The laughter from Xiagu hadn’t even faded when the Spirit Sword surged forward, brimming with overwhelming murderous intent, stabbing straight at Li Yunxian.
Director Wu’s gaze was cold and sharp as he moved to slash at Xiagu’s sword.
The two clashed rapidly, each strike and parry accompanied by piercing whistling sounds.
Li Yunxian looked up and glanced briefly.
From that single look, she realized that in their exchange, Xiagu was subtly at a disadvantage.
It wasn’t just because of the difference in cultivation levels, but also because Xiagu believed the box was powerful, or perhaps he had been somewhat negligent in his sword practice, or maybe he simply felt the sword wasn’t strong enough.
In any case, Xiagu’s sword lacked that unshakable confidence—the profound conviction that he could win.
She recalled the scene when Xiagu had instructed her in swordsmanship before.
She thought Xiagu liked the sword and possessed natural talent with it.
But now, none of that mattered.
“Yunxian, behind you!!” Director Wu suddenly shouted to Li Yunxian.
But in truth, Wu’s warning was unnecessary—Li Yunxian had already swung her longsword backward with a reverse slash, the sharp sword light cutting through the faint, ghostly soul form behind her, splitting it in two.
That was Xiagu’s clone.
And it was the box he had snatched from his companion.
The soul body split by Li Yunxian trembled and then divided into two separate clones.
This was a secondary cloning ability that hadn’t appeared when Xiagu’s companion used the box inside the illusion.
In fact, inside the illusion, the box had no function to separate the original body and soul clones.
Over the years, Xiagu had treated the box as a treasured heirloom, studying how to create magical devices, constantly smashing all kinds of rare materials into it.
By now, the box was no longer the same as when it first appeared.
Li Yunxian was not surprised by the scene before her.
When Xiagu first sent people to Qin City, he had already demonstrated secondary cloning; Li Yunxian had sensed it at that time and knew well that Xiagu had more than one incarnation.
But Xiagu couldn’t suppress his wide-open eyes.
“How could your sword possibly hurt me!!” Xiagu felt as if he had witnessed something unbelievable.
Just like inside the illusion, when his companion used the box to directly bypass the opponent’s defenses and harm flesh and blood, Xiagu’s box had the same property.
The fundamental effect of the box—creating soul bodies—truly had many strange and eerie functions.
For example, physical attacks were ineffective against it.
Only certain types of spells could damage the soul bodies.
And when Xiagu was upgrading and refining the box, he had strengthened its resistance to these spells.
Theoretically, with Li Yunxian’s cultivation at Qi Refining seventh stage… or even if she truly disguised herself as a Ginkgo leaf with Foundation Establishment perfect completion level, she couldn’t possibly harm him.
Yet…
His clone was split in two.
Is this the number one genius on the Qing Teng List?
Xiagu’s gaze passed over Director Wu and locked onto Li Yunxian.
He wanted to kill her.
He wanted to kill her as fast as possible.
At this moment, for Xiagu, it was no longer just about dealing with Li Yunxian and escaping Wu’s attacks after breaking through this space.
More than that…
He hated geniuses.
The soul body before Li Yunxian quivered, and suddenly countless clones of Xiagu appeared around her.
Some soul bodies twisted and howled, casting spells; some manipulated magical devices, attacking Li Yunxian; some lunged and bit at her.
Attacks came from all directions.
Li Yunxian looked at these clones, all with Foundation Establishment-level power, and couldn’t help but twitch the corner of her mouth.
She had tried every method to mend her fragmented soul, yet this guy did the opposite—he fragmented his soul into pieces.
Did Xiagu know that by doing this, he would forever be stuck at the Golden Core stage?
Li Yunxian guessed he didn’t.
He had run away after just over three years at the Four Great Academies; the education he received probably only reached the Foundation Establishment stage at most, and he barely understood Golden Core or Nascent Soul.
***
Breaking the Golden Core to form the Nascent Soul meant finally condensing a solid soul body.
With a fragmented soul, it was impossible to form the Nascent Soul.
Li Yunxian shook her head slightly, her gaze falling on a distant clone.
The Xia Yun Sword flashed out.
The sword qi, prepared for a long time, surged with a soul-stirring majesty, like a massive thunder pillar slicing through the sky, clearing all clones blocking the path.
Spells? Weapons? Soul bodies?
All seemed as fragile as paper, utterly defenseless.
Thud.
All the sword qi pierced the box without reservation.
From Li Yunxian’s perspective, no matter how many clones Xiagu made, there was only one original magical device box!
The box was immediately blasted away by the sword intent, crashing heavily against the spatial wall, rolling several times before barely coming to a stop.
Just as Li Yunxian had expected.
