The air currents became chaotic, as if the void itself had been torn asunder, with devils dancing wildly across the sky. Vortices appeared everywhere, alongside collapsing spaces and expanding voids. Within the room, tables, chairs, and wine cups were thrown about—some pushed directly against the walls, others flying toward Gu Xiaosang along with Dan Xiumei’s figure. Some objects were caught between collapse and expansion, between vortices and eruptions, torn apart entirely, with porcelain shards and splintered wood flying in all directions.
Several members of the Wang clan seemed to be shoved backward by an invisible giant hand, unable to resist as they stumbled further and further away from Gu Xiaosang. A sudden sense of desolation and despair filled their hearts, as they felt themselves drifting further from their ultimate home and eternal sanctuary.
“The Luo Demoness!” Wang Zai recognized Gu Xiaosang immediately as she struck, drawing his Sword of Rectitude and slashing downward with a righteous, straightforward strike.
From within the ethereal melody of “The mortal world is like a prison; all beings suffer,” invisible qi erupted, filling the room with a vast and majestic force that expelled discord and suppressed all manner of evil and abnormal phenomena.
Yet around Wang Zai, countless invisible, intangible transparent threads began to rise. They lashed, pierced, entwined, and pulled, weaving a net of heaven and earth that ensnared him.
As the Sword of Rectitude slashed downward, Gu Xiaosang’s “Thousands of Threads, Myriad Nets” technique failed to take hold, instead drifting backward like a phantom. Then it rebounded, swirling like spider silk clinging to one’s body, nearly impossible to shake off.
Wang Zai understood that he was significantly outmatched by the Luo Demoness. Taking a deep breath, he prepared to unleash “Unyielding in Might,” forcefully elevating his power to Gu Xiaosang’s level.
But at that moment, Dan Xiumei was already helplessly flung toward Gu Xiaosang, her sword strike deflected by the chaotic air currents. Helplessly, she watched as that white, jade-like, exquisitely delicate fingertip pressed against her forehead. Her vision reflected Gu Xiaosang’s holy and compassionate face, and her mind momentarily blurred.
She was merely an incarnated form—her thoughts and perspective inherited, but her martial arts entirely derived from the Zhoushan Sword Sect. Even though she could rely on her superior martial cultivation to push the Zhoushan techniques to their peak, she still fell far short of the “Lifeless Finger,” a technique at the level of a Dharma Body. Moreover, as an incarnated form with only six openings, she was no match for Gu Xiaosang, who had opened nine and nearly reached the threshold of the Quasi-Landscape realm. Previously, only through the desperate efforts of the Seven Heavenly Maidens had she narrowly escaped Gu Xiaosang’s grasp.
At this moment, the Wang clan disciples, unable to react, were pushed away by Gu Xiaosang’s strange aura, unable to offer rescue. Wang Zai bore the brunt of Gu Xiaosang’s attention and could not break free in just one or two moves. Thus, Dan Xiumei felt as though she were walking through a bustling street where no one recognized her. Though the surroundings were noisy and chaotic, she felt utterly alone, the loneliness and despair growing ever more intense.
The more prosperous, the more desolate; the more lively, the more hopeless. Dan Xiumei gritted her teeth, summoning her essence blood for a desperate strike.
The essence blood had just risen when it suddenly went out of control, as if gaining its own consciousness. It surged through Dan Xiumei’s meridians, rushing toward the call from her vacuum homeland. Her steps faltered as her forehead collided with Gu Xiaosang’s glowing fingertip.
Her essence and internal energy swelled violently, her blood vessels and meridians bulging, spreading to her scalp and converging at her brow, flowing into Gu Xiaosang’s finger.
Her body rapidly withered. Wang Zai, furious and anxious, roared loudly, his righteous energy surging, preparing to unleash “Unyielding in Might.”
Suddenly, Dan Xiumei’s body turned illusory, her essence blood exploding, her physical form disintegrating into a hazy, empty vapor.
This vapor exuded a refined, ethereal aura, as if descending from the ninth heaven, noble and incomparable.
