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In the midst of the battles on both sides, Wu Shaoqing and Xu Qingshan did not join the fight, watching as their own Sect Gate was engulfed in the flames of war, with fissures opening across the earth and countless buildings collapsing with a thunderous roar.
Countless disciples were sacrificed in the process; Wu Shaoqing sighed and exchanged a distant look with Xu Qingshan.
As the battle’s scope widened, the gaze of the entire Extreme West Region was fixed upon this place.
More and more onlookers were gathering around the battlefield, some of them Loose Cultivators, while others were Elders of Sect Gates.
By this time, Xu Zimei had also arrived at the edge of the battlefield. He looked from afar, the Yin-Yang Sect was already half in ruins.
At this moment, Chu Yang was being shielded behind Wu Shaoqing.
"When I engage Xu Qingshan later, take the chance to escape while no one is paying attention to you," Wu Shaoqing whispered.
Chu Yang was silent for a moment, then raised his head with bright eyes and replied, "Sect Master, let me stay. I am not afraid to die."
"These people died for you. Do you want their deaths to be in vain?" Wu Shaoqing took a deep breath and said, "I don’t know if the Yin-Yang Plate left by the Yin-Yang Ancestral Master is accurate.
But when I watched you from below the arena, even though you were easily defeated by Xu Zimei, falling over and over again, you still chose not to give up. Not even death could make you retreat or fear.
At that moment, I understood that what made me believe in you was not the Yin-Yang Plate left by the Yin-Yang Ancestral Master, but your determination in the Way of Inquiry that moved me."
Hearing Wu Shaoqing’s words, Chu Yang fell silent.
"I believe in you, and you should believe in yourself as well," Wu Shaoqing patted Chu Yang’s shoulder, then soared into the air, charging towards Xu Qingshan.
The aura of the Saint Vein Realm enveloped her surroundings, all seven Vein Gates on her body were open, and at this moment, half the firmament behind her succumbed.
"Yang, I will lend you my strength later. Take the chance to leave amidst the chaos," the voice of the Reincarnation Elder sounded.
"Master, I already acted like a coward once at the Heavenly Sword Sect. Can it be that faced with the same choice, all I can do is to be a coward again?" Chu Yang said, unwilling to accept this reality.
"The weak do not have the right to choose. If you cannot see through this, you will never become strong," the Reincarnation Elder said.
......
Above the firmament at that time, the Yin-Yang Diagram was revealed behind Wu Shaoqing, her white robe fluttering freely in the wind, and her black hair also spreading out behind her.
Xu Qingshan looked indifferently at Wu Shaoqing, a longsword appearing in his hand. The moment the longsword appeared, a surge of Sword Qi filled the air.
With longsword in hand, Xu Qingshan’s gaze was deep. He simply waved the longsword gently in the firmament, and the sky immediately split into two.
"The Divine Martial Sword," Wu Shaoqing’s pupils contracted as she said this warily.
The Divine Martial Sword was one of the Great Emperor’s True Artifacts left behind when the True Martial Great Emperor ascended. With Xu Qingshan wielding the Divine Martial Sword, myriad Sword Qi surrounded him.
His green robe billowed in the wind as he unsheathed his sword, and the Yin-Yang Diagram behind Wu Shaoqing was cleaved into two halves.
Wu Shaoqing staggered backward three steps, spitting out a mouthful of fresh blood. She fixed her gaze steadfastly on Xu Qingshan, her aura growing even more powerful as she charged towards him again.
Xu Qingshan let out a cold snort and walked on air, his aura with each step like rolling Shocking Waves.
He did not even need to manifest his True Fate, as the myriad Sword Qi seemed like his own arms, facile in their deployment.
The firmament was endlessly cycling through breaking and restoring, and within just a few exchanges, Wu Shaoqing was already gravely injured.
The Divine Martial Sword swept across the silent expanse, its unstoppable Sword Qi directly severing Wu Shaoqing’s arms.
"The True Martial Holy Sect has been quiet for too long. Perhaps the world has long forgotten that before The Great Emperor of the Three Blades inherited Destiny, he had already, single-handedly, boldly confronted the eight Imperial Rule Immortal Sects in their prime," Xu Qingshan spoke indifferently: "Starting with your Yin-Yang Sect today, although we might not be able to recapture the splendor of our ancestors, we are not something that a first-rate sect like yours can provoke."
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Xu Qingshan’s voice echoed in the empty void, as if he were speaking to Wu Shaoqing, yet also as if he were addressing all those secretly watching the battle.
Wu Shaoqing’s arms had been severed, yet her entire body surged with spiritual energy, a white mist enveloping where her arms had been.
Before long, new arms grew in their place.
This was the terrifying ability of someone in the Saint Vein Realm, as long as one wasn’t completely obliterated, regenerating lost limbs was not a difficult feat.
Of course, to regenerate her arms, she had to consume a large amount of her body’s essence blood, which left Wu Shaoqing’s face extremely pale at the moment.
Meanwhile, on the other side, the battle between the Yin-Yang Ancestral Master and Mei Aohan had temporarily come to a halt.
Mei Aohan’s white robe was now tattered in many places, looking somewhat worn and ragged.
The Yin-Yang Ancestral Master was in no better shape, his complexion pale, as if drained of all vitality.
Although he was a powerhouse of the Divine Vein Realm, he was, after all, a figure from several eras ago. If it weren’t for the Dust Blood Stone, he probably wouldn’t have lived much longer.
Each battle he fought required the consumption of a vast amount of essence blood, and when it ran dry, it would signal the end of his life.
"Ancestral Master, are you alright?" Wu Shaoqing asked, worried.
"Don’t worry," the Yin-Yang Ancestral Master shook his head and replied with a profound gaze, "Everyone will die, the difference lies in whether one dies nameless or becomes world-renowned.
I don’t care about such things, be it a feather or Mount Tai.
I only seek to have a clear conscience,
to be true to myself,
to be true to you all,
and to be true to the sect that I founded with my own hands."
"Since we’ve already reached this stage, there’s also nothing left to hide," the Yin-Yang Ancestral Master said indifferently.
No sooner had his words fallen than his entire body’s spiritual energy roared ceaselessly. At that moment, a vast aura emanated from him.
His originally grizzled hair now began to fall at a rapid pace, his face growing increasingly pallid as the essence blood drained from it, his skin clinging deeply to his bones.
This already elderly figure was visibly aging even more rapidly.
The lively spark in his eyes was also gradually fading, and it seemed as if all the strength had been drained from the old man at that very instant.
"Ancestral Master, what are you doing?" Seeing the old man’s condition, Wu Shaoqing hurriedly asked.
The old man smiled and shook his head; in the palm of his hand appeared a drop of fresh blood.
This was his Innate Essence Blood, condensed from the majority of his remaining essence blood.
Behind the old man, the Yin-Yang Diagram emerged. He waved his right hand in the air, and a hexagram pattern appeared before him. The ground of the Yin-Yang Sect started to quake.
A thunderous ’boom’ exploded from beneath the ground, and a vast fissure emerged on the surface, which continued to widen.
A beastly roar sounded from deep underground, as if some terrifying entity was about to emerge.
At that moment, countless lights shot up from the ground of the Yin-Yang Sect into the sky. A hexagram formation reflected in the firmament, its six radiant beams of light dazzling and bright, illuminating the land.
