... The swamp-mountain missed the mark.
Now it was coming for them.
Right where Su Xiaobai and the girls stood.
"Fuck…" Su Xiaobai muttered, eyes narrowing.
"Not good!" Yu Feng's face paled instantly. That wasn't just mountain-sized. It was a fcking apocalyptic spell.
Nalan Yufei froze mid-bite of a corruption-resistant lon. Her eyes widened.
A golden glow erupted around her as her spiritual bow started to manifest.
"I'll shoot it—!"
But before she could even pull the string—
Sothing moved.
Faster than her thoughts.
Su Xiaobai stepped forward.
Not because he wanted to protect anyone.
But because the plot demanded it, and because he wanted to test his sword.
'Let's see what you can do… Gu Ren.'
The obsidian jade beads on his wrist pulsed—black light crawling like liquid tal.
In the next breath, they surged down his arm, slithering and reforming into a long, curved sword, ink-black, humming with anticipation.
And then—SLASH.
A wave of Sword Intent exploded outward, crashing into the falling mountain with a sound like a god biting into tal.
Wind scread, space twisted and the mountain?
Cut clean in half.
The two massive chunks slamd into the cursed earth behind them, exploding like twin teors.
The entire battlefield froze for a second.
Thousands of cultivators—so in mid-attack—paused. All eyes turned toward the origin point of that cut, and there, standing in his billowing robes, sword still humming in his hand—
Was Su Xiaobai.
Unbothered.
Like he just swatted a fly.
The Integration Realm cultivator who threw the mountain snorted, clearly displeased his war-art didn't even force a retreat. He flicked his wrist and resud slaughtering another squad.
But the rest?
They got the ssage.
Avoid that guy.
His Sword Intent?
Level 4.
Sword Grandmaster.
At his age?
No one wanted to be the dumbass who followed up the Alchemy King's disciple by becoming the second "important guy who got clapped."
Su Xiaobai casually flicked his blade once, then let it collapse back into his wrist—beads reforming as if nothing happened.
But inside?
He was grinning.
"Finally…"
'That pressure, that power, that intent. You're the real deal, Gu Ren. I might actually fall in love'
Nalan Yufei stared at him, her bow long vanished.
Her lips parted.
"…You're… a Sword Grandmaster?"
Her voice cracked... Her worldview did too.
She'd been pouting this whole ti, thinking she was on the sa level as Su Xiaobai—Earthly Rebirth Realm, maybe core formation if she squinted.
But this?
This was Soul Fusion at minimum. Maybe higher.
And his sword was alive.
She felt like soone told her gravity was optional.
"So… I'm the weakest one here." she mumbled, visibly devastated.
Yu Feng, anwhile?
Trying very hard to look unimpressed.
As if she hadn't just felt her core flutter.
She coughed. "Still flashy. Could've used a barrier instead…"
Her hand was still shaking.
Su Xiaobai glanced at the battlefield, now even more blood-soaked and unhinged.
> Eyes gouged out.
> Intestines braided into ropes.
> Soone screaming with half a head.
> Beautiful.
Cultivators without sects were wild. And deadly. If a righteous sect disciple ca here without killing intent, they'd get ripped apart like spirit rabbits.
He turned away, eyes cold.
"We're done here."
"Ti to withdraw."
And for once?
Yu Feng and Nalan Yufei agreed.
"Y-yeah," the elf muttered, pouting quietly.
"…Too dangerous," Yu Feng echoed, already walking faster.
Just as the trio began to withdraw—
A massive sucking force swept across the land.
Not a wind, not Qi manipulation, but sothing far deeper... Like the air itself had stopped breathing.
The battlefield went dead quiet, thousands of cultivators froze mid-motion, Qi techniques fizzled, beasts cowered, and even spiritual weapons trembled and deactivated, like scared children retreating into their sheaths.
"What's going on…?" Su Xiaobai muttered, halting his steps.
He looked up—and so did everyone else.
