A Martial Odyssey

Chapter 46: The Celestial Star Formation



Yi Ping could feel a painful sensation in his heart as he struggled to walk. He had broken into a cold sweat as soon he had walked out of Yixian’s sight.

He was thinking of Yixian, Lie Qing and Lele at the same time. He was thinking of Lele’s farewell words, “Yi Ping, Youxue and Lingfeng, remember the Celestial Star Formation that I have taught you. It is also effective with just three people…”

Even though he was in pain but he was smiling fondly as he thought, “Lele…and you are telling us a few days ago at the Grand Hall of Longevity that the Celestial Star Formation requires a minimum of five…you can’t differentiate three and five? I take it as three then. If it doesn’t work, then I come back and settle the score with you. You’re like a little girl…”

The Celestial Star Formation indeed required a minimum of three. Lele was trying to drag everyone into practicing her Celestial Star Formation that she had so painstaking learnt in the Celestial Annihilating Star Formation.

What Yi Ping and the others did not know, Lele had overcome the Divinity Calamity when she was very young with the aid of the Jade Emperor. Her time of activity was actually very little. Altogether she was not more than twenty, spending most of her time in a slumber to conserve what little strength she had after the Divine Calamity. She was actually very lonely and had no one to talk to…

He was walking hastily because he did not want Yixian, Lie Qing and Lele to see this sight.

Lingfeng and Youxue were alarmed.

Lingfeng quickly said, “Yi Ping, what’s wrong? You…have not totally recovered from your internal injuries yet? Alas, that is an oversight…no one could recover their internal strength so speedily. Don’t tell me, you forcible used your internal strength when you shouldn’t…”

Youxue helped to support Yi Ping as she looked at him with equal anxiety, “You…are you alright?”

Yi Ping smiled weakly, “I don’t know. I’ll be fine. I don’t have internal injuries. It just that…it just that my heart is experiencing some discomfort…”

Lingfeng checked his pulses as she heaved a sign of relief, “Everything is normal…if it is a heart problem, then there is nothing I can do to help. More likely it is an emotion problem. You’re a lecher. Stop thinking of girls and you’ll be alright…”

Yi Ping smiled bitterly, “Lingfeng, I’m really alright now. It works!”

Lingfeng was speechless as she rebuked him gently, “Hmph! So you are just pulling my leg. If I don’t beat you up, then it will be hard to suppress the anger in my heart…don’t you dodge…you such a lecher. I will teach you a lesson. I still can’t believe that you and Lele…I don’t know what honey tricks you have used to trick the Joyful Goddess but it won’t work on me…”

Yi Ping flushed, “No, I didn’t Lingfeng…”

She adds, “So you get a reaction from them and not from me?”

Yi Ping quickly said, “Oh no. I still got a slight pain when I think of you but it is not as painful when I am thinking of them.”

Lingfeng flushed…

She muttered, “You lecher…shut up.”

Yi Ping asked, “Lingfeng, what’s wrong? You’re….alright? Is it because you are attacked by rage emotions? You shouldn’t get upset so easily. It isn’t good for you…”

Lingfeng gave Yi Ping a kick as she called to Youxue, “Sister Youxue, what are you waiting for? I can’t believe that you can listen to all his rubbish and still be so calm?”

Youxue smiled lightly…

Like Yixian and her mother, she had practiced the Emotionless Rhyme for as long as she could remember. Moreover, the Virtuous Palace was a cold heartless place with little affections for anyone. Her only friends were Ding Yun and Xiao Fei, her cousin who she looked up as her older brother.

By all appearances, Youxue always had a cold demeanor and was forbidden. That did not changed even when she had escaped from the Virtuous Palace.

The real her, was full of affections in her heart. It is just that she did not how to display it.

Her smile may be dainty but that already spoke volumes of her gladness and the happiness in her eyes!

She had already given her heart to Yi Ping and vowed to be with him silently. If Yi Ping could be happy, she would be happy too. By now, she already knew what type of a person Yi Ping was. Many times, she had secretly wished that they would be back to the Ice Cavern where they had spent together for more than three months…

Lie Qing and Ding Yun had shared the secrets of the Invincible Divine Force with her. But it was not possible to dissipate her Divine Virtuous Force and replaced it with the Invincible Divine Force as she had advanced too far ahead. There would be severe consequences if she were to dissipate her martial force; she may even lose her Golden Invincible Skill and her Icy Heavenly Tears that she had so painstakingly mastered.

She had taken a path that no one had ever walked; utilizing two martial forces at the same time and subtly balancing both.

The golden rejuvenation pills that she had consumed were able to grow her Divine Virtuous Force but caused an imbalance to her Icy Heavenly Tears. This caused her martial growth to slow down considerably and unable to advance any further. But a chance happenstance in the Ice Cavern, once again revived the strength of her Icy Heavenly Tears.

When she was grievously injured, Lie Qing had imparted her Invincible Divine Force intricate energy into her, advancing her Divine Virtuous Force to a new level. Moreover, Yixian had also imparted to her all the missing parts of the Icy Heavenly Tears when she was grievously injured and saved her life. This caused a breakthrough to her Icy Heavenly Tears as well!

She may not have known it yet but her present martial progression was nearly on par with Yixian, Lie Qing and Lele! What she lacked was their state of divinity to defeat them. In a real fight, martial skills alone were not the only decisive factor, state of divinities played a big part too in the form of willpower, determination, perception, reflexes, flexibility and how fast a martial practitioner was able to recover their martial strength.

Take Xiao Da as an example, he may be a very a powerful exponent and his martial power was extraordinary. Even against more powerful fighters, Xiao Da could last for a long time but he was unlucky to meet Yixian, Lie Qing and Lele who had quickly exploited his weakness; he was lured into carelessness by the seemingly vulnerable Yixian the Celestial Fairy who could conceal her malevolent air. Lele was even more quick thinking as she knocked him down with one hit in the most unlikely of all places.

That was also why Xiao Shuai and Yuan Shao were such difficult opponents to deal with. Their state of divinity was profound and they would never let themselves be lured into complacency.

All of a sudden, Youxue said. “Be wary. There are people ahead of us.”

Yi Ping and Lingfeng stopped in their tracks immediately as they scanned the darkness.

Youxue said quietly, “You don’t have to hide anymore. We know you are there.”

Two maidens in a black finery dress walked out from the darkness!

It was Mei’Er and Yu’Er!

Mei’Er said, “Youxue, how did you discover us?”

Yu’Er sighed, “We are already trying our best to conceal ourselves yet you can still discover us.”

Youxue laughed softly, “Next time…next time…don’t use any perfume…maybe I can’t sniff you if you don’t.”

But Youxue was still looking at the darkness. Aside from Yu’Er and Mei’Er, there were still others…

Mei’Er was startled, “Oh alas, I am so careless…”

Yi Ping was stunned as he stammered, “Mei’Er, Yu’Er…why are you here?”

Yu’Er walked to him and looked gently at him, “Are you thinking of running away just like the last time?”

She began to sigh softly, “I have only heard of the bride running away but never the groom.”

Yi Ping sighed, “Yu’Er, go back. Do you know how dangerous the journey can be? We are not going for any sightseeing…”

All of a sudden, Yu’Er held his hands gently. “Mast…Master. You are not only my Master but is also my husband. Surely you are not thinking of abandoning Mei’Er and me?”

Yi Ping smiled bitterly, “Of course I won’t…I…never thought of doing so.”

Yu’Er said, “Then, shouldn’t we go through weal and woes together?”

Mei’Er said, “That’s right!”

Yi Ping looked at Yu’Er and Mei’Er, “All of you…”

All of a sudden, Yi Ping was stunned to see Ding Yun, Nangong Le, Qiu Wufeng and Gongsun Jing walking into their sight of view.

Gongsun Jing said, “Maiden Ding is right. You will indeed try to confront the Honor Manor alone. Have you forgotten that we are still brothers? How can we allow you to go alone?”

Yi Ping smiled bitterly, “Because we are brothers, all the more, I shouldn’t have involved all of you. It is far too dangerous.”

He took a glance at Lingfeng before saying, “Moreover, it is personal.”

Qiu Wufeng laughed, “Don’t forget, I still have a score to settle with the Heartless Scholar.”

Gongsun Jing said, “And I have a score to settle with Gu Tianle and the Honor Manor as well!”

Ding Yun said quietly, “Have you forgotten what you promise me in the valley? As your wife, shouldn’t I follow you everywhere?”

Nangong Le laughed aloud, “Right, right. I just cannot stand that Zuo Tianyi for injuring me. I am going to bash him.”

Gongsun Jing whispered, “When did Zuo Tianyi injure you? You are taking things too personal, right?”

Nangong Le whispered, “I just can’t stand his arrogance and for betraying us.”

Even though they were whispering but everyone could hear it loud and clear in the silent night.

Yi Ping sighed, “I guess everyone’s minds are already made up. It is pointless to urge further.”

Ding Yun smiled, “That’s right.”

Youxue smiled at Ding Yun, “I know you must be here…”

Ding Yun walked quietly to Youxue, “The Virtuous Palace won’t let us off, no matter where we go to and you are like my little sister and my only kin.”

Xiao Youxue nodded quietly.

Ding Yun sighed silently, “No matter how bad Xiao Shuai is, I cannot allow the two of you to come to blows. I don’t want you to live in regret for the rest of your life…”

All of a sudden, she froze as she noticed that Yi Ping was looking at her.

Ding Yun asked, “Is something wrong?”

Yi Ping flushed, “Nothing…erm…”

Yi Ping quickly tried to change to another topic by saying, “One, two, three…nine. It seems that there are nine of us. It is just nice for us to form the Celestial Star Formation?”

Qiu Wufeng smiled most bitterly, “I have seen many formations but this Celestial Star Formation is too difficult…”

Gongsun Jing nodded. Even though he was listening while Lele was guiding all of them, he could not follow the movements. He was glad that he was injured and was unable to participate in the practice. It was because Lele was gently rebuking everyone incessantly.

Yi Ping said, “Let’s decide who is in the Inner Star Formation and who is in the Outer Star Formation…”

But before he could finished, everyone begun to walk rapidly away, leaving a bewildered Yi Ping behind!

The Celestial Star Formation was made up of three groups with each group consisting of three to five participators.

The first group in the Celestial Star Formation, assuming that there were only three, formed the Inner Star Formation. The second group and the third group formed the Outer Celestial Star Formations.

Usually the leader of each of the group was also the better fighter than the other two. This was to ensure that the leader would take care of the other two and forced the opponent to be trapped by the leader.

If the opponents thought that they had a better chance getting rid of the weaker fighters in the formation first, then they were making a terrible mistake. It was because the entire Celestial Star Formation was an enticing sword formation to lure the opponent into attacking the weaker fighters in the formation!

Lele had said, “In the nine circle formation, the Inner Star Formation will ideally consist of Yi Ping as leader, together with Yu’Er and Mei’Er. The second Outer Star Formation will ideally consist of the Celestial Fairy, Lie Qing and me. And of course the leader is me.”

Lie Qing and Yixian exchanged glances with each other…

Lele noticed it immediately as she hastily said, “Since I know the entire layout of the Celestial Star Formation, it is naturally that I’ll be the leader so that nothing will go wrong.”

Yi Ping inhaled lightly as he muttered, “Since I know nothing about the Celestial Star Formation, won’t it be a complete disaster if I am a leader?”

All of a sudden, Yi Ping kept quiet because he could sense a killing malevolent intent coming from Lele!

Lele cleared her throat lightly, “The third Outer Star Formation will ideally consist of Youxue, Yun and Lingfeng. Lingfeng should be the leader of the third Outer Star Formation…”

Lingfeng was startled. Her martial skills were beneath that of Youxue and Ding Yun.

Ding Yun was close to Lele and she mustered her courage to ask, “Sister Le, this makes no sense. Shouldn’t Youxue be the leader?”

Lele explained, “Lingfeng has the best swiftness skill in the group. Her role is to entice and distract the opponents. Moreover, she is the most intelligent and her reaction is also the swiftness. She will make an excellent leader and tactician for the third Outer Star Formation.”

Lingfeng smiled alluring, “I am so honored then.”

Youxue secretly smiled. It was because she knew that Lingfeng was being sarcastic.

Other than her, Lie Qing was also trying hard not to laugh aloud for she was thinking. “This is really so funny. I don’t think who the leader is, who is in which group really makes that much of a difference. It is the role that is in the formation that makes the difference. But the way she deploying us is really so interesting.”

Yi Ping asked, “Isn’t the second Outer Star Formation grouping overdoing it? Having the three of you in that group is way too imbalance…”

Lele chuckled softly, “What do you know? Only then will the Celestial Star Formation be perfect!”

She started to draw a circle on the ground and throwing pebbles on it while pointing out, “The standing position of each and every one of us is a triangle formation, overlapping one another. You can see that even though we are in the same group but we are exactly standing in an equivalent distance away from one another at the edge of the circle.”

Yi Ping said, “Then that is still considered to be in the same group? Everyone seems to be standing so far away from one another except for the Inner Star Formation…”

Lele giggled, “That is why it is a called a formation so that we won’t be identified easily!”

She raised her finger and pointed at the circle that was on the ground, “Now, if group two and group three intersect at one another, what did you see now?”

Yi Ping stared at the intersection for a while.

Lele asked, “So did you see anything?”

Yi Ping smiled bitterly, “I see nothing…”

Lele said, “Of course you shouldn’t see anything. I forget to number everyone’s position. Let me see…”

Yi Ping groaned and was momentarily speechless…

Yu’Er and Mei’Er were giggling until Yixian gave them a stern discreet look.

Lele exclaimed excitedly, “There! Now do you see? First numbering is me, second numbering is Yixian and third numbering is Lie Qing. Forth numbering is Lingfeng, fifth numbering is Youxue and sixth numbering is Lie Qing. Lingfeng is between Yixian and Lie Qing, Youxue is between Yixian and me while Ding Yun is between Lie Qing and me. Do you see everything perfectly now?”

Yi Ping was startled, “This is…I see it now. Anyone that tries to attack Lingfeng will be in turn attacked by Yixian and Lie Qing…”

Lele said, “That is right. Anyone that tries to attack Lingfeng will be attacked and will be trapped in a pincer attack. And Lingfeng can further lure the attacker into the Inner Star Formation, trapping and cutting the attacker off from his group. We can lure all our opponents inside, restraint all their movements and at the same time support one another!”

