*Boom!*
The golden grand formation swayed faintly, rattling the forest until leaves rained down like a storm. The youth in white lay flat on his back upon the ground.
*Boom!*
Li Xijun listened silently. Once he was certain that Situ Mo was engaged in battle with Kongheng and had no attention to spare, he braced both hands against the ground and pushed himself upright.
A white glow flowed through Li Xijun's eyes, showing no hint of pain. Channeling his dharmic power with both hands, he pressed down on the dazzling, gold-radiating Dinglin Spike and drew it out inch by inch.
He was ordained under the talisman of Bright Frost Pine Ridge, which kept him perpetually calm and composed. The crisis had been dire, and the Dinglin Spike had struck with lightning speed, but Li Xijun’s reactions had been just as swift.
His eyes possessed the ability to shatter illusions and pierce through falsehood, allowing him to anticipate the trajectory of the Dinglin Spike. Activating the River-Crossing Torrent Steps, he had maneuvered deftly to dodge his vital points. Although the spike had pierced clean through his torso, the wound was not fatal.
His talisman qi circulated with utter serenity, his expression remaining completely placid. As he extracted the long spike, a spark of doubt crossed his mind.
'Even so, the Dinglin Spike is a Foundation Establishment magical artifact; its power should not have been this weak... Even if I dodged my vitals, it ought to have left me gravely wounded and incapacitated. Did Kongheng intervene?'
While pondering, he had fully pulled the Dinglin Spike free and wiped away the blood. The spike in his hands was about seven feet long, covered in ridges and gleaming with golden brilliance. It writhed violently in his grasp, struggling to break through the air and flee, requiring a great deal of effort for him to keep it pinned down.
After slapping several spirit-sealing arts onto it, Li Xijun finally freed a hand to treat his wounds. He smeared on topical medicine and swallowed an elixir pill, letting out a breath as sixty percent of his strength was restored.
The Dinglin Spike fluttered twice in the air before tumbling onto the ground, quivering faintly. Li Xijun's thoughts turned rapidly.
'This spells trouble... Situ Mo is a core descendant of Tangjin Gate. I don’t know if Kongheng can handle him.'
The Quanwu Mountain Range beneath his feet sat right in the center of the State of Yue. Whether to Lake Wangyue, the Xiao family, or Xuanyue Gate, it was at least several days' journey away. Calling for reinforcements was impossible.
Li Xijun turned back toward the golden grand formation. White qi welled up within his eyes, and the glittering golden barrier gradually grew indistinct, slowly revealing the scene inside.
*Boom!*
Kongheng held his bronze Buddhist staff, releasing golden light to ward off Situ Mo's magical artifacts. His dharmic light leaned toward white, gentle yet surging with immense power, while Situ Mo’s dharmic light was razor-sharp and dense. The two golden lusters clashed violently, letting out deafening rumbles.
As Li Xijun pushed the mystical power of his talisman qi to its peak, a figure veiled by mystic patterns and spiritual mist came into view.
'This...'
The black-robed middle-aged man wore a solemn countenance, carefully standing in a remote corner of the formation. The blue-white sword glow in his hand had gathered to an absolute zenith, flickering incessantly as he watched for a single flaw in Situ Mo.
'Second Uncle?!'
Li Xijun breathed a long sigh of relief, finally understanding why the Dinglin Spike's power had been so muted. Feeling far more at ease, he stepped firmly onto the bizarrely shaped artifact and layered spell after spell upon it.
'So he had already stepped in to protect me!'
***
Inside the golden grand formation.
Kongheng comforted Li Xuanxuan, just as unperturbed. The moment the grand formation had risen, Li Yuanjiao's voice had already sounded in his ear. Kongheng's earlier surprise had not been entirely due to the secrets Situ Mo disclosed.
With Li Yuanjiao secretly lending a hand, Kongheng naturally was not worried that anything had happened to Li Xijun. The blow the boy had taken had looked horrific, but through Kongheng's eyes as a Shakya cultivator, it was no grave catastrophe.
Razor-sharp golden light came rushing toward his face. Kongheng swung his Buddhist staff to deflect Situ Mo's probing strikes, inwardly sighing in admiration.
'He is truly cautious, having shadowed us the entire way...'
