“Your cunning is unbefitting of a sword cultivator, palace master!”
Swords slashes flashed through Gu Yanying’s eyes in the ruined grand hall. She gazed deeply at the palace master. The Hot Wind hell was a special technique of hers, but it was not the method of battle she was most skilled in. The foundations of her cultivation could not be compared with this great sword cultivator either, so under normal conditions, her domain should have fallen a long time ago. Even if it was split apart in a single slash, she would not have been surprised.
While the palace master’s attacks were vicious, he had only used the most ordinary sword techniques of the Sword Collection palace. As a matter of fact, when her domain was clearly on the brink of collapse earlier, the sword master’s attacks had weakened accordingly, allowing her to last until now. When the grand hall had been destroyed, she had tried to force back the attacks and leave with Hua Chengzan, but the attacks suddenly erupted with light, giving her absolutely no opportunity.
It could not be any more obvious. The palace master had clearly been holding back the entire time. He was Li Qingshan’s great enemy, yet he could easily avoid the battlefield without facing that sharp edge of the blade and the terrifying abilities. He could even use Hua Chengzan to keep Li Qingshan here, or Li Qingshan would only need a single thought to fly off with no one to stop him.
“And you know what the path of the sword is?” the palace master said coldly. The Light Queen and Ji Xuanri’s deaths did not seem to affect him much.
“Everyone in the world believes the Sword Collection palace to be staunch and resolute and the Umbral Yin sect to be scheming and cunning. As it seems, even I can’t avoid being misled by this false impression.”
Gu Yanying raised her eyebrows and could not help but sigh.
In order to merge their hearts with the sword, sword cultivators would always have a hint of rational coldness regardless of the sword intent, as this was the nature of the sword. As for ghost cultivators, they could not avoid being mentally affected either in order to control ghosts. They would often come off as more emotional instead.
The Dark Queen and the Light Queen formed a clear contrast. This difference between yin and yang was like the difference between a man and a woman. The viciousness of a woman would be fully displayed in a palace harem, but that was only turning their love rivals into human swine. The viciousness of men was throwing the world into turmoil and slaughtering the masses. Not only would they feel no guilt, but they would even say bold words like “This is how a great man should be”.
TL: Turning their love rivals into human swine is a reference to the fate of consort Qi mentioned in the Records of the Grand Historian. Quoting wikipedia, “She then had Concubine Qi’s limbs chopped off, blinded her by gouging out her eyes, cut off her tongue, cut off her nose, cut off her ears, forced her to drink a potion that made her mute, made her dumb with toxins, and locked her in the pigsty, and called her a “Human Swine” (人彘)”. Some really vicious stuff.
“I’ve said this long ago. All of the people from the Sword Collection palace should die, while this one deserves to die the most!”
A distant voice rang out. The Dark Queen stared at the palace master coldly with the Myriad Ghost Banner in her hand. The power of the World Purifying Formation of Buddha Hymn had been greatly weakened by Xiao An, so the restraint she was under immediately lightened.
“The Dark Queen truly has impressive foresight!”
Gu Yanying smiled. As a guest from the Dragon province, she had already surprised a lot of people by not choosing to stand by the Light Queen’s side originally. After all, whether it was her obligations as a Hawkwolf Guard, her temperament, or her reputation, it all matched the Sword Collection palace’s a little more.
“Yanying, you should change the way you refer to me! I’m no longer a queen.” The Dark Queen swung the Myriad Ghost Banner, and the howl of a myriad ghosts rang out. Then she summoned a few Ghost Kings, which lunged towards the palace master together.
She was concerned for Ji Xuanyue’s safety, but she also knew that even if she went over to help her out, she could not do anything to the great buddha. Her Ghost Kings probably could not even approach the statue. She had already realised that her daughter would not retreat as long as Li Qingshan remained, while Li Qingshan was determined to save his friend and kill this palace master. As a result, the crux of the issue lay here.
Abruptly, the palace master lit up with resplendent light, landing on the top of Great Buddha mountain like a falling star. Not only did he shatter the howls of the ghosts, but even the Ghost Kings were forced back, afraid to approach him.
