Embers of Sword

Chapter 657 Reunion

"Wait here for me."

Xie Xuanyi locked onto the white-robed Taoist with his divine sense. He put Jiang Huang down and immediately rode his sword towards the end of the great river.

Rumble!
The river waves roared like thunder, and in the darkness of night, a golden thread pierced through the sky and the earth.

Xie Xuanyi's sword speed was so fast that it almost shattered the void... With his current cultivation level, he was indeed capable of "traversing the void." In just two or three breaths, his physical body had already reached the location locked by his divine sense.

The white-robed Taoist priest stood on the waves with his hands behind his back, his body rising and falling with the waves. He seemed to have long sensed the signs of the impending illness.

He didn't leave, but waited.

"Lu Yuzhen!"

Before Xie Xuanyi's voice arrived, his sword energy appeared first.

They met again at Lichao River.

Without saying a word, he thrust out his sword, and from several miles away, countless waves surged and dozens of water columns exploded.

The white-robed Taoist leaned back slightly, not directly confronting the sword energy. The river water was shattered by the sword energy, and he floated backward like a reed leaf, spreading out for a hundred feet, completely dissipating the fierce sword energy before regaining his standing position.

The two were several miles apart.

Countless sheets of white paper fluttered in the middle of the great river.

Lu Yuzhen spoke with a congratulatory tone, smiling as she said, "Fellow Daoist Xiao Xie, it's been a few days, and you've made further progress... How does it feel to reclaim your fetal light?"

"..."

Xie Xuanyi's expression was indifferent.

After retrieving the fetal light, his soul was perfected, and the insurmountable barrier to attaining the Yang God status was thus overcome.

This belongs to him!

Xie Xuanyi wanted to summon his flying sword again, but he had already vaguely sensed something was wrong and stopped his sword energy in time... The space around here was extremely fragile, and under the swirling white snow, there were faint turbulent currents gushing out along with the river tide.

If I'm not mistaken, several void portals have already been opened and are hidden in the shadows within a five-mile radius.

Lu Yuzhen could leave this place at any time if she wanted to.

Given this guy's cultivation level, I certainly have a chance to "engage" with him now, but the hope of keeping him is slim.

In this world today, there are very few who can kill Lu Yuzhen.

The only one who was absolutely certain was his own master.

"You guessed right, I've already left a 'door' open."

With just a glance, Lu Yuzhen guessed Xie Xuanyi's thoughts. He smiled slightly and said, "I'll leave as soon as you make a move. I won't fight you. You can try using your divine sense to send a message to Zhao Chunyang... and see if he arrives faster or I leave faster."

Xie Xuanyi's eyes darkened.

"Alright, why are you looking at me like that?"

Lu Yuzhen said calmly, "I know you hate me to the bone and want to fight me... but now is not the time. You have not yet advanced to the Yang God realm. What is there to fight between us? Do you think that if I don't run away and face you head-on, this fight will determine the winner? The reason you are so reckless in using your sword is simply because you are taking advantage of my unwillingness to fight you."

There's nothing wrong with that.

Xie Xuanyi has the Fountain of Immortality, and so does Lu Yuzhen.

The difference in their levels of understanding was too great.

"You came all this way just to tell me this?"

Xie Xuanyi took a deep breath, suppressed his killing intent, and spoke coldly.

"Of course...it's not just these."

Lu Yuzhen slowly suppressed her smile and sighed, "In the battle at the Great Sui Sword Palace, Sect Leader Zhao was indeed formidable. I was just a hair's breadth away from dying at his hands."

Although he suppressed his smile.

But Lu Yuzhen remained as unreliable as ever.

As he spoke, he patted his chest lightly, feigning fear.

"That's a shame."

Xie Xuanyi said coldly, "Although I want to kill you with my own hands, if you die at the hands of my master... I will also celebrate properly."

"Is that so? That's a real shame..."

Lu Yuzhen was not annoyed at all, but instead continued to speak in accordance with Xie Xuanyi's words.

"Throughout the millennium, among all the heroes and outstanding figures in the world, Master Zhao is an exceptionally rare individual. If not for the limitations of his era, his achievements would be no less than those of the first Master of the Sword Palace, the First Lord of Xuan Shui, a thousand years ago."

The conversation turned.

This time, Lu Yuzhen spoke sincerely, full of regret: "I came at the wrong time. Headmaster Zhao is already very old... After he leaves, the Great Chu will enter a new era. Do you remember what I said when we first met? When the heroes of three hundred years ago come to an end, a new golden age will begin."

"you……"

Xie Xuanyi stared at the white-robed Taoist priest and said, word by word, "He is not from this era."

This is a conjecture.

It had already crossed his mind many times.

Lu Yuzhen's trajectory... has appeared in past historical records, more than once!
Appearing out of thin air, disappearing out of thin air.

