A clear whistle burst from before the Old Daoist and spread in every direction.
The spirit sword in his hand stood as still as a mountain; only his sleeves fluttered in the biting wind.
Baili Wenqiu's expression turned solemn in an instant. She sensed a trace of killing intent from the Old Daoist.
"Clang!"
Granny Hundred Flowers held her sword before her, first laying out a three-foot world beneath her, then preparing to trade blows with her opponent.
Before her sword was even drawn, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth on the snowy mountain surged toward her!
It was as though hundreds or thousands of spirit swords had answered her summons, arriving in an instant and hanging silently in the biting wind before her.
In the Old Daoist's eyes, Granny Hundred Flowers was even more terrifying than Nalan Ming.
Ten zhang before him, Granny Hundred Flowers had formed a sword formation within three feet of herself, made up of hundreds, even thousands, of swords!
The sword formation blotted out the sky, brimming with killing intent!
Unlike the hundreds of swords Nalan Ming had summoned, which had only been meant to trap him, this woman before him intended to take his life with all these spirit swords.
He was furious. This was his world, not Hundred Flowers Valley.
At Cloud-Rising Taoist Temple, even if he were trapped amid ten thousand swords, he could still stroll through them as casually as if he were in a garden.
So the Old Daoist waved his hand, summoning the Peace Talisman Wang Xian had written in the snow with a branch. It slowly rose from beneath the thick snow.
In Baili Wenqiu's eyes, a faint golden aura of protection had appeared around the Old Daoist.
She smiled, thinking that even an expert like him needed a golden aura to protect himself.
Wang Xian, slumped in the kitchen, smiled too.
His master's sleeve had wiped away only the surface of the snow, not the talismanic intent that had already sunk into the frozen earth.
With a smear of blood at the corner of his mouth, he chuckled.
"Peace is a blessing. May all be safe and sound, and may every shard bring peace!"
At that moment, the young man had yet to awaken the memories of the Phoenix Academy, where life had been worse than death.
In Wang Xian's heart, this was the day he had been hurt the worst.
But it was also a day that made him quite happy, because at last he had written a Peace Talisman in the snow.
He knew it was far harder to complete a talisman in the snow than to use cinnabar on talisman paper, and he had succeeded.
Even being struck by that wicked woman's sword until he spat blood had been worth it.
In the biting wind, the Old Daoist quietly gripped his spirit sword.
He did not rush to break the sword formation before Granny Hundred Flowers. Unlike Nalan Ming, he had no need to build momentum.
The moment he stood there, an aura of invincibility appeared around him.
In Baili Wenqiu's eyes, swords filled the world beyond her sight. Sword Qi crisscrossed through the blizzard, enveloping the entire Taoist temple.
But she could not stop her mother from making a move.
She was waiting too, waiting for the two of them to exchange blows before taking her mother away from here.
Since the Old Daoist said two groups had come before them, and both had gone to the Kunlun Sword Sect, she could also visit Dongfang Nishang and ask her about the Divine Sword.
"Let me test you with this sword!"
Just as Baili Wenqiu was growing uneasy, Granny Hundred Flowers gathered an immense surge of spiritual energy.
At once, the hundreds of spirit swords before her shot forth like lightning, piercing the biting wind in an instant as they slashed toward the Old Daoist!
To Baili Wenqiu, her mother held that spirit sword as if she were holding a snow-capped mountain.
The mountain was too high, too heavy; it joined with the falling snow and Sword Qi too numerous for the Old Daoist to reckon.
How could anyone break this sword?
Even she could not tell which strike was real and which was false, or which one truly meant to cut her down!
This was the strongest sword she had ever seen her mother wield.
It was even more astonishing than the sword Nangong Feiyan of the East Sea had once struck before her.
Seeing that her opponent had not moved, Granny Hundred Flowers hesitated no longer.
