A sword of moonlight, the incarnation of a brilliant ice wheel.
A simple, ancient sword, boundless, deep, and ethereal.
Like a meteor tearing through the grotto-heaven and severing spacetime, they came from a distant unknown to collide in the center of the world.
Far from the battlefield, the pressure of the Sword Intent gave Bailu, Guinaifen, and Sushang a strong sense of suffocation. The surrounding air seemed to be squeezed and extracted.
"Wahhh!"
Her tail exploding into the shape of a feather duster, Little Bailu was the first to react. She grabbed Guinaifen's collar with her left hand and Sushang with her right.
"Bad luck, bad luck, bad luck!"
"Gonna die, gonna die, gonna die!"
Bailu dragged the two and ran wildly, her short, chubby legs curling into Teacher Tom-style spiral springs due to overclocked operation.
"Next time I watch Sword Immortals fight, this young lady is staying even farther away!"
One second before "Illuminate the myriad rivers" collided with "Taixu Sword God", Bailu dragged the two and jumped off the high platform.
To be precise, only Little Bailu jumped. Because of their height, Guinaifen and Sushang were suddenly yanked up by Bailu and nearly fell to the ground.
Stumbling a few steps to the edge of the high platform, they plunged headfirst like onions planted upside down.
"Wait... Ahh!!!"
From a height of over ten meters, Sushang was the first to crash to the ground, letting out a miserable scream.
Then came a crackling sound of people turning upside down; the scene was quite miserable for a moment.
"Yo!"
Guinaifen smashed into Sushang's embrace. Even with the soft and bouncy Little Pillows as a cushion to provide buffering force, she still felt the world spinning.
Sushang's head collided with Bailu's.
"It hurts, hurts, hurts! Lady Dragon High Elder, your dragon horns are so hard!"
Dizzied, ears ringing, and eyes blurry, Sushang had swirling eyes, vaguely seeing three gold stars circling above her head.
But the next second, the airflow overturning heaven and earth made her instantly sober up.
The moment the two swordsmen's ultimate moves collided, the swaying cloud layers were all overturned and blown away.
Only the bright moon simulated by the weather equipment remained, shedding its purity. However, this time the light was no longer freezing cold, but gentle and moist.
"Are you two okay?"
"Sand got in my eyes! Ah... if I knew earlier, I shouldn't have opened my eyes!"
It was like a night of extreme stormy weather; one could constantly hear objects being rolled up by the storm and hitting walls. Tattered fabric flapped loudly as it was swept up into the high sky.
"It seems to have stopped, eh."
"Let's go see how it is."
Lying on the ground for a full two minutes, waiting for the whistling hurricane to cease, the trio finally supported each other to stand up.
However, the three were stunned as soon as they walked past the corner of the high platform building.
"Ah, this..."
The entire area of the Artisanship Commission had been flipped upside down by the unprecedented airwave. The ground seemed to have been plowed. As far as the eye could see, fine sword marks and sword seals were visible everywhere.
"This is too outrageous!"
...
"Phew~ Ha~ Phew~"
Landing with Jingliu in a princess carry, Moonscar panted violently. She didn't look at the beauty in her arms immediately but stood up to scan the surroundings, sighing from the bottom of her heart.
"What a 'Moonlight illuminates the myriad rivers'."
As one of the people who faced the Sword of the Moon directly, Moonscar's eyes seemed to still retain the reflection of the pouring moonlight from the nine heavens.
Like a brilliant ice wheel crashing into the mortal world, the ten thousand miles of mountains and rivers touched by the moonlight were all encompassed by the Sword Intent.
That this area could still exist was the result of Jingliu's excellent control of power; otherwise, this sword strike probably could have destroyed the Artisanship Commission.
In comparison, the combination of Li Sushang and Moonscar was much worse in terms of destructive power.
They were able to win purely because the combination of Fenghuang Down + Taixu Sword God + Honkai Impact 2 Taixu was too overpowered. With a high realm, putting it in a game would be a mechanic crush.