A wave of pressure, pure and refined, blanketed the sky like silk soaked in killing intent.
Yu Feng, frowning, whispered:
"There's only one possibility. Soone really powerful just arrived…"
And she wasn't wrong.
The clouds parted.
Descending slowly, flanked by celestial light and what might've been ethereal incense smoke, was—
A short-dark-haired woman in a flowing white robe, her expression was serene, her face, angelic—like a saint carved by hand from celestial jade.
But her eyes?
Sharp, cold, cruel & amused.
She looked like she judged nations for breakfast and flirted with warlords for dessert.
Su Xiaobai's first thought? 'That's my type. Soft face. Devil heart. Might stab in bed. Perfect.'
He recognized her instantly from Deng Lei's earlier info dump:
Lady Yansha.
Fla Crown Princess of the Thousand Ashes Sect, daughter of a fire-path war general. Supposedly here to "observe the war." Definitely here to instigate it.
But Yansha wasn't the main problem.
The one everyone really noticed—
Was the old man descending beside her.
Long grey hair, light blue robes with faded immortal sigils. His beard flowed like mist. His eyes were half-closed, like he hadn't been impressed by anything since the last dynasty fell.
And when he spoke?
The world listened.
"This is a matter of your guilds, not mine, but I do not appreciate being disturbed, disperse now or I'll do more than talk."
His tone wasn't loud.
It wasn't angry.
It wasn't even spiritualized.
But the effect was imdiate.
Thousands of rcenaries retreated like whipped dogs.
Weapons vanished, flags dropped.
The war? Gone.
Just like that... (╥﹏╥)
Lady Yansha stood there, smiling faintly—like she'd just won a war without lifting a finger.
And everyone watching?
How the hell did she get him to co?
They don't have… a thing, do they?
Scandalous whispers flickered through the crowd. Old man, young woman... Shared flying cloud.
Oh no.
But then soone rembered:
Wait... isn't that…
"Shan Baixu…"
Soone whispered his na with reverence.
Master Shan Baixu.
One of the last remaining ascendent Daoists of the Yue Country. Famous for single-handedly sealing a demon invasion with just one zither stroke. Revered as the Silent Daoist—a man so aloof he once ignored a princess's marriage proposal to finish a tea ritual.
His reputation?
Flawless.
Untouchable.
Above worldly desire.
So naturally—
Everyone ran away before he could get "polite."
Su Xiaobai, watching the retreating crowd, tilted his head. "…Shan Baixu? Is that soone important? From the mainland?"
Yu Feng, still mildly pale, answered without looking at him: "No. He's from Yue Country, just like you. One of the few bigshots aside from… well… the Sword Fairy."
Su Xiaobai's eyebrow twitched. "Oh?"
So not from the central empire. That's interesting.
Then—
Why is he descending from the clouds with a young sexy noblewoman from the mainland?
"Don't think too much," Yu Feng snapped, already catching his line of thought. "His character is better than yours."
Su Xiaobai smiled. "Better? A man with no appetite for at isn't holy—he's just untested."
"If she wasn't special to him… why'd he co down for her?"
Yu Feng opened her mouth to argue—
Then paused.
Brows furrowed.
"…True…"
And then, Su Xiaobai asked the most dangerous question he could ask. "If the two of us fought—who would win?"
Silence.
Even the wind held its breath.
Nalan Yufei and Yu Feng both turned to look at him, their eyes wide. Like he'd just challenged fate to a duel with his dick.
This wasn't a question.
This was a flag.
A big, beautiful, "please bring karma lightning" flag.
Even the ground trembled slightly.
And sowhere, up in the heavens, the author again paused with his pen and went:
[You want boss battles? Don't worry. I got you.]
And indeed—
Even Shan Baixu, who was mid-air, mid-exit, and mid-pretending-he-didn't-give-a-shit—
Froze.
Mid-step.
In the sky.
As if a cold draft of karma just slapped the back of his neck.
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