The towering ancient tree turned into a seedling like a fourteen-year-old child in a moment. The sparse green leaves fell from the thin branches and touched the surface of the mirror lake, causing circular ripples to spread out.
Drip-drip—
Swish... puff—
Sun Juehu's clothes and armor all fell to her ankles without the support of her original seven-foot-tall body, revealing a young girl's jade-like body.
She closed her eyes and exhaled gently, then hooked the robe with her foot, draped it over her body, and tightened it with the thin rope as a belt, barely covering her body. She looked up at Si Xuanji, who had hardly changed, and smiled. "So, you looked like this when you were fourteen? No wonder you haven't found a cultivation partner in thousands of years, hehe..."
Sun Juehu recalled the things in her storage bag. Since she was only at the Qi Refining stage now, most of the magic tools and weapons in the storage bag were no longer useful.
As for the Black Ice Dragon Spear left by her father, which had fallen at her feet, it weighed tens of thousands of pounds and became a decoration at this moment.
The only thing that could be used...
Sun Juehu waved her hand, and a blunt spear that she used for spear practice appeared in her hand.
But in the next moment, the spear shaft gradually shrank until it turned into a piece of ore that had just been dug out of the mine...
Seeing this, she clicked her tongue again and clenched the ore tightly, trying to crush it, but she couldn't exert any strength...
"Tsk... In that case..."
Taking a step back, Sun Juehu bent her knees, lowered her body, and clenched her fists tightly, glaring at Si Xuanji. "I still have my fists!! Ha—!"
"..."
Si Xuanji took out a hair band from her storage bag, bit the blade of the green sword, tied her long black-and-white hair into a bun, and then held the sword again, sweeping her left hand across the blade...
Buzz—
The iron sword blade trembled with a buzzing sound.
Then, she pointed the sword at the water, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath...
"Inhale– exhale–"
The bare foot rose slightly, then stomped heavily on the surface of the water, causing a circular ripple.
The small figure approached Sun Juehu almost as fast as the ripples spread.
Whoosh—
The speed of this sword was not like that of a Dharma cultivator. This made Sun Juehu's eyes widen for a moment, but she quickly realized that this was probably due to Si Xuanji's supernatural power.
As for her, at the age of fourteen, she was still practicing hard in the Cold Country. Every day, she practiced boxing and spear routines under the guidance of her master in the cold snow.
This sword might not be a threat to her as a Void Returning cultivator, but for her at the age of fourteen, it was difficult to estimate...
Whoosh—
The silver light swept across the side of Sun Juehu's cheek. She turned her head instinctively, but a tuft of hair was still cut off.
"Heh-- I didn't expect you were still practicing swordsmanship before you were fourteen."
"Don't you like close combat? Back then, I traveled around the mortal world with a sword and a horse, and countless martial artists died under my sword."
Si Xuanji narrowed her eyes slightly, stepped back, and swept out a silver arc, but it was dodged by Sun Juehu with an exaggerated backward bend.
Then, Sun Juehu seemed to have adjusted as she took a step back, turned by half, and used both fists to punch before kicking sideways...
Bang—
The calf bone fell directly on Si Xuanji's right shoulder, causing her to stagger and her shoulder to hurt.
"Tsk--"
The Moon Spirit did not favor anyone, and the current situation was no different for her.
Sun Juehu regressed to the strength of fourteen years old, and she herself regressed to the strength of fourteen years old as well.
However, after being captured from the ordinary world and brought to the Heavenly Immortal Realm, she changed from sword to Dharma practice, but Sun Juehu had been practicing boxing and spearmanship under the strict training of her master since childhood...
"Fourteen years old, so what?!!!"
Sun Juehu yelled as she turned around and kicked again.
Bang—
Her knee hit Si Xuanji's abdomen, causing her to spit out a mouthful of gastric juice.
But Si Xuanji forcefully pulled her body back into the air, spinning twice and leaving two silver lights and two traces of blood deep into Sun Juehu's right leg.
"Hiss—"
Sun Juehu gritted her teeth in pain and realized that not only did her body regress but her tolerance for pain had also regressed to the year when she was fourteen years old under Si Xuanji's spiritual ability.
