Repayment

This man was none other than Helian Wujiang! The ruler of the State of Tiefu and the lord of the Helian clan’s resurgence wore a somewhat gloomy expression. The escaping lights behind him were closing in rapidly, and Li Zhouwei’s interception had thrust him straight into grave peril... Back then, when he had gone to Mount Cai on Wei Xuanyin’s orders, he had indeed spoken a few polite pleasantries about seeing the might of the imperial descendant. It seemed this White Qilin had harbored a grudge over the injuries Li Ximing suffered for a long time, and had come today precisely to make trouble for him! ‘This boy... They call him a White Lin, but he has the cunning of a Crimson Cicada. Those few times by the river, I never saw him utter any harsh words, yet when he catches you off guard and bites, it chills one to the bone!’ Things having reached this point, Helian Wujiang merely exhaled a long breath. Raising his long whip with one hand, he tore back his trailing robe with the other. Channeling his baleful qi, he tapped his toe lightly against the ground. Boundless black shadows surged instantly from behind him, blanketing the area. The surroundings seemed to transform into a demonic realm of baleful mist as over a hundred strange peaks of baleful qi manifested, soaring into the sky. ‘Rakshasa Sea!’ ‘Incessant Kalpa!’ Knowing this could not end amicably and with pursuers right behind him, he exerted his full strength from the very first moment. Baleful winds surged within the demonic realm, and currents of black vapor wove between the baleful peaks with ear-piercing shrieks. As the churning baleful gale swirled around Helian Wujiang, Li Zhouwei had already raised his halberd and swept across the sky. The long whip in Helian Wujiang’s hand snapped upward with extreme swiftness, snaking through the air like a venomous serpent. Amidst the lightning-fast golden light, it keenly lashed onto an object, causing his arm to sink heavily—it had hooked straight onto Dasheng! Helian Wujiang was exceptionally confident in his long whip. Few of the spiritual materials used to forge it could not withstand the test of sharp spiritual tools. Binding Dasheng gave him a semblance of ease and poise. Yet Li Zhouwei violently wrenched his halberd upward, pulling the spiritual tool whip taut in an instant. This sudden jerk caused Helian Wujiang to stiffen with a momentary delay. Meanwhile, the gold-and-white Shangyao Subduing Light surged forth from between Li Zhouwei’s brows, transforming into a beam of golden light that pierced through everything across this domain of pitch-black baleful winds! Li Zhouwei jerked his head, and that gold-and-white Shangyao Subduing Light swept across like an incomparably sharp, hiltless spiritual blade. It cleaved the baleful qi spanning heaven and earth almost in two; one baleful peak after another was severed midair, collapsing into churning cascades of falling baleful mist amidst continuous detonations. Helian Wujiang’s face darkened. Still refusing to release the long whip, light subtly shone at the space between his brows. He abruptly threw his head back and bellowed: “Hold!” The lord of Tiefu was by no means an easy opponent. As his shout faded, three circular black runes formed a ring between his brows, and his eyes turned deep black. Rolling black fire and white gold tumbled around his body in a blaze of radiant balefulness, while a colossal baleful shadow rose behind him. This baleful shadow rode a carriage, clad in bronze armor and gripping a long saber, with an iron elixir suspended between its brows. Wherever the carriage traversed, black fire and white gold manifested, and the Changhe flowed backward, instantly sending the entire sea of baleful qi into a boil! Only then was a woman forced down from midair. Draped in gauze robes with a pure and innocent face, the pursuer chasing him turned out to be Daoist Nun Xiangchun. At this moment, she furrowed her brows slightly, and the precious pearl behind her lit up once more, freezing all the baleful light in place as ripples of Female Water light undulated outward. Li Zhouwei had long noticed her presence; sweeping aside the baleful sea with the celestial light from his brow had been meant to give her an opening to sneak close to Helian Wujiang. Unfortunately, Helian Wujiang’s dao methods were profound, and he likely possessed great attainment in his eyes as well, seeing through it in a single glance. Meanwhile, the baleful shadow spanning the sky bore down with a churning turbid torrent, its long saber plummeting from above to cleave toward Li Zhouwei! Only then did Helian Wujiang let