A Fight to the Death, Not an Inch Given

To be honest.

Senior Brother Zhao's reaction after the Dao Slave's death had exceeded Liu Dongqing's expectations.

He'd thought that since Senior Brother Zhao's hard approach hadn't worked, he would only come back with something even harder.

Yet he hadn't expected Senior Brother Zhao to abruptly change tactics, relying on the combined force of a honey trap and sowing discord to send Liu Dongqing plummeting headfirst into a snare.

It left Liu Dongqing in an extremely uncomfortable position, his mind and thoughts in turmoil.

Especially since that seed of suspicion had just been planted, further stirring Liu Dongqing's already overly cautious nature.

My all-out strike barely counted as making my stance clear.

But that stance still wasn't decisive enough.

Especially after I tussled with Senior Sister Zhang's steward. Things didn't end pleasantly.

Would he form a preconceived judgment and decide there was something fishy between me and that person? If so, even my final attack would look like an attempt to cover up the truth.

That person was right. No matter how much effort I put into patching things up, it would be useless. It would only make the picture darker the more I painted it.

If I want a way to completely escape this predicament...

Unless...

Liu Dongqing's thoughts drifted apart in such a scattered fashion.

Yet he simply stood in the middle of the wide-open courtyard gate, calmly meeting the steward's unguarded gaze from afar on the mountain path.

A moment later.

Only after the steward on the mountain path turned around first and headed back toward the heights of Departure Peak, and Liu Dongqing watched his retreating back for some time, did he finally turn around.

He shut the courtyard gate tightly again.

With a gloomy expression, Liu Dongqing picked up a birdcage from the courtyard.

Then his body paused. He bent down and dragged three more birdcages up from the ground before walking steadily toward his bedroom.

Time hurried by.

In the blink of an eye, it was already deep into the night.

The great fire that had burned in Liu Dongqing's courtyard the previous night seemed like nothing more than an accidental interlude.

At the foot of Departure Peak, everything had fallen into the same profound silence as usual.

And within such a secluded, silent setting, even the sound of someone lightly stepping across the bluestone path seemed excessively abrupt.

Following that sound, beneath the bright yet faintly hazy moonlight, a tall figure was approaching from afar with an unprecedented air of determination.

Gradually, she drew closer.

The gauzy veil of moonlight slipped away.

Revealing a face marked by bitter resentment and viciousness, with killing intent spilling from it.

And beneath her cold-eyed gaze lay Liu Dongqing's courtyard not far ahead.

She stopped and stared at it for an instant.

The next moment.

Just as she was preparing to lift her foot and step forward again.

Suddenly.

From the deep shadows at one corner of the courtyard, buried beneath the moonlight, Liu Dongqing's figure abruptly appeared.

Like a wildfire in a desolate mountain at midnight, its sudden emergence jolted the heart.

"Good Senior Sister, Liu has been waiting for you for quite some time."

At those words, the woman froze. Then all the killing intent in her cold eyes locked onto Liu Dongqing as he leisurely walked out.

"You knew I would return?"

Liu Dongqing smiled. "No wonder Senior Sister spoke to me that way during the day.

So you truly took me for an idiotic fool. If I couldn't even guess at these matters, how would Liu have survived in the Holy Cult until this year?

You underestimate me too much."

As his words fell, the response Liu Dongqing received was a cold smile twisting that person's face into something faintly savage.

"Whether I underestimated you is no longer important, Liu Dongqing. I gave you a chance!

As long as you agreed, everything Senior Brother Zhao promised you through me, even all the benefits Senior Brother Zhao separately promised me, could have been given to you!

I only wanted one thing Senior Brother Zhao promised me—the chance to advance into Late Qi Refining!

Liu Dongqing, I only have one final step left. One step forward leads to the broad immortal road of Rising Mist Dao Academy; one step back leads to a life of utter despair as a servant, or even a Dao Slave.

You didn't refuse a transaction.

You refused my chance to ascend the Great Dao again!

Liu Dongqing! You're destroying my path of cultivation!"

Hearing this, the smile on Liu Dongqing's face deepened.

"It seems Senior Sister has found the soft approach useless and is preparing to use force. Senior Brother Zhao may be more cunning than Senior Sister Zhang, but in the end, he pressed Senior Sister into acting too urgently, and things went wrong.

