Chapter 115: That Lord Has Awakened!
Amidst the piercing cries, Lu Xibei’s figure collided with Qing Ji.
From her hand, Ling Tai Purification shot forward, blocking the trajectory of Qing Ji’s sword slash.
Accompanied by a harsh sound of metal clashing, sparks flew.
As Qing Ji approached Lu Xibei, she suddenly spoke casually, “Xuan granddaughter-in-law, have you ever faced a true calamity?”
Upon hearing this, Lu Xibei was momentarily taken aback.
True calamity?
What does Ancestor mean by that?
In his era, there seemed to be no such classification of levels for spiritual ability users and urban legends like today!
Although she had already encountered calamity-level existences such as Pestilence Taijie, Haze God, and Inheritance Beast, she truly had not fought a real calamity-level entity.
In the Hundred Demons Walk, her opponents were the avatars and followers of Pestilence Taijie. During the “Dream Come True” journey, the big boss hadn’t had the opportunity to display real power before Proxy Player Sister outwitted him. In the God Realm Prototype, transforming Inheritance Beast into Wang Ying was also because Wang Ying lacked the desire to fight.
Just as Lu Xibei was momentarily lost in thought, the echo from the sound of swords clashing still lingering, Qing Ji spoke again, “It seems you haven’t. Then today, you’re in luck; ordinary people at your level don’t get such treatment.”
With that, without warning, Qing Ji released her grip on the sword, letting the long sword drop.
Released? Lu Xibei was slightly stunned.
Then, she saw that as the long sword fell, Qing Ji swiftly extended her hand, flicking the sword with her fingertips. With a buzzing sound, the sword rotated perfectly, with the tip pointing forward, shooting straight toward her face.
Lu Xibei leaned back, her eyes illuminated by the dazzling light on the sword blade.
When she steadied herself, she saw Qing Ji once again grip the long sword, smoothly adjusting the angle of her strike. As she advanced, she gracefully drew an arc, slicing downwards once more.
[His long sword is aimed at your face.]
A pre-emptive thought flashed through Lu Xibei’s mind, and she hurriedly gripped her sword with both hands, raising Ling Tai Purification to counter. At the same time, energy surged within her, exploding with brilliant blue light across the sword blade.
Taihe Gentleman Sword: Wind Chase Command!
Seeing this, Qing Ji smirked, changing her sword stance from the downward slash to a forward thrust. Simultaneously, blue light erupted from her sword, executing her own version of Wind Chase Command.
Unlike Lu Xibei, the blue light on Qing Ji’s sword was noticeably dimmer and murkier.
It seemed aged, like a dim yellow light on the verge of extinction.
Something is off! This doesn’t seem like Ancestor’s level, and even falls short of the youthful version of Wind Chase Command!
The way she attacked was entirely different from what Lu Xibei remembered; instead of a thrusting motion, it felt more like…
Chopping vegetables?
Lu Xibei’s mind was briefly distracted by this thought, but Qing Ji’s stance indeed reminded her of her father standing in the kitchen, leisurely chopping vegetables while smoking.
Moreover, the faint sadness between their brows while “chopping vegetables” seemed to match perfectly.
“Bang—!”
The clash of dark and bright blue lights converged, and a thunderous sound erupted.
In an instant, Lu Xibei was sent flying backward, her form tracing pale arcs through the thick fog. Her right hand holding the sword nearly lost all sensation, and her forearm involuntarily twitched.
Using the same sword move, Qing Ji had caught the smallest opening at the moment of her strike, utilizing the simplest yet most precise force to deliver the most powerful blow.
After stabilizing her form, Lu Xibei noticed that she hadn’t even had a pre-emptive thought cross her mind anymore—her heart skipped a beat as she looked at Qing Ji, only to find him standing in place, not continuing his attack.
“Your Wind Chase Command just now already had seventy to eighty percent of its potential. When faced with a sword blade, changing it to Jade Mountain Collapse may yield surprising results.”
“…”
Ancestor is truly teaching me his skills?
d*mn, this feeling is so strange!
It was as if an elite monster had appeared at the gate of Demon King Castle, teaching the hero how to upgrade skills—absolutely double-crossing behavior.
However, even though Lu Xibei felt Qing Ji’s behavior was treachery, Qing Ji himself believed he was not violating the directive of that terrifying urban legend.
