All Is Fair in War

*Clang!* The crisp ring of clashing steel echoed, instantly spraying a burst of brilliant cherry blossoms in the pitch darkness. Unsurprisingly, the second sneak attack using Void-Stepping Slash paired with the Blood-Ink Jade sword technique had failed. Seeing that the strike had failed to land, Xu Yuan did not hesitate for an instant, immediately darting backward as if treading upon a shooting star. In a battle of this caliber, often the very moment swords crossed was enough for both sides to know the victor. He was no match for Tang Ruofu. Even though the man had stabbed himself first for the sake of so-called fairness, Xu Yuan was still no match for the madman before him. The instant their blades had met just now, Xu Yuan had immediately sensed twenty-three slashes already taking shape in his opponent's hands. Even a single breath's delay, and those slashes would have rained down upon him like a torrential tempest. Yet what baffled Xu Yuan was that out of those twenty-three slashes, only nine came from the sword in Tang Ruofu's hand, while the remaining fourteen all converged from every conceivable direction. *Is this a Dao domain?* Leaping back over thirty zhang, Xu Yuan halted his momentum and asked, "Was that your Dao domain just now?" "What do you think?" Tang Ruofu did not pursue him either. Standing in place with his sword, he threw the question back, then looked at Xu Yuan with a hint of disappointment in his voice. "Kid, does your Sword Dao really only consist of these two moves?" As he spoke, Tang Ruofu's tone took on a thoughtful edge. "Still, judging by the strength of the Dao Charm in that sword strike of yours, it doesn't seem like you've achieved Dao fusion. An Origin Realm cultivator without Dao fusion... You seem to have quite a few secrets, kid." "..." Xu Yuan had no intention of answering. With a flourish of his sword shedding falling blossoms, he stared placidly at his opponent. "Mister, you sure talk a lot. Even if I haven't fused with the Dao, it's more than enough to kill you." "With that half-baked Meishen Dao Charm of yours, or with those sword techniques that haven't even grasped Intent?" Tang Ruofu's eyes narrowed slightly at his words, a smirk curling at the corner of his lips. "If you're hoping to trigger the charm poison inside me, you can forget about it. With my cultivation, even if I'm grievously wounded, suppressing it for half a day is child's play. How do you plan to withstand me during that half day? "If you've got any other lethal tricks, you'd best bring them out quickly. I can wait for you to cycle your arts." "..." Xu Yuan tightened his grip slightly around his sword hilt. *Loves to mess around so much—who do you think you are, Kakarot?* "Ruofu." While Xu Yuan was pondering, Xia Qing, standing by the lake shore, suddenly called out to Tang Ruofu, saying in a cold voice, "Stop playing around. End this quickly; this is nothing to be careless about." Tang Ruofu glanced at Xia Qing and cursed under his breath, "Shut up, woman. I know what I'm doing. Don't bother me." "..." With that, he turned his gaze back to Xu Yuan and chuckled. "Women don't understand the romance between men like us. Forgive her, kid. But don't be suspicious—I have a condition for letting you prep your move." "Oh? What condition?" "I'll take one sword strike from you without moving from this spot. In exchange, you have to tell me why the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion and the Taiqing Dao Palace want you two alive, and why the Charm God tree seed cannot be destroyed." "..." Xu Yuan narrowed his eyes. *Heh, so that's what he was angling for.* *In that case, the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion didn't reveal to these people that the two of them could be refined into a Meishen tree spirit...* *Still, how much of his words could be trusted remained to be seen.* After a moment of silence, Xu Yuan chuckled and retorted, "In a world ruled by sects, mister, how did a reckless brute like you manage to live this long?" Tang Ruofu did not mind the sarcasm at all. He replied with a laugh, "Simple. Those who wanted to kill me have either vanished without a trace or become ghosts under my blade." "..." A glimmer of suspicion surfaced in Xu Yuan's eyes, and he did not reply right away. The world was crawling with heroes—or rather, schemers. With the man's reckless conduct, the reason he had survived up to this day was definitely not as simple as he claimed. He surely had something to rely on... Seeing Xu Yuan remain silent for a long moment, Tang Ruofu impatiently dug his ear with his little finger. "Kid, do you agree to my proposal? If not, I'm coming right at you." Meeting his gaze for a second, Xu Yuan gave a slight nod. "Why wouldn't I?" With that, Xu Yuan flipped his hands, putting away the steel blade. In its stead, he drew out a tree branch about an inch thick and three feet long. The instant she saw that branch, Xia Qing pressed her hand directly against the strings of the guqin at her side and barked, "Tang Ruofu!" She recognized what Xu Yuan held in his hand: A branch of the Charm God tree seed. Tang Ruofu was grievously injured right now, and Meishen Dao Charm had already entered his body. If it were stirred up once more by the beguiling power of the Charm God tree seed, the two of them might truly capsize at the hands of these two juniors. The lazy expression on Tang Ruofu's face instantly turned grave, yet he still stood by his choice. "Shut up. I know what I'm doing." "..." Watching the two bickering below, a flash of amusement flickered in Xu Yuan's heart. The boundless Source Qi of the Origin Realm began to circulate. Treating the branch as a sword, he poured all of his Source Qi and Dao Charm into the Charm God branch in his hand. As Source Qi surged in incessantly, specks of pink luminescence diffused around the Charm God branch... As a naturally born spiritual seed, the Charm God tree seed could bear a certain degree of Source Qi influx, but it had not undergone quenching and refining, nor was it engraved with inscriptions or formations. The constant influx of boundless