Her sword force had gathered to its utmost. She did not want to wait for the Old Daoist to strike first and break the world before her.
So she moved.
The Old Daoist's indifference instantly roused the innate spirit within her, the pride that let her look down upon all the heroes beneath heaven.
With a snowy mountain in hand, I am invincible!
As she swung her hand and struck, the hundreds of swords before her rang out together.
Hum!
The hundreds of Sword Qi instantly transformed into hundreds, even tens of thousands, of petals... turning the biting wind before them into a gentle spring breeze.
They whirled through the air, flying toward the Old Daoist!
Falling blossoms were like a dream. Nothing in the world could stop the blossoms borne on the spring breeze, and no one could stop Granny Hundred Flowers' sword.
Leaning against the gradually cooling stove, Wang Xian gently shook his head.
Unlike Baili Wenqiu, he did not look at the old woman's hundreds of swords.
He did not even look at the spirit sword in his master's hand.
In that instant, he seemed to understand a truth his master had never taught him: do not look!
If I'm going to strike a sword myself, why look at my opponent's sword?
I am the wind—no! I am faster than the wind!
If my sword is faster than the wind, why look at the petals carried on the spring breeze?
He held a short branch in his hand, gave a light slash before him, and murmured a few words.
Wang Xian said only four words.
Granny Hundred Flowers did not hear him, and Baili Wenqiu naturally could not hear what the young man was thinking either.
Only a faint smile appeared at the corner of the Old Daoist's mouth.
His lips moved slightly as he repeated the four words Wang Xian had spoken.
Granny Hundred Flowers was suddenly startled.
In Baili Wenqiu's eyes, the Old Daoist's spirit sword seemed to vanish amid the falling snow.
"Watch my sword!"
Granny Hundred Flowers roared. In an instant, petals danced through the sky, hurtling toward the Old Daoist with the wildest, most irregular force in the world.
Clang!
A faint sword ring sounded through the wind and snow, so soft that it might have gone unheard if one had not listened closely.
Like autumn rain falling into a lake: a moment ago it was still in midair, and the next it had become one with the great lake.
Like a spring breeze brushing one's face: a faint dampness could be felt, yet when one reached out, there was not a trace on one's skin.
This sword passed through tens of thousands of snowflakes drifting down through the biting wind, slipped past the countless petals formed from those snowflakes, and threaded through the myriad spirit swords!
Like spring rain seeping into the night, an almost imperceptible Sword Qi came to the three-foot world before Granny Hundred Flowers.
No farther, exactly three feet.
The three feet before her were Granny Hundred Flowers' world.
In my world, I make the rules. Even a sword from the heavens cannot break through!
So Granny Hundred Flowers swung her sword!
Tens of thousands of snowflakes became tens of thousands of petals. Like rain, they fell from above the Old Daoist, leaving him nowhere to dodge!
But Granny Hundred Flowers had not expected...
The sword that came slashing through the biting wind could hardly be called a killing Sword Qi that pursued souls!
It was a spring rain, a wisp of spring breeze that no one could refuse.
Like spring rain seeping into the night, it naturally seeped into the three-foot world before her!
Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!
Sword Qi crisscrossed, slicing through her world with a sound like silk tearing. It was faint, yet crystal clear.
Not only Baili Wenqiu heard it; Wang Xian did too.
Granny Hundred Flowers' world began to tremble. She let out a long cry of alarm.
Amid her startled cry, Granny Hundred Flowers tried to fly backward...
But she had not expected that the spring breeze and rain would become a flood in the blink of an eye, overflowing her world.
An almost imperceptible Sword Qi broke through the world before Granny Hundred Flowers.
It also pierced her protective aura, leaving countless sword marks on the hand gripping her sword and across the purple robe on her chest.
The Old Daoist had not tried to calculate how to break through Granny Hundred Flowers' myriad swords. He had simply unleashed the sword he had taught Wang Xian.
One Sword No Trace!
Before you continue