With his departure from Soaring Void Mountain imminent, Suncrest Peak would be left with Lan Jueqi alone. Once he left, he would need to find someone to help look after it, so Lan Jueqi had been forced to spend these past few days dealing with such miscellaneous matters.
After packing his things, he left Suncrest Peak and happened to pass by a training ground.
The disciples were wielding all kinds of weapons, shouting as they either sparred in pairs or practiced alone. It looked like a weapons-training class.
Lan Jueqi had been about to quicken his pace and leave when he suddenly spotted a familiar figure at the edge of the field.
【Senior Brother?】
The moment his inner thought rang out, the disciples on the training ground immediately noticed Immortal Venerable Radiant Ascendance, who had already walked past only to backtrack.
Today, Xie Qingyuan was not dressed as he usually was in white. Instead, he had changed into black. The robes were predominantly black, edged at the collar and cuffs with white winding-cloud patterns, while the white jade pendant still hung at his waist.
Xie Qingyuan rarely wore this outfit. The sleeves were fitted and the waist drawn in, making him look especially crisp and upright.
Lan Jueqi could not help staring at him for a few extra moments.
All the disciples on the training ground were at Spirit Transformation and were soon to depart for the Twenty-Eight Mansions beyond the heavens. The elder teaching the class had deliberately invited Xie Qingyuan over before he left Soaring Void Mountain to give them a lesson and pass on his experience.
No one had expected Immortal Venerable Radiant Ascendance to show up afterward as well.
That was exceedingly rare.
The elder teaching the class was surnamed Tang. As luck would have it, he had taught both Lan Jueqi and Xie Qingyuan in the past.
Elder Tang asked Lan Jueqi with a broad smile, “It’s rare to see Immortal Venerable Radiant Ascendance here. Did you come today because you wanted to practice too?”
Lan Jueqi waved his hand, voluntarily moved to stand off to one side, then turned his head to sneak another glance at Xie Qingyuan.
Elder Tang’s smile widened at once.
These newly admitted young disciples did not know the truth. They instinctively assumed that at Lan Jueqi’s level of cultivation, he must be adept with weapons as well as spells. After all, the Way of Ruthlessness was compatible with a great many weapons. Surely the foremost cultivator of the Way of Ruthlessness could not possibly be unable to use them.
In reality, Lan Jueqi genuinely could not.
Xie Qingyuan smiled too. “Elder Tang, don’t make things difficult for Junior Brother.”
Who cultivated without dreaming of mastering unrivaled techniques, pointing a sword toward the heavens to slay demons, and looking down upon all heroes beneath the sky?
But if one could not learn it, one simply could not learn it. Lan Jueqi had absolutely no talent for this.
When Bian Weichen first brought him back from outside and accepted him as a disciple, Lan Jueqi had been thin and frail, even falling sick every few days. Bian Weichen had played both father and mother and, for the first time, learned how difficult it was to raise a child.
After Lan Jueqi began cultivating, his health did improve considerably as his cultivation rose, but he still found it extremely difficult to learn the weapons most cultivators used as a matter of course.
—He was the kind who could not even perform the most basic movements properly, no matter how many times he practiced.
A tea table had been set up beneath the covered walkway beside the training ground. Elder Tang poured tea for the two of them and sat at the edge of the field watching the disciples sweat through their practice.
Elder Tang shook his head helplessly. “Soaring Void Mountain doesn’t specialize in blades and swords the way Cloudslayer Sect does, but we place just as much importance on our disciples’ use of weapons. That’s why we specifically offer a basic weapons course that every disciple is required to take. Since our disciples use all kinds of weapons, and I cultivate the Ice-Drinking Canon, although I can’t compare with the Young Master, no one would dare dispute me if I bragged that I’m proficient with all eighteen traditional weapons. If you really count it up, I’ve been teaching these introductory classes longer than either of you has been alive. I never imagined my reputation would nearly be ruined in your hands.”
No matter how Elder Tang taught him, Lan Jueqi simply could not learn. The worst part was that Lan Jueqi was not lazy. Whatever he was taught, he studied earnestly, then practiced extra on his own afterward. Elder Tang could not even bring himself to scold him and could only encourage him more, yet no matter how Lan Jueqi practiced, there was never much improvement.
And Lan Jueqi happened to excel in every other subject. Only this one defeated him. It had nearly shattered Elder Tang’s Dao-heart and made him wonder whether his teaching methods of so many years were fundamentally wrong.
