Slaying Tianrui

An hour ago. An autumn breeze brushed past, sending rippling waves through the grassland on the hillside. Today, alongside the rustling of wind over the grass, came the rhythmic rap of someone knocking on the door. The barefoot girl meditating on the bed slowly opened her eyes, a flicker of puzzlement crossing her gaze. *Why is that guy back home so early today?* The thought flitted past. Tianyan hopped lightly off the bed and walked to the front courtyard to answer the door. She pulled open the wooden door, but what met her eyes was not Xu Yuan’s punchable face, but a squinting man. Handsome and dashing, his dustless white robes fluttered gently in the breeze outside the courtyard. The two stared at each other in silence as a few birds took flight, startled, from a crooked peach tree. Amidst the quiet, Tianyan asked softly, "The Dao Palace's head disciple?" The white-robed man surveyed Tianyan with a casual, flippant gaze and chuckled softly. "Shen Weixiu." "Oh." Tianyan gave an indifferent nod, turned straight around, and walked back into the courtyard. "..." Shen Weixiu stood dumbfounded. "Come inside first. He isn't back yet," Tianyan's voice drifted out. Shen Weixiu remained where he stood and shook his head with a smile. "No need. I came looking for you." Tianyan halted in her tracks and looked back over her shoulder. Shen Weixiu fixed her with a peculiar, amused gaze and grinned. "I've come to discuss something with you." Tianyan slowly turned around and stared at him. "Say what you have to say." Shen Weixiu's tone remained lazy and leisurely. "Today, your Qionghua Sect Master kept Jinghe behind. Tomorrow, it will likely be him facing me in a life-and-death wager duel. Regarding this matter, how about we strike an agreement?" Tianyan's gaze turned somewhat peculiar. She nodded, her voice crisp. "Go on." "Tomorrow, I'll show him mercy, and in exchange, you'll come with me to a certain place." "Can I refuse?" "Probably not," Shen Weixiu smiled. "..." A thoughtful look appeared in Tianyan's eyes. She glanced at the flowers and herbs she had painstakingly cultivated in the courtyard, then nodded. "Fine. Let's go." "Oh?" The corner of Shen Weixiu's mouth curved slightly, his squinted eyes brimming with interest. "You aren't even going to ask where I'm taking you?" Tianyan replied impassively, "Doesn't matter." "Heh..." Shen Weixiu shook his head and slowly turned around. "Then let us be off." Before leaving, Tianyan did not forget to close the gate behind her. The two made their way down toward the hollow between the hills. Shen Weixiu glanced at the girl behind him and said unhurriedly, "It seems you care quite a bit about that Jinghe." "Doesn't matter." Tianyan cast a glance at him. "If you want to do anything to him, you'd better torture him thoroughly—just make sure you don't kill him." Shen Weixiu smiled. "Do you think I'll believe that, saying it now?" "Believe it or not. Up to you." Tianyan shook her head. The two walked until they reached a densely wooded hollow when Shen Weixiu suddenly said, "We're here." "Here?" Tianyan surveyed her surroundings, a thoughtful glint in her beautiful golden eyes. "So, why did you bring me here?" "I will take you out of the Qionghua Realm from here." Tianyan looked at him, golden eyes flickering. "Take me out of the Qionghua Realm? Why?" "Because the Meishen cherry tree requires your constitution." A look of sudden realization dawned on Tianyan. "So you've already obtained the Meishen cherry tree?" Shen Weixiu's squinting eyes carried a lazy smile. "Naturally. I'd advise against resisting, but if you wish to try, go right ahead." Tianyan glanced at him, her voice crisp. "Being so arrogant, how have you managed to stay alive this long?" "Lady Tianyan, this is called confidence." "It makes no difference to me." "..." Shen Weixiu narrowed his eyes into slits, a hint of displeasure surfacing. "So there's no room for discussion?" "No room for discussion...?" Tianyan murmured upon hearing those words. The corner of her eye twitched slightly. Taking a deep breath, she suddenly flashed a toothy grin. "Shen Weixiu, do you know something?" "Know what?" "Because of a certain bastard, I really hate it when people say that to me." "Heh, you hate it?" Shen Weixiu retrieved a longsword from his Sumeru ring and stared at Tianyan with a squinting smile, enunciating every word, "Facing me, it seems you'll just have to endure it." "..." "..." "..." "..." Shen Weixiu knelt on the ground clutching his broken longsword, fresh blood staining his dustless white robes crimson. Tianyan stood quietly in the sky, looking down on the white-robed Dao Palace head disciple, her eyes icy and remote. Shen Weixiu was no pushover, and her own appearance was also somewhat battered. Scorched patches marred the light-red palace dress she wore, and the long sleeve on her left arm was completely gone, revealing a slender arm trembling uncontrollably, faint traces of blood seeping from the skin. "Hss... hoo..." After coughing up blood, Shen Weixiu barely propped himself up, looking up at the girl suspended in the void, and grinned. "Lady Tianyan, you really are strong..." Tianyan looked down at the Dao Palace head disciple and commanded crisply, "Continue what you were saying earlier." Shen Weixiu shook his head, stood up, and tossed aside the broken sword. "No more, no more. If I wait any longer, Tianrui probably won't show up anyway..." "Then