“That blue-and-white sword at his waist must be the storied Qingchi.”
Watching the man battling amidst the spiritual radiance of the Yongjing Xuanhuan, Baibinzi let out a sudden inward sigh.
Li Chijing had not belonged to the Sword Sect, nor had he reached the Violet Palace. A century had passed, and sentiment toward the sword immortal had gradually faded. For all these years, there had been no word of any dealings between the Sword Sect and the Li family. In truth, toward this sword immortal who had died young, the Sword Sect mostly felt regret rather than personal attachment.
Yet back when Baibinzi was still in early Foundation Establishment and had been dispatched to guard Changxiao Gate’s properties at the Chengshui Tombs market, he had heard of another man—the sword immortal’s elder brother, named Li Tongya.
And this Li Tongya, the Moon Crescent Sword, had personally slain a Maha, causing a sensation in his day. He was recorded in the Sword Sect’s Chenghua Hall, held up as an exemplar for Sword Sect disciples, praised and remembered by all.
Baibinzi understood clearly in his heart that the Li Zhouwei before him was not merely the Patriarch of the Li family and a descendant of the sword immortal, but the true and legitimate direct bloodline of Li Tongya!
“If such a figure—girt with Qingchi, the side sword worn in succession by a sword immortal and a great virtue—were to be slain by a Violet Palace master on Sword Sect territory... Wanyu would surely erupt in public outrage and shame, and the Sword Sect’s moral banner and sword-cultivator façade would fall to pieces!”
Baibinzi had not received even half a word from Chengyan up to this moment. There was no need to wonder; that Perfected Master had certainly run into some trouble in the Great Void... Yet he was his own sect’s Perfected Master after all, so Baibinzi could only put it charitably in his mind: he was locked in a standoff with the Master of the Sword Sect.
“We cannot count on the Perfected Master...”
Baibinzi lost himself in thought in midair. Beneath the spiritual radiance, dark flames surged furiously. Li Zhouwei had reined in most of his spells; his halberd jabbed forward and thrust back, smearing dark shadows. Using the spell-breaking flames to resist the radiance, he had already held his ground amid the encirclement of the five.
‘What is Baibin dazing off in midair for!’
Yu Nanzi fought with bitter frustration, his chest burning with fury. The young man before him had almost no weaknesses. Leaving aside his formidable spells, his halberd possessed spell-breaking might; a single sweep or thrust shattered flames and spell-light alike. Yu Nanzi could only wield his sword, using his magical blade to harry his opponent.
Beside him, Daoist Zhuang was adept at spells. Usually in the East Sea, his raging Lihuo suppressed enemies with unfailing success, but who could have known he would run into a Mingyang cultivator impervious to fire, who also wielded spell-breaking flames that wore down spells? He could not bring out even half of his full prowess.
Yu Nanzi grew furious at the sight. Leveling his sword horizontally, he pressed two fingers together against the blade, chanting an incantation as talismans shook loose from his sleeves. Daoist Zhuang, having worked with him for years, reacted with lightning speed. He instantly produced a green gourd and shouted:
“Trap him first!”
The cultivators flanking them exchanged glances, each drawing a string of purple water-ripple patterned chains from their sleeves. Clasping their artifacts, they formed seals and chanted incantations.
Li Zhouwei also seized the opportunity to pull his halberd from the mire and quagmire of spells. The flames of the Jiazi Soul Refining Halberd Technique surged upward, finally quelling the five or six gales of Xi Qi that had been churning relentlessly around his body.
It all happened in mere seconds. Li Zhouwei suddenly raised his halberd, the brilliance between his brows erupting forward. As the four others pulled back to unleash their techniques, the final Changxiao cultivator was left to bear the brunt of the calamity. Standing aloft upon the wind, this old man held up a brown-lacquered peach-wood staff, forced to grit his teeth and step forward to block.
Having caught his breath, Li Zhouwei’s offensive became exceptionally fierce. Before the halberd’s edge arrived, Shangyao struck first. The old man unleashed his turtle-shell defensive artifact, and with a thunderous roar, white light and flames blazed furiously across the shell, sending it hurtling backward.
Only then did the halberd thrust forward, dark flames raging as it stirred up a tempest of surging magical power.