Fortunately, once the basic course ended, Lan Jueqi no longer needed to attend, allowing Elder Tang to breathe an enormous sigh of relief.
Lan Jueqi kept his face perfectly blank. 【Elder Tang has eaten more salt than I’ve eaten rice. He’s ancient and still insists on teaching at the front line. His whole life has gone smoothly and he’s taught students far and wide—meeting me really was terrible luck.】
Xie Qingyuan held his teacup, suppressing a laugh. “Yes, yes. Elder Tang has worked very hard.”
“You two…” Elder Tang sighed.
It was true that he had failed to teach Lan Jueqi well, but Xie Qingyuan was unquestionably the student he was proudest of.
The two had followed different paths, but they had grown up together. Xie Tai often said that they were not truly senior and junior brothers and that it was improper for them to address each other that way, but in truth, he had never really tried to stop them.
Their close relationship was something everyone on Soaring Void Mountain was glad to see. With these two in the current generation, old fellows like them could rest easy.
Understanding the meaning Elder Tang had left unspoken, Xie Qingyuan merely smiled and rubbed his thumb along the teacup without replying.
The task issued by the System was not difficult to understand. The troublesome part was that whenever the thought of refusing the task arose, the scorching pain in his heart would flare up, unbearably uncomfortable.
Yet he had already sparred with other people and had not completed the task.
Considering that the System had previously bound itself to the wrong person, Xie Qingyuan guessed that the opponent specified by the task had to be Lan Jueqi.
The disciples on the training ground had finished practicing and were resting. All of them craned their heads curiously toward the three men.
Naturally, what interested them was Lan Jueqi’s inner thoughts.
Everyone knew Immortal Venerable Radiant Ascendance was extraordinarily powerful with spells and divine abilities. As for which weapon he was skilled with—everyone knew that Lan Jueqi’s weapon, the Jade Guide of Gathered Radiance, resembled a long-handled lantern. The handle was made of flawless white jade, while the lantern portion was a multi-ringed armillary sphere with radiance circulating within it. It was light, exquisite, and completely unlike the sort of weapon most cultivators used.
Aside from Xie Qingyuan, who had not been on Soaring Void Mountain, the other elders and even Sect Master Xie Tai would occasionally come to the training ground to practice and keep their hands from growing rusty. Lan Jueqi, however, had never come.
“What’s going on? Why is everyone so diligent and eager to learn today?” Elder Tang muttered, assuming only that the disciples admired powerful cultivators.
Xie Qingyuan knew the real reason but could not say it, so he silently drank his tea.
Elder Tang then looked toward Xie Qingyuan.
Lan Jueqi instantly understood what Elder Tang meant and grew equally expectant as he looked at Xie Qingyuan. 【Here it comes, here it comes! Senior Brother, hurry and show Elder Tang what you can do!】
“Pfft—” One disciple failed to hold back a laugh.
Elder Tang swept a chilly gaze over. “What are you laughing at? If you don’t study properly now, let’s see if you can still laugh once you reach the extraterrestrial battlefield!”
Among all the teaching elders of Soaring Void Mountain, Elder Tang was not the strictest, but he had taught the greatest number of disciples. Many disciples, even after leaving Soaring Void Mountain, still remembered and felt grateful for how devotedly Elder Tang had instructed them.
With things already said to this point, it would hardly be proper for Xie Qingyuan not to demonstrate some real skill.
Xie Qingyuan finished his tea. With a flick of his finger, the cup flew back toward the table. Just as it was about to land, it abruptly changed direction and speed and shot toward Lan Jueqi!
In the blink of an eye, the teacup was already right in front of Lan Jueqi!
Yet Lan Jueqi still stood where he was without making the slightest move to respond!
The disciples stared with their mouths open in shock. Before any of them could cry out, the teacup suddenly stopped and silently crumbled into a handful of fine powder.
Snow-white porcelain dust drifted down like falling snow.
In the next instant, the two had already flown out from beneath the covered walkway and leaped onto the training ground.
Xie Qingyuan casually swept a spear from the weapon rack at the edge of the field. His figure blurred, and the spearpoint traced a brilliant arc through the air, the wind it stirred humming low like a song of death.
The descending spearhead flashed with cold light, heavy with tremendous force.
Even knowing that Xie Qingyuan’s spear was made of the most ordinary material and could not injure the body of a Tribulation Crossing cultivator, Lan Jueqi did not take the blow head-on. His feet slid, and he swiftly opened the distance between them.
