At that moment, hair slowly began to grow atop Xu Mu’s head, and his body grew broader and more imposing. He looked more and more like his prime. Yet his eyes never left the sword in his hand.
"I, Xu Mu, have pondered what Senior Tongya once said for many years. Now that I believe I am ready... I’ve come back to reclaim my sword."
Crack.
Heavy white mist burst from all five of his orifices, sweeping through the restaurant. Buds sprouted from the wooden stairs only to quickly rot away. The steamed chicken on the table twitched twice, grew feathers, cried out twice within the white mist, and crumbled into dust.
Li Xijun drew his sword and swept the white mist rushing toward them aside. He then lifted both companions and sent them outside the restaurant in the same breath. Chen Yang, being farther away, was merely brushed by the edge of the mist. A few threads from his gray robe’s hem drifted loose and fell.
White mist surged out with each breath Yu Mujian exhaled. Though it stopped flowing from his five orifices, it still billowed from beneath his robes.
He spoke coldly, “I wonder how much of Li Tongya’s true teachings you’ve inherited, Xijun.”
Li Xijun sheathed his sword and formed a seal with one hand, suppressing the surging mist. He replied calmly, “There are many mortals here. Master Monk, please take this duel with me to the lake.”
Yu Mujian narrowed his eyes slightly, drew his sword, and stepped forward. He vanished and reappeared over the lake in an instant. Li Xijun followed a step behind, his figure also appearing above the water as snow began to fall from the sky.
Yu Mujian reversed the copper sword and rested it at his waist. The blade was thick, rounded, and dull-edged, but it glowed with a dim yellow hue. White mist surged toward it, gathering into a swirling, flowing mass.
He spoke, “This sword is called Copper Cache. It was forged from copper mined in Yan Mountain, quenched in waters from Piaoming Mountain of the Northern Sea, and tempered with the fires of Mount Cituo in Yinghua Prefecture...”
Li Xijun’s sword-like brows lowered slightly as he watched closely, a hint of weight pressing on his heart, That sword is indeed unusual... I wonder if I can match it. Mount Qingdu is protected by a Foundation Establishment Realm formation. No matter how mad he gets, the younger ones should be safe.
Pressing his hand against his sword, Li Xijun remained motionless and responded, “The name of my sword is Han Lin.”
Without warning, Yu Mujian unsheathed his blade. The white mist immediately surged like waves and stretched out over the lake like a curtain. The gleam of frost was like sharp blades as it crackled and hissed with immense power and weight.
The white blade flew across the lake. It seemed slow, yet it was incomparably fast. The mist churned the waters into a frenzy and suffocated the hearts of all who felt its pressure.
Li Xijun immediately released the technique he had long prepared, Slaughter Jun Kui Light . He pressed two fingers together, and dozens of streaks of white energy erupted outward. The shimmering light rippled, transforming into cold snow as fine as pine needles. It was carried on the wind, converging into a single stream that rushed toward the white mist.
But Li Xijun wasted no time. The moment he finished casting the spell, he leapt into the air, drawing his slender sword, which flared with a fierce, snow-white radiance. Though the area around him had been swept clean by the impact, flakes of snow began to fall once more.
The Celestial Moon Slash blazed bright for an instant, carving a path through the surging, wave-like white mist. Yu Mujian saw it clearly, excitement flickering in his eyes. He stepped forward and swung his sword once again.
Just then, a sudden brilliance lit up the sky above. Blinding light poured down, making Yu Mujian’s heart skip a beat. That radiance condensed into white stone bricks that interlocked together to form a massive fortress gate in the air.
“Who dares trespass?! Such gall!”
The gate towered high, its white stone pillars etched with countless mysterious runes and shamanic curses. A young man in Daoist robes stood atop the structure, and shouted in a mix of shock and fury.
Yu Mujian had to raise his head and draw his sword. Dazzling light shimmered like a scorching sun within the gate’s archway, burning away the white mist and searing the skin on his face.