With no barrage of spells holding him back, Li Zhouwei struck with full might, golden flames practically leaping in his golden pupils. The old man was scared out of his wits. Raising his brown-lacquered peach-wood staff high, he circulated his Immortal Foundation, and a brownish-yellow current surged forth.
“Rumble!”
How could this old man be skilled in weapon arts? What little spellcraft he excelled at had long been broken, and now he was suddenly hit with an attack like this. Fortunately, the peach-wood staff possessed life-saving measures, and the entire artifact let out a low wail.
“Creak!”
The halberd hooked across suddenly, its crescent-shaped side blade gleaming brightly. The old man felt an uncontrollable, torrential force tear into his grip, and in a flash, the peach-wood staff slipped from his hands, hooked by the halberd and flung high into the air.
“Not good!”
The peach-wood staff struggled frantically in the sky. Being a core lineage member of Changxiao Gate after all, the old man quickly formed hand seals to cast a spell, and the peach-wood staff turned into a brown speck of light, attempting to pierce the air and drill back into his grasp.
“Boom!”
A pure white radiant pass emerged, crashing down upon that point of light with a roar. The spell was instantly shattered by the grinding, suppressive power, revealing the artifact’s true form, which was firmly pinned down beneath it.
‘The Wei-Li lineage commonly uses halberds... not without reason. Combined with this Immortal Foundation, it is truly the Dao of suppression...’
Having lost his artifact, the old man was thoroughly disgraced and disheveled. Fortunately, Daoist Zhuang’s green gourd was already aloft, pouring forth a torrent of white water that cascaded down with surging magical power.
Li Zhouwei instantly felt the magical wind gathered by heavenly light beneath his feet weaken, and he immediately realized:
“A Fushui magical artifact!”
As this surging Fushui swept beneath his feet, before it even reached his body, the magical wind around him had already completely dispersed, leaving only a meager trace of heavenly light beneath his soles to sustain him in midair.
He stepped upon the void, and a jade mountain manifested beneath his feet. The mountain expanded at extreme speed, wrapped in swirling mist, with cranes and ancient trees lifelike and vivid upon its slopes. In less than two breaths, it had planted itself into the water.
Li Zhouwei stood atop Jade Smoke Mountain. This Yuzhen artifact flared with dazzling radiance, forcing the weak water to veer around both sides. Yet out of thin air, two purple-patterned chains flew toward him, seeking to bind his body. Li Zhouwei found dealing with such binding artifacts the most troublesome of all; he could only whip his halberd around to parry them to either side.
“Ha!”
A thunderous roar rang through the air. Yu Nanzi had already drawn his sword. Swishing a mouthful of clear water, he spat it onto the blade with a spray, and a dark blue-green luminescence burst forth from it.
“Swoosh...”
The moment this dark luster parted from the blade, it was as if it took all the sword’s spiritual radiance with it; the Gengjin brilliance previously covering the weapon vanished without a trace, leaving behind only an empty, dim blade.
Yu Nanzi cultivated Zhen Qi and had practiced spells for years, casting them with astonishing swiftness. He simply set the sword aside, drew a jade talisman from his waist, clasped it in his palm, and immediately began weaving the next spell.
Li Zhouwei grew solemn on his end. The Yangli Scarlet Sparrow Banner rolled violently as five-colored Lihuo erupted, temporarily holding back the purple chains on both sides. Thrusting his halberd upward, he struck the dark blue-green luminescence with a loud clang, knocking it out of the air.
The dark luster flickered for a fraction of a second before vanishing.
Li Zhouwei swept his halberd back across, detonating the flanking spells and stirring up waves of spiritual disturbance, while his golden pupils searched the air.
The moment they clashed, he knew the thing was extraordinary—it seemed to be a spell condensed from metallic quintessence, stubborn and difficult to dispel. To make matters worse, spiritual radiance kept raining down from above, severely suppressing his own magic.
Silently swallowing a pill, he used the two dark flame arms behind his back to sweep the halberd into the Lihuo to fend off the two purple-patterned chains. Glancing at Yu Nanzi lurking behind the lines, he stepped forward into the void, and Jade Smoke Mountain beneath his feet surged upward.