“Sure enough! There’s no need for you to decide on impulse, sister. There’s still plenty of time ahead of you.” Gu Yanying felt the pressure on her lighten. She turned around and asked, “You’re not helping out, sect master?”
The master of the Umbral Yin sect stood with his arms behind his back, far away on the side of the mountain. This prominent existence of the Green province demonic path paid attention to all the battles, but he neither went to kill Li Qingshan under the King of Chu’s orders, nor did he deal with his mortal enemy, the master of the Sword Collection palace. His entire stance on this matter seemed extremely ambiguous. Who knew what he was thinking. If he was willing to take action, he was enough to hold off the palace master.
“Fellow Gu, I’m an honoured guest of the king’s estate, while Xuanyue is the future sect master of the Umbral Yin sect. I’m in a tough spot just like the Dauntless master!” The sect master grinned, revealing a set of pale-white teeth, but he did not seem like he was in a tough spot at all.
At this moment, Li Qingshan had eaten Zhu Fuzi’s soul nascence and let out a furious blast. The white light whistled out.
“Hehe, that’s another one dead. A pity, a pity. If I could refine the soul nascence of great cultivators into a ghost slave, they would be extremely useful,” said the sect master.
Gu Yanying’s words made the Dark Queen think of something. She raised her head and gazed into the white light, at the Fierce King of Chu. Now, the Light Queen was already dead, while the crown prince Ji Xuanri had died with her. The Sword Collection palace and the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga had both been weakened. Among the three major sects of the Green province, only the Umbral Yin sect remained as powerful as before. Xuanyue possessed such great strength that she had already become the optimal choice to inherit the King of Chu’s throne too.
He would always find this humiliating and unbearable in the moment, but as long as he made it through this battle, she could slowly convince him otherwise, and that did not necessarily mean there could not be any favourable terms. Perhaps she could even reignite their previous sentiments for each other.
The grand hall was enveloped in white light.
……
“Reversal of the Five Elements, the Worlds in Distortion!”
The Fierce King of Chu swung his arm, and the pentagram before him pushed forwards, suddenly expanding to ten, to a hundred times its original size. It revolved over Great Buddha mountain, causing the surrounding landscape to twist and change. Compared to the hurried palm strike from earlier, who knew how many times more powerful this attack was.
Li Qingshan felt like he had fallen into a rapidly-changing magic mirror. His limbs would be elongated at times and shrunken at others. Everything before his eyes had become bizzarre. Only the Fierce King of Chu constantly grew larger; he was like an indomitable god gazing down at him coldly and solemnly. With a flip of his left hand, a golden seal crushed down. It was deeply engraved with a few words, the King of Chu’s Seal!
In that instant, Li Qingshan felt like he was facing the great buddha’s palm strike again. As the golden seal pressed down, he heard the voices of countless common people. There was the hawking of markets, the reciting of scholars, the crying of children—all of the sounds the world had to offer, without any meaning behind them whatsoever. They gathered together like a tsunami, flooding the surroundings.
“Die!”
“Impressive technique, fellow!” Li Qingshan said in praise.
This strike alone bore some resemblance to the Dragon King of Ink Sea’s attacks. If he had been a regular great cultivator, then all he could do was wait to be pulverised. However, even his praise had been distorted by the landscape, becoming extremely strange-sounding.
His figure swelled up in the face of attack. Thirty meters, three hundred meters, and so on, continuing until he reached over two thousand meters tall, assuming the body of the demonic and divine. His iron hooves landed on the ground loudly, standing on the top of Great Buddha mountain and sending his hands upwards.
Boom!
His iron hooves sank deep into the ground, and countless cracks spread across the mountain. If it were not for the fact that it had been seeping in holy light for the past ten thousand years, it basically would have collapsed.
“Just that isn’t enough to kill me!”
Li Qingshan’s laughter rolled out like thunder. He stopped the King of Chu’s Seal with his arms and endless power flowed through his body, even making the distorted world turn back to normal.
Everyone raised their heads. This sight was imprinted deeply in their minds such that they could never forget about it.
