Chapter 269 - 172: Just Like the Demoness

Chapter 269: Chapter 172: Just Like the Demoness

But this didn’t mean she was weak. On the contrary, she was actually exceptionally powerful, as the Blood Demon Lord had personally altered her Dao and she had consumed a trace of a Black Dragon’s blood essence.

Li Qingcao let out a muffled grunt. His face paled instantly, and the arm holding his sword trembled slightly, but he held the hilt in a death grip, not retreating a single step.

"Impressive, as expected," Xue Nichang said nonchalantly. "A pity you’re not in the Fifth Realm. Come back when you are, Li Jianzi."

Before her voice had even faded, the crimson whip-shadow reared like a viper. After shattering the tide of green swordlight, it shot forward without pause, elongating and strangely bypassing Li Qingcao’s hasty block to strike at the shoulder of his sword arm.

It moved too fast for the naked eye to follow.

Li Qingcao’s pupils shrank. He poured every last drop of his Magical Power into the blade, causing its light to flare brilliantly as he desperately blocked with the move, Grass Rises from the Stone.

BOOM!

The whip slammed into his side with tremendous force.

He felt his entire arm go numb in an instant, but the whip’s shadow didn’t stop. Like a clinging gangrene, it followed through and struck his right arm.

A long gash tore through the clothing on Li Qingcao’s right shoulder. An angry red welt appeared on his skin, then blood burst forth as his True Qi recoiled, causing the wound to widen.

A river of blood surged up around them once more.

Xue Nichang had activated her Dao. Purgatory Ghost Shadows surged through the blood, just as they had when Qiu Yuehan faced Elder Xue Ya of the Blood Demon Palace.

Li Dashu remarked, "This young lady is something else."

Lu Changyuan looked at Su Youwan, and the Silver-haired Maiden understood his unspoken question. "Youwan would need about ten moves."

To defeat Xue Nichang in under ten moves.

But for the Destined Celestial Dao, ’ten moves’ didn’t mean trading ten blows. It meant that on the tenth move, the enemy’s fate would be sealed in defeat.

Weaving the threads of fate takes time.

Only then did Lu Changyuan speak. "The gap between the Fourth and Fifth Realms is just too vast. I recall Li Jianzi achieved Enlightenment a year ago, didn’t he?"

"He said he did, but that his understanding was muddled."

’So he can enter the Fifth Realm, but first he has to grasp what he truly desires in the depths of his heart?’

Su Youwan said, "He should have gone to the Netherworld to gaze into the Nether River."

Li Dashu threw up his hands. "Tell me about it. I urged him to go, but he insisted he had something to do and never made it in the end."

Lu Changyuan shook his head. "The moment he understands what he must do, and why he must do it, he will succeed in Entering the Dao."

"I told him the same thing, but all day long he’s just muttering things like, ’That one sword move was so cool! It doesn’t even matter if it’s strong!’ and so on."

’I’ve ruined him.’

Lu Changyuan pressed a hand to his forehead.

’It’s not like I can actually teach Li Qingcao A Sword from the West. Even Bai Lu hasn’t learned it yet.’

"Qingcao is about to lose." Li Dashu averted his gaze, as if he couldn’t bear to watch. But just as he turned away, he let out a surprised, "Huh?"

Li Qingcao stood covered in blood. The gourd at his waist swung, and the longsword in his hand shuddered.

The First Form of the *Little Grass Sword Technique*: Spring Grass Sprouting. The Second Form: Little Grass Sword... The Tenth Form: All Herbs Return to the Root.

Li Dashu watched Li Qingcao intently. He saw an indescribable aura gathering around him.

"What is he doing using the Little Grass Sword Technique at a time like this?"

The burgeoning vitality of spring and the withered desolation of autumn converged into a single aura, rising to meet Xue Nichang’s whip.

The Blood Whip struck again, like a crimson python soaring through the sky.

The two figures collided violently. A shockwave erupted, sending shattered stone flying in all directions.

The tip of Li Qingcao’s sword suddenly imploded. It was no illusion; everything at the very point of the blade twisted and collapsed inward, as if a minuscule, all-devouring abyss had appeared from nowhere.

But the terrifying sight lasted only for a moment.

Li Qingcao violently spat out a mouthful of blood. The imploding blackness vanished as he was blasted away by a savage force. He soared through the air like a kite with a broken string, crashing heavily onto the ground outside the ring.

With a flick of her wrist, Xue Nichang’s long whip coiled back around her forearm as if alive. She then flew down from the platform.

"Smoke and mirrors."

She had taken Li Qingcao’s attack head-on and understood it better than anyone.

Li Qingcao’s attack had a grand posture but no real substance, which was why her whip had shattered it so easily.

The instant Li Qingcao was knocked from the stage, several people moved at once.

The fastest among them was the very Cultivator who had said he wanted to teach Li Qingcao a lesson. He immediately slung Li Qingcao’s arm over his shoulder. "I’ll take you to a True Master to get healed. A loss is a loss. We’ll get ’em back next time."

But there was no trace of sorrow on Li Qingcao’s face—only a flicker of excitement.

The Cultivator said, "Come on, let’s go get you healed. After this is over, drinks are on me."

「On the high platform.」

Li Dashu beamed at Lu Changyuan. "What do you think, my young friend?"

Lu Changyuan knew, of course, that Li Dashu was showing off.

And he had every right to.

The Qingcao Sword Sect’s ethos was so upright it was twisted. They were one of a kind in the Cultivation Realm.

What a bunch of enviable drunks.

Lu Changyuan turned his head away, pointedly refusing to praise Li Dashu for his effective leadership, and looked toward the Moon Fairy instead.

’Why isn’t it over yet?’

It’s been three breaths already.

’How could it take Qiu Yuehan this long to deal with a Fifth Realm opponent?’

’Shouldn’t it have ended in a single move?’

And then, Lu Changyuan witnessed a truly bizarre sight.

On the stage, Wang Dayun was sent spinning like a top by Qiu Yuehan’s Sword Moves. Yet as he spun, he staggered and swayed, somehow managing to luckily dodge the Moon Fairy’s attacks.