The Outcome Is Decided

Given their Transcendent Realm cultivation, this battle truly ended fast. Within the time it took to drink a cup of tea, it had drawn to its close. Atop the Sword Pavilion, Two figures quietly vanished into the veil of rain. The victor was decided; there was no need to watch any further. Across the sword grounds, wreckage lay scattered everywhere. Xu Yuan knelt on one knee with downcast eyes. The puddles before him reflected his pitch-black gaze, only to be blurred a moment later by ripples stirred up by the falling rain. Deprived of Void Flash's protection, the Karma Sword Domain coiling around him had shredded his meridians in an instant. From the perspective of the living, having all one hundred and twenty-seven meridians severed within his body was already an incurable, mortal wound. He really didn't pull his punches. *So if you can't beat me to death, you really just beat me within an inch of my life, huh?* Drenched to the bone in his fine robes, Xu Yuan grumbled inwardly. During those dozen-odd breaths of mutual attrition just now, he had run through many assumptions, wondering whether his combat approach had been flawed from the start. From beginning to end, he hadn't even deployed a Dao domain. One could say he hadn't gone all out, but one could also say Xu Changge hadn't given him the chance. His Death Dao Domain couldn't be deployed without enough living beings dying, and even if he deployed his Life Dao Domain, he would still be overwhelmed and drowned by the sheer damage of the Karma Sword Domain. Xu Yuan felt he shouldn't have fallen into such a pathetic state, yet with neither side using lethal killing moves, the present outcome was already the optimal solution. Xu Changge was truly strong—unreasonably strong. Having fought up to this point, Xu Yuan finally understood the despair his generational peers felt when facing Xu Changge. You couldn't beat him in close combat, spells couldn't hit him, and you couldn't dodge his Karma Sword. Even in a life-and-death struggle with both Life and Death Dao Domains fully unleashed, Xu Yuan felt there was still a chance he might capsize at Xu Changge's hands. Of course, that probability was minuscule. *Tap.* Right as he was thinking, A Cloud-Treading Boot came to a stop within Xu Yuan's downcast sight. The tip of the Fengyuan Sword tapped lightly against a puddle, sending ripples outward. Xu Changge had rolled up his sleeves. Looking down at Xu Yuan for a breath in silence, he reached out a hand, intending to grab his little brother by the collar and haul him up. In that split second, countless thoughts flashed through Xu Yuan's mind. In the end, they all converged into a single line: *My big brother took the bait after all...* Which meant he had won. With that thought, Xu Yuan slowly raised his eyes. *Rumble—* Deep thunder rolled across the horizon. A flash of lightning illuminated the sword grounds, revealing a pair of eerie, chilling black eyes that radiated death. In the pitch-black rain left behind by the trailing lightning, Xu Changge froze, asking calmly: “You have a second Dao charm?” “...” Seeing his elder brother's perpetually haughty demeanor, Xu Yuan gave no answer. Suddenly, he seized Changge's wrist and drove a fist straight toward his face. Xu Changge analyzed the situation before him. Every meridian in this kid's body should have been destroyed. In theory, he had already lost all mobility. Even if he still had the leeway to use his life Dao charm to heal himself, it would take time. What was this Dao charm? Mid-thought, Xu Changge tilted his head aside to dodge Xu Yuan's heavy blow, yet the punch's trailing wind blasted a circular hole right through his drifting hair. At the same time, Xu Changge took a stutter step back, swung his sword horizontally, and slashed toward the hand gripping his wrist. Unable to react in time, Xu Yuan's hand was chopped clean off. Yet before the severed hand could hit the ground, it dissolved into a wisp of black smoke and reconverged at the stump. Witnessing this, Xu Changge instantly understood why Xu Yuan was still able to move. Creating several tens of feet of distance between them once more, Xu Yuan rubbed his wrist as he stood up from the ground. Staring at his brother with those eerie black eyes, he rubbed