Intercepting and killing does not mean he can’t talk, nor does it restrict what he says, as long as he puts forth his full strength every time he strikes, there would be no problem.
Rather than betrayal and collusion, it can be said that he was not bound by orders from the outside!
…
Lu Xibei pondered Qing Ji’s words and found herself puzzled.
But why Jade Mountain Collapse?
How could Wind Chase Command transform into Jade Mountain Collapse?
The sword techniques recorded in “Taihe Gentleman Sword Illustration” signify different meanings, encompassing heaven and earth, mountains, rivers, winds, and thunder…
The intent of Wind Chase Command, representing swift winds, and Jade Mountain Collapse, representing the weight of mountains, are two opposite realms that cannot be linked together without resulting in stagnation.
In contrast, similarly themed techniques like Ignition Command and Purple Owl Transformation clearly allow for smoother flows in sword moves.
“Don’t understand?” Qing Ji shook his head and explained, “The way of swordsmanship emphasizes flowing like clouds and water, allowing for any direction. You are in control of the sword, not the sword techniques restraining you, just like this…”
Then, Lu Xibei heard the howling wind and mountains toppling.
It felt like a hallucination, witnessing a fierce gale sweeping across the mountain ridge, lifting enormous boulders and shattering them upon the boundless earth.
Is it possible to reach such a level through sword moves alone and not relying on the intensity of spiritual energy fluctuations? Lu Xibei fell into a stupor.
————
Lu Xibei initially thought that with Qing Ji possessing almost complete memories, he would be stronger, yet limited, and was not undefeatable.
According to Qing Ji, after he resigned from his position as an elder of Dachunyang Palace and returned to Huacheng to marry Luxianzhi, he had not learned any new skills since then.
He was twenty-eight that year.
In the forty-plus years that followed, aside from teaching Lu Xue Bo sword techniques and spell formulas for self-defense, he never picked up Ling Tai Purification again; all sorts of spell formulas and alchemy techniques remained abandoned.
In theory, any skill that has been languishing for decades, while it may not regress, would hardly be able to advance.
Moreover, long before Qing Ji became an elder of Dachunyang Palace, his skills were already of an unparalleled level.
But now, Lu Xibei discovered that after not utilizing those elusive and unpredictable skills, Qing Ji had actually become more tricky and formidable!
It was as if he could sense all the problems within Lu Xibei, from her sword techniques, spell formulas, body techniques… even the faint discord caused by the chaotic mix of various energies in her body, and that bizarre preemptive thought.
This insight led to a total denial of Lu Xibei.
Typically, the core of urban legends arises from legends, existing naturally, while spiritual ability users’ spirit patterns are usually meticulously selected and solidified strengthened through countless alchemical materials and incense, ultimately achieving the effect of directing like an arm.
Lu Xibei was different; from a certain perspective, her urban legend’s core was forcibly shoved into her body, and while the spiritual energy fluctuations were strong, the internal energy was chaotic.
This was the first mistake.
But it was not her fault, as she had no choice.
The remnant soul of Qing Ji, residing within the broken sword, possessed deep techniques and memories from his youth. The Four Beasts Bright Sky Cannon demonstrated by Lu Ming and the spell formulas collected by Siye Society also had their unique merits.
However, these techniques had all blended with the habits they had developed over years, making minor adjustments based on their body structure and spiritual energy fluctuations.
Although Lu Xibei recorded them with her exceptional memory and made some adjustments to fit her own, she still lacked the years of practical sharpening they had, and for the most part, she could only copy them based on memory.
However, her height, weight, wingspan, stride, and attributes of spiritual energy fluctuations were vastly different from those she remembered, making direct copying prone to errors.
This was the second mistake.
The third mistake was… Lu Xibei was truly too sentimental.
Even at this moment, when attacking, she was still only putting forth seventy percent of her strength, subconsciously holding back thirty percent as a reserve, for opportunities to survive, escape, or take them by surprise.
Her current situation could be likened to using an emulator on a computer to play a game from another platform.
Although it can run, there will always be inexplicable awkwardness and peculiar errors in unexpected places.
And this awkwardness and errors led her to a brutal beating…
Qing Ji kept pressing the attack, and every move he made was perfectly captured by Lu Xibei’s preemptive thought, allowing her to evade with agile counteractions.
But after dodging, what followed was even fiercer assaults.
Responding to Lu Xibei’s methods, Qing Ji always executed chase attacks with the most timely techniques.
