Binding karma, settling victory with one strike

Sword light flashed.

A Peachwood Sword descended from Heaven.

The green snake was terrified and stunned.

Terrified because the sword light was too sharp.

Stunned because he had never expected the old Daoist to return.

The Rage of being fooled.

The Resentment and Hatred of being suppressed.

Together, they drove the green snake into a frenzy.

"Humans truly are treacherous!"

His forked tongue hissed, and he opened his mouth to spew vast amounts of freezing air.

The temperature at the foot of Floating Cloud Mountain plummeted. Snow fell from Heaven, frost covered the vegetation, and ice formed on the ground.

The sword light froze and fractured in the cold.

The Peachwood Sword rang out, breaking through the ice.

It flew into the hand of a white-haired old Daoist. Clad in gray Daoist robes, with the bearing of an Immortal, he was none other than Xuanming.

Looking at the snake demon below, Xuanming's heart sank.

When reading novels in his previous life, he had seen many old veterans use this trick. Besides, the snake demon was injured and should have been slower than him, making it impossible for him to escape the forest so quickly. Thus, he had tried his luck, never expecting it to yield an unexpected catch.

Yet Xuanming felt no joy. Instead, his heart grew heavier.

All because the green snake carried an unfamiliar aura.

Though faint and concealed within the snake demon's aura, it could not escape Xuanming's perception.

His spiritual senses had been strengthened by the Yellow Court Scripture, and his Perfect Foundation Establishment had greatly enhanced his essence, qi, and Divine, putting him far above cultivators in the Essence Refining Realm.

Moreover, the green snake was completely unscathed. His severed head had fused back into place, his severed tail had rejoined, and his strength had increased far beyond what it had been before.

Even Xuanming felt pressure from him.

Gazing coldly at the snake demon, Xuanming wasted no words. With a kindred spirit, a thousand cups were too few; with someone of opposing views, half a sentence was too much.

He had nothing to say to the snake demon.

He raised his hand, and cold sword light gleamed.

The Peachwood Sword flew out once more.

In an instant, one became two, two became four, and four became eight.

In the blink of an eye, eight swords struck together.

Each streak of Dao Sword light was over ten feet long.

Brilliant and dazzling, incomparably sharp.

This was the Truth-Seeking Abbey's basic sword technique: the Eight Trigrams Sword.

After entering the Dao, he had not rushed to cultivate advanced spells, but had started with the most basic sword techniques and spells.

Between studying scriptures, comprehending the Dao, and drawing in Spirit Mechanism, he had practiced these basic techniques again and again.

In Xuanming's eyes, these basic methods, refined and perfected by three generations of Daoists at the Truth-Seeking Abbey, had been tempered a thousand times and contained fewer flaws.

They were more worthy of honing than advanced spells.

Perfecting them before progressing from the simple to the profound, then switching cultivation methods as naturally as water flowing into a channel, was the most sensible approach.

And now, he would use the snake demon to test the fruits of his cultivation.

Sword light cascaded like a waterfall, cleaving the freezing air, shattering the ice, and engulfing the snow.

Their might undiminished, the eight streaks of Dao Sword light hurtled straight toward the snake demon.

Seething with Hatred, the green snake opened his mouth and spat more freezing air.

A greater torrent of cold gushed forth. He twisted his serpentine body, and the river beneath him surged, raising mighty waves.

The freezing torrent swept forward with the waves, becoming eight ferocious ice snakes. They opened their bloody maws, bared their sharp fangs, and swallowed the eight streaks of Dao Sword light.

Crack, crack!

The sword light and ice snakes shattered together.

As the Peachwood Sword flew back, waves rose beneath the green snake, carrying him straight toward the nearest mountain stream.

Leaping into the air, wooden sword in hand, Xuanming pursued relentlessly. Since they had bound themselves in karma, today's karma should be settled today. He would never release a tiger back into the mountains.

Covering a thousand feet with a single step, Xuanming moved like a drifting phantom. His right hand hurled the Peachwood Sword, and its swift light grew in the wind to thirty feet, slashing toward the waves.

His left hand swept the Fly-Whisk he held. Its Three Thousand Dreams silver strands extended hundreds of feet, combining strength and suppleness as they shot straight toward the green snake.

At the same time, he opened his mouth and exhaled a strand of primordial qi.

That single strand instantly became five illusory Divine beings. The moment the waves were cleaved apart and the green snake was entangled by the Fly-Whisk, the five spirits took their places in five directions, laying down the Truth-Seeking Abbey's Five Elements Demon-Sealing Formation and cutting off his retreat.