you are of no use," Tianyan interrupted. Raising her small hand, she instantly formed a hand seal. "Four-Directional Seal." With those words, a square seal formed of golden light materialized above Shen Weixiu! "Fall." Tianyan waved her small hand downward. The zhang-long seal crashed down toward the crown of Shen Weixiu's head. Shen Weixiu's eyes flashed sharply, and arcs of lightning burst across his entire body! And then, the golden Four-Directional Seal passed straight through Shen Weixiu's body without any resistance! At that moment, Shen Weixiu's body seemed to lose all physical form. Dao Charm: Lightning Transformation. Tianyan narrowed her eyes slightly. Transforming one's body into an element—at profound levels of mastery, one could transform not just into lightning, but into any of the five elements. Seeing this, Tianyan uttered a single word: "Blink!" Her figure flashed rapidly as she drew back. Yet Shen Weixiu had no intention of continuing to fight this madwoman. Without the slightest hesitation, he transformed into a streak of lightning and shot toward the horizon! "..." Tianyan. Tianyan's chest heaved slightly in silent irritation. With a flash of her figure, she set off in swift pursuit. *** Xu Yuan's blade swept across; time seemed to freeze. Crimson blood sprayed through the air, Tianrui's pale-gold eyes brimming with disbelief. Gripping the jade sword, Xu Yuan watched as the sword trail—like splashed ink and spilled water across midair—slashed across Tianrui's flank, nearly bisecting his torso at an angle, the severed internal organs within the wound in plain view! And following that earth-shattering strike, a blood-colored spiraling bone drill instantly coalesced beside Xu Yuan. Xu Yuan did not relax in the slightest. His intent-soul expanded immediately, blanketing a radius of a hundred zhang. He had already witnessed Tianyan's ghostly death-substitution technique twice. Although he still did not understand how to disrupt its activation, he had developed a few precautions against it. The instant the corpse vanished, a singularly unique fluctuation of Source Qi would emerge somewhere nearby, followed by the practitioner's true body appearing at that spot. Yet this time, there was no sign of the death-substitution secret technique being triggered; the surrounding Source Qi remained terrifyingly still. *What is happening?* *Why hasn't the Holy Son of the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion activated his death substitution?* Thoughts flashed by in the span of a spark. The next instant, the spiraling bone drill at Xu Yuan's side turned into a streak of bloody light, darting straight for Tianrui's brow! Yet the bone drill abruptly froze just a few centimeters from Tianrui's forehead. Immediately after, a suffocating, bizarre fluctuation began to radiate from Tianrui! Tianrui's pale-gold eyes stared at Xu Yuan, utterly devoid of emotion. Dao Charm Secret Technique: Reversion. Without any warning, Xu Yuan watched as everything before him began to reverse. It was as though a rewind button had been pressed on the world. The blood that had sprayed from Tianrui's body flowed backward; the blood-ink sword streak that was on the verge of dispersing in the air solidified once more, then was steadily erased stroke by stroke; the vivid blood floating in the air and pooled in the jade sword's fuller flowed entirely back into Tianrui's body; after the blood came the cleaving wound across his flesh, then his clothing, and finally that layer of purple-gold light. Everything rewound to half a second prior. Xu Yuan's pupils constricted slightly. Almost instantaneously, he realized what this was. This was the "Dao" that Tianyan had repeatedly emphasized. The chasm-like gulf between third and fourth rank lay precisely here. Without a moment's hesitation, Xu Yuan slashed the jade sword horizontally once again. Blood-Ink Jade: Circular Dance. "Blink." The ink-wash sword arc struck empty air. Tianrui's figure reappeared more than ten zhang away. Standing suspended in the void, Tianrui fixed his golden eyes on Xu Yuan, his voice exceedingly cold: "You do not match the reports." Xu Yuan sighed softly, holding the jade sword Thousand Thorns while mentally cursing Tianyan up and down. That woman obviously knew what "Dao" Tianrui cultivated, yet she just had to keep it to herself. Drawing a deep breath, Xu Yuan twirled Thousand Thorns in a circle with his wrist. "Are you trying to say the only reason my sneak attack landed was because this sword art doesn't match my Huanyang Art?" At this point, Xu Yuan gave a faintly mocking smile. "It seems someone leaked all the intelligence on the Qionghua Sect's younger generation to you. No wonder Shen Weixiu had such an easy time killing Senior Brother Li and Bai Fan. Tsk, tsk... hard to guard against a thief within the house, isn't it?" Intelligence truly was crucial. Just like a moment ago: if Tianrui had used the death-substitution technique instead, he might very well be a dead man by now. Xu Yuan was not overly panicked that he hadn't managed to finish Tianrui in one blow. Because the other man was leaking qi. Source Qi was bubbling uncontrollably out of Tianrui's body—a sign that his instantaneous Source Qi consumption had been far too immense, damaging his internal meridians. At the third rank, one had merely comprehended the Dao; one was far from wielding it like an extension of one's own limbs. Had he encountered Tianrui at the second or even first rank, the target of his reversion might have been Xu Yuan himself. Imagine preparing a devastating ultimate attack, then using Dao Charm to revert your foe to a specific location the moment you unleashed it. Forced to take it head-on with zero defenses—just thinking about such a combo was enough to send a chill down one's spine. Leveling his jade sword at Tianrui, Xu Yuan chuckled and said, "No matter. Let's see if you, the Holy Son of the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion, can force me to use my own Dao Charm." Tianrui's pale-gold eyes grew intensely grave. "You know two kinds of Dao Charm?" *Huh? What two kinds of Dao Charm?