Chapter 610: My Name, Eight Venerable Am

"Make a move!"

Gou Wuyue didn't move, but Baiyi Chang Yi suddenly roared and instantly transformed into a streak of light, rising into the sky.

He knew that no matter how the leaders on both sides discussed things, the principles of this operation would not change. Even if Senior Gou Wuyue truly owed the Shengnu leader in front of him a favor, some matters could not simply be swept aside with a mere debt of gratitude.

As the closest aide to Senior Gou Wuyue, it was his duty to deliver a sharp wake-up call when even Gou Wuyue could not make a decision on the spot.

Public matters should remain public, and personal matters personal.

As for Baiyi's stance against Shengnu...

This issue could not be decided unilaterally by Gou Wuyue alone!

If a decision could not be made, then others should bear the burden.

Even if the consequences of striking first would be hard to endure...

"Light Line Rhythm!"

Chang Yi did not hesitate for a second. He threw his hands backward, and his body exploded into shimmering points of light, merging into the fabric of heaven and earth.

In the next instant, everyone felt the world darken briefly before light returned.

But the light that reappeared seemed different from before.

"Stop."

The masked person halted mid-air, coming to a steady stop.

Cen Qiaofu and the storyteller, following closely behind, sensed something was wrong and immediately stopped, even holding their breath.

Xu Xiaoshou, however, was lost in his thoughts and did not react in time.

By the time he heard the voice and tried to stop, his foot was already stepping forward.

A faint "hiss" echoed through the air, rippling outward.

Xu Xiaoshou froze, cold sweat beading on his forehead and dripping down.

"What's going on?"

He asked in surprise.

Why had everyone suddenly stopped moving?

Even the people in Baiyi were frozen in place.

Some were mid-run, others mid-flight... There were poses like a golden rooster standing on one leg or a dragon leaping through gates, creating a bizarre spectacle.

After Baiyi Chang Yi made his move, it was as if space itself had been locked in place.

No one could make a sound, not even a breath.

The pattering of rain returned, growing noisy around them.

Xu Xiaoshou felt something was off.

The rain should have fallen in drops from the sky.

But each drop, as it fell, seemed to be sliced by hundreds of thousands of invisible blades, shattering into a misty fog that scattered everywhere.

The entire scene turned into a massive humidifier, spraying mist chaotically.

The rain was no longer rain—it was more like the sky was fogging everything up!

"Gulp..."

Xu Xiaoshou swallowed hard.

Like a butterfly effect, once he realized it...

"Under attack, passive value: 9999."

"Under attack, passive value: 9999."

"Under attack, passive value: 9999."

Three messages popped up in his information panel.

Xu Xiaoshou was stunned.

That was the maximum value!

"Had I been hit by three instances of maximum damage in an instant?"

His mind churned with shock.

Only then did intense pain erupt from several parts of his body.

A "hiss" sounded.

His right leg, which he had just stepped forward with, exploded entirely, turning into a haze of blood mist. Even the bones and flesh were pulverized into dust, mingling with the flying rain fog.

Another "hiss," and his Adam's apple burst open, a spray of blood turning into mist.

The spot that had moved from his swallowing action was completely sheared off, leaving no trace of flesh—the cut was unnaturally smooth.

Yet another "hiss," and his lips, which had moved to say "what," were shredded to pieces.

Blood gushed out steadily.

Xu Xiaoshou went rigid.

The excruciating pain nearly made him scream.

But the inexplicable attack brought a soul-deep terror that locked his body in place.

Xu Xiaoshou knew that if he moved now, his entire body might disintegrate like the rain fog.

"What the hell is this?!"

Shocked, he focused on his "perception" and vaguely saw that the light in the surrounding space was much brighter than usual.

Looking closer, that brightness was clearly manipulated by some force, woven from countless fine lines of light.

Light was formless by nature.

Yet Baiyi Chang Yi had compressed it into something tangible, creating lines of light packed with extreme cutting power, sealing off the entire space.

