The hare leaped and the falcon descended!

The surface seemed to gather a storm at sea. In the next second, a seabed volcano erupted! At this moment, only the sparkling and pure Heavenmend Stone existed in everyone’s eyes.

Xu Yangyi didn’t immediately set into action. He quickly saw one of three cold stars scattered by Greenwall’s Three Swords swiftly darting towards him!

Swoosh…

 This sword point oddly raised an azure lotus. Outside the sword, all time seemed to halt, even giving rise to a trace of stagnation in Xu Yangyi. All that could be seen was a cold light spreading in the night, shooting towards him like chasing stars overtaking the moon!

The dragon wages war for 3,000 miles, sword qi dazzles the Nine Regions!

“Flying Sword Startles Heaven.” A serene expression appeared on Ling Xiaozi’s face, however, it wasn’t a serenity of mood. Instead, it was a kind of amiability, a compliance of fate. Yet under this compliance of fate, everyone who was connected to this sword qi felt their hair raise!

At the same time, Nangong Xiaoran’s gaze suddenly chilled. Both of his hands came together. As they pulled apart again, there were surprisingly threads of golden qi linked between both his hands. They illuminated his handsome face somewhat sinisterly.

“Lost Shadow Of King Chu’s Bow…” In the wake of a swoosh, his entire body was densely covered with a coat of blue feathers. In the span of two seconds, he shockingly transformed into a hawk-headed man. The surface of his feathers were filled with odd talismans. At this moment, all of them were shining. Between his arms and hands, a curved bow nearly two meters long was constructed!

[1]

Thwish!

 Following the bowstring's twinge, a red arrow instantly shot forth! It shouldered a raging flame and even brought a scorched smell to the air!

The two people’s target was astonishingly Xu Yangyi! In a twinkling, everyone present moved into action! Not one person was left behind! Bow and sword launched from both sides, sandwiching Xu Yangyi in the middle. Even if they were still separated by dozens of meters, he felt the supreme spiritual force contained in these two moves!

“They actually consider me as the weakest pushover here, huh…” In Xu Yangyi’s eyes, a wisp of killing intent flashed. The crook of his mouth revealed a faint bloodthirsty smile. “Why?”

Swoosh! 

In the places where Flying Sword Startles Heaven passed, the ground kicked up with an endless soil and wilted lotus leaves! A nearly meter-deep trench appeared on the surface! United as man and sword, Ling Xiaozi relied on the void to resist the wind, flying in the air. Unexpectedly, he could soar two meters high in the air at the Qi Condensation realm! Carrying a peerless charging force, he took hold of the entire sky’s might and arrived. His swiftness even caused his hair to scatter all around in the wind! It was like he was a flying immortal beyond heaven!

His figure was reflected in Xu Yangyi’s pupils, becoming bigger as he approached. It was to the extent that Xu Yangyi could clearly see the thin, gentle smile already on the sword-cultivator’s face. The distance between them… was no more than ten meters!

“HALT!!!” At five meters… Xu Yangyi finally spoke. Following his furious roar, his right fist suddenly rumbled forth! In a flash, a spiritual force not the slightest bit weaker than Flying Sword Startles Heaven thundered out!

Rumble!

 In a fleeting moment, the two divine abilities merged in midair! The area five meters ahead of Xu Yangyi loudly thundered! The dust on the ground surged up by four to five meters! It formed an obstructing wall of dust and sand that was four to five meters tall and ten-plus meters wide!

The trench on the ground, as if it had chopped into an invisible wall ahead, suddenly stopped. After half a second, a whooshing sound pervaded the horizon. In the air, a downpour of dust seemed to be falling down. However, the instant the dust cleared, a sword tip that twinkled more than starlight emerged!

“Nine Revolutions Return To One!” Ling Xiaozi’s face was devoid of sorrow or joy. It was within his expectations that Xu Yangyi was able to resist this move, but his course of action didn’t stop at all. Nine swords pierced forth from nine different places, simply indistinguishable between first or last! Immediately, the nine sword lights transformed into nine types of spirit beasts! The upper halves of their bodies almost coalesced into physical form, yet their bottom halves was fierce sword-light. In the air, sharp howls were made. These sword lights carried several-meter-long tails of spiritual light and charged Xu Yangyi!