But, so what if she broke a leg?!
Sun Juehu stretched out her hand and grabbed Si Xuanji's right wrist, then punched her in the side of her face.
Bang—
A streak of blood flew out from Si Xuanji's nose and landed on the flawless mirror lake, leaving a streak of blood red.
But when Sun Juehu wanted to add a second punch, Si Xuanji grabbed her long hair and pulled it down hard.
"Ahhhh—!!"
Then, she retaliated with a knee kick, hitting Sun Juehu's stomach and causing her to choke out a large mouthful of gastric juice...
"Cough—"
Pah—
The sound of a slap rang out.
Sun Juehu's right hand's five fingers landed heavily on Si Xuanji's face, causing her to turn her head sharply. The next moment, the strange eyes finally became extremely angry, and she raised the long sword in her hand.
Swish—
The sword blade swept straight into Sun Juehu's shoulder bone...
But before her bone was cut, she pressed Si Xuanji's right hand with her left and forced it down.
The two fourteen-year-old girls grabbed each other, glared at each other, then tilted their heads back at the same time...
Bang—
Their foreheads collided with a hollow sound...
Both Sun Juehu and Si Xuanji felt their heads go blank as their eyes rolled up, and they fell backward. But when they were halfway down, their eyes turned back, and they stepped back to stabilize their bodies.
Ta-ta—
The sound of bare feet stepping on the water merged into one.
Sun Juehu stood firm, leaned forward, and punched again from top to bottom.
Si Xuanji stood firm, lowered her stance, and swept her sword from bottom to top.
Bang—
The fist smashed into Si Xuanji's right cheek, knocking out a bloody baby tooth...
The silver light also cut into Sun Juehu's side abdomen but was blocked by the jade bones she had trained since young...
"Cough—"
"Ha!!!"
Bang bang bang—
Swish swish swish—
The two of them no longer had any defense, and each sword and fist fell heavily on each other's body, causing them the most unbearable pain in a thousand years.
"Red Moon!!!" "Sun Juehu!!!"
It was like a fight between children, but each move was aimed at the opponent's vital points...
Blood bruises emerged from deep in Si Xuanji's smooth skin, and sword marks were engraved on Sun Juehu's fair body...
The flawless water surface that the two people stepped on barefoot was also stained red by the blood that they spat or flowed.
But after all, the two of them only had fourteen-year-old bodies, and this kind of fight could not last too long. The injuries and physical exhaustion made them reach their limits in just a quarter of an hour.
Splash—
With the sound of bodies falling into the water, the two of them fell on the lake's surface oozing with their own blood.
But it seemed that they were born incompatible. The blood of Si Xuanji and Sun Juehu that flowed into the mirror lake did not mix together even if it was in the water, and was divided into two streams of blood.
"Ha...ha...ha..."
Si Xuanji panted. She only felt that all the bones in her body were broken, and her body was exhausted as a sense of sleepiness came into her mind.
She forced her eyes to stay open and used her last strength to look at Sun Juehu beside her.
She was not faring much better.
Even though she was a Physical cultivator and her bones had been trained to be like iron since childhood, after being chopped by the sword so many times and bleeding so much, she was still dizzy due to anemia.
Seeing Sun Juehu lying motionless beside her, Si Xuanji finally felt relieved and loosened the hilt of the green sword she had clenched.
"Ahem—"
But, in the next moment...
Swish—
Sun Juehu seemed to be waiting for this moment. With a bloody but bloodless face, she crawled over with all her strength and snatched her green long sword from her hand.
"Red… Red Moon!!!"
"Hiss—"
Sun Juehu climbed on top of Si Xuanji, raised her hands, and held the long sword with both hands, raising it above her head and pointing the tip of the sword at Si Xuanji's chest.
"Go to hell!!!"
Si Xuanji didn't have the strength to move at this moment. Looking at Sun Juehu who was riding on her and stabbing at her with a long sword, her yin-yang eyes returned to their previous calmness. "It's you who will go to hell!!! The bitch named Sun!!"
Sun Juehu didn't want to talk to her anymore and thrust the long sword with force...