"What kind of feat is this?"

Xu Xiaoshou extended his "perception" across the area and realized the same effect covered several li around them.

It was like an intensified version of an infrared cutting field—a domain in full force!

"Boundary Domain?"

"Light Line Rhythm?"

In that moment, Xu Xiaoshou understood why everyone was frozen like they'd been paused.

If anyone moved, those ultra-fine cutting lines of light, which had sealed off all space and possibly even infiltrated body cells and pores, could take a life in the blink of an eye!

"You won't escape."

Chang Yi withdrew his hands from the void and stared coldly at the four people before him.

He formed a hand seal.

"Light Shadow Penetration."

A faint hum echoed.

A subtle light barrier appeared over the Baiyi group.

As the barrier formed, the Baiyi people finally relaxed and resumed their movements.

Those who needed to adjust did so, and those who were flying continued.

But the Shengnu four had no such barrier.

That meant if this "Light Line Domain" were manipulated, the Shengnu four would die in an instant!

Xu Xiaoshou's pupils contracted.

A "hiss" followed, and his eyelid trembled into blood mist.

Before he could feel the fear, Xu Xiaoshou tried to send a message to the masked person.

But any attack method he could think of, the masked person had surely considered already.

"Cen Qiaofu!"

The masked person shouted sharply. In this deadly trap, he moved like a ghost, vanishing in an instant.

When he reappeared, he was right in front of Chang Yi.

"Bang!"

A massive burst of blood mist exploded in front of him.

Chang Yi was stunned.

Wasn't this suicide?

He never expected the masked person to charge at him so recklessly, even at the cost of his entire body.

"Self-destruction?"

The thought barely crossed his mind when, from the blood mist, an arm-shaped form outlined by high-speed, constantly cutting sword energy extended and gripped his neck.

"A hand?"

A shrill "whoosh" filled the air—the sound of sword energy racing at high speed.

Chang Yi was terrified.

"Aren't you afraid of pain?"

He struggled to speak.

Because that arm was utterly horrifying!

It had no bones, no tendons, no flesh.

Yet it acted like a solid arm, seizing Chang Yi's neck without hesitation. The fingers tightened.

"Crack."

Chang Yi's neck snapped, and his head fell from the sky.

"Pain?"

The masked person retorted, stepping out of the blood mist in a humanoid form outlined by white sword energy.

The light lines had indeed cut through his body, inflicting thousands upon thousands of injuries in a single breath.

But the masked person didn't even flinch.

He looked down at his outstretched hand of white sword energy and sighed softly: "If you mean shock, then yes, a little."

"But this level of pain means nothing to my ruined body."

He turned slowly, facing Gou Wuyue. "I said..."

He paused.

"Don't move!"

The masked person crooked two fingers.

"Boom!"

Behind him, Chang Yi's separated body and head, which had been about to dissolve into light and escape, suddenly erupted with endless white sword energy, pinning him in place.

The masked person raised his hand.

The sword energy-pierced body and head swirled through the air and, with a light clench of his fist, were reassembled.

"I said."

The masked person continued, looking at Gou Wuyue: "If you really want to fight, your subordinates will suffer far greater losses than mine."

His gaze fell on the twitching figure in his hand, whose white robe was soaked in blood, and he chuckled lightly.

"Chopping Dao, light attribute... You have real potential."

"Someone like this, you must cherish, Gou Wuyue. That's why you keep him close and train him personally, right?"

"Speak up!"

"Dead or alive?"

The entire Baiyi group was stunned.

Once he shed his acquired cultivation shell and revealed his true sword body, everyone understood why the masked person had seemed so weak before.

Just staying alive meant enduring the constant cutting of that high-speed sword energy within him.

How could someone like that maintain any outward appearance of strength?

The fact that he was still breathing was a miracle in itself!

"Not Extinct Sword Body?"

Among the crowd, some sword cultivators recognized the technique.

By cultivating sword energy and discarding a weak flesh body, one uses acquired power to forge an innate holy body from a mortal form.

