Chapter 147 - 101: Cangfeng Temple, Sparring

Chapter 147: Chapter 101: Cangfeng Temple, Sparring

Li Yinsheng was halfway through his instructions when Shangguan Ling’Er spoke. Blending Magical Power with her Divine Sense, her voice echoed throughout Cangfeng Temple.

"I am Linghuang of the Zhengyang Dharma Vein! Where is the patriarch of Cangfeng Temple? Come out and receive us at once!"

Li Yinsheng raised a hand to cover his face.

Two streaks of Sword Light shot out from Cangfeng Temple and stopped before the Qiluo Dian, transforming into the figures of an old man and a young man.

The elder of the two looked to be around fifty years old. He wore a dusty gray Daoist Robe, with no other adornments save for a gray cord tying up his hair. Even his beard and eyes were gray. The younger man appeared to be around the same age as Zhao Xuan of Zulu Temple, in his early thirties. With striking eyebrows and bright eyes, he was quite handsome—though, when compared to Li Yinsheng, his appearance faded into the background.

With a cold expression, the young Daoist directly asked Li Yinsheng and Shangguan Ling’Er, "What brings you two Fellow Daoists here?"

"I am here to register the junior members of my Daoist Temple for the Shifeng Conference," Li Yinsheng replied politely.

"Over there." The young Daoist pointed at a wing room in the temple below. "You register inside. A disciple will explain the registration fees."

Shangguan Ling’Er frowned slightly, visibly displeased. "Even if you two Fellow Daoists won’t personally guide us to register, are you not going to at least introduce yourselves?"

"Cangfeng Temple. Yunqiao, Qi Shuo," the young Daoist said indifferently, casually cupping his hands in a salute without taking any offense. He seemed to hold zero respect for Shangguan Ling’Er, despite her being a Grand Daoist from the main Dharma Vein.

"Cangfeng Temple. Shengu. I’ve forgotten my name," said the other Daoist, who had remained silent until now.

Li Yinsheng cupped his hands. "Xuanzhen Temple. Li Yinsheng."

"Li Yinsheng!" Shengu’s gray eyes immediately lit up. "You’re the Li Yinsheng who killed Chongyun?"

"That would be me," Li Yinsheng nodded.

He was somewhat surprised. Although it wasn’t strange for the news to spread, Cangfeng Temple had very few disciples and rarely interacted with other Daoist Temples. How did they find out so quickly despite their isolated relations?

"Finally, someone interesting!" Shengu stared at him. "Rumor has it that you’re a Sword Cultivator?"

Li Yinsheng paused for a moment before realizing why. Back at Bamboo Forest Peak, he had executed the Yin Yang Light-Splitting Sword to shatter Chongyun’s Magic, an act witnessed by all the Cultivators on the mountain. To those lacking a discerning eye, the sheer power of that Sword Light was enough to mistake him for a Sword Cultivator Daoist. It was no wonder such rumors were circulating.

"You could say that," Li Yinsheng said.

"What do you mean, ’you could say that’? Are you or aren’t you?" Shengu pressed.

"My cultivation is quite a mixed bag, but I believe I’ve achieved some minor success in the path of the Sword Cultivator. Therefore, I count as one," Li Yinsheng replied.

"Excellent!" Shengu was instantly overjoyed. "Since you’re a Sword Cultivator and managed to slay Chongyun, your skills must be quite formidable. Come, come, come! Let’s have a spar!"

As he spoke, he snorted out two streams of gray smoke from his nose, which materialized into twin swords at his sides, pointing directly at Li Yinsheng.

Beside him, the younger Yunqiao also stared at Li Yinsheng with shining eyes. "Spar with me afterward, too!"

"What kind of people are you two? We just met, and you already want to spar?" Li Yinsheng thought, his head full of question marks.

"Fellow Daoists, we are here to register, not to spar..." Shangguan Ling’Er began, her brows furrowed tightly.

"You’re not a Sword Cultivator, so this is none of your business!" Shengu and Yunqiao interrupted her simultaneously before she could even finish.

Shangguan Ling’Er’s face darkened completely. "I’ve given you too much face, haven’t I!"

With a flip of her wrist, the Profound Jade Ruyi materialized in her palm. She swiped it at the two men before her, and instantly, a hundred-yard radius morphed into a domain of extreme frost!

