Grim

Li Ziye gave a bitter smile and tossed the Heavenly Sword upward. The sword transformed into a silver streak and flew back into its scabbard on its own. Then Li Ziye removed the sword case he never let leave his side and threw it toward Ye Chang.

Ye Chang took out several talismans and activated them. They turned into streams of golden light that wrapped around the sword case, sealing it. Having finished, Ye Chang no longer bothered concealing his delight. He threw back his head and laughed. "You hypocritical Modern Dharma Cultivators... take this!"

As he spoke, a lethal heavy technique blasted toward Li Ziye.

Without the Heavenly Sword's assistance, Li Ziye's movement technique slowed considerably. Yet as if he had foreseen it, he retreated seven steps diagonally backward. Ye Chang's sure-kill strike merely brushed past him and blasted a massive crater into the ground!

Ye Chang frowned. "Who told you to dodge? Do you believe I..."

Li Ziye sighed. "Let me make one thing clear beforehand. Abandoning the Heavenly Sword is my bottom line. If you expect me to bind my own hands and let you kill me, I can't do that."

Ye Chang's face twisted savagely. "You don't care about this brat's life?"

"I'm not an idiot. If you kill me, this little brother still won't be saved, so why would I stand here and let you kill me?" Li Ziye chuckled. "Since you captured him alive, he must be useful to you. Unless you are driven into a dead end, you probably won't kill him so easily."

"So what?"

Li Ziye continued, "If we fought head-on, I seemed to be a little stronger than you. Given an Ancient Method Cultivator's nature, when defeating me offers you no personal benefit, you would rather flee than fight. But you suddenly stopped now, which means the situation has become: if you don't defeat me, you will be in trouble. Is some place like your stronghold nearby?"

Having his thoughts exposed, Ye Chang grew agitated. "What exactly do you mean?"

Li Ziye smiled. "If this little brother dies before my eyes, I'll probably feel guilty for a while. That wouldn't be good. But if I let him go with you, he'll either die or suffer a fate worse than death. In the worst case, he'll become an Ancient Method Cultivator—perhaps saying this is unfair to him, but from my standpoint, I cannot allow such a thing to happen. I can't watch you abduct him. Since I have to do my utmost to save him, what else can I do?"

"What do I care what you do!" Ye Chang shouted, preparing to use his movement technique and leave. With the Heavenly Sword sealed, Li Ziye's movement technique could never be as swift as before!

Then Li Ziye's leisurely voice drifted over. "A reminder: the seal you placed on the Heavenly Sword is not difficult to break—don't forget, lifting seals is also a specialty of the Myriad Dharma Sect. Just now, I could kill three Foundation Establishment Cultivators and then chase after you. Breaking the seal and chasing you afterward would be no different."

Ye Chang forcibly halted his steps. Modern Dharma spells were far more complicated than Ancient Method techniques. He simply could not determine how long Li Ziye would need to unseal the Heavenly Sword—one breath, or two? The image of Li Ziye calmly killing his three Foundation Establishment subordinates before pursuing him was still vivid in his mind. That little time was nowhere near enough for him to shake Li Ziye off.

A tremor actually entered the Nascent Soul Cultivator's voice. "What exactly do you want?"

"Do you still not understand the situation? If you flee, I can unseal the Heavenly Sword and catch up to you. At that point, the secrets of you Ancient Method Cultivators will definitely be exposed. And in the worst-case scenario, I will personally kill Wang Qi. I'll indeed feel guilty for a while, but that is still better than letting you achieve your goal—of course, this is a situation neither of us wants to see. If you are ruthless enough to kill Wang Qi right here, then without a hostage to restrain me, I can unleash the Heavenly Sword's full power. Killing you would not be difficult."

Ye Chang could no longer stand Li Ziye's look of holding all the cards. He roared, "What exactly do you want?"

Idiot!

Wang Qi inwardly scorned the Nascent Soul Cultivator imprisoning him. Li Ziye was eliminating this fellow's other choices and steering events into the situation he wanted. This Nascent Soul Cultivator could neither kill him nor flee, so there was only...

Li Ziye spread his hands. "As you can see, the only way for you to break this deadlock is to defeat me here while I am without the Heavenly Sword—and at the same time, preserve that little brother's life until victory is decided."

