Exhaling a mouthful of turbid air, Shen Xiuhan looked down at the array plate resting in his palm.
The Yuan Stone at the core of the array had lost about thirty percent of its original lustrous glow, and the spiritual patterns swirling inside like misty clouds had thinned out considerably.
“It consumes a lot of energy... With this level of power, I can probably only activate it two more times at most.”
Shen Xiuhan flipped the array plate over. His fingertips brushed against the four ancient seal characters engraved on the back: 『Green Wind Sword Array』. A look of satisfaction flashed in his eyes.
Jia Pingxiu was the fourth chief of Chenjian Dock, a prominent figure in the greenwood of the surrounding counties.
Rumor has it that his cultivation had reached the peak of the mid-stage Anjin Rank. Having spent most of his life on the edge of a blade, he was a seasoned fighter with countless souls claimed by his hand.
Yet, even a man like him had no room to resist before the 『Green Wind Sword Array』. He was shredded to pieces in an instant.
At this thought, a sharp glint flashed in Shen Xiuhan's eyes, and he muttered to himself,
I'm afraid any martial artist below the Huajin Rank would meet the same fate against this weapon. Even a Huajin expert would suffer terribly if caught off guard.
Shen Xiuhan carefully stored the array plate back into his storage pouch.
Then, his gaze fell upon the pile of mangled flesh and blood, and a thought struck him.
“If I clean up the corpse, I might be able to use another scheme to muddy the waters even further...”
...
On the lake.
The night wind howled.
Two afterimages, one white and one yellow, crisscrossed over the water.
Fierce gusts swept in all directions, creating layers of ripples on the water's surface that expanded outward in concentric circles.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The muffled thunder of flesh-on-flesh impacts echoed continuously. The shockwaves generated by each blow snapped the reeds along the shore, over a hundred feet away, forcing them flat to the ground.
The two had been fighting for nearly half an hour.
On the surface, it appeared to be an evenly matched, grueling struggle.
But to Duan Xiao, who was in the thick of it, the chill in his heart was tightening like a gangrenous rot clinging to his bones.
He had only broken through to the Huajin Rank a few months ago, and his foundation was still unstable. Currently, he was still lingering in the early-stage Qi Tempering stage of the Huajin Rank.
But his opponent... was at least in the mid-stage Huajin Rank!
The man's force was endless with every movement, and his techniques were seasoned and seamless.
He had to exert his full strength just to barely block every palm strike sent his way. A single slip-up would mean defeat and death.
Bang!
Forcing a direct clash of palms, Duan Xiao used the momentum to flip backward.
His feet touched the water, carving out two white wakes as he slid back thirty feet before finally stabilizing himself.
Duan Xiao suppressed his churning blood qi, his face grim and his chest heaving violently.
In contrast, Zuo Muxian, standing dozens of feet away, looked completely unbothered.
His moon-white robes fluttered gently in the lake breeze, his complexion healthy and his breathing long and steady.
Standing on the water with his hands clasped behind his back, a faint smile played on his lips. His gaze swept over Duan Xiao, as if examining an amusing toy.
It was as if the intense clash they had just engaged in was nothing more than a casual warm-up after a meal.
During their exchange over the past half-hour, Duan Xiao had managed to discern his opponent's background from his martial arts style.
Or rather...
The other party had never deigned to hide his identity from the very beginning.
Someone from the Star-Plucking Sect...
Duan Xiao felt a cold shiver run down his spine.
My Chenjian Dock is situated in a remote corner. I'm certain we have never provoked such a colossus. For him to ride in solo like this, could it be... word got out about the Bai family refining blood pills on Fish Island?
The moment the thought arose, he immediately snuffed it out.
Impossible!
If that secret had truly been exposed, it wouldn't just be a single Huajin expert coming here. It would be a joint crusade of righteous path experts from Cangzhou.
This man came alone... most likely, he's simply here to seek personal vengeance for Gao Fu!
Having reached this conclusion, Duan Xiao composed himself and decided to probe further. He shouted in a deep voice,
“Which academy of the Star-Plucking Sect does Your Excellency hail from?”
“Are you Zhang Jiuyang of the Kaiyang Academy? Or perhaps... Wen Zheng of the Tingquan Academy?”