In addition, Qing Ji’s exquisite sword techniques brought about terrifying impacts.
In just a few minutes, Lu Xibei felt as if she had experienced an apocalyptic disaster.
Meteorites shattered the sky as they fell, hurricanes lifted boulders like flying blossoms, and the deep sea erupted into towering waves, with purple lightning exploding from the waves, and verdant trees stretching out from the thunder, growing to astronomical proportions…
She didn’t see all of this with her own eyes, but she could feel it through Qing Ji’s sword techniques.
Thus, she fell into a strange cycle.
She predicted, dodged, but it was useless; the crisis was ultimately not resolved.
She was completely caught in the rhythm that Qing Ji led, like a puppet on a stage, dancing to the conductor’s will until the curtain fell, losing her spirit and collapsing to the ground.
Lu Xibei initially thought that Qing Ji was merely “teaching” her; this was a straightforward lesson. But now she realized that the saying was true; this was also a deadly situation.
Qing Ji seemed intent not just on fixing her faults and starting anew, but on transforming her physiologically back into a new self.
What was even more bizarre was that every time Qing Ji attacked, he would occasionally murmur a dish name, making Lu Xibei feel like she had become a marinated vegetable or salted fish on a cutting board—deeply insulting!
————
Meanwhile.
As Lu Xibei found herself in a passive position, Hua Sang’s task was nearing its end.
“…Water emerges from the Zhen Palace, both soft and strong, Turtle and Snake fight, eternally stabilizing the rivers and mountains…”
“Open!”
Along with a delicate shout, Hua Sang’s eyes instantly morphed into the vertical pupils of a cold-blooded animal. On her pale face, faintly glowing blue scales appeared, resembling a small mountain as the turtle and snake clashed, erupting with two thunderous roars.
A shocking Night Erosion spread, instantly dyeing the floating thick fog dark ink, the asphalt road beneath her feet visibly weathering and cracking, and the Shuishu Beast in the distance spasming the moment it came into contact with the Night Erosion, howling and running far away to hide.
The next moment, the ground beneath Hua Sang’s feet trembled suddenly, erupting with a roar, as if a mountain was toppling.
That was the daunting pressure that had tormented her for over a decade.
At this moment, liberated from the suppression of the spiritual seal on the spirit patterns, transformed from the battle of the turtle and snake into a coexistence state, this torment became the means of her attack!
Thus, Hua Sang formed her left hand into a palm and her right into a fist, focusing her gaze on the writhing white flesh mass.
“Bang——!”
A fist wielding the weight of ten thousand jun smashed fiercely into the white flesh mass transformed by Hu Chuan, producing a massive sound, the gust of air instantly clearing the surrounding fog for hundreds of meters.
However, under the tremendous force, that white flesh mass did not sh**t away but began to spin rapidly in place, changing shapes as if being constantly shaped by an invisible hand.
Empty Cave, Wind Communicating Dream, Collision within the Abyss, Childhood Archer Insect… these were the mysteries of Dachunyang Palace’s body techniques. Wherever fists and feet landed, the overwhelming force of spiritual energy would congregate without dispersing, all exploding within the target’s body.
Moreover, this force also contained an exceptionally high level of Night Erosion, capable of causing a B-grade spiritual ability user’s spirit pattern to lose control, and eroding beyond humans, urban legends, and even objects.
After shedding the heavy burden, Hua Sang felt incredibly light, as if she could fly with just a toe’s lift.
Hu Chuan, in instinct, had formed prickly, sharp protrusions from the pale flesh material on his surface. Faced with Hua Sang’s high-speed attacking changes, he appeared particularly powerless.
“Bang——Bang——Bang——!”
Thunderous booms echoed continuously on the empty highway at night.
Soon, the surface of that white flesh mass darkened, gradually turning pitch black, before finally being blasted away with a dull “puff!” sound as Hua Sang punched it out.
The flesh, completely unrecognizable from its original shape, arced through the air, splattering thick black goo like a punch-blasted sandbag.
————
In a hazy state, Hu Chuan, bathed in the chaotic colors of Yangyi, suddenly felt his life rapidly slipping away.
It was only then that he realized he had made a mistake.
He thought Lu Xibei alone could never break through the blockade of more than a dozen figures, but he overlooked the possibility that Lu Xibei might call for reinforcements.
But all was not over yet, because… that lord has awakened!
He will take revenge for me… Hu Chuan thought.
