The Great Dao Knows Only Strife: Crow-Roost Vine

Smiles never disappeared; they only changed faces.

When not a trace of Jiang Xiuyong's smile of certain victory remained, Liu Dongqing's face once again bore a tranquil smile beneath the illumination of clusters of azure flames.

Yet Jiang Xiuyong read far too much madness and obsession within that tranquility.

Just as Jiang Xiuyong understood exactly what Liu Dongqing had done at this moment.

Every azure halo Liu Dongqing displayed was intimately tied to his cultivation realm.

Back when Liu Dongqing had touched the Qi Refining Fourth Layer, beyond the three solid halos, he had already nurtured a faint fourth arc of light.

Later, it was precisely the dissipation of that fourth arc that signified Liu Dongqing's cultivation had regressed, causing him to lose his sense of the threshold to the fourth layer.

This was exactly how the Bright Candle Sun-Scene Lesser Azure Light Incantation manifested.

And now.

Jiang Xiuyong saw it clearly: it was only because the third halo between Liu Dongqing's brows was no longer so solid that he had obtained those clusters of high-hanging azure flame.

Liu Dongqing had paid with the regression of his cultivation realm to unleash those heart-quaking dark azure fireballs!

What an unbearably heavy price that was!

Yet in that flash of lightning and flint, Liu Dongqing had done it without the slightest hesitation!

The ruthlessness and decisiveness beneath that tranquility instantly seized Jiang Xiuyong's mind.

And Liu Dongqing's calm voice continued to ring out amid the crackling thunder of the flames.

"Junior Brother, you used a single treasured talisman to manifest the Perfectly Round Treasure Mirror. Clearly, you had long since factored Liu into all your many schemes.

That could almost be called leaving nothing to chance.

But even the wisest man, after a thousand thoughts, must have one mistake.

Your 'mistake' lies in the fact that, as a cultivator of the Ding Fire Path, your understanding of the Bing Fire Path and the Bright Candle Sun-Scene Lesser Azure Light Incantation is still insufficient—far from complete.

Everyone calls it the Little Azure Light Incantation. After using such a shortened name for so long, did you think all of Liu's methods consisted of nothing but these streams of azure light?

Wrong!

Terribly wrong!

The first two words of this profound art already point to its core crux. It does not lie in 'Azure Light,' but in 'Bright Candle'!

Liu bears the Candle Flame and reflects Sky Light back upon the heavens!

Your Perfectly Round Treasure Mirror phantom may indeed restrain direct illumination from Sky Light, but how much room does it have to perform against Liu's Primordial Candle Flame?"

As he spoke, a pale azure beam shot from between Liu Dongqing's brows and struck the Perfectly Round Treasure Mirror before Jiang Xiuyong.

Not only did the treasure mirror inherently restrain Sky Light.

The beam of Sky Light Liu Dongqing sent down contained only a negligible amount of spiritual power to begin with.

But Liu Dongqing had not used that beam of Sky Light to attack and kill; he had used it as an anchor.

The next instant.

Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—

The dense sounds of tearing air suddenly seemed to rip apart every thunderous crackle throughout the sea of flames.

Seven successive clusters of sky-azure fire, anchored by that faint pale azure beam, struck the Perfectly Round Treasure Mirror with ruthless precision and a speed far beyond Jiang Xiuyong's expectations.

Within only two or three breaths, the dark red radiance trembled with extreme violence.

Each impact from a dark azure fireball, each ripple of dark red light, each explosive crack of azure flame, seemed to lash Jiang Xiuyong's mind from afar, even making his brow and the corners of his mouth twitch involuntarily along with them.

And at the exact moment the seventh blast rang out.

A very faint sound.

Crack—

That tiny sound falling upon Jiang Xiuyong's ears was no different from a boulder shattering the heavens!

When he followed the sound with his gaze, he saw a distinct, clear fissure spread across the surface of the formerly perfect round treasure mirror.

Likewise.

Through that glance at the Perfectly Round Treasure Mirror, he clearly saw that the third halo between Liu Dongqing's brows had continued to dim further at this moment.

At the same time.

An even larger dark azure fireball, nearly the size of a human head, once more hovered in illumination above Liu Dongqing's head.

Then.

In the instant they met each other's eyes across the distance.

Looking at Liu Dongqing's pale face and those tranquil eyes brimming with madness and obsession.