go of the long whip, pulling back to defend against the Female Water light of the woman before him. Ningwuchen! Boom! Li Zhouwei reversed his halberd. Tumbling black light flowed along the braced weapon in all directions. With a single thought, he channeled the Solar Yingli Technique at the same time. Churning sunlight and Lihuo fire circled around him, coursing up his body until they spread onto the blade of the halberd, illuminating the surroundings in brilliant radiance. Clang! The halberd reversed instantly, shifting in a flash from a parry to a sweeping strike. Within a single breath, it clashed against the baleful shadow dozens of times, blasting out cascades of celestial light and Lihuo fire. Li Zhouwei took a step back first to evade the brunt of the shadow's assault, spun Dasheng in a full circle like a golden lightning bolt streaking across the sky, and empowered it with Adherence, smashing down upon the baleful shadow with a tremendous crash! The massive silhouette blew apart with a roar amid interwoven light and balefulness. Riding the momentum, Li Zhouwei planted his halberd upright, already bringing his other hand before his chest. Pointing two fingers together, he instantly summoned multicolored clouds across the heavens, and the celestial light shone clear and bright: Audience at the Heavenly Gate! Daoist Nun Xiangchun cultivated Female Water. She was adept at self-preservation, healing, and fleeing, but her offensive techniques were inferior even to Murong Yan’s. If she possessed any truly restrictive methods, Helian Wujiang would not have been able to retreat all the way here... In that fleeting instant, Helian Wujiang had already transformed into a whirlwind of baleful gale to flee. Yet Audience at the Heavenly Gate immediately beamed its radiance down from above, forcing him to dissolve his art wind. Baleful qi churned as his form flickered and dissolved in midair. Just then, an old man emerged from the churning baleful winds. He looked exceedingly aged and was only at early Violet Palace, draped in lustrous white magical light. Yet he held a jade bell crackling with purple lightning that appeared extraordinary. The moment he appeared, a rolling thunderstorm descended, eighteen bolts of lightning striking down simultaneously! Boom! Helian Wujiang had already dodged twice, and the flashing lightning was astonishingly swift. In the end, he could not avoid this strike. He let out a muffled grunt amidst the rolling thunder, coughing up a mouthful of blood and sending the surrounding baleful qi boiling. The ruler of Tiefu was finally enraged, his voice low: “Yuming...” Li Zhouwei’s golden eyes flickered slightly. He immediately recognized that the newcomer cultivated Yuzhen. Watching the surging brilliance of the thunder, his thoughts stirred: ‘An early Violet Palace cultivating Yuzhen, and a mid Violet Palace cultivating Female Water... No wonder he was able to reach this place with such composure...’ Before Helian Wujiang could say more, a beam of golden light pierced through the churning lightning. With his blazing spearhead pointing straight forward, Li Zhouwei had already charged in! Jun Daowei! Dense, golden scale-like markings instantly surfaced across the young man’s face. Empowered by Jun Daowei, the baleful qi Helian Wujiang hastily summoned was shredded like tattered cotton, failing to offer the slightest resistance. At this hairsbreadth moment, Helian Wujiang’s hand finally pressed against the short saber at his waist. Clang! A pitch-black phantom hue flashed across the sky. With a resonant clang, the black short saber collided with Dasheng’s blade. He had refined this spiritual tool for many years, and its power was truly terrifying; back then, it had nearly severed Li Ximing’s dharma body. Now, clashing suddenly against Dasheng, it instantly threw the polearm high, bending and snapping it back as yin light spilled forth, repelling the weapon. Meanwhile, Helian Wujiang had already drawn the dharma sword from his waist, stirring up churning baleful qi! Rumble! Just as the radiant balefulness flared, a heavy, dim grey light swept in. Ningwuchen operated, arresting the spell he had just begun to cast midway. Protected by her precious pearl, Daoist Nun Xiangchun blew forth a gust of grey wind, while lightning gathered once more on the other side! Ningwuchen was truly sinister. Seemingly dispelled, it had in fact lurked quietly in secret. Arriving so abruptly, it instantly threw Helian Wujiang’s plans into disarray, stirring a deep sense of crisis in his heart: ‘If I hesitate any longer... disaster will surely strike!’ The three black runes between his brows lit up again. The rolling baleful gale accumulated over years of cultivation burst forth, forming a dense barrier before him. With a light flick of his sleeve, two white-glowing jade boxes suddenly rode the great wind, tumbling outward in different directions: The spiritual items he had obtained! This brought the two pursuers to an immediate halt. Their clans held no grudge against the Helian clan to begin with; they had merely been fighting over spiritual items. Now that the other party had conceded, why would they wish to offend him to the death? They immediately leaped into the air to seize the spiritual items. Helian Wujiang, without the slightest hesitation, drove the Rakshasa Sea with all his might to delay Li Zhouwei as long as possible! In an instant, his figure dissolved into churning black baleful qi. Taking advantage of their deliberate slackening, he acted decisively, braving the falling lightning and rolling Female Water to bolt away! He had shifted only a few body lengths when cascading celestial light sank from the sky accompanied by multicolored clouds. Yet Helian Wujiang had endured the lightning and Female Water precisely to reserve strength for this moment. His blood qi and baleful qi erupted together, shifting the entire Rakshasa Sea several dozen zhang sideways and narrowly dodging the descending Heavenly Gate. Though his face was turning pale, he moved with extreme speed through the gloom, on the verge of escape! This maneuver was indeed wondrous, yet it was just like Helian Wumeng back then. If Helian Wujiang could anticipate Mingyang’s suppression arts based on experience, Li Zhouwei had likewise seen the Helian clan’s techniques before; how could he be unprepared? Drifting strands of wispy white light immediately descended from the heavens. Guangming Tiantao! Li Zhouwei had already descended on rays of light beforehand, crashing into the baleful qi. His eyes shone brilliant gold, locking eyes with him through the dense mist. Helian Wujiang was proficient in spells, but his method of moving through baleful qi in close combat was inferior to Helian Wumeng’s; how could he hide? That single glance struck a chill into the depths of Helian Wujiang’s heart: ‘Not good!’ In order to escape the encirclement of the two pursuers, he had already forfeited all initiative, controlled at every step. His spiritual saber had only just returned to his waist, its wondrous effects inactive, and having just used his shifting art, his baleful light had been seen through. At this awkward juncture, he nonetheless showed no panic. His eyes instantly lit up, emitting a blood-red light. The armor over Helian Wujiang’s chest parted at once, revealing a blood-red chest cavity. As black blood surged, his heart suddenly flipped around, revealing a sharply defined black-and-white demonic eye on its reverse side: “Freeze!” This demonic art was Helian Wujiang’s proudest trump card and one of the pillars of his repeated victories and resounding fame across the northern desert. Its power and subtlety were formidable; back then, Li Ximing had suffered a severe loss to it. Now lighting up abruptly, the eye upon the heart immediately cast forth intermittent golden immobilization light! This golden light struck Li Zhouwei with extreme swiftness, yet his golden eyes remained cold and tranquil! Golden, scalelike arcane patterns emerged upon his cheeks, imbuing his face with boundless majesty. The rolling golden light washed over him like a gentle breeze against his face; not only did it fail to immobilize him in place, it actually made the patterns on his face shine even brighter! Jun Daowei—riding the momentum of change, returning to the true path. Helian Wujiang’s invariably successful demonic art had finally failed. While he had considered that its effect might be muted, he never imagined that such a wondrous spell could be rendered entirely useless! For a moment, it had turned into an act of reckless folly! Caught off guard, his pupils dilated in shock. His lips had barely parted, his devouring art not yet unleashed, when the golden halberd thrust straight through. Rumble! Baleful qi erupted toward the sky, interwoven with dense, billowing black smoke. Helian Wujiang’s face blanched abruptly as he coughed up blood. Dasheng’s blade pierced clean through his body, its golden halberd head protruding from his spine in dazzling brilliance. His front was nearly severed at the waist, and where the blade struck was none other than his sea of qi! At the same time, the golden Shangyao Subduing Light flared! The intense bright light burst forth in an instant, smashing