Naked Sword Art

Chapter 499: Seal Of Death

"This isn’t over," Chen Li said coldly as she surged toward the opening in the barrier.

Li Lian scoffed. "What makes you think I’ll let you leave?"

The playful, scheming smile Li Lian often wore was gone. In its place was something sharp—unyielding. She understood exactly what Chen Li represented. Not just a threat to the sect... but to her clan, her family, and everything she held dear.

If Chen Li escaped today, there would be endless bloodshed in the future.

"No matter what," Li Lian declared, her voice ringing with finality, "you die today."

Deep within her soul, the dragon roared—its cry echoing loudly enough for the entire Black Paradise Sect to hear.

Chen Li swallowed.

She wasn’t afraid—she had never feared anyone from this insignificant sect.

Yet the moment those words left Li Lian’s mouth, every instinct in her body screamed danger.

She fled.

Shooting straight into the sky, Chen Li pushed her speed to the limit. Li Lian followed instantly, flames tearing through the air as she gave chase.

From the ground, Ye Ming stared in disbelief.

"Chen Li..." she whispered. "She’s running?"

Speed was Chen Li’s pride. No one beneath the Heavenly Realm should have been able to rival her—yet Li Lian was closing the distance.

The entire Black Paradise Sect turned their eyes skyward as the two figures vanished into the clouds.

Moments later, only the sound remained—

demonic shrieks and dragon roars colliding violently above.

Chen Li had hated many people in her life, but none compared to the Li clan.

And worst of all—Li Lian.

Her stubbornness was beyond reason.

"If you’re so eager to die..." Chen Li snarled, smearing blood across her chest, "then let’s die together."

Her eyes burned crimson.

’Fifth Seal — Seal of Death. Open!’

Li Lian’s aura took the shape of a charging fire dragon as she slammed forward, leaving Chen Li no time to prepare—but preparation was unnecessary.

Chen Li’s power surged to an unimaginable level.

Li Lian’s attack struck—and did nothing.

Chen Li radiated death.

"Kill."

In the next instant, Li Lian was swatted downward through the clouds, coughing up blood as she regained her control in the air.

With the Entire Black Paradise sect watching her from below, she looked up at the clouds, eyes blazing with ferocity.

Above her, Chen Li hovered, gazing down at both Li Lian and the sect as she gathered her next attack.

Li Lian couldn’t dodge it, she wouldn’t want to even if she could afford to.

Only one thought filled her mind at that moment. The same stubborn thought she had since the beginning.

’I have to win.’

Heavenly fire erupted from her body once more—but just as it reached its peak, a sharp fiery light flashed across her eyes. With another push Li Lian’s flames continued to expand uncontrollably.

Her dragon roared again as she did.

This time, its dominance eclipsed everything before it.

Seeing Li Lian’s strength surge to nearly rival her own, Chen Li didn’t hesitate. She thrust her hand downward, unleashing her attack in a torrent of power.

Li Lian’s battle power continued to climb. Then—just moments before Chen Li’s strike could reach her—Li Lian clenched her fist and fired a devastating blast upward, meeting the attack head-on as it tore through the sky toward Chen Li.

The two of them pushed with strength they never knew they had till the light was blinding.

From afar, Xue Jinghua’s heart sank.

’This isn’t half-step Heavenly Realm battlepower anymore... This is true Heavenly Realm battle power.’

The collision was cataclysmic.

A deafening shockwave tore through the sky, slamming Li Lian into the ground and hurling Chen Li violently away.

Li Lian lay still, barely able to open one eye as she watched Chen Li—now reverted to her human form—begin to fall as well.

A faint smirk tugged at her lips as she tried, and failed, to rise.

’I win.’

Even if she couldn’t kill Chen Li herself, she knew there was no way the Matriarch would allow Chen Li to leave once she was captured.

However, just as that thought crossed her mind, another figure appeared in the sky. It was a woman, but her robes were all black.

Strangely, she didn’t seem to be flying, she was walking on the air itself as if she commanded it.

Catching Chen Li effortlessly, the mysterious woman clicked her tongue.

’Stupid child.’

Forming a swift seal with her hands, the woman pressed her palm against Chen Li’s back. A surge of Qi flooded in, forcing a pained groan from her lips.

"Opening the Death Seal in a place like this..." the woman said coldly. "Just wait until your father hears of it."

Chen Li lacked both the strength—and the will—to respond.

The woman turned to leave.

Then paused when she felt something completely unexpected.

’...Killing intent? Here?’

Her gaze drifted downward toward the Black Paradise Sect. There, amid the ruined ground, Li Lian struggled to sit upright—her body wreathed in a different kind of flame. Not Heavenly Fire, but the fire of unyielding will.

She wanted Chen Li’s life, as if that was the only thing that mattered in that moment.

Chen Li, also half-conscious, stared down at Li Lian coldly thinking,

’You want my life, but I will certainly have yours!’

Chen Li’s killing intent was just as potent as Li Lian’s.

A low laugh escaped the woman’s lips as she understood what they both must’ve been thinking at that moment.

"Hahaha... not bad. It seems I shouldn’t have interfered."

She tilted her head slightly. "Young girl—what’s your name?"

Li Lian, barely able to remain conscious, spat to the side in open defiance.

The woman’s smile widened, sharp and unsettling.

"Oh... I like you," she said softly, casting one final glance at Li Lian. "If you wish to fight my daughter again, come to the Land of the Dead Trials in two months. You may battle to your heart’s content there."

In the next moment, she took a single step in a certain direction, and vanished, almost as if she had traveled a mile in a single step.

The moment her presence disappeared, Li Lian’s strength finally gave out. Her consciousness slipped away, as if the sole thing keeping her awake had been the burning desire to kill Chen Li—and now that desire had nothing left to cling to.