Yi Ping clapped his hands, “Lele, that is brilliant! Then we have nothing to fear from the Dark Mono Formation! I have heard that it is a deadly sword formation and I am worried about it. Now I don’t have to worry anymore.”

Lele beamed excitedly, “Let’s practice it immediately then! Let’s start with the formation steps first.”

Yi Ping nodded eagerly.

Yixian looked at Youxue secretly, Youxue was looking at Ding Yun secretly and Ding Yun was looking at Lie Qing secretly. They could only smile bitterly at Yi Ping’s naivety.

It was because they knew how difficult it was to co-ordinate everyone as one in the formation in such a short notice. The bigger a formation was, the more difficult it was. And moreover, the Celestial Star Formation appeared to be a high level formation, requiring nine equally highly skilled practitioners to be truly effective.

Lele said, “Gongsun Jing, Qiu Wufeng and that Nangong whatever, don’t idle there and practiced the Star Celestial Formation as well.”

Nangong Le smiled bitterly, “But I haven’t recovered from my injuries yet…and my name is Nangong Le and not Nangong whatever…”

Lele interrupted, “That’s why you are in the reserve and all the more, you should practice twice as hard as the chosen or else how can you lure the opponents into the Celestial Star Formation? Now Nangong whatever, are you listening?”

Nangong Le was stunned, “I lure the opponents into the Celestial Star Formation?”

Lele said, “Since you are not good enough, of course there is a need for someone to distract the opponent and lure them into the Celestial Star Formation. The rest of us got to stick with the formation steps and unless the opponent willingly entered the Celestial Star Formation, there is naturally a need for someone to lure the opponent inside and that someone is you, Nangong whatever.”

Nangong Le stammered, “Hold it, why is the way that you are stating it, I seem to be the cannon fodder? And my name is not Nangong whatever.”

Lele said, “I don’t like someone to share the same name as me. Your protégé master is now my Celestial Messenger and even has to listen to me. Therefore, I have decided to change your name.”

Nangong Le was about to protest when Gongsun Jing stepped on his foot!

Qiu Wufeng laughed softly, “Brother Nangong, I will advise you not to protest further. It will only worsen your current predicaments.”

Nangong Le sighed, “Now I really regret joining the Tranquil Clan…”



Ch46 End
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Chapter 48: The Celestial Star Formation vs. the Divine Rejuvenation Force



An old man with a long white beard had jumped out of the shadows of the thick overgrowth. He seemed startled that Lingfeng could actually locate his hiding place even though he had disguised his whereabouts with the Deep Resounding Skill, a skill that can cast out his voice evenly to the surroundings!

They were surprised that it was actually an unarmed old man.

Lingfeng was stunned as she quickly thought, “Where did all my secret projectiles gone to?”

Yi Ping had stepped forward as he shouted, “Who are you…”

The old man ignored Yi Ping; he did not look pleased at all as he pointed his finger at Lingfeng, “What ruthless and deadly secret projectile techniques. How did you guess my location?”

Lingfeng laughed softly, “The birds told me!”

The old man snarled, “Rubbish. Birds can’t talk…”

Ding Yun said quietly, “Even though the birds can’t talk but the birds can see you. When the birds fly above you, they take a detour. Even though you have tried to conceal your malevolent air but animals are hyper sensitive.”

The old man hummed coldly, “It seems that at my old age, I have learnt something new today.”

All of a sudden, the old man was enveloped by a powerful killing malevolent intent! His killing malevolent intent was even more deadly and purer than Yuan Shao!

Yi Ping was momentarily startled but he repeated, “Who are you? Why are you acting so secrecy and what do you mean by what you have said earlier?”

The old man pointed at Mei’Er, “Since you have already drawn out your sword, then let’s have some fun today.”

Mei’Er hummed coldly, “So it is just a lecherous old man!”

She had flown to the old man, displaying the Flying Swallow Slash but the old man raised his hand and knocked her forcefully aside!

Yu’Er gasped, “Mei’Er!”

But before the old man could seize Mei’Er, he was attacked by a flurrying of powerful hazily attacks by Xiao Youxue!

He quietly blocked all her explosive attacks with his left hand and counter-attacked with his right hand aimed at her.

As Youxue took the blow from his right hand, there was a thunderous impact as she was sent flying backward!

She was really startled. This old man had actually parried all her Penetrating Hands when she had quietly appeared and had retaliated against her almost instantaneously!

She warned the others even as she quickly regained her balance, “Be careful! This old man is dangerous! He is a super exponent!”

The old man was also secretly startled at the martial power of this young maiden. Even though this maiden looked weak but when she had suddenly attacked him, every single blow that came from her had so much martial power that it could shatter rocks! He was nearly caught unaware and had quickly retaliated with his remaining martial power on her.

He was astonished that this young maiden could take his blow without suffering any slight ill-effect.

Even as he had pushed Youxue away, he was surprised by a flying sword that was thrown by Ding Yun!

Ding Yun had timed her flying sword at precisely the exact moment when his martial power was retracting so that he could not evade it!

The speed of her flying sword was so startling, imbued by Ding Yun’s newly acquired Invincible Divine Force that it was even more deadly than in the past!

But the unbelievable thing happened!

The old man had raised left hand as the surrounding air crackled with the heavy pressure of his martial power. Before Ding Yun’s flying sword could even strike him, there was a thunderous explosion in mid-air as the flying sword was deflected to another direction!

The old man said, “This is the Flying Sword Technique of the Virtuous Palace?”

Lingfeng gasped, “Be extra careful! This is the Big Dipper Hands!”

Ding Yun and Youxue were startled. They had heard of this mystifying skill but had never seen it before…

The old man was startled that Lingfeng could actually recognize his secret martial skill.

Just as the old man had deflected Ding Yun’s flying sword, Yi Ping had displayed the Divine Horizon Hands fiercely on him!

Once again, the old man was startled as Yi Ping attacks were not only insanely fast but it was also filled with extraordinary pure martial power!

“This is the Divine Horizon Hands?”

After exchanging three dozen extremely fast blows with Yi Ping in less than a blink of an eye, the old man was forced to take a few steps backward when he was confronted by Gongsun Jing, Nangong Le, Qiu Wufeng, Yu’Er, Mei’Er, Lingfeng, Youxue and Ding Yun at the same time!

The old man was beginning to be astonished at their superb martial display. Even though he was the more powerful exponent but these young men and women were not giving him any opportunity to take any breather. Moreover, they were also able to cover one another in perfect harmony!

All of a sudden, he had observed something peculiar about their movements. Judging from their steps and similar circulating movement, it was obviously that they were all trained in the same type of attack formation!

At first, he just wanted to make a fool of these juniors but now he got more than he had bargained for.

Yi Ping had leapt into mid-air as he displayed the Aspire Horizon Hands, shouting angrily, “You have dared to hurt Mei’Er.”

The old man knew immediately that the incoming attack was an almighty attack that could shatter rocks and grinding it into dust. He immediately raised both of his hands forward as the flurrying forceful windforce of his Big Dipper Hands exploded around him, sending Nangong Le, Gongsun Jing, Qiu Wufeng and Lingfeng scurrying backward!

Yu’Er and Mei’Er had raised their fingers as they displayed the Divine Emerald Skill to absorb the resultant force but they were unable to press forward their attacks…

Ding Yun raised her left hand forward with the Invincible Divine Force, neutralizing the old man’s pressuring windforce as she imbued her foldable sword with the remaining Invincible Divine Force, joining Yi Ping in the attack.

Xiao Youxue had raised her hand in a cutting arc, neutralizing the bulk of the Big Dipper Hand’s martial force before she too, attacked at the same time with Yi Ping and Ding Yun!

There was a thunderous impact as the air around him exploded almighty, sending Yi Ping, Youxue, Ding Yun and the old man flying backward.

Except for Youxue, Yi Ping, Ding Yun and the old man were coughing out blood for the resultant backlash of their martial force was enough to cause serious internal injuries!

Like the rest, Youxue was also gasping breathlessly and was desperately trying to circulate and stabilize the flow of her vital energies. She was not as seriously injured as Yi Ping and Ding Yun for she was protected by the Golden Invincible Body and the Icy Heavenly Tears. Moreover Yi Ping and Ding Yun had shared the blunt of the powerful martial force of the Big Dipper Hands, lessening the impact that she had received.

She had barely looked up only to see a startling sight!

The old man was being surrounded by a small inertia force around him. Even though this inertia force was similar to the inertia force of the Invincible Divine Force, Divine Emerald Skill and the Divine Virtuous Force, it was totally different type of inertia force!

The old man had gathered all the martial power around him, wasting none of his vital force and re-absorbing it again.

Xiao Youxue gasped and thought as she saw the slightly visible inertia barrier of the old man, “Isn’t that the highest level of vital energy force? Force that can regenerate force. Force that is dissipated and recovered at the same time! She had thought that it was only a theory and did not think that she would actually witness this today!

The old man was coughing and cursing, “Damn it. You have forced me to display one secret technique after another. If I do not vent my anger fully today, I am not going to leave.”

Indeed, he had just displayed the Divine Rejuvenation Force, a secret divine martial skill that could regain his martial power as soon as he had expended it.

Everyone was staring blankly and in disbelief at the fierce martial force that was hovering swiftly around the old man.

Not only was the old man surrounded by a powerful martial force that could constantly replenish his strength, they had just witnessed the unbelievable power of his Big Dipper hands. Even if they could bypass the martial force of his Big Dipper Hands, the resulting martial force that could actually reach the old man would be reduced drastically and not enough to neutralize the inertia force around him. And it had taken the combined force of Yi Ping, Youxue and Ding Yun to injure him…

Moreover, they had already discovered a startling thing about that inertia force; if they fail to injure the old man, then their martial force would be drained to empower the old man’s martial power. That was why no one dared to make a false move. Furthermore, the ensuring fight was extremely draining to their martial power as Yi Ping, Youxue, Ding Yun and the rest struggled to quickly stabilize their vital energy flow for the next attack or they would risk internal injuries!

The old man was jeering them as he stroked his long beard, “Young people. All of you together and you can’t even handle an old man like me? What a joke! Are you ready for another round? Before I send all of you to your maker, let me tell you that this is the Divine Rejuvenation Force.”

He pointed at Yu’Er and Mei’Er, asking them. “Your martial skills are from the Eternal Ice Palace?”

Yu’Er and Mei’Er refused to answer.

The old man said coldly, “I’m not going to berate your clan. At your age, your martial skills are already quite impressive. But what’s a pity.”

Mei’Er could not resist asking, “But a pity what?”

The old man replied, “But what a pity with five equal attractive rare beauties, I don’t know who I should I pick first tonight.”

Everyone was moved to teething rage!

Yi Ping clenched his fists in furious rage and helplessness. This old man was the most formidable opponent that he had met until now. All of a sudden, he remembered what his father had said to him, “The Asper Divinity Horizon Hand requires eighty years of solid internal strength to use…if you manage to learn this forbidden skill, in three years’ time…you will surely die!”

Yi Ping asked himself, “Do I have eighty years of internal strength now?”

Until now, Yi Ping had never fight against a martial skill with a martial power that exceeded the Asper Horizon Hands till he witnessed the Big Dipper Hands today. If he had to fight on equal footing with the Big Dipper Hand then he had to raise his martial power to that level first…

Ding Yun interrupted his thoughts, “Yi Ping…everyone….stay calm. Even though the Divine Rejuvenation Force is all-powerful, it does have a weakness.”

Everyone was startled as they regained some of their lost fighting spirit.

The old man was startled, “Rubbish. My Divine Rejuvenation Force has no weakness whatever so…”

Ding Yun said calmly, “If I am not wrong, maintaining the Divine Rejuvenation Force requires considerable mental effort. It has to be a purely defensive skill. That is why he is not moving forward to attack us or else he risks dissipating the Divine Rejuvenation Force. Or else why didn’t he use it much earlier?”

The old man was secretly alarmed as he thought, “She can tell?”

Yi Ping said excitedly, “Yun, you are so brilliant!”

The old man said coldly, “What are you waiting for? Are you waiting for me to get you first?”

Yi Ping had suddenly brandished the White Phoenix and the Divine Echo as he said quietly to everyone, “The Celestial Star Formation. This is our only chance now.”

When he had brandished the white beaming blade of the Divine Echo, a resounding echo could be heard ringing from the sword and in the surrounding vicinity!

The old man was startled, “This sword…”

Yi Ping did not want to brandish any weapons against an unarmed foe but this old man was simply too insolent and despicable. Moreover he had expended much of his martial power and could only depend on his swords now.

Yi Ping said aloud, “Yu’Er and Mei’Er, attack with me. Lingfeng, Youxue and Yun attack together. Brother Gongsun, Brother Nangong and Brother Qiu attack together…”

All of a sudden, Lingfeng, Youxue, Yun, Gongsun Jing, Qiu Wufeng and Nangong Le were attacking the old man one after another!

Barely had the old man raised his hands at his attackers, they had retreated and replaced by another! He knew instantly that they were trapping him inside a deadly attacking formation!

Yi Ping had charged at the old man, displaying dozens of furious strokes with his double swords!

The old man was startled at Yi Ping astonishing attacking speed. He had barely raised his Big Dipper Hands to deflect Yi Ping’s sword strokes, he was back again with another double strike, again and again!

The old man immediately mustered all his martial power to deal Yi Ping’s a crushing blow with the Big Dipper Hand when he was intercepted by Yu’Er and Mei’Er who had stepped in front of Yi Ping as they displayed the Divine Emerald Force at the same time!

Yi Ping seized the opportunity to retaliate against the old man at the same time!

The most astonishing thing had suddenly happened!

Yi Ping had penetrated through the Divine Rejuvenation Force and had slashed the old man twice, on his arm and shoulder, drawing blood!

What startled the old man was not Yi Ping’s astonishing speed but the Divine Echo itself. The Divine Echo seemed to have the ability to seemingly cleave through effortlessly through the inertia force that he had created with the Big Dipper Hands and the Divine Rejuvenation Force!

The old man thought alarmingly, “This sword…is made with the metal of the Heavenly Relic? Impossible…other than the Heavenly Relic, there are no swords in the entire world that can dissipate martial force and harken as resounding…”

By the time he had exchanged more than thirty blows with Yi Ping and expecting his martial force to be completely drained by him; his Big Dipper Hands’ martial force and his Divine Rejuvenate Force began to falter as the Divine Echo was dissipating his martial force with every strike!

