Volume 1, Chapter 14: A Single Sword Strike, The Heavenly Gate Opens

“Senior, the Heavenly Gate is the manifestation of the order of the myriad realms.”
If he wasn’t mad, then...
Yao Xi’s expression grew increasingly grave.
Was Ye Wuchen insane?
Yao Xi’s scalp tingled with fear. As a former empress who knew more secrets than the disciples of the Sword Sect, she hurriedly transmitted, “There was once a great Sword Saint named Haoran who dared to defy the heavens and was struck down by a heavenly punishment—a bolt of order itself.”
“Don’t act recklessly! The Heavenly Gate does not tolerate desecration; it will kill you.”
Even Leng Qiuyue and Jian Wubei, locked in fierce battle in the sky, paused.
Seeing Yao Xi still alive, Jian Wubei spat with disdain, “Useless! What a bunch of trash!”
At that moment, Ye Wuchen threw back his head and laughed long and loud. The sword intent surged wildly across the sky, the firmament trembled as if it might collapse, and the entire Sword Punishment Peak plaza shook violently.
The green jade hairpin pointed obliquely toward the southern heavens as the winds and clouds shifted abruptly.
Ye Wuchen murmured, “The sword path is eternal like the endless night. Watch as I cleave open the Heavenly Gate with a single stroke!”
He did not know if he would have the strength to escape the mountain after this strike.
But he no longer cared.
A low hum!
As the words fell, a powerful sword intent swept over the entire Sword Punishment Peak plaza.
Everything.
Everything froze.
All sword spirit practitioners below the Sword Sect level were immobilized by spatial stasis. When Ye Wuchen struck, he created an unprecedented domain of sword qi, within which time and space were suspended. This was the mighty power of cleaving open the Heavenly Gate with one sword.
Yet within this sword qi domain, Ye Wuchen himself remained unaffected.
Suddenly, yellowed autumn leaves floating in midair began to move again, but this time, they flowed upward against the current, surging toward the azure sky.
The roar of sword intent thundered.
Mountainsides became alive with autumn leaves flying against the heavens.
“Slash!”
With Ye Wuchen’s shout, the air was filled with the sound of detonating thunder.
Until finally, the sword light tore across the horizon, and the firmament split open with a crack.
Dark clouds stretching for dozens of miles parted as a towering sword qi cleaved through them, rolling and retreating to the sides. Moonlight cascaded down like divine radiance, illuminating the entire Sword Punishment Peak.
Under the moonlight and darkness, the dense clouds trembled suddenly, as if sliced by a sword’s gleam, tearing open a celestial rainbow.
The Heavenly Gate appeared, and the dust settled.
That breathtaking figure seemed forever frozen in that moment. Not only that...
Time itself seemed to halt.
Under the gaze of all, a golden giant gate nearly a thousand meters wide thundered open in the sky. Heavenly blossoms showered down, golden lotuses surged from the earth, purple qi flowed eastward, the aura magnificent and grand.
Across the firmament, aside from the trembling black clouds, only the wide-open Heavenly Gate stood tall at the center. Heavenly light accompanied the falling immortal petals from above, all shining upon Yao Xi.
She appeared like a goddess manifest, supremely sacred!

“...”
“She’s not bluffing; she truly cleaved open the Heavenly Gate with her sword!”
“How can this really be happening?”
The disciples of Sword Punishment Peak looked up at the gate in terror, and at the godly sword dominating heaven and earth.
It was a colossal black sword, covered in blue sword intent, spanning so vast it defied words.
The sword hilt was visible, but the tip could not be seen.
At this moment, the entire Sword Soul Sect awoke from their stupor.
“Damn! This is unbelievably beautiful...”
Beneath the Heavenly Gate, the peerless beauty of the girl was like a living masterpiece, too surreal to be real.
All disciples of the Sword Soul Sect gazed at the heavenly figure below the gate, their eyes sparkling like stars.
Even Lin Chen, who had been feigning death, couldn’t help but open his eyes, dumbstruck.
Luo Qinghan, still shaken, stared in astonishment, her pale face full of surprise. But seeing Lin Chen’s pig-like expression, she scolded, “Lin Chen, don’t you love me?”
“No, I only love Qinghan,” Lin Chen nearly revealed himself and quickly went back to feigning death.
