Dawn

The first collaboration between the Buddhist School and the young masters of Qianlong City ended in failure, severely damaging their confidence and fighting spirit.

Ji Xuan frowned deeply.

On the contrary, the experienced old Daoist priest with Banana Leaf, who was an observer, immediately judged the situation and transmitted his voice:

Don't panic.

"Young Master, Xu Qi'an is indeed a third-rank cultivator, and his physical body is far stronger than yours."

"But physical strength does not equate to combat prowess. The reason he was able to easily sever the white tiger's right claw was because of his peerless divine weapon."

"As long as we find a way to get rid of that knife, Xu Qi'an is just a fourth-rank martial artist with third-rank defense."

"With our combat strength, we're capable of keeping him occupied."

Now, the old Daoist priest no longer dares to boast about defeating Xu Qi'an, believing that Ji Xuan and the others have also changed their mindset.

After dealing with that sword, Ji Xuan frowned, her mind racing as she quickly gathered information, reviewing her team's strengths, specialties, and combat capabilities.

His eyes suddenly lit up, and he whispered:

"Begging for Pleasure Incense, I remember that the Heart Gu can control some creatures with low intelligence. Does this include the spirits of artifacts that have just begun to develop sentience?"

Those present were all intelligent people, and they immediately turned to look at Qi Huan Dan Xiang.

"Theoretically speaking, anything with sentience can be manipulated and influenced. But I have never tried to influence a peerless divine weapon."

Qi Huan Danxiang said slowly.

That's enough!

The monk Jingyuan whispered:

"We don't necessarily have to defeat him. If we can stall for time and hold out until the Arhat of Compassion or the two Vajras take care of the opponent, then we will win."

"If they fail to determine a winner for a long time, we can slowly wear Xu Qi'an down."

After discussing it privately, everyone regained their confidence, at least seeing a glimmer of hope for victory.

Where there is hope, there is fighting spirit.

Xu Qi'an watched them discuss the matter telepathically in silence, neither impatient nor agitated.

His gaze swept over Ji Xuan and the others, then fell upon his younger siblings in the distance.

"They're quite well-behaved; they haven't bothered me again..." he thought to himself.

Kidnapping Xu Yuanshuang and Xu Yuanhuai to blackmail Xu Pingfeng might bring unexpected surprises?

No, Xu Pingfeng has become utterly inhuman in his pursuit of promotion to the first rank. If he can use one son as a tool and a pawn, he can certainly use his other son and daughter as pawns as well.

The difference between me and Xu Yuanhuai and the others is that I was born earlier, not that Xu Pingfeng doted on them more.

If his second son and eldest daughter are hindering his promotion to the first rank, should he abandon them or not?

I've been practicing with the Imperial Preceptor for so long, my energy has surged, so it's a good time to use them as practice subjects.

Xu Qi'an withdrew his gaze and saw Jingxin leading the Zen masters in sitting meditation and forming a formation.

This is trying to use Zen techniques to counter my lion's roar.

Sure enough, after the formation was completed, Jingxin looked at him with a deep gaze and said in a deep voice:

"Put down your butcher's knife!"

The power of the precepts was amplified by the formation. In that instant, Xu Qi'an not only felt calm and had no desire to fight, but he even wanted to discard the Taiping Blade.

Similarly, he also sensed the meaning conveyed by the Taiping Blade: Ah, Master, I don't want to fight anymore!

Ta-da!

Jingyuan took the lead and charged ahead. This time, instead of arrogantly using his headbutt to forcefully confront Xu Qi'an, he snatched the Taiping Blade from his hand.

Success was achieved very easily.

Neither Xu Qi'an nor Taiping Dao offered much resistance.

After succeeding, Jingyuan didn't hesitate; she turned around and threw the Taiping Blade.

Qi Huan Danxiang stepped forward, reached out and grabbed the hilt of the sword. With this peerless weapon in hand, he immediately used his Heart Gu technique to try to control it and turn it into his own weapon.

However, control failed, and the peerless divine weapon trembled violently, nearly slipping from my grasp several times.