The old man vision began to blur and he could no longer tell the twin sister from each other as they keep swopping places with each other!

He had barely stopped one flying scabbard by Ding Yun with his martial power when she threw another flying scabbard at him with startling speed!

He was now seeing red as the opponents were constantly picking up the flying scabbards and passing to Ding Yun again!

Nangong Le threw his sword scabbard to Ding Yun, “Here!”

Gongsun Jing also threw to Ding Yun his scabbard at the same time, “Here! He can’t move from where he is standing. Use my scabbard to exhaust his martial power!”

At the same time, Lingfeng had just threw her Meteor Rain Needles, stopping short of displaying the ‘Consecrated Meteor Shower’ technique as she did not want this old man to identify her clan of origin; this old man seemed to be a highly experienced exponent that could identify the various martial skills.

When she had attacked the old man, she displayed a varying of martial skills to confuse him.

When the old man tried to retaliate against her, Lingfeng had suddenly displayed the powerful echoing might of the Aspire Horizon Hand, startling the old man. Even though she was forced back with her vital energies in erratic, the old man was genuinely surprised as he thought. “This young maiden, she isn’t as weak as I thought she is!”

Yi Ping lifted his spirit with the Absolute Spirits and revitalized his intricate energy with the Divine Revelation again and again as he struggled with his faltering strength to attack the old man, never ceasing his attacks!

Perhaps Yi Ping was trying very hard and was unwilling to allow his martial force to be drained by the Divine Rejuvenation Force or perhaps under the powerful influence of the Divine Rejuvenation Force as he bore the blunt of the old man’s main attacks, his Divine Revelation attained a new staging, the Circular Rejuvenation of the Origin!

The Circular Rejuvenation of the Origin was one of the highest states of divinity in martial attainment. At this attainment, as soon as vital energies were used up to maintain martial power, unused martial power could also be revitalized back to vital energies. This attainment was also the nemesis of the Divine Rejuvenation Force, preventing the practitioner’s martial force from being drained by external force as well!

The old man was now sweating heavily as he suddenly found his martial power draining at a rapid rate with every renewed attack.

He was already aware by now that he was fighting with three extremely determined strong exponents; the young man with the twin swords, the maiden that could use the Flying Sword Techniques of the Virtuous Palace and the yellow dressed maiden that could move around so quietly that he had to be extremely focus to be wary of her next appearances.

This yellow dressed maiden also seemed to have an inexhaustible martial force as she attacked him again and again with her full martial power. He was also aware that this maiden was protected by a similar inertia force and she also seemed to be trained in a type of internal strength that reduced the effectiveness of his Divine Rejuvenate Force.

Yu’Er said to her sister, “Mei’Er, do you still remember the intricacy heart formula of the Dual Inertia?”

Mei’Er was in a daze as she said weakly, “Sister…you still have the time to think of other matters. I have almost reached my limits!”

Yu’Er reminded her, “The vital energy exchanges but not the body, the divinity exchanges but not the physical, the essence of the heavens and earth as my vitality, the divine state of heavens and earth as my divine state, the changes of heavens and earth as my changes. He tries to steal our martial force, why don’t we try to steal from him too? Let’s see who is faster and there are two of us here.”

Mei’Er laughed softly, “Sister…that’s a good idea. Let’s do that!”

The old man freaked out when he had heard that and he had decided to do the most dishonorable thing that he had never done before. He ran away like a lightning bolt!

After making sure that the old man was really gone, the nine of them collapsed next to one another on the grass patch, groaning in agony and from sheer exhaustion.

Lingfeng wheezed, “Unbelievable…we really…have won?”

Nangong Le muttered, “This old freak is simply too formidable…no matter how many ingenious strokes that we have used on him, he still lives…”

Mei’Er was muttering unintelligently, “He…is like a cockroach, unkillable!”

Youxue asked Yu’Er, “You can really drain his martial power?”

Yu’Er laughed softly, “Soon…almost…not yet there…”

Youxue smiled faintly, “You…almost have me fooled…”

Yi Ping asked Yu’Er, “That isn’t real? Then why did he run?”

Yu’Er smiled tenderly at Yi Ping as she explained, “His resolute was already weakening. I can sense it. I just helping to give him an extra ‘push’ in that direction.”

Yi Ping was grateful to her as he looked at her affectionately, “Yu’Er, lucky for your quick thinking. I don’t know if I can last a second longer…”

He paused for a while before saying, “It is also lucky that we have been practicing the Celestial Star Formation. I say, we ought to practice more…”

He was startled that everyone had suddenly become motionless and had fallen completely quiet.



Ch48 End
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Chapter 50: The Celestial Liege



When Yi Ping had seen the anxious expression on Lingfeng, he had totally forgotten about asking her for his secret manuals. It was quite important to him because his martial skills had since progress remarkably. He wanted to attempt some of the harder heart intricacy formulas of the Aspire Invocations that were contained in the Aspire Invocations’ secret manual.

It was because without knowing the advance heart intricacy of the Aspire Invocations, he could not even attempt the Asper Divinity Hand. The secret stance of the Asper Divinity Technique was in the Divine Horizon Hands’ secret manual.

And both secret writings were now missing…

Together with Lingfeng and Qian Fan, they had stormed into the Holy Chapter Hall of the Holy Hex Sect.

As they made their way noisily into the Holy Chapter Hall, many of the protégés of the Holy Hex Sect were startled as they exclaimed excitedly, “The Holy Maiden is back!”

Lingfeng walked hastily as she asked, “Where is my brother and where is the Celestial Envoy?”

“They are in the inner Holy Chapter Hall. The Holy Sectarian Master says he is not to be disturbed…”

Lingfeng ignored the warnings as she stormed hastily through the many halls of the Holy Chapter Hall. No one dared to stop her.

“Who are these strangers?”

Yi Ping was astonished at the white gold marble walls of the Holy Chapter Hall. He had not expected the Holy Hex Sect to be so magnificent and much grander than the Honor Manor!

He was not the only that were stunned. Youxue, Ding Yun, Nangong Le, Gongsun Jing, Yu’Er, Mei’Er and Qiu Wufeng were all wordless!

Yi Ping asked after Lingfeng, “Lingfeng, these walls are made of gold?”

Lingfeng gave him an annoyed look as she quickly said, “It is only limestone. Only the walls of the Inner Holy Chapter Hall are layered with real gold and the walls inside are craved out of rare white alabaster jadestone.”

When Nangong Le heard what Lingfeng had said, he had almost tripped! It was because alabaster jadestones were an extremely rare and costly material. It was worth more than gold itself!

All except Yi Ping was startled.

Yi Ping was not startled because he did not know how rare the ‘Rare Alabaster Jadestone’ was!

He continued to ask Lingfeng, “Lingfeng, you actually stay here?”

Lingfeng heaved a sigh, “You…you really got nothing better to say, aren’t it? Do you know that outsiders are forbidden to enter the Inner Holy Chapter Hall? I am already making an exception for you.”

Yi Ping continued to mutter as he was clearly overwhelmed by the beautiful architect of the Holy Chapter Hall, “This is just like a palace and is so big. Are we reaching yet?”

He had noticed that they had passed at least five halls. Each of the halls was so broad and was as long as half a mile!

Lingfeng picked up her pace and displayed her swiftness movements, “We have reached. It is just round the corner of this hallway.”

Nangong Le was so in awe of the place that he made a quick mental note to win Lingfeng’s heart if the Holy Hex Sect survived this crisis. After all, there was a high probability that Yi Ping would die in the ensuring battle.

He thought, “After all…If my sworn brother dies in battle it is the duty of the sworn brother to take care of his wives. It is really noble of me to make such a grand sacrifice…”

As soon as they had barged into the Inner Holy Chapter Hall, they saw three men.

One was dressed in black attire. He was handsome and had keen eyes. When Lingfeng caught sight of him, she immediately called out. “Brother!”

The man in black attire was indeed Ji Wuzheng and he was extremely displeased to see so many strangers had barged into the inner sanctuary of the Holy Chapter Hall.

Ji Wuzheng immediately reproached Lingfeng, “Outrageous! You are getting more and more outrageous. Do you know that I have given strict instructions to be alone with my sworn brother and the Celestial Envoy?”

The second man who was wearing a fur cloak was obviously the Envoy Celestial. It was because even though he had a young face but his hair was white and his eyes were crimson in color!

The third man was slightly plump and had a red beard. Huo Fu the Flaming Fist was the Sect Leader of the Fire Tablet Sect and he was also the sworn brother of Ji Wuzheng. He had led hundreds of his protégés to the Holy Amalgamate Mountains to reinforce Ji Wuzheng.

When Yi Ping saw him, he had immediately displayed his Divine Horizon Hands as he cried out. “This time, you are not getting away!”

Huo Fu was startled that someone had actually dared to raise his fists at him right in the presence of the Holy Sectarian Master of the Holy Hex Sect and the Celestial Envoy.

Just as he had displayed three counter-attacking strokes, he was overpowered by the Divine Horizon Hand and was struck two times on his chest!

But before Yi Ping could attack again, he was forcibly knocked back by Ji Wuzheng who had just displayed the Dissolution Stance of the Holy Amalgamate Skill!

Yi Ping was startled as he took several steps back in alarm. It was as though his martial power had been dissolved in that instant!

He quickly thought, “What kind of a skill is that?”

Huo Fu shouted angrily, “This rascal. He suddenly attacks me out of the blue. If I don’t teach him a lesson, I am not the Flaming Fist!”

Lingfeng cursed softly, “Yi Ping! My goodness! The Celestial Envoy is over there. Are you blind?”

Even Mei’Er gave a startling cry, “Master, that’s the wrong person. He’s the one with white hair and red eyes!”

Yi Ping quickly said, “There no mistaking! He is Huo Fu! I know him!”

Lingfeng was startled, “You know him? When did you know him? How come you have never told me?”

Yi Ping was startled as he smiled bitterly, “I need to tell you?”

Lingfeng walked silently to him as she secretly pinched him, “What do you think?”

Yi Ping was startled, “You…”

Huo Fu suddenly gave a yell, “I remember you now! You are that young man that tries to seduce that beautiful young maiden in the cave! I haven’t look for both of you yet for daring to injure me and you have come knocking on my doors!? Very well, today is just the day for venting my anger…”

The maidens were all gasping one after another, “What beautiful maiden? In a cave together!? Yi Ping, explain yourself!”

Yi Ping quickly stepped forward, “Who is afraid of whom!”

Ji Wuzheng said angrily as he caught hold of Huo Fu, “Hold it brother!”

He stared angrily at Lingfeng and her companions, “What is going on? Lingfeng, take your guests away and stop disgracing yourself in front of the Celestial Envoy.”

The Celestial Envoy was looking lustfully at Lingfeng, Youxue, Ding Yun, Yu’Er and Mei’Er as he said, “I don’t mind. Your sister is so young and beautiful. This is the unexpected. She is indeed a rare heavenly beauty. I have never seen anyone like her before. She is the Holy Maiden?”

He laughed before introducing himself, “I am the Celestial Liege, the Prime Celestial of the Celestial Palace.”

Lingfeng said coldly, “Brother, did he ask for the Heavenly Relic or something?”

Ji Wuzheng said solemnly, “I have already promised to give him the Heavenly Relic and in return, the Celestial Palace will help us to take care of our enemies.”

Lingfeng said coldly, “I am afraid that after taking the Heavenly Relic, he will simply disappear and leave us in the lurch.”

Ji Wuzheng was startled as he took a glance at the Celestial Liege.

The Celestial Liege lifted his foot and stomp on the ground. Immediately, there was a thunderous impact and the stone slabs beneath his foot cracked into the ground! His internal strength and martial power display was startling!

He said icily, “When the Celestial Palace has heard that the Holy Hex Sect is in trouble, I am sent to specifically aid you. You have no idea how much grace that the Celestial Palace has bestowed upon you.”

Ji Wuzheng immediately tried to pacify the Celestial Liege, “Yes, yes.”

The Celestial Liege continued, “Don’t forget that the Heavenly Relic is originally from the Celestial Palace. We have placed it in the Holy Hex Sect until the day the Seven Stars are aligned. It is just taking back what is rightfully belongs to the Celestial Palace.”

Lingfeng hummed coldly, “Hmph…the Joyful Goddess has already told us everything. You are just trying to obtain the Heavenly Relic for your own gain. You are just a half-celestial and depend on the life blood of top martial exponents to sustain yourself. You seem reluctant to mention the Jade Emperor. The Jade Emperor has no use for our Heavenly Relic because it had not undergone the cleansing of the Divine Calamity yet. Only a half-celestial like you will need it to become a full celestial on your next Divine Calamity.”

The Celestial Liege was slightly startled, “The Joyful Goddess has told you so much? Where is she? You have killed her?”

Lingfeng said coldly, “We also know that in the Celestial Palace, there is a Jade Emperor and four Prime Celestials.”

All of a sudden, there was a fearsome malevolent air from the Celestial Liege that caused even Ji Wuzheng and Huo Fu to take several steps back.

The Celestial Liege smirked, “It seems that the Joyful Goddess is several decades behind time.”

Yi Ping interrupted coldly, “What do you mean?”

The Celestial Liege said unhurriedly, “But it is no wonder. She has always been more innocent and purer in heart than us. While we try to prolong our activities by drinking the blood and eating the hearts of top martial exponents, only she chooses to be sleep in suspended animation. She is always in her own world and may not know that that the other two Prime Celestials had long turned to dust a few decades ago.”

Ji Wuzheng gasped aloud, “You eat human hearts?!”

The Celestial Liege roared with laughter, “Yes, of course.”

He looked at Ji Wuzheng as he smiled, “After you have given me the Heavenly Relic, I have planned to feast on your heart. Your heart is just ripe for my taste and can aid my martial progression. It is just the right feast for my forthcoming Divine Calamity.”

Ji Wuzheng said coldly, “But you seem to forget that we are many and you are just one.”

The Celestial Liege laughed, “If you think I am in the league of the Joyful Goddess then you must be clearly mistaken. I have never stopped practicing my fighting skills. I can kill all of you with my bare hands and as easy as killing a fly. After that, I will just turn the entire Holy Chapter Hall upside down for the Heavenly Relic. Or maybe, I may just decide to make myself the new Holy Sectarian Master. A little troublesome, yes but the Heavenly Relic will eventually be mine. So why don’t you surrender it peacefully. Maybe if I am happy, I may just decide to be merciful.”