"Stinking Daoist, do you truly intend to wipe me out?"

"I'll tell you the truth. This body was merely possessed by a wisp of this king's remnant soul. As long as my true body lives, I will return sooner or later. When that day comes, the Truth-Seeking Abbey will be destroyed."

"If you turn a blind eye and let me go, this king promises never to trouble you or the Truth-Seeking Abbey. Otherwise, you will bring a calamity upon the abbey that will swallow it whole."

Realizing how troublesome the old Daoist was, the green snake put on a fierce front despite his inner weakness.

To break through the seal, this wisp of remnant soul had expended considerable power. After fleeing all the way here and possessing the snake demon's still-warm corpse, he had spent yet more power repairing the body.

Now, his remaining power was limited. He could only exert strength comparable to a cultivator in the Qi Refining Realm, and every bit he used was gone for good. If lowering his head temporarily meant using his power fewer times and escaping safely, the snake demon did not mind.

Once he helped his true body break free of the seal, there would still be time to slaughter everyone in the Truth-Seeking Abbey before the old Daoist's eyes.

He had broken his word plenty of times anyway.

Before personal gain, dignity was not worth mentioning.

Yet Xuanming turned a deaf ear, remaining utterly unmoved. Without wasting a word, he swung his sword with all his might.

The sword light surged to thirty-three feet.

The five illusory Divine beings merged into it.

The sword light grew again, reaching forty feet.

This was his full-powered strike.

Xuanming believed the snake demon's words, but not entirely.

He believed that only a wisp of split soul had possessed the snake demon.

He also believed that a true body existed.

But he did not believe the snake demon's promises.

Did the demon think a few words, draping himself in a tiger's skin and waving its banner, would make Xuanming afraid to strike the rat for fear of breaking the vase, binding his hands and feet? Impossible.

He was no youngster who could be frightened so easily.

During his six years in the Scripture Pavilion, he had read widely, occasionally perusing cultivation secrets and miscellaneous accounts. Especially after entering the Dao, when all the texts in the scripture tower were open to him, Xuanming's knowledge had grown immensely.

Though he did not understand the mysteries of splitting souls, he knew the importance of an intact soul to a cultivator. Drawing inferences, making conjectures, and considering the possibilities, he understood that cultivators likely would not readily use the Soul-Splitting Technique unless they had no other choice.

Even if the snake demon's true body was powerful, its movements were very likely restricted for the time being, or it was even trapped. Otherwise, there would have been no reason to possess another body.

The snake demon seemed clever, trying to frighten Xuanming with his true body and make him retreat in the face of difficulty. In truth, he was putting up a sign declaring that no silver was buried here, exposing many problems himself.

Of course, these were all Xuanming's conjectures.

Whether they were true or false, he would cripple the snake demon first and question him afterward.

The snake demon glared with Rage.

He had never expected the old Daoist to be such a stubborn mule.

He attacked without sparing a word.

Since they could not reach an agreement, they would fight.

He was a mighty Flood Dragon. Even a dragon stranded in the shallows could not let some ox-nosed old Daoist toy with him.

Waves towered into Heaven as the snake demon drew upon more power.

He both sensed the terror of this sword strike and wanted to end the battle swiftly, killing the old Daoist before a long night brought more nightmares. After all, this was the Truth-Seeking Abbey's home ground. Who knew what other tricks they might have up their sleeves?

Gales howled through the mountain forest. Terrifying waves piled upon one another, forming a hundred-foot Flood Dragon that bared its fangs and brandished its claws.

Boom!

The Flood Dragon collided with the sword light.

Vegetation lay strewn across the ground, layers of earth were torn up, and sand and stones flew everywhere.

After a fierce clash, both were obliterated.

White hair streaming and Daoist robes billowing, Xuanming formed a hand seal. The Peachwood Sword danced, displaying the Eight Trigrams Sword Art.

Forty-foot streaks of sword light formed an Eight Trigrams Sword Formation. For a moment, sword light surged, and hundreds upon thousands of fine strands of Sword Qi moved along mysterious paths. The sword net was dense, the Sword Qi razor-sharp, and the sword light resplendent.

In his hands, this basic sword formation of the Truth-Seeking Abbey gained the power to crush mountains and sever rivers.

The snake demon's expression grew grave. He hissed, and a thousand waves rose, each higher than the last.

With a dragon's roar, a thousand-foot Flood Dragon churned the river and overturned the sea, charging fiercely toward him.

Snake and man alike had decided to settle victory with a single strike.