Flames Spent

As his voice trailed off, the apricot-yellow radiance was still spreading outward. Fear had already crept into several of their hearts. Daoist Zhuang held the Lihuo in his hand, watching Li Zhouwei standing motionless with his halberd, and suddenly realized the man was catching his breath. His heart jolted, and he barked, "Strike quickly! That magical artifact he just used is far from ordinary! He must be weakened right now!" His shout instantly stabilized their resolve. Trading glances, the cultivators drove their magical artifacts forward together, advancing rather than retreating as they surged toward the man before them. Daoist Zhuang pinched an incantation gesture and stood firmly in place. Bringing two fingers together, he drew the fire into his dantian, his heart torn between terror and greed. Truth be told, Daoist Zhuang was not among the disciples personally trained by Changxiaozi; he had joined halfway through and did not even possess a Daoist moniker, let alone any true loyalty toward Chengyan up in the Great Void. Yet his eyes were sharp. Amidst the billowing Lihuo earlier, he alone had clearly seen that Li Zhouwei had deployed a magical artifact. 'Such an extraordinary Lihuo artifact... It must be exceptional... If only I could take it for myself...' At this moment, it was Daoist Zhuang who harbored the fiercest killing intent. Under the guise of righteous resolve, he had rallied the group, but Li Zhouwei smiled for the first time. Sweeping his halberd horizontally, he parried two incoming artifacts with a ringing clang as the Lihuo Banner rose behind him once more. The group clashed again. After the fierce melee just now, Li Zhouwei indeed appeared somewhat drained of magical power. The spiritual radiance cascading from above bore down once more, surprisingly suppressing this ferocious opponent again. While the battle raged below, Baibinzi hovered in the sky with tearful eyes, gnashing his teeth. An area-of-effect spirit artifact like the Yongjing Xuanhuan was already mentally exhausting to wield, and doing so with merely a Foundation Establishment cultivation only magnified the difficulty. Sustaining the Yongjing Xuanhuan had already drained far too much of his spiritual sense, leaving him barely able to spare a hand for anything else. Yet swept up in grief and indignation, he no longer cared whether a Real Person could intervene. His eyes went wide with fury as he poured all his magical power—and even his vital essence—into the spirit artifact. Empowered by such a surge of magic, the Yongjing Xuanhuan finally unleashed a fraction of its true might. The oppressive spiritual light grew increasingly dense, gradually suppressing even the dark flames on Li Zhouwei's halberd. Hard-pressed on all sides, Li Zhouwei suffered several wounds in quick succession. Baibinzi watched with mounting gratification and channeled even more of his power into the ring. Suddenly, a small grey pouch at his waist jerked violently. A talisman within seemed to activate, bursting into flames with a loud pop. A brilliant azure light flared, and a stream of golden light shot out from the crown of Baibinzi's head. His mind cleared in an instant; the brief blankness in his head gave way as confusion receded swiftly. "Not good!" Looking at the frenzied expressions of the men below, he felt a sudden chill race up his spine. Before the talisman's effects could fade, he struck the Yongjing Xuanhuan with a palm. The spiritual light overhead shifted immediately, and the spirit artifact reverted to its original form, dropping into his hand. His face grim and his limbs weak, Baibinzi quickly formed a hand seal and descended. Seeing that the spiritual radiance was no longer descending, Li Zhouwei knew his opponent had not taken the bait. Though he felt a twinge of regret, the halberd in his grip transformed abruptly. The surging dark flames grew several times more ferocious, and from between his brows, the Shangyao Fuguang erupted once more. The old cultivator before him was just preparing to retreat when the Solar Yingli Technique flared violently, transforming into several beams of white light that ensnared him. He was slowed by only a single beat, yet the halberd was already crashing down under immense wind pressure. *Boom!* Both of the old man's arms were instantly pulverized. The Shangyao Fuguang streaked forth and blasted a fist-sized hole through his head, sparks and flames dancing within—the contents roasted through. 'A pity...' This burst of Shangyao Fuguang had been unleashed far too hastily, its power far inferior to before. As the remaining cultivators scrambled back in haste, Li Zhouwei did not pursue them. Instead, he drew back his weapon and remained suspended in midair. Baibinzi rode the wind down. Daoist Zhuang, furious at Baibinzi's abrupt retrieval of the spirit artifact, was on the verge of erupting when Baibinzi warned coldly, "The talisman given by the Real Person was triggered! Just now, we were either swayed by karmic mandate or bewitched by a divine ability or spirit artifact. Fall back at once!" At these words, a chill shot straight to Daoist Zhuang's head. Terror seized his heart: 'How could I have coveted his belongings?!' Baibinzi backed away several paces, bitterness surging within him after all. The original plan had never been as simple as just the Yongjing Xuanhuan. The Yongjing Xuanhuan was a spirit artifact made for neutralizing spells and toppling profound arrays, originally intended to handle the Li family's vast numbers of cultivators and dozen-odd Foundation Establishment figures, breaking arrays at the critical juncture so Li Zhouwei could not flee... What had truly been prepared for Li Zhouwei was the Shanming Dongyue Suo! That spirit rope could bind and entangle, specifically countering weapon arts. Combined with the Yongjing Xuanhuan, it would have left Li Zhouwei no chance of survival... 'Who could have foreseen... that things would come to this!' Gazing at Li Zhouwei standing firm with his halberd, Baibinzi's eyes gradually lowered, filled with deep bitterness: 'In today's affair, is it just our Changxiao? Those wishing harm upon Li Zhouwei are far more than one or two.' He could only bury these words in his heart, not daring to voice them aloud. The Yongjing Xuanhuan in his hand glowed faintly. His mouth twitched, but in the end, he said nothing and rode the wind away. In the sky, the crane continued to circle and wail mournfully amid the soaring Lihuo. Li Zhouwei planted his halberd and slowly closed his eyes. The golden-eyed man wiped away the blood at the corner of his mouth and stepped down from the sky toward the ground, one pace at a time. A glint of moisture flickered at the corner of his eye, only to vanish into steam upon the red-hot soft armor, Yuane. *** The Great Void. The void was pitch-black and undulating, yet there was a faint gleam of light. In the darkness sat a low table, beside which a middle-aged man in Daoist robes sat cross-legged. His hair and beard were half-white, and he appeared gentle and approachable. On his back was a precious sword sheathed in Geng Metal, radiating subtle slivers of light. Opposite this sword cultivator sat a man clad in brown robes. He looked rather honest and unassuming, waiting respectfully at the side with his head bowed in silence, as though awaiting instructions. "Senior Li... what do you think...?" Though respectful, the brown-robed man looked uneasy. He hesitated before asking, and the sword cultivator across from him finally raised his brows, casting him a glance. "Think what?" The brown-robed man immediately fell silent, sitting at the side with suppressed grievance. The sword cultivator cast his gaze downward to study the scene from the Great Void for a while, waiting until the several nearby Violet Palace figures had dispersed before speaking: "Fellow Daoist Chengyan, I couldn't care less how freely you throw your weight around on your own turf. But running all the way into my Sword Sect's territory to flaunt your might and try to kill a descendant of our sword immortal—that breaks the rules." 'Was that my doing alone...?' Chengyan felt bitter, but replied, "I acted without proper thought. I merely intended to invite that young friend to my Changxiao Gate so that I might inquire through him about word of our Great Real Person. I did not expect it to escalate into such an ordeal, making our sect appear in the wrong. "It was truly my lack of discretion as a junior. I apologize to Senior here... please do not take offense." Real Person Lingmei raised his brows, which instantly took on a razor-sharp edge. The sword cultivator replied, "Bullshit."