Qi Huan Danxiang changed her strategy, using gentle "communication" to influence the peerless divine weapon and instill in it the idea of "cease fighting".

Taiping Dao resisted a few times, but finding nothing wrong with it, he stopped struggling, looking rather dim-witted.

It worked!

Ji Xuan and the others were overjoyed.

Without the Taiping Blade, Xu Qi'an is nothing more than a thick-skinned tortoise, his threat level plummeting.

At this moment, Xu Qi'an broke free from his state of discipline, ignoring the martial monk Jingyuan who was close at hand. His body was covered by a layer of shadow, and he merged into Jingyuan's shadow.

He used Jingyuan's shadow as a springboard to appear in Liu Hongmian's shadow.

Bang!

With a sway of her red cotton skirt, her embroidered shoes left deep dents in the ground.

But before she could kick, Xu Qi'an leaped into the shadows and landed at Ji Xuan's feet once more.

He leaped among the shadows of several people, then emerged from Qi Huan Dan Xiang's shadow.

His goal was clear: to reclaim the Taiping Sword.

Jingxin's brow twitched, and she said in a deep voice:

"Do not kill!"

Xu Qi'an was about to make a move, suddenly froze.

Seizing the opportunity, Jingyuan turned around to rescue him, his body radiating golden light, making him look like a golden lightning bolt.

When!

Jingyuan punched Xu Qi'an in the face.

The effects of the precepts on me only lasted a few seconds, and it took at least five seconds to reapply a single precept. Xu Qi'an grinned maliciously, retaliating in kind, and headbutted Jingyuan on the forehead.

Bang!

Gold paint splattered on Jingyuan's forehead, the protective golden light on his body dimmed instantly, and he was sent flying backward like a cannonball.

"Step back!"

Ji Xuan pushed aside the incense of the Begging for Pleasure Pill and took the initiative to meet it. The Moon Shadow Sword burst out with dazzling light, this time targeting the space between the eyebrows.

"Roar"

Xu Qi'an roared with a deep, powerful sound, which made Ji Xuan's vision go black. Then, he heard a series of clanging sounds coming from his chest, like the sound of blacksmithing.

The next second, a sharp pain shot through him, and his chest caved in completely.

Liu Hongmian swiftly rushed over, caught Ji Xuan who was flying backward, and retreated with him.

The beauty from the brothel Wan Hua Lou turned slightly pale.

Ji Xuan, a fourth-grade cultivator, was defeated so quickly. Was it really just a warm-up, as Xu Qi'an said?

"Young Master!"

Qi Huan Danxiang roared, his face contorted with rage, seemingly filled with extreme anger and shame. He gripped a knife in one hand and crushed the brocade pouch at his waist with the other.

"Bang!"

A green cloud exploded, accompanied by a buzzing sound of flapping wings, sometimes gathering and sometimes dispersing.

Liu Hongmian, Baihu, and the others' expressions changed slightly, and they quickly retreated.

This is an extremely terrifying poison. According to Qi Huan Dan Xiang herself, they are called Bone-Eating Worms, which live in the Abyss where the Gu God is sealed and feed on the power that overflows from the Gu God.

They are covered in poison, and their mouthparts can spew out toxins that corrode the bodies of fourth-rank martial artists, from skin to flesh, and from flesh to bone. A large enough swarm of bone-corroding insects can kill a fourth-rank martial artist in just three breaths.

This is Qi Huan Dan Xiang's trump card, which he doesn't use normally, because once these bone-eating worms have consumed human blood, even he finds it difficult to control them.

The eccentric Gu Master shouted sternly:

"You surnamed Xu, I don't care what kind of genius you are. Today, even if it means being devoured by the Bone-Eating Worms, I will make you pay the price."

In the distance, Xu Yuanshuang dragged her younger brother and decisively retreated; she clearly knew how terrifying these poisonous insects were.

Green clouds danced across the sky, and under the control of the Begging for Pleasure Incense, they quickly enveloped Xu Qi'an, covering his body and face completely.