Within it seemed to hide a faint shadow, resembling Dan Xiumei or a celestial maiden, transforming into a streak of light and rushing toward the distance.
This aura… was it Xuan Nu! Wang Zai’s heart tightened, and his hand hesitated; he did not unleash “Unyielding in Might.”
As a scion of a great family, even if he did not know the secrets of the Xuan Nu disciples, he was still familiar with their unique aura.
“The Xuan Nu disciple!” A cloaked man standing beside Kong Yu, adorned with a silver badge, solemnly proclaimed. The Six Fan Gates boasted the most sophisticated intelligence network in the world, housing countless secret archives—among them detailed records and descriptions of the appearances and deeds of past Xuan Nu disciples.
Kong Yu narrowed his eyes slightly. Was this a clash between the Luo Sect and the Su Nu Dao? What event could possibly involve the most outstanding disciples of both sects?
Seeing the streak of light about to take off, he no longer hesitated. From half a courtyard away, he opened and clenched his fingers, then threw a punch.
Crack!
The torches burning within the courtyard suddenly leapt higher, the flames intensifying, the light bursting forth, transforming the lotus pond and corridor as if it were midday.
Inside the private room and the main hall, the lit candles flared upward, turning a deep red like blood.
High above, the heavy clouds split apart, revealing the full moon, its clear glow spilling down.
All the surrounding light seemed to converge into that single punch, glowing as brightly as the sun. The light had barely appeared when the punch had already landed.
With that punch, Kong Yu employed the “Shrinking the Earth” technique. Just a moment ago, he had been inside the private room half a courtyard away; now, as his arm extended, he had already reached Wang Zai’s side. His dark red robe of a constable billowed outward as he struck toward the streak of light, ignoring Gu Xiaosang completely.
He didn’t care—others would deal with her. The cloaked man with the silver badge calmly raised his right hand and, from across half the courtyard, slashed downward with his palm.
A blade of qi suddenly appeared—its exterior exuding a killing aura, desolate and withering, yet concealing within it a vibrant, verdant vitality. Though it seemed slow, it shortened the actual distance and appeared directly before Gu Xiaosang!
Within the withered lotus pond, the lotus flowers, still bearing withered leaves, began to sway and dance, sprouting new branches and leaves that rapidly grew, fresh and green. Then, flower buds formed.
The buds bloomed petal by petal, displaying their beauty in a pure and elegant manner, brimming with vitality.
Indeed, the lotus rises from the mud unstained, washed in clear ripples yet remains unpretentious!
Yet elsewhere in the courtyard, large trees withered and lost all signs of life, their bark peeling, appearing aged and decrepit.
The spectators were momentarily stunned, then shocked. This was the work of a Quasi-Landscape master! What had truly happened?
Meng Qi had been conversing with Huang Zi when he suddenly witnessed this scene that seemed beyond the mortal world. Instantly, a thought crossed his mind: had Gu Xiaosang acted?
He looked toward the Wang clan’s private room. Externally, it appeared calm, showing no sign of abnormality. If not for Kong Yu’s intrusion and the palm strike, nothing would have seemed amiss.
The demoness was indeed bizarrely formidable. If he hadn’t seized the opportunity to inform the Six Fan Gate beforehand, warning them what to watch for, the demoness might have easily killed Dan Xiumei and then departed at her leisure, chasing down the Xuan Nu disciple!
Hmph! She had claimed she would only act when challenging the Wang clan disciples! Meng Qi leaped into the air, joining the palm strike as he rushed toward the Wang clan’s private room. He could neither allow the Xuan Nu disciple to escape nor let the demoness flee unscathed!
Kong Yu’s punch struck the Xuan Nu’s streak of light, and brilliance erupted like a descending sun. Yet the light wavered and actually pierced straight through.
The palm strike was about to land on Gu Xiaosang when Meng Qi unleashed “Whisper,” his blade’s glow empty and hazy, emerging from the depths of the heart, unpredictable and unstoppable!
Gu Xiaosang, who seldom showed surprise, then turned her beautiful eyes toward Meng Qi, who was slashing coldly. Her gaze seemed to carry both admiration and approval, yet also grievance and sorrow.