Wang Qi had already understood Li Ziye's intent. Temporarily reassured, he began devoting all his strength to deriving the method Zhen Chanzi had obtained for breaking the seal.

Ye Chang's expression changed several times. At last, he roared and released several spells from his hands at Li Ziye.

With the Heavenly Sword absent, Li Ziye's ability to break ten thousand techniques with one technique was severely restricted. Yet he showed no fear whatsoever. He unfolded his movement technique, swaying past the attacks as he lunged at Ye Chang. His bare palms were wielded to their utmost, producing endless transformations as palm force blanketed every opening in Ye Chang's lean body.

One technique gave rise to ten thousand techniques!

Ye Chang was no easy opponent either. He bound Wang Qi with his mana, while both hands wielded his heavy sword as he battled Li Ziye.

As the two cultivators clashed, Wang Qi's derivation also entered its critical stage.

"Simpler than I imagined... It doesn't seem to involve more complicated transformations..."

"This vector can be eliminated..."

"The expression is a little complicated... Since mana circulation operates in units of a full cycle, this function has periodicity... Let's verify it... It satisfies the Dirichlet conditions, so it can be simplified with a Fourier transform..."

Wang Qi immersed himself completely in calculation and failed to notice a tiny warm current inside his body beginning to creep slowly through his meridians like a snail, circulating on its own.

The technique Ye Chang used to seal Wang Qi was a secret art of the Emperor-Grade Heaven-Splitting Dao. Its purpose was to use utterly tyrannical mana to sever the flow of another person's mana and achieve complete confinement. Yet the mana that had been forcibly cut off had not vanished; it had only been sealed away. Zhen Chanzi's method for breaking the seal was to use the remaining mana leaked from the seal to bypass it and reconstruct a full-cycle circulation. Since the sealed person's mana had been severed inch by inch, a small stream of mana could not complete a full cycle at all. Thus, thirty-seven streams of mana had to circulate simultaneously.

And for a Modern Dharma Cultivator who had cultivated Nurturing Life, what was thought in the heart could directly reflect upon one's cultivation. As Wang Qi calculated, streams of mana inside his body began circulating on their own according to the paths he had derived.

"Faster... This part can be broken down into... This part can be expressed as... Faster..."

As Wang Qi's calculations continued, the mana circulation accelerated. It soon went from crawling like a snail to a trickling stream, then finally merged into one current!

This was equivalent to one-tenth of Wang Qi's mana!

"This... the final simplification... Done! Huh, my mana..."

Having completed his calculations, Wang Qi discovered in astonishment that he could already use a portion of his mana!

I clearly haven't... Forget it, there's no time to think about it! The most urgent matter now is getting free!

Wang Qi immediately turned his attention toward Li Ziye and Ye Chang's battle.

At present, Wang Qi was still wrapped in Ye Chang's mana, floating half a foot behind him. Meanwhile, Ye Chang and Li Ziye's battle had already entered a white-hot stage. Several wounds had appeared on Li Ziye's body, and the blood pouring from them had nearly dyed his red robes white. Ye Chang was no better off. Li Ziye had repeatedly struck the pivotal acupoints controlling the circulation of mana within him. Mana surged chaotically inside his body, nearly injuring his Nascent Soul. Li Ziye's speed had indeed dropped a level after abandoning the Heavenly Sword, but Ye Chang's moves had also lost their rhythm due to his disordered mana, making it hard for him to sustain his heavy sword techniques.

"Hit!" Li Ziye dashed forward another two steps, passing through Ye Chang's offensive. Ye Chang tried to pull back his heavy sword to defend, but such a broad, sweeping weapon was almost useless in close combat. Li Ziye's hands fluttered like butterflies among flowers, leaving dazzling afterimages as they repeatedly struck the weak points in Ye Chang's protective aura!

Force pierced through the protective aura and drove into his acupoints. Ye Chang cried out in pain, and his body actually shuddered. Wang Qi was overjoyed and nearly activated the talismans in his hands.

Wait! The situation is not clear yet. I can't rush in!

Yet Wang Qi's cautious instincts stopped his hand.

