Love Blossoms by the River

Li Weiyi's vertical slash contained the steadfastness and domineering power of "Taiyi Opens the Sea," and also conformed to more wondrous laws of heaven and earth, causing its power to rise sharply.

Even with Qingzao's profound cultivation, he could still sense the boundless killing intent at this moment.

Forced to switch from offense to defense, he mobilized all his magical energy, stepping on flowing light, to temporarily avoid Li Weiyi's sharp edge.

An even greater killing intent came from behind Li Weiyi. The supreme Sword Intent of "Immortal Kills All Beings" arrived even before the Sword Qi unleashed by Tang Wanzhou, directly striking Qingzao's soul consciousness.

Qingzao lost all composure, feeling as if she were facing not One Vertical, One Horizontal, but a crisscrossing net of swords, with no way to avoid it.

Therefore, they did not avoid it.

Offense is the best form of defense.

"The Ten Thousand Miles of Morning Glow!"

"Whoosh!"

As she unleashed the Major Technique of the fifth level, her magical energy, like the morning glow, ignited as she retreated, enveloping the surrounding sky and earth.

With a powerful sword strike, her slender and supple body and the sword transformed into a red sun in the morning glow.

Li Weiyi's sword flashed, piercing through the morning glow.

Tang Wanzhou's horizontal slash fell towards the red sun.

"Boom!"

Qingzao tumbled backward, looking disheveled and miserable. All the color drained from her face, and half of her body was covered in frost, chilling her to the bone.

It should be noted that Tang Wanzhou does not use his "Immortal Kills All Beings" lightly. Once he does use this move, no one of the same realm can defend against it. Even Wenren Tinghai, the New Jia Explorer of the Demon Kingdom whose strength was once superior to Qingzao, had his protective defense broken by this move.

"Clang!"

Tang Wanzhou gave Qingzao no chance to recover. With a sharp look in his eyes, he charged forward and unleashed a second and a third sword strike... with overwhelming momentum, trying to crush his opponent.

Li Weiyi was breathing heavily. He had been beaten so badly by Qingzao that he couldn't even breathe. His nerves felt like they were about to snap, and his heart was beating several times faster than usual, as if it were about to explode.

Holding Staff Spear of All Things, Four-colored Spiritual Light continuously flowed into it from between his brows.

"Splash!"

The Formation Disk, composed of star trail patterns and the Combined Attack Formation the sun, moon, and stars, solidified around his body, enveloping the Seven Phoenix Wing Moth Emperors that were taking flight.

Then, the Formation Disk and star trail patterns, which were more than ten feet in diameter, transformed into a rapidly spinning millstone and rushed toward the battlefield between Tang Wanzhou and Qingzao.

With a loud bang, the Formation Disk smashed into Qingzao, whose momentum was waning, and tried to pull her into the array.

Unexpectedly, Qingzao's movement techniques had reached an unparalleled level. Even in such a dangerous situation, she could still move through the air like a fish, transforming into more than a dozen figures, escaping to a height of a hundred meters in the air like a celestial maiden scattering flowers.

Tang Wanzhou soared straight into the sky, once again catching up with Qingzao.

Don't give her a chance to escape.

Li Weiyi took out the Purple Sky Lei Seal, which hovered above the Sun, Moon and Stars Formation Disk. Then, he gathered the magical energy of the Seven Phoenix Wing Moth Emperors, and activated it with a total of eight forces.

Although its magical energy level was not as high as that of the four Battle Corpse Puppet, it still unleashed a considerable amount of the original power of the Myriad-character Artifact.

"Crack!"

Several streaks of purple lightning shot straight into the sky, winding like snakes.

The sky and earth are a mix of light and shadow.

One of the bolts of purple lightning struck Qingzao, piercing through the protective scriptures released from her ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress), turning the ruqun to ashes at the point of impact.

She let out a low, mournful moan as her body plummeted to the ground.

If Qingzao hadn't been restrained by Tang Wanzhou, she could have easily dodged and escaped far beyond the attack range of the Purple Sky Lei Seal.

Tang Wanzhou gave chase again, intending to seize this opportunity to kill the third-ranking figure of the younger generation of the Taiyin Sect.

Before Qingzao even landed, a cloud of magical energy surged from Zutian, neutralizing the downward force.

She looked up at the sky, watching the Divine Snow Sword fall like a meteor, and threw out three ancient, hemp-yellow corpse garments from her bag. The garments were stained with the blood of a transcendent corpse, indicating their immense origin.

"Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle!"

The three light, paper-thin shrouds burst into flames from the inside out, then swelled up under the weight of the three ghostly bodies.

The three ghosts shielded the heavily injured Qingzao in the center, each unleashing a Duling Cold Fire.

Three pillars of fire coiled around it, sending the Divine Snow Sword flying.

In the distance, Huo Tianming roared, "You dare to injure Envoy Chen? You're courting death!"

The ring-shaped magical artifact, a fifth-grade Thousand Character Artifact, transformed into a scripture wheel with a diameter of tens of meters. It flew out first and smashed towards Tang Wanzhou was rapidly approaching Qingzao.

Even faster than Huo Tianming was Blood Mountain Marquis.

Tang Wanzhou glanced at the enormous, mountain-like red ghostly figure that was already close at hand, slapped the Scripture Heavenly Wheel away with a palm strike, landed, sheathed his Divine Snow Sword, and rushed towards Li Weiyi: "Go!"

Knowing he had lost the chance to kill Qingzao, Li Weiyi put away the Seven Phoenix Wing Moth Emperors and, together with Tang Wanzhou, used the Provincial Governor's Official Robe to teleport away.

"Wow!"

Protected by three Ghost Spirit Servant, Qingzao tried to suppress her injuries and pursue them, but suddenly, her chest heaved and she spat out a mouthful of blood.

Half of her body was charred black by the Purple Sky Lei Seal, and the other half was frozen by the Divine Snow Sword. In full view of everyone, she was utterly defeated by two low-level martial artists, and she was in excruciating physical and mental pain.

Huo Tianming retrieved the ring-shaped magic artifact and approached Qingzao, his eyes filled with disbelief. "Their cultivation and combat strength are actually this high?"

Qingzao circulated her inner energy to heal her injuries, giving him a cold look. "Why aren't you chasing after them?"

Huo Tianming pursued Blood Mountain Marquis closely, heading in the direction Li Weiyi and Tang Wanzhou had fled.

The cry, imbued with Intent Attack, fell upon Li Weiyi and Tang Wanzhou.

A Six-Colored Peacock and a black python, one in the sky and the other on the ground, chased after them even faster than Blood Mountain Marquis.

Each of them spewed out a magical artifact from its mouth.

The two magical artifacts, spanning dozens of miles, attacked the two people fleeing ahead.

Li Weiyi and Tang Wanzhou fought and fled, advancing left and right, covering three thousand miles before finally shaking off all the powerful enemies, the Demon Race and the spirits.

They changed direction again, fleeing thousands of miles, and then disappeared into a large river to wash away their breath and hide their footprints. Only when the two of them had exhausted all their magical energy did they help each other and, exhausted, tread on the dense reeds to get ashore.

Exhausted, the two collapsed to the ground, utterly disregarding their appearance.

It was pitch black all around, with only the sound of flowing water and the two of them breathing heavily.

At this moment, I no longer knew any direction or location; I just wanted to quietly enjoy this precious tranquility and the comfort of surviving a catastrophe, as if I were completely isolated from the outside world and all the rights and wrongs and grievances of the world.

Hearing Tang Wanzhou's breathing becoming increasingly shallow, Li Weiyi quickly sat up and patted her head. "No matter how exhausted we are, we absolutely cannot fall asleep. It would be dangerous if the enemy caught up."

Tang Wanzhou lay on his back, his large eyes wide open in the darkness, shining like pearls in the ocean. "The world is vast, and you and I only occupy a fraction of it. We've already used every trick in the book to escape and conceal ourselves. If any enemies still manage to catch up and find us, we might as well just cut off our own heads. Because what we're facing isn't a group of Longevity Realm Martial Cultivator, but Martial Path Son of Heaven, a god."

"You're right!"

Li Weiyi lay back down, feeling Tang Wanzhou's wet hair against her neck, and longed to sleep like this forever.

But reason told them they had to stay alert, and keep their eyes open at all times.

Suddenly, Tang Wanzhou said in a relaxed tone, "Congratulations! Your ancestral field is still intact, and you've broken through to the realm of immortality. This news alone is enough to create a heated discussion among the younger generation in the entire Southern Yingzhou, and it's enough to truly make you famous. It will also surely excite and thrill countless people who felt sorry for you and cared about you."

