The vast distance was crossed in a single leap, the sword pierced through its body.
Unlike before, this time Jiang Chen clearly felt that Chang Xiang Si met extremely tenacious resistance inside the white giant fish.
Having seen it once before, the Yin-Yang Roaming Kill Array had made corresponding adjustments.
Dense yet continuous small streams of soldier's murderous aura surged like waves, rolling over and over, as if endless. Again and again, they split the sword qi and devoured it.
"You won't get anywhere like this." Jiang Yan's voice echoed within the Tongtian Palace. "Let me help you!"
Jiang Chen ignored him. The nine great star river vortexes illuminated the Tongtian Palace, and the Star-Tethering Spirit Snake leaped and darted again and again.
He raised the three swords—Heaven, Earth, and Human—simultaneously. Jiang Chen's entire body crashed into the white giant fish's body, then burst out in a shower of dazzling sword qi, bathed in blood!
He had already rushed out of the formation, the soldier's murderous aura of the white giant fish scattering behind him.
Meanwhile, Steward Qian, as a powerhouse of the Tenglong Realm, walked through the air. Using his wealth qi to commune with the divine, he asked the black giant fish to yield the way.
Almost at the same moment Jiang Chen crashed into the white giant fish, Steward Qian pressed two fingers diagonally before him, and between his two fingers, a coin suffused in purple qi condensed.
Its form was that of the Qi knife-coin!
As the currency of the State of Qi used throughout the world, the Qi knife-coin was stained with the fortune of the State of Qi.
And the Four Seas Trading Alliance, as one of the largest trading companies within the borders of Qi, was also permitted to borrow this national fortune to some extent.
Of course, limited by Steward Qian's strength, what he could borrow was but a negligible fraction.
But even just this fraction... was powerful enough.
Steward Qian held the Qi knife-coin between his fingers and slashed it diagonally downward.
"The goods have been paid for!"
The Qi knife-coin dissolved and vanished without a trace between his fingers.
And that black giant fish formed from the gathered soldier's murderous aura suddenly split apart, dividing into two halves!
In an instant, the Yin-Yang Roaming Kill Array, which had been only black and white, was once again stained with the color of blood.
It was the blood of the slain and dying soldiers, splattering everywhere.
Amidst the churning soldier's murderous aura, a sharp shout suddenly arose: "Where the edge of the army points, all who stand in the way shall be swept aside!"
But what was seen was this: the splitting black giant fish, while spurting blood, twisted both halves.
One guarded the Yin, one turned to the Yang.
Then they each swelled, and in an instant condensed into black and white Yin-Yang fish once more.
Not only that, the black giant fish opened its mouth and spat out a torrent of swords, spears, blades, and halberds, dense as a forest. They rained down in a sky-covering deluge, striking toward Jiang Chen, who had already charged out of the array with sword in hand.
And the white giant fish swished its tail in mid-air, vanishing from its spot in an instant, crashing headlong into Steward Qian!
The impact was like a mountain collapsing and a tsunami surging, condensing the roaring killing intent of several thousand soldiers. In an instant, it was about to swallow the man whole.
But in the very next moment, the golden belt wrapped around Steward Qian's waist blazed with brilliant light.
More precisely, it was not the golden belt itself, but the tiny coin embedded in the middle of the golden belt.
It was only one-third the size of a normal Qi knife-coin, but at this moment it radiated a dazzling treasure light.
The treasure light contracted, and the white giant fish struck "empty."
It had clearly made contact, yet this blow failed to kill the man.
Steward Qian appeared before the gates of Qingyang Town, still pale with shock.
Crack!
The Qi knife-coin embedded in the middle of his golden belt split apart, its resplendent light entirely gone.
This was the **Life-Buying Coin**, refined exclusively by the Four Seas Trading Alliance. Only those at the Steward rank or above were equipped with one. Within the Yin-Yang Roaming Kill Array, it had purchased Steward Qian's life!
At this moment, the Yin-Yang Roaming Kill Array lay between Qingyang Town and the enemy. Jiang Chen stood alone on the other side of the Yin-Yang Roaming Kill Array, his connection with Qingyang Town severed by this formation.
The Yin-Yang Roaming Kill Array displayed its full might, rampant and ferocious.
The hearts of everyone in Qingyang Town were in their throats as they watched the scene with deep apprehension.
At this moment, an seemingly endless storm of swords, spears, blades, and halberds came howling forth, blanketing Jiang Chen head to toe.
And Jiang Chen stood rooted to the spot, like a solitary peak standing tall.
He was not blind to Steward Qian's desperate plight. He was not blind to the danger of the Yin-Yang Roaming Kill Array.
But he stood unmoving.
Rumble, rumble!
It was as if thunder was rolling across the vast sky, yet the sky was clear for ten thousand miles without a single cloud!
An ancient aura was awakening, yet the only thing people could see was the vicious display of the Yin-Yang fish in the Yin-Yang Roaming Kill Array.
Across the entire battlefield, even within Qingyang Town, wherever the eye could see, the qi instantly went into chaotic turmoil!
