A sharp glint flashed through Xu Ziqing’s eyes. Even as the cracks in the earth reached almost to his feet, he showed no fear.
It was not because of anything else. Wood overcame Earth. Even though Zhang Chi had also broken through to Qi Refinement layer 10 during the past half year, at equal cultivation Xu Ziqing’s Wood constitution held the advantage.
Calmly, he put away the Steelwood sword.
This was not the time to compare sword techniques. It was time to battle with spells.
Xu Ziqing clapped his palms together. In an instant, countless threads of green qi burst from between them and transformed into points of green light that scattered rapidly outward.
They fell like a gentle spring rain, beautiful beyond description.
When those points of light landed upon the overturned soil, tiny green shoots immediately emerged. They grew with astonishing speed, becoming thick clusters of spring grass that spread over the broken earth like a soft green pelt, carrying with them the fresh fragrance of grass.
But the grass did not merely cover the surface.
Within the fissures where the soil had overturned, brown roots linked together into a dense net and spread rapidly underground.
Countless thin roots intertwined until they became thick, powerful root systems, weaving beneath the surface like veins. The earth above, which had still been rolling and cracking forward, was seized firmly by those netted roots and could advance no farther.
Thus, no matter how quickly the “spiderweb” of fissures spread, it stopped abruptly just before reaching Xu Ziqing.
Three steps away.
Xu Ziqing looked up. “I also have a technique. I ask Fellow Daoist Zhang to take a look.”
After speaking, he rotated his palms against one another.
Suddenly, the “grass pelt” moved.
The countless hair-fine blades of grass shot upward with astonishing speed, instantly becoming long grass stems. Those stems twisted together in midair into fresh green ropes, and the ropes immediately tangled into a net. While still growing wildly, the net spread across the sky and descended toward Zhang Chi.
Seeing Xu Ziqing counterattack, Zhang Chi’s gaze sharpened.
He raised the flying sword and drew several sword lights through the air. “Scorched Earth!”
Radiance surged from the flying sword and met the grass net head-on.
The instant the grass net touched the sword light, it seemed to be scorched. It blackened completely, dropped from the air, and dissolved into drifting ash.
The sword light did not disappear. It continued downward toward the still-growing “grass pelt.”
The green surface visibly blackened at once and gradually became ash from grass and wood, merging back into the soil beneath.
Wood was born from Earth and nurtured by Earth, yet when it withered it returned to Earth.
Thus the generation and restraint of the myriad things followed their own law. Although Wood could restrain Earth, it still depended upon Earth and could not cut off its vitality entirely.
The endless green grass Xu Ziqing had summoned transformed into fertile soil, but Zhang Chi was not at ease either.
These two techniques formed a linked pair within the Earth-Crushing Sword Art. They had been created specifically to deal with Wood-attributed cultivators who restrained Earth. Once unleashed, the techniques already accounted for the Wood cultivator’s natural countermeasures, allowing Zhang Chi to break Xu Ziqing’s spell in an instant.
However, the sword techniques consumed tremendous spiritual power. Having used them, Zhang Chi’s face immediately grew a shade paler.
Yet his sequence did not stop. “Mountains Collapse, Earth Splits!”
With one slash, a powerful brown light burst from the sword edge, forming a circular arc that swept around him and exploded in every direction.
Rumbling sounds filled the cave region. Wherever the sword light passed, the mountain walls shattered and great stones tumbled down.
Rocks rained from above. Beneath them, the fertile ground collapsed. Hard sections split into enormous, black fissures whose bottoms could not be seen, while softer sections turned into broad swamps spreading outward in every direction from Zhang Chi.
Clearly, this was the follow-up move of the same sword art.
Xu Ziqing frowned slightly. A green leaf rose beneath his feet and lifted him three chi from the ground. But countless stones were already crashing down toward his head. Unable to land and without any foothold, he could only dodge left and right in midair.
The stones fell too densely. There was nowhere to evade them all. Xu Ziqing’s expression tightened. He rushed upward against the falling rocks and swung the Steelwood sword in a reverse chop.
Crack! The blade struck a boulder dead center.
The stone split in two and fell away on both sides. Xu Ziqing did not hesitate. He twisted aside from the roaring wind and turned to slash through another massive rock.
Among the endless falling stones, the green-robed youth standing on a leaf looked almost like a fragile figure tossed through rain.
Yet he held a strange black-gold sword and chopped apart every stone crashing toward his head. Each movement was simple and unadorned, sharp and decisive, without the slightest panic.