Thousands of slender Cold Ice Silk Threads materialized in the air, entangling Shengu and Yunqiao within them. For good measure, they also tightly bound the two Flying Swords floating beside Shengu.

Watching from the sidelines, Li Yinsheng could see that while these thousands of Cold Ice Silk Threads appeared to sprout from the void, they were actually all connected to the Profound Jade Ruyi.

Shengu formed a hand seal, and his twin Flying Swords began to tremble violently within their bindings. Gray light surged, snapping nearly half of the surrounding silk threads in the blink of an eye.

Yunqiao opened his mouth and spat out a streak of golden light.

Shangguan Ling’Er twisted her wrist, causing the Profound Jade Ruyi to radiate a brilliant dark glow. The thousands of Cold Ice Silk Threads erupted into a silvery mist of ice, completely obscuring a several-yard radius around the two Daoists.

A moment later, the ice mist dissipated, leaving behind only a massive block of translucent black ice spanning several yards. Shengu and Yunqiao were sealed dead center within it, completely immobilized save for their rolling eyes.

Shengu’s gray twin swords ceased their trembling, frozen solid in the ice. The golden light spat out by Yunqiao turned out to be a Flying Sword as well, but it had only half-materialized into a sword shape before being encased in the black ice, frozen in time.

"Why is it that every single one of you Sword Cultivators has such a terrible temper?!" Shangguan Ling’Er snarled, her face still stormy.

"When it comes to tempers, it seems you’re all cut from the same cloth, aren’t you?" Li Yinsheng silently mocked in his head as he stood by.

"This black ice will melt on its own after a day and a night. You two can cool off in there for a day," Shangguan Ling’Er said, then turned to Li Yinsheng. "Let’s go. We’re going to register."

Li Yinsheng blinked. "Wait... you just froze two of this temple’s patriarchs at the drop of a hat. Can we even still register normally?" he thought.

"Miss Shangguan, this... why don’t you let them out first, and we can talk things through peacefully?" Li Yinsheng suggested.

"Don’t waste your breath. None of these Sword Cultivators know how to talk properly. Most of them aren’t right in the head anyway," Shangguan Ling’Er shook her head.

"I’m Jiang Ningzhi’s best friend. How could I not know what Sword Cultivators are like?" she mused.

As she spoke, two sharp streaks of Sword Light suddenly flared in the gray eyes of the frozen Shengu. They shot out like lightning, piercing through the black ice and leaving two tiny holes in their wake.

Perhaps because of these two new holes, Shengu’s Divine Sense managed to seep out, directly transmitting his voice to Li Yinsheng and Shangguan Ling’Er.

His very first sentence left both of them dumbfounded.

"You’re strong. I admit defeat," Shengu said.

"However, while this Magical Treasure of yours is somewhat interesting, it’s not a Flying Sword. From the looks of it, you don’t know any Sword Techniques either, so sparring with you is boring!

"Hurry up and let me out! I want to spar with Li!"

Li Yinsheng and Shangguan Ling’Er fell silent simultaneously.

"Hurry up! I want to spar with the Sword Cultivator who slayed Chongyun! Release me at once!" Shengu bombarded them with his Divine Sense.

"Li, what Sword Technique did you use to slay Chongyun?

"Hurry and spar with me! If you win, I’ll waive your registration fee and even let you pick a treasure from my Qiankun Bag!"

Li Yinsheng transmitted his own Divine Sense to Shangguan Ling’Er. "Miss Shangguan, you were right. Sword Cultivators really aren’t right in the head."

"Bro, with your title of Shengu, is your nickname just ’Madman’?" he thought.

Shangguan Ling’Er shook her head. "But this one is far too abnormal."

"Li! Are we going to spar or not?! I have plenty of good things in my Qiankun Bag! Frost Dew Iron, Profound Fragrant Wood, Earth Element Gold Stone, and even Blood Jade Fruit..."

Blood Jade Fruit!

Li Yinsheng’s eyes lit up.

He remembered clearly that the Heavenly and Earthly Treasures recorded in the True Blood Secret Scripture, which could be used to accelerate cultivation progress, explicitly mentioned the Blood Jade Fruit!