Within the Second Ice Palace was an enormous training ground belonging to the Second Young Palace Master, Yuezheng Hezhi.
The party now made its way directly there and stood in the center of the field.
Xu Ziqing moved back and took up a position at the edge.
The training ground was remarkably level. Looking across it, one might have mistaken it for an unbroken icefield.
Yun Lie had removed his heavy cloak. Dressed in simple white garments, he stood facing Yuezheng Hezhi in purple from a distance.
The auras of the two men shifted from relaxed to intensely concentrated in the span of a single breath.
Though Xu Ziqing stood far away, he could feel two terrifying wills closing in from opposite directions.
He had to circulate the true essence throughout his body to avoid being pushed back by their pressure.
What astonishing might!
Neither man was talkative. Yuezheng Hezhi merely flicked a finger, and a long spear appeared in his hand. Its entire body seemed forged of silver, yet a lustrous radiance flowed along it to the tip, giving rise to a killing intent at once pure and violent. It was like a raging fire burning beneath the icefield, ready to erupt at any moment!
At the same time, Yun Lie raised his hand slightly and grasped a sword. Its blade was black-gold, ancient and unadorned, appearing almost devoid of light. Yet it also seemed to absorb all the light around it until none could be reflected from its surface. Another overwhelming killing intent spread outward, both icy cold and fluid as spilled mercury, extending without restraint and rendering the surrounding air motionless, as though frozen.
Xu Ziqing held his breath. He recognized the sword in his senior brother’s hand. Forged from Geng Metal Essence and Water-Fusing Essence Crystal, its original form was a small sword barely over a chi long. With a thought from Yun Lie, however, it could transform into this weapon for battle. Xu Ziqing did not know how Yuezheng Hezhi’s spear had been made. Even his spiritual sense could scarcely approach it; the slightest contact with its aura resulted in his sense being swallowed by a storm and dispersed into nothingness.
What an earthshaking battle this promised to be, one capable of shaking a person’s very primordial spirit!
Soon, both men moved almost simultaneously.
In the blink of an eye, purple and white intertwined. They moved so quickly that they looked like two blurred shadows, and it was impossible to make out what happened between them.
Only the high-pitched cry of the spear and the howling of sword qi could be heard, accompanied by countless shrill sounds as though the very fabric of space were being torn apart.
Xu Ziqing widened his eyes and gathered true essence into them, focusing all his sight upon the fight.
They were too fast!
Even after doing this, he could rarely follow their movements. The moment he caught sight of one crossing of their weapons, the motions had already changed several times. Within moments his vision blurred, his eyes ached, and his head swam.
But this was the first time Xu Ziqing had ever seen his senior brother fight so fiercely against another person. In earlier battles, Yun Lie had usually stood still and attacked with sword intent. Now he was genuinely employing sword techniques and exchanging blows in close combat.
Xu Ziqing had always known that his senior brother’s swordsmanship was exceptional, honed through countless years of practice. Only upon witnessing it now did he realize that all his expectations fell far short of Yun Lie’s actual abilities.
Yuezheng Hezhi and Yun Lie were indeed enjoying the battle to their hearts’ content.
The long spear moved like a dragon, sweeping and thrusting with magnificent force. Frost rose wherever its tip passed, and torrents of extreme cold accompanied its thrusts with the cracking sound of ice forming.
Yun Lie met it with his sword. A faint gleam gathered along his blade as it broke through layer after layer of ice, sending waves of killing intent surging like water and blooming into clusters of sword flowers.
When the battle grew fierce, Yuezheng Hezhi leaped high and brought his rigid spear down as though it were a long whip. A direct hit would have smashed his opponent’s skull and shattered his bones! Yun Lie turned like lightning and evaded it. The spear struck the ground, splitting the ice into countless cracks that radiated outward. Yun Lie then sprang into the air, extended his arm, and slashed diagonally with his sword.
Yuezheng Hezhi twisted around abruptly and raised his silver spear, catching the sword squarely!
Clang!
A piercing metallic sound rang out, sending waves of force spreading in all directions.
Yun Lie remained suspended in the air, striking repeatedly with his sword.
A continuous series of collisions thundered out. Yuezheng Hezhi shook his arm, making the spear vibrate in rapid succession and sending rolling waves of energy outward.
