The Old Celestial Master and I Are Evenly Matched

Four figures walked up the stone steps of Mount Longhu.

There were two Daoists in blue robes and two women, though the women were visibly listless.

The Daoists were Wang Chuan and Wang Ye, while the women were Liu Yanyan and Xia He.

Liu Yanyan was more or less an extra. Xia He was harder to deal with, but under the weight of Wudang Mountain's name, and with Wang Chuan saying he would take Xia He to Mount Longhu for the Old Celestial Master to handle, Xu San had finally relented.

The four made their way toward the gates of Mount Longhu, one step at a time.

At the gates, someone was already waiting. Wang Ye had submitted Wudang Mountain's visiting card as Wang Chuan had instructed.

Before long, Wang Chuan and the others reached the gates, where the person waiting came forward to greet them. It was not Zhang Lingyu; his seniority was rather high, and unless the mountain gates were being opened for a major occasion, he was not usually called upon to receive guests.

"Are you the two Daoist brothers, Wang Chuan, Wudang Mountain's current representative, and Wang Ye?"

"We are."

"The Celestial Master and junior martial uncle have been waiting in the reception hall for some time. Should I arrange for these two to rest?"

"No need. These two are here to visit the Old Celestial Master with us."

At that, the Daoist from Mount Longhu said no more.

He had only asked because the visiting card submitted today named Wudang Mountain's outstanding disciples, and Wudang Mountain was all they had expected to receive.

But since the principal guest had spoken, there was no reason to object.

Before long, they arrived at the reception hall. An old Daoist with white hair and a white beard sat upright in the hall, with a distinguished-looking young man standing beside him.

"Celestial Master, junior martial uncle, I've brought the two from Wudang Mountain."

Having announced them, the young Daoist withdrew on his own. With Zhang Lingyu present, his task was to receive the guests. If not for the question of seniority, Zhang Lingyu would have been the most suitable person to receive them from beginning to end.

"Come, let me see what this Wang Chuan, whom Zhou Meng has praised to the heavens, is like."

"Greetings, Old Celestial Master."

"You're every bit the fine young man."

"You flatter me, Old Celestial Master. My cultivation is insignificant."

"What message did Zhou Meng have you bring this time?"

"It wasn't Grandmaster's order. I'm Wudang Mountain's representative now, so I came out to travel."

"I also brought two gifts."

"Oh?"

Paying no heed to Zhang Lingyu, who had seemed to lose his soul at the sight of Xia He, Wang Chuan began carefully introducing the "gifts."

"This is Liu Yanyan, heir to the Liu Family of Western Hunan. She mistakenly joined Quanxing a few days ago. I happened to be there, so I rescued her and brought her along."

"You happened to be there, did you?"

The Old Celestial Master wore a playful expression. He knew why the Liu Family heir had been brought here: Wang Chuan wanted to use his name to establish that she had joined Quanxing by mistake. But most of the gratitude for this favor would go to the young man before him.

She was the Liu Family's sole heir. That was no small favor.

"As for this one, she's Xia He, the Bone-Scraping Knife of Quanxing's Four Madmen."

"Xia He. You know quite a bit, young man."

The Old Celestial Master's playful expression turned placid, and nothing in his tone betrayed whether he was pleased or angry.

"I happened to be there. Someone like her can only be kept in check by you, Old Celestial Master."

"You happened to be there. Then you've had some good luck."

Wang Chuan smiled without answering.

Wang Ye, meanwhile, noticed Zhang Lingyu's conflicted gaze and suddenly felt that his senior brother seemed to have given the Old Celestial Master two favors, one large and one small, with Liu Yanyan being the extra.

As for Xia He, she had already given up resisting. She was right in front of the Old Celestial Master now; nothing she tried would do any good.

Besides, she had thought it through. Who could really say what had happened back then? Surely he would not go so far as to kill her outright.

"Speaking of which, you visited the resting place of that disappointing junior brother of mine, and met my grand-disciple too. Did you happen to be there for those as well?"

"Your eyes are sharp as torches, Old Celestial Master."

"Did you happen to be there, or did you want Qi-State Origin-Flow?"

Qi-State Origin-Flow, one of the Eight Extraordinary Skills!

The atmosphere in the hall immediately turned a little chilly.

Wang Chuan was not surprised in the least that the Old Celestial Master had seen through him. In fact, he had never intended to hide it. Though Wang Chuan knew Zhang Chulan probably did not possess any of the Eight Extraordinary Skills yet, that did not stop everyone from believing he did.