Although Kongheng possessed trump cards of his own—incapable of slaying the enemy, perhaps, but more than sufficient for self-preservation—he had never feared Situ Mo and had felt confident he could keep both companions safe. Yet he could not help but marvel at Li Yuanjiao's prudence, thinking to himself:
'He feared scaring Situ Mo away, so he even kept his own kin in the dark... Given Senior Xuanxuan's panicked look, he clearly had no idea, which naturally kept Situ Mo from noticing anything amiss.'
Across from him, Situ Mo tested him with two strikes. Yet the monk before him was as placid as still water and steadfast as a mountain, solely focused on defense. Situ Mo sneered coldly.
"You actually found a bald donkey to serve as your dog."
Situ Mo knew that Buddhist monks wielded bizarre methods and dared not lower his guard. Three golden shields hovered around him, shielding him tightly. Gripping his saber as he observed, he pondered for a moment, then formed a hand seal and barked softly:
"Come!"
Outside the formation, the Dinglin Spike suddenly began to thrash violently, rolling frantically against the earth. Li Xijun had been on guard against this all along. Having plastered it densely with spirit-sealing talismans, he held it down with his foot, pressed two fingers together, and unleashed a chilling light.
Fourth-rank spell, Tujun Sunflower Light!
True to its reputation as the highest-ranking spell of the Li clan, the Tujun Sunflower Light immediately cast a brilliant white radiance. Yin-cold qi poured forth, freezing the Dinglin Spike solid. The icy chill severed the pull of dharmic power, suppressing the spike completely.
Inside the formation, Situ Mo's expression shifted. Li Xijun was merely a Qi Refinement cultivator and could not possibly withstand his artifact; he should have perished under the Dinglin Spike long ago. Now, not only had the boy survived, but the Dinglin Spike had also stopped responding entirely. Situ Mo's heart skipped a beat, sensing that matters were slipping out of his control.
Yet Li Xuanxuan's previous reactions had truly shown no hint of pretense, and Kongheng's shock had been genuine as well. Having lived under someone else's roof since childhood, Situ Mo possessed a shrewd and scheming nature; he could easily distinguish truth from falsehood, which left him momentarily hesitant.
Seeing Situ Mo's hesitance and putting it together with Kongheng's composure, Li Xuanxuan finally realized what was happening after the fact. A look of relieved delight surfaced on his face, which looked all the more glaring in Situ Mo's eyes.
Situ Mo's gaze flickered as he reached a decision. Reaching into his robes, he retrieved a talisman, clasped it between his palms, and began casting.
Kongheng naturally could not stand idly by. Raising his bronze Buddhist staff, he was forced to shield Li Xuanxuan and could not advance to attack, so he could only disrupt Situ Mo with golden light from afar. But he was adept at defense rather than offense, and his attacks could not break through the golden shields in the slightest.
Situ Mo shot him a mocking glance. With a flick of his wrist, he released six streaks of light that circled back and landed on his own face, settling like starlight across the Zan Zhu, Tong Zi Liao, and Cheng Qi acupoints. A golden radiance gradually welled up in his eyes.
In a duel of life and death, Situ Mo was naturally not so foolish as to call out his technique. However, Li Yuanjiao, who stood nearby, had read the *Clear-Sight Spiritual Pupil* and knew that these acupoints were crucial nodes for ocular techniques, realizing that Situ Mo had sensed something.
'What a pity! His magical artifacts are formidable, and he never exposed a single opening!'
If he remained hidden any longer, he would likely be discovered. Li Yuanjiao had no choice but to seize this split second. Drawing his sword from its sheath, sword light surged across the void as the Lunar Crescent Sword Arc bore down on Situ Mo's face.
*Clang!*
The blue-white sword glow flared abruptly. The spell in Situ Mo's hands ceased without warning. Instead of being frightened, he looked pleased; the golden saber at his waist had long been gathering power, and it leapt forth with a sudden burst. He laughed:
"I knew it!"
Li Yuanjiao's sword glow deflected, knocking aside Situ Mo's golden shields only to clash against the saber qi Situ Mo had long prepared. He could not help but admire inwardly:
'How cunning!'
Situ Mo had halted his spell at will while secretly storing saber qi, clearly calculating that Li Yuanjiao would be forced to strike. It was entirely possible that he had never cultivated an ocular technique at all, merely putting on a show to force any hidden enemy into the open.
"It really is you! Li Yuanjiao!"
