Murong Qingnü’s pupils contracted violently.
It was not that she had failed to see the celestial phenomenon just now, the ten thousand beams of radiant glow, or the saber silhouettes dancing across the sky.
She simply could not believe it.
She could not believe that this man, who had failed her martial aunt for a lifetime, had crossed that very threshold—the one that trapped countless martial artists for their entire lives—so effortlessly just by kneeling before a grave.
Yet the shock on her face lasted only an instant.
In the next moment, that freezing smirk resurfaced at the corner of her lips.
Unquenched hatred surged anew in those amber eyes.
The cicada-wing soft sword in her hand gave off a shrill, lingering cry.
“Earthly Immortal?
No matter what kind of Earthly Immortal you are, you leave your life here today!”
Before the words could even settle, her figure vanished from where she stood.
The full-strength strike of a Boundless Realm peak Grandmaster caused sword light to bloom into a massive azure lotus beneath the moonlight. Layer upon layer of petals were condensed purely of sword intent, descending to enshroud Qi Tianchen with overwhelming force.
Everywhere it passed, bluestone slabs cracked inch by inch, bamboo leaves were ground to dust by the sword qi, and even the babbling stream before the mountain gate was forced into a reverse flow under the sheer might of this sword strike.
Qi Tianchen did not move.
He merely raised his right hand, bringing his index and middle fingers together, and gently drew a line three chi before him.
An invisible saber intent materialized out of thin air, blocking every single azure lotus petal outside his reach.
Sword qi clashed against saber intent with crisp, ringing clangs, sounding like someone chiming jade stones far in the distance.
Their exchange of offense and defense lasted only an instant, yet the overflowing energy shook the entire mountain gate until it buzzed.
Beneath the mountain gate, everyone watched with racing hearts.
The eight martial artists in martial attire had long gripped their weapons, yet none knew whether to advance or retreat.
In a clash of that caliber, they did not even possess the qualifications to intervene.
A-Tong was driven by that overwhelming pressure to cower behind the carriage.
He exposed only a pair of terrified eyes, staring fixedly at the two entangled silhouettes above the mountain gate.
“Someone has stepped into the Earthly Immortal Realm...” a martial artist in martial attire muttered with a trembling voice, full of shock and doubt.
“But who on earth is it? Elder Qi, or that Murong Qingnü?”
Everyone looked at one another; no one could answer.
The celestial phenomenon just now was simply too grand. Saber silhouettes and radiant glow had intertwined, making the aura chaotic and indistinguishable.
They only knew that an Earthly Immortal had been born within the mountain gate of Mirror Water Villa.
Yet they could not tell at all whether that aura belonged to Qi Tianchen or Murong Qingnü.
“If the one who reached Earthly Immortal is Murong Qingnü...
Elder Qi is most likely doomed today.”
“Shut up!” a martial artist snapped sharply.
“Elder Qi secluded himself for so many years with a profound foundation. How could he lose to a woman?”
“But she’s the number one female Grandmaster in the Two Realms!
At the peak of the Boundless Realm!
Someone at the same level as Elder Qi!
If she crossed that threshold first...”
“Enough,” the Staff Grandmaster barked in a deep voice to silence them, though his own face was already ashen.
Meanwhile, Chen Zui rested his spear diagonally across his shoulder, looking far more relaxed than anyone else.
He glanced up at the battle above the mountain gate, the corner of his lips curling slightly.
A battle of this level was not something one could watch just because they wanted to.
His luck was truly quite good.
Right at that moment.
An aura abruptly rose from the edge of the horizon.
That aura came without the slightest warning, as if someone had suddenly torn open a rift high in the celestial vault, pouring down a majestic pressure that did not belong to this world.
Wherever the aura passed, even the moonlight dimmed a fraction.
The night wind in the mountains ceased abruptly, and even the rustling leaves of the bamboo grove fell completely silent in that instant.
The faces of the eight martial artists in martial attire changed simultaneously.
The Staff Grandmaster snapped his head up toward the horizon, his pupils contracting to needlepoints.
