NOVPUB"Oh... it seems you’re quite confident you can beat me."
Although he had recovered from the surprise, he wasn’t annoyed; instead, he was filled with anticipation:
"You may have achieved Immortal Ascension, yet what is present here is just a sliver of your Spiritual Mind. Since you’re confident you can beat me, it appears you’ve made considerable progress over the years. So, let’s skip the chatter and get on with it! I can hardly wait to witness your heart’s sword!"
Upon hearing this, Elder Xumi didn’t show any embarrassment from being called out. His expression remained calm, and the severed point of the blade silently flew to his side.
Then, without hesitation, both of them flew out together.
In just a moment, they had both vanished from the sight of Wang Ba and the other two.
"Let’s hurry up and follow them!"
Wang Ba said without hesitation.
Ying He and Li Yingfu already intended to do so and immediately exerted their full strength, steering the iron ship in the direction of the looming battle.
One of them was a newly ascended master of the Sword Dao with Split Divine Consciousness, while the other was a mysterious swordmaster audacious enough to challenge him.
There was no doubt that the combat strength of both stood at the pinnacle of the Nascent Soul stage.
Such a high-level conflict was a rare sight even for Ying He and the others.
If they could learn something from it, even just a few techniques of magical combat, it would be a considerable gain.
Hence, all three were full of anticipation.
The iron ship sped through the sky. 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘱𝘶𝑏.𝑐𝘰𝑚
Along the way, the three soon spotted snow-capped mountains with their peaks sheared off below them and the countless unfathomable sword scars crisscrossing the snowy ground.
Before long, Wang Ba and the others finally caught glimpses of several intense lights blazing violently.
They hurriedly followed them.
They saw countless sword-lights, some eerie, some sharp, some tricky, and some majestic, fiercely colliding in mid-air.
Among these sword-lights.
A sword-light radiating the Qi of Five Elements and a sword tip were positioned behind, withdrawn from contact, each poised to strike at any moment.
But it seemed as though they were both wary of something.
And on the flanks of the sword-lights.
’Wild Man’ Chijian and Elder Xumi stood in the air, one with knitted brows, the other’s face tranquil.
After consideration, Chijian couldn’t help but shake his head in admiration:
"You haven’t come in your true form and can’t deploy your sword domain, robbing your power of much of its might. Yet you still manage to suppress my ’Five-colored God Slayer Sword’ Divine Skills... It seems indeed, you’ve made quite the progress these past years."
Praised by his opponent, Elder Xumi remained expressionless, replying calmly:
"That is why I said, your path is flawed."
Chijian instantly bristled, swearing angrily:
"Flawed my ass! If I’d managed to integrate the Ice Dao into my Five-colored God Slayer Sword, turning it to six colors, you’d have no place to strut in front of me!"
From a distance,
Ying He and Li Yingfu felt a bit awkward upon hearing the two men’s exchange.
They wanted to speak up for Elder Xumi, but seeing that the elder seemed unconcerned, they refrained from saying anything.
However, when Wang Ba heard Chijian’s words, his heart suddenly shuddered.
"Five-colored God Slayer Sword... Ice Dao... Could it be that the Five-colored God Slayer Sword is a Divine Skill that incorporates the Five Elements into the Sword Dao?"
"Isn’t that similar in effect to the Dharmas Sword Technique that my master taught Yi An to practice?"
The Dharmas Sword Technique involved concealing myriad laws within a single sword.
Of course, this notion of including myriad laws wasn’t like that of Yao Wudi and Wang Ba, who started from Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment to incorporate different essences.
Rather, it was about adding different essences to the Sword Dao later and drawing on their meanings to counter opponents.
Without needing to spend as much time and effort as the traditional Dharma Lineage.
Of course, compared to the profound roots of the Dharma Lineage, the Dharmas Sword Technique was considered a slight deviation from the mainstream and was significantly less potent than the genuine Dharma Lineage.
"But, he just mentioned not having integrated the Ice Dao yet..."
Wang Ba frowned slightly.
Elder Xumi, who was crossing swords with Chijian, shook his head again, saying:
"You need not be so enraged. No matter how much you add to the Sword Dao, and no matter how much power it gains, it won’t change the essence of the Sword Dao. To control the sword with the heart, to command the sword with the person – this is the true path to converging the Dao Secret!"
"Bullshit!"
Chijian cursed in anger.
But as an experienced hand at magical combat, even though he was vocally furious, the sword-lights around him remained as steady as Mount Tai, matching Elder Xumi’s sword-lights without falling behind.