* Xu Yuan's expression didn't waver in the slightest as he smiled lightly. "Who knows? Why don't you try and find out?" "..." Tianrui dared not act rashly. He merely stared at the man before him and let out a long breath. "Phew... It was I, Tianrui, who underestimated your Qionghua Sect." The intelligence was wrong. This Jinghe was overpowered to an absurd degree; without even employing Dao Charm, a single move from him had inflicted severe injuries. With that in mind, Tianrui's gaze swept toward the distant battle at the edge of the sky. Shen Weixiu was currently being chased all over the place like a stray cur. Shen Weixiu's chances looked bleak as well. It seemed Tianrui needed to figure out a way to escape... Xu Yuan did not give Tianrui much time to catch his breath; he slowly raised his hand. With his motion, over a dozen crimson spiraling bone drills instantly formed around him, their tips gleaming with an eerie cold glint. He swept his hand down. The dozen or so bone drills immediately transformed into streaks of scarlet light, hurtling toward Tianrui! At this point, Tianrui dared not use the "Divine Shield" True Word to tank any of Xu Yuan's attacks. Unleashing the "Blink" True Word, he shifted several meters to the side to dodge. Seeing this, Xu Yuan chuckled inwardly. Now that they had sparred so often, even Tianyan knew better than to dodge his Blood Marrow Drills. One had to either shatter them head-on with True Words like "Break" or "Slash," or sever their connection to him using True Words like "Seal" or "Disrupt"—there was no escaping them by simply dodging. With a sharp yank of his hand, the dozen or so Blood Marrow Drills snapped around in a sharp acute angle, continuing their pursuit of Tianrui! Tianrui's pupils constricted slightly. He uttered a single word: "Seal!" "Hah..." Feeling a momentary hitch in his Source Qi, Xu Yuan narrowed his eyes slightly. Lowering his stance, he held the jade sword horizontally across his chest. Quick reaction, but what a pity. Nowadays, even Tianyan didn't dare casually use the "Seal" True Word against him; before casting "Seal," she had to at least hold "Blink" in reserve. Void-Stepping Slash! Tianrui's pupils shrank at the sight. *Here it comes again.* *Where is he?* Tianrui's pale-gold eyes scanned his surroundings rapidly, but found nothing. Just as all his senses were on high alert, Xu Yuan's figure materialized like a specter directly behind him. "Trap!" Tianrui barked out. Xu Yuan's body abruptly grew heavy, but having sparred with Tianyan so many times, he had long prepared a countermeasure. Huanyang Art: Six Yang Astral Qi. Scorching crimson lines rippled outward across Xu Yuan's body, tearing straight through Tianrui's "Trap" True Word. Blood-Ink Jade: Circular Dance. A streak of blood-ink sword light sliced through the air. Unlike the previous time, however, Xu Yuan aimed for the neck. *Swish!* Tianrui's head flew high into the air. By now, Xu Yuan's Source Qi was nearly depleted. He readied his final Blood Marrow Drill, bracing for the other man's death-substitution secret technique. However... There was no death substitution. The head flung high into the air and the spraying blood did not reverse, nor did they vanish. After tumbling in midair for several breaths, they plummeted straight into the mountain forest below. Right at that moment, Xu Yuan faintly sensed a bizarre fluctuation of soul-intent flash and vanish in an instant. Because of that elusive flicker of soul-intent, Xu Yuan lingered in the void on high alert for a long time. Only after confirming that no aura remained did he descend toward Tianrui's decapitated corpse. Touching down among the dense shrubs, sunlight filtered through the withered yellow canopy into the woods, casting dappled light over the headless body resting quietly amid the dead leaves and branches—shadowy and still. Xu Yuan remained on guard, not approaching rashly. Instead, using a Blood Marrow Drill as a medium, he repeatedly verified that the man was truly dead before walking over to the corpse. The bloody, headless body was somewhat nauseating to behold. Frowning to suppress his discomfort, Xu Yuan severed the finger bearing the Sumeru ring with a flick of his sword, then summoned a flame to reduce the corpse to ashes. Sometimes, that was simply how things went. One wrong step... and you were dead. Having finished all this, Xu Yuan took Tianrui's Sumeru ring and probed it with his divine sense. As the Holy Son of the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion, his Sumeru ring was bound to contain substantial intelligence regarding the pavilion. Yet the first thing that greeted his intent-soul was a Meishen sapling radiating waves of soul-intent...