The sword had been striking the raised portion of the silver spear. Now the constant vibration prevented Yun Lie from concentrating his blows upon a single point.
Yun Lie’s swordsmanship paused for an instant.
Yuezheng Hezhi seized the opportunity, ducking low and sweeping his silver spear horizontally like a great saber, dragging a broad arc of silver light behind it!
Yun Lie’s gaze grew colder. Innumerable sword shadows sprang from his blade, surging forward like a vast net covering heaven and earth.
The silver spear was no less formidable. Whirling like a spinning wheel, it formed a defense no needle could penetrate and no water could seep through, blocking every sword shadow!
Both men grew more exhilarated as they fought, one unleashing endless sword techniques and the other transforming his spear arts without pause.
For a time, neither could gain the upper hand. Both employed every skill available to them, determined to overpower the other.
Neither was willing to yield.
After watching for so long, Xu Ziqing’s eyes were beginning to swim.
But he could see fighting spirit blazing within his senior brother’s eyes, revealing a different sort of magnificence.
By now he could tell that the two were evenly matched. At the same cultivation level, even with several hundred years more experience, Yuezheng Hezhi could not suppress his senior brother!
And Yun Lie was still far from reaching the limits of his potential.
While Xu Ziqing watched, someone appeared beside him.
Turning his head, he saw a calm, good-natured young man. Who could it be but his old friend Zhuang Wei?
Xu Ziqing smiled. “You’ve come a little late. You missed quite a spectacle.”
Zhuang Wei smiled back. “Is it too late for me to see the rest?”
Xu Ziqing shook his head. “Not at all.”
As someone of considerable standing among Yuezheng Hezhi’s attendants, Zhuang Wei had many duties to handle, and these had delayed him.
Seeing Yun Lie engaged in such a fierce battle with Yuezheng Hezhi, Zhuang Wei immediately understood what was happening. Yet he felt worried for Yun Lie. He knew Yuezheng Hezhi’s nature well: if someone did not interest him, he would not spare them a glance. But once he regarded someone highly, he would insist upon challenging them, and his fighting spirit became nearly crazed.
Zhuang Wei knew little about Yun Lie, while he was thoroughly familiar with Yuezheng Hezhi’s strength. Naturally he feared for the safety of his friend’s Dao companion.
Seeing the concern on Zhuang Wei’s face, Xu Ziqing smiled. “Brother Zhuang, don’t worry. It’s also rare for my senior brother to meet a worthy opponent. He’s delighted to have the Second Young Palace Master spar with him.”
Hearing this, Zhuang Wei relaxed. “I’ve never seen anyone fight Hezhi to this point before. Seeing it today, I understand that Fellow Daoist Yun is truly exceptional.”
The two resumed watching in silence.
In the field, the two fighters had already tested each other’s spear arts and swordsmanship, along with their movement techniques.
They had yet to reveal many of their methods.
Yuezheng Hezhi spun his silver spear, and a burst of cold radiance exploded from its point.
Yun Lie also withdrew slightly. At the tip of his sword, a pinprick of black-gold light appeared and disappeared.
The cold light erupted, and the black-gold light surged forward to meet it.
They collided head-on, and a deafening explosion followed.
Boom! Boom!
The sound struck Xu Ziqing and Zhuang Wei like thunder bursting beside their ears, shaking their minds.
They struggled to see what had happened, but there was no further movement. The two lights had struck each other and shattered simultaneously.
Once again, neither side had prevailed.
The corners of Yuezheng Hezhi’s eyes turned red, and a hint of madness seemed to gather between his brows.
He gave two hoarse laughs and abruptly put away his silver spear.
Yun Lie stood several zhang away, his expression completely cold. He was like a towering glacier, wholly immersed in the Ruthless Slaughter Sword Dao. His seven emotions were frozen, leaving him without fear or dread.
At the same time, a faint fissure appeared between his brows, seemingly nurturing an extraordinarily domineering power.
Yuezheng Hezhi moved. He did nothing particularly spectacular, merely raising a hand as a tiny point of silver light appeared in his palm.
The silver radiance was minuscule and seemed exceedingly frail. Yet the aura emanating from it was so sharp that it appeared capable of piercing anything and destroying whatever stood in its path.
In the blink of an eye, the silver light burst forth and became a cloud of snowy mist.
