Young Noble Be Monster Slaying
Chapter 987: The Tree of Longevity (I)

Chapter 987: The Tree of Longevity (I)
When the great battle above the Northern Regions began, it illuminated the sky. The clash between the Mount Shu Sect's Vessel of God and the Noble Dharma's colossal divine manifestation ended in mutual damage. 

The reason was that the moment they collided, the Noble Dharma summoned the East Sea Chrono Wheel to absorb the impact from the Vessel of God.

The collision produced a thunderous boom, and the Vessel of God was flung backward. Meanwhile, the Noble Dharma's divine manifestation shattered into rays of light, leaving a comparatively tiny and aged figure amid the biting winds.

With the East Sea Chrono Wheel and the Celestial Cosmic Ring in his control, the Noble Dharma stood unafraid against the many immortal sect cultivators. Time and space warped around him protectively.

Right then, Lu Jiuwai charged straight at him with a punch. The Noble Dharma spun the twin rings, conjuring two intersecting vortices.

Whoosh.

Lu Jiuwai suddenly vanished. Then he reappeared above the General's Supreme Constellation Disc, and his punch rapidly descended toward it!

It was too late for Lu Jiuwai to pull back, so he could only shout a warning to Wenren Yue.

"Dodge, now!"

The General's Supreme Constellation Disc was suspended in the sky, and Wenren Yue had not expected Lu Jiuwai to suddenly appear behind it. With no time to evade, Wenren Yue could only make a hand seal, summoning a ring of starlight to shield the disc.

Boom!

Before she even got to fight the Noble Dharma, she was struck by an ally. Fortunately, Wenren Yue raised her shield in time. A blurry golden radiance also flared beside her, helping absorb the force of the punch. Thanks to their combined efforts, the disc remained unscathed.

The one who helped her was Enlightened Jiuyi. The golden Divine Mirror of the Eight Trigrams was hovering above his head, and his eyes glowed like they were filled with lightning. At this moment, he truly looked like an immortal.

He wasn't the only one who took action, though. There were two people who brought legendary swords into the fray.

One of them was Sword Saint Li Ba. He summoned the Chunyang Ancient Sword and unleashed a blazing stream of sword qi imbued with the overwhelming sword intent Severing the Void. Looking like the scorching sun in the sky, his sword qi rumbling as it surged toward the Noble Dharma, engulfing everything in its way.

The other was Enlightened Wulou, watching the battle with a sharp gaze. However, instead of attacking, he handed the Seven-Star Sword over to the Imperial Supervisory Commissioner.

"In terms of sword cultivation, I'm still far too lacking compared to you, Imperial Supervisory Commissioner. In my hands, the power of this legendary sword is inevitably limited. For this battle today, I entrust the sword to you!" Enlightened Wulou exclaimed earnestly, showing his determination to bring down the Noble Dharma.

"This…" the Imperial Supervisory Commissioner uttered, feeling a little surprised.

There were only a few surviving members of the Celestial Pivot Pavilion. This legendary artifact was the one thing that still supported their sect's existence, so it had likely taken Enlightened Wulou immense courage to lend the Seven-Star Sword to an outsider.

Nonetheless, looking at it purely as a combative force for the righteous immortal sects, placing the Seven-Star Sword in the Imperial Supervisory Commissioner's hands would indeed be a tremendous upgrade.

Compared to the other leaders of the immortal sects, Enlightened Wulou's cultivation level was not particularly high. Furthermore, as a descendant of the Heaven Observer lineage, he wasn't suited for combat, let alone proficient in swordsmanship. When he wielded the Seven-Star Sword, he would rely more on its power than his own. However, if the sword were placed in the hands of an Eminent One who specialised in swordsmanship, its might would surge exponentially.

"I believe in you," Enlightened Wulou said.

Nevertheless, the truth was that Enlightened Wulou only dared to lend out the Seven-Star Sword because it was the Imperial Supervisory Commissioner, who was very highly respected. If it had been someone like Di Nufeng, who borrowed but never returned, he wouldn't have handed it over no matter what.

"Very well," the Imperial Supervisory Commissioner replied with a nod and firmly gripped the Seven-Star Sword.

As one of the top sword cultivators in the nine provinces, his mastery of swordsmanship was perhaps no inferior to that of Sword Saint Li Ba. Yet, he had never wielded a legendary sword before—a regret in his otherwise illustrious past.

Now, the Seven-Star Sword was in his hand. In that very instant, the Imperial Supervisory Commissioner felt a deep connection with the sword.

The greatest sword and the greatest sword cultivator in the mortal realm had finally found their match!

The Imperial Supervisory Commissioner raised the Seven-Star Sword and released a blast of swordlight. A blinding divine light flared in the sky, shocking all who saw it!