Ying He and Li Yingfu were astounded by this.
Even though Elder Xumi was only manifesting as a sliver of Immortal Ascension consciousness now, after all, it was still that of an ascended being!
Reaching Immortal Ascension indicated an extremely high level of enlightenment in cultivation.
Even with the same level of power, one could easily outperform the adversary.
Yet, this Chijian was exuding Sword Qi with such audacity and launching successive moves, boldly achieving parity with Elder Xumi.
Upon witnessing this, Wang Ba couldn’t help but express his awe:
"Looking across the world, indeed there are those born with exceptional talent!"
He was somewhat worried about Xumi, though.
After all, this was only a divine thought, the power it could muster was limited; if the battle dragged on, he feared it would quickly be exhausted by the opponent.
Such were Wang Ba’s thoughts.
Chijian seemed to have also realized this point.
But instead of dragging out the fight to wear down his opponent, he cursed out loud:
"Unsatisfactory! Xumi, how can your swordsmanship have become so sluggish over the years!"
"If you won’t come at me, I will come at you!"
With that said, the power on the surrounding sword-light suddenly increased, shooting towards the sword-light in front of Xumi.
However, facing this move,
Xumi still appeared calm and collected.
He gently retreated.
The sword-light around him also retreated.
No, it wasn’t a retreat, but rather, they quickly twined around the point of the blade as a center and then rushed towards Chijian!
Seeing this, Chijian was far from panicked; instead, joy shone in his eyes, and a smile spread across his face:
"Good! Good! That’s more like the Xumi I know!"
Immediately after, the five-colored sword-light flipped a few times in front of him, then swiftly drew in the Qi of the Five Elements from the surroundings, fusing it into the sword-light and turning it into a huge five-colored flying sword, slashing towards that blade point!
Wang Ba and the others couldn’t help but widen their eyes.
Everyone could see that this strike was the decisive one.
Wang Ba was getting somewhat nervous.
Both were top existences in the Sword Dao, their speed was incomparably fast.
In the blink of an eye, the two flying swords had already collided.
However, what slightly startled the three of them was that after a moment of impact,
the two sword-lights both vanished with a pop.
"A tie?!"
Ying He and Li Yingfu were greatly surprised.
Yet right after, Wang Ba and the others were even more shocked to discover that Xumi’s figure, along with the extinguishing of that sword-light, also disappeared.
The three of them stared at Chijian as if they had seen a ghost.
But they found that Chijian’s face was extremely unpleasant:
"Damn it, I actually lost!"
"It collapsed a bit earlier than his."
"If I had been adept in the Ice Dao, and could have integrated it..."
He cursed angrily under his breath.
Wang Ba and the others exchanged looks.
They were unsure whether it was better to stay or to leave.
But Chijian also quickly collected himself.
His aura was in disarray, showing signs of being dispirited.
Turning to Wang Ba, he slightly frowned:
"You just said you’re from the Wanxiang Sect, right? With a Golden Core cultivation base… It seems you’re his junior. Since I agreed to add something on top of my loss to him and he’s not here, you speak instead!"
In his voice, there wasn’t the slightest intention of going back on his word.
Wang Ba was somewhat hesitant in his heart.
The other party seemed both righteous and nefarious, and his conduct was also hard to pin down for the time being.
More importantly, the relationship with Martial Uncle Xumi was somewhat inscrutable.
Thus, hearing Chijian’s words, he felt a bit troubled.
But thinking Martial Uncle Xumi wouldn’t harm him, he sensed the Zen Shadow Clothing on his body.
Weighing the other party’s methods, he finally spoke out with the reminder Xumi had given him earlier.
"Are you interested in a cultivation method?"
Chijian was slightly surprised but didn’t ask further. With a casual flick of his hand, he threw out a storage ring, tossing it to Wang Ba.
"I don’t know much about it; all my stuff is in there, I haven’t sorted it out, just look for yourself."
Wang Ba was stunned, somewhat disbelieving as he looked at the other party.
Feeling Wang Ba’s gaze, Chijian furrowed his brow:
"What’s up?"
After hesitating for a bit, Wang Ba still couldn’t help but say, "Senior, aren’t you worried that I will take everything away from you?"
Chijian snorted with laughter:
"An ascetic devoid of possessions; the sword is all I have. If you wish, take it all."
Hearing these words, Wang Ba couldn’t help but sincerely exclaim:
"A sword fanatic is still a person, but a Chijian, he is no longer human."
He bowed deeply to show his respect.
Then, after a moment of contemplation, he asked, ""
