The battle on the ground had ended a long time ago. The Foundation Establishment cultivators who had come to provide assistance were annihilated, while the other Foundation Establishment cultivators of the Daemon Suppression alliance who had arrived later refused to get any closer after witnessing what had happened. They flew in the sky, watching on from afar.
At this moment, the east began to glow dimly. The night roamers were afraid to scatter from one another now. They just remained below Bronze Cauldron mountain and raised their heads to watch the battle in the Green Ruins illusion.
The world seemed to have become a stage, where other people were all hidden spectators below the stage. Li Qingshan and Fu Qingjin stood in the centre of the stage, drawing everyone’s attention. The outcome of their battle was about to determine the situation of the Clear River prefecture, as well as the lives of countless people.
There were also a few spectators who resided in the dark private boxes, quietly hiding themselves and watching on with various different thoughts in mind.
They saw the Green Ruins Illusion turn into a sea of sword qi, invading all openings at all costs and surrounding Li Qingshan completely.
Ye Liubo became extremely nervous. She muttered to herself, “Master is undefeatable.” Ye Liusu patted her shoulder. “You’re completely right. Believe in him!”
Li Qingshan swung the blade with his tail, producing countless blood-red flashes that clashed and wore away the sword qi. He swung his fists and hooves madly like a demon, throwing them at the empty space and producing a series of cracks. The power of tremors spread out in all directions, destroying the many layers of sword qi. With a fierce roar, a sound wave spread through the sea of sword qi, clearing the sky and making the dark blue of dawn visible.
However, before he could even appreciate it, he suddenly shuddered. A chilling killing intent attacked him from behind.
Fu Qingjin leapt out from the sea of sword qi and produced green ripples with each step. The Green Ruins sword was like a green bolt of lightning that shot across the night sky, and the sea of sword qi began to move with that, gathering on the sword and allowing the sword to tear through the sky.
Pieces of the Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell gathered into a reflective wall, clearly reflecting Fu Qingjin’s figure. Fu Qingjin was not as tough or dense as Strongboulder. He immediately sensed that the figure in the mirror possessed a similar aura to him.
Fu Qingjin’s eyes coldened. No matter what ability you use, how can you block the Green Ruins sword’s edge? “Shatter!”
The tips of the swords connected and ripples appeared on the surface of the mirror. The reflected Fu Qingjin twisted and vanished. Cracks spread across the mirror before shattering loudly.
However, Fu Qingjin was not delighted at all. Instead, his heart sank.
Li Qingshan grinned widely, revealing his mouth full of sharp teeth. A blade aura thirty meters long emerged from the blood-red blade, swinging towards Fu Qingjin. “Die!”
Even with Li Qingshan’s intricate control, he still struggled to block the full-powered attack from such a powerful arcane treasure like the Green Ruins sword. However, that was enough. Fu Qingjin’s killing strike had been weakened. Both the power and the sword intent was no longer as sharp as before. A clash between the powerful only depended on a single moment.
Clang! With a screech of metal, a sword fell out of the sky.
Li Qingshan failed to hit Fu Qingjin. Instead, he hit the Green Ruins sword. In the final moment, Fu Qingjin had fused with the sword and hid in there, escaping with his life intact. However, he did suffer rather severe injuries.
Li Qingshan held back his temptation to call him shameless. He roared, “Stop him!” Little did he know that in Fu Qingjin’s eyes, his innate abilities were just as shameless.
The night roamers responded swiftly. Even without his order, they had already risen up, but the Green Ruins sword was even faster. It turned and twisted through the air, weaving between the night roamers like a bolt of lightning and flying off in the south-east direction.
With just a slight difference in strength, it was very difficult to prevent the strong from fleeing through numbers alone unless it was an assassination or ambush.
Li Qingshan cursed. “Bloodshadow, have you fucking watched enough?!”