This violent qi vortex was terrifying and unsettling.
And in the void behind Jiang Chen, in some unknown place, a stone gateway gradually became clear.
The gateway was tall and imposing, its form ancient and unadorned. It had three horizontal lines carved across it, dividing it into three equal parts. There were faint characters on the stone gate, but they shifted and changed.
The moment it appeared, the surging qi vortex forced back the approaching soldier's murderous aura.
This was the Gate of Heaven and Earth!
Such power was a rare sight in all the world.
"What exactly is his background? Such a talent cannot possibly be just a guest retainer of the Chongxuan family!" Steward Qian was stunned speechless with shock.
Even he, who prided himself on having traveled far and wide across the land as a merchant, had never seen anyone who, merely by manifesting the Gate of Heaven and Earth, could cause such a tremendous phenomenon.
And for Jiang Chen himself, such a Gate of Heaven and Earth was still not complete, but it would have to do!
Who does not yearn for the view of being invincible in all the world? The reason he had delayed breaking through to the next realm, honing himself again and again, was that he wanted to explore the limits of the Tongtian Realm, to reach a position that only the most outstanding geniuses could reach. Even... to see if he could shatter the limits entirely.
He had truly been approaching it step by step. It was not an illusory vista beyond reach.
But today, the situation no longer permitted him to remain.
Although the Jiacheng City Guard was not considered a formidable army, the war formation assembled from several thousand elite soldiers was still not an ordinary fighting force.
With Shi Jing commanding this formation, it held the power to sweep through Qingyang Town with ease.
Jiang Chen had no choice but to stop here and choose to break through temporarily.
All he needed was to cleave the horizontal lines and push open the gateway, and he would immediately ascend to the Tenglong Realm, seeing an entirely new vista of soaring through the air and traversing the earth.
From within the Yin-Yang Roaming Kill Array came Shi Jing's furious voice: "You dare break through right before a great army?!"
The war formation activated and instantly suppressed the chaotic qi.
The soldier's murderous aura erupted, coalescing everything—swords revealing their edges, spears pointing like stars, blades slashing with brilliance, great halberds smashing down in fury!
"Know this! The killing arts of the army are most lethal to the reckless!"
The white giant fish shifted with a sudden movement, and behind the murderous aura and weapons, it crashed head-on toward Jiang Chen.
The Gate of Heaven and Earth stood right behind the man, but Shi Jing wanted to ensure Jiang Chen had no chance to turn around and push the gate open!
Jiang Chen held his sword vertical before him. The blood color swirled around his body, and he slipped free of the soldier's murderous aura. Using the red carp-banner of the Jiacheng City Guard, which resonated with him, he crashed back into the Yin-Yang Roaming Kill Array.
Instead of being alarmed, Shi Jing was delighted. Once this man entered the array, it would be like a bird entering a cage.
The Yin fish leaped backward, the Yang fish turned around.
However, what he overlooked was that as Jiang Chen re-entered the array this time, the Gate of Heaven and Earth—existing in the hidden void and belonging solely to Jiang Chen—had come with him!
The qi instantly erupted into chaotic turmoil once again, then was suppressed in the very next instant.
But in that brief interval, Jiang Chen turned and charged with his sword. In a single thrust, the sea of people became a vast expanse!
Amidst the chaotic and dazzling sword light, amidst the sea of people with all the spectrums of human emotion, he finally saw Shi Jing hiding within the war formation.
He charged forward with his sword!
Swords, spears, blades, halberds, staffs... the soldier's murderous aura transformed into countless weapons, layer upon layer, constricting toward Jiang Chen.
Two enormous Yin-Yang fish wove and leaped across each other, looking for an opening to attack.
Trapped within the great array, it was like sinking into a quagmire.
The more he struggled, the faster he was buried. The further he pushed, the closer he walked toward death.
But Jiang Chen pressed ever forward!
Chang Xiang Si danced as a soaring streak of silver light, clashing head-on with the innumerable attacks within the array.
Every step forward required the maximum possible eruption of Dao essence.
Four steps.
These were four steps that were swift to an extreme, yet unfathomably difficult.
In just these four steps alone, Jiang Chen was already bathed in blood from head to toe.
But after the fourth step, he saw Shi Jing.
Four eyes met!
An eighteen-year-old youth. A man past fifty.
Jiang Chen, alone with a single sword. Shi Jing, honored as the city lord.
One bore wounds and scars across his body. The other held the commanding might of a war formation.
Yet their gazes were so different!
From the shocked look in Shi Jing's eyes, Jiang Chen saw his own resolute and fearless self.
And Shi Jing looked on in terror...
Behind Jiang Chen, a force of will as solid as substance grasped the faint gateway in the void.
The unknown void reflected into the mortal world.
Rumble!
Jiang Chen had actually used the power of his divine soul to tear up the Gate of Heaven and Earth!
And this Gate of Heaven and Earth was directly "torn out" of the void, flattening all the violent qi, and smashed down savagely upon Shi Jing's head!