Although the Mara-struck state was suppressed by Caelus, the consciousness was still Jingliu—or rather, the weakness of any Xianzhou long-life species advanced in years.
The Sword God was unavoidable, striking directly at the depths of the consciousness. Added to that was the Reality Distortion Field briefly interfering with causality.
It was so abnormal that Jingliu, as a Pathstrider, was defeated in the world of consciousness before her stats could be fully displayed.
"They should be coming over in a while, right?"
Moonscar turned her head to look in the direction where she had seen the figures from high in the sky during the battle earlier.
She didn't deliberately guide Sushang away from Little Gui and Bailu. After all, she couldn't act as Little Pillow forever; sooner or later, the cover would be blown.
But Moonscar didn't expect the three of them to get together so quickly.
"Then I'll just wait here for them to come over."
Moonscar found a patch of open ground that was still considered intact and placed Jingliu flat on the ground. She sat on a sword shadow formed of Qi. The sword shadow alternated between solid and void, somewhat drifting, yet it existed persistently.
[It's your first time using Qi to form a sword, right? Using it just like this...]
Li Sushang roasted quietly.
And this speed of improvement was too abnormal!
She knew that she could still receive the five senses and perceive the energy flow in the body when in the background, so it was only natural that cultivation speed would be fast, but this was too fast!
"After all, the fortune teller Mom and Dad found for us said we are natural-born sword embryos."
Personally experiencing energy flow, several consciousnesses learning simultaneously, plus the system learning chip's buff—could it not be fast?
"Never mind me, how do you feel about Jingliu? Is she qualified to be a successor of the Taixu Sword Art?"
Previously, Moonscar had asked Li Sushang if Immortal Chiyuan had set any rules, like not allowing the technique to be taught to outsiders at will.
The answer was no.
One of Fu Hua's goals in creating the Taixu Sword Art was to create more powerful warriors to fight the Honkai. How could she keep it a secret and hide it away?
But it wasn't something just anyone could learn.
The starting qualifications for those the Immortal taught martial arts to were ranked at the level of Stigmata Awakeners, and even ninety-nine percent of them wouldn't be taught the methods of the Taixu Sword Art.
The most critical elements were state of mind and comprehension.
Although both were things difficult to see through at a glance, a certain degree of answers could be obtained through observation during the process of cultivation.
[Her sword is too cold, too icy. It is precisely this coldness that makes her sword edge unstoppable, breaking through everything.]
Li Sushang immersed herself in Jingliu's Sword Intent world.
Ten thousand miles frozen, a moon wheel suspended in the sky. Jingliu held her sword, standing under the eternally frozen moon wheel. Behind her were thousands of ice sculptures, yet not a single fallen leaf dared to approach her.
This biting Sword Intent of a world of ice and cold reminded her of Master Cheng Lingshuang's teachings.
"Sushang, do you know why the moon waxes and wanes?"
Years ago on the mountain peak, Cheng Lingshuang pointed her sword at the crescent moon: "Because of imperfection, it can flow; because of flow, it proves eternity."
[Jingliu's Way of the Sword has matchless sharpness, but it has lost the vitality of the cycle of new and full moons. Those overwhelming ice prisms break everything, yet every piece is as heavy as a thousand jun—because they carry too many deliberately suppressed emotions, maintaining the Sword Intent with hatred.]
Moonscar sat on the sword shadow, crossing her beautiful legs, gazing at the comatose white-haired beauty. She chatted with Li Sushang in her heart just like this.
Not long after, hearing a slight moan, the cold voice brought a contrastingly cute allure.
"Nng..."
Jingliu's eyelashes trembled slightly as she slowly opened her eyes.
Presented before her eyes was the brown-haired girl looking at her with a beaming smile.
"Awake?"
"I am..."
Clearly, she had only been in a coma for ten minutes, yet Jingliu felt as if she had slept for a century—so long that her memory was somewhat fragmented.
Jingliu blinked gently.
Moonscar turned pale with fright. At a light speed that was difficult even for Jingliu to see clearly, she took out her phone.
