Twenty days later, upon the prairie.
"Blood-Ink Jade: Circular Dance!"
The blade, imbued with an ominous blood-dark radiance, dragged a streak of ink through the air.
Compared to the first time, Xu Yuan's mastery over this terrifying sword art had clearly improved by several leaps, but unfortunately, he failed to touch even the hem of Tianyan's clothes this time.
With a single "Instant" True Word, she teleported more than twenty meters away, leaving Xu Yuan's strike to cleave nothing but empty air.
Hovering in midair, the young girl watched the chilling sword scar slowly fade from the sky. She gave a slight shake of her head and laughed:
"What an idiot. Don't bother using that move on me anymore—it's useless."
Xu Yuan held his sword, a trace of helplessness on his face.
Just as the Saint's remnant soul had told him before, cultivation did not decide everything; intelligence and martial aptitude could easily turn the tide of a battle.
No one was a fool, least of all Tianyan.
If Xu Yuan could time the end of an opponent's invincibility frames to deal a brutal blow to a protagonist, others could naturally do the same.
The windup for Void-Stepping Slash was simply too obvious. It was devastating as a surprise attack upon first sight, but once someone grew familiar with it, its threat plummeted.
Yet that opening stance was essential for channeling Void-Stepping Slash, much like how Tianyan had previously needed to form hand seals to use her Heaven Character True Words. Xu Yuan had no way to remedy that flaw for now.
Slowly descending from the sky, Tianyan stepped lightly onto the grass with her bare jade feet and glanced at Xu Yuan.
"You made a bit of progress today. At least you can control the circulation of qi for the technique now. Seeing as you still have strength left, want to keep going?"
Hearing this, Xu Yuan shook his head.
"No. I'll head back to circulate my cultivation and recover my Source Qi first. Pushing further will only affect tomorrow's training."
Unlike his first time unleashing Blood-Ink Jade: Circular Dance, he could now roughly regulate the power of the technique.
The first time, he had emptied his entire reservoir of Source Qi just to slash with that sword, and the result was clear: its power had overflowed far too much.
The power of a secret technique was naturally not fixed like in a video game; the amount of Source Qi funneled into it dictated its might.
Given the immense power of the Blood-Ink Jade Sword Art, if executed properly, it would only require a fifth, or perhaps even a sixth, of his Source Qi to slay a third-rank expert. There was no need whatsoever to drain all his Source Qi in a single stroke.
This was something Tianyan had taught him.
A true third-rank powerhouse could meticulously control every trace of Source Qi in their body, whereas Xu Yuan currently wasted a great deal in every fight—at least half of it.
However, his current sparring sessions with Tianyan were meant specifically to resolve this issue.
Upon hearing his words, Tianyan asked instead:
"Do you only circulate your cultivation to heal your injuries every day, without meditating to cultivate?"
Xu Yuan shrugged, making no attempt to hide it.
"My cultivation base in this body grows on its own every day. There's no need to cultivate."
"What?" Tianyan gave him a peculiar look.
Xu Yuan shrugged again. "It's probably because of this body of Jinghe's. It's synchronizing with his cultivation from ten thousand years ago. Otherwise, I wouldn't have so much spare time every day to do other things."
Tianyan frowned slightly, then curled her lips into a faint smile.
"That's quite good. Your cultivation is almost at the peak of the third rank now. Perhaps you might even break straight through to the second rank later on. That's a good thing for us."
Straightening his clothes, Xu Yuan smiled back.
"You could do the same, but unfortunately you're in your own body."
Tianyan let out a soft huff, sounding rather disdainful.
"I have no need for such a thing. If I were in someone else's constitution, my Heaven-Deducing Art wouldn't work at all."
Hearing this, Xu Yuan glanced in the direction of the main peak of Qionghua.
"By the way, Bai Fan and his crowd don't seem to remember what cultivation art you practice at all."
Over these past days, that group of playboys had often come looking for them.
They went sightseeing together, ventured out for spring outings and wild hunts, and invited them to spar at the martial training grounds.
To avoid exposing his combat prowess, Xu Yuan had always kept his distance under the pretext of cultivating secret arts, but Tianyan went along frequently.
Yet Bai Fan and the others harbored no suspicion toward the way she used the Heaven-Deducing Art against her opponents.
Tianyan pondered for a moment before speaking in a low voice:
"I disrupted Yuchu's identity, so the specific details of her identity were naturally wiped clean."
Xu Yuan shook his head gently.
"All right, let's head back first—"
As he spoke, he saw Tianyan's delicate brows twitch as she looked up toward the distant sky.
Before he could ask, Xu Yuan also sensed a wave of Source Qi rippling from afar.
Channeling Source Qi into his eyes, he looked up and saw two figures flying unhurriedly toward the main peak.
The distance was rather far, and the two were not traveling very fast. Their cultivation was hard to discern, but since they could fly through the air, they were likely not weak.
One was old and the other young. Xu Yuan recognized the older one as an enforcement elder from the Punishment Hall, but he had never seen the young man beside him before.