The countless attacks that seemed to engulf her all vanished the instant the box was knocked away.
The magical devices held by the clones clattered to the ground.
“You…” Xiagu stared at Li Yunxian in disbelief.
He wanted to ask how she could accurately find the original box among so many identical clones.
He also wanted to ask how she could unleash such a soul-stirring, seemingly ultimate sword strike.
Xiagu never imagined there could be such a pure, ultimate sword in this world.
One sword to shatter myriad laws.
In a daze, Xiagu seemed to recall when he was a child just beginning sword training, how his sword teacher had patted his head in satisfaction and said those words to him.
But Li Yunxian didn’t give Xiagu a chance to say anything.
She raised an eyebrow and said to Director Wu,
“Director, I’ve already taken care of his clones, why haven’t you finished him yet?”
Director Wu: That cuts deep!!
His Golden Core perfect completion against late Golden Core, his efficiency can’t even match Li Yunxian’s Qi Refining seventh stage fighting over a hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators.
Too embarrassing!
Hearing this, Xiagu felt deeply humiliated.
What do you mean, you took care of my clones!
My box is still intact!
Just a mere Qi Refining seventh stage, even with all the power in one sword strike, so what? At most it would interrupt my box’s function once.
With all the rare materials and treasures he had used to craft this mysterious high-grade magical device, even a Golden Core perfect completion cultivator like Director Wu would struggle to damage it.
And could Li Yunxian unleash such a sword strike a second time?
Xiagu could see the emptiness of the spiritual energy within Li Yunxian’s body.
Such an attack could never come without some cost!
Gritting his teeth, Xiagu tried to activate his box again.
No response.
No matter how he tried to use spiritual power, the box did not respond.
A grim premonition filled his heart.
This was impossible.
From Xiagu’s perception, Li Yunxian’s sword had only left a shallow mark on his box.
It should never have reached the point of destruction.
His box couldn’t be broken!
The hand holding the sword trembled from the sudden doubt.
This was a massive weakness.
Director Wu naturally wouldn’t miss it.
Already at a disadvantage and barely holding on, Xiagu was slashed and sent flying by Wu’s blade.
The blade qi pierced through his chest, and Xiagu spat out a mouthful of fresh blood.
But he paid no mind to this at all.
The moment he landed, Xiagu sprang up, rolling and crawling toward his box.
He clutched it tightly, caressing it like a precious treasure.
“No problem! What’s wrong with it?”
“Isn’t it fine? Why won’t it work?”
“Move! You move for me!!”
Xiagu’s eyes were bloodshot, murmuring madly as he pounded on the box.
Thud.
Wu’s blade pierced Xiagu’s heart. Yet Xiagu seemed unaffected and continued clutching his box.
“It can’t be broken; this is a mysterious high-grade item, almost to earth-grade, how could it break?”
“Impossible.”
Li Yunxian watched Xiagu desperately pawing at the box before dying, and said coldly,
“It’s broken.”
Nothing is impossible to break.
She had even broken genuine earth-grade magical devices before, let alone Xiagu’s box, cobbled together with amateurish methods and relying solely on rare materials.
“My teacher is Li Tianying. Since you were once a student of Tiantong, you should know her.”
“The place where my sword struck was the spiritual energy connection point of the box.”
Xiagu’s frantic hands immediately froze.
Li Tianying.
A name that shattered all of Xiagu’s hopes.
He gave a bitter smile and tried to say something more, but the blood pouring from his mouth stifled all his words.
Yet both Li Yunxian and Director Wu saw from Xiagu’s mouth movements his last words before dying—
Crossing the River like a School of Carp…
From the illusion to Xiagu’s words afterward, Li Yunxian roughly understood the resentment and injustice weighing on Xiagu’s heart.
But everyone in this world, to some degree, carries their own pain.
It’s not only Xiagu’s pain that’s real; others’ pain matters too.
Within the academy, Li Yunxian had often sensed students quietly crying in deserted corners.
She had once taught a beginner’s swordsmanship class and felt the struggle of prodigies in middle and high school, gritting their teeth to find their own path.
Did they not have pain and unwillingness?
Did they kill and burn because of it?
If she followed Xiagu’s logic, Li Yunxian, who had once reached the Transitional Tribulation stage and saved a world, now woke with a fragmented soul.
If she couldn’t mend it, she’d be stuck forever at the Golden Core stage.
Should she then shout that saving the world was useless and go destroy it?
No pain justifies attacking the innocent.
Li Yunxian didn’t spare Xiagu another glance.
She raised her hand and dispelled the killing array.
The pure white space dissipated, and Li Yunxian and Director Wu once again stood in the midst of Xiagu’s lair.