His lips trembled slightly, his voice squeezing out from deep within his throat, carrying a chill that seeped into the marrow of his bones.
“Yet another Earthly Immortal...”
Everyone’s hearts sank at once.
Having another Earthly Immortal in the martial world was naturally something to celebrate for the Martial Dao as a whole.
Yet for those who already stood in that realm, every additional rival of equal standing meant an extra layer of threat.
There was only so much Martial Dao fortune, only so much water in the pond. With one more person sharing it, there would be less in everyone else’s bowl.
And at a time like this, striking while a newly ascended Earthly Immortal’s realm had yet to stabilize to seize their Martial Dao fortune...
Such a thing had indeed occurred in the history of the martial world.
The chaotic battle among Earthly Immortals centuries ago had begun because someone launched a sneak attack while a Boundless Realm Grandmaster was breaking through, ultimately escalating into a catastrophe that swept across the entire martial world.
“They come with ill intent.”
The Staff Grandmaster gritted his teeth, his voice suppressed to a low murmur.
Yet in a battle of Earthly Immortal caliber, even if they Second Rank Grandmasters charged forward, they would not even qualify as cannon fodder.
A-Tong poked his head out from behind the carriage, his boyish face fraught with panic and his voice shaking.
“Then... then will Grandpa Qi be okay?”
No one answered him.
It was not that they didn't want to answer, but that no one dared.
Just as everyone's minds were reeling, that aura drew ever closer.
At the edge of the horizon, a dark silhouette dragged a long trail through the moonlight, moving at an unimaginable speed.
One moment, it was merely a black speck at the edge of the sky; the next, it had already arrived above the mountain gate of Mirror Water Villa.
The newcomer was a Daoist priest.
He walked through the air from the edge of the horizon, without a sword or artifact beneath his feet, treading solely on the empty void.
With every step he took, faint golden ripples spread across the air, as if he were walking across the surface of an invisible lake.
He looked to be around forty years old, with a fair complexion and three neatly trimmed strands of long beard swaying gently in the night wind.
His greenish-gray Daoist robe was washed pale, with a slightly darker patch sewn onto the cuff. He did not look like some enlightened master, but rather like a humble temple keeper idling away his days guarding the statues of the Three Pure Ones in some dilapidated Daoist temple.
In his left hand, he held a gourd plugged with half a corn cob, and in his right hand, a horsetail whisk.
Yet the moment such a dusty, scruffy Daoist stood above the mountain gate, the celestial phenomena across dozens of li ground to a halt.
Qi Tianchen’s boundless saber intent and Murong Qingnü’s incomparably sharp sword aura seemed to be pressed down simultaneously by an invisible hand the moment he landed.
Saber intent and sword aura froze in midair, neither dissipating nor advancing an inch further.
The Daoist did not even move a finger. With merely a gentle flick of his whisk, the cracked bluestone slabs sealed shut once more, the reversed stream returned to its natural course, and the bamboo leaves shredded by sword qi drifted back onto their branches, seamlessly mended as before.
It was as if someone had wound time back to a cup of tea ago.
Qi Tianchen and Murong Qingnü withdrew their attacks at the same time.
Not because they didn't want to fight, but because they could no longer fight.
The Daoist’s presence unfolded, gentle as water yet vast as the sea, enveloping all of Mount Jingshui within it.
Under this presence, any killing intent was like a pebble tossed into a lake—stirring a single ripple before silently sinking to the bottom.
This was the domain method of an Earthly Immortal.
A world of its own.
At this moment, Murong Qingnü sheathed her sword and stepped back, her chest heaving slightly.
Though the clash just now had been brief, she had used her full strength, yet she couldn't even break through a single line of saber intent that Qi Tianchen had casually drawn.
Gritting her teeth, her amber eyes were filled with reluctance, yet she could no longer afford to attack.
Qi Tianchen slowly turned around, squinting as he sized up the newcomer.
“Ox-nosed old Daoist.
Haven’t seen you in decades, but your nose is even keener than back then.
It hasn’t even been an incense stick of time since this old man broke through, and you’ve already sniffed your way here.”
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