This method was terrifying!

"Is this real..."

"Does he still have consciousness? How is he even alive?"

"No wonder he was only at the acquired level before and couldn't even fly."

"Under constant damage like that, forget maintaining acquired cultivation—how has he kept his soul from dissipating?"

"Is this even human?"

"Shengnu... Damn, Shengnu are all lunatics! Who in their right mind would cultivate something like this?"

"Cultivate? Not necessarily. Maybe this isn't his sword energy."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Look at that sword energy. If he could control it himself, would he let it keep self-destructing instead of stopping it?"

"But he's a lunatic!"

No one could argue with that.

Indeed, based on the situation, the Shengnu leader was a madman.

He'd cultivated to the point of shedding every bit of flesh, abandoning it completely.

Whether self-inflicted or not, that kind of willpower demanded respect from everyone present.

"Not Extinct Sword Body..."

Gou Wuyue's gaze grew heavy.

He detected a familiar trace of sword energy from that body.

"Hua Changdeng?"

Instead of answering the masked person's words, Gou Wuyue didn't even spare a glance of concern for his closest guard, Chang Yi. He stared intently at the sword energy figure and asked in surprise.

"I said, dead or alive?"

The masked person ignored him and pressed on.

"Who exactly are you?!"

Gou Wuyue roared in anger, his sword Nulan Zhisheng unsheathing in an instant.

He pointed the tip at the void, piercing a black line straight through the sword energy figure's head.

The masked person didn't react.

There was no blood left on his body to spill.

"No blood, no tears?"

"Then let's kill one first!"

With a sigh, the masked person flicked his finger.

"Boom!"

Endless white sword energy exploded, forming countless white energy swords that surged from all directions, converging like ten thousand swords returning to one, stabbing toward Chang Yi's body.

"Save him!"

A desperate shout rang out from the Baiyi group.

The void spirit array's light finally sealed again, overlaying a golden barrier.

"Flash."

Just before the sword energy could pierce Chang Yi, a shadow descended from the sky, enveloping him.

In a whoosh, it vanished.

The masked person's sword energy hit nothing.

"The State-Covering Sky Barrier?"

The masked person looked up at the golden barrier in the sky, as if trying to smile, but his obscured face showed no emotion.

By then, a hint of blood had appeared at his chest.

In moments, it formed a heart.

Then bones, tendons, and blood regenerated.

Finally, a complete human form emerged, even restoring the black robe that covered his head and face.

His slightly hunched and frail figure solidified in the void once more.

But now, no one dared underestimate this man who appeared to be only at the acquired realm.

He was no ordinary being!

"Cough..."

The masked person stifled a light cough.

The storyteller behind him showed worry in his eyes. He knew his brother suffered greatly with every move.

This commotion was far larger than usual.

After this battle, his strength would plummet even further.

How could his brother's frail body handle it?

"Lower your sword."

The masked person acted as if nothing had happened, his gaze fixed on Gou Wuyue's sword. "No one in this world has ever dared to point a sword at me."

The Baiyi group erupted in an uproar.

Gou Wuyue, one of the Seven Sword Immortals!

Even with the Not Extinct Sword Body, how dared this masked person speak so boldly?

Xu Xiaoshou was shocked.

He'd heard similar words before.

Back when Xiao Qixiu had pointed his sword at the masked person, the latter had said something even more arrogant: "Among those who dare to attack me, you're the weakest."

He'd thought it was just bravado then.

But now, facing one of the Seven Sword Immortals, the Shengnu leader was still this audacious!

Gou Wuyue's pupils trembled violently.

Others might see it as arrogance, but those familiar words and tone pulled him back to the memories of a battle decades ago.

"You... who exactly are you?!"

The masked person smiled silently.

He turned slowly to Xu Xiaoshou: "Is a name really that important?"

"Huh?" Xu Xiaoshou was taken aback.

Only then did he recall that Gou Wuyue's question was the same one he'd asked the masked person multiple times.

