But as Zhao Mingyuan’s heavy, forceful strike swung down, he discovered to his astonishment that Yun Xuechang’s opening vanished in an instant, shifting elsewhere.
He was completely unable to change his move in time!
Clang — !!!
A massive metallic ring echoed throughout the Imperial Palace.
In a split second, Yun Xuechang changed her stance, gripping her sword with both hands and raising it above her head to forcibly block the heavy blow.
— Xiaoyao Sword Arts, Sixth Form: Block! —
“This is impossible! I clearly traded for your weakness using the Imperial Balance!” Zhao Mingyuan roared in disbelief.
“So what,” Yun Xuechang said, her voice as cold as ice. She spun to borrow the momentum, flipping her wrist to execute a horizontal sweep —
— Xiaoyao Sword Arts, Fourth Form: Wipe! —
Zhao Mingyuan pivoted his halberd to parry, but the impact sent him flying backward.
Cold light surged in Yun Xuechang’s eyes. With a wave of her hand, a white arc of Sword Qi shot through the air.
Following the blade, she pursued the retreating Zhao Mingyuan, her sword tip pointing straight at his heart!
— Xiaoyao Sword Arts, Tenth Form: Sword Qi! —
— Xiaoyao Sword Arts, First Form: Pierce! —
“Evil spawn, perish!”
Watching the incoming Sword Qi and the white shadow following closely behind, Zhao Mingyuan’s pupils contracted violently.
Boom — !
A terrifying tremor of Spiritual Power erupted once more, sending clouds of dust billowing in all directions.
‘Tsk, it feels like I don’t even need to do anything. Can Yun Xuechang suppress this dog emperor all by herself?’
Hua Yan stood to the side holding the Array Disk, taking in every detail of the brief exchange.
She had remained stationary partly because she saw Yun Xuechang overwhelming Zhao Mingyuan throughout the fight, and partly because she lacked coordination with Yun Xuechang.
Rushing in blindly might actually interfere with her, so she chose to watch from the sidelines.
However, this Evil Cultivator… shouldn’t fall so easily.
She remembered the battle at Fulong City and the blood-colored form the City Lord had assumed.
If that City Lord knew such a technique, there was no reason Zhao Mingyuan wouldn’t.
Sure enough, a surging wave of air suddenly swept out, clearing the yellow dust from the air.
In the center of the shockwave, Yun Xuechang and Zhao Mingyuan were locked in a stalemate, sword and halberd clashing.
The golden light surrounding Zhao Mingyuan had already turned a deep scarlet, as if caked in clotted blood.
The dragon scales on his body and the Mystic Black Great Halberd in his hand had also transformed into an eerie, dark red color — nearly black — crawling and writhing as if they were alive.
“Open — !”
A blood-red hue spread rapidly from beneath his feet, covering the ruins of the Imperial Palace in an instant!
‘A domain?’
Yun Xuechang’s brow furrowed slightly. She tilted her sword, redirecting the force, and aimed the tip directly at Zhao Mingyuan’s crimson eyes.
— Xiaoyao Sword Arts, Seventh Form: Lead! —
“Roar — !”
Zhao Mingyuan let out a roar. A foul, bloody sea of illusions suddenly appeared before Yun Xuechang’s eyes, rushing toward her with a terrifying aura.
Deng deng deng deng deng —
A clear, melodic zither tune rang out just in time, and the illusion shattered. Zhao Mingyuan’s hideous face reappeared, mere inches away.
Slash!
“Ah — !”
Zhao Mingyuan wailed in agony, clutching a blood-drenched eye socket — he had just barely dodged that lethal strike at the cost of one eye.
He glared venomously at Hua Yan, who stood behind Yun Xuechang.
Hua Yan had already put away the Array Disk and was now sitting cross-legged in the air.
A carved wooden zither had appeared in her lap, and her fingertips were glowing with faint Spiritual Power.
‘Heh, as long as I don’t engage directly and focus on support, I won’t get in Yun Xuechang’s way, right?’
Hua Yan’s fingers fluttered like butterflies across the strings, sending waves of sound waves crashing against Zhao Mingyuan’s Divine Sense.
‘Damn it! Is she an array cultivator or a music cultivator!’
Zhao Mingyuan gritted his teeth as he fought Yun Xuechang, his halberd swinging out waves of blood while he struggled to block the invasive sound waves.
He had originally thought Hua Yan was the array cultivator who had set up the trapping array, never expecting her to be a music cultivator as well.
‘I have to deal with that red-haired one first!’
He roared as a surge of blood pushed Yun Xuechang back half a step.
Then, he sacrificed that copper coin once again — this time, it was stained with a dark red, sinister light.
“I AM THE EMPEROR OF GREAT CHU! BY MY IMPERIAL DECREE! I SEAL YOUR DAOIST ARTS!”
The copper coin spun slowly, its evil light exploding.
Simultaneously, Zhao Mingyuan spat out a mouthful of blood, and an entire arm was severed at the shoulder!
He had actually traded one arm as the price to seal Hua Yan’s music!
“How about now? You can’t play your zither anymore, can you!”
Meat sprouts began to grow from the severed stump amidst the surging blood light, and the arm regenerated rapidly.