Sure enough, Ye Chang was not defeated by this wave of attacks. Instead, he abandoned his heavy sword. His hand seals shifted, and mana erupted from acupoints all over his body, forcibly blasting Li Ziye away!

"Li Ziye is from the Myriad Dharma Sect. His spells are inseparably linked to mathematics. He seemed to have mentioned that the Myriad Dharma Sect places the greatest emphasis on calculation in battle. If I strike while he attacks, I might disrupt his rhythm. Then both of them might die here together. I can't take that risk."

"So, I have to wait until Li Ziye falls into a disadvantage—or until this guy has no hope of winning and prepares to kill me!"

Having settled on his plan, Wang Qi began calculating again, working out how to make his sole attack as effective as possible.

"Fortunately, when I was dodging those three Foundation Establishment Cultivators, I deliberately put the offensive talismans in my right hand and the others in my left, so I wouldn't use the wrong talisman."

"Right now, I can't determine whether the offensive talismans conflict with the defensive ones, so I have to calculate based on the worst case—that they do conflict. If I activate all the talismans at once, my own shield might weaken my own attack by one layer, or the shield might simply block the attack outright. If it is the former, I'll be left entirely defenseless before a Nascent Soul Cultivator. If it is the latter, I might merely add a layer of defense that is neither here nor there to a Nascent Soul Cultivator, unable to shake his restraint on me."

"However, the combined force of three explosive talismans might blow me to death outright."

"But if I don't risk my life, I may lose it. This risk is worth taking."

"Besides, if I activate the talismans in my left hand promptly after activating those in my right, I can avoid that risk to a great extent."

Just as Wang Qi decided on his method of action, the situation suddenly changed. Li Ziye was only at the Golden Core Realm after all; his mana was ultimately a notch weaker, and his movement technique was one step slower. He had narrowly avoided Ye Chang's greatsword by a hair's breadth time and again, but the consequence of being one step slow was that Ye Chang's heavy sword swept solidly into him. His entire body flew backward as blood sprayed wildly from his mouth!

Ye Chang was also a cultivator rich in battle experience. He neither rashly pressed forward nor stopped to mock his enemy. Instead, he followed closely, switching to a steady, methodical approach to expand his advantage further. He understood that injuries like Li Ziye's would only worsen gradually in a running battle!

Not good! Wang Qi was shocked and nearly activated his talismans. But he restrained himself again. Li Ziye had not yet regained his footing, and there was no chance to reverse the situation. Acting rashly would only waste the opportunity for nothing.

Li Ziye did not disappoint Wang Qi. Coughing blood, he propped himself back into a defensive stance. Though Li Ziye's defense now swayed precariously in Ye Chang's violent sword pressure like a boat battered by wind and rain, he repeatedly dissolved Ye Chang's attacks in utterly incredible ways! Ye Chang was not impatient. All he had to do now was keep Li Ziye too occupied to cast a spell, break the seal, and retrieve the Heavenly Sword.

This Modern Dharma Cultivator's decline was already difficult to reverse. I cannot give him a chance to make a dog jump over the wall in desperation and cut down both me and this Qi Refining brat!

Seeing that he could not achieve victory quickly, Ye Chang turned to attacking Li Ziye's spirit. He sneered. "Heh heh, brat, where did that ability of yours from earlier go?"

Li Ziye opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but first coughed up a mouthful of clotted blood. He casually spat out the blood foam in his mouth, blocking the opponent's attacks as he gave a bitter smile. "Indeed... Li... was too... overconfident."

Ye Chang laughed loudly. He had never imagined that this time, he would actually have a chance to kill this elite Modern Dharma Cultivator who had been granted the Heavenly Sword! His original mission had indeed been to kill Xiang Qi and Li Ziye with the assistance of that motley Ancient Method Nascent Soul Cultivator. At first, when he discovered that the intelligence was wrong and Li Ziye had actually been granted the Heavenly Sword, he had concluded the mission had failed. Who would have thought that he would now have a chance to turn the tables!

If he killed a recipient of the Heavenly Sword, how great a reward would the sect give him?

Just as Ye Chang believed the overall situation was settled and his thoughts could not help wandering elsewhere, a faint ripple of mana appeared upon the battlefield!

Now!

Wang Qi used half of his remaining mana to fiercely activate the three talismans in his right hand!