He looked lustfully at the maidens who were all secretly shivering in fear as he stared at them one by one as he added, “I’m always generous towards those that can please me well.”

Yi Ping had stepped forward as he exclaimed angrily, “Let me ask you. Did you kill my grand protégé master?”

The Celestial Liege appraised him before saying, “When you have attacked Huo Fu, you have used the fifth stroke and the ninth stroke of the Divine Horizon Hands, the Flurrying Horizon and the Returning Cloud.”

Yi Ping was startled, “You know the Divine Horizon Hands!?”

The Celestial Liege smiled coldly, “I know your grand protégé master. When we have found him, he was preparing for the Divine Calamity. The hearts of such exponents are the best nourishment for us. Unfortunately, exponents of that caliber are really hard to find in the fraternity. Lately all the top exponents have seemingly disappeared or are killed before we can hunt them down. Your grand protégé master is a once in a hundred years meal.”

Yi Ping was trembling…

Yu’Er and Mei’Er were so frightful of the Celestial Liege that they were moving back unwittingly. It was because they had practiced the Dual Inertia Intricacy and therefore was hyper sensitive to his killing malevolent intent.

The Celestial Liege laughed coldly, “I have eaten countless number of top exponents and I can’t remember most of their names or their faces. But your grand protégé master is an exceptional. It is because my brother the Conqueror Sword who is a Prime Celestial was killed by him.”

He laughed depravedly, “In the end…in the end, my brother’s heart is also eaten by me…”

Ding Yun, Yu’Er and Mei’Er were nausea from the suffocating despairing aura of the Celestial Liege and after hearing what he had just said; they fell down on their knees and were vomiting.

Lingfeng fell back weakly to the wall and leaned against it…

Nangong Le, Gongsun Jing, Qiu Wufeng and Huo Fu were trembling with a despairing fear that even their limbs could not obey them. They had already seen the outcome and their deaths!

Even though the Celestial Liege was casually talking and waving his hands as he talked, his killing intent had already materialized with his little gestures. Just one stroke, he would kill them!

They could not evaded even one stroke, no matter how hard they tried to!

Before the fight starts, it had already ended for most of them! The differences in their state of divinity was simply too vast!

The Celestial Liege looked at Yi Ping, Ji Wuzheng and Youxue before he laughed, “Very good! Only the three of you are qualified to be my opponent.”

Yi Ping, Youxue and Ji Wuzheng could see that the Celestial Liege was now being surrounded by deadly martial energy.

Yi Ping and Youxue had immediately recognized that that this martial energy was the same as Lele when she had fought with Lie Qing; the Celestial Force. Everything around the Celestial Liege would slow down and mere martial strength could not be used against him or risk fatal internal injuries.

In order to fight him, they would have to depend purely on their martial power or the intricate energies of their internal strength.

Any hit by this martial energy was fatal, even if it was blocked.

If not for the timely intervention of Yi Ping, Lele and Lie Qing would have almost killed each other!

But against the Celestial Liege, it was completely one side. His Celestial Force was many times more profound than Lele. He had dared to use the Celestial Force in such an open manner because he was confident.

He seemed to be telling them silently, “This fight is destined to be over as soon as it begins. None of you have the martial skill to even withstand my overwhelming martial energy.”

Youxue could barely stand straight. She had forcibly suppressed all her ill-feeling with the Absolute Spirits as she raised her trembling hands. Her most powerful attacking techniques were all frontal techniques. Against a super exponent such as the Celestial Liege, her opportunities were few.

Ji Wuzheng immediately displayed the Dissolution Stance of the Holy Amalgamate Skill even as he muttered, “His internal strength is too unfathomable. We’re like eggs smashing against a rock…”

Yi Ping had raised his entire martial power…

All of a sudden, Ding Yun raised her entire martial power too and there were three winks of explosive air burst around her.

The Celestial Liege was genuinely startled, “The Invincible Divine Force…”

All of a sudden, Ding Yun had drawn her long sword so silently and with startling speed; imbuing her entire martial power into her sword and sent it spinning it towards the Celestial Liege!

The Celestial Liege raised his fingers with lightning speed reflexes and knocked the flying sword aside as it shattered into many pieces!

Everyone gasped! Ding Yun’s precious sword that could withstand her martial power could actually shatter to bits by the sheer martial energy of the Celestial Liege!

The Celestial Liege muttered, “This Invincible Divine Force is too weak. You almost have me fooled. But then, at your age, it is already an accomplishment.”

Ding Yun fell down weakly, having exhausted all her martial power for the flying sword technique, “Do…do…you know that with your present martial progression, you don’t even need to parry my flying sword? But because you are too strong, you have acted purely out of instinct.”

The Celestial Liege asked her with a curious look, “What is it that you want to say?”

Ding Yun said weakly, “Yi Ping, did you see that? Don’t underestimate your opponent. He can still retain his movements while displaying his martial energy. He will be at least twice as fast as any of you!”

Ding Yun had already observed the differences in their martial strength and she was trying to warn them!

Ji Wuzheng broke into a cold sweat, he was about to engage the Celestial Liege and he could now imagine himself lying on the ground!

He took a notable glance at the beautiful demure maiden as he thought, “This maiden….”

Yi Ping said quietly, “Thank you…”

But before anyone could halt Yi Ping, he had charged into Celestial Liege, displaying the shrieking exploding might of the Aspire Horizon Hand as he shouted, “I don’t care how strong you are!”

Lingfeng immediately covered her eyes!

There was a thunderous impact as the Celestial Liege caught Yi Ping’s thunderous blow, sending burst of flurry heated windforce in all directions and everyone was forced to scurry backward!

As soon as Yi Ping landed his palms on the Celestial Liege, he could feel his intricate energies bursting to its limit and he coughed out blood; such was the irresistible martial energy of the Celestial Liege that the moment that he had exchanged impact with him, his intricate energies begun to reverse upon himself.

Before Yi Ping could react, the Celestial Liege had disengaged and raised his hands with lightning speed and was about to strike him when Xiao Youxue intercepted that blow with her golden beaming hand!

But even then, the Celestial Liege could still react in that single instant as he raised both his hands and sent Yi Ping and Youxue flying backward with two thunderous explosive blows!

The only thing that prevented Youxue and Yi Ping from sustaining even more severe internal injuries was the timely interference of Ji Wuzheng as he suddenly attacked the Celestial Liege with his long sword. This forced the Celestial Liege to divert some of this martial power to counterattack against Ji Wuzheng as he shattered his sword and sending Ji Wuzheng flunking hard against the wall!

Qian Fan shouted panicky as Ji Wuzheng’s mouth was foaming with blood, “Holy Sectarian Master!”

He had suffered severe internal injuries and he was coughing blood profusely!

Lingfeng quickly went to her brother side as she cried out, “Brother….!”

Ji Wuzheng smiled bitterly as he panted deeply, “In the end…in the end…with my martial progression, I cannot even take one blow from him…is he not human?”

He had used the ‘Great Dissolution Skill’ from the Holy Amalgamate Skill to neutralize the electrifying martial energy of the Celestial Liege but it was still not enough!

The Celestial Liege hummed coldly to Ji Wuzheng, “Lesser mortals would have died instantly. Count yourself lucky.”

Immediately after the Celestial Liege had knocked back Ji Wuzheng, he saw that Yi Ping and the enticing maiden in yellow were on their feet, helped by their companions!

Yi Ping and Youxue were both coughing blood as they tried to stand weakly! Their internal injuries were not light too when compared to Ji Wuzheng!

Yi Ping gasped for breath as he said defiantly, “I am not down yet!”

Yu’Er was saying inconsolable to him, “Master…don’t fight anymore…it is hopeless…we are all not his match…”

Mei’Er was already crying and muttering, “He is only insolent because he hasn’t met real opponents yet. If our Protégé Mistress is here and if Sister Qing’Er is here, you’ll bet that he can’t laugh as it is now…”

Everyone’s hearts sunk when they had heard Mei’Er. It was because she was right!

They had seen how fast Youxue had recovered after exchanging blows with the Celestial Liege; Lie Qing mastery in her Invincible Divine Force and the Golden Invincible Body was even more startling while the internal strength of the Celestial Fairy in the form of the tenth level of her Icy Heavenly Tears was extremely profound.

If only they were here…

But the Celestial Liege ignored him and instead looked at Youxue as he said, “That is the Golden Invincible Body?”

Youxue nodded silently.

The Golden Invincible Body was not only a defensive skill. It could also be used to empower attacks after transforming into the Golden Body Halo.

The Celestial Liege said coldly, “So there is another protégé descendant of the Invincible Divine Clan here. Very good. I shall take the opportunity to wipe out the Invincible Divine Clan.”

While he was talking to her, Youxue had regained the delicate balance of her intricate energies with the Icy Heavenly Tear.

Her injuries were lighter than Yi Ping; in the meantime Yi Ping was now struggling to stand firm as he tried to renew and stabilize the erratic intricate energies with the Divine Revelation.

Yi Ping was feeling hot as an unnatural heat swelled inside him. He tried to suppress it with his Aspire Invocations but the alien heat refused to be pacified. He could only silently mutter, “When I have exchanged blows with him, I can feel a powerful positive energy force entering my body. Don’t tell me I have been afflicted by his Celestial Force?”

But he kept quiet about his condition even though everyone could see that something was not right with Yi Ping as he seemed to have developed a fever and was also flushing red.

Ding Yun quickly diagnosed his condition, “Oh terrible, the Celestial Force has afflicted you…Yi Ping, you mustn’t exert your internal strength anymore or it will be fatal…”

Mei’Er asked, “Why aren’t Youxue and Ji Wuzheng experiencing the same afflictions?”

Yu’Er said quietly, “The Celestial Force is a pure positive martial force and the Icy Heavenly Tears is its opposite. So both forces are able to negate one another. As for Holy Sectarian Master Ji Wuzheng, his ‘Great Dissolution Skill’ is able to stop the positive force energy of the Celestial Force from entering his body…”

Youxue asked the Celestial Liege, “You have a feud with the Invincible Divine Clan?”

The Celestial Liege knew that she was buying precious time for Yi Ping and Ji Wuzheng to treat their internal injuries. But he was in no hurry as none of his opponents could really fight him on equal par. And moreover, internal injuries once sustain, could not be treated in just a matter of weeks. At most, he was just allowing them to restore their breathing and heart beat to normal.

However he seemed willing to share it. Perhaps he was too alone or suddenly decided to be merciful. “That was many centuries ago. The Invincible Divine Clan was the most powerful martial clan in the martial fraternity with numerous protégé and followers. Even though the Celestial Clan was a big clan too but we have completely lost in the rivalry. Our clan base was destroyed and a hundred of us left quietly to the mountains…”

He smiled to himself, “In a lucky encounter, we met an old man who we call the Jade Emperor later. He is actually our great grand protégé master who has ascended to be a Celestial a long time ago. We begged him to take us in, to impart to us his skills and the secrets of becoming a Celestial…”

The Jade Emperor had said, “If I help you to ascend to be a Celestial, it will affected my future cultivation and may even incur the wrath of the heavens. Alas, is it divine fate that I will meet my clan protégés in this wilderness? If it is not for the Celestial Clan and Xiaoqie, my little protégé sister who sacrificed her life for me to reawaken the Heavenly Relic, I would never have attained divinity…”

He gave a stern warning, “But you have to bear the consequences! Many of you will die and there is a heavy price to be paid!”

The protégés of the Celestial Clan immediately shouted in unison, “We are not afraid! As long as we can avenge our clan folks and the destruction of our clan from the hands of our enemies, we are not afraid!”

Amidst the shouting, a little girl about seven walked quietly to the Jade Emperor. “Old…man…your heart seemed to be filled with great sadness. What’s wrong? Are you thinking of your protégé sister Xiaoqie?”

The Jade Emperor was startled that a little girl like her would actually dare to walk to him boldly given the state of his state of divinity which caused everyone to be in awe of him.

The Jade Emperor had never met a little girl like her before so he asked, “What’s your name, little girl?”

The little girl laughed softly as she thought for a moment, “Hmm…My name is Huan Le! And what’s your name?”

The Jade Emperor was amused.

The little girl said cheerfully, “Since you are so old… I call you grandpa then…grandpa!”

The Jade Emperor smiled, “Sure…sure…”

A young man walked hurriedly to him and begging his pardon, “Grand Protégé Master, please forgive my little sister rudeness.”

After he had dragged her away, he quietly rebuked her. “You have dared to lie even to our Grand Protégé Master…”

The little girl jovially protested, “When I see his eyes, I see great sadness. I am just trying to make him happy. And I didn’t lie. Huan Le is going to be my name and I’m going to make grand protégé master happy!”

The young man scolded his little sister, “Hey, you…little brat…”

Ten years later, on the next forthcoming Divine Calamity, the Jade Emperor had helped them to ascend to half-celestials. Many did not make it. Among the survivors were his little sister Huan Le and him…

The Jade Emperor had imparted to Lele the Holy Pureness, among many other secret skills and techniques, instructing her just like his daughter…

The Celestial Liege seemed to be smiling as he recalled that moment. But he soon grown solemn as he said, “After we have attained divinity, we took our vengeance against the all-powerful Invincible Divine Clan, drink their blood and ate their hearts. Overnight, we totally annihilated them all. More than three thousands of them, men and women…we spared no one…from that point onward, the Invincible Divine Clan is no more. But today, there are actually two survivors…”

Yi Ping clenched his fist as he shouted angrily, “I will not let you lay your despicable hands on Yun and Youxue!”

Yi Ping had already staggered forward even as Youxue pulled him back as she said melancholy, “Yi Ping, stay calm…”

Yi Ping said quietly, “Lele…the Joyful Goddess, she had a hand in it too?”

The Celestial Liege was slightly startled that he knew his little sister’s name. He could well imagine that Lele must have been careless and got herself killed when she was dealing with them. She really had too little experience with outsiders and the treacherous martial fraternity. Moreover while his martial progressions were constantly improving, Lele’s martial progression seemed to be stagnant as she preferred to sleep in the secret chamber of the Celestial Palace.

He silently vowed to let them pay for their lives in exchange for hers.

But he masked it well and replied coldly, “She is a Prime Celestial. So what do you think? The ranks of the Celestial Palace were denoted by the number of super exponents of the Invincible Divine Clan that were killed.”

Yi Ping was trembling as he said aloud, “That’s enough!”

All of a sudden, he had drawn out his two beaming white swords and thrust them side by side on the ground in front of him!