“Clang!”
The dark blue-green luminescence moved faster and faster, slipping past Li Zhouwei’s halberd several times. Fortunately, influenced by the suppressive might of Jade Smoke Mountain, it was struck out of the empty air once more.
This mountain of the Yuzhen path came at just the right time, emitting beams of white light that flared brilliantly in conjunction with the suppressive power of Mingyang. Seeing Li Zhouwei’s eyes scouring the air and recognizing his intent to suppress, Daoist Zhuang realized he meant to suppress his senior brother’s dark blue-green luminescence. He hastily stepped forward, stoking his Lihuo.
Maneuvering his magical artifact, Li Zhouwei sent it soaring abruptly out of the weak water with blazing brilliance; yet seeking what was far rather than what was near, it bore down directly atop Daoist Zhuang!
Because Li Zhouwei ignored the other threats, the dark blue-green luminescence found an opening to escape, plunging straight into his back. The scales of his Yuan’e armor instantly stood on end; Li Zhouwei’s light dimmed, and the spell darted far away once again.
Yet this crushing descent scared Daoist Zhuang out of his wits. His spellcraft was profound; in an instant, he dispersed into streaming fire, gritting his teeth in fury:
“Had Senior Brother Yufu not fallen overseas, how could this scoundrel ever act so arrogant!”
Who would have thought that the jade mountain behind him did not pursue him at all, but instead smashed thunderously down onto the green gourd!
‘The crux of the matter was actually Daoist Zhuang’s Fushui artifact. I was already suppressed by the radiance in the sky, dimming my spells, and this artifact scattered my magical wind, leaving me trapped atop Jade Smoke Mountain to be besieged!’
The gourd was not a defensive artifact in the first place. Subjected to the joint suppression of the Immortal Foundation and the magical artifact, it let out an immediate wail, faring even worse than the wooden staff, and was instantly gathered beneath the radiant pass in the sky.
As Li Zhouwei broke free with this stride, no fewer than three spells detonated across his body. The armor upon him flared brightly, every scale humming.
In the next breath, he transformed into dazzling heavenly light, swift as a fish darting through water, vanishing into the golden, shimmering radiance.
The light-shifting transit ability of Yuan’e!
A sudden sense of crisis rose in Yu Nanzi’s heart. The jade talisman in his palm had only lit halfway when he found blinding heavenly light blazing before his eyes, shining so intensely that flames seemed to burst from his face. He had no choice but to abandon the spell, whipping his sleeve to sweep out a dark halo of light.
“Crack!”
In the next heartbeat, the halberd struck the halo. The defense he had hastily deployed was of little avail, quickly shattering into a sky full of flowing radiance. As the halberd’s gleam drove inward, the radiant pass behind Li Zhouwei also came hurtling forward.
Flustered in his spellcasting, with the strike’s residual force not yet dissipated, Yu Nanzi’s feathered robes clanged and hissed with sparks of fire. He could not wait for death. Taking advantage of the other’s spell faltering, his figure vanished from the spot, reappearing several zhang away.
Yet the halberd pursued him relentlessly. Wheeling in a tight arc, its crescent side blade thrust forward once more. Having caught his breath, Yu Nanzi was far more composed this time, flicking a jade bead from his sleeve to block.
Who could have anticipated that the halberd would hook and sweep, slapping against the bead? Li Zhouwei still treated the flying swords and spells chasing him from behind as nothing, not bothering to use the two arms behind him for defense, but rather having them grip the halberd to thrust forward!
“How dare you be so vicious, you demonic fiend!”
Though Yu Nanzi shouted in shock and fury, his legs were already moving. Most of the marvels of his Immortal Foundation were related to spellcraft. Changxiao Gate was a grand lineage of spells; scarcely anyone practiced weapon arts, and the single sword he carried was trained purely for casting magic. How could he possibly engage in close combat? He spun on his heel and fled.
He bolted a step forward, the roaring din of flame and spirit water echoing behind him as spiritual light darted everywhere—clearly Li Zhouwei was parrying the group’s siege. Yet with a thunderous blast, Li Zhouwei actually transited straight out of the flames and charged directly toward him!