Though Situ Mo had baited him into striking, the power of the Lunar Crescent Sword Arc still far exceeded his expectations. The saber qi in his hand held out for only an instant before shattering like dry weeds. Situ Mo barked:
"Decree!"
Before his voice had even faded, the three golden shields appeared before him, while he shifted several zhang sideways in a flash and coughed up a round red pill. The pill spun once, dissolving into smoke and vanishing.
"A spell of Tangjin Gate!"
Li Yuanjiao sighed. Before Situ Mo could even crack a relieved smile, he felt a sudden chill behind him as a grey-green jiao serpent materialized, snapping its jaws straight toward his neck.
*Clang!*
Li Yuanjiao knocked the three golden shields aside, while the jiao serpent was repelled by the protective radiance emanating from Situ Mo's dharmic robe. Situ Mo formed a seal, unleashed golden light from his palm, and shattered the serpent with a single strike, snarling fiercely:
"What a Lunar Crescent Sword Arc!"
Before his words finished echoing, three streaks of light surged before him, bright as the moon, whirling through the air as they nimbly darted forward. They circled relentlessly between his three golden shields, slipped through the gaps, and struck at his upper, middle, and lower vitals.
Situ Mo was startled. Golden markings surfaced across both of his hands as he snatched upward and downward, yet both grasps caught only empty air.
These three streaks of light were swift and agile, weaving tightly against his body like three vipers that had slipped into his clothing. He had no time to form seals or cast spells, left with no choice but to let the three sword glows crash against him.
The golden Daoist robe on Situ Mo's body flared with light once more, spewing a plume of white qi that neutralized the three sword glows. It forced Li Yuanjiao's assault to come to naught yet again. Only then did Situ Mo let out a breath, dripping with cold sweat as he spat resentfully:
"Good... good... What exceptional swordplay!"
A dark-green jiao serpent rose again beneath Li Yuanjiao's feet as sword qi churned in his grip. He felt helpless inside:
'I likely won't be able to take him down... My grasp of the Threefold Moonstream is unrefined; it has agility, but lacks sufficient power... What a shame.'
Situ Mo formed hand seals and pressed forward, trading tentative blows with him. For a time, saber qi and sword qi crisscrossed and collided, erupting in continuous concussions.
Kongheng was truly unsuited for offense. The dharmic radiance cast from his Buddhist staff extended merely a zhang around him. Striking out with golden dharmic light did nothing more than slightly distract Situ Mo, achieving little else.
'Tangjin Gate has stood in the State of Xu for countless years, once a mighty sect that clashed daily with Qingchi... Its foundations are truly deep. Though it has fallen into decline, it remains exceedingly difficult to handle.'
First, Tangjin Gate's heritage ran deep; second, Situ Mo was no simple opponent. Having lost the element of surprise, Li Yuanjiao had already expended the most devastating opening moves of his swordplay and could no longer overpower him.
Sure enough, Situ Mo waved his hand to scatter two arcs of sword qi, sneering coldly:
"After that single sword strike, what else does your clan have to show? You merely lucked out with a sword immortal forebear, clawing your way into the ranks of prominent clans in barely a century—nothing more than upstarts..."
Even as he spoke, his movements showed not the slightest hesitation. Wielding his Foundation Establishment artifact to deflect Li Yuanjiao, he executed six hand seals in rapid succession. Finally, bringing his palms together, he hooked his ring fingers behind his middle fingers to lock around his index fingers while pressing the remaining three fingers flush together:
With a muffled *pop*, a streak of golden light erupted from Situ Mo's palm, morphing into a finger-sized pointed blade. It circled once in the sky, then streaked forward with thunderous speed, rending the air with a piercing howl.
Situ Mo knew the Li clan inside and out, but Li Yuanjiao knew nothing of him. A sharp sense of danger flared within Li Yuanjiao, a chill running down his spine. Tapping his brocade pouch, he summoned a large brown shield.
Six-Stone Cloud Plate!
The golden blade was simply too fast; Li Yuanjiao had no time to retrieve any talismans, only able to pour his entire pool of dharmic power into the shield as the dark-green jiao serpent coiled around it as well.
*Bang!*
A colossal force surged through his hands, and the Six-Stone Cloud Plate rang with a resounding boom. The golden glint pierced through in an instant. A jolt of sharp pain tore through his wrist, and he gritted his teeth, stumbling back.