Xu Ziqing remained calm. Below him, however, Zhang Chi suddenly began to worry.
He had already consumed more than half his spiritual power. These three sword techniques had been carefully selected and refined over many years specifically to restrain Wood cultivators.
But precisely because their power was enormous, their consumption was also enormous. By the third move, Mountains Collapse, Earth Splits, the sword itself had become merely an opening trigger. Zhang Chi needed to concentrate his mind continuously to control the technique and keep its power from running wild.
Xu Ziqing had no time to think about any of that.
His mind had sunk completely into the sword. At first, he had also found the rain of stones difficult to manage, but after only a few exchanges, it became far easier.
The boulders fell rapidly, yet their trajectories were simple to read. Xu Ziqing only needed to control the green leaf beneath him, face each incoming stone directly, and use the most ordinary foundational chop Yun Lie had taught him. Then, just as in daily sword practice, he could cut each stone apart naturally.
Fortunately, Xu Ziqing had swung his sword thirty thousand times every day for the past half year. Otherwise, with so many stones falling at once, his old ability would never have handled them so easily.
Compared with Zhang Chi below, who had to concentrate his mind on maintaining the technique, Xu Ziqing wasted not a single trace of spiritual power in his sword movements. Each stroke used exactly what it needed, no more and no less. His consumption was far lower than Zhang Chi’s.
Zhang Chi had expected Xu Ziqing to last only a short time within that rain of boulders. Yet one hour passed, then two hours, and Xu Ziqing’s movements remained measured and precise without the slightest disorder.
Zhang Chi grew increasingly anxious. If he could not defeat Xu Ziqing with this technique, then once his own spiritual power fell below Xu Ziqing’s, doing anything afterward would become extraordinarily difficult.
He was still a Qi Refinement layer-10 cultivator. Zhang Chi drew a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.
He raised two fingers upright and began muttering an incantation.
The long sword in his hand immediately flew up, circled several times around his head, then hovered above him. Brown light radiated from it in fine strands, spreading outward like ripples.
Zhang Chi chanted with his eyes closed for half a ke. Then he suddenly opened his mouth and pointed with two fingers. “Go!”
The flying sword instantly became a streak of brown light and shot toward Xu Ziqing’s back.
Xu Ziqing’s entire body and mind were still immersed in chopping apart the falling stones, just as during his normal practice.
Ordinarily, such concentration would have left him unaware of everything outside the sword. Yet every time he practiced swordsmanship, Yun Lie sat ahead watching him. Xu Ziqing had therefore developed the habit of keeping one thread of awareness outside himself, so Yun Lie could correct any mistake in his sword movements.
This time was no exception.
Moreover, Yun Lie carried extraordinarily heavy killing intent. Having spent so much time near him, Xu Ziqing had become exceptionally sensitive to murderous aura. The instant the flying sword approached, before its killing intent fully reached him, Xu Ziqing already sensed it.
He split the boulder before him and spun around abruptly, meeting the flying sword exactly.
Clang! Clang! Xu Ziqing’s awareness immediately cleared. He saw Zhang Chi forming seals and chanting. The flying sword he had just knocked away vibrated with a buzz before shooting back again. Behind him, another huge stone was crashing down. He was trapped between the wolf before him and the tiger behind.
If either struck him, he would likely be gravely injured.
And that killing intent…
Xu Ziqing understood. Zhang Chi was willing to risk Tang Wenfei’s punishment in order to kill him here.
He steadied his mind. His cultivation method spun rapidly within his dantian while his thoughts searched for a way out.
An idea flashed through him. Xu Ziqing immediately whistled. “Chonghua!”
A pale-green ball of wind shot through the air. Xu Ziqing twisted aside and escaped from between the two attacks. A boulder had also been falling into the place he dodged toward, but Chonghua’s wind blast struck it first and shattered it into fragments.
Master and pet understood one another completely. Xu Ziqing had needed no explanation. Chonghua had already known his intention and opened an escape route for him in advance.
Zhang Chi had not expected an eagle to intervene halfway through. One careless moment caused his killing move to fail completely.
Those last two attacks consumed still more of his strength. Remembering everything that had happened since entering the sect, Zhang Chi’s heart sank. He opened his mouth and spat out an extremely slender flying sword.
This sword was also Earth-attributed, but the spiritual light covering it was dazzlingly intense. It was nearly a spiritual artifact.