The Noble Dharma had just endured a strike from the Chunyang Ancient Sword, but even he was shaken. He was astonished by the force that the Imperial Supervisory Commissioner was emitting.

In the blink of an eye, the Imperial Supervisory Commissioner unleashed a sword strike.

Shiiiing!

…

"Qi Yingxuan?"

The Noble Dharma muttered the Imperial Supervisory Commissioner's name, stunned that someone in the mortal world could unleash such powerful swordlight. Despite his vast experiences over his long life in the higher realms, he had rarely seen eighth-realm sword cultivators of his level.

The Imperial Supervisory Commissioner had remained in the capital of Yu for years and rarely fought with his full strength, so the Noble Dharma had not expected that he would possess such terrifying mastery of the sword.

Now that the Imperial Supervisory Commissioner was wielding a legendary sword, the mountains and seas of the world trembled in response!

The Noble Dharma ignored all the other attacks and focused solely on the one sword strike coming from the Imperial Supervisory Commissioner. The Cosmic Ring and the East Sea Chrono Wheel spun wildly, the two rapid vortices grinding against the swordlight. Sparks and starlight flew as they collided. It looked like the swordlight was about to break through the two vortices!

The Noble Dharma thrust both hands forward, pouring out a surge of spiritual qi. With great effort, he forced the divine light of the two legendary artifacts to merge into a glowing orb of chaotic mass, barely managing to hold off the sword qi.

However, in the very next instant, a fist came crashing down from above.

Boom!

It was, of course, Lu Jiuwai. He had leaped through the air to take advantage of this opportune moment to attack the Noble Dharma.

The Imperial Supervisory Commissioner's sword qi had just damaged the Cosmic Ring and Chrono Wheel. So, when Lu Jiuwai smashed down on them with a mighty punch, they were knocked loose, and the glowing orb plummeted with them!

Rumble!

The impact drove the glowing orb deep into the ground. Right after that, a golden pillar of light shot out from the hole.

Whoosh.

The thick golden pillar struck Lu Jiuwai. It appeared to do no damage to the Xuanhuang Battle Armor, but inside the armor, Lu Jiuwai suddenly felt his life force draining away at a terrifying rate. The Noble Dharma had fused the East Sea Chrono Wheel with the Great Dao of Longevity. He was using the East Sea Chrono Wheel to strip away Lu Jiuwai's life force!

Lu Jiuwai hurriedly retreated, narrowly avoiding the Noble Dharma's follow-up attack.

The Noble Dharma did not get the chance to go after him. Using the General's Supreme Constellation Disc, Wenren Yue was the next to attack. She unleashed a barrage of countless sharp starlight rays into the hole in the ground where the golden pillar had shot up from.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

The barrage of starlight filled the entire hole in the blink of an eye and caused the surrounding walls to crack under the pressure, overflowing wildly with spiritual qi.

Wenren Yue wasn't the only one who was attacking. Sword Saint Li Ba followed up with a devastating strike. He used the Chunyang Ancient Sword to send a blazing column of sword qi down into the hole.

Rumble, rumble, rumble. BOOM!

In the end, the hole blew up. The massive explosion reduced everything within dozens of li to nothingness. The thunderous boom of the explosion reverberated across the sky in waves, echoing for a long time before finally dying out.

A breeze swept through the area, and the dust eventually settled.

The Cosmic Ring and Chrono Wheel were nowhere in sight, and no one could sense the Noble Dharma's qi either.

Di Nufeng stood tall at the bow of the Vessel of God, her sharp eyes scanning the battlefield. "Did that old bugger die?"

Under the joint assault of so many legendary artifacts, it should have been impossible for the Noble Dharma to survive. However, the power that the Noble Dharma displayed this time was truly terrifying. Even the leaders of the immortal sects treated him with the utmost respect.

Countless strands of divine sense swept across the battlefield again and again, searching for even the faintest trace of the Noble Dharma.

As they searched, the towering giant tree nearby suddenly began to stir.

Ruuuumble…

The surface of the tree's trunk bulged as its branches stretched outward. Thick, dragon-like veins throbbed with life, pumping waves of powerful spiritual qi up from deep underground.

"Raaaar!"

With a muffled roar, numerous branches spread outward!

Whip, whip, whip, whip!

The Mount Shu Sect's Vessel of God, the General's Supreme Constellation Disc, the Xuanhuang Battle Armor, and the Chunyang Ancient Sword—these four legendary artifacts were the nearest to the tree and were abruptly ensnared. The powerful branches hauled them toward the Tree of Longevity.

When the Imperial Supervisory Commissioner and the others looked at the tree again, they saw a massive human face bulging from its trunk. It was the face of the Noble Dharma! His huge mouth gaped wide, intending to swallow all four legendary artifacts!