At this moment.

Some silent force, surpassing even Sky Light and blazing fire, pierced Jiang Xiuyong's mind first and brought him a terror he could not resist.

Then came Liu Dongqing's voice, so calm that no joy or anger could be heard in it.

"Thanks to Manager Hou.

Liu has tended Jade Cloud Fruit and cultivated the Mirror-Illuminating Cloud-Birthing Purple Rain Art concurrently for nearly three years.

Every time I summoned Purple Cloud Azure Rain, every time I nurtured a Jade Cloud Fruit to maturity...

It meant my cultivation clearly and unmistakably regressed.

The pain of such a decline in realm has threaded through every corner of these past three years.

As for today.

I have already become numb to this pain. My ability to endure the discomfort of a falling realm has become extraordinary.

As for condensing Lifebound Candle Flame, Liu can still continue—continue many, many more times!"

Perhaps it was because the Perfectly Round Treasure Mirror had already cracked.

But as he listened to Liu Dongqing's calm words, Jiang Xiuyong sensed, amid those blazing azure flames, a threat of approaching death.

Under Liu Dongqing's unreasonable bombardment with Lifebound Candle Flame.

Before Liu Dongqing exhausted his cultivation completely, Jiang Xiuyong's life would perish first!

Amid the thunderous explosions of the flames, the footsteps of death had never come so clearly.

In an instant.

Realizing this, Jiang Xiuyong's face suddenly turned pale.

Even paler than Liu Dongqing's.

His voice, too, became shrill without his control.

"Liu Dongqing! You can't kill me! If my life is lost, a lifebound treasure talisman remains in my clan uncle's hands. When that time comes, he will arrive in an instant and kill you—you won't leave Autumn Water Plateau alive either!"

At those words, the tranquil, faint smile on Liu Dongqing's face finally blossomed into something brilliant—brilliant and subtle.

"Who said Liu intended to kill you?

Liu never came here to kill anyone. I have always been someone who enjoys tending flowers and plants in ordinary days, someone of quiet temperament. Even if circumstances have forced me this far, all Liu seeks is merely an opportunity in the Great Dao.

The terms of our earlier exchange will not change. The Nine Serpents Five Fires One Baleful Qi Tail-Biting Life-Breathing Art for the Ghost Vine Blood-Draining Bone-Devouring Pill-Subduing Art.

Junior Brother, this is your last chance."

At this moment.

The terror in his heart finally pierced through Jiang Xiuyong's greed.

With difficulty, he raised the jade slip in his hand.

"Fine! The Life-Breathing Art for the Pill-Descending Art!"

When the jade slips each of them threw out crossed in midair.

Liu Dongqing's voice slowly rang out again.

"Liu had no choice but to act today, merely to contend for an opportunity in the Great Dao. After all, acting is better than not acting.

Today's struggle over arts—without this bout of dao combat to prove things, whether you yielded more of the art to me or I yielded more of the art to you, making a decision in the moment is one thing.

Later, when we think back on it, it would be hard to avoid feeling unwilling.

The human heart most easily dwells on hollow suppositions. Think too much, and given enough time, inner demons and obsessions will surely spring up in abundance, disrupting one's state of mind. Then we truly would have no choice but to settle life and death.

But now, you and I have already had such a Dao struggle.

Just like those senior brothers and sisters at Rising Mist Dao Academy, just like the scions of great clans your branch once backed.

We have decided victory and defeat.

That means that no matter how many times things began again, victory would remain victory and defeat would remain defeat. There are no regrets in a Dao struggle—this is a fact both you and I can accept with open hearts.

Thus, contending now can instead preserve you and me for the long years ahead.

As for what comes after, Junior Brother, our days ahead are long."

As he heard this, Jiang Xiuyong was raising his hand to clutch the jade slip inscribed with the Nine Serpents Five Fires One Baleful Qi Tail-Biting Life-Breathing Art tightly in his grip.

Listening to Liu Dongqing's words.

All at once, Jiang Xiuyong had the dazed sensation that he had grown up, escaped the muddy confines of the outer sect, and experienced a Dao struggle with another person—the sort of experience only "adults" could have.

For no reason at all, he truly felt that such an outcome was something he could accept.

The instant his expression eased, he even nodded toward Liu Dongqing.

"Senior Brother is right. We contend upon the Great Dao—victory and defeat, no regrets!"