Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Her speed, strength, small-scale movements, and technique to vibrate herself into a shadow far exceeded the performance of the beginning level and even the middle level of the Nascent Soul Stage!

She did not have a sword, and Li Yao did not sense her movement of retrieving a sword from the Cosmos Rings, but he felt that she was a sword herself, one that had exploded into thousands of stars and brought the utmost horror!

The starry brilliance enveloped the entire desolate land like a waterfall. Every space the size of a fingernail had been cut hundreds of times by the most brilliant sword auras. Unpredictable and yet extremely sharp traces of the sword were everywhere in the air!

Her sword was truly dazzling!

Long Yangjun’s sword arts were so extraordinary that she was only slightly worse than Yan Liren, the most terrifying swordsman that Li Yao had ever seen in his entire life. That being said, the gap between them was barely tangible!

Her style was entirely different from Yan Liren’s.

Yan Liren’s sword was simple, straightforward, and unstoppable. It was usually well hidden, and he merely locked onto his enemy with the will of his sword. Once the will of his sword became real and he launched his sword, there would usually be no escape for the target.

His sword arts were the arts of simplicity.

Long Yangjun’s sword, however, was glamorous, splendid, and brilliant, like a volcano, a waterfall, and ten thousand stars that were exploding at the same time and unleashing infinite light and heat!

Had Li Yao’s right foot moved forward another millimeter, or if one muscle on his left leg were not completely tightened, those gorgeous torrents of sword auras would have devoured him!

He stomped on the ground hard without caring whether or not his left leg would break. While retreating as fast as he could, he created a thick crack on the surface of the desolate island toward Long Yangjun as counterattack. But the sword auras that were as aggressive as fire still caught up to him despite the minor setback!

Chi! Chi! Chi! Chi!

As if enveloped in the sharpest fishing net, Li Yao’s body was covered in hundreds of wounds, and his blood was flooding out!

Dozens of sword auras had closely entangled his hands, leaving him no chance at all to move his fingers and summon the magical equipment from his Cosmos Rings!

Li Yao’s heart was almost frozen, but it was beating at a frequency of more than five hundred times per minute the next moment, accelerating the blood and spiritual energy circulation inside his body to the maximum!

It was the most dangerous battle after he had reached the Ancient Sages Sector, even more dangerous than the one between him and Yan Liren.

After all, at that time, Yan Liren had merely been testing his sword and did not mean to kill him.

However, Li Yao could perceive the infinite, sharpest killing intent from Long Yangjun!

Li Yao could only keep retreating until he was at the edge of the desolate island.

All the sharp-edged rocks on the desolate island had been cut apart by Long Yangjun’s shocking sword auras, turning into thousands of pebbles.

Li Yao had no retreat now. Behind him was a cliff. If he jumped off the cliff, he would be in an awkward position where he lost balance for a brief moment.

Faced with a swordsman as terrifying as Long Yangjun, it was definitely an action no different from washing himself and sending himself to a chopping block!

Li Yao could only bellow. The blood spurting out of his body, mixed with the pebbles, turned into a saber of blood and slashed toward Long Yangjun!

Long Yangjun’s lips curled into a cruel smile. There was not the slightest panic on her face at all. She looked like a cat that was playing with a mouse. She ran toward the saber of blood without any evasion, and after her body was cut in half by the bloody saber, those halves turned into two phantoms!

Below the cliff behind Li Yao, a cluster of even more intense sword auras were bursting out!

Li Yao’s pupils constricted violently. He had absolutely no idea when Long Yangjun had hidden herself below the cliff escaping his senses!

However, the next moment, he realized that it was another sordid scam. It was impossible for Long Yangjun to hide below the cliff. She had merely transmitted an astonishing aura and hidden it behind him while the storm of sword auras was raging!

It was the old distraction trick!

Long Yangjun was still in front of him!

But there was no time!

Li Yao tried his best to move to the left, but he still heard the noise of his ribs breaking apart and his blood flooding out!

He smashed into the edge of the desolate island, and he vomited a mouthful of blood. The sword auras were galloping inside his body, destroying all the spiritual energy circulation pathways. The spiritual waves that he released grew ever feebler, too.

It was not until this moment that all the starry brilliance dancing around the desolate island was finally condensed in Long Yangjun’s hand, turning into a longsword that seemed to be made of countless brilliant diamonds!

Long Yangjun had heavily wounded Li Yao after only one attack, but she did not take the chance to pursue him. Instead, a streak of brightness jerked out of her Cosmos Ring and turned into a round piece of magical equipment the size of a goose egg. It was riddled with dense holes and looked like a queer honeycomb.

Weird sound waves were emanating from every hole of the honeycomb. The humming sounds would have made anyone who heard them extremely uncomfortable!

Judging from the color on the surface of the weird magical equipment, it was fashioned through the most cutting-edge technology and definitely not something that the natives of the Ancient Sages Sector could craft. Just like the map core, it seemed to be a product of the Nuwa Clan!