There was a cold snort, and Bloodshadow shot out. With his speed, he had arrived a long time ago, but he would much rather watch Li Qingshan be finished off by Fu Qingjin and then take advantage of the weakened Fu Qingjin. Why would he ever work with Li Qingshan? The opportunity had appeared now, and he refused to let Fu Qingjin escape for nothing too.
With a flash, Bloodshadow stopped the Green Ruins sword. The cloak around him expanded and turned into a blood-red barrier, wrapping around the Green Ruins sword. The Green Ruins sword could pierce everything, but when it came to the red light, it began to falter. It weaved left and right, searching for an opening.
Fu Qingjin had clashed several times with Bloodshadow. He understood exactly how much the barrier of blood could corrupt weapons. If regular spiritual artifacts came into touch with it, they would lose all of their abilities, being reduced to a piece of regular metal. It was more terrifying than any form of damage.
Normally, Fu Qingjin would not have cared. The sword was protected by sword qi and its glow, so at worst, all he had to do was go back and refine it for another few days. However, the Green Ruins sword had been damaged again and again today. Its sword qi and glow had already become extremely dim. If it became covered by this corrupting blood, it really would become powerless.
“Fu Qingjin, to think even you would have such a day!” Bloodshadow sneered sinisterly and drew in the barrier of blood. Fu Qingjin had already become a sitting duck. He was unable to hide, and he was faced with dire circumstances. However, he recovered his composure and flew towards Bloodshadow.
Why would Bloodshadow be afraid of an injured Fu Qingjin? He went up to receive him with a sneer. This was the perfect opportunity for him to kill him and get his revenge.
Li Qingshan reverted to his humanoid form, flapping his wings of wind and lunging over. He definitely would not let Fu Qingjin’s hundred treasures pouch just go to Bloodshadow. At this moment, an omen of warning rose up inside him. He came to a screeching halt and retreated.
Bloodshadow had no idea why he did that. In a single instant, he had already approached Fu Qingjin. Fu Qingjin held a scarlet talisman in his hand. The inscriptions on the talisman suddenly lit up.
Light flooded the surroundings as a scorching, white bolt of lightning thicker than a tree appeared. It twisted around for a few hundred meters and was just like a dragon. In a single moment, Bloodshadow’s sneer turned into fear. By then time he returned to his senses, the lightning dragon had already penetrated his chest.
Fu Qingjin brushed past Bloodshadow. He did not even bother to use an ounce of strength to finish him off.
A very long time seemed to pass before the rumbling arrived. The clap of thunder from nowhere shook up the very earth.
Li Qingshan was taken aback. Not only was it a scarlet talisman, but it was probably of the mid or even high grade. If Fu Qingjin had used that right from the beginning, the outcome of the battle would have been difficult to predict. His joy over the victory vanished, turning into caution. He had still underestimated the Sword Collection palace.
Fu Qingjin broke out, but he did not flee. He hovered in the air, but his face was filled with sighs, and he even seemed slightly annoyed. After witnessing the power of the Lightning Dragon talisman, no one dared to approach him carelessly anymore.
A while later, Fu Qingjin did something no one had expected. He bowed deeply towards Li Qingshan in the distance. “Northmoon, I must apologise to you for how I’ve underestimated you in the past.”
Li Qingshan was taken aback slightly. “Is this begging for mercy?”
Fu Qingjin said, “No, it’s a letter of challenge.”
“Then unleash your talismans and face me in a grand battle again!” Li Qingshan said boldly and fearlessly as his blood boiled.
Fu Qingjin said, “As a sword practitioner, I don’t rely on other objects unless I face imminent death. This is an unwritten rule of the Sword Collection palace.”
Li Qingshan crossed his arms and mocked, “Isn’t a rule like that useless to you? Stop posing around. Use whatever you have! If you don’t have enough, the Sword Collection palace is welcome to deliver some to you.”
“I, Fu Qingjin, swear that I will not rely on any other object or any other person. I will use this sword to defeat you.” Fu Qingjin raised his sword high into the air as his clothes ruffled. In that instant, all of his dejection, indifference, and laid backness vanished. He had recovered the bearing of a swordsman.
