Volume 4, Chapter 32 – Dao-Battle

What kind of crap was this bird-brain spouting? Was he asking to have his corpse smashed to pieces the moment they met?

Before Bai Xiang could respond, Bai Zhuqing, kneeling at her side, had already widened her eyes, staring at the other party with a look that said, “Bro, your guts are something else.”

There was a reason for that. So far, every enemy who had gone against her Sister Xiang had ended up miserably. As far as she could remember, not a single one had kept their body in one piece.

And Bai Zhuqing had eyes. From the fact that Bai Xiang had seen through his disguise at a glance, she could already tell her own sister’s cultivation and combat strength were above this man’s. So of course she felt no need to show him any courtesy. She watched, righteous and upright, with her head held high.

Cui Yuanhao’s Fusion Fire Avatar was waiting for Bai Xiang’s response when he suddenly felt a scorching gaze from the side. He couldn’t help turning his head to look at the girl.

He couldn’t read out her entire “fan chart,” but he could grasp the general meaning. His brows drew together, displeasure flickering across his face as he said in a low voice, “Immortal Venerable’s maid seems rather lacking in manners. Allow Cui to discipline her on your behalf.”

With that, the avatar swept a wide sleeve, and a streak of red-orange flame shot out, flying straight toward Bai Zhuqing’s face.

He’s going for me?

What a bastard.

Bai Zhuqing’s heart gave a jolt. She knew that with Bai Xiang here she wouldn’t really have to take this blow head-on, but her body still reacted on instinct. She opened her mouth and spat out a white-mist sword core, which split into two, then from two into four, and finally, under the pressure of life and death, into eight, all spinning as they smashed toward that flaming streak.

Boom!

The instant the first sword core touched the flame, a fireball over two meters wide erupted between them. Then came the second core, the third… Fireballs boomed one after another, exploding in a chain right toward her. It was obvious they couldn’t be fully intercepted. In the next second, they were going to swallow the girl whole.

“Silence—”

Just then, Bai Xiang spoke. Her vibrating sound waves leapt into existence in front of her little sister, sweeping out like an invisible, untouchable gale. The flaming streak and all the fireballs left behind by the explosions were rolled back and blown out, every trace of sound and motion wiped away.

“Hm?” Cui Yuanhao frowned, surprise in his eyes as he looked at Bai Xiang. “What does Immortal Venerable mean by this?”

“I know you people have your unspoken rules over there, probably including ‘all beneath the exalted are ants,’ so you think these people can be disposed of at will, and even their master doesn’t care…”

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Bai Xiang sat straight on the Dao Master’s seat, drawing out her words just a little.

“But those are your rules.” She slowly raised her half-lowered lids. Her golden eyes finally fell fully on Cui Yuanhao. “They have never been, and will never be, mine.”

Cui Yuanhao’s brows furrowed deeper. He could, of course, hear a certain resolve in her words. He probed, “So fellow Daoist is unwilling to join this plan? Is fellow Daoist choosing to make Tianfu Mountain stand against the human path?”

“It doesn’t go as far as ‘against.’” Bai Xiang’s lips curled just then. “Dao Steward Cui cannot even stand for Tianfu Mountain, let alone presume to talk to me about the human path.”

“…so we’ve come to this in the end.” Cui Yuanhao sighed and cupped his fists to her once more. “I have heard that in your battle with Shenwu Heaven, you summoned ten thousand Tribulation Lotuses, annihilated tens of thousands of Dao soldiers and experts, and forced Shenwu Heaven to withdraw from the tribulation struggle and flee to hide. Cui also wishes to experience it for himself.”

With that, he didn’t wait for Bai Xiang to respond. The entire Fusion Fire Avatar darted out of the main hall and rose to hover in the sky above the front square, waiting for Bai Xiang to come out and face him.

“Aunt!” Bai Zhuqing looked at Bai Xiang, calling to her a little uneasily.

No wonder she’d changed into a new dress… It had been a while since Sister Xiang had a proper fight. Inside, she must be itching for it, right?

Once the influence of the Golden-Pupil Illusory God had been removed by various means, Bai Zhuqing had, most of the time, gone back to that slightly intellectual, steady self. And because she loved and clung to Bai Xiang so much, of course she understood her sister’s temperament after entering the Dao.

Her own big sister, once her talents awakened, was the very picture of a battle maniac.

“You did well just now.” Bai Xiang’s body floated up and drifted to Bai Zhuqing’s side, reaching out to smooth a lock of hair in place.

“I really look forward to the day you won’t need my help.”

Without bothering about how those words sent the girl’s heart racing again, Bai Xiang’s figure flashed away, shooting into the high air to face Cui Yuanhao.

At least he’d kept that last bit of courtesy, knowing that starting a fight in the hall would destroy the mountain gate.