Upon seeing this, Xu Yuanhuai suddenly felt his sister stop. Turning her head, he saw her face was incredibly complicated as she stared blankly at the green humanoid figure in the distance.

This was enough to make him pay a heavy price, Xu Yuanhuai thought with mixed feelings.

He suddenly widened his eyes, his face filled with disbelief.

Xu Yuanshuang, the old Daoist priest with banana leaves, Liu Hongmian, and others also had similar expressions. In everyone's eyes, those poisonous insects that should have been bloodthirsty had suddenly "dissolved" on a large scale.

It transformed into a pure, green liquid. Instead of dripping, the liquid seeped into Xu Qi'an's pores and merged into his body.

As a result, the golden light on Xu Qi'an's body surface was mixed with green light.

After a few seconds, the green light slowly dissipated, disappearing completely.

"Hiccup~"

Xu Qi'an let out a burp and laughed:

Thank you for your hospitality.

Qi Huan Danxiang's pupils suddenly contracted, her face instantly turning pale, and she roared nervously:

"This is impossible, this is impossible!"

"This is Xu Yinluo, he's too strong."

Liu Hongmian's fighting spirit was largely extinguished.

"There's still a chance. I'll control the knife and keep him occupied."

The martial monk Jingyuan roared, veins bulging on his forehead, his handsome face contorted in a slightly ferocious manner.

This was different from what he had expected. In his view, with so many fourth-rank experts working together, and with Jingxin assisting from the side, wouldn't suppressing Xu Qi'an be an easy task?

However, Xu Qi'an's strength exceeded everyone's imagination.

Jingyuan knew even more that Xu Qi'an still had his most powerful move to unleash.

He seems to have become even stronger than he was in Xiangzhou.

This was not an illusion; Xu Qi'an had indeed become much stronger. The seal was still there, but he had only managed to unlock two nails.

However, his overall level has improved, thanks to his recent dual practice.

Having cultivated with a female expert at the peak of the second rank, the richness and purity of his qi were incomparable to what they had been before.

With his third-rank physical body, the aid of the Taiping Blade, and the techniques of the Seven Deadly Gu, there are virtually no people below the third rank who can defeat him.

"Do not kill!"

With a pure and calm mind, cooperate with the purification of karma, impose precepts, and restrain the target.

Ding ding ding.

Jingyuan launched a close-range, rapid attack, turning every part of his body into a weapon. One crisp, explosive sound after another rang out, each strike heavier than the last, his attacks as swift and fierce as a storm.

Jingyuan was getting into the swing of things, and the fight was going more and more smoothly. Suddenly, a martial artist's sense of crisis warned him.

Without any specific visuals, the crisis seemed to be coming from all directions.

Poison!

Having crossed paths with Xu Qi'an in Leizhou, he immediately recognized the source of the crisis.

At the same time, his skin felt a burning pain, as the toxins seeped into his pores like maggots clinging to his bones.

His poison was already threatening me. Jingyuan's heart sank, and she subconsciously held her breath, causing her combo to falter.

At this moment, Xu Qi'an finally seized the opportunity and spat out a mouthful of pale green gas at him.

In an instant, everything went black before Jingyuan's eyes, and she could see nothing at all, accompanied by a sharp burning pain in her eyes.

Two streams of bloody tears flowed from his eyes; his eyeballs had been corroded and shrunken, leaving him blind.

Jingxin's expression changed drastically. Because of the distance, he couldn't fully grasp the effects of the poison and had no idea that Jingyuan, who had been as fierce as a tiger just a moment ago, would become blind the next.

Xu Qi'an twisted his waist and swung his arms, assuming a posture of ruthless killing.

"Do not kill!"

With a focused mind, he hurriedly recited Buddhist mantras, upheld the precepts, and tried to save his fellow disciple.

They'd fallen for the trap. Xu Qi'an immediately vanished, leaping out from Qi Huan Danxiang's shadow using the cover of darkness.

As a master of mental poisons, being ambushed and attacked at close range by a martial artist means certain death.