It was a treasured spirit sword bestowed upon him personally by the Boundless Sect Master. Originally, it had already reached the peak of top-grade magical artifacts and was exceedingly precious. Zhang Chi loved it deeply from the moment he received it and had intended to refine it into a life-bound treasure.
For ten years, Zhang Chi had nurtured the flying sword within his dantian until it was almost completely fused with him. Once he eventually established his foundation, the magical artifact would advance alongside him and become a true spiritual artifact. But now Zhang Chi had already exhausted his hidden killing methods and did not have much strength left. If he wanted to complete what his sect had entrusted to him, he had no choice but to use this life-bound flying sword.
Without hesitation, Zhang Chi formed several hand seals in succession.
Xu Ziqing immediately sensed a change in the falling boulders. They suddenly gathered from all directions and began crashing chaotically toward him. Startled, he jerked his head to the left. A massive rock scraped past the right side of his face by the narrowest possible margin.
Whoosh! Before he could react, another boulder flew at him from the left.
Xu Ziqing dodged again. Now he wanted to use his sword, but could no longer find the opportunity. Unfortunately, he had practiced swordsmanship for too short a time and knew only two rigidly basic strokes. If he had learned more variations, then with his degree of familiarity he would not be so harried and would have far more ways to respond.
At the same time, the swamp below began to change.
White vapor suddenly rose from it. Bubbles churned upward, and in the blink of an eye muddy sludge surged into long mud serpents that reached for Xu Ziqing’s ankles.
Xu Ziqing swung the Steelwood sword downward and cut one mud serpent apart. Another boulder immediately came crashing from above, forcing him to dodge awkwardly. Chonghua circled in the air and occasionally spat out a wind blast when Xu Ziqing was in extreme danger, but Chonghua’s cultivation was still shallow. Even its innate minor divine ability could not be used continuously.
After this happened repeatedly, Xu Ziqing barely had any attention left to spare for Zhang Chi.
Zhang Chi, meanwhile, had already used half of his remaining spiritual power for one final push.
After activating that method, neither the falling stones nor the swamp were under Zhang Chi’s direct control anymore. They automatically sought weaknesses and attacked chaotically without distinguishing friend from foe.
Zhang Chi suspended the flying sword he normally used in front of himself. The boulders and swamp recognized the source from which their technique had been generated and therefore targeted Xu Ziqing first. Zhang Chi used that brief opportunity to refine the spirit sword further.
The spirit sword was delicate, only about the length of a palm and as slender as a finger.
Its entire body was brown, shining with treasure light and radiating astonishing pressure.
Zhang Chi looked at it reluctantly. Then he steadied his mind, bit the tip of his tongue, and spat out a mouthful of blood.
Pfft!
The blood splashed over the sword. Its radiance immediately intensified, and the blade gained a thin coating of blood-red light.
A life-bound spirit sword was linked to the cultivator’s heart-blood. Normally this step should only be completed after the sword had fused entirely with the dantian without the slightest obstruction. Yet because of Xu Ziqing, Zhang Chi had no choice but to perform it early. Even if he successfully crippled Xu Ziqing afterward, this spirit sword he had spent so long cultivating would effectively be ruined.
To avoid further hesitation, Zhang Chi closed his eyes and spat another mouthful of blood from the tip of his tongue.
The spirit sword spun rapidly. A profound aura soon emerged from it, vast like the earth and bottomless like the depths beneath the ground, yet also lonely and distant like an ancient wilderness filled with unmoving stone.
As Zhang Chi continually tempered it with heart-blood, the sword gradually gained a trace of the hard, unyielding nature of Wu Earth.
The sword spun faster and faster. Its light grew more dazzling until it hurt the eyes.
Ecstasy appeared on Zhang Chi’s face. He knew he was about to succeed.
On the other side, Xu Ziqing calmly dealt with the wildly sweeping boulders and the surging swamp sludge. He also sensed that something was wrong.
After circling several stones, he suddenly flew upward at great speed. One glance was enough to reveal Zhang Chi tempering the spirit sword. The sword’s aura was deep and ancient, and unease rose in Xu Ziqing’s heart.
At that very moment, the boulders abruptly rolled upward and broke free from the normal limits of the technique, becoming completely chaotic.
They had fixed on Xu Ziqing. They meant to smash him to death.
Xu Ziqing’s thoughts turned rapidly. Ignoring everything else, he immediately dove downward.
His direction was straight toward Zhang Chi.
Whatever Zhang Chi was planning, Xu Ziqing could not allow him to succeed.