"?"
Hearing the 'click' 'click' shutter sounds, Jingliu tilted her head slightly, typing a question mark to express confusion.
"Taking a snap of the precious defeat CG."
Moonscar turned the phone around with a chuckle. Jingliu was stunned after seeing the photo.
For these seven hundred years, Jingliu had always covered her eyes with cloth. First, out of sight, out of mind, to avoid the Mara-struck state being triggered by anything.
Second, because under the influence of Mara, her blood-moon eyes had long been stained with madness; letting people see them would only add trouble.
It was better after Caelus suppressed it for her earlier. But now, Jingliu was surprised to find that the look of madness revealed in her expression had almost completely disappeared. There was even a hint of innocent girlishness.
What was this situation?
Wait!
Something's not right!
My body is so light!
Jingliu was suddenly dazed. She slowed her breathing, seriously sensing her current state.
Qi surged into her lungs along with her breath. The clear and cold coolness stimulated her nerves, like soaking in a shallow, faint stream. Her body felt as if a burden of a thousand jun had been unloaded.
Closing her eyes, the screams and ravings of the deceased souls in her memory returned to silence. It was as if someone had wiped away the blood and filth covering her soul; her sea of consciousness was clear and bright.
"This... Could it..."
As her thoughts turned, fragmented memories surged out. Jingliu seemed to realize something. She suddenly raised her head.
"Taixu Sword God is the highest realm of the Taixu Sword Art... Oh no, now it has become the second to last realm."
Stop Water, No Dust, Bright Mirror, Taixu. After that, there was also Feathering.
Moonscar jumped off the sword shadow with a giggle. Ruoshui God, inserted in the ice surface between the two, trembled slightly. She tapped the sword hilt lightly and explained:
"Sword God can penetrate any tangible barrier, striking directly at the depths of the consciousness—the part that cannot be perceived or cognized under normal circumstances. The anger, obsession, negative memories, and consciousness that cause the Mara-struck state are also located in this part."
"Taking this opportunity, I used Sword God to help you clear away some of it."
"This is what I said before: severing the Mara."
The crimson eyes contracted instantly. Jingliu's expression was astonished; she was stunned.
She didn't expect that what the girl said was actually true!
"Is this... the Shen of the Taixu Sword Art?"
Her voice was slightly trembling and amazed. For Jingliu, that was like a door leading to a new world.
Moreover, this path hadn't reached its end yet.
Was the final realm the power the girl spoke of, capable of using human strength to influence the power of an Aeon?
Recalling that strange power that distorted and blurred spacetime, Jingliu was certain: that was not the power of any Path!
Although it was maintained for an extremely short time, it reversed everything.
That kind of power... if she possessed that kind of power, perhaps she could participate in the chess game where gods confronted each other, increasing the probability of putting Abundance to death, even if only by a little.
"How about it? Are you tempted? It's better to act than to be tempted. First, call me Master twice to let me hear~"
Moonscar waved her hand, preparing to raise her seniority a bit higher.
"..."
Jingliu fell silent.
"I accept my defeat."
Although for her, the former Sword Champion of the Xianzhou, to take the girl before her as a master... this matter sounded too weird.
But after all, she had given her word first; she would not go back on it.
What's more, the "Taixu Sword Art" could slash the Mara within the consciousness and also held the door to a higher place in the Way of the Sword.
It was just that, thinking of the girl's age, Jingliu still felt a wave of stifling in her heart. If she were 538 years old, it would be barely acceptable. But if she were 16 or 17, then she...
Under the girl's expectant gaze, Jingliu did mental preparation for a long time, constantly chanting silently: The one who has achieved is the teacher, the one who has achieved is the teacher.
Jingliu parted her red lips lightly, bowed, and nodded:
"Master."
"Ay, good disciple~"
This scene happened to be seen by Bailu, Guinaifen, and Sushang who had come looking for them. The trio looked at each other in blank dismay. Little Gui's face was horrified:
"Ah? D-D-D-D-D-Disciple!?"
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