As he drew out the Divine Echo and forced it into the ground, there was a flash of brilliant white blue light, followed by a low emitting echo.

This time, the Celestial Liege was genuinely startled as he thought, “This…this sword…is made of the Heavenly Relic!? That is impossible. As far as I know, the Heavenly Relic is indestructible and resistant to all tampering…”

Even more startling was that the White Emerald Phoenix Sword, the White Phoenix was also reverberating as white green light faded in and out of its edges!

The two long swords were vibrating slightly and swaying as the lights of their halo surrounded it. As their halos touched each other, it formed a bigger rainbow halo around it!

Ji Wuzheng was stunned as he muttered, “Lingfeng, did you see that? I have heard that only legendary divine swords are able to resonant…this is the first time I have ever seen it…”

Lingfeng muttered, “These rainbow hues…are so beautiful…”

A tranquil effect overwhelmed her as she looked at the resonating swords and she was no longer fearful.

Huo Fu was stunned, “The reverberating resonant of the divine swords…the reverberating resonant of the divine swords…”

Huo Fu was not only an accomplished martial exponent but a master weapon smith as well. Every dream of a weapon smith was to one day forge a weapon that could resonant. Only a weapon that could resonant could be called a divine weapon; that means the weapon had already successfully absorbed the essence of the heavens and the earth, possessing the ability to overwhelm even the sun and the moon.”

Everyone else was also completely fascinated by this unearthly beautiful sight as they could only look on, not knowing when the two swords would stop resonating and when its glaring halo hues would fade away.

Even the Celestial Liege was in a stunned daze as he stared blankly at the two Heavenly Relic Swords. There was not one but two…

Yi Ping was the most astonished. Barely had he thrust the swords into the ground, the strange phenomena had happened, startling him!



Ch50 End
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Chapter 52: The Absolute Equilibrium Force



Of course, it was not the truth that the Divine Echo and the White Phoenix dislike Lingfeng. Anyone that accidentally touched the swords at that time except for Yi Ping and Lie Qing would cause the swords to stop resonating as the swords exhausted the spiritual animus that linger on it by its owner.

Yi Ping of course was just teasing Lingfeng because he could feel his life seeping away.

That was meant to be his last humorous remark for Lingfeng.

As he collapsed, he was still smiling. It was because when he had taken one last look at Lingfeng; he had remembered how he had first met Lingfeng. How she had saved his life. How she had took him to the valley where he found his father. How she had become his older protégé sister. How they had practiced together. How they had gone against the stern warning of his father and sneaked out of the valley to settle their feud with the Honor Manor. How she had risked disclosing her identity and her life to take him away from the Honor Manor. How he could talk to her about almost anything under the sun. How she had stolen his first kiss…and his secret manuals…

Yi Ping was really dying.

He was now in a critical condition. He had not only lost his internal strength, sustained severe internal injuries but had been afflicted by the burning positive energy of the Celestial Force, causing him great agony.

Only his sheer endurance for pain kept him alive till now.

Yu’Er, Mei’Er, Youxue, Ding Yun, Lie Qing and Lingfeng were now eyeing one another intently as they convened.

Yu’Er said melancholy, “The Celestial Liege says that only a chaste maiden that practice negative intricate energy skill can purge the positive energy of the Celestial Force. The Holy Pureness isn’t the only negative intricate energy skill that can save master. The Icy Heavenly Tears is also a negative intricate energy skill…”

Lingfeng sighed softly, “The Icy Heavenly Tears is a cold and negative intricate energy skill. The cold intricate energy will further harm Yi Ping and not purge the Celestial Force out.”

Martial intricate energies had many heart intricacy formulas to begin with and extremely complex. Superior internal martial skills that could further develop in strength adhered strictly to the types of intricate energies that were developed.

For example, the Icy Jade Finger of the Eternal Ice Palace depended wholly on the cold and negative intricate energy strength of the practitioner in order to unleash its strength. A practitioner that possessed just the negative intricate energy could not be able to pick up the Icy Jade Finger because they lacked the cold intricate energy to even begin the skill.

Even if the practitioner had the same type of cold and negative intricate energy, it was also not possible to pick up the Icy Jade Finger without knowing the heart intricacy formula of the Ice Heavenly Tears; most superior martial internal martial skills were developed according to the type of heart intricacy formula that the practitioners had already knew so that they could practice it at a lower risk. Heart intricacy skills were often the most risky of all martial skills to begin practice with even for experienced super exponents.

Learning it the wrong way, learning it without a good foundation, learning without adapting the heart intricacies first, learning without understanding would often led to a martial term known as deviation phenomenon, an action that led to death, stroke, paralysis, deterioration of martial strength and many others. It was the most dreadful thing that could happen to a martial practitioner and there were always an emphasis on caution and less haste.

The Celestial Fairy Shui Yixian had progressed too hastily with her Icy Heaven Tears so that she could catch up with her protégé sister Shui Yichi. This resulted in the stunt growth of her future martial progression while Yichi eventually made a breakthrough in the understanding of the Icy Heavenly Tears and at the same time, Yichi’s Icy Heavenly Tears was very pure when compared to Yixian, even though they were on the same staging together.

Yichi further developed the cold negative intricate energy to pure cold negative intricate energy, evolving the Jade Icy Finger to Jade Icicle Finger. She did not stop there. Her pure cold negative intricate energy went from pure to extreme cold negative intricate energy as she evolved the Icy Heavenly Tears into another type of internal heart intricacy formula, the Eternal Heavenly Tears.

The Eternal Heavenly Tears was even more astounding than the Icy Heavenly Tears that were developed, improved upon by all her predecessors over many centuries, becoming the first Divine Eternal Mistress of the Eternal Ice Palace to break the stumbling block of the ninth staging of the Icy Heavenly Tears and possibly may even be the first Divine Eternal Mistress of the Eternal Ice Palace to overcome the Divine Calamity. Unfortunately, her martial skills suffered a deterioration after she was injured in a surprise assault by Gongsun Bai, whom she had trusted as her husband’s friend and sworn brother.

The many types of intricate energies were classified as positive, negative and equilibrium. Positive intricate energies were the most common in the martial fraternity and can be further define into pure positive, extreme positive and extreme pure positive. The Aspire Invocations was a pure positive martial force while the Celestial Force of the Celestial Liege was an extreme pure positive martial force.

There were actually two versions of the Celestial Force; the Positive Celestial Force and the Negative Celestial Force, making this skill even more complex. The Joyful Goddess was instructed in the Negative Celestial Force because she had to practice another type of heart intricate formula known as Holy Pureness which was pure negative energy.

Equilibrium intricate energies were the most difficult intricate energy to develop, requiring decades. It had only one type of variation, Absolute Equilibrium force. The high level staging of the Invincible Divine Force was one example of the Absolute Equilibrium force, a level of attainment that was almost impossible to reach.

Negative intricate energies were the rarest and also had the most variations. It can be further define into Pure Negative, Extreme Negative, Cold Negative, Pure Cold Negative and Extreme Cold Negative.

Mei’Er said, “But Youxue and you have said earlier that the Icy Heavenly Tears may also be able to treat his internal injuries?”

Yu’Er added, “And yet now you seem unwilling to sacrifice yourself for Yi Ping’s sake?”

Mei’Er pointed at Lie Qing, Youxue and Ding Yun, “Why are you all on Lingfeng’s side? Only she is right and we are wrong?”

Lingfeng was teary, “Who says I am unwilling? Do you know…do you know…If Yi Ping dies, I am willingly to end my life with him…”

Ding Yun said quietly, “As do I…”

Mei’Er was still doubtful. She whined, “Sister Lingfeng, you say you are willing to lay down for Yi Ping but where is your proof?”

Lingfeng was almost inaudibly as she wept, “Where is my proof? Where are you when I risk my very life for Yi Ping at the Honor Manor? Do you know how close I am to death at that time? If not for Youxue, I might have already lost my life. Do you know that I have risked my life to lure the pursuers away from Youxue and Yi Ping? Do you know that I have barely any internal strength back then? Do you know that as soon as I have recovered my internal strength, I have gone down the Holy Amalgamate Mountains to look for Yi Ping immediately?”

Lingfeng may quarrel with Yi Ping ceaselessly but her love for him was self-sacrificing and noble. Even a dense person like Yi Ping, could feel her alluring attention on him. Moreover, other than the Celestial Fairy, Lingfeng’s beauty was almost unparalleled and she had no lack of admirers and suitors. But she was cold towards every single of them except for Yi Ping who had caught her attention with his fearless guts and righteousness air.

Youxue held Lingfeng’s hand quietly with trembling hands, “It must really hard on you... I really cannot imagine the hardship and dangers that you have to bear at that time. The pursuers were all experienced exponents of the martial fraternity…”

Lie Qing also comforted Lingfeng, “When we are pursued by Yuan Shao, it is you that guided us to safety. Back then, I was so helpless…”

Mei’Er suddenly remembered what Lingfeng had done for her as well.

She immediately said, “Sister Lingfeng, don’t…be upset! Mei’Er is so sorry. I don’t mean it. I was just being emotional…”

Yu’Er was also feeling bad as she quickly said, “Sister Lingfeng, Yu’Er is sorry as well. You mustn’t blame us. Even our protégé mistress says we are too emotional and ill-suit to learn the Emotionless Rhyme.”

She quickly comforted Lingfeng by embracing her.

Lingfeng whispered, “That’s alright. I don’t blame you. I am just so emotional also…I’m sorry as well.”

Youxue walked out of the room, leaving behind her wet silent tears on the floor!

Lie Qing muttered, “Youxue…”

She thought, “Youxue probably needs some quiet time. It’s not easy for her to be with Yi Ping and now…”

Like Lingfeng, Youxue had also almost lost her life. But no others carried as much heavy burden as her as she had to struggle with her own guilt and the generation of feuds that she had inherited against the Celestial Fairy who happened to be Yi Ping’s wife. Until now, she still could not fulfill her mother’s last wish…

Lingfeng sighed, “Maybe we are really too emotional earlier and did not really get the situation correct. Let’s explain again.”

Yu’Er and Mei’Er nodded, indicating that they would try their best to listen this time.

She said, “Without the Great Dissolution Skill from the Holy Amalgamate Force, it not possible to channel any negative intricate energy to purge the Celestial Force out of Yi Ping’s body. I have already tried to channel my Holy Pureness on Yi Ping but it did not work because his internal injuries are too severe and all his channels are broken. Without treating his internal injuries first, all our efforts are in vain and the Celestial Force inside him is preventing us from treating his internal injuries…”

Yu’Er blunt out, “Sister Lingfeng, you seem…unwillingly to sacrifice your chastity for him.”

Lingfeng was startled, “What do you mean by sacrifice my chastity for him?”

Yu’Er said shyly, “You didn’t hear what the Celestial Liege said, as long as there are a hundred maidens that could give up their chastity for our master or a chaste maiden with the Holy Pureness, the Celestial Force can be purge out?”

Yu’Er rolled up her sleeve on her left forearm and showed them her chastity mark, followed by Mei’Er.

Lie Qing, Ding Yun and Lingfeng were startled.

Lie Qing was exasperated, “I have thought at the inn, you say you have lost your chastity to Yi Ping at the inn…”

Lingfeng and Ding Yun were startled. They were all under that impression too.

Yu’Er sniffed, “Then it is decided. No matter what you have all said, we have already decided to sacrifice ourselves for our master’s sake. No matter…if it is going to work or not…”

Mei’Er said melancholy, “There’s no other way. Even without the Holy Pureness, we can…we can…hope to help master relieve his pains for a while…”

Lingfeng almost fainted from these two innocent maidens as she covered her mouth, trying hard not to laugh at them.

Ding Yun and Lie Qing were laughing softly.

Yu’Er asked curiously, “This is a critical situation for our master, why are you laughing at us? If you want to, you can…erm…sleep with master too.”

Lie Qing turned around, giggling. “Yun, you explain…I really…I really…cannot…stop laughing…”

Ding Yun quickly comforted Yu’Er and Mei’Er, “What the Celestial Liege had said about one hundred maidens sacrificing their chastity is just a figuration of speech. It is just a metaphor, do you understand me? Hmm…” She took a quick look at Lie Qing and Lingfeng who had turned their backs and were trembling hard as they really tried very hard not to laugh aloud. But anyone could see that they were just trying extremely hard to suppress their laughter!

She sighed at them as she thought, “They…all of them are like young girls…”

She quickly recovered from her thoughts as Yu’Er and Mei’Er were still waiting for her to explain, “This negative to positive transference is an exhausting effort and in order to proceed unhindered by intricate energy interferences, it requires both man and woman to remove all their clothes as a precaution. That is what meant by sacrificing the maiden chastity…”

Ding Yun could hear giggling laughers behind her as she continued, “Sister Lingfeng is only unable to proceed further because of the severity in Yi Ping’s internal injuries. She can attempt alright but if she fails, she is afraid Yi Ping won’t be able to take it. She has already used her Holy Pureness to suppress the Celestial Force in whatever she can. We are thinking what to do first.”

Mei’Er was startled, “Really no need…!?”

Ding Yun sighed, “Really no need. From the looks of it, you are both still very chaste maidens. Do you think that with Yi Ping’s injuries, he is able to do that kind of a thing?”

Mei’Er asked, “What thing?”

Yu’Er too asked, “Yes, what thing?”

Lie Qing could no longer suppress her laughs anymore, as tears rolled out of her mesmerizing eyes. She gurgled and laughed, “You see…you see…”

She laughed and stole a glance at Lingfeng, who refused to turn her back around. “You see…oh never mind…I don’t know what Sister Xian or the Eternal Ice Palace has been teaching the both of you but this is so amusing. I…Sister Lingfeng…you explain…I really don’t know how to explain…”

Lingfeng laughed softly, “Don’t you drag me into it…”

Youxue had walked out of the resting room and was wandering aimlessly in the premises of the Holy Chapter.

“Maiden, wait a minute!”

It was Ji Wuzheng and he was accompanied by Qian Fan.

She asked, “Yes?”

Ji Wuzheng said solemnly, “I have a question for you.”

Youxue said coldly, displaying her usual cold demeanor. “Is there anything I can help you?”

Ji Wuzheng sighed, “I am just wondering if we have met two years ago.”

At that time, Youxue had donned her veiled straw hat. She went everywhere in a disguise because she was being pursued by the Virtuous Palace.

Youxue hummed coldly, “Yes, we did. Your sword techniques are really very swift. I was almost killed by you.”