Xie Qingyuan did not allow him to retreat. He pursued in quick strides and thrust the spear forward—the spear moved like a dragon—
The low moan of the wind suddenly turned fierce. Wind and clouds surged faster as a great dragon roared from the spearpoint, riding the gale straight toward Lan Jueqi.
Seeing this, Elder Tang swiftly formed hand seals and chanted an incantation. A curtain of light soon rose around the training ground, leaving Lan Jueqi and Xie Qingyuan inside while everyone else watched from beyond it.
One disciple let out a breath of relief. These were two genuine Tribulation Crossing cultivators. If they truly fought, it would be perfectly normal for heaven and earth to split and stars to shatter. Even though both had suppressed their cultivation to Spirit Transformation, the disciples still feared being caught in the aftermath.
This light curtain had another function as well: it would gradually shrink, limiting the fighters’ room to retreat and forcing them to face each other and continue fighting until a winner emerged.
With a turn of his wrist and a shift of thought, Lan Jueqi instantly raised a magical barrier.
Simply dodging forever was no solution. Ripples spread across the barrier as lines of runes surfaced. Amid a thunderous roar, a thick bolt of lightning crashed down onto the dragon’s head, followed by streak after streak of lightning blasting toward Xie Qingyuan.
Attack and defense reversed. Xie Qingyuan had no choice but to evade Lan Jueqi’s assault. His spearhead swept aside the lightning as he searched for openings, occasionally thrusting at Lan Jueqi.
The two exchanged move after move, evenly matched. The disciples watched without blinking, hardly daring to breathe.
Thunder boomed. Gales howled and formed blade after blade of wind, followed by rain falling like arrows. The moment the rain struck the ground, it froze into ice.
Lan Jueqi cast one spell after another, killing moves coming without pause.
Twisting aside from a wind blade, Xie Qingyuan gripped his spear tightly, knocked aside a streak of rain, then leaped up and shattered the spike of ice that had suddenly grown beneath his feet.
Lan Jueqi watched Xie Qingyuan retreat step by step.
【Senior Brother, there’s nowhere left behind you.】
Xie Qingyuan knew without Lan Jueqi’s inner thoughts reminding him. The light curtain had been shrinking the entire time; the field was already half its original size.
He could not retreat again!
One more retreat and Xie Qingyuan would lose!
The disciples outside the light curtain were so nervous their hearts seemed to hang in midair, but Xie Qingyuan inside showed not the slightest panic. He remained calm and unhurried.
“It’s still early, Junior Brother. Don’t rush to exhaust all your strength.”
As Xie Qingyuan’s smiling voice fell, the entire arena abruptly grew brighter—
Beneath Lan Jueqi and Xie Qingyuan appeared a vast expanse of clear water, while above them, sunlight, clouds, and their shadows intertwined and shifted.
Lan Jueqi stood where he was and watched the countless cloud reflections beneath his feet transform into phantom spears, surrounding him from every direction. Their points overlapped with the brilliant light of the sky, enough to make one’s blood run cold.
This was Xie Qingyuan’s Dharma Manifestation, “Square Pond Reflecting the Heavens.”
After reaching Spirit Transformation, cultivators could comprehend the laws of heaven and earth and condense from them a Dharma Manifestation unique to their own conception, externalizing it to enhance their combat power. Different cultivators produced different phenomena. Once a cultivator formed such a manifestation, they would continue deepening their insight and cultivation, strengthening its power.
By the Tribulation Crossing realm, after years upon years of accumulation, the power of law contained within such a manifestation was terrifying.
Even when the Extraterritorial Nightmares still remained, these Spirit Transformation disciples might go to the extraterrestrial battlefield without ever witnessing a Tribulation Crossing cultivator manifest a Dharma Manifestation in person.
For these disciples, merely watching Lan Jueqi and Xie Qingyuan spar was an exceedingly rare opportunity even if neither used a Dharma Manifestation. Elder Tang had thought that alone would be enough. He had never expected both men to hold nothing back. The moment Xie Qingyuan manifested his, Lan Jueqi followed by revealing his own.
Now even Elder Tang had to watch the spar seriously. These two juniors had surpassed their predecessors, and both possessed higher cultivation than he did.
Compared with the grand, sweeping phenomena of many cultivators, Lan Jueqi’s Dharma Manifestation could almost be called inconspicuous.
His manifestation was a fog so cold it chilled to the bone.
As for what lay within the fog—everyone who knew had already died inside it.
Mist blotted out the sky and shrouded the entire water surface. Lan Jueqi’s figure vanished, and the phantom spears immediately lost their target.
