Chapter 106 | Powering Up by Meddling in Other People's Business

“No wonder...”

Qi Tianchen's voice squeezed through his teeth.

“No wonder our emperor's actions have been growing more and more unhinged.”

He suddenly jerked his head up.

“And that duel between the two sword immortals, Shen and Lü!”

Ling Xiaozi nodded, pointing his horsetail whisk at the resplendent yet utterly rotten palace complex beneath their feet.

“When two Earthly Sword Immortals clash with all their might, the laws of heaven and earth tremble. Amid the waxing and waning of life auras, vast amounts of the world's purest origin qi will be generated.

This evil demon lurks deep in the imperial palace with precisely this calculation in mind.

During the sword immortals' decisive battle, it intends to peel away at the fissures in the laws of heaven and earth to steal the dao of life's ebb and flow, granting our emperor a longer lifespan.”

The hall fell into dead silence.

Qi Tianchen closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

When he opened them again, not a shred of hesitation remained in those turbid eyes.

“However, what kind of price our emperor negotiated with this demon remains unknown.”

Ling Xiaozi held the Heavenly Master Sword across his front. The demon-suppressing talismans along the spine suddenly flared, golden light bursting forth like a solar disc within the dim bedchamber.

The dark shadow let out a sharp hiss and shrank back violently, retracting all the tentacle-like protrusions along its edges back into its body.

“In any case.”

Ling Xiaozi's voice was not loud, yet it resonated through the hall like grand temple bells.

“If things are allowed to unfold, it will not merely be a repeat of the Human Race's civil war thirty years ago.

It will be a resurgence of the war between humans and demons from a thousand years ago.

When that happens, mountains and rivers will shatter, the common people will suffer devastation, and those who perish will not just be martial artists and soldiers.

Therefore, the two of us must suppress this thing today. We cannot afford the slightest carelessness.”

Qi Tianchen slowly drew Suiyue from its scabbard.

The friction of the blade against the sheath produced an extremely low, heavy hum.

The blade intent of an Earthly Immortal was unleashed with nothing held back.

Right at that moment.

Two distinctly different sword intents descended outside the Hall of Mental Cultivation from the far reaches of the eastern sky.

Sensing these two awe-inspiring sword intents traveling across countless mountains and rivers, the dark shadow squirmed violently beside the Dragon Couch.

The phosphor flames within its eerie green sockets flared up as it let out a low roar.

It felt threatened.

Ling Xiaozi alone was troublesome enough.

Added to that were Qi Tianchen and these two sword intents projected from a thousand li away.

Being locked onto by the qi signatures of four Earthly Immortal-level beings simultaneously was a treatment perhaps not even Demon Kings of their Demon Race had ever experienced.

Sensing the inquiry carried within those two sword intents, Qi Tianchen rested Suiyue against his shoulder and looked up at the ceiling with a chuckle.

“What, aren't you two busy competing with swords on the Eastern Sea? You still have the leisure to worry about this side?

Or are you worried about me, a newly ascended Earthly Immortal?”

The hall fell silent for a moment before the two sword intents simultaneously gave an extremely faint, subtle hum.

Both Qi Tianchen and Ling Xiaozi understood the meaning behind that hum.

They were not here to help; they were merely confirming the situation over here.

If he could not even suppress a remnant demon barely clinging to life for a thousand years, then Qi Tianchen's title as an Earthly Immortal would truly be unearned.

Ling Xiaozi thrust the Heavenly Master Sword down before him. The demon-suppressing talismans along the spine swirled with golden radiance, illuminating half the Hall of Mental Cultivation as bright as day.

He glanced sideways at Qi Tianchen, a rare smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

“Feel free to duel without holding back.”

His voice was not loud, but through the resonance of those two sword intents, it clearly carried across a thousand li to the surface of the Eastern Sea.

“This humble Daoist will not let this vile beast disturb you in the slightest.”

With those words spoken, the two sword intents circled the hall once, seemingly confirming that this wicked fiend truly could cause no great waves, before dissipating as silently as they had arrived.

Those two sword intents came swiftly and left just as quickly.

Watching the two sword intents vanish into the horizon, Qi Tianchen suddenly let out a sigh.

“Speaking of which, among us old bones, who hasn't been screwed over by the imperial court?

Back then, when the imperial court forced martial artists of the martial world to the front lines to fight, they painted a pretty picture—defending home and country, winning titles and honors for wives and sons.

Yet once the war was won, the birds were gone and the good bow was stashed away.

Shen Xingzhi was forced into exile at the ends of the earth, while Lü Beisheng was driven to destroy his own natal sword and trap himself in an isolated tower for twenty years.

Had this old man not hidden behind the forge of Furnace-Listening Pavilion and ignored worldly affairs, I probably would have been done in long ago as well.”

He turned to look at Ling Xiaozi, self-mockery in his gaze.

“Even you ox-nose Daoist—the pills that Mount Longhu's Heavenly Master Mansion paid in tribute to the imperial court every year were probably impeached by those censors as ‘demonic Daoists bewitching the sovereign,’ weren't they?”

Ling Xiaozi did not answer. He merely tossed his horsetail whisk over his shoulder, the smile on his lips tinged with an inexplicable bitterness.

“Yet here we are anyway.”

Qi Tianchen shifted his gaze back to the dark shadow, his voice abruptly deepening.

“In the end, the blood flowing in us old-timers' bones is still the blood of the martial world.

The sordid intrigues and power struggles of the imperial court are things we have no care to manage, nor can we.

What does the life or death of the Zhao family's emperor have to do with us?

Even if he sits through that Dragon Throne until it rots and squanders all of Grand Zhao's rivers and mountains, it's not up to us martial vagabonds to worry on his behalf.”

He took a step forward, his blade intent rolling out like a tidal wave.

Under the crushing pressure of blade intent, the golden dragons carved into the four walls of the Hall of Mental Cultivation emitted a low tremor in unison, as if coming alive, yet also as if on the verge of shattering.

“Except for this wicked fiend.”

Ling Xiaozi picked up the thread, the golden brilliance upon the Heavenly Master Sword reaching its absolute peak.

One after another, the demon-suppressing talismans engraved along the sword spine detached from the blade, transforming into fist-sized golden runes floating in midair, enclosing the Hall of Mental Cultivation in an airtight talisman formation.

“Indeed.

A thousand years ago, the Human Race's Martial Saint traded life for life to expel them.

If this thing is allowed to grow unchecked in the imperial palace today,

and steals the origin qi from the laws of heaven and earth while the two sword immortals duel,

then those who die won't just be a few princes and eunuchs.”

Qi Tianchen raised Suiyue high. The blade reflected the golden runes swirling throughout the room, as well as his face—deeply lined with wrinkles, yet firm as bedrock.

His gaze bypassed the edge of the blade, locking dead onto the dark shadow.

“So then, you two over at the Eastern Sea: fight however you please.”

His voice was not loud, yet it pierced through countless mountains and rivers, pierced through layer upon layer of palace halls, and was delivered straight to the ears of those two confronting figures above the waters of the Eastern Sea outside Jinyang City.