The young man had loose, disheveled hair and wore a loose white robe draped carelessly over his frame. A cloth sack hung across his back, and he lazily swung a dark-blue Xiuchun long saber in his hand, exuding an air of untamed nonchalance.
Staring for a moment, Xu Yuan recognized which sect the white-robed man's attire belonged to. His reading over the past days had not been in vain.
Taiqing Dao Palace.
Retracting his gaze, Xu Yuan looked at Tianyan.
"That person seems to be from Taiqing Dao Palace."
Tianyan retracted her gaze as well.
"Mm, I know."
"What is someone from Taiqing Dao Palace doing here at this point in time?" Xu Yuan mused aloud.
Before acquiring the Meishen cherry tree, the Qionghua Sect had not yet reached its zenith. At best, it was a dominant power nestled in its own corner, its strength far below what it would become by the time of its destruction.
Taiqing Dao Palace, on the other hand, was currently the second-largest sect in the world.
At this juncture, what business did someone from Taiqing Dao Palace have coming to the Qionghua Realm?
Tianyan shook her head with a faint smile.
"Rather than what they're here for, I'm more curious about the world outside the Qionghua Realm within this illusion."
Xu Yuan's eyes narrowed.
The Qionghua Realm was vast; though not as immense as it had been before they entered the illusion, it was still roughly a fifth of its former size.
Maintaining an illusion on this scale was already terrifyingly difficult, but if the world outside the Qionghua Realm was also an illusionary space, they might just be able to walk away directly, avoiding being refined into the Meishen cherry tree and the Leech King.
At this thought, Xu Yuan shook his head gently.
"No point dwelling on that. The source of the illusion you mentioned is most likely right here in the Qionghua Realm. Even if we leave, we'll have to come back sooner or later."
Tianyan gazed up at the sky and let out a soft sigh.
"This illusion truly is bizarre."
"Indeed. We'd better find a way out quickly," Xu Yuan said. "I don't want to spend the rest of my life here with you."
"Heh." Tianyan rolled her eyes at him.
The arrival of that young talent from Taiqing Dao Palace did not disturb the daily routine of Xu Yuan and Tianyan. If anything, they hadn't visited the main peak of Qionghua at all over the past few days, strictly maintaining their two-point routine between the residence and the prairie.
About four or five days later,
In the master bedroom,
Tianyan sat cross-legged on the large bed, quietly meditating and circulating her cultivation. The only sound in the room was the occasional rustle of paper as Xu Yuan flipped through pages.
Suddenly—
*Dong—!*
A melodious chime of a bell rang out from the summit of Qionghua's main peak, spreading from near to far, startling flocks of birds into flight, and reverberating endlessly across the entire Qionghua Mountain Range.
Xu Yuan froze mid-read, set the tome on the red sandalwood desk, and immediately furrowed his brow.
Tianyan remained silent for several breaths before halting her cultivation art.
They looked at each other in silence, their expressions solemn.
The Tianqiong Bell on Qionghua's main peak was only rung on significant days or for major events in the Qionghua Sect.
Depending on the gravity of the occasion, the number of strikes would incrementally increase:
One, three, six, nine, thirteen.
The melodious bell chimes resonated continuously as silence spread through the room.
Three times.
The Tianqiong Bell was struck three times. According to sect protocol, the Saintess's investiture ceremony was also marked by three strikes.
Expressionless, Tianyan hopped down from the bed, smoothed her skirt, and murmured:
"Let's go."
No matter how many times the Tianqiong Bell was struck, as long as it rang, the core disciples of the Qionghua Sect were required to assemble at Qionghua Hall.
Pondering for a moment, Xu Yuan stood up and spoke in a low voice:
"It shouldn't be the Saintess's investiture ceremony."
"Why not?" Tianyan was clearly in a foul mood and shot him a glance. "The Qionghua Sect's Saintess is directly appointed by the Sect Master and elders, not chosen through a competition."
Xu Yuan shook his head gently.
"Judging by Yuchu's previous cultivation and talent, there's no way the position would fall to you. Your breakthrough to the third rank hasn't been reported either. Even if they wanted to appoint you, they'd at least need to convince the masses."
Jinghe was twenty-five this year, at the peak of the third rank.
Yuchu was twenty-three, yet she was only at the fourth-rank Body Integration stage.
While rare in the Qionghua Sect, such cultivation was by no means the absolute pinnacle.
Tianyan's beautiful eyes flickered for a moment, and she let out a long breath.
"Then what do you think it is?"
The Saintess's investiture ceremony called for three strikes of the Tianqiong Bell, but three strikes did not necessarily mean it was the investiture ceremony.
When important guests entered the realm, the Qionghua Sect would also ring the bell thrice to show respect and ceremonial propriety.
After musing for a moment, Xu Yuan said quietly:
"I suspect it has something to do with that young disciple from Taiqing Dao Palace who arrived recently."
Tianyan furrowed her brows.
"Even the chief disciple of Taiqing Dao Palace wouldn't warrant such etiquette."
Xu Yuan shrugged.
