Shen Lian was deep in thoughts. He looked even more carefree than Chen Jianmei was previously.
Daoist Shi’s expression was serious – this person had yet to reach the stage of Huandan, and his Yin Spirit had yet to reach the floating clouds, but he was not one to be underestimated.
His sword carried a sense of humanity, and from his previous dead or alive experience, he could tell this person was extremely dangerous.
Cultivators tended to have great instincts. If one did not possess the ability to detect danger, one could not live long in the Xi Huang, except if he was unbeatable.
Xi Huang was dangerous and chaotic. The landscapes were precipitous, and there were demons everywhere. Hence, for cultivators to survive there, they must possess great fighting ability.
Daoist Shi was not stunned. He had decided to let go of his life, thus he had no worries or fear. He had reached an extremely revered state. Without that, he probably could not claim to bring trouble to Chen Jianmei.
The wind gusted through the branches of willows. The journey to the end of the world would be long, and while Shen Lian was close by, it felt like he was at the end of the world.
His voice was indistinct. It was unknown to people where the voice came from. He had contracted his breath to the state of Xuanwei. People who could see him would not be able to distinguish if that was him, or the image of him.
“I am the student of Qing Xuan. I suppose among all the previous generations of Qing Xuan, I am one of the talented ones.” It was confusing to others as to why Shen Lian said this before a fight.
Daoist Shi pumped his power into the sword. It was originally just a common sword. However, as the sword never left his side for a hundred years, and had taken its place in many battles, it had become a rare equipment and carried a sense of humanity.
The sword was soon covered with a layer of green ray. It made the body of the sword to be as clear as the water. Nobody dared to doubt the power of the sword.
Daoist Shi kept quiet. He was still trying to look for the source of Shen Lian’s Qi.
“What I am pursuing in Qing Xuan is what people call the hardest cultivation method – Taixu Strategy. It is apparently more difficult than the Shapeless Sword Formula practiced by Chen. Despite that, I managed to complete a small part of it. After I succeeded, I’ve never utilized it fully,” Shen Lian spoke slowly, and his Qi appeared to be even more indistinct.
“I won’t let you know how powerful Taixu Strategy is today, because you don’t deserve to die under this top cultivation method. Today I will use only sword.” Nobody present felt what Shen Lian said was funny.
For someone experienced, they may know how powerful Taixu Strategy was. According to Taishan Zhenren Lu Jiuyuan, this cultivation method was as good as the Enlightenment Scripture, even though he subsequently added that nobody could beat him with any existing method.
It was a sufficient evidence to prove how powerful Taixu Strategy was.
Daoist Shi definitely heard of that before. The person who made a request for him to tackle Chen Jianmei had informed him in detail about the top cultivation methods in Qing Xuan, as well as how powerful Chen Jianmei was. He even told him there was someone who successfully mastered the Taixu Strategy, a woman, and that it was impossible for her to appear here.
Shen Lian did not lie because there was no need to. Attempting to threaten people at this level had no effect.
Furthermore, Shen Lian did not intend to utilize Taixu Strategy – he wanted to kill him with his sword, his wooden sword. The opponent’s sword was a metal sword. In the five elements, the metal could destruct the wood.
He also had to recognize that the power of Daoist Shi was probably above him. It was the worst strategy he could apply but he did it anyway.
He was being extremely arrogant, but he did not seem like he was full of himself.
There were two people at a distance, a monk and a daoist.
The Daoist was very good looking, on par with Shen Lian. The monk looked as though he had been through great suffering. The shoes he was wearing were already damaged, revealing his toes.
It was the perfect position to watch the battle between Shen Lian and Daoist Shi.
The Daoist smiled, “There are indeed a lot of talents from Qing Xuan. Given Master you’ve been in service for Ming Wang Temple, I wonder what you think of this young man.”
Ming Wang Temple did not belong to the traditional eight Buddhist sects. Most people in the world had only heard of the name but nobody really knew where it was. It was akin to the legend of Da Leiyin Tenple in the Buddhist scriptures.
Ming Wang Temple indeed existed, as every century there would be someone who stepped out from there to walk the world. All of them had tremendous powers, but they did not have any aim in the world.
There was once when people attempted to look for where Ming Wang Temple was through these people. Rumor had it that there were treasures left behind by Buddha. But all of them who tried had failed.
The highest achievement in Ming Wang Temple was not Arhat or Bodhisattva, but Acala.
As a result, the people from Ming Wang Temple who wandered were known as ‘Little Acala’.
The monk clasped his hand. He mumbled some of the Buddhist phrases and said nothing.
The Daoist laughed and he understood that the monk was not going to make any comment. It was not because the monk did not think Shen Lian was worthwhile, but more because he could not evaluate him accurately.
For Little Acala to not be able to evaluate accurately, Shen Lian was indeed powerful.
Unfortunately, even though he requested Daoist Shi to make a move, he could only hold a neutral position. If he were to make a move, it would ruin the rules, and others would follow suit.
On the other side, Shen Lian unleashed his tremendous Qi as if he had turned into a storm. His spiritual pressure could bend all the flora around him.
Daoist Shi did not show his weakness. He had got an advantage given his opponent was using a wooden sword.
When he lifted his metal sword, the sword ray was brighter than the sun.
It did not impact the storm even a little.
Shen Lian was not the powerful swordsman in the world, and his wooden sword was not bursting with vitality, unlike his opponent’s metal sword.
When the storm came in contact with the metal sword, smoke started to form as if it had encountered its natural predator.
Daoist Shi’s sword went through the thickness and traced the storm to discover the source of the spiraling power.
It broke the power of the storm into pieces.
His face did not appear to be victorious as Shen Lian disappeared.
He did not disappear but he was in the sky. He was descending with his wooden sword.
Daoist Shi lifted his head and he could see Shen Lian’s sword coming.
The attack had no trace. He could only hear the vibration in the void. The sword aura all in a sudden, appeared in front of his eyes.
It was odd – Shen Lian was far away, and he did not even detect the sword aura, how did it happen?
The Daoist from afar spoke with a surprised tone, “How did he know how to use the Shapeless Sword Aura?”
It was a different name from Mister Su’s Being and Non-Being of Sword Aura, but it seemed that the name sprouted by the Daoist was more appropriate.