his wrist and smiled: “Xu Changge, wouldn't it have been nice to just take that punch honestly and lie down? Just because I can't die doesn't mean I can't feel pain. Hitting so hard is only going to get you beaten up worse in a moment.” Holding his sword in the rain, Xu Changge paid no heed to his younger brother's chattering, asking flatly: “Dual Dao charms of Life and Death?” “Yep.” Xu Yuan shrugged and explained at an unhurried pace, “In this state, even if my body is crushed to powder, I can still reform. It’s the rule of the dead.” Xu Changge exhaled softly. “Yet you don't seem able to use cultivation arts right now.” Xu Yuan hid nothing and laughed. “The dead have no meridians to speak of. Besides, without deploying my Dao domain, this state only lasts a very short time.” “A rather glaring flaw.” “Yeah. That’s why I usually only use it to block instant-death attacks.” As they spoke, Xu Changge saw the black mist in his brother’s eyes begin to dissipate. He wasn't sure what this meant, but it was definitely nothing good—and the scene that followed corroborated his suspicion. As the black mist in the depths of Xu Yuan's eyes cleared rapidly, a pair of bewitching blood-red pupils reappeared. Xu Yuan smiled and asked: “Xu Changge, the Source Qi in your body should have hit rock bottom by now, right?” After a moment of silence, the corner of Xu Changge's lips curled into a faint smile. “Releasing Void Flash in the final breath, enduring the Karma Sword Domain with your state of reversing life into death just to conserve Source Qi?” Xu Yuan strolled lazily around Xu Changge, his blood-red eyes brimming with amusement. “Think it's underhanded?” Standing motionless, wary of an attack that could arrive at any second, Xu Changge said softly: “Your elder brother failed to notice in time. What does that have to do with being underhanded?” Watching the raised Fengyuan Sword, Xu Yuan asked softly: “Even if you can't even maintain your cultivation art, you still intend to keep fighting? You should know very well how much of a boost a cultivation art gives a cultivator.” The blade in Xu Changge’s hand carved a streak of cold light through the rain as he enunciated each word: “There isn't much Source Qi left in you either. Do you plan to use what little you have to cast a spell, or step forward and spar in swordsmanship with your elder brother?” Xu Yuan gave a brazen shrug and smiled. “I'm a qi cultivator. Why on earth would I fight a martial brute like you up close?” The enhancement a cultivation art provided a cultivator was comprehensive: Speed, reaction time, strength. Yet Xu Yuan wasn't falling for it. He had witnessed firsthand just how terrifying his elder brother's swordsmanship techniques were. Even with the Blood Yuan Heart Calamity Art backing him, Getting close Was guaranteed to leave him beaten black and blue like a pig's head. Xu Changge looked slightly regretful and warned: “Then you only have one chance.” Both of them had reached the end of their ropes. Xu Yuan was slightly better off, but the Source Qi within him was running low as well; a single spell was already his limit. Even as they spoke, The auras of both brothers shifted abruptly. Xu Changge looked as flawless as jade, his figure standing with sword held upright seemingly blending entirely into the rain, revealing not a single opening. Surging gusts of air roiled around Xu Yuan, sending falling raindrops reversing upward into the air. The air fell dead silent, the patter of rain fading from earshot. Xu Changge lowered his stance, holding his sword ready to take this final spell head-on with his bare flesh. Yet just then, he saw Xu Yuan leisurely pull a blood-brown wooden token from his robes. “Wait, when did I ever say conserving Source Qi was to hit you with a spell?” As his words fell, Source Qi surged into the Blood Death Talisman. In an instant, The blood-colored engravings on the token's surface flared with dazzling brilliance, bursting into a sky of blood qi before Xu Changge's stunned gaze! The corner of Xu Changge's eye twitched. But realizing the spell wasn't particularly strong, he had barely breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Xu Yuan pull out a second wooden token from his robes, Followed by a third, A fourth... A fifth... “...” Xu Changge.