He had met his match… That clash of spiritual sense with Xu Yangyi had deeply stung his ego. Greenwall Mountain was one of Daoism’s Three Great Ancestral Halls! As one of the inheritors of the First Mountain’s Four Mountain-Protector Swords, he’d actually been defeated in spiritual sense by a nobody in one of the Eight Great Deadlands!

“Ling Xiaozi!” 

“Junior Brother.” 

At the same time, two voices happened to ring out. Xuan Chengzi fiercely glanced over and said angrily, “The situation is dire!” 

It appeared Ling Xiaozi hadn’t heard. He knew… He knew that this move still might not collapse Xu Yangyi’s defenses!

At the same time, the sword in his hand shined with a radiance akin to seven stars. At peak focus, he closed his eyes and vertically placed the sword in front of him. His hand swiped the sword’s surface and the entire blade swiftly radiated qi everywhere! A several-meter-long aura of white qi jetted forth!

“Eight Trigrams Cave Profound!” As he opened his eyes, a faint image of the Eight Trigrams oddly emerged in both of his pupils. Shortly… a golden manifestation of the Eight Trigrams appeared in front of his entire body! It was several meters long and wide and slowly spinning!

[2]

The sword in his hand coiled with a sword flower. In the next second, he chopped with full power and gave birth to a ray of crimson sword qi! It cleaved open the entire Eight Trigrams! It even formed a five to six-meter-tall wind edge that rushed Xu Yangyi!

Right in the center before Xu Yangyi was a crimson wind edge. On both sides, nine white spirit-beast sword edges revolved around it! This attack shrouded a range of over ten meters! There was no place that he could escape to at all!

As for behind him… Nangong Xiaoran’s red arrow had arrived in a flash! However… events still weren’t over!

One strike! 

Ling Xiaozi knew that he had to defeat this opponent with a single blow. Only then would he have the skill to join in on the other battles. He inhaled deeply and the sword in his hand gushed out with qi. Already, the color turned faint-gold!

“Seven Stars Cupping Fortune!” Following his low chant, this attack traversed like a white rainbow piercing through the sun!

A ray of supremely distant sword-light caused heaven and earth to seemingly brighten in the land of desiccated lotuses. Assuming the shape of a half-moon, the light reached a length of over a dozen meters! It came chopping straight down on Xu Yangyi!

Everyone was dazed. Even Fahui paused for a second. The Dao Sect was of the one the Three Great Sects and one of the Three Great Ancestral Halls. The all-out assault of one of the First Mountain’s Dao-Protector Inheritors caused the winds and clouds to change form in an area of several tens of meters!

“Amitabha…” Fahui’s gaze held a faint glimmer for the first time. This generation’s Mountain-Protectors of the First Mountain… were rather fierce...

Creeaaak…

 From the beginning, Bloodblade hadn’t acted. His seemingly dead coffin finally moved by a hair, and a faintly discernible spiritual sense spread out from within.

Nangong Xiaoran was surprised. He hadn’t expected this. The people of the Three Great Sects didn’t come into the world, but once they did they were actually so formidable! 

Not only him, all the battles paused for a second as a result!

“Junior Brother!” 

“Commander!” 

“Spud!”

Several tense cries suddenly rang out. None had anticipated that a disciple that the Three Great Sects dared to dispatch could actually contend against each of the best of heaven’s pride who were present!

“ROAR!!!” In the wake of an angry howl, a tremendous figure from behind blocked the front of the golden arrow! 

Fang Cheng had demonized in a flash. He was only able to stop a portion of this offensive, though. The three major killing moves coming from Ling Xiaozi were too close! Xu Yangyi had no choice but to personally answer this! As for him… he had to settle the trouble at the rear for his junior brother!

“AWOOO!!!”

A wolf over three meters tall appeared in front of the golden arrow. 

Nangong Xiaoran sneered. “A mantis trying to stop a chariot… Where did this trash run out from?”

But in the next second, he was unable to laugh.

Swish swish swish…

 The shadows of everyone present surprisingly climbed onto Fang Cheng’s body at great speed and formed an armor of shadows!