Although Zhao Mingyuan’s aura had weakened, a twisted smile pulled at the corners of his mouth.
“Let’s see how you help her now!”
The dark red halberd swung once more toward the charging Yun Xuechang, while a shrill, ghostly wail pierced toward her Consciousness Sea!
Wooo wooo — !
Yun Xuechang’s sword momentum didn’t falter in the slightest.
Instead, she seized the opening created by Zhao Mingyuan’s desperate, one-handed attempt to behead her.
Her long sword swept upward like a flash of lightning, aiming straight for his throat!
— Xiaoyao Sword Arts, Third Form: Lift! —
Puchi — !
Zhao Mingyuan’s pupils constricted. He pulled back with all his might at the critical moment, but he still couldn’t completely avoid it.
The long sword slashed diagonally up across his chest, tearing a deep gash that exposed the bone.
Blood sprayed everywhere. The sheer force of the impact sent him flying once again.
“This is impossible!!”
His eyes bulged as he stared fixedly at Hua Yan — in her hands, a long flute shimmering with green light had appeared!
“You are only at the Late Nascent Soul Stage, and at such an age, how could you be proficient in so many different methods?!”
‘Hmph, ignorant old geezer.’
Hua Yan didn’t bother wasting her breath. She brought the flute to her crimson lips.
A leisurely flute melody rang out, and sound waves — just like the previous zither notes — pierced deep into Zhao Mingyuan’s soul.
Meanwhile, Yun Xuechang didn’t stop for a second.
She seemed to transform into a bolt of lightning, carrying the sound of tearing air.
Moving faster than any of her previous strikes, she arrived in front of Zhao Mingyuan in an instant!
— Xiaoyao Sword Arts, Eleventh Form: Shocking Thunder! —
Bang — !!!
Zhao Mingyuan only had time to barely block with his halberd before he was sent flying again by the majestic sword momentum.
He spat out a mouthful of blood, his already heavily injured body suffering even more damage.
“Yun Xuechang! You bastards of the Righteous Path, do you have to be so relentless?!”
Zhao Mingyuan watched the white-haired girl approaching again.
His face was twisted as he gripped his halberd, dragging his regenerating but increasingly broken body to clash with Yun Xuechang’s sword.
However, this time, the expected metallic clang of the sword hitting the halberd didn’t happen.
Yun Xuechang’s sword entwined around his heavy halberd like a spirit snake around a tree.
Then, she gave it a sudden, violent twist and flick —
Clang!
The shock traveled through Zhao Mingyuan’s thumb and palm, and the great halberd flew right out of his hand.
— Xiaoyao Sword Arts, Eighth Form: Twist! —
Next, the sword light became like a viper’s tongue, rapidly and precisely striking several of his vital acupoints in succession, causing blood to bloom across his body.
— Xiaoyao Sword Arts, Fifth Form: Point! Continuous! —
“Zhao Mingyuan, I was entrusted by someone to ask you one more thing.”
The white-clothed, white-haired Fairy stood under the moonless night sky.
The Autumn Water Sword was pointed directly at Zhao Mingyuan, who was slumped on the ground gasping for air. Her voice was cold and detached.
Normally, with Yun Xuechang’s personality, she would simply slay any evil spawn with a single stroke without any unnecessary talk.
But since she had already given her word, she had to fulfill her promise — keeping her word was also one of her habits.
“I ask you, since you have fallen to become an Evil Cultivator, why did you let Queen Bai Zhi bear the infamy? Do you… still love her?”
Zhao Mingyuan was stunned for a moment, then he broke into a raspy, crazed laughter, coughing up bits of bloody foam:
“Cough cough… Hahaha! I was wondering… how you were able to set up the trapping array and move everyone in the palace without anyone noticing. So it was her! …It was her! Hahaha!”
The next moment, his face contorted suddenly, becoming as hideous as a demon:
“My great ambition… I was clearly only one step away from a breakthrough… and it’s all ruined by her! It’s all because of her!!”
“Why let her bear the infamy? Naturally, it was so that when you Righteous Path heroes came knocking, I could push her out to take the blame! Who would have thought… you all would arrive so quickly!”
“Love? Of course I love her! I was even reluctant to make her the scapegoat… but now she has ruined everything I have! I wish I could tear her apart with my own hands!!”
Yun Xuechang stood silently with her sword, looking at the man whose face had been made ugly by evil arts and whose expression was crazed. There was neither joy nor sorrow in her eyes.
“In that case,” she slowly raised her sword, the tip reflecting the last glimmer of light from the night sky, “you shall die.”
“Wait!”
A hurried female voice suddenly rang out.
Everyone looked toward the source of the sound and saw a woman with silver hair, beast ears, and a tail standing not far away.
She was dressed in simple hemp clothing, but she held a beautifully decorated Bronze Short Sword in her hand.
The newcomer was Bai Zhi.
She carried the sword, walking forward step by step.
Her gaze landed on Zhao Mingyuan in the pool of blood, her eyes filled with unreadable emotions.
“I’m sorry, Fairy Yun,” she spoke softly, her voice trembling slightly. “Please allow me to ask him a few more questions.”