords were intercepted. How’s their condition?" Yun Qing asked.

"Give me thirty seconds to nourish mine!" Bai Ge replied quickly.

"Forty seconds," Zhang Lie answered just as concisely.

"Good. You two will strike in the next wave. Everyone else, continue attacking. Tu Hong, use the flying swords cultivated with the Heaven-Slaying Big Dipper Sword Art as the vanguard, and draw their attention. The rest of you, break through at full force while they focus on intercepting Tu Hong's swords! Kill!" Yun Qing’s psychic consciousness instantly suppressed the idle chatter.

Once the orders were issued, the sword cultivators snapped back into a combat-ready state. In a life-and-death battle, there was no room for even the slightest mistake. In less than three seconds, flying swords shot out once again, accelerating madly. Within three to four seconds, they climbed past Mach 4 and streaked toward the Xuanming Sect's formation.

"Bastards!" Ma Ke did everything he could to interfere with psychic thought.

Under such pressure, the psychic thought Bai Lu could spare to guide trajectory shifts at critical moments was limited. Four flying swords were intercepted and knocked aside, while five were successfully avoided.

Even so, the remaining nine flying swords once again unleashed a storm of blood within the Xuanming Sect's squads. After just two attack waves, the Xuanming Sect had lost a total of twenty-three high-tier sword cultivators, leaving only nine alive! Yet up to this point, they still had not even been able to locate the enemy. That overwhelming disparity crushed the Xuanming Sect sword cultivators with a suffocating sense of despair.

"Damn it! We can’t fight this! We can’t fight at all! Retreat! Retreat!" Ma Ke made the decision instantly.

***

Elsewhere, Yaoguang stopped watching. He already knew the outcome. Twenty versus nine. With his side’s flying swords holding a clear speed advantage over the Xuanming Sect, those remaining nine would not escape.

He estimated that this twenty-versus-thirty-two battle would ultimately end without any casualties on their Nine Cauldrons Sect's side. Only a few would suffer minor injuries. A brief period of nourishing their damaged life-bound flying swords would be enough.

This was the brutality of battles between sword cultivators. As long as one side held even a small advantage, the final casualty ratio would become so lopsided that it would cause despair.