"Then I don't know. We'll find out when we get there. Maybe some elder of theirs came to visit over the last few days."
Tianyan let out a soft breath and nodded.
With that, the two pushed open the door and flew directly toward Qionghua Hall at high speed.
An hour later.
Qionghua Hall sat at the very pinnacle of Qionghua's main peak, surrounded by towering palace walls built from white jade masonry. Lush forests flanked the perimeter amidst drifting mist and clouds, leaving only a straight flight of stone stairs leading directly to the palace gates.
Because of the distance, Xu Yuan and Tianyan arrived somewhat late.
By now, the tall main gates outside Qionghua Hall were already closed; to enter, one had to take a side door.
Yet as soon as they drew near, even through the restrictions of the palace walls, Xu Yuan could still sense sharp, violent fluctuations of Source Qi radiating from within.
Was someone battling inside?
Below the steps before Qionghua Hall lay a massive, flat plaza where the annual sect gathering for core disciples was held.
Thinking of this, Xu Yuan narrowed his eyes.
Did that man from Taiqing Dao Palace come to the Qionghua Sect for a duel?
Puzzled, but without speaking, they stepped inside as the inner disciples on duty opened the side door for them.
*Vrooom—!*
Following a resounding ring of a blade, a formidable aura of qi almost entirely enveloped the massive dueling ground.
Sure enough, a battle was underway before Qionghua Hall.
Qionghua Sect versus Taiqing Dao Palace.
The eldest brother among the playboys, Senior Brother Li, was dueling that slouching white-robed man.
Yet Xu Yuan had to admit that he was somewhat shocked by the sight before him.
Because after that blade rang out,
Senior Brother Li's head was directly severed by that languid young man.
After hitting the ground,
It tumbled several times before finally coming to a halt. Crimson blood continually seeped out from beneath the decapitated corpse, glaringly conspicuous upon the white jade stone tiles.
Senior Brother Li was only at the third rank; he could not yet regenerate from a single drop of blood.
He was dead.
Xu Yuan felt a sense of absurdity.
He actually had a good impression of this Senior Brother Li.
Over these past months, Senior Brother Li had visited him and Tianyan from time to time, bringing precious pills for healing or aiding cultivation.
In Senior Brother Li's eyes, out of their entire circle, only Xu Yuan and Tianyan had no elders to look after them, so as the big brother, he felt responsible for taking care of them.
And now, he had just been decapitated.
In the most important sacred ground of the Qionghua Sect,
Before the palace gates of Qionghua Hall,
Right in front of a host of sect elders.
What in the world was going on?
The entire Qionghua Hall was dead silent, save for the faint gurgling sound of blood pouring from Senior Brother Li's corpse.
Filled with bewildered shock, Xu Yuan's gaze swept past the dark-faced sect elders at the edge of the arena and looked up along the ascending stairs toward the entrance of Qionghua Hall.
There,
He saw an elderly man with a slightly weathered face standing quietly at the palace doors.
This old man was Bai Fan's father—the Sect Master of the Qionghua Sect.
Xu Yuan didn't know about any hidden experts, but openly, this old man was currently the only Saint in the Qionghua Sect.
Did he... just watch Senior Brother Li get cut down like that?
Why didn't he step in to stop it?
Back when Xu Changge went to the Tianyuan Grand Tournament to slaughter people, even the sect elders of later generations knew enough to intervene.
As a Saint powerhouse, how could you just watch an important junior of your own sect be killed by an outsider in your own backyard?
The Qionghua Sect Master seemed to notice Xu Yuan's gaze as well, but after several breaths of silence, he merely shook his head gently with a desolate look in his eyes.
Yet in the next moment,
Xu Yuan saw the Qionghua Sect Master turn slightly, calmly transmitting a message to the person beside him.
Only then did Xu Yuan notice that someone else was standing beside the Sect Master.
It was a youth in a long-sleeved black robe.
He appeared only sixteen or seventeen, with sword-like brows and starry eyes, exceptionally handsome. A faint golden light swirled within his narrow eyes, yet his expression was completely detached.
Xu Yuan frowned slightly.
This youth's cultivation seemed to be only around the third rank. Why was he permitted to stand beside the Qionghua Sect Master?
What was more, a Saint powerhouse and master of an entire sect was treating him as an equal.
As questions mounted in his mind, the girl beside him suddenly reached out and grabbed his hand.
Feeling the warmth from her slender fingertips, Xu Yuan turned his head to look at her, only to hear her voice ring out within his mind:
"Word about the Meishen cherry tree probably leaked. Several powerful sects must have joined hands wanting a piece of the pie, and right now, they're likely settling it through wager matches."
Xu Yuan pondered for a moment and was about to transmit a reply when Tianyan spoke first:
"Don't use voice transmission. That fellow atop the steps might be able to hear it."
Huh?
Xu Yuan looked at Tianyan with a touch of surprise.
Tianyan didn't look back at him. Her golden eyes were fixed quietly on the golden-eyed youth before the palace, her voice laced with intrigue:
"He is the Holy Son of the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion of this era."
Chapter 128