A barrier of clear energy rose from the boundary of the man's body, seeming to reach the heavens. Roiling cloud vapor and fragments of the Sword Domain crashed against it like great waves and rolled back, but Wang Jiuqiao did not retreat a single step.
[Golden Pass]
He raised his hand impassively. All the Spirit Profound within reach surged toward his body as though it were an abyss of ruins, then solidified within him.
[Jade Lock]
Quanzhen's supreme cultivation scripture had not appeared before the world in nine years. Like Yunlang's Gushe Heart Sutra, he alone had been able to master it all these years, and the realm he had now reached left even the disciples of the Daoist schools bewildered.
A body that even Glaze could not pierce descended upon the platform. Yet Ming Qitian lightly drew back her longsword, and the flying cloud vapor and fragments suddenly rippled, all turning into softly drifting fluff.
The repeated, extreme shifts between hardness and softness dazzled the eyes and swept the mind away. Then, in a single hazy instant, countless snow-white fragments turned into fluttering butterflies.
Ming Qitian vanished. All that remained upon the Sword Platform was a quiet expanse of falling snow.
Pei Ye stood stunned in that silence, then suddenly understood-it was [Commoner's Sword], and also [Butterfly].
They were already within the two combatants' Mindscape Realm.
Wang Jiuqiao drew a deep breath. His robes and hair slowly settled, the gold faded from his pupils, and his Jade Lock Golden Pass body dissipated as well.
He bent down and, supporting himself, sat cross-legged on the ground, tossing his sword aside.
"Am I in a dream, or is the Sword Master in a dream?" The man raised his head and sighed softly.
The platform was utterly silent.
He looked around. Every