“This magical equipment is named Sound Nest. It is not used to attack the enemy but can release special sound waves that can block all Cosmos Rings in the hundreds of square meters nearby,” Long Yangjun said with a smile. “You will not be able to store anything into them or take anything out.

“Fellow Cultivator Spiritual Vulture, you are the well-known Grandmaster of Great Zhou and one of the best masters of refining in the Ancient Sages Sector. So, you certainly count on all kinds of peculiar magical equipment in your battle.

“Your Cultivation and mine are on par, and the outcome of our battle depends on the seemingly insignificant details. Right now, you are heavily wounded, and you cannot retrieve the magical equipment in your Cosmos Rings. How much confidence do you have that you can defeat me with my secret sword?

“Fellow Cultivator Spiritual Vulture, you are a smart man. There’s no need to act recklessly and ask to be killed now, right?”

“Cough, cough. Cough, cough, cough, cough!” Li Yao vomited a mouthful of blood. Licking his teeth that were covered in blood, he stared at Long Yangjun like a wolf that had fallen into a trap and shouted, “You are not Long Yangjun. Long Yangjun does not exist at all. You are Wang Xi!”

Wang Xi smiled. “Long Yangjun or Wang Xi, it is just a reference. A man like me certainly has countless identities and names. Are you surprised?”

“I should’ve seen it coming!” Li Yao smiled bitterly. “Wang Xi is a thoughtful, ambitious man. How could he have given ultimate treasures like the Thousand Star Trays and the map core to a random subordinate, and how could he have let a subordinate learn so many secrets about himself? Also, as a subordinate, you were too chatty!

“I’m just confused. If you are Wang Xi, why didn’t you reveal in real capabilities in the beginning instead of being so disgraced?”

“As I said just now,” Wang Xi casually said, “my Cultivator and yours are on par, Fellow Cultivator Spiritual Vulture. If we cannot find the enemy’s fatal opening, there’s nothing we can do about each other. Even if I had revealed my real capabilities in the beginning, the best I could’ve expected was to defeat you, Fellow Cultivator Spiritual Vulture. But it would’ve been barely impossible to capture you!”

Li Yao’s pupils constricted violently. “You were planning to capture me from the beginning?”

“Of course!” Wang Xi smiled. “Fellow Cultivator Spiritual Vulture, you are an extraordinary person who has risen to fame in less than half a year. When I said that I’d admired you for a long time, I wasn’t lying. Besides, you are proficient in the arts of refining, which will be a great help during the exploration of the Divine Palace. If you join the great cause, our mission’s odds of success will be significantly increased!

“Therefore, I’ve been waiting for the best opportunity so that we can talk with each other nicely and uninterrupted!”

Li Yao gnashed his teeth. “Wasn’t it the best opportunity when Mother White Lotus chased after us?”

“No.” Wang Xi shook his head. “For those with our Cultivation, they might not be captured even when they are terribly outnumbered. Qi Zhongdao and the other experts attacked Mother White Lotus together and failed to kill her. How could I be confident that I could stop you if Mother White Lotus and I dealt with you together?”

Li Yao narrowed his eyes and asked, “Why didn’t you attack in the febrile typhoon?”

“It was still not the best opportunity.” Glamorous brilliance beamed out of Wang Xi’s eyes as he laughed. “Besides, even I did not foresee that you would be insane enough to crash into the febrile typhoon. There were too many unexpected factors back then, and I was still not a hundred percent sure that I could suppress you!

“The best opportunity was when you eased your wariness after we reached the place and even considered removing the shackle on my body!

“According to my plan, I should’ve been able to suppress Fellow Cultivator Spiritual Vulture after only one move, but I didn’t know that you had such sensitive natural instincts. As a result, I was forced to go through additional trouble!”

Staring at the shackle in a daze, Li Yao mumbled, “How did you break free from the shackle? Nobody, even a Cultivator at the peak of the Nascent Soul Stage, could’ve broken free from my shackle so easily!”

The brilliance inside Wang Xi’s eyes were brighter and brighter, as he declared, one word after another, “Nothing can ever trap me. Not just a tiny shackle, even this world cannot keep me in custody!”

Li Yao’s facial muscles were twisting as he said in a hoarse voice, “Now that I have fallen into your hands and am completely at your mercy, I wonder, how are you going to deal with me?”

“Believe it or not, Fellow Cultivator Spiritual Vulture, I am sincerely inviting you to join the operation to explore the Divine Palace!” Wang Xi said. “After all, none of the other three of the Four Rapscallions are easy to deal with. Even if I honestly hope that the team will work out eventually, I’m not confident that they do not have other plans to themselves. It will be excellent if I have additional help on my side!

“However, I know that you are certainly not going to cooperate with me dutifully and work as my assistant without complaint, Fellow Cultivator Spiritual Vulture.

“Even if you swear to the heavens that you will cooperate with me, I will not believe any of it.

“Therefore…”