With just a single glance, it felt as though she had conveyed countless emotions.
She seemed to sigh softly, and an object flew from her body, growing larger—it was a stone tablet inscribed with dragon and phoenix script.
The blade’s qi struck the tablet like a clay ox sinking into the sea, vanishing without a trace.
The tablet shattered instantly, and the dragon and phoenix characters materialized in midair, exuding a vast and majestic aura that made everyone tremble.
Each dragon character and phoenix symbol seemed to possess its own consciousness, swirling around Gu Xiaosang while also entwining the streak of light that was the Xuannü disciple, as if instinctively drawn to and finding refuge within that ethereal, transcendent aura.
In Gu Xiaosang’s hand appeared an object—unrecognizable to others, but clearly identifiable to Meng Qi: the Reincarnation Talisman! This was the Reincarnation Talisman!
Without waiting for the silver-badged constable or Kong Yu to attack again, she crushed the talisman in her hand. Her body transformed into a streak of light, entwining with the Xuan Nu disciple’s glow, wrapped in dragon and phoenix script, sweeping across ten miles, and shooting toward a courtyard in the southern part of the city!
A woman who looked like a celestial being was seated in meditation, her legs crossed, when suddenly she caught sight of the dazzling streak of light speeding toward her. Shock flashed across her face as she swiftly turned her delicate palm, sending three intertwined strands of purple light spiraling outward. A faint, ethereal melody resonated as she unleashed her most formidable technique.
But it was powerless to stop the streak, which passed straight through and enveloped the fairy-like woman!
With a thunderous boom, the streak exploded, the dragon and phoenix characters disassembled and recombined, as if forming an ancient, towering gate.
Across the city, numerous powerful auras erupted, shooting straight into the heavens, scattering the heavy clouds and revealing the bright moon.
Among these auras, the strongest originated from the Wang ancestral mansion in the northern part of the city!
Suddenly, the gate vanished, and surrounding it, specks of light floated and scattered. Gu Xiaosang and the Xuan Nu disciple were nowhere to be seen.
Inside the Anjin Pavilion, a thin, elderly man stood with his hands behind his back, gazing at that direction with a grave expression as he muttered to himself: “The breath of the Immortal Realm, the gate of Heaven itself. The Holy Maiden has truly uncovered the clues to the Ninth Heaven. No wonder she’s been acting so mysteriously lately…”
Before him, on the table, stood an ancient green lamp, its flame small and tranquil, utterly still.
It appeared ordinary, yet amidst the surging Quasi-Landscape auras across Yedu and the howling gales, how could the flame remain unmoved?
…
In the depths of the mist-shrouded mountains, in a realm unlike any other in this world, within a hall where a pitch-black long saber was enshrined, a bronze lamp with a faint purple flame suddenly flickered. It first extinguished, releasing an immortal aura, then reignited.
Inside the hall, a woman clad in white gauze, elegant and fairy-like, stood abruptly, murmuring softly: “The aura of celestial spirits, the might of Heaven. Is the Ninth Heaven about to emerge?”
“This is the destined tribulation of Liuluo, as well as her fate and opportunity…”
“I too must walk among mortals to fulfill my destined path…”
…
Inside a refined and elegant boudoir.
A sleeping young girl suddenly sat upright, clutching her head in pain and groaning.
“Miss, what’s wrong?” A maid on night duty hurriedly asked.
“Nothing, nothing. Just a nightmare.” The girl brushed off the maid’s concern, her gaze distant. Something seemed to have entered her mind, yet it was fragmented and unclear, like a vivid dream.
“Xuan Nu disciple?” She frowned slightly, her vision still lingering with residual light, though the rest of the events were hazy and indistinct, as if she had experienced a realistic nightmare.
…
Kong Yu, Wang Zai, and others rushed toward where the towering gate had vanished, while others pursued the scattered lights.
This commotion exceeded Meng Qi’s expectations, but he didn’t delay. He joined the pursuit, then subtly changed direction when unnoticed, employing the Illusory Demon Body Technique to stealthily head toward the small courtyard where the enchanting young widow and the sickly man resided!
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