directly into him at point-blank range and detonating a burst of Mingyang radiance precisely against his forehead. In a flash, flesh dissolved to reveal ghastly white bone, melting the skin and meat of more than half his face into rising wisps of baleful qi. Bang! Surging baleful qi skyrocketed, shrouding everything within a pitch-black sea of baleful mist. Blood light converged with entwined gloom. The weight upon Li Zhouwei’s halberd suddenly vanished; only gusts of baleful wind formed from Violet Palace blood swirled around the weapon, wailing and shrieking. Amidst this darkness, however, a streak of white light leaped out, speeding away in the opposite direction. Li Zhouwei did not pursue. Reaching out slightly, he flipped his halberd, hooking an object into his hand before the two incoming rays of magical light could snatch it. With a casual pat, he dispersed the Sha Qi divine ability upon it and tucked it into his sleeve. ‘He is indeed a decisive figure, willing to take the brunt of all my attacks without regard so long as he kept his mind steady enough to activate his escape technique... He even calmly threw out spiritual items to divide the attention of the three of us...’ Suffering this halberd strike would certainly be agonizing for Helian Wujiang. Dasheng had run him through, detonating his sea of qi, and the amplified Shangyao Subduing Light had dissolved over half his face... Li Zhouwei calculated coldly: ‘This repays most of the wound he inflicted on Granduncle back then... It is only a pity that the rank of the Shangyao Subduing Light is ultimately not high enough to blast his entire head to pieces. The dharma bodies of our two families are not directly comparable either; he got off easy...’ The dharma bodies of cultivators from the Sha Qi lineage were not physically formidable, but their strength lay in how their forms could aggregate and disperse at will; even if injured, they were easier to heal. Yet no matter how easily healed they were, his strength certainly could not recover in the short term, not to mention that the suppression and containment forces within the grotto-heaven made healing even more difficult. ‘He will hardly have any share in the subsequent harvest.’ Even as these thoughts crossed his mind, the Manifestation of Sun and Moon within Li Zhouwei’s body shone brilliantly, slowly releasing divine ability magic power. Although the fierce battle had been brief, he had used spells and divine abilities in quick succession, consuming nearly twenty percent of his magic power. With a Violet Palace divine ability in his possession, after merely a moment's respite, his own magic power began recovering, working in tandem with the Manifestation of Sun and Moon to surge at a remarkably rapid pace. More importantly, the Manifestation of Sun and Moon was steadily advancing his dao attainment, conjuring various Xuan Sceneries of Mingyang in Li Zhouwei’s mind and causing him to drift into brief reverie. So as not to appear unusual, he turned his head at once and smiled: “Fellow Daoists!” The two Violet Palace figures emerged together. Daoist Nun Xiangchun had naturally recognized him early on. Compared to her cold aloofness toward other cultivators, her attitude toward him was relatively gentle, though a look of shock still lingered in her eyes. She gave a slight nod: “Many thanks to Fellow Daoist for lending a hand... We each have our gains now.” Xiangchun naturally knew Helian Wujiang’s strength. Her previous pursuit had mostly been out of resentment that he took all the spoils for himself, and she had been considering whether to use a trump card as deterrence to negotiate for benefits. She had never expected things would go this far. Suppressing the unusual look in her eyes, she turned slightly and introduced: “This is Master Yuming of the Jiangbei Shen clan.” Li Zhouwei had long heard of his dao title. He was an elderly master and an alchemist of the older generation, clearly at the limit of his lifespan and here to try his luck. Li Zhouwei bowed politely and replied: “The Shen clan has friendly ties with my family. I have long heard of your renowned name.” With Xiuyue’s mountain sealed, Jiangbei had been an unsettled region for all these years. That the Shen clan had managed to protect itself to this day proved they clearly possessed capability. Master Yuming replied with a smile, while Daoist Nun Xiangchun smiled slightly and asked: “I have heard quite a bit of news. Heading due east from here, there is a grand array spanning the sky where many Violet Palace cultivators have gathered... I wonder if Fellow Daoist... might be interested?”