The fog grew denser and denser. Those outside the light curtain could no longer see what was happening inside. Within it, Xie Qingyuan met the fog head-on, swinging his spear to disperse a swath of mist while the Dharma Manifestation behind him grew ever stronger.
Heavenly light tore through the fog and illuminated all things—including Lan Jueqi hidden within it.
Almost the instant Lan Jueqi was revealed, Xie Qingyuan swept his spear sideways, its point sending a ring of radiant ripples outward.
Rumble—!
The once-calm water surged into towering waves. Golden heavenly light blazed even brighter, and the mist turned to steam and dispersed. Only then did those beyond the light curtain see that mountains and valleys had been hidden beneath the fog, layer upon layer of lush green ridges.
Monstrous waves surged toward the mountains. Heavenly light descended like a spear and struck the peaks with thunderous explosions. Mountains collapsed one after another, shattered stone tumbling into the water, while the waves swelled larger still, unstoppable.
Lan Jueqi stood unmoving. Mountains rose beneath his feet, lifting him atop the highest peak as he met Xie Qingyuan’s gaze.
The white mist around him turned green, with faint traces of red and gold appearing within it.
Xie Qingyuan frowned.
That mist… was actually absorbing the power of law contained in his Dharma Manifestation!
This was not Xie Qingyuan’s first time seeing Lan Jueqi’s manifestation, but in the past he had always been an observer. This was the first time he had fought Lan Jueqi without holding anything back.
No wonder Lan Jueqi so rarely revealed the other phenomena hidden beneath the mist. The fog alone was already enough to suppress countless opponents; there was no need for him to spend still more strength!
Xie Qingyuan flicked his spear upward and charged at Lan Jueqi with ten thousand layers of surging waves.
Lan Jueqi raised his hand as well, forming a seal to block him.
The booming never ceased. At that moment, the spear snapped, the mist scattered, the water surface shattered like ice, the waves fell, the heavenly light dimmed, and the mountains broke apart… Both men’s Dharma Manifestations collapsed, creating a scene of world-ending destruction.
The light curtain surrounding them burst at the same time, spiderweb cracks spreading across it.
The cracks widened. Elder Tang stared, aghast. “Not good!”
The students truly had surpassed the master. Even with their cultivation suppressed to Spirit Transformation, the power of law revealed by their Dharma Manifestations was no weaker than that of a Grand Ascension True Lord. And now Elder Tang had to face the force released by both manifestations collapsing at once!
He had been delighted moments ago that he had gotten to witness such a spectacular spar. Now he could no longer smile.
“Fall back!” he roared, hurriedly casting spells and forming seals in an attempt to repair the barrier.
But it was already too late. The power of law spilled outward. The training ground split apart with a roar, sand and stones flew beneath the covered walkway, and the pillars swayed on the verge of collapse. Several unprepared disciples were struck by the first shockwave, their faces instantly turning pale.
Clang—!
A crisp sound suddenly rang from the sky as the two broke through the light curtain and flew out.
【I’m doomeddddd—! Is Elder Tang going to make me pay for this later?! Aaaaaah!】
Even as Lan Jueqi screamed inwardly, he swiftly drew his own weapon, the Jade Guide of Gathered Radiance.
Radiance flowed within the armillary sphere.
Lan Jueqi held the Jade Guide of Gathered Radiance and lifted it lightly. The armillary sphere spun, absorbing every trace of the power of law.
Xie Qingyuan was no slower on the other side. He cast a spell to steady the swaying pillars, then quickly summoned a gust of wind to clear away the sand and rubble. As for the training ground…
The stone Soaring Void Mountain used to construct its training grounds was no ordinary stone. It could withstand most spells, divine abilities, and weapon strikes. Restoring it was beyond what he could do.
Watching Elder Tang cough repeatedly after choking on the dust, Xie Qingyuan rubbed his nose. “Elder Tang… are… are you all right?”
Elder Tang weakly waved a hand, staring at the devastated training ground with lifeless eyes.
One look was enough for Lan Jueqi to know this was bad. His face remained expressionless while despair filled his mind. 【I’m doomed, boohoohoo. The last time I wrecked a training ground was… the last time I wrecked a training ground.】
The disciples all glanced sideways at him.
Author: An Excellent Online Reading Website
So there really was a reason Immortal Venerable Radiant Ascendance never came to the training ground.
Elder Tang truly had terrible luck whenever he encountered Immortal Venerable Radiant Ascendance.