“The goddess is as beautiful as a painting. Yao Xi is stunning.”
“I can’t stand it. Such a breathtaking woman should never be scorned.”
“In life, one must sometimes be a devoted admirer; I want to be her devoted admirer...”
The tension in everyone’s hearts burst forth instantly.
Yao Xi was shocked.
She truly hadn’t expected Ye Wuchen to actually open the gate.
Her heart tightened.
Seeing that the law of order had not descended, she finally relaxed and exclaimed, “This senior is truly defying the heavens.”
...
At this moment.
In the Jade Purity Hall.
This was the largest building within the Sword Soul Sect, representing its mightiest power.
Dozens of large red stone pillars supported the structure; the roof was glazed yellow, dazzling under the sunlight.
At the center of the roof towered a jade green circular ring shaped like a thirty-six-tiered pagoda, its peak crystal clear yellow stone.
The eaves extended in all directions, soaring outward. On the east, south, west, and north faces, golden dragons played with pearls; on the southeast, southwest, northwest, and northeast faces, colorful phoenixes danced. From the mouths of the dragons and phoenixes hung glass wind chimes, tinkling crisply in the breeze, adding an ethereal touch.
In the hall’s center sat a man cross-legged. Tall but not robust, he wore a simple gray robe, black hair neatly tied back.
“Sword Dao! Liu Chuan!”
“No... that’s not the great river sword intent!”
Inside the Jade Purity Hall, a middle-aged man suddenly opened his eyes. Looking out, an overwhelming sense of countless sharp swords assaulted his senses, piercing his heart with a myriad of blades.
A chill ran through his body, every hair standing on end!
He stood proudly, radiating锋芒—a formidable sharpness.
He gave off an aura that inspired reverence.
His gaze fixed on the enormous black sword in the sky, suddenly narrowing with shock, “This is the sword intent I sensed before the Awakening Platform!”
The next moment, he vanished within the Jade Purity Hall.
“Could it be that traitor Liu Chuan has returned with a vengeance?”
Meanwhile, from the thirty-six peaks of the Sword Soul Sect, several black shadows flew out.
One by one, the peak masters appeared above their peaks, gazing into the distance.
As they watched the scene of autumn leaves flying backward and the clouds parting, some were lost in thought.
That was sword intent?
Supreme sword intent?
Was there truly sword intent even fiercer than the Great River Sword Intent? The cultivation of this person would certainly surpass Liu Chuan in time.
Could it be that the Sword Soul Sect was about to see the rise of a new Sword Saint?
Who was Liu Chuan?
He was the most outstanding Sword Saint of the Sword Soul Sect in a thousand years!
A man who sought the pinnacle of the sword path, whose sword spirit was a flowing sword river, a true sword fanatic. For someone obsessed with the sword way, to compare oneself with another who had reached its peak was a great blessing. Liu Chuan, already a Sword Saint, was nearly unbeatable in the Sword Spirit Continent at that time!
But for reasons unknown, he defected, and since then his name became taboo within the Sword Soul Sect.
Not just the sect.
Even in the nearby White Cloud City, hundreds of thousands of residents stopped their work and gazed toward the horizon.
Because at that moment, the Heavenly Gate had opened wide, hanging in the sky.
...
“Is he really going to kill everyone in the Law Enforcement Hall?!”
Disciples watching from around Sword Punishment Peak cried out.
At the very instant the towering sword was about to strike, all voices tightened with tension.
Under countless stunned eyes, the enormous black sword shimmered brilliantly, like a meteor descending to slash through the air.
With the might to shatter the earth itself.
“Dying by my hand means you won’t feel pain, and I can even craft for you a dream as beautiful as mortal love. Yet you have chosen such a tragic death. So your life was not in vain.” Ye Wuchen’s voice sighed, devoid of emotion.
“No!”
Zhou Yun and others shouted in despair.
In an instant, screams of flesh, armor, and weapons ascended to the heavens.
Sword Punishment Peak trembled; the entire sect felt a powerful shock.
Like a natural disaster.
Watching this awe-inspiring scene, the whole sect was stunned like wood.
Especially when they saw the hundred-meter-wide crater where the Law Enforcement Hall had been leveled, and the elders lying lifeless on the plaza.
Several Sword Sect elders were thus erased from the continent forever.
The entire Sword Soul Sect was thrown into chaos.