"Important..."

Glancing at Gou Wuyue, Xu Xiaoshou hesitated: "I guess?"

"Is it?"

The masked person repeated softly, then turned back. "First, lower your sword."

"Speak!"

Gou Wuyue shouted, his emotions spiraling out of control, his sword-holding hand trembling slightly.

The masked person's gaze shifted down to the famed sword Nulan Zhisheng.

"He dared point a sword at me, and you dare too?"

As everyone wondered what he meant, they heard the sword tremble.

A soft "whimper..."

It was as if the sword was choking back sobs.

The famed sword Nulan Zhisheng bent slightly and slowly lowered its tip.

It was like a great general meeting his sovereign.

No matter how proud, it wouldn't raise its head against its true emperor.

Everyone felt their hearts quake.

Gou Wuyue's sword had bowed to the masked person!

The masked person nodded slightly, then looked up.

"My name cannot appear under this sky shrouded in dark clouds."

"It must see true light to be revealed."

"Boom!"

The golden barrier in the void was pierced by his sword-like gaze. The drifting rain and gloomy clouds were swept away by an invisible great sword, clearing the sky.

The world brightened—not just a little!

Everyone sensed the scene spiraling out of control.

Some sword cultivators trembled lightly, as if witnessing a miracle, their eyes filled with shock and excitement.

Even Xu Xiaoshou felt the questions he'd buried deep in his heart resurface.

"A name, to me, is just a label. It doesn't represent anything, so for decades, I've stopped mentioning it." The masked person's turbid eyes met Gou Wuyue's steadily, without a ripple.

"Say it!" Gou Wuyue roared.

"You already have the answer, so why make me say it?"

"I don't have an answer!"

Gou Wuyue's eyes reddened, his body leaning forward unsteadily from agitation, as if he might fall.

"Another without an answer..."

The masked person's gaze shifted to Xu Xiaoshou.

Xu Xiaoshou clenched his fists tightly, feeling an inexplicable surge of excitement.

He also saw the meaning the masked person was conveying through his eyes.

Just like the confusion in the White Cavern before.

The storyteller couldn't provide an answer.

Cen Qiaofu couldn't.

He, Xu Xiaoshou, couldn't either.

But the masked person could.

"The answers they can't give, I can."

Why could the masked person?

Why not the others?

What was the answer he could give?

The sky began to clear as the rain let up.

Everyone held their breath, the scene deathly silent.

The masked person remained hunched.

His gaze fixed on Gou Wuyue, then passed through him to the space beyond.

He looked up, as if piercing the heavens, breaking through realms, and landing on the Shengshen Hall headquarters in the Central Region.

His sight moved from that place of worship, shattering the five regions.

He saw the rules of the great dao and, beyond them, that invisible giant hand.

As Gou Wuyue had said, this battle wasn't just among the dozens here.

Outside, there were seven or eight hundred Shengshen Guards, following the Shengshen Hall's orders, controlling the "State-Covering Sky Barrier."

Everything happening here would reach the eyes of Shengshen Hall and then to those people.

But the masked person didn't care.

His answer wasn't just to enlighten Xu Xiaoshou or resolve Gou Wuyue's doubts.

The Shengnu declaration from the White Cavern had only been heard by that one water-attribute person.

Whether it reached those people's ears or spread across the continent...

Those were uncertainties.

So, if a name could serve as a symbol to convey the Shengnu declaration, making those people panic...

Then he would say it!

The masked person stood with his hands behind his back.

The light of heaven and earth poured through the breached "State-Covering Sky Barrier."

Everyone waited.

His slightly hunched shadow seemed to lengthen with the wait.

"Cough."

The masked person coughed lightly, breaking the silence, and tasted blood in his mouth and nose.

He didn't mind. Beneath his mask, his lips moved, his voice calm and even, neither loud nor soft, utterly serene.

Yet in that instant, it seemed to echo across the five regions of the continent.

"My name is Ba Zun'an!"