Ji Wuzheng laughed aloud, “You are not weak either with your Penetrating Hands of the Virtuous Palace!”

When he mentioned the Virtuous Palace, there was a hostile look in his eyes. He asked, “You have come as a scout for the Virtuous Palace?”

Youxue hummed coldly, “Say whatever you want.”

Ji Wuzheng said, “Is it too much of a coincidences? As soon as the Celestial Liege left the Holy Hex Sect, the entire orthodox clans are now charging up the mountains. It is a lucky thing that we have once again halted their advancement even though it is just temporary. But it seems that they know that I am injured? Other than the people that were inside the Inner Holy Chapter who witness our fight with the Celestial Liege, no one else knows that I am injured.”

Youxue looked at him coldly, “So you are suspecting me?”

Qian Fan interrupted, “If it is not you, then it is me? What a joke! It is obvious that you are from the Virtuous Palace. We should really take her down and send her corpse to that Xiao Shuai. In this way, we can deal a blow to the morale of the Virtuous Palace. Who knows? She may even be the young mistress of the Virtuous Palace.”

Youxue hummed coldly. She had already raised her hand in front of her!

Ji Wuzheng said, “This is the first time that I have seen your face since we had fought two years ago. You look even younger than Lingfeng and maybe even my daughters. Two years ago, you must even be younger.”

Youxue said coldly, “That’s crap isn’t it?”

Ji Wuzheng laughed, “What an interesting maiden. How old are you two years ago?”

Youxue asked, “Why do you want to know so much? Aren’t you accusing me?”

Ji Wuzheng was solemn, “Accusing people does need evidence, am I not wrong to say so?”

Youxue nodded slowly.

Ji Wuzheng said, “I don’t have any evidence now. In fact, you are free to go freely for now. I am just pointing out some facts. May I know what is maiden name?”

Youxue looked curiously at him before she said coolly, “Xiao Youxue is my name.”

She began to take a few steps away when she suddenly turned her head around, adding. “I am seventeen back then. Now I am nineteen.” She immediately walked away hurriedly after she had spoken.

Ji Wuzheng was startled as he thought, “She is really so young. To think that I was almost best by a seventeen year old maiden…”

Qian Fan immediately said, “Holy Sectarian Master, you are letting her go just like that? Her surname is Xiao! Xiao is the same surname as the Protégé Master of the Virtuous Palace, Xiao Shuai!”

Ji Wuzheng said coolly, “No, she wouldn’t be the spy.”

Qian Fan was startled, “How is that so?”

Ji Wuzheng laughed aloud, “If she is a spy, then she must be the worst spy ever. Have you ever seen a spy that is so easily provoked? This young maiden is still the same maiden as two years ago. Moreover there are righteousness in her eyes and the way she is fighting so hard for that Yi Ping. A spy won’t even dare to display their secret martial skills in front of me.”

Qiao Fan asked, “If she is not a spy? Then who is?”

Ji Wuzheng said, “Maybe it is you.”

Qiao Fan was startled, “Holy Sectarian Master, it’s not me for sure. I wouldn’t dare.”

Ji Wuzheng laughed, “Is that so?”

Then he said, “Maybe it is that Nangong Le. But who knows. Everyone is a suspect. Don’t you think so?”

Qiao Fan regained his composure as he said, “That’s right. Everyone is a suspect.”

Ji Wuzheng looked at Qian Fan intently but he did not say a word.

Youxue at this time was walking in despair and was feeling downcast.

All of a sudden, she had discovered that she had walked into Yi Ping’s resting as she startled two young maids who were in the room tending to Yi Ping.

She quickly said to them, “It’s alright. I am here to see my friend. You can go now. I want to be left alone with him.”

The two young maidens nodded hurriedly and left the room.

Yi Ping was lying on a bed and he was in great agony. His face was red and burning with a fever.

Youxue immediately took a wet tower and tenderly wetted his forehead, muttering. “Yi Ping, what can I do to help you relieve of your pain? I wish that the one that is lying in agony is me and the one that is tendering to me, is you.”

She was weeping silent tears, “You are burning so hot. It must be really agonizing, am I not wrong to say so?”

She was suddenly reminiscing those happier times when she was in the Ice Cavern with him. The three months that she had with him was the most tranquil thing that she had ever felt. There are no thoughts of vengeance, only quiet romantic thoughts when she was with him. Sometimes it was disrupted by Lie Qing but it was also Lie Qing that allowed her to see Yi Ping’s thoughtfulness and unyielding care for a half-dead maiden.

She was smiling to herself when she recalled with horror that Yi Ping had actually decided to give the Divine Dragon Pill to a half-dead Lie Qing. She recalled that together with Lie Qing and Ding Yun, they had accidentally injured Yi Ping. And how they had formed the New Virtuous Palace just for the sake of fun…

She went back even further back in time when she remembered the very first time she had met Yi Ping. She had terrified him then and was amused when he began to dig a grave for the bandit that she had killed. Later on, she was not too happy when she had seen him with the Celestial Fairy and did not know that they had pledged to one another as one…

Suddenly she remembered what the Celestial Liege had said.

“Didn’t I also practice the Icy Heavenly Tears? Maybe…maybe I can help Yi Ping to relieve of his pain? Even though my cold negative intricate energy isn’t as pure as Yu’Er and Mei’Er but at least I may be able to absorb the heat from his body…”

She began to flush as she loosened her waist belt and let her outer garment dress slipped off her. She poked gently at Yi Ping as she muttered, “Don’t you look!”

But she soon sighed, “He is in a feverish state. He can’t hear me at all.”

She did not dare to take off her white inner garment yet. Instead, she began to shyly slowly remove the light garb from Yi Ping.

She gently said enchantingly, “Do you still remember when you give me the White Phoenix; you have told me that as long as I show you the sword again, you will do anything for me? I...”

She shyly lowered her glances, “I…just want you to be with me…forever.” As she said that, she removed her top inner garment, leaving just a piece of lingerie that was strap over her shoulders and tied to the girth seam of her lower back.

Afterward she gently reached out and removed her hairpin one by one, letting down her rolls of dark raven hair that reached to her knee.

Youxue slowly reached out with her cold fingers and touched Yi Ping. She could feel the incessant heat that was from him.

She immediately thought, “So this is losing chastity? Between a man and a woman?” Her heart began to beat rapidly as she flustered shyly. She shyly began to lie down on Yi Ping’s chest gently and removing her strap as she felt the warmth of his body…

“Weird. Why I am feeling so warm? Is it because of the positive energy of the Celestial Force?”

But before she could give a second thought, she gasped aloud for she was suddenly seized by Yi Ping who had hugged her tightly as he muttered, “So comfortable…so comfortable…so cool to the touch…”

Youxue gasped shyly, “He…we…I am his now. Yi Ping, you…are hurting me. I can’t breathe…I have heard it will hurt…”

Yi Ping had broken into cold dripping sweat as he opened his eyes. It was because he had suddenly realized he was hugging the cold silky body of a fragrant maiden who was muttering incoherent. To his startled horror, it was Xiao Youxue!

His first thought was of course, where was he and why were they holding each other in this intimate position. He dare not move for he was paralyzed with inaction as he thought panicky, “What should I do?”

While Lie Qing was a most mesmerizing maiden and Lingfeng was a most alluring maiden, Youxue was a most enchanting maiden. Even if he wanted to push her away, it was a most difficult thing to do even though they were not doing anything but just embracing. Moreover, they were in such an awkward position,

Youxue was muttering, “Yi Ping…do you feel much better?” as her wet tears dripped down his body.

The resistance of his Absolute Spirits seemed to have melted away and all of a sudden, his heart began to experience an extremely sharp pain. He endured the pain because he was used to the pain. The pain of watching his mother died before his very own eyes were a much agony pain than any pains in the world. But the miracle thing happened, as soon as Youxue’s tears dripped on his heart, his pain immediately eased and he was comfortable again. The heart rendering pain that he had endured ever since had totally vanished!

But still he dare not move even as he could sniff the sweet fragrant of her strands of hair that were tickling his nose. In fact, his heart was now beating rapidly as he could feel the electrifying sensation of her smooth back…

Yi Ping asked himself panicky, “What shall I do?”

Unknown to Youxue when she was in the embrace of Yi Ping, he had just completed a titanic struggle with the Celestial Force that was in his body and had just awakened from a deep unconscious sleep.

The powerful Celestial Force of the Celestial Liege overwhelmed his equilibrium intricate force after he had sustained internal injuries in the ensuring conflict, causing it to be imbalance. Without a stable intricate energy force, the Celestial Force could not be purge out from his body with his own effort.

However, the constant agonizing struggle with the Celestial Force reawakened the Eternal Heavenly Tears Intricate Energy that his mother had previously channeled and hidden in his vessel meridian channel. As the extreme pure positive energy of the Celestial Force clashed with the extreme cold negative of the Eternal Heavenly Tears, these two forces neutralized one another and were absorbed into the Aspire Invocation’s equilibrium intricate energy force, achieving balance once again.

Not only had Yi Ping now reached the highest level of the Aspire Invocation Force, his internal strength also received a tremendous boast, breaking through several limitations as his equilibrium force grew in strength, evolving into the absolute equilibrium force!

There was a limit to the internal strength that could be gained by internal energy cultivation and that limit was known as the Intricate Energy Limitation or sixty years of internal energy cultivation. Afterwards, it was painfully slow. The only way to cumulative more martial power was through the use of superior martial skills that could boast martial power temporary such as the Asper Horizon Hands and the Invincible Divine Force, which drained the practitioner of their precious internal strength and intricate energy at a rapid rate. This also caused them to be more vulnerable to internal injuries as they lost the use of their naturally defensive martial force.

The absolute equilibrium force was not only a much stronger martial force than the equilibrium force; it could also correct and realign the vital energy forces of the practitioner unconsciously, even healing internal injuries at a rapid rate!

Previously, Yi Ping’s Asper Horizon Hands could cause him to be more vulnerable to attacks in exchange for more martial power. The rebound force of the absolute equilibrium force could restore that balance and enabling him to use the Asper Horizon Hand in a much shorter notice without harming his body.

Of course, Yi Ping did not know any of these now. He was more concerned about how to get out of this awkward situation and it was not something he could solve with his martial skills.

Youxue was muttering incoherently and innocently until she had suddenly fallen asleep. It was because she was really too tired and did not sleep the entire time Yi Ping was fighting for his life.

Yi Ping had noticed immediately that Youxue seemed to be sound asleep. It was really a most excellent opportunity for him to get out of this awkward situation by gently moving her aside.

Just as he was about to do so, he heard familiar voices as they entered the room.

Lie Qing said, “We look everywhere but can’t find Youxue. Maybe she is here. But then, the three of you is what we needed.”

Lingfeng was saying, “It is indeed an oversight. Why didn’t we think of that earlier?”

Ding Yun said gently, “It is because we have too many things in our heart and missed the most obvious.”

Lie Qing said, “That’s because we all thought Yu’Er and Mei’Er is unable to practice the Holy Pureness. That is why we have missed something so obvious. And moreover, Youxue is dual balancing the Icy Heavenly Tears and the Divine Virtuous Force. She obviously cannot learn the Holy Pureness. The risk of a deviation phenomenon is simply too high for her.

Yu’Er said, “Sister Lingfeng, quickly teach Mei’Er and I the Holy Pureness. With the internal strength from the three of us, we surely can plunge the Celestial Force out of master.”

Lingfeng laughed softly, “We haven’t reached yet. Later we must exercise extreme caution. Remember to listen to all my instructions…”

Mei’Er suddenly gasped with a sudden shock. She was eager to check on Yi Ping and was the first to enter the room.

Her startled cry alarmed Lie Qing, Lingfeng, Yu’Er and Ding Yun as they hastened inside the room with utmost urgency!

They were all thinking of the same thing; had something happened to Yi Ping?!

One by one, they gave a startled gasping shock as they saw Yi Ping and Youxue in a intimating embrace together and moreover, they were not wearing anything.

Yi Ping had turned completely red; his ears, his cheeks and his neck when he saw them.

He immediately said panicky, “This is not what you have all imagine. I do not know what is happening too!”

Youxue was immediately startled by him as she opened her eyes.

She was startled that Yi Ping had awakened and he was holding her body to him. She flushed so deeply that she did not know what to do…

Mei’Er suddenly said to Lingfeng, “Sister Lingfeng, didn’t you say that this method does not work?”

Lingfeng was so flustered that she did not know how to reply her.

Yu’Er was muttering incoherently, “Master Yi Ping…”

Youxue was startled. She quickly turned around and gasped. It was because she had saw Lie Qing, Ding Yun, Lingfeng, Yu’Er and Mei’Er; they were all looking at Yi Ping and her in a fluster manner!

Yi Ping stammered, “I…we…it is really not what has happened…”

But before he could finish, Youxue had interrupted shyly with a whisper. “I have already given my chastity to Ping’Er…”

This immediately stunned Yi Ping and everyone else that was in the room, as evidenced by the number of startled gasps and stunned astonishments!



Ch52 End
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Chapter 54: Reciprocate of the Hearts



Six extraordinary and beautiful breathtaking maidens were standing in the silent night. Any man who caught sight of them would surely be captivated by them and thought they were heavenly maidens that had just descended upon the mortal realm.

Ji Wuzheng was only a mortal man and he was not an exception.

Since that day when his sister Lingfeng had brought these maidens into the Inner Holy Chapter, he had been astonished that in the entire fraternity, there were other such beauties that could rival Lingfeng in her peerless beauty.

What really startled him were not their great beauties but the level of their martial proficiencies which immediately ranked them among the top echelon exponents in the martial fraternity.

And just how good were their martial proficiencies?

He was now staring in complete astonishment at the Martial Sage who was rumbling incoherently on the ground, “Dirty…rematch…don’t count…Xian’Er…why did you hit me…”

Ji Wuzheng was astonished at the seemingly iron strength of the Martial Sage as he thought, “This is his Iron Vest Aegis Skill? He can take so much punishment…”

He was not the only person that was stunned at the sight of the Martial Sage lying on the ground.

Yi Ping was also stunned at the sight.

It was because he had just been bashed by the Martial Sage and the martial strength of the Martial Sage still filled him with awe, “It is Qing’Er that knocks him down?”