Her left hand tightened around her sword’s scabbard as Bai Xiang watched his every move.

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So this is his way of letting me take the first strike?

“Then I’ll take the bargain,” Cui Yuanhao said, tilting his chin up at her. The Fusion Fire Avatar pressed its hands together in a seal and, with a bang, exploded apart, suddenly turning into clusters of fire.

At first, the fire clusters spread outward by inertia, but as time passed they swiftly condensed into distinct shapes, each one becoming an orange-red fire crow with a half-meter wingspan, all hurling themselves toward Bai Xiang of their own accord.

With a ringing clang, Bai Xiang gripped Feixiang Heaven and drew the sword. Her left hand released the scabbard, letting it hang from her waist sash as she flicked the edge of the blade with a finger.

Zheng—

The continuous tremor set off by the note spread outward. It moved slowly at first, and there was nothing visible near the blade’s edge, but the change grew faster and more violent. By the time it extended out around Bai Xiang, it had become a surging tide of sound, blowing out each fire crow as it collided with her.

“Dao Steward Cui isn’t putting his heart into this,” Bai Xiang’s voice drifted through the clouds.

“Show your true body and fight me.”

What on earth was with this woman?

Cui Yuanhao was baffled.

As he saw it, it was hard enough for a woman to become an Immortal Venerable, and with a great enemy like the Demon Court pressing down on them, and with her on bad terms with the human dynasties of the main world, his appearance ought to have been her lifeline. No matter how harsh the conditions, she should have grabbed on.

Besides, it wasn’t as if he lacked discernment. So many peerless geniuses throughout history had failed in creating new methods. With his kind of pride, he absolutely refused to believe the Path of Qi was something she had created by sheer skill.

It had to be some trick.

A happy accident, a stroke of luck, nothing more.

That was why he’d come in all high and mighty and aggressive, because he thought he already had Bai Xiang cornered, that she had no way out.

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But in reality?

Not only had she refused, even when he’d escalated to outright coercion, she was still acting like this.

She practically looked… excited.

As if she’d been looking forward to this fight for a long time.

Being looked down on like that, Cui Yuanhao was a little angry too.

Once the last sparks drifted away, the temperature of this stretch of sky suddenly plunged. Moisture condensed rapidly in the air, freezing into ice blossoms that gathered into the outline of a Daoist in midair.

Bang!

Before the ice blossoms could shatter and reveal his figure, Cui Yuanhao’s heart suddenly skipped a beat. He hastily forced his Divine Pool to change its nature, but in the next instant his body was smashed apart by a long sword and once again exploded into a sky full of fire crows.

As usual, part of the fire crows burst and rushed at Bai Xiang, while the rest rapidly gathered again in place to form Cui Yuanhao’s true body.

His face was iron-blue. He formed another hand seal and drove the flight-escape art he’d exchanged for from Tianfu Mountain, intending in an instant to swap positions with one of the approaching fire clusters.

Zheng—

Another note of sword-song floated over. Cui Yuanhao’s fingers shook violently, and his entire cultivation in Dao-Void Methods abruptly vanished. He could only move the power of his Divine Pool.

So Shenwu Heaven was defeated by this move?

Cui Yuanhao’s expression finally turned grave. In the next heartbeat, a pitch-black shadow fell over his head. It was a giant lotus made entirely of blue lightning, drifting down until it was almost in his face.

Boom!

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Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom—!

The ten thousand Tribulation Lotuses exploded in concert. Every spark of flame was reduced to dust under the stabbing of thunder mallets and thunder lances. Cui Yuanhao didn’t even have time to feel shock before a thunder mallet punched through his skull. His spine was torn out from his back with it, then blasted apart and shattered further in the storm of lightning.

“What happened?”

“That’s the Dao Master’s Tribulation Lotuses… Is there an enemy attacking?”

Thunder rolled and roared, shaking the hearts of those on Shenming’s main peak. Many disciples, and even elder instructors, stepped out to look up at the sky, watching the churning dark clouds overhead and talking among themselves.

Under the clouds, Bai Xiang stood with sword in hand, but did not draw back her aura just because she had finished off her opponent.

Ice blossoms whirled. This time, Cui Yuanhao re-condensed his body even faster, as if the man who had just been torn apart and shattered wasn’t him at all.

Bai Xiang noticed that on this reappearance, there was now a long sword on Cui Yuanhao’s back, its hilt wrapped round and round with gold thread, its guard gilded and carved.

“So this is how you suppressed Shenwu Heaven?”

Cui Yuanhao stared coldly at Bai Xiang.

“Then it’s only natural they couldn’t beat you.”

“With that level of ability, you’d count as someone among Immortal Venerables of the Upper Realm.”

“Unfortunately for you, this time you met me.”