Qi Huan Danxiang tried her best to save herself, no longer diverting her attention from the Taiping Blade, activating the Heart Gu, and causing fluctuations in her Primordial Spirit.

He failed to affect the Primordial Spirit of the third-rank martial artist on his own, his eyes filled with the sight of fists.

Just then, a gust of wind blew by, and the one-armed white tiger stood in front of him, taking the full force of the punch.

When!

The physical bodies of fourth-rank Demon Race are equally sturdy. The white tiger grunted and tumbled away with Qi Huan Dan Xiang.

At this moment, because the control of the Heart Gu had been interrupted, the Taiping Blade "woke up," broke free from Qihuan Danxiang's grasp, and flew back to its master's side.

"Buzzing"

The Taiping Blade transmitted a mental fluctuation, roughly meaning: Things aren't as you think; let me explain.

Don't use that scumbag-style opening line on me. Xu Qi'an gripped the Taiping Blade, retreated swiftly, created distance, and from a distance, assumed a drawing stance.

This distance exceeds the limits set by the precepts.

What is he trying to do?

Zen Master Jingxin and others could not understand his actions.

At such a great distance, even if one were to unleash a blade of light, how much power would be left?

It's simply impossible to break through the formation created by so many Zen masters using their Zen skills.

"Jade Shattered!"

Xu Qi'an spoke softly, and after a brief gathering of strength, he swung his Taiping Blade.

A deep, resounding lion's roar rang out, and a flash of dark golden light appeared in the blink of an eye. The next moment, it appeared in front of Jingxin and the others.

Better to be a broken piece of jade than a whole piece of tile.

Once locked, distance is irrelevant.

Puff puff puff.

One by one, the Zen masters had gruesome knife wounds on their chests, destroying their hearts and their very life force.

The Zen formation failed to block this domineering sword intent.

Jingxin was the only Zen master who escaped this calamity. Although his physical body was not as strong as a martial artist's, after reaching the fourth rank, his vitality ultimately surpassed that of ordinary people.

He did not die immediately after his heart was destroyed.

With trembling hands, he took a porcelain bottle from his monk's robe, poured out a bit of incense ash, and smeared it on his chest.

This is incense ash from the incense burner beneath the seat of the Arhat of Compassion, constantly tainted with the scent of those who do not attain enlightenment.

It has the effect of reviving the dead and restoring flesh to bones.

On the other side, bloody gashes burst open one after another on Xu Qi'an's chest, leaving his flesh mangled and his heart ripped apart.

The price of shattering jade.

However, for someone with a third-grade physical body like him, this injury was not fatal. At most, the wound would heal a little slower due to the presence of the Demon-Sealing Nail.

Liu Hongmian's delicate body trembled slightly, her legs went weak, and her heart was filled with fear.

Ji Xuan, though seriously injured, was not unconscious. Having witnessed everything, his eyes were dull and lifeless, and he looked deeply shocked.

Having narrowly escaped death, Qi Huan Danxiang finally developed a great fear of this renowned genius from the Central Plains.

The white tiger was only thinking about escaping; it had no other thoughts.

On the other side, Xu Yuanhuai clenched his fists, his heart filled with bitterness and despair. At this point, he no longer had any thought of competing with Xu Qi'an.

He lost, he lost utterly, and this was even with his cultivation sealed. Xu Yuanshuang was in a daze.

"Too, too powerful. This is the level I've always dreamed of," Miao Youfang murmured.

He immediately looked to the side, trying to gain the old Daoist's approval, only to find that the old man had already retreated far away, keeping a considerable distance between himself and the old man.

Just then, the golden bowl that had been hovering motionless in the sky suddenly trembled violently, ripples of golden light spreading out.

The battle between Duqing Luohan and Luo Yuheng is about to reach its conclusion.

In despair, Jingxin, Ji Xuan, and the others held their breath, seizing the last glimmer of hope in the darkness.

P. S.: I stayed up all night to finish writing this, so this chapter counts as yesterday's.