Origin Realm Source Qi brought it to the brink of collapse. One strike. After one strike, this Charm God branch would scatter into smoke and dust. Gripping the "blade" that could only be swung a single time, Xu Yuan spoke softly, "Mister, are you sure you still want to wait for me?" Tang Ruofu grinned through his stubble and let out a hearty laugh. "I, Tang Ruofu, have always been a man of my word. I hope this sword technique of yours won't disappoint me, and I hope you'll honor your promise once you're defeated." "Heh. If you survive, I will naturally tell you, mister. The Charm God tree seed will be yours as well." "That's enough for me. Hurry up and prepare; your technique doesn't seem fully formed yet." "I hope you won't regret it." "..." With those words, the Bellsound Black Domain fell utterly silent once more. Amidst the silence, layer upon layer of technique patterns quietly began to stack within Xu Yuan's meridians. This was a derivative sword technique he had developed based on Qin Mo's Void-Stepping Slash so that he would not hold Tianyan back. As a skill born of exploiting a bug in *Cangyuan*, Void-Stepping Slash was exceptionally useful—calling it a divine skill wouldn't be an exaggeration in the slightest—yet its flaws remained significant. In the real world, there were no cooldowns. As long as the Source Qi in one's dantian was abundant enough, and as long as one's meridians were tough enough, one could unleash all manner of techniques and moves however one pleased. However, having no cooldown did not mean having no casting time. The casting of every technique was founded upon circulating Source Qi through one's meridians, and the most fatal defect of Void-Stepping Slash was that its activation time was far too long. Even with Xu Yuan's current cultivation in the Origin Realm, it took at least around a tenth of a second to complete. A tenth of a second was very short, yet in battles at the Origin Realm and above, it was already enough to decide life and death. Just like his second strike against Tang Ruofu earlier. He had teleported over with Void-Stepping Slash, but could only retreat using the movement art from the Pure Yang Art, simply because his opponent wouldn't give him enough time to execute a second Void-Stepping Slash. And the sword technique he was now charging up allowed him to stack the patterns of Void-Stepping Slash within his body in advance, achieving the effect of consecutive, instantaneous releases. One layer... Two layers... Four layers... Seven layers... In the dead silence, Xu Yuan suddenly raised the Charm God branch in his hand and warned, "Here it comes." As the words fell, The first instant— Xu Yuan appeared silently behind Tang Ruofu. Yet before Xu Yuan could swing the Charm God branch, his opponent's slash struck first despite moving second. The moment Xu Yuan's figure manifested, seven invisible slashes were already cutting toward the position where he had appeared. Without pausing, Xu Yuan vanished again. The second instant— Xu Yuan appeared directly above Tang Ruofu, and what greeted him this time was a blade glinting with cold light. The blade was fast as lightning; as it sliced through space, one could see distorted ripples in the air with the naked eye. Against this sword strike, the sheer gap in raw strength between a Semi-Saint and the Origin Realm prevented Xu Yuan from dodging completely. While the sword was still three inches away, the sword qi upon it had already torn through the flesh at Xu Yuan's waist and abdomen. Yet before it could pierce clean through his body, Xu Yuan vanished once more. The third instant— Xu Yuan's figure appeared directly outside Xia Qing's Dao domain. But before he could deal with the residual sword qi invading his body, an opening tore through the nearby Bellsound Black Domain. And in the very next moment, Tang Ruofu's figure was already right before him. Staring at the stubble-faced, middle-aged man before him, Xu Yuan's pupils shrank violently. *Impossible...* *Given the injuries Tang Ruofu displayed earlier, even as a Semi-Saint, it's impossible for him to maintain such lightning-fast speed.* *Unless this Sword Madman had been bullshitting him from the very beginning.* *Yet Tianyan hadn't warned him earlier, which meant the stab the man gave himself was genuinely real.* Realizing this, Xu Yuan finally grasped the truth. *It's a Dao domain...* Yet at that moment, the spirit sword in Tang Ruofu's hand transformed into a rapid flurry of sword strikes like a viper flicking its tongue, swiftly seizing upon Xu Yuan's momentary lapse in thought. *Buzz—* Void-Stepping Slash. Teleporting once more to pull a hundred zhang of distance, Xu Yuan landed atop a towering tree trunk and projected his voice clearly: "I see. Those invisible slashes from before were merely your sword techniques—*this* is your actual Dao domain." Tang Ruofu pursued him across the void, the gale of sword qi around him reducing countless treetops to dust as his laughing voice rang out: "You're pretty quick on the uptake, kid. "As long as I, Tang Ruofu, draw breath, the Xingwu Dao Domain ensures my combat prowess remains forever at its peak. And facing me at my peak, you won't even have a chance to swing that strike in your hand." "..." Cursing inwardly at the two scheming old bastards, Xu Yuan found Tang Ruofu's sword already resting against his neck. This was the gap in absolute power. The absolute disparity between a Semi-Saint and the Origin Realm. Looking at him, Tang Ruofu chuckled. "Don't blame me, kid. All is fair in war. Want to keep fighting? If we drag this out any longer, my wounds might force me to go for the kill." "..." Xu Yuan glanced at the blade at his neck, then suddenly let out a soft laugh, transmitting via intent-soul: "Mister... Now... I don't have any burden on my conscience anymore." "..." Tang Ruofu's pupils constricted abruptly, and Xu Yuan's figure had already vanished. Three consecutive Void-Stepping Slashes without the slightest pause, crossing several hundred zhang in an instant—carrying the Charm God branch, Xu Yuan plunged straight into the Bellsound Black Domain...