The fifth slash signaled the end of the world. Ninth seemed to be taking Li Qiye and his formation quite seriously.

“Fifth variation right away, not many can have this treatment in our continent.” One ancestor was shaken.

“Will he end with the ninth slash then?” A big shot thought that Ninth might be saving the final slash for the finishing blow.

“Clank!” Ninth’s sword started releasing hymns and sharp rays capable of piercing anything.

The spectators became frozen with chills all over. They instinctively touched their throat since they had the illusion of being penetrated by the rays.

Ninth wore a black robe but due to the glow coming from his sword, he looked transcending like a single lotus flower growing on a mud pond. He seemed unstained by the flaws of the mortal realm.

This presence of his commanded gasps of awe and fear from the crowd. Since he had separated himself from the mortal coil, all living beings still trapped inside appeared to be insignificant insects or ephemeral smoke.

Emotions and relationships didn’t exist for him. Thus, he could easily abandon or kill anyone without qualms. This was a key fundamental of the thirteen slashes.

“I sense zero emotion in him, only a will to slash.” One expert murmured while feeling intimidated. His coldness seemed more thorough than that of a hardened assassin.

“A little interesting.” Li Qiye smiled and raised his hand.

“Clank!” The divine swords pointed at Ninth.

He became a magnet attracting the attention of the swords. As they flew closer, it became a ball of swords fully surrounding Ninth, intending on reducing him to mincemeat.

The area around him turned dark because the swords didn’t leave a single spot unoccupied. On top of being omnipresent, the swords were cutting through space as well - a testament to their destruction.

As the ball closed in on him, Ninth finally slashed his sword, separating the myriad realms and severing the affinities of life. Everything became split into two halves.

“Bam!” Cracks could be heard as the slash broke through the incoming divine swords. The fifth slash didn’t let the crowd down.

“Clank!” In this split second, Ninth readied another attack.

It consisted of murderous energies gathering together. The lack of a true form made it far harder to stop or dodge. Even gods and devils would be decapitated by this move.

“Seventh variation, Godless!” A big shot shouted in horror.

The spectators felt a sharp pain in their chest and shriek even though the move was only aimed towards Li Qiye. The weaker cultivators actually started bleeding in that area because the invisible murderous energies had a wide area of effect.

“Rumble!” Li Qiye waved his hand in this crucial moment and a wall of swords separated him from everything else. Not a single attack could ever get through.

However, Ninth was impressive enough with his seventh variation. The formless attack pierced through space and time. Even the thick wall couldn’t stop it.

Alas, this was still the plain of the Tang. Li Qiye waved his hand again and erected multiple walls the next time around.

Ninth’s attack continuously pierced through them but more and more showed up in an endless number.

Thus, even if it broke through a billion walls, it still wouldn’t be able to reach Li Qiye. Eventually, Ninth’s energy withered and so did the power of the attack.

“Clank!” He pulled back his sword and stabilized his stance, realizing the futility of the attempt. The seventh slash’s speed and power couldn’t take down this formation. He needed absolute power to break it down at the very start.

“What the hell is this formation? It’s so formidable.” Everyone was astounded to see this.

Li Qiye didn’t put in that much effort outside of waving his hand. However, the big shots knew that creating the sword walls required an absurd amount of dao and chaos energy. 

If Li Qiye was the sole source, his vitality and energy would wither right away after creating a few walls. It also meant that the formation’s endurance was above Ninth’s.

“I think it is at the dao lord level.” A big shot became startled.

Experts knew that dao lord formations were normally used to protect their sects. These were the strongest defenses available.

However, the plain didn’t belong to a sect right now yet it still had such an unyielding defense. This truly shocked many spectators.

“The plain is worth more than one hundred million jades just because of this formation alone.” Another sect master said with a tinge of regret.