The snow mist was astonishingly thin, like a piece of silver gauze or a silvery net, and drifted slowly forward.
A technique that looked so insubstantial ought not to be particularly powerful or frightening.
But upon seeing it, Yun Lie shifted several zhang farther back.
He was not trying to flee. In the same movement, a massive black-gold sword emerged from the space between his brows and cleaved straight into the mist!
The snowy mist drifted gently. The great black-gold sword seemed to stick to its surface, unable to penetrate even an inch.
Then light flashed in Yun Lie’s eyes, and the enormous sword began to transform!
In an instant, countless fine black-gold threads extended from it. These were sword intent transformed into threads. Ordinarily, when sword intent took solid form, it resembled a sword. Changing that form was incomparably difficult, and anyone capable of doing so must have accomplished something extraordinary in the sword path.
It was already exceptionally difficult for an ordinary cultivator to reach Great Perfection in sword intent. Turning it into threads that were both supple and unyielding was more difficult still!
Yuezheng Hezhi’s eyes shone when he saw those threads.
The snow mist he had summoned was no ordinary mist. It was one of his nine innate divine abilities, endowed with tremendous power.
Would these sword-intent threads be a match for it?
At Yun Lie’s thought, the countless threads of sword intent began moving like living serpents.
The huge black-gold sword had been trapped in the snow mist, held immobile. But when it transformed into threads, it divided the mist’s power into thousands upon thousands of portions, each far weaker than the whole. Even so, that alone was not enough to break free. The many threads that escaped poured down again from every direction, forming an enormous net that enveloped the snow mist instead!
Boundless killing intent containing countless thoughts of slaughter ground against the intent of extreme cold within the mist.
Every speck of snowy mist battled each thread to the death, neither side able to overcome the other.
Yuezheng Hezhi became impatient. He raised his hand and recalled the snow mist.
Light stirred between Yun Lie’s brows, and the countless threads retracted, pouring back into his Purple Palace.
Through this contest between divine ability and sword intent, each had gained a measure of understanding of the other’s strength.
They had tested spells and sword intent. Comparing cultivation levels themselves would offer little of interest.
The corners of Yuezheng Hezhi’s eyes grew redder. He raised a finger and touched it lightly to the space between his brows.
In an instant, a domain of ice and snow appeared in the void behind him. It was extraordinarily solid, like a world unto itself spanning the heavens.
Yun Lie did the same. A sword domain rose behind him and exerted its pressure across the boundless void.
Within the ice-and-snow domain stretched countless glaciers and snow mountains, continuing endlessly into the distance.
Around and upon the glaciers and mountains, innumerable ice palaces appeared faintly, reflecting the surrounding frozen expanse. Each seemed to contain inexhaustible power.
Within the sword domain, countless streams of sword intent shot toward the heavens. A river of stars seemed to hang upside down, while vast black-gold swords swept across the world like flashes of lightning, thunderous punishments and heavenly tribulations.
Neither man needed to say another word. Their two Minor Cosmoses shot toward each other like arrows released from the bowstring and collided with tremendous force!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
No one knew how many times they struck each other or how much force erupted. Ravines spread across the ground like a spiderweb in every direction, while slabs of ice and stone were hurled up and away, leaving the training field almost completely ruined.
How could Xu Ziqing and Zhuang Wei withstand such power? Before they could even react, the impact left their chests tight and drove them stumbling backward.
They could scarcely keep their eyes open, much less watch the fight. A metallic sweetness rose in their throats, impossible to suppress.
Almost immediately, both spat a mouthful of blood.
Xu Ziqing’s cultivation was stronger, so his face merely paled a little. Zhuang Wei could barely stand, his complexion turning ashen and his condition looking far worse.
The two unfortunate spectators looked at each other and exchanged bitter smiles.
Then one regulated his breathing while the other swallowed a medicinal pill. Only then did they steady themselves.
On the training ground, the purple-clad and white-clad figures stood facing one another. Both of their Purple Palace Minor Cosmoses had disappeared.
A suppressed, almost ecstatic delight appeared on Yuezheng Hezhi’s face. “I lost by half a step.”
Yun Lie’s expression did not change. “At the same cultivation level, I am inferior to you.”
Yuezheng Hezhi slowly curved his lips into a smile. “When I was your age, I was inferior to you.”