The Sword Attendant, Gu Yiyou, had drawn his sword for him for over thirty years.
He himself had not truly gripped a sword in who knew how many years.
Yet a swordless Shen Xingzhi was still the very same Shen Xingzhi who had held down the entire martial world for the greater part of his life.
Every arc traced in the air by his two fingers was pitched with consummate precision.
Just precise enough to tap at the pinnacle of Lü Beisheng’s sword momentum, just precise enough to deflect that earth-shattering sword intent by half an inch, and just precise enough to tear open a gap in the impenetrable net of swords.
The two figures darted back and forth across the Eastern Sea, each clash triggering celestial anomalies.
The thousands atop the city walls had fallen utterly silent.
No one spoke, no one cried out, and not a soul even dared to breathe aloud.
They simply watched, watching with every ounce of their strength.
Even though the vast majority of them could not make out the two sword immortals’ movements at all.
But what did that matter?
The mere fragments of sword intent scattering from their clash, along with the wisps of sword qi swept onto the city walls by the shockwaves, were enough to benefit every martial artist present for a lifetime.
A young Inquiry Realm martial artist suddenly shuddered, sat down cross-legged, and closed his eyes tight, actually entering a state of meditation on the spot.
Before his companion beside him could even register surprise, the companion felt a throb in his own dantian, as a long-dormant sword intent began stirring restlessly within his meridians.
“One can even break through just by watching the battle...” someone muttered, their voice laden with sheer disbelief.
Yet even more people had no time to spare being envious of others.
They stared intently at the two figures on the sea, terrified of missing a single instant.
A duel of this level might not be seen even once in several centuries.
If they missed today, there would never be another chance in this lifetime.
And yet.
Not everyone was immersed in this world-shaking duel.
In Wangchao Pavilion, the Third Prince Zhao Li sat cross-legged in the very center of the hexagram array, resting his hands upon his knees with his eyes shut tight.
The strand of purple-gold Ziwei imperial qi around him was already several times thicker than before.
Three feet above his head, it condensed into a slowly rotating canopy.
Nine minute golden dragons could be faintly seen swirling and coiling across the canopy.
Each golden dragon opened its maw, as if waiting for something.
Qingyangzi stood outside the array.
The Black Iron Heaven-Measuring Ruler hovered before him, every notch on the ruler’s body now fully illuminated.
The eerie blue radiance intertwined with the array's gold-red glow, casting the entire pavilion floor into a bizarre, kaleidoscopic spectacle.
Sweat beaded across his forehead, and the back of his coarse blue Daoist robe was completely drenched, yet his hands remained steady as bedrock, shifting through incantation seals without pause to sustain the formation's operation.
“Why?”
Zhao Li suddenly snapped his eyes open.
His voice held an unmistakable trace of agitation.
“Daoist Master, did you not say that if the two sword immortals fought with all their might, the laws of heaven and earth would tremble and fracture?
This Prince’s Ziwei imperial qi has already been pushed to the utmost limit, and the Sky-Stealing Sun-Swapping Formation has long been running, so why have I not sensed a thing?”
He raised his head, looking through the window lattices at the two figures clashing fiercely on the sea.
Sword light crisscrossed as heaven and earth lost their color.
Every burst of radiance that detonated upon the sea was sufficient to level a small hill.
Yet Zhao Li’s brows knitted tighter and tighter.
“They are clearly striking with all their might already.
With such might, with such collisions, how could it possibly have failed to touch the laws of heaven and earth?”
Qingyangzi did not answer immediately.
He narrowed his eyes, his gaze passing over the surging light of the array to settle on the two silhouettes upon the sea.
He watched for a long time—so long that Zhao Li could scarcely hold back from pressing him again.
“It falls just a bit short,” Qingyangzi finally spoke, his tone carrying the deliberation reserved for reading a game of chess.
“Your Highness, please be patient.
The two sword immortals are indeed fighting.
The height of their sword intent and the ferocity of their momentum are things this poor Daoist has never witnessed in nearly a century of life. However...”
“However what?”
“However, between the two of them, one has yet to unleash his full strength.”
Zhao Li snapped his head around, his eyes boring into Qingyangzi.
“Who? Shen Xingzhi?”
Qingyangzi nodded, then shook his head.
“This poor Daoist dares not assert anything with certainty.
Perhaps it is Sword Immortal Shen—after all, he does not even have a sword.
If Your Highness looks closely, although Sword Immortal Shen wields his two fingers with effortless composure, he focuses strictly on defense from start to finish, rarely taking the offensive.
What is he waiting for? Or...”
He paused, lowering his voice slightly.
“What is he wary of?”
Zhao Li fell silent for a moment before letting out a cold scoff.
“Wary? He is the world’s number one, Shen Xingzhi. What could he possibly be wary of?”
Qingyangzi did not reply, merely turning his gaze back toward the sea.
His brows were slightly furrowed, a trace of perplexity lurking in the depths of his eyes that even Zhao Li failed to notice.
Upon the sea, sword light continued to bloom.
Lü Beisheng’s sword momentum grew ever faster, ever fiercer, ever more reckless.
Twenty years of suppression had transformed into wave upon wave of earth-shattering onslaughts.
“Sheiru” released draconic roars in his hand, its blade no longer showing its original color, only a shifting, blinding aura of light.
Every slash of his carried the majesty of heaven and earth, each strike powerful enough to cleave a city in two.
Every slash made the hearts of the martial artists watching from the city walls tremble in awe.
Yet Shen Xingzhi still parried it all.
He continued to rely on nothing more than those two fingers.
Tapping, tracing, lifting, parrying—every motion of his fingertips flowed like drifting clouds and water, utterly devoid of worldly exertion.
One by one, he neutralized Lü Beisheng’s world-destroying sword momentum.
One by one, he deflected those sword qi capable of cleaving mountains and splitting seas.
One by one, he tore through that impenetrable net of swords.
From beginning to end, he was on the defensive.
Yet his defense was watertight, effortless, and handled with boundless ease.
Suddenly.
Lü Beisheng withdrew his sword and backed away.
His body carved a white wake dozens of zhang long across the sea surface.
The seawater exploded beneath his feet into two walls of waves a zhang high.
Once he came to a stop, he angled “Sheiru” diagonally toward the sea.
As the sword’s tip dipped into the water, the sea actually began to boil around it, gurgling with rising bubbles.
“Senior Shen.”
His voice was several degrees deeper than before.
“Why do you not fight with your full strength?”
Shen Xingzhi stood where he was, the sea beneath his feet still flat as a mirror.
He withdrew his two fingers behind his back, his green robe fluttering in the sea wind, his face still bearing that calm, unruffled smile.
“You saw through me.”
“If I could not even see through this, this junior would have lived these past twenty years in vain.
I can sense that Senior’s sword intent is far greater than this.
Yet Senior remains unwilling to truly strike.
Just now, there were at least three instances where Senior clearly could have counterattacked during the gap when my sword momentum waned.
Yet you pulled back every time.”
He paused, his grip on the sword tightening slightly.
“So, is Senior holding back for my sake?”
The smile on Shen Xingzhi’s face faded slightly.
He lowered his head, looked at his empty hands, remained silent for a moment, and then let out a long sigh.
“I am holding back, but not for you.”
He raised his eyes, casting his gaze past Lü Beisheng, past the sea, past the city walls of Jinyang City, looking out toward somewhere far, far beyond.
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