Xu Fengnian originally intended for the battle at the Spring God Lake to be his final act in the martial world, a culmination worthy of his years of relentless sword training. Upon returning to Beiliang, it would generally be difficult to maintain such undivided focus. Having already achieved three pseudo-stages among the four highest levels of cultivation, an unprecedented feat, Xu Fengnian had abandoned hopes of further advancement. Settling down peacefully as a local ruler in Beiliang would suffice. However, he never anticipated that the final confrontation would be so brutal. Song Nianqing, with his earthly immortal sword, still perished. Liu Haoshi shattered his Heaven-Reflecting realm, and ultimately, he had to face Wang Xianzhi in battle. Standing silently beside this white-robed devil, Xu Fengnian had already returned all his cultivation to Luoyang. The back-and-forth had drained her cultivation significantly. Though she remained the fourth strongest in the world, the gap between her and other martial experts like Hong Jingyan inevitably narrowed. As for Xu Fengnian himself, he was left with nothing. His internal energy, previously weakened to the second level, was nearly depleted. If his physical body was likened to a house brimming with energy, then Xu Fengnian was now completely destitute. Worse still, the young lotus plant in the Huangting Pond, which had been a source of purple energy, was destroyed by Liu Haoshi, causing him immense distress. Xu Fengnian silently recited techniques, attempting to ignite internal fire as he had learned in the Beimang region, to circulate energy through the meridians. Unfortunately, the feeble flame rising from the Yongquan acupoint at his feet barely reached the Yuzhen point at the back of his head, failing to pass through the Niwan point. Xu Fengnian, his expression haggard, finally gave up.
A gentle breeze swept through the countryside, carrying the scent of earth. Xu Fengnian, with icy hands and feet, could only tuck them into his sleeves to keep warm.
Luoyang calmly asked, “How strong is Wang Xianzhi, really?”
Xu Fengnian stamped his foot, gazing at the sky. “That old freak only used about half his strength enduring my first two punches. He probably used around eight-tenths in the end.”
Luoyang offered no comment, merely saying, “I will take the Dan Ying back to Zhulu Mountain. We shall meet again outside the city in three years. You now only have a few flying swords gifted by Deng Tai’a. Don’t die foolishly on your way back. Surviving Song Nianqing, Liu Haoshi, and even Wang Xianzhi’s fists, only to die at the hands of some nameless nobody—that would be a great joke indeed.”
Xu Fengnian smiled candidly. “True, I have no tricks left. But the Zhao family emperor is in a similar predicament, having exhausted his resources. Without Han Diaosi and Liu Haoshi, Tai’an City is only marginally better off than paper. If I were Cao Changqing, I’d storm the capital and behead the emperor. With martial matters settled, the future will depend on how Beiliang responds to challenges. My cultivation level is no longer of great consequence.”
Standing beside him, Luoyang scoffed, “In terms of raw power, can your Xu family rival the Zhao family? If Cao Changqing dares to stir trouble in Tai’an City now, he might never get the chance to reclaim his kingdom.”
Xu Fengnian frowned. “Isn’t there still that sneaky Wu Clan sword tomb backing the imperial court?”
Luoyang countered coldly, “Still?”
Xu Fengnian sighed. “Indeed. My mother came from the Wu Clan, as did Deng Tai’a. Wu Liuding and his sword attendant Cu Hua are also from there. Song Nianqing’s fourteenth sword already displayed such might—imagine the master of the Suwang sword.”
After a pause, Luoyang asked, “Why haven’t you cultivated sword intent?”
Xu Fengnian replied with self-mockery, “With such formidable sword experts before me, I’ve seen too much. It’s not that I don’t want to—it’s that I dare not.”
Xu Fengnian suddenly realized, “Wait—did you mean sword intent, not sword?”
But Luoyang had already vanished.
Standing still, Xu Fengnian looked around. The world was clear and cold, desolate and quiet. He remained lost in thought for an unknown length of time, memories flooding back—old moments, old faces. In his mind, he revisited the sword-borrowing ceremony at Youyan Manor, Liu Songtao’s mad song, and the sight of the heavens and earth converging into a single line. When one has too much at their disposal, it’s easy to become overwhelmed, unsure of what to cherish.
Xu Fengnian suddenly raised his arm and swept it outward, as if brushing aside an object on a cluttered desk. “Mountains and rivers, retreat!”
Wudang was gone. Longhu was gone. Huishan and all famous mountains vanished.
After sweeping away the mountains in his mind, Xu Fengnian’s second wave: “Rivers and seas, retreat!”
Chunshen Lake, Boyang, Qingdu—all martial lakes disappeared.
Third sweep: “City walls, retreat!”
Xiangfan, Shenwu, Tai’an City—all cities and towers vanished.
Fourth sweep, he swept away grass and trees. Fifth, sun and moon. Sixth, all beings in the world.
In that instant, the world seemed empty, and Xu Fengnian stood alone. His eyes remained closed, yet in the darkness, he seemed to “look around in confusion,” searching for something unknown.
When Xu Fengnian thought he would gain nothing, he was startled to find he could not open his eyes. It felt like the nightmare paralysis he’d experienced many times before when napping—unable to awaken, unable to regain clarity. This was a clear sign of straying from the path! Previously, protected by the Huangting Daoist cultivation, no matter how chaotic or unorthodox his methods, he never feared the danger of internal chaos. But now, with Huangting gone, he was at his most vulnerable. Driven by impulse, he sought to seize the rare insight lingering after his battle with Wang Xianzhi, hoping to leap directly into the Heaven-Reflecting or even Earthly Immortal pseudo-stage, like a cultivator chasing fleeting sparks. But haste leads nowhere. Having already experienced three pseudo-stages, each advancement should have been approached with utmost caution. Few could imagine someone as reckless as Xu Fengnian, practically seeking his own demise. Unable to awaken, Xu Fengnian, deep in this uncertain pseudo-realm, laughed. He had swept away mountains and rivers before; now, slowly and deliberately, he gathered them back. They say inviting spirits is easy, but sending them away is hard. Yet here, in this realm, it was the opposite. Fortunately, he did not rush. In both martial and spiritual cultivation, a restless mind is a grave taboo. Xu Fengnian, instead, let his thoughts drift freely.
Faintly, he saw Song Nianqing, cradling cloth shoes, carried into a carriage by sorrowful disciples of the sword pool. He saw a girl kicking a skull into the distance. He saw a monk in a swaying crimson robe flying swiftly through the air. He saw a white-robed woman leading a vermilion-robed figure who came and went again.
Then, Xu Fengnian’s “vision” suddenly stretched thousands of miles. He saw a young, refined Daoist guarding a tomb. He saw the tides rising and falling at Nanhai, a middle-aged swordsman slicing through waves. He saw a creature, neither horse nor deer, climbing the steps toward the Celestial Master’s Mansion.
Finally, he saw a small village nestled among green hills and clear waters. Outside the village, a young child, crouched by the riverbank, suddenly gained enlightenment, radiating spiritual energy. Returning to the village, upon seeing the red paper cuttings pasted on a window, the child felt inexplicable joy.
Xu Fengnian finally opened his eyes, wiped his face, and realized, unknowingly, that tears had streamed down.
Tai Sui Yellow Amulet Paper FuLu Taoist Love Talisman Traditional Chinese Spiritual Charm Attracting Love Protecting Marriage