*Wuuu...*
The Six-Stone Cloud Plate let out a mournful wail. A bloody hole had already been punched through Li Yuanjiao's wrist. Before he could inspect the injury, the golden blade had already circled around behind him, darting straight toward the back of his heart.
Ahead, after releasing the golden blade, Situ Mo paused for only a single breath before charging forward with his saber raised, cleaving downward with golden light. With a small hole punctured through the Six-Stone Cloud Plate and the golden blade sending chills toward the back of his heart, Li Yuanjiao found himself in perilous straits.
Li Yuanjiao instantly pulled his sword back and turned, barely parrying Situ Mo with the Qingchi Sword while raising the Six-Stone Cloud Plate to block the golden blade.
*Skrrch...*
Though the golden blade was no longer as terrifying as when it first appeared, it still knocked him off balance. Staggering back several paces, Li Yuanjiao enveloped himself in the Mystic Pattern Spiritual Mist to open up distance, yet the golden blade wriggled like a venomous viper, curving around to strike once more.
*"Om Hum!"*
Gripping a talisman in his hand, Li Yuanjiao raised his sword to defend, only to hear Kongheng chant from behind. The golden blade was forcefully halted in midair. Furious and startled, Situ Mo roared:
"You monk! Must you oppose me at every turn?!"
With Kongheng’s intervention, Li Yuanjiao’s Mystic Pattern Bottle had already activated, cloaking his presence until he vanished without a trace.
Situ Mo immediately grew cautious. Li Yuanjiao was no ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator; a sudden ambush from him posed a grave threat. Casting a sinister glance at his surroundings, Situ Mo formed another seal, and the golden blade obediently returned to his palm, vanishing from sight.
'I should have cultivated an ocular technique earlier... What a pity I spent all my time mastering this Jinzhao Blade. Otherwise, all three of them would have died today!'
He exhaled deeply. Since he could not secure a kill, Situ Mo was utterly unwilling to continue taking risks and wearing down his own condition. Suddenly, a wave of panic surged through his chest, accompanied by the premonition of looming catastrophe.
'Not good...'
Without lingering to make any idle threats, he waved his hand. The formation flags scattered throughout the woods rose into the air and flew back into his grasp, causing the golden grand formation to dissipate entirely.
Golden light welled beneath Situ Mo's feet, surrounded by several golden shields for protection. Though he possessed a tall and imposing stature, his words carried a sinister chill:
"We shall see about this!"
Before his voice had fully settled, he transformed into a streak of golden light and soared away, vanishing over the horizon in the blink of an eye.
"Granduncle!"
Only then was Li Xijun able to enter, calling out twice in succession. Li Xuanxuan gripped his shoulders, pulled him close, and inspected him thoroughly from head to toe before letting out a long breath:
"You nearly scared me to death!"
Li Yuanjiao's face was somewhat pale. The light on the Qingchi Sword in his hand faded as the sealed sword intent subsided. The wound on his wrist was as large as an eye, its edges exposing stark white bone.
Without a word, he beckoned with a hand, drawing a stream of water from the deep pool to fill the wound, then smoothed it over with his other hand, making it appear whole and uninjured once more.
Knowing this was merely a superficial concealment, Kongheng gently advised:
"Injuries like this must not be neglected. Please take some spirit pills and medicine to heal the wound promptly. If delayed, it may harm your Dao path."
Since Kongheng had just rendered immense assistance, Li Yuanjiao's expression remained cordial as he replied:
"Thank you for coming to my aid, Master."
Beside them, Li Xuanxuan checked Li Xijun's wounds once more before hurrying over to his second son's side, examining him with great concern. But because Li Yuanjiao possessed a Foundation Establishment cultivation, the methods he had used prevented the old man from discerning the severity of the injury. Li Xuanxuan could only fret and mutter:
"Oh dear! Oh dear..."
Li Yuanjiao glanced at him in mild surprise, the corner of his mouth curving upward for a brief instant before he turned back and lamented:
"What a shame... That man possessed formidable methods; we didn't gain any real advantage..."
"Uncle!"
Li Xijun smiled, retrieving a gleaming, golden magical artifact from his storage bag. Offering it up with both hands, he bowed his head and said respectfully:
"That might not be entirely true."
Chapter 410