He had suddenly realized that he knew very little about her and her martial origin. To him, Qing’Er was the vulnerable maiden that always needed his protection. The few times that she had used her Invincible Divine Force were just a demonstration of her martial force and not an indication of her actual fighting techniques. The only time that he had actually seen her in a real action was her fight with Lele. But that was not an indication of her true skills for he could see that she was just trying to slap Lele and there was no killing intent.

Yi Ping was beginning to lament his fate tomorrow…

As the Martial Sage lay on the ground, he was dreamily calling out for Xian’Er once more and he began to recall the events in the last few days…

The Martial Sage had vented some of his frustrations and was secretly cursing the truce for happening at the wrong timing. He had spent days climbing the dangerous sheer mountain cliffs of the Holy Amalgamate Mountains, replying on his iron will and physical endurance so that he could surprise and avenge the death of the Old Sword Saint on Ji Wuzheng directly. He simply could not understand why Xiao Shuai was delaying an all-out attack on the Holy Hex Sect even though they had been camping for more than two weeks at the foot of the mountains.

Many of the martial clans were not pleased with the lack of action and decided to assault the Holy Amalgamate Mountains on their own; none succeed and with a great appalling loss of lives.

Even when the Three Sages had succeeded in killing four of the Holy Chapter Guardians of the Holy Hex Sect, the Honor Manor and the Virtuous Palace continued to take no action.

He had confronted Xiao Shuai and Han Shaodong, who was actually Gu Tianle’s protégé master and he was also the new grandmaster of the Honor Manor.

Han Shaodong said, “Be patient. The big fish has not yet arrived.”

“What big fish, small fish? Ji Wuzheng is the one that has killed our brother. We only need to kill him and our brother’s death can be avenged!” He had said.

They were referring to the Holy Maiden and of course, they did not reveal their real plans to the Martial Sage.

Xiao Shuai was reluctant to tell him more so he merely said, “We are waiting for all the fraternity Notorious Four to show up first. They would surely come to the aid of the Holy Hex Sect. This expedition is not only to address martial justice for the Old Sword Saint and to foil the ambitions of the Holy Hex Sect; it is also to lure the Notorious Four from hiding.”

The Martial Sage was not as tolerant as them and decided to take the course of action into his own hands as he was hopping mad, “Brother Xiao Shuai and Brother Han Shaodong seem to have become another person…”

He could still remember fifty years ago, there was a rumor of a lost martial treasure trove in an underground city in the great desolate desert. Accordingly, it was the martial treasure of the legendary Sage King. At that time, hundreds of martial exponents were also traveling to the desert in search of this underground city; no one wants to be the last. Against the knowledge of his protégé master and elders, he had secretly arrived at the desert even though they had warned him that it was highly possible that it was a conspiracy to cause infighting among the martial exponents. But the prospects of meeting exponents from different fraternities and different martial clans excited him more than any dangers.

It was then at that time, he met the changing point of his life!

He had seen a maiden like no other and she was Xian’Er!

She was at the inn, stunning everyone with her extraordinary beauty. From the exquisite scabbards and the exquisite adorn on the sword hilts, it was obvious that she had with her two precious long swords. Other than that, there were no other clues to her identity.

Aside from him, dozens of daring exponents had tried to make advances to her without success. No matter how repute the exponent was, orthodox or unorthodox; none of them succeed in getting her name or her martial origin.

Pretty soon, it became quite hilarious as he watched scores of exponents getting beaten up by her at different intervals, one group after another!

If the exponents could not overcome her using hard methods, they would try all kinds of underhand soft methods like offering her spiked drinks, bribing the innkeepers, pretending to be waiters to ambush her, faking their life stories and hoping to get her sympathies.

None of the methods worked!

A group of bulky exponents had just entered tavern and it was obviously they were looking for her for they were staring at her lustfully. The leader of their group said, “So this is the young beauty that injured our brothers? If you will company us for a week then we can forgive you for the slight…”

Barely had he had spoken, the young beautiful maiden had thrown several chopsticks that were in a bamboo container with a startling speed!

Immediately all the bulky men were lying and crawling on the floor, screaming in agonies as the chopsticks pierced into their bodies like piercing daggers!

As the young beautiful maiden raised more chopsticks in her fingers, those big bulky men were immediately filled with terror and they left as fast as they had come, hastily stumbling out of the tavern!

At that time, another stranger was sharing the table with him. He was the Future Sword Saint which later became the Sword Saint.

The Future Sword Saint said to him with a conceit look, “Look, let’s have a bet with you. With just two moves, I can get her name.”

The young Martial Sage was startled, “What is the bet and how are you planning to do it? So many have already failed.”

The Future Sword Saint said, “I bet my only sword with you. You can surely tell my sword is no ordinary sword as well. If you lose, you must pay my tab and lodgings. As how I am going to do it, you will soon know.”

The young Martial Sage asked, “Just two moves?”

The Future Sword Saint laughed, “No more, no less!”

The young Martial Sage thought, “This young stranger sure like to boast. Very well, let me bet with him then. At most I only lose my coins but at least I may get to know her name.”

So he laughed aloud, “That will do it then!”

The Future Sword Saint smiled mysteriously as he tapped his head with his fingers, “Watch me then. Sometimes we got to use our intellect. I am going to use a clever ruse to trick her.”

The Future Sword Saint walked unhurried to the beautiful young maiden. He had purposely slowed down his steps and walked heavily so that everyone’s attention would fall upon him.

He seemed to be enjoying the moment immensely!

There were a low rumblings as the crowd whispered, “There’s another challenger. Wonder if he will succeed…”

The Future Sword Saint said, “Maiden, may I know your name?”

The beautiful young maiden continue to sit quietly and refusing to answer him.

The Future Sword Saint laughed, “Maiden, watch out!”

All of a sudden, the Future Sword Saint swung his scabbard at her. But because he had already warned her, she dodged his swinging scabbard effortlessly.

Instead of attacking her with a follow up attack, the Future Sword Saint had seized the two swords that had belonged to her which were carelessly place on the table with his other hand!

The Future Sword Saint laughed, “Maiden, if you want to get back your swords, you must at least tell me your maiden name…”

But before he could finish, the beautiful young maiden had seized back her swords from his hands and had kicked him, causing him to lose his footing!

And before he could even recover from his footing, the beautiful young maiden had gave him another vicious kick and sent him flying across the floor!

The onlookers immediately moaned and laughed, “Another one…”

The Future Sword Saint struggled weakly to his seat and said to the young Martial Sage, “If you are a hero, then it is your turn.”

The young Martial Sage smiled at the Future Sword Saint, “Give me your sword first.”

That was how the Martial Sage had met Xian’Er and the Old Sword Saint Zuo…

A fine looking young man who was seating next to them had heard their wager. He laughed aloud, “If I can get that young beauty to drink with me, the two of you will pay for all my tabs here?”

The Future Sword Saint laughed coldly, “You? Don’t make me laugh! If you can, we will surely pay for your tab!”

The young Martial Sage laughed, “If you can, we will pay for all your tabs. But I think it is better to admire her from afar. She is a flower with real painful thorns.”

The fine looking young man smiled, “Deal! If I can get her to drink with me, then the two of you will pay for my entire tab in this tavern!”

As he got up with a flask of wine and a cup in his hands, he smiled at the Future Sword Saint and the young Martial Sage.

He went to the beautiful young maiden as he toasted her, “Maiden, will you honor me by allowing me to toast you with a drink?”

The beautiful young maiden smiled gently and lifted her cup to return his toast.

The Future Sword Saint and the young Martial Sage was instantly stunned…

The young Martial Sage was secretly startled, “She likes man with refine looks?”

The fine looking young man then walked back with a broad grin to the Future Sword Saint and the young Martial Sage, “My tabs are on you guys!”

The young Martial Sage stammered, “How…how did you do that? You know magic?”

The Future Sword Saint was astonished, “How the hell did you manage to get her to return a toast to you? You know her?”

The fine looking young man smiled and calmly explained, “She is aware that I have been paying for her tabs and lodgings for several days now. Now she is merely returning me a small appreciation by returning a toast with me. You guys have lost and my tabs are all yours now.”

The young Martial Sage was startled, “I am paying for her tab and yours now?!”

The Future Sword Saint was even more startled, “Darn! Why didn’t I think of that?!”

The fine looking young man was Han Shaodong!

Not long after, there was news that the underground desert city in the desert had been found. All the exponents in the small desert town began to trek into the great desert!

However, the great desert and the underground desert city proved to be too perilous. Many perished in the trek across the great desert. Those who had survived found the traps of the underground desert city to be even perilous than the great desert itself!

Almost all the surviving exponents that survived the trek across the great desert perished in the underground desert city. Among the fallen, were scores of renowned exponents and quite a few were even the super exponents of the fraternity!

Many had either fallen to the deadly traps of the underground desert city or fallen to infighting between the martial exponents hoping to be the first one to reach the lowest level for the martial treasure trove.

Eventually for those that persisted in the underground city, there were just twelve survivors. They either have plenty of luck, extraordinary intelligence or exceptional skill in order to survive to the lowest level of the underground desert city palace. In short, these twelve were also the most talented of their generation.

Among the twelve, there was the young beautiful maiden and her name was Xian’Er!

The Martial Sage had never forgotten that she had accidentally let it slipped out that her name was Yixian!

The twelve survivors decided to band together to form a secret group and to do something really outrageous together while keeping their identities a secret.

The new group of course had to have a leader to lead them.

Naturally, the young Martial Sage had dominated Xian’Er to be the group leader. However, the group leadership was eventually led by Xiao Shuai who had the most votes and this new group was later known as the Celestial Palace Group.

Under Xiao Shuai’s leadership, the secret Celestial Palace Group infiltrated the various martial clans of the fraternity and secretly read their secret manuals when they got their hands on it. After that, they would put the secret manuals back after copying it.

What was astonishing was not how startling the martial skills of the major orthodox clans were but the number of secret skills and secrets that the smaller martial clans had possessed. Due to generations of decline, most of the epitome skills could not be practiced.

They quickly unravel many secrets and secret histories of the various martial clans, even from their own clans!

The young Martial Sage and many of the group were left cursing after they had realized that their protégé masters and elders had hidden many intricate strokes and techniques from them even though it was actually a fairly common practice to do so in the martial fraternity; the master would always held back a few hidden techniques to protect themselves.

But of course, they were not always successful. Most of the real forbidden secrets of the various clans like heart intricacy formulas were still off limits to them. Without the intricate heart formulas to understand the intricate strokes, the true quintessence and the embodiment of the martial skill could not be unraveled!

They were all simply testing their limits and stealth skills.

Despite several constraints, in a short time they had collected dozens of martial skills and used the knowledge to improvise their own martial skills and to fix several shortcomings.

Everyone except Xian’Er was overcome by the intrigues and madness of stealing and peeking at the secret manuals of the other martial clans…

But when Xian’Er had disappeared one day, the young Martial Sage was almost driven to desperation as he searched the entire fraternity for her but to no avail. It was because the fraternity was so large and he really had no idea which martial clan she had come from!

With Xian’Er missing and no longer in the secret Celestial Group, the thrill of being part of the secret group was gone and many eventually left quietly, causing the secret Celestial Group to be disbanded.

Imagine his jovial happiness when he caught sight of Yu’Er and Mei’Er swords! He had recognized these swords as belonging to Xian’Er! He did not care how old Xian’Er was now. In his heart, he had to know her whereabouts for he had been searching for her for as long as he could remember!

But before he could get any information from them, he was interrupted rudely by Ji Wuzheng and Yi Ping.

But before he could settle his feud with Ji Wuzheng, he was told that there was a short armistice between the Honor Manor and the Holy Hex Sect, which left him fuming mad.

As one of the Three Sages and as an exponent of the righteous orthodox martial clan, he was bounded by honor to follow the truce.

So when an angry Yi Ping attacked him, he decided to teach him a hard lesson or two. Given Yi Ping’s notorious reputation, he would have gladly killed him on the spot. Again, it was his honor that prevented him from dealing justice on the spot.

The ‘hard’ lesson was not what he had expected!

He was expecting Yi Ping to be completely overwhelmed by his martial technique, the Hundred Invincible Iron Fists.

His old heart skipped a beat when Yi Ping changed his attacking stance to a defensive one as he took all his Hundred Invincible Iron Fists. Even though it appeared that he had plummeted Yi Ping onto the ground with a thunderous crashing impact, Yi Ping had in fact neutralized most of his powerful Hundred Invincible Iron Fists with his Divine Horizon Hands.

Other than temporary draining Yi Ping of his physical strength and causing him some discomfort, there seemed to be no other external injuries!

“This young man…how is it possible?” He was secretly startled!

If word got out that he could not even handle a young man with his famous Hundred Invincible Iron Fists, he would surely be the laughing stock of the martial fraternity!

So just before he had gone on his way, he had put on some face saving measures as he said coldly. “This is just a small lesson for you before I go. If it isn’t for an old friend of mine, I would have hit you even harder.”

As he left and made several winding turns in the maze-like Inner Holy Chapter premises, he had suddenly dumped into four extraordinary beautiful maidens!

He was astonished by their extraordinary beauties!

He immediately grabbed them as he stammered excitedly, “Xian’Er, is that you? No you’re not. You have her features and you have her eyes…”

Lie Qing was startled as the Martial Sage grabbed her waist, “Outrageous, dirty old man! Take your hands off me and apologize or else I will be nasty! What do you think you are doing?! Who are you?”

She tried to push him away but this old man was too simply overwhelming strong.

He began to grab Lingfeng, Youxue and Ding Yun at the same time!

Lie Qing immediately asked Lingfeng, “Sister Lingfeng, who is he?”

Lingfeng panicky exclaimed, “I don’t know! He is an intruder!”

The Martial Sage quickly said, “I am a good guy…”

But before he could finish explaining his intentions, the four maidens had displayed some of their most intricate techniques and struck him at the same time!

Lie Qing gave a soft sigh, “I told you we have already restrained ourselves. It is just a small punishment for laying his hand on us. This dirty old man is really infuriating.”

Youxue said coldly, “That’s right!”

Ji Wuzheng was secretly startled, “What has actually happened? Did they join hands to knock the Martial Sage on the ground? Or is it just this Maiden Lie Qing?”

He had suspected that it was Maiden Lie Qing because in recent years, Gongsun Bai seemed to have found a deadly divine martial skill called the Invincible Divine Force and with that, he had begun to dominate over the fraternity, causing the influential power of the Honor Manor to increase from day to day!

And the Celestial Liege had also made scant mention of it.

Ji Wuzheng shook his head as he lifted the rumbling Martial Sage with his arms as he walked away.