Zhang Jiuyang, Wen Zheng, and Yi Suxin of the Feixuan Academy were the top chief disciples of the four inner academies of the Star-Plucking Sect.
Within the Star-Plucking Sect, only those few inner academy chiefs could step into the Huajin Rank at such a young age.
Zuo Muxian shook his head slightly, the gentle smile still playing on his lips.
“I do not belong to either of those academies.”
“Zuo...”
Duan Xiao froze for a moment. As long-buried intelligence rushed to the forefront of his mind, his expression changed drastically.
He stared at the white-robed man before him, his eyes filled with utter disbelief.
“It's you... the chief of the Chiming Academy, Zuo Muxian! Rumor has it that you set off for the counties of Gaoning to suppress a branch of the Yinsha Demon Sect. Why are you here at my Chenjian Dock?!”
“Well... I was supposed to go, but unfortunately, there was a minor hiccup that delayed my journey.”
Zuo Muxian replied casually. Then, his tone shifted, carrying a hint of amusement.
“By the way... I've heard within my sect that First Chief Duan seems to possess one of our martial techniques, the 『Star-Plucking Hand』. Did you acquire it by killing one of my fellow disciples?”
Duan Xiao's face twitched.
The muscles at the corner of his eyes twitched uncontrollably. Taking a deep breath to suppress his rising anger, he said coldly,
“Chief Zuo, you worry too much.”
“That 『Star-Plucking Hand』 is merely an incomplete manual I purchased with hard cash years ago at the Cangzhou Treasure Auction hosted by the Guanhua Sect. The chamber of commerce has records of this transaction. You are welcome to verify it yourself, Chief Zuo. There is no need to slander me!”
Duan Xiao was indeed telling the truth.
Back when Chenjian Dock was newly established, everything was waiting to be rebuilt. He had needed some low-tier, practical martial techniques to stock their library, train his trusted subordinates, and reward his followers.
Duan Xiao had traveled all the way to Cangzhou and spent a fortune at the Tianyu Sect's auction to buy several martial techniques, including the 『Star-Plucking Hand』.
This technique was one of the Star-Plucking Sect's most famous mid-grade martial techniques. Its movements were exquisite and widely circulated, so it was by no means a closely guarded secret.
Later, he had bestowed this technique upon the former tenth chief, Qu Bushi.
After Qu Bushi's death,
no one in Chenjian Dock practiced this technique anymore.
Zuo Muxian smiled noncommittally, choosing not to press the issue further.
He had only been using it as an excuse to buy time.
Duan Xiao was no match for him, but he had no intention of killing the man.
For one, Shen Xiuhan had already stated that he would launch a surprise attack on the Bai family in early August.
As a powerful ally of the Bai family, if Duan Xiao died on the lake tonight, it would undoubtedly alert them and ruin the little cat's grand plans.
Secondly...
Could something have happened to that little cat? It's been nearly two hours, yet there's still no sign of him...
“Hmm?”
Just as Zuo Muxian was lost in thought,
a very subtle disturbance in the water below caught his attention.
“Splash!”
Dozens of yards away from where they stood, a geyser of water erupted into the air!
The figure was bloated yet exceptionally agile. Grinning back at Zuo Muxian, he hoisted Gao Fu onto his shoulder and sped away across the water using a movement technique.
Like a fat duck, he vanished dozens of yards away in just a few bounds.
“Fourth Brother!”
Watching the retreating figure, Duan Xiao's pupils dilated in shock as he blurted out, his voice filled with alarm and suspicion.
Upon hearing this, a flicker of surprise crossed Zuo Muxian's eyes. He vaguely understood what was happening but chose not to elaborate. He simply said indifferently,
“First Chief Duan, I shall take this Gao fellow. Tonight ends here. If you dare pursue us even half a step out of these waters... I will no longer hold back!”
The moment the words left his mouth,
Zuo Muxian's eyes narrowed, a glint of green light flashing within them!
In the next breath,
an invisible, intangible pressure, vast as the sea, crashed violently into Duan Xiao's consciousness!
“Ugh!”
Duan Xiao's eyes widened in fury, the veins on his forehead bulging!
He felt a tearing, agonizing pain inside his skull, as if steel needles were piercing his brain. Trembling all over, he squeezed out two words from his throat with great difficulty:
“Spirit... Tempering...”
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