Li Weiyi smiled wryly, "What's there to congratulate? Didn't you see? You were beaten so badly by Qingzao that you couldn't even tell which way was which. You're still far from being a match for her."

Tang Wanzhou turned her tall, graceful body towards him, her captivating starry eyes gazing intently at Li Weiyi's sharply defined face. She said earnestly, "How can you be so self-deprecating? I don't know how strong Qin Zhengyang is when he's uninjured, but Qingzao right now is probably no less than him at his peak. Even with my current Second Realm Peak cultivation, I'm still a step behind her."

"You've already managed to withstand several of her attacks, enough to astound the world. If you're well-prepared and make good use of the Seven Phoenix Wing Moth Emperors and the Battle Corpse Puppet, you could be completely invincible. What an amazing feat that would be!"

"You've earned my heartfelt admiration, even from someone as proud and arrogant as the Northern Territory Young Lord. Also, you're stepping on my hair!"

Li Weiyi slightly raised his head and moved, his gaze meeting hers. He felt a tremor in his heart, as if an indescribable force was pulling him closer, wanting to grasp that exquisitely beautiful face so close to his, to hold it in his hands and kiss it.

Li Weiyi quickly cleared his mind of distractions and suppressed his impulses. In his mind, he began to review the previous battle. "The key lies in being well-prepared. In a duel between top experts, it is essential to seize the initiative and fight for every second. She knew that I raised strange insects and refined Battle Corpse Puppet. How could she possibly give me a chance to be well-prepared? Unless she hid in the shadows, set a trap, waited for the enemy to tire themselves out, and struck unexpectedly."

Immediately afterwards, Li Weiyi told Tang Wanzhou about Qingzao's method of interfering with spatial teleportation, and told her to be careful.

Tang Wanzhou's eyes, which had been filled with tender affection, gradually sharpened as he looked back at the dark sky. "At the Second Realm Peak, I'm not necessarily incapable of defeating her, even if it means crossing a major realm. The reason I'm currently lagging behind is because I broke through to the Longevity Realm too quickly, using too many resources and treasures like the Dragon Soul Origin Light, which resulted in my cultivation not being as solid as hers, and my application of Dao techniques being far inferior."

"But all of this is not irreparable."

"After several days of fierce battles, I can clearly feel that the magical energy and Longevity Scriptures within my body have become more refined, and my strength has improved again. My Immortal Killing God Snow Fourteen Swords can only be honed by constantly fighting against strong opponents and being tempered in the face of life and death, so as to capture a more suitable and wondrous sword dao law and thus become more powerful."

Li Weiyi wholeheartedly agreed.

The reason he was suppressed by Qingzao from the moment he sensed her presence was that he couldn't even breathe.

The key lies in the fact that Qingzao far surpasses him in the use of magical energy, scriptures, magical artifacts, and intention. Her movement techniques and Daoist arts are even more divine, and her speed is so fast that Li Weiyi has difficulty even defending against them.

A long silence followed.

Tang Wanzhou suddenly said, "So many days have passed, why are you still lingering in the Tiandu River Nether Domain? Don't you know that it must be a dangerous place?"

Li Weiyi didn't answer, but instead asked, "And you, why are you also in the Tiandu River Nether Domain?"

"I was certain that you would hide there after you escaped. But when I blew the whistle, no one came to meet me, so I had to bury myself in the mud to heal my wounds first," Tang Wanzhou said simply.

Both of them actually understood each other's nonchalant attitude.

In the Ancient Kingdom of the Years Ruin, it would be extremely difficult to find a third person who could earn such trust from them.

"Look, there are stars in the sky," Tang Wanzhou suddenly said.

Li Weiyi stared intently and indeed found one, then two, three... They were very faint, but they were real.

He was deeply shaken. "Does this mean that the darkness within the Ancient Kingdom of the Years Ruin is receding? Just like here on the riverbank, many reeds have actually grown, and life is recovering in places other than the Underworld."

"That's not something we should be concerned about!"

Tang Wanzhou took a deep breath, and unexpectedly flipped herself up, moving her long, straight, and rounded legs, slightly kneeling and straddling Li Weiyi's waist.

Then she leaned down, embraced his face, pressed her red lips to his, and kissed him passionately, no longer holding back, freely venting her emotions.

Li Weiyi never expected her to come on so aggressively, but her kiss was too clumsy, just imitating without understanding, and she forced herself on him.