"Hah ah ah—!"
However—
The sound of water dripping like a spring came into Sun Juehu's ears.
Just like when she was dragged into this place by Si Xuanji, everything in her eyes disappeared instantly, replaced by the snowstorm in the Eastern Region and the bloody aura surrounding her body.
"What?!"
Sun Juehu's eyes widened as she realized that she had come out of the spiritual ability. Her huge breasts blocked most of her vision, and the cultivation of the Void Returning stage also allowed her five senses to expand to a radius of thousands of miles.
But...
The pain did not disappear.
The cuts that Si Xuanji had made on her body with the long sword used by mortals were still bleeding outside that mirror lake place.
And she couldn't move!!!
Most of the meridians in her body were broken, and her spiritual energy was sealed in her core because of her injuries and could not be accessed…
Normally, this situation would not be a big deal, at least it would not endanger her life.
But now, the demonic light of Gu Yu Yan's formation was rushing toward her from all directions.
Could it be that she and Si Xuanji fought for so long in the cave, but only a moment passed outside?
Sun Juehu gritted her teeth. If it was her before, it would be no trouble to block the demonic blood spell, but now...
"Not good!! Ah ah ah ah--!!! Move!! Move your hands quickly!!!"
She tried her best to move her hands, trying to use the Dragon Spear to block the demonic spell rushing toward her, but even though she used all her strength, her hands only moved an inch or two.
Si Xuanji, who was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the pit below, looked at Sun Juehu in the sky with tired eyes, then she finally exhaled and relaxed her body. "Huu..."
The blood light that surged from the surrounding mountains and earth swallowed Sun Juehu in the air.
Boom—
The spiritual light exploded, illuminating everything within a thousand miles again.
Grand Master Zhiming and Zu Yuan, who were on the top of the mountain a thousand miles away, were also dazed at this moment. Neither of them understood what was happening.
In their eyes, it only took a moment for Sun Juehu to go from being covered in dragon armor to being covered in wounds...
"Baldy... Did you see clearly? What happened?"
Although Zhiming didn't understand it, he still pretended to be profound. He clasped his hands together and closed his eyes, nodding. "Amitabha..."
"..."
Soon after, the spiritual light dissipated...
The mountains that were originally floating in the sky because of Si Xuanji's Moon Spirit also lost their support and suddenly fell from a height of thousands of feet.
Dong dong—
Lying in the pit, Si Xuanji looked at the mountaintops falling from the sky toward her as if she had given up resistance and closed her eyes.
"Anping..."
At this moment,
Ta-ta—
Light footsteps reached her ears, causing her to open her eyes again. She saw a youth standing beside her with an oil-paper fan. His dark purple eyes were filled with heartache, but he seemed to have expected this to happen, and his expression was as calm as ever.
The next moment, an icy blue sword energy flashed from the sky, turning the mountain that was falling toward him and Si Xuanji into rubble.
Pei Lianxue held the Snow Jade Spirit Sword in her hand, and after splitting the mountain, she hurriedly landed at their side. "Brother! It's done!"
"Well… then all that's left is..." Ye Anping turned and looked behind him as a bloodied figure fell from the sky and hit the rock about twenty feet away.
"Cough--" Blood flowed from the corners of Sun Juehu's mouth, and she looked at the sky blankly as if her consciousness had flown thousands of miles away. However, she soon came to her senses and struggled to turn her head to look at Si Xuanji.
"...Cough—"
"Senior Sun, please forgive me for being rude..."
Ye Anping closed his eyes and bowed, then reached out and took the Snow Jade Spirit Sword from Pei Lianxue. He walked toward Sun Juehu step by step, stood beside her, and looked down at her. "Senior Sun, I don't hate you, and I have no grudges against you, but Xuanji is my cultivation partner after all, and no one in the world will allow their cultivation partner to be hurt by others..."
"Cough..."
Sun Juehu choked and spat out a mouthful of blood as if she wanted to say something, but she couldn't.
Her eyes were wide open, staring into Ye Anping's eyes.
The bloodstained pupils reflected the figure of a Nascent Soul stage youth raising the Black Ice Spirit Sword.