The golden-eyed man was now engulfed in fire, the scales of Yuan’e scorched slightly red and shimmering with faint light under extreme exertion. Using Yuan’e to shift into light and close the distance, the incantation on Li Zhouwei’s lips had long been buzzing, and the Shangyao Fuguang between his brows had condensed to its absolute peak:
‘Illuminating the eight directions, all kings pay homage to me... All living spirits look up in reverence; Shangyao is the heavenly sovereign!’
Across three relentless pursuits, Shangyao Fuguang finally erupted into a brilliant white pillar of light as thick as a water bucket. In an instant, Yu Nanzi’s pupils were swallowed by boundless, dazzling brightness.
He finally realized why the youth had pursued him three times without leaving him a single moment to react.
‘We have moved beyond the range of the Yongjing Xuanhuan’s radiance!’
“Boom!”
A gray light shield suddenly sprang up around Yu Nanzi. The searing Shangyao Fuguang washed over the entire shield like boiling earthly fiend qi. Feeling scorching heat consume his whole body, he gritted his teeth and cried:
“Baibinzi!”
His voice was swiftly drowned out by the Shangyao Fuguang, accompanied by pitch-black flames that crashed heavily against the shield with a fierce sizzling hiss.
Confident in the formidable power of the talisman upon him, Yu Nanzi felt no fear; rather, anxious and furious at having had to consume such a precious talisman, a venomous sneer crossed his face.
Yet raising his brows, he faintly glimpsed a speck of gold amid the flickering brilliance.
‘This is...’
In an instant, Yu Nanzi’s vision cleared. He realized it was a palm-sized vial etched with gold-and-red Lihuo patterns, tilting downward.
From the mouth of the vial, a drop of liquid slowly trickled out. It seemed exceptionally viscous, covered in patterns, gleaming with an apricot-yellow hue that struck terror into the heart.
Only now did dread seize Yu Nanzi. He tried to shift his position, only to realize that all the dazzling brilliance around him had been meant solely to imprison him.
“Drip.”
Li Zhouwei abruptly yanked back his halberd. The Dasheng swept out a crescent halberd wind, its intense dark flames smashing the incoming Lihuo and Fushui into scattered streams of light. As the halberd wheeled around, the five pursuing him all took a step back in unison.
“Boom!”
A dazzling streak of apricot-yellow brilliance shot into the sky. The others could not help but squint. The multicolored Salt Lake was reflected as a golden lake, and majestic Lihuo filled the heavens in an instant, causing even the halo high above to dim slightly.
Daoist Zhuang wore a look of utter astonishment, thrown into disarray as the intense Lihuo swept over him, apricot-yellow flames rolling across his robes. Yet because he cultivated Lihuo, he was already the least battered among them. Snuffing out the apricot-yellow flames on his sleeves, he looked up.
As the apricot yellow dimmed slightly, the scene finally revealed itself.
A fierce storm of Lihuo was slowly rising behind the golden-eyed man, apricot-yellow flames sweeping forward from behind him. Li Zhouwei held one hand raised forward, the point of the Dasheng Great Halberd leveled calmly at the five behind him, the arc-shaped crescent core of the halberd emitting rings of radiance.
That speck of dark blue-green luminescence had already lost its spiritual vitality, drifting dully within the crescent core, its originally sharp form baked into an oval as it struggled in vain.
Li Zhouwei stood clad in armor, halberd in hand. Behind him was the radiance of Zhen Qi suppressed by Lihuo. The phenomenon of death was taking the form of graceful cranes; having fluttered gently in the air only two or three times, they rapidly turned into flames and crashed to the earth.
‘Yu Nanzi is dead! A direct disciple of a Violet Palace master, Yu Nanzi, died just like that!’
The lake surface gleamed golden, the morning dawn shone bright. Lihuo rose into the heavens, white cranes crashed to the ground. Amidst the brilliant apricot-yellow glow, Li Zhouwei’s halberd seemed to concentrate all the golden hues of this world, dazzling the remaining cultivators so fiercely they could not keep their eyes open.
And his icy voice resounded across the waters:
“A direct disciple of Changxiao... is nothing more than this.”
Chapter 771