In an instant, the green-robed youth sped forward atop his leaf, almost as though fleeing for his life. Behind him, several dozen boulders thundered after him, colliding and crashing as they pursued without pause.
Zhang Chi had only just completed the spirit sword when he heard the deafening rumble. He hurriedly looked up and saw the bizarre scene. Every boulder had been drawn toward him, while the swamp surged after them like a wave.
They were indeed chasing Xu Ziqing. But Xu Ziqing was coming straight toward him.
Naturally, Zhang Chi would be caught in it as well.
His pupils contracted. He pointed sharply. “Go!”
The spirit sword shot out with a whizz. It moved nimbly through the air and shattered more than ten boulders almost immediately. Where its light passed over the swamp, the mud also rapidly calmed.
By redirecting the disaster onto Zhang Chi, Xu Ziqing forced the spirit sword Zhang Chi had refined with such difficulty to clear the danger for him first.
Zhang Chi’s brows tightened. He had not expected this. Still, remembering that the spirit sword was complete, he did not panic too much.
Xu Ziqing naturally saw how powerful the spirit sword was. It exceeded an ordinary flying sword by far more than tenfold.
As he circled Zhang Chi in flight, he thought quickly.
How could he deal with a spirit sword like this?
In only a few breaths, the spirit sword darted back and forth several times. All the boulders were knocked down, and the ground returned to normal.
Then the sword turned back. This time it flew toward Xu Ziqing.
The spirit sword was extremely small and terrifyingly fast. When it moved, it became a streak of sharp light that appeared before Xu Ziqing almost instantly.
Caught off guard, Xu Ziqing barely managed to knock it away with the Steelwood sword. Even so, cold sweat broke over his body.
Too fast.
The Steelwood sword had only touched the spirit sword once, yet small cracks had already appeared along its surface. Clearly, the spirit sword’s sharpness far exceeded any magical artifact. Xu Ziqing knew he could no longer use Steelwood to meet it head-on.
But what should he do instead?
After being struck aside, the spirit sword turned in the air and immediately came back.
It was linked to Zhang Chi’s mind, so Zhang Chi controlled it as naturally as moving his own arm. No matter how Xu Ziqing dodged, the moment Zhang Chi’s thoughts shifted, the spirit sword followed. Xu Ziqing’s green figure flashed again and again as he struggled to keep up.
Yet his mind remained completely clear.
The situation was indeed dangerous, but Xu Ziqing understood that this was Zhang Chi’s final gamble. If he could survive the spirit sword’s assault for a little longer, Zhang Chi’s spiritual power would be completely exhausted and the sword would have nothing left to sustain it.
But that was not enough.
Zhang Chi no longer merely wanted to destroy his dantian. He wanted Xu Ziqing’s life. How could Xu Ziqing tolerate that?
Schemes had come once, then twice, born from absurd grudges or jealousy of his aptitude. Again and again people bullied Xu Ziqing because his temperament was gentle and his heart compassionate.
They pushed farther every time. Even the softest heart had to harden eventually.
A thought flashed through Xu Ziqing’s mind. He did not hesitate. He abruptly changed direction. While continuing to dodge the spirit sword, he began moving toward Zhang Chi. He concealed the approach carefully, advancing three chi, retreating one, gradually drawing closer without making his intention obvious.
Perhaps because Zhang Chi saw Xu Ziqing looking so harried, with the spirit sword slicing his sleeves and robe several times, he believed victory was already certain. Delighted and nearly emptied of spiritual power, he inevitably let his guard down.
Xu Ziqing saw the opening. His gaze turned cold, and he suddenly charged straight at Zhang Chi.
He moved with extraordinary speed. The remaining five or six chi vanished in an instant.
The spirit sword followed close behind. Just before Xu Ziqing and Zhang Chi collided, Xu Ziqing suddenly disappeared.
“Ahhh!” Zhang Chi screamed.
The spirit sword had been unable to stop in time. It pierced straight through Zhang Chi’s dantian.
His dantian was completely destroyed.
If the spirit sword had been tempered only after fully fusing with his dantian, it would never have injured him. But precisely because that final trace of fusion had been incomplete, the immense force carried by the spirit sword as it tried to pierce Xu Ziqing instead tore Zhang Chi’s already mostly empty dantian to pieces.
Zhang Chi spat a mouthful of blood and collapsed to the ground, his entire expression withered. No longer controlled by him, the spirit sword fell as well, landing several chi away.