“This is…” Nangong Xiaoran firmly gritted his teeth. “He’s a Dao-Master Disciple as well! This divine ability is Ancestor Ancientpine’s shadow arts!”

On the border of mortal danger, Xu Yangyi’s gaze caught a glimpse of Fang Cheng.

“Thanks.” All his bodily qi swiftly clambered upwards. If he didn’t have Fang Cheng’s assistance, in a situation with Ling Xiaozi’s three major killing moves added on with Nangong Xiaoran’s arrow, and the Shadowlumen armor having been broken by Nangong Xiaoran’s previous arrow, he would absolutely be wounded! However, just against Ling Xiaozi’s three killing moves, he held sufficient confidence! 

“Falling Moon!” Xu Yangyi shouted in rage. Limitless black light glimmered in his hand, and a simple and unadorned guandao appeared in an instant. “I…” His right arm began to faintly shake. Rays of qi frantically spread forth. “Still haven’t experienced… the feeling of using a magik artifact to wield a divine ability…”

BOOM!!!

 In an instant, golden fire ignited on the guandao!

Ling Xiaozi’s pupils quickly tightened. “He’s… using a magik artifact to drive a divine ability? What grade is this magik artifact? His divine ability is extremely powerful, this magik artifact can support it?”

His question soon gained an answer.

That nameless magik artifact… was completely able to shoulder Xu Yangyi’s divine ability! Furthermore, it wasn’t just this. To his surprise, the strange black guandao… dyed all the flames black in color!

At this moment, Xu Yangyi’s upper-body was crouched slightly low, similar to a cheetah storing power and waiting to take action. His right hand raised Falling Moon forward and an endless surge of black fire burned on its surface. Nonetheless, the fire wreathing his hand was red, forming a powerful contrast of color!

Without a moment’s delay, the three chained divine abilities had already arrived before him! Xu Yangyi took a deep breath and gently spat out four words.

“Ten Cardinals Red Lotus.”

Swish!

 In this instant, sound seemed to fade away. All that remained in the night sky was a flame dragged forth. This blaze was even deeper than night and quieter than darkness.

Space seemed to be torn apart. Ling Xiaozi only felt his heart shiver. In the air, his three divine abilities welcomed this flaming maelstrom that seemingly wanted to devour everything. This conflagration was almost without sound and any temperature.

A black fire-dragon appeared to be like an ink scar painted freely in the night sky. Along with Falling Moon’s soft wave, no sound emerged. Although it was quiet, scorch marks unexpectedly materialized on the surrounding ground!

Here and now, Ling Xiaozi was alarmed in his heart. His five fingers formed seals at great speed, and he soon gasped coldly. “Not good!”

The implicated outcome of the Five Phases Deduction Technique… was that his three divine abilities would actually be defeated?!

How was this possible?!

In this wink of time, he almost doubted the inheritance divine abilities of the Four Mountain-Protector Swords. These sword arts were the First Mountain’s untransmitted secrets! Although his realm was insufficient to fully use their mysteries and profundities, these attacks were actually now about to be extinguished by the blade of a person he’d never seen?

At nearly the same time, he felt a stabbing pain between his brows. He looked towards the black dragon that had charged towards his three divine abilities in shock. This feeling… each transformation of his divine abilities, each bit of strength released… had all been locked down?

Was this even a Qi Condensation cultivator’s magik artifact?!

How could a Qi Condensation cultivator lock down the qi of another’s divine ability?!

A cultivator using a divine ability in any place wasn’t in fact strange at all. However, this was different… Falling Moon… was equipped with its own GPS! 

It would strike where directed!

1. “Lost Shadow Of King Chu’s Bow” This is based off of a story about a King named Chu. He lost a bow that he really liked. He then regained it. Story might seem a little a weird, but its from a Confucius’s 

Book of Sayings

. The idea behind it is to “take a philosophical approach towards gains and losses”.

2. “Eight Trigrams Cave Profound” - I was unsure whether or not to translate “Cave Profound” into English. As you may have noticed many of the names in this book aren’t short and sweet, but are rather a nod to the classic novels of this genre. Cave Profound in Chinese is “Dongxuan”, which happens to be the name of a Daoist god’s (Lingbao Tianzun) palace.

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