Of all the Eight Extraordinary Skills, the ones he wanted most were Six Treasury Immortal Thief and Qi-State Origin-Flow, followed by Divine Machine Hundred Refinements, Heaven-Reaching Talisman, and Feng Hou Qimen.

Yes, he had not mastered Feng Hou Qimen. Of the two of them, only the junior brother behind him had mastered that one of the Eight Extraordinary Skills, but he was in no hurry.

As the saying went, once he was strong enough, the Eight Extraordinary Skills would naturally fall into his hands.

"I do. I want to see whether the Eight Extraordinary Skills are really that wondrous, and even more, I want to try returning to the Dao through technique."

"Returning to the Dao through technique? You've got grand ambitions. Aren't you afraid I'll keep you here?"

"I'm afraid you won't be able to."

"Hahaha."

The Old Celestial Master laughed without anger. In Wang Chuan, he saw the same reckless spirit and confidence his generation had possessed back then.

"Then I'll have to weigh you up, young man."

"Then please instruct me, Old Celestial Master."

"Senior brother?!"

Hearing that, Wang Ye grew anxious. He was afraid his senior brother really would be kept here.

"Little Ye, relax. Today, I'll show you my full strength too."

With that, he took the longsword Wang Ye had been carrying on his back and followed the Old Celestial Master toward the sparring platform.

Behind them, Wang Ye was worried, Liu Yanyan was eager to see the commotion grow, and Zhang Lingyu and Xia He were both thoroughly awkward, neither speaking to the other.

Originally, Zhang Lingyu should have been the one to spar, but everyone present except the fool Liu Yanyan could see that his mind was elsewhere.

Soon, everyone was watching from below the sparring platform as the Old Celestial Master and Wang Chuan began their match.

"Old Celestial Master, I am but a junior who came late to the path. Please give me a little time to prepare."

Looking at the thick-skinned fellow before him, Zhang Zhiwei wanted to activate the Golden Light Mantra and plant him in the ground, but he still waved a hand, allowing Wang Chuan to prepare to his heart's content.

Wang Chuan paid no mind to the Old Celestial Master's serious expression. After all, he was the one standing at the very pinnacle. Before they had actually fought, however arrogant Wang Chuan sounded, he had to be just as cautious in action.

Eight Gates Released Formation, Five Gates, open!

Gate of Spirit, the temples on both sides, the ancestral aperture between the brows, the major acupoint at the heart, open!

Taiji Force, perfect harmony realm, form a domain of its own, fill the entire arena, open!

Then he slowly drew his sword and raised it high. The entire blade began to tremble, filled with an incredible amount of qi.

"Old Celestial Master, this strike of Taiji Sword brings together everything I've learned over eleven years. Please instruct me."

Zhang Zhiwei, standing opposite him, looked as though he had seen a ghost.

When Taiji Force was cultivated to a certain level, it could form a domain around the user. Whether qi, weapons, or fists and feet, anything that entered it could only be deflected according to its master's will.

But that was at least the realm of that little monkey Zhou Meng!

What was more, the qi and spiritual power that had suddenly surged revealed methods he could not see through. They definitely were not from Wudang Mountain!

Almost all that qi had been poured into this single strike of Taiji Sword. The sense of yin and yang in perfect harmony, generating each other without end, rushed straight at Zhang Zhiwei's forehead.

And aside from restraining that qi, the faint, barely perceptible spiritual power was entirely trained on the Old Celestial Master, making it impossible for him to dodge. He could only take the blow head-on.

The sword strike left him even more speechless. Was this how a fight was supposed to be decided in one move?!

"Mystic origin of heaven and earth, root of all qi. Cultivating through countless tribulations, I bear witness to my divine power. Within and beyond the three realms, the Dao alone reigns supreme. Golden light fills my body, enveloping and illuminating me."

Faced with this sword strike, the Old Celestial Master still intended to rely on the Golden Light Mantra to meet it.

His profound cultivation sustained a figure like a giant clad in golden armor.

Boom—

After the tremendous impact, the people below the sparring platform could see nothing. The entire platform was shrouded in dust.

Whoosh—

A gentle breeze swept past, and the dust dispersed.

Both the Old Celestial Master and Wang Chuan were completely unharmed. The sparring platform, however, had vanished entirely.