He turned his head to the side. At last, unwillingness flashed in his eyes.
Less than three chi away stood a massive tree that had not been there moments earlier. Its whole body was dark, neither metal nor wood. It was the true form of thousand-year Steelwood.
A green-robed youth was slowly stepping out from within the tree.
His normally gentle face now carried a trace of hardness. The lips that usually smiled were pressed faintly together, showing anger and perhaps a little pity.
It was Xu Ziqing.
At the final instant, he had thrown down the Steelwood sword and allowed it to transform into the thousand-year Steelwood tree. Then he had immediately used the Wood-Escape Technique to hide inside it, allowing the spirit sword to continue along its original trajectory and recoil upon its own master.
Tang Wenfei had established the rule that no lives were to be taken, so Xu Ziqing would not kill Zhang Chi.
This man was blindly loyal and stubborn beyond reason. There was no point trying to explain principles to him, and Xu Ziqing had no interest in doing so.
Since the Boundless Sect wanted to cripple Xu Ziqing’s dantian, Xu Ziqing could only let the most highly regarded genius of their generation taste the same fate.
Suppressing the faint trace of pity in his heart, Xu Ziqing glanced once at Zhang Chi and turned away.
The matter was finished. He should continue cultivating.
Whatever happened to Zhang Chi afterward no longer concerned him.
* * *
Just as Xu Ziqing expected, no one came to visit his cave during the following days, nor did Tang Wenfei summon him. It was as though the incident had never happened and left no trace at all.
Elio’s Notes: The source briefly calls him “Tang Yunfei” (唐云飞) here. Context and every established occurrence make clear this refers to Tang Wenfei (唐文飞), so the canonical name is retained in the translation.
Xu Ziqing remained perfectly calm. As before, he rose each morning to complete thirty thousand sword strokes, then sat in meditation and refined true essence. Repeating this day after day did not weary him.
Two months later, another strange phenomenon appeared outside the cave.
Xu Ziqing opened his eyes. “Someone else is establishing their foundation?”
The last time, Cheng An of the Flowing Fire Sect had failed Foundation Establishment and been destroyed in body and soul. The sight had struck a heavy blow against the gathered geniuses. The arrogance born from their talent had vanished almost instantly, replaced by considerable fear.
Who had overcome that inner demon and dared attempt Foundation Establishment now?
Xu Ziqing could not help admiring them.
Because he himself possessed a single spiritual root, he did not need to worry as much as mixed-root cultivators about impurities obstructing the opening of the Purple Palace. Su Xin certainly could not be ready for Foundation Establishment yet. Whoever was attempting it now had to be an extraordinary genius with exceptional perseverance and endurance.
Xu Ziqing immediately rose and swept away the restriction.
He had already completed today’s thirty thousand sword strokes, so going out to observe would not interfere with his training.
Having decided, he left the cave and descended beneath the cliff just as before.
Again, many cultivators were already waiting there. In fact, they seemed even more eager than last time.
The red-robed youth stood among the Rogue Cultivator Alliance members. Seeing Xu Ziqing, he smiled. “You were slower this time.”
Xu Ziqing smiled back. “I can’t be early every time. A vessel filled too full will overflow.”
Su Xin did not tease him further. Instead, his expression turned somewhat mysterious. “Guess who’s establishing their foundation this time.”
Seeing Su Xin deliberately keep him in suspense, Xu Ziqing swept his gaze around the area. When he looked back, faint surprise appeared on his face. “Young Sect Master Yan?”
Su Xin nodded. “Exactly. Yan Boshang of the Tianyan Sect.”
Xu Ziqing’s expression became more serious.
If it was Yan Boshang, then it was perfectly understandable that everyone was so eager to watch.
Su Xin continued, “Last time, Cheng An began Foundation Establishment the moment he had barely accumulated enough true essence. The smoke dragon was filled with impurities, so he lost at the very first clash. Yan Boshang is far smarter. His cultivation was already almost at Foundation Establishment long ago, so why did he wait eight full months? He must have spent the entire time removing impurities. He’s always been cautious. If he’s making the attempt now, he probably has at least ninety percent confidence.”
Xu Ziqing turned his head slightly. “Then this time there’s a ninety-percent chance we’ll witness a successful Foundation Establishment?”
Su Xin nodded. “Exactly.”
So that was it.
The previous failure had cast a shadow over many cultivators’ minds. If they could now witness someone succeed, that shadow might finally be dispelled.