This guy is like a piece of ink that has been broken and scattered, leaving fragmented traces on the long pages of history.

"It shouldn't be too hard to guess, right?"

Lu Yuzhen smiled and said gently, "I thought you would have seen through it back in the Great Yue Kingdom."

"..."

Xie Xuanyi remained silent for a moment.

Back in the Great Yue Kingdom, he did see something amiss, but even if he had pointed it out then, this man surnamed Lu probably wouldn't have admitted it.

“You’re right, I’m not from this era, nor do I belong here.”

Lu Yuzhen shrugged and said helplessly, "It's only because of the divine power of the Great Dao Brush that I was forced to come to this godforsaken place... If I had a choice, I would never have come to this desolate and barren era. Do you know how abundant the primordial energy was a thousand years ago?"

"so……"

Xie Xuanyi frowned and said, "You don't belong here. The things you've done..."

"Of course, it's for the sake of having fun."

Lu Yuzhen answered quickly, as if she had already thought of the answer to the question.

He said casually, "Since I no longer belong here, I should naturally do things that make me happy..."

"happy?"

Anger flickered in Xie Xuanyi's eyes.

"Yes."

Lu Yu was delighted to see Xie Xuanyi's reaction and said with a smile, "Letting the fortune of the Carp Tide River flow into Da Chu, and letting those evil cultivators in the Southern Frontier die under your sword, are all things that make me happy... By the way, putting you in a coffin and letting you unknowingly enter into a ghost marriage also makes me very happy."

boom!
Xie Xuanyi could no longer bear it.

With a single slash of his sword, the mighty river was cleaved open.

The paper Taoist laughed loudly and floated up. The sword energy was extremely thick and stirred up a powerful tornado. He turned into countless pieces of paper, barely dodging the sword energy tornado, and then reformed his body on the spot.

Xie Xuanyi's gaze sharpened slightly.

This sword strike, seemingly a result of his anger and impulsive actions after being provoked, was actually a covert test. The paper dummy could sense his killing intent, and once he truly decided to kill, the lotus token would resound, summoning his master to come out of seclusion. At that point, the guy would immediately flee far away, escaping directly through the void portal.

But this sword strike had no killing intent; it was merely "releasing anger."

Just as the sword energy tornado brushed past the white paper Taoist, Xie Xuanyi released his divine sense and the "Primordial Devouring Divine Power," absorbing a wisp of Dao intent.

"The eighth level of the Yang God realm... no, the ninth level..."

This wisp of Dao intent felt extremely profound to him, no less than Chongkan during the battle with Yunhai, and even surpassed it!

Xie Xuanyi's divine sense was extremely sharp. He probed with a sword.

He then guessed Lu Yuzhen's "approximate cultivation level" at this moment, which was extremely important information.

"Nine Heavens? How can one cultivate so quickly?"

Xie Xuanyi suppressed his shock and stared in disbelief at the paper dummy whose body had been reconstituted.

How long has it been since the great war in southern Xinjiang?
Lu Yuzhen traveled thousands of miles alone. She had just finished fighting Wu Zhexian when she went to the capital to participate in the battle against Qin Zu. Then she rushed to the Da Sui Sword Palace to join the Holy Empress in besieging Zhao Chunyang.

His fighting spirit far surpasses that of Chongkan!
Chongkan, at the eighth level of the Yang God realm, suffered a great decline in energy and spirit after fighting against Xuanzhi and Qin Zu, and ultimately died in the North Sea...

This guy is not only full of energy.

And even further!
Even if there is an "immortal spring", isn't this kind of cultivation progress a bit too fast?

This guy surnamed Lu's cultivation speed in the Yang God Realm is even faster than mine in the Yin God Realm—

This is not reasonable.

"You must be wondering why I've cultivated so quickly."

After the sword energy tornado swept past.

Lu Yuzhen, having reassembled her body, stretched out her palm and gently grasped a wisp of overflowing sword intent. She then crushed the sword intent with her fingertips as if it were falling petals.

He had already guessed Xie Xuanyi's intention in drawing his sword.

Lu Yu really had nothing to hide.

He smiled and said, "Fellow Daoist Xiao Xie, although I do have some talent... it's not enough for me to break through two realms in just a few days. Why don't you guess how I did it?"

When he faced off against Wu Zhexian.

Lu Yuzhen was only at the seventh level of the Yang God realm.

Less than ten days have passed since the great battle in southern Xinjiang, when they met again at the Lichao River.

Even if Lu Yuzhen is exceptionally talented and shows signs of breaking through to the next realm in the two major battles, he can only advance to the eighth level at most.

unless……

These ten days were more than just ten days for him.

The answer came to Xie Xuanyi naturally.

So on that day, Master failed to kill Lu Yuzhen, and this guy disappeared from the Sword Palace out of thin air... not just in the sense of "space".

He went somewhere else.

Or perhaps, he traveled to another era!

