Naked Sword Art

Chapter 474: Celestial Step

High above the clouds, Yu Liangcheng steadied his breath as golden seals bloomed one after another around his hands. The air shimmered with divine power. Though still shaken by what he’d witnessed from Xiao Fang, pride forced his trembling heart to still.

"If you insist on defying fate..." he said coldly, eyes narrowing. "Then drown in it."

[ Divination Art: Heaven’s Mandate Rain ]

Dozens of golden sigils bloomed across the sky, scattering like stars before collapsing into radiant threads of light. Each beam of Divine Qi curved through the clouds as if guided by Heaven’s decree — a hundred spears of fate striking from every direction.

Every single strike hit its mark.

But Xiao Fang didn’t flinch.

Yu Liangcheng’s grin returned. He watched as the storm of golden light drove Xiao Fang down through the clouds, faster and faster. The art itself was a Profound Realm technique, but it was the strongest offensive skill he could maintain while still sustaining [ Great Tide ]. To control both at once was something even his elders called genius.

But when he looked again — the grin vanished.

Despite his tattered robes, Xiao Fang’s body was still unharmed. There wasn’t even a single cut on his body.

’How...? Is it the distance? Still, there should at least be a scratch,’ Yu Liangcheng thought, disbelief twisting through him.

What he didn’t realize was that Xiao Fang’s Divine Swordsman body — forged through endless pain — could endure what would tear apart most cultivators.

Still, Yu Liangcheng refused to relent.

He summoned more sigils. The rain intensified, filling the sky with streaks of divine gold. To an ordinary cultivator, it would’ve been like being torn apart by a hundred blades.

But Xiao Fang wasn’t ordinary.

Lightning coursed through his veins, his descent steadying as arcs of blue light danced across his body.

’If I can just get within a hundred meters...’ Xiao Fang thought calmly. ’I can finish this.’

100 meters was the range of his [ Divine Sword Splitting Sea ] technique.

He moved. Faster. Sharper. The air folded around him as his steps found rhythm even in freefall.

"I need to go faster."

He kicked through the air, his trajectory spiraling into a controlled fall, lightning trailing behind him like a comet’s tail. But from Yu Liangcheng’s perspective, it looked as if he was falling into a vortex of lightning.

Seeing Xiao Fang accelerate even while being struck, Yu Liangcheng’s composure cracked.

"Don’t underestimate me!"

Several more golden sigils burst open behind him like blooming lotus petals. Each pulsed once — then unleashed a volley of razor-thin bolts of Qi.

When Xiao Fang looked up, it looked as if there were a storm of arrows raining down on him. He was tempted to run far away, but he refused to let his prey out of his sight.

The sky ignited.

Bolts collided with Xiao Fang’s body again and again, splitting the clouds apart in violent bursts of light. Blood sprayed. Thin lines appeared across Xiao Fang’s body, but he didn’t stop. If anything, his speed only increased, lightning arcs stretching longer and brighter across the clouds.

’How many hits can he take!?’ Liangcheng thought, gnashed teeth grinding.

Yu Liangcheng poured more Qi into the storm, forcing every drop of his will into it. The bolts thickened, sharper, deeper — and yet Xiao Fang closed the gap.

700 hundred meters.

600 hundred.

550 hundred.

530...

He’s still coming!?

"Why won’t you just fall!?" Yu Liangcheng roared.

The golden storm raged with renewed fury, each bolt of Qi hammering down like Heaven’s own wrath. But Xiao Fang refused to yield.

Still, he could feel it now — the difference in power. The pressure of the [ Heaven’s Mandate Rain ] was too much; it was making him descend faster than he could slow it.

’The gap between us is still too wide...’ I need— his thoughts sharpened into a single pulse of will, ’...to go faster.’

[ Drifting Cloud, Rising Wind ]

Lightning coiled around his legs as he forced the air to bend beneath his feet. Each step slowed his fall by a fraction, but it wasn’t enough — Liangcheng’s storm still dominated the sky.

Xiao Fang’s teeth ground together. Blood streamed down his face and chest, staining him crimson. He looked less like a man and more like a wrathful spirit clawing his way out of the heavens.

"Faster!" he roared.

Yu Liangcheng bared his teeth, eyes blazing. "Let’s see how much more you can take!"

[ Divination Art: Heaven’s Mandate Rain! ]

The sky detonated.

Hundreds of golden bolts tore through the clouds like divine spears. The explosions lit up the storm, every blast throwing shockwaves through the air. Xiao Fang’s body convulsed beneath the onslaught, blood spraying into the wind — yet before the light even faded, he was already moving again.

His eye burned with savage focus.

’Third level...’

Yu Liangcheng’s pupils constricted. The killing intent coming from below pressed against his heart like a blade’s edge.

Pain rippled through Xiao Fang’s body as his muscles flexed to the brink of tearing.

Lightning gathered around him, drawn into his body until the air screamed. His skin split; his muscles tore — but every fiber regenerated faster than it broke. The pain was blinding, but his roar cut through it.

"I can do this!"

Step.

The air cracked.

Step.

The clouds ruptured.

Step!

Steam poured from his body as his Qi erupted like a storm.

Then — BOOM.

A thunderclap split the sky in two.

Lightning exploded outward, swallowing the golden storm whole. Xiao Fang’s body blurred into motion, a streak of blinding blue and white carving across the sky. The very sky nearly warped around his speed.

[ Ascending Immortal — Celestial Step ]!

From above, it was as if the heavens themselves had begun to spin. Each step Xiao Fang took carved arcs of lightning through the storm, weaving a colossal vortex of thunder and killing intent that lit the clouds like a second sun.

Far below, Yu Hanlin staggered to his feet, panting as he stared up at the sky.

’What in the hell... is happening up there?’ he thought, eyes wide with disbelief.