Phantom Skyshift was another famed technique, originating from Myriad-blood Sect. For millions of years, some claimed that this technique was second to none including dao lord and imperial merit laws.

Phantom Sacred Child had his title because he trained in this school and achieved near perfection.

Though he wasn’t the strongest genius, he was definitely the most elusive due to this technique. It made him impossible to spot, a perfect characteristic for assassination. If he wished to pursue this wish, he would definitely be among the best ones.

However, due to his noble upbringing, he looked down on this type of conduct. Despite being able to go into stealth and kill his foe, he always fought in a direct manner, never ambushing anyone without warning. This choice actually earned him some admiration from others.

As the three surrounded their opponent, Phantom pulsed in and out of existence, ready to deliver a fatal blow at any moment.

Hu Ben looked possessed by a war god with his Archaic Sun Battle Art. Just one move seemed enough to pulverize Li Qiye.

As for the third prince, the jadescale whip coiled around him like a venomous serpent inching its head outward to scout. Its target was Li Qiye’s throat.

They made ample preparation and would go all out at the start of the fight.

The crowd held their breath; some even had both hands on their head from being too nervous. Everyone knew that once started, it would be a ferocious fight. Who would survive the first move?

“Fellow Daoist Li, we are ready. You can summon your weapon now.” Phantom spoke while still pulsing chaotically. His speed seemed to be too fast for people’s eyes to keep up as he kept on switching locations.

“Take out your weapon! We will not fight an unarmed man!” Hu Ben shouted.

The third prince only scowled and didn’t say anything. He naturally would prefer to fight a weaponless Li Qiye. Alas, this obviously couldn’t be said out loud.

All eyes were on Li Qiye, curious about his choice of weapon. Previously, he wore the armor from Wish Ward and made history by destroying two factions. 

This armor has been returned to the ward but everyone knew that he had earned the hug mouse’s grace. He certainly had other treasures in his possession.

Of course, some focused on the ancestral saber as well since he had used it to kill Li Xiangquan and Zhang Yunzhi.

“A weapon.” Li Qiye smiled and reached into his pocket to dig around: “Let me see, hmm, is there any suitable one…”

This searching process kept both the crowd and his opponents on edge.

The latter worried that he might take out a world-renowned weapon or treasure. That would be a terrible development.

However, he took a while and couldn’t find anything, shaking his head and giving up next. He begrudgingly said: “Sigh, nothing suitable. It’s tough being poor, can’t even come up with anything good.”

Since he took so long, everyone assumed that he would take out something incredible. Their expectation was betrayed.

“Hmph, you want to fight us without a weapon?” Hu Ben scowled.

This would be extremely advantageous for them but from another perspective, extremely humiliating as well - something unacceptable for someone as prideful as Hu Ben. Only the third prince desired this condition.

“Of course not.” Li Qiye smiled: “That would make it seem as if I’m looking down on you three so I still need to find a weapon. What should I use…” He started looking around.

The crowd became confused because he had a perfect weapon already - the saber hanging by his waist. What was he trying to do?

“This isn’t bad.” He walked up next to a tree and broke a branch off. He brushed the leaves off and returned to say: “Good, this willl do.”

The trio’s expression soured while the crowd was astonished. He really wanted to use a branch against them? This was more insulting than if he were to use his bare hands.

“Is this a joke? He must be trying to insult them.” Someone said. 

“It’s too disrespectful towards the opponents.” One youth who was a fan of Phantom became indignant.

As for the big shots, they had no idea what Li Qiye wanted to do. He had no reason to insult the trio any further. This seemed like a waste of time and effort.

“You really wish to fight us to the death using that branch?” Phantom coldly asked.

“Why not?” Li Qiye smiled.

The third prince felt that he was purposely aggravating and insulting them. But nonetheless, this wasn’t an actual big deal at all and he preferred it this way.

“So be it, we’ll accept.” The prince immediately said to prevent Li Qiye from changing his mind.

Li Qiye ignored the guy’s plan. He scratched his head, seemingly pondering. After a while, he said: “As I was carrying the statue earlier, I saw some runes and found them quite interesting. I guess this is the perfect time to test their power.”

Having said that, he glanced briefly at Wei Qianqing. Since she knew his goal in taking away the statue, she understood the implication right away.

Albeit shaken, she focused up and came closer to the statue, wanting to focus all of her thoughts on listening.

“Runes on top of the mountain? Maybe they’re left behind by a dao lord?” Someone from the previous generation was moved to hear this.

After all, few managed to reach the pinnacle. The runes up there must be left behind by one of the four dao lords.

During the crowd’s contemplation, Li Qiye pinned the branch onto the soil. It looked like a young plant afterward.

“Yan Ba Mi...” He started chanting Buddhist scripture next while forming a mudra with both hands, looking as if he was holding a bottle.

As the chant went on, liquid-like holy light manifested from thin air in the area between his palms where the bottle was supposed to be.

This little holy light wasn’t much in the holy ground. After all, every inch of the land contained this affinity and majestic power. Even new cultivators could start summoning this light.

However, once the holy light touched the branch pinned to the ground, leaves immediately grew from the initially stripped branch.

They weren’t ordinary leaves since they had a Buddhist glow, looking like the leaves of a bodhi tree.

The branch itself also grew at a rapid speed, eventually becoming a tree taller than a man.

The crowd watched with astonishment, not aware of Li Qiye’s intent. Changing a branch to a tree wasn’t that special. Powerful cultivators could absolutely do so.