However, at the moment when his sword fell...
"Brother!! Be careful!!!"
Pei Lianxue, who was standing next to Si Xuanji, suddenly turned into a beam of light and flashed to Ye Anping's side. She used the spare spirit sword in her storage bag to block a silver spear at his neck.
Ye Anping glanced sideways, and what entered his eyes was the face of a woman with shimmering eyes, as if she wanted to cry but was holding back.
"Commander Xu... I wrote in the jade slip..."
Buzz—
Ding—
The silver spear uttered a dragon-like roar, but Pei Lianxue raised her hand and chopped it off with her sword. Seeing that it was Xu Mulan, Pei Lianxue did not immediately retaliate, but she grabbed her brother's waist, retreated ten steps, and protected him behind her. "Sister Xu?"
Xu Mulan's body was shaking at the moment, and she gulped as she walked over to Sun Juehu's side with her spear, shielding her as she shouted in a near-crying voice. "I am the Snow Guard of the Cold Country, and also the personal guard of the Empress!! I'll never... never allow anyone to dare to disrespect the Empress!! Master Ye, I will not get out of the way!! If you want to kill Her Majesty, kill me first..."
Before she finished speaking, Ye Anping frowned and patted his sister's shoulder in front of him, signaling her not to interfere. Then, he leaned over and flashed in front of Xu Mulan, raised the Snow Jade Spirit Sword, and slashed at Xu Mulan's forehead with his Interrogation Sword technique.
"Ah?"
Xu Mulan didn't expect Ye Anping to not even let her finish her sentence. She hurriedly raised her silver spear and wanted to parry, but the weapons in their hands were hundreds of grades apart.
When the silver spear touched the blade of the black ice sword, it instantly broke into two pieces.
The black ice blade fell on Xu Mulan's forehead. She was surprised for a moment, but she didn't close her eyes. Instead, she gritted her teeth and faced the sword blade coming toward her forehead.
Ye Anping looked at her expression, narrowed his eyes slightly, and changed the sword path in the air, then kicked Xu Mulan's waist.
"Cough--"
Although Xu Mulan's waist was covered by black armor, the force of this kick directly caused the black armor to dent, and she flew like a flat stone, hitting the ground dozens of times and drifting on the mud before barely stopping.
Although Xu Mulan was not seriously injured, she felt a buzzing in her head.
When she recovered from the dizziness, got up, and looked back, Ye Anping was already beside Sun Juehu and stabbed the black ice sword vertically into Sun Juehu's chest...
"Ah!!"
Fear froze Xu Mulan's body like ice.
Sun Juehu looked at Ye Anping standing over her but seemed to be relieved. She shifted her eyes from his face to the round moon in the sky and opened her lips slightly. "Father, your daughter was defeated after all..."
A bloody tear squeezed out from the corner of her eyes, trickling down the side.
Her gaze passed through the moonlight, the wind and snow in the Eastern Region, and through time.
Sun Juehu slowly closed her eyes, exhaled the last breath of her life, and prepared to let go and welcome the end.
But at this moment, an annoying southern dialect entered her consciousness.
"Where are you going in a hurry? Sun girl, keep me company~..."
?
Just as Sun Juehu was wondering, a splash of cool spring water poured on her face.
She suddenly opened her eyes again.
Ye Anping was still standing beside her with the Snow Jade Spirit Sword in his hand, and on the other side, a translucent short guy in a golden robe was holding a gourd and pouring wine on her face...
Seeing Yun Tian's smirking face, Sun Juehu's pupils constricted in anger, then she subconsciously stood up and punched him, but Yun Tian turned around and dodged.
"Heh..."
Yun Tian retreated ten feet away, raised his head, and drank another mouthful from the jade gourd. He also raised her eyebrows at Sun Juehu. "Yo, you are still energetic! Haha..."
Sun Juehu froze for a moment before she reacted. She turned her head and looked behind her, but saw that her body was still lying at Ye Anping's feet. Ye Anping, holding the Snow Jade Spirit Sword, stared at her and Yun Tian speechlessly, as if to say:
—It seems that this Snow Jade Spirit Sword can't be kept...