Li Ximing was indeed both startled and enraged. He had been in secluded cultivation for years, well aware of how thin their family had been stretched by Azure Pond Sect’s conscription. So he occasionally kept watch, and Li Xijun had long prepared methods to summon him if needed.
Now, for the first time, Li Xijun’s summoning method had awoken him. He had rushed out only to see white mist churning over the lake and a buddhist cultivator drawing his sword on his younger brother. Fury ignited within him, and a deadly intent surged forth.
He mobilized the vast reserves of his qi sea without hesitation, unleashing his cultivation without concern for depletion. Each white stone within the Radiant Origin Pass began to glow. The blinding white at its center shone with searing intensity. Yu Mujian, suddenly under attack, remained calm and simply reached out.
He pulled a long cloth from his sleeve and gave it a shake in midair. A flurry of golden runes fell out like tadpoles, floating eerily in the air before assembling into a golden barrier that shielded him completely.
The techniques of buddhist cultivators were often difficult to read. Li Ximing couldn’t immediately tell if this was a dharma artifact or a spell. With a single thought, he sent the Radiant Origin Pass crashing downward.
Boom!
The brilliant white fortress gate slammed down with a thunderous crash. Yu Mujian dodged twice but couldn’t evade entirely. The Radiant Origin Pass slammed directly onto the golden barrier. Light and light collided, releasing a hiss of white mist as suppression forces surged.
Meanwhile, Li Xijun had already broken free from the white mist. He stirred a swirl of brilliant snow into motion and flicked his long sword upward, sending three nimble, cunning streaks of white light into the mist.
Yu Mujian had only just managed to resist Li Ximing’s radiant pass. The runes on his body rang out with a metallic clang. Only then could he free a hand to withstand the force. Halfway through a spell seal, he had to frown and halt.
He swept away the white mist in front of him with his sleeve, and caught a streak of flowing light between his fingers. The white sword light writhed violently in his grip, letting out harsh, grating screeches.
Before he could react further, his other hand flicked out, capturing another streak. Only then did he have the chance to draw the copper sword at his waist. A surge of white mist burst out, forcing both streaks of light away.
The first streak of white light had left a small puncture on the back of his hand, yet Yu Mujian didn’t seem to care. He casually wiped it, sealing the bleeding hole with ease.
“Good!” Rather than anger, joy filled his face. His eyes lit up with a mix of surprise and delight at the sword technique. He sighed in admiration, “What a marvelous sword technique! What an ingenious method! So free of convention, as if it was born from the Outer Heavens... But you’ve yet to grasp its true essence. If the creator themself had wielded it, those three streaks of light might have left me spinning helplessly!”
He continued murmuring in joy, but the strain of the battle was causing the golden glow surrounding him to flicker. The Radiant Origin Pass specialized in suppression and erosion; it was capable of grinding gold to dust in mere moments. Its power was not to be underestimated.
Though Li Ximing didn’t possess many impressive combat techniques or experience, the cultivation method he used was a solid fifth-grade one. When he unleashed his late Foundation Establishment Realm cultivation to its fullest, his ability to suppress Immortal Foundations rivaled even the elite descendants of the Three Sects. Even Yu Mujian had to momentarily rein in his wandering thoughts and showed a hint of surprise.
He knew his own limitations. That golden rune barrier was no ordinary spell; it was one of Five-Eyed Temple’s top techniques, and one he had honed for decades. The spell was normally unshakable by Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators, yet it was already buckling after only a few breaths under this pressure.
He freed one hand, emitting white light, using it to prop up the Radiant Origin Pass. With the other, he pulled out a golden talisman and began casting, chanting, “Empty Prison Case, All Sentiments Revealed...”
After chanting the spell, he strained with the hand supporting the Radiant Origin Pass and gave the gate a symbolic jolt. Then, he lightly stepped to the side, slipping out from beneath it and appearing ten steps away.
The golden barrier around him brightened swiftly, gradually returning to its full radiance. Yet behind him, snow suddenly began to fall. The snowflakes drifted sideways in unison by an inch, revealing a streak of piercing white brilliance. An icy, radiant sword light streaked through the air, aimed straight at his back.