When they met again after several days, it seemed like only ten days had passed, but Lu Yuzhen had been cultivating in another "space-time" for a very long time.

Xie Xuanyi's expression turned serious.

Is this the divine power of the Great Dao Brush? If my guess is correct, then the power of this supreme treasure is simply too heaven-defying, isn't it?

No matter what enemy or danger he encounters, as long as he activates the [Great Dao Brush], he can transfer himself to another space-time... This kind of divine power has already transcended Xie Xuanyi's understanding of "Dao". Lu Yuzhen does not belong to this world at all, so naturally there is no "cause and effect" or "karma" that can bind or suppress him.

Even lifespan and age seem to have lost their meaning.

"It seems... you already guessed it..."

Lu Yuzhen spoke with a smile.

Strange to say.

The two had only met a few times.

But he understood Xie Xuanyi better than anyone else in the world.

In just a moment of eye contact, Lu Yuzhen guessed what Xie Xuanyi was thinking.

"Don't even think about it. There's no such thing as a free lunch in this world."

Lu Yuzhen didn't hide this matter. He said lazily, "The Great Dao Brush is indeed an incredible treasure, but activating this divine power is not so simple. The price I have to pay is far more severe than you can imagine... If it weren't for the punch Zhao Chunyang threw, which I simply couldn't withstand, I would never have activated this divine power."

This is his trump card, and in some ways, it's even more important than the Fountain of Immortality!
To be honest, even though I have now cultivated to the ninth level of the Yang God realm.

Lu Yuzhen still didn't have the courage to face Zhao Chunyang...

In his opinion.

His chances of winning against Zhao Chunyang were still zero; it was a pure 10/0 split. The difference between the eighth and ninth levels of the Heavenly Realm was practically negligible in Zhao Chunyang's presence… This was why Lu Yuzhen had buried several void portals near the Carp Tide River. The memory of being beaten last time was still fresh, and he didn't want to be blocked by Sect Leader Zhao again. If the Sword Source River sealed his divine sense, he might not even be able to use the Great Dao Brush [Divine Power] this time.

"It's true."

Lu Yuzhen said calmly, "Sect Leader Zhao is indeed powerful... but I don't want to spar with him. My target is you."

This is obvious.

Even a blind person could see it.

"Ah."

Xie Xuanyi said coldly, "You want to fight me?"

along the way.

Lu Yuzhen had always been scheming against him, harboring ill intentions. This guy stole his "Fetal Light" and tried every means to set a trap for him... But in the end, Xie Xuanyi had to admit that he had gained quite a few benefits from Lu Yuzhen's schemes. In the battle at Beihailing, he retrieved his natal flying sword; during the Northern Hunt of the Great Yue Kingdom, he obtained the Qingli hairpin and the blessing of many divine soul karmas. As for the Southern Frontier War, he even inherited the Yuan Tun Sacred Realm of the Great Sage Bai Ze, obtaining the strongest inheritance below the True Immortal Realm.

"That's right... but as I said before, there's no need for us to fight now."

Lu Yuzhen stretched out one hand and gestured towards the higher point above her head, then smiled and said, "I'll wait until you reach the summit before we settle our differences."

With his current cultivation level, even if Xie Xuanyi were to break through to the Yang God realm, there would be no point in fighting him.

Lu Yuzhen is now at the Ninth Heaven.

The outstretched hand signifies the Nine Heavens.

Is this the Tenth Heaven?
Or perhaps a "celestial being" higher than the Tenth Heaven?
"Wait until I reach the summit?"

Xie Xuanyi sneered: "How long will it take? Daoist Master Lu, please don't be impatient. I'll call someone above the tenth level of the Heavenly Realm right now to help you liven things up."

Say it.

He took out the lotus token.

As Xie Xuanyi channeled his divine sense into the token, it flashed with countless rays of light, and a wisp of sword intent roared through the air, spreading outwards!

A series of cold glints suddenly appeared on the Lichao River.

"???"

Their pleasant conversation was thus interrupted.

"You little brat, you have no sportsmanship!"

Lu Yuzhen's pupils shrank sharply, and sweat instantly soaked his Taoist robe. He hurriedly darted towards the bottom of the river, his figure turning into countless white paper scraps that vanished without a trace in an instant.

Boom boom boom!
The waters of the distant river burst open one after another. It turned out that the paper Taoist had buried four portals within a ten-mile radius to facilitate escape.

"..."

Xie Xuanyi watched this scene with great interest.

A smile appeared on his lips.

He certainly did not activate the Lotus Token.

Master has just experienced a great battle and is recuperating in the forbidden area. The strange phenomenon of injecting divine sense earlier was just a pretense.

We've faced off so many times.

This was the first time Xie Xuanyi had ever seen the paper doll so disregard its image as it fled for its life...

It seems he's truly terrified of his master's beatings.

(End of this chapter)