But I also know that in some matters, Senior Sister has no choice, just as I have no choice.

When contending for the Great Dao, sometimes a narrow road can only accommodate one person. If I yield Senior Sister a single step, then when I turn back, the one destroying his own path of cultivation will be me, Liu Dongqing.

The affairs of this world are simply this helpless.

Thus, the Great Dao permits only struggle. Sometimes reason cannot be explained, and then life and death must be decided!"

At that moment, the savage killing intent on her face flourished as intensely as the smile on Liu Dongqing's.

"I know. Senior Brother Zhao told me you killed his Dao Slave at the Qi Refining Sixth Layer.

And that gave you confidence?

You think you can use the same method against me?

Wrong!

In the end, you're the one underestimating others!

At the same cultivation realm, the gap between a Holy Cult disciple and a Dao Slave cannot be measured by reason!

Liu Dongqing, since you've set your heart on refusing to give it up, this Senior Sister will take it herself!"

As her words fell.

Almost at the same instant, azure and blue light reflected against each other, tearing the gauzy curtain cast by the hazy moonlight into pieces.

Sure enough.

Unlike the crude methods of that middle-aged Daoist the previous night, though she was likewise at the Qi Refining Sixth Layer, this newcomer displayed the solid foundation a true Holy Cult disciple ought to possess.

Vast blue Sky Light stretched across the sky like an immense ocean, rippling layer upon layer.

The dancing radiance within those waves carried a dazzling yet heart-palpitating power.

Within the Sky Light waves layered like surging tides was her truly abundant power, accumulating layer by layer like ocean swells into something even more terrifying.

Then, that abundant Heavenly Light Power swept toward where Liu Dongqing stood in light motes of effortless grace.

Within those layers of light motes, which appeared to be no more than the lingering echoes of waves, lay a fierce killing move woven together through every ounce of the newcomer's effort.

And it wasn't merely ingenious subtlety that made the heavy seem light within a tiny space.

Across an even broader range, her blue Sky Light also carried the boundless vastness of the ocean. Supported by her cultivation realm, her abundant power swept toward Liu Dongqing from all directions.

In an instant, Liu Dongqing looked like a lone boat in the vast ocean, liable to capsize at any moment.

Yet facing the encirclement of that ocean and its blue Sky Light waves, azure light burst from Liu Dongqing's body and shot into the heavens, like a lighthouse rising from the sea.

Not a ripple of surprise appeared in his eyes. He remained completely calm.

And just as the light motes formed by the first wave of blue Sky Light were about to reach him, he pinched his fingers into a sword gesture and slashed diagonally before him.

Whoosh—

The Sky Light soaring into the heavens fell back toward the vast ocean like moonlight.

The condensed azure radiance even gave off a faintly piercing sound as it split the air.

Like an arrow, yet also like birdsong.

The next instant.

Sure enough, an Azure Flame Flying Bird Spirit Aspect that was no longer impressionistic, but more lifelike than ever, emerged from the Sky Light amid blazing fire.

The instant its spirit form manifested was precisely the moment Liu Dongqing's sword fingers completed their stroke.

Wrapped in roaring azure flames, the Azure Flame Flying Bird circled around Liu Dongqing with an unprecedentedly fierce posture and an unprecedentedly nimble trajectory, then boldly plunged into the scattered light motes of the first wave in the flash of a spark.

At this moment.

It was a contest of power purity.

Every light mote condensed from the blue Sky Light shattered.

Amid dazzling fireworks, the Azure Flame Flying Bird lunged forward again from behind Liu Dongqing. Within layers of overlapping azure light, its spirit form abruptly split in two like an illusion.

Two Azure Flame Flying Birds spread open, one to the left and one to the right.

Another flash of azure light.

Four!

When the final thread of azure light that had just soared into the heavens completely descended onto Liu Dongqing's body.

The spirit forms divided again!

Eight!

At that moment, a full eight Azure Flame Flying Birds manifested.

Fierce and nimble, they wheeled and circled, wrapping Liu Dongqing's surroundings so tightly that not even water could pass through.

They set off Liu Dongqing's tall figure like a solitary peak rising from the vast ocean!