Yi Ping asked panicky, “Big Brother, you are leaving me alone?”

Ji Wuzheng turned around and said, “Junior Brother, I got to go first and tend to the injuries of the Martial Sage.”

And he was gone in a hurry, leaving Yi Ping alone with the six maidens.

Lingfeng asked, “Big Brother? Junior Brother? When did my brother and you become dear brothers?”

Yi Ping smiled bitterly as he scratched his nose.

The six maidens were all looking at Yi Ping with great shyness and their eyes were filled with a hundred affections for him.

Yi Ping was startled when Lie Qing blinked her mesmerizing eyes at him.

He was even more startled when she started walking towards him, causing him to take a step or two back until he dumped into Yu’Er and Mei’Er.

He thought, “She is going to hit me?”

Lie Qing immediately flew into him as she said with utmost affections, “Yi Ping, do you still remember we have a pledge to be with each other till the oceans vanish and the rocks crumble on the night that you have left the Great Tranquil Mountains?”

Lingfeng was also beside him, looking alluring at him. “You have said that we will always be together that night too…”

Youxue said shyly, “I promise you. I will always be there when your heart is filled with sorrow and despair…”

Ding Yun shyly enquired, “Ping’Er, How are your injuries? I hope you are recovering good…”

Yi Ping was totally bewildered as he asked secretly, “What is going on? Aren’t they going to hit me like that Martial Sage to a pulp?”

That night when Lingfeng walked out of Yi Ping’s resting room in anger, she was joined immediately by Lie Qing, Yu’Er, Mei’Er and Ding Yun.

Ding Yun asked quietly, “Sister Qing’Er, you are really going to duel Ping’Er tomorrow?”

Lie Qing said in a teary emotion, “If I don’t kill him, it will be hard to vent my anger!”

Even though that was what she had said but that was just in a moment of anger. Unknown to the other maidens, Lie Qing was not really seriously upset with Yi Ping but had pretended to be otherwise. She just did not want to be isolated by these sisters and got caught in an awkward situation. One of the reasons why she got the fraternity name of the Heavenly Temptress was that she was also an excellent actress as well. But even for the Heavenly Temptress, her feelings towards Yi Ping were more real than anything else; she had struggled with her true feelings for many months until she realized that would only bring herself immense suffering and she had never met a more righteous and selfless person like Yi Ping in her entire life.

Until now, when she had remembered how Yi Ping had saved her life and offered her the Divine Dragon Pill, she would still secretly smile with silent appreciation…

Yu’Er pleaded, “Don’t kill Master. Just beat him into a pulp will do…”

Mei’Er hummed, “Turn him black, green, blue, red and purple! Don’t you agree, Sister Lingfeng?”

Lingfeng had calmed down considerably and she appeared alarmed.

Ding Yun asked, “What’s wrong, Sister Lingfeng?”

Lingfeng said almost inaudibly, “Maybe…maybe we have all wronged Yi Ping.”

The rest of the maidens were immediately startled!

Mei’Er quickly asked, “What do you mean?”

Lingfeng sighed softly, “I just remembered that the last time Youxue and I were treating Yi Ping’s injuries; there was an extremely cold and negative intricate energy in his body. Even though it was barely noticeable, Youxue and I had noticed it immediately.”

Ding Yun was startled, “No wonder when I had checked Yi Ping’s pulses many times in the past, I could feel a cold and negative intricate energy. I didn’t dare to say anything because I am unsure if my diagnosis is correct. But when he was in a feverish state, that cold and negative intricate was barely visible.”

Lie Qing was startled, “So that means, the cold, negative intricate energy in his body and the positive, extreme intricate energy of the Celestial Force may have neutralized each other, creating a counterbalance…”

Lingfeng nodded.

Ding Yun gasped, “Then we may have made a terrible mistake and was so harsh towards Ping’Er and Youxue. What shall we do now?”

Yu’Er was miserable, “We can’t go in now. We just come out. It will be so embarrassing…”

Lie Qing said melancholy, “Lingfeng, Lingfeng…why didn’t you tell us earlier? You just destroy whatever good impressions Yi Ping has for me…”

Mei’Er sniffed, “Mine as well…what can we do now to salvage the situation?”

Lingfeng smiled bitterly, “Erm, after I have calmed down…I have thought of that…instead of stopping me from over-reacting, all of you seem to encourage me. Sister Yun, why didn’t you stop us instead? You are the most rational in our group.”

Ding Yun was startled, “Me? I am supposed to be the nanny? I can’t be irrational sometimes?”

Yu’Er said, “What shall we do now? Let’s go in and apologize?”

Lie Qing laughed softly, “We don’t have to apologize. He probably won’t put it into his heart. Let’s just pretend nothing has happened…”

Lingfeng smiled weakly, “Somehow I got a bad feeling about this…”

Ding Yun nodded slightly, “I agree…”

Mei’Er immediately hugged Lie Qing, “Sister Qing’Er, Mei’Er goes along with your plan!”

Yu’Er just gasped softly, “Master, please forgive us…”

And just a while ago, they had dumped into Youxue who was wandering forlornly, confirming their suspicious…

The real reason why Youxue was unhappy was because Yi Ping did not share his problems with her or look for her for companionship. Instead, he was drinking despondently with his sworn brothers…

It was no wonder that Yi Ping was bewildered when the six maidens had suddenly displayed their affections for him!

Mei’Er laughed jovially, “Master, you have been drinking? There is a strong whiff of alcohol all over you.”

Yi Ping smiled weakly, “I was unhappy.”

Yu’Er smiled, “And now?”

Yi Ping sighed gently at the jovial, smiling and the hundred affections around him as they pulled him to and fro. “I really miss all of you. I thought…I thought that all of you are too upset with me to talk to me anymore. Erm…can anyone tells me what is going on here?”

Mei’Er quickly said, “Master, let’s have a drink together first. Mei’Er wants to drink…”

Yi Ping got a jolt as he suddenly recalled something so he quickly asked, “Mei’Er and Yu’Er, why did you spike my wine back at the Tranquil Clan? At the Eternal Ice Palace, did you do the same thing too?”

Yu’Er and Mei’Er were so flustered now that their usual white complexion had deep flushes of pink!

Lingfeng quickly interrupted with an alluring soft laugh, “This is not the time to ask such questions. We should really talk about something more romantic…”

Yi Ping got another jolt as he quickly asked Lingfeng, “Lingfeng, why did you take my father’s secret manuals? Quickly return it to me!”

Lingfeng stepped hard on his foot, “Did you just hear what I have just said? I say we should talk about something more romantic. Why are you so unromantic? You are such a miser. I am merely taking your secret manuals for a closer look. It is all your father’s fault. He didn’t want to teach me the Divine Horizon Hands and show me the advance intricate heart formula of the Aspire Invocations. And how do I know your father didn’t lie to me about the intricate heart formula of the Asper Horizon Hand that he had tricked me to learn? …”

Lingfeng was suddenly flushing, “And this is the only way to let you remember me and to come to the Holy Amalgamate Mountains for me…”

Yi Ping said, “Lingfeng, my father won’t lie to you and moreover, I will surely look for you. Aren’t I here now?”

Lingfeng said coolly, “Only Heavens know what you are thinking…you just looking for me because you are looking for your secret manuals…”

Yi Ping said, “No, that’s not the truth. You…you…surely know what I am thinking…”

Lingfeng flushed, “No, if you don’t say it aloud, I surely don’t know what you are thinking. I am not the curly worm in your stomach. Why don’t you say what’s in your mind?”

Yi Ping asked, “Says what Lingfeng?”

Lingfeng said coldly, “You can start with your beautiful encounter with that beautiful maiden in the cave first.”

Lie Qing interrupted with a smile, “Sister Lingfeng, don’t bother with this pig head. Let’s go and drink first, alright?”

Yi Ping suddenly asked Lie Qing, “Qing’Er, are we still going to fight tomorrow? Can you show me your extraordinary intricate martial strokes? I really am curious on the strokes that you have used on the Martial Sage…”

Youxue was gasping as she gently tugged Yi Ping’s clothing. It was because she had seen the sudden change in Lie Qing and Lingfeng expressions!

Ding Yun quickly tapped Yi Ping with the hilt of her long sword, causing Yi Ping to turn around and ask. “Yun, what’s wrong…”

Ding Yun hinted him by whispering, “Say no more…you’re going to be seriously injured pretty soon.”

Lie Qing and Lingfeng said almost at the same time, “You are really courting your own death.”

Lie Qing said coolly, “You don’t have to wait until tomorrow. I can show you now.”



Ch54 End
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Chapter 56: The Universal Force



Many years ago, Ding Jun was one of the followers of the Heavenly Temptress. He had pretended to join Xiao Boyi, Yuan Tieqi and You Nikuang in a rebellion against the Heavenly Temptress. Unknown to everyone, Jing Xing who had died in defense of the Heavenly Temptress had actually pledged herself to Ding Jun and they were actually a loving secret couple.

So when Xiao Boyi, Yuan Tieqi and You Nikuang had killed Jing Xing in the ensuring rebellion, Ding Jun secretly sworn to avenge her and founded the Sacred Divine Sect to continue the legacy of the Invincible Divine Clan.

Dugu Zhen said coldly, “So you want to know who is our Holy leader is? Only the elders of the Sacred Divine Clan know who the Holy Leader really is. Not even the likes of Gongsun Bai have that knowledge.”

Lingfeng interrupted coldly, “The heretic sect can claim to be holy? What a joke! Your leader is nothing but a coward who hides in the darkness.”

Dugu Zhen hummed coldly as she looked at Ding Yun.

Ding Yun gazed at everyone intently before she said, “Look no further. I am the Holy Leader of the Sacred Divine Clan.”

Ji Wuzheng was in disbelief that the Holy Leader would actually be a young maiden, “You…you are the Holy Leader of the Sacred Divine Clan?”

Gongsun Jing, Nangong Le, Qiu Wufeng, Yu’Er, Mei’Er, Lingfeng and Huo Fu were equally startled!

Ding Yun said with quiet demeanor, “You only have this one chance to kill me.”

Xiao Youxue had already raised her hands and her fingers were surrounded by a golden halo as she said melancholy, “Sister Yun, forgive me. What you did to Sister Lie Qing is deplorable and unforgivable. I really have no choice but to fight you today.”

Ding Yun clapped her hands gently and immediately, the Three Evils of the West had sped forward and were standing beside her! “But you must also know that the Holy Leader of the Sacred Divine Clan cannot be so easily killed.”

Dugu Zhen added coldly, “No one can stop us from ascending to be Celestials today!”

The Blood Heretic hummed coldly in his old voice, “What a pity, what a pity that we have to kill so many beauties today.”

The Moon Heretic said, “Remember, don’t kill them so fast. We need their blood and hearts after we have ascended to be Celestials in order to recuperate. Just disable them will do.”

The Blade Heretic sighed, “You know that each time I draw my blade, I have to feed it with the lifeblood of its victims? This is really too hard for me…”

The Blood Heretic laughed wickedly, “You can kill the weaker ones. We have no use for them. Remember, our next opponent is the Celestial Palace. So we need to recuperate fast.”

Ji Wuzheng interrupted quickly, “Zhen, listen to me. It is not as easy to ascend to be a Celestial as you think. What you intending to do is the unorthodox way and will result in divine retribution. It will turn you into bloodthirsty monsters and many will be sacrificed. Do you really want that to happen?”

Dugu Zhen smile coldly, “As long as I can be a Celestial and have an immortal life, does it really matter? What does the life of others matter to me?”

Ji Wuzheng was startled! “Zhen, you have changed…”

Dugu Zhen hummed coldly, “You’re wrong. It just that you have never really understands me. How much time have you been with me? You just too busy for your martial cultivations. Even if I don’t want to take the Heavenly Relic from you, do you know that Xiao Shuai and his conspirators are all eyeing the Heavenly Relic as well? It is because they too, want to be a Celestial and have been planning for decades. They are all waiting for the Seven Stars to be aligned, a Celestial Omen that could make their ascendant much easier.”

She walked gently to Ding Yun and tapped lightly, “Do you know that before I have married you, I have already another daughter? Dugu Yunzi, today you can finally use the Dugu clan name.”

Ji Wuzheng, Lingfeng, Youxue and the others were stunned…

Ji Wuzheng stammered, “Maiden Ding Yun is actually…your daughter?”

Dugu Yunzi was trembling lightly as she said softly, “That’s right. She is my mother and I am Dugu Yunzi. When the Ding clan found the Sacred Divine Clan, we have since taken Dugu as our secret clan name even though we are still known as the Ding Clan while in the Virtuous Palace.”

The Moon Heretic had suddenly raised his hands with a mighty flurrying of windforce as he attacked Ji Wuzheng, “That’s enough talk already. No one can stop us from becoming Celestials today. The Heavenly Relic must be seized today and the Holy Maiden must be the blood sacrifice!”

Immediately after the Moon Heretic had displayed his martial force forward, Ji Wuzheng had immediately reacted with a counter blow. As both clashed with their palms, there were a thunderous impact. Almost immediately Ji Wuzheng had coughed out blood as he was forced to slide five steps backward!

The Moon Heretic was his superior in internal strength and martial power!

But before the Moon Heretic could continue on his advantage, Youxue and Lingfeng had immediately attacked him!

The Moon Heretic laughed coldly, “I am in luck. I have two beauties here that are interested in me.”

Lingfeng interrupted coldly, “Shameless!”

Xiao Youxue and Lingfeng were experts in swiftness agility and movement skills as they immediately unleashed dozens of shadowy flurries on the Moon Heretic. However to their astonishment, the Moon Heretic had matched their blows with equal fast shadowy attacks as he laughed coldly. “Is that what you got? I am expecting better!”

Lingfeng was now displaying the Sacred Heart Skill as she made dozens of flurry strokes in front of the Moon Heretic. It was a deadly skill that was part of the Holy Hex martial skills that could break the pulses of her target. Now that she was back to the Holy Hex Sect, there was now no need for her to conceal her true skills. Her attacking speed, her swiftness skill and even her martial power were greatly augmented when she imbued herself with the Holy Amalgamate Force!

Lingfeng said coldly to the Moon Heretic, “You don’t dare to kill me, am I right? Then it may be a costly mistake for you and you will never be able to ascend!”

The Moon Heretic said coldly as he looked at her lustfully, “There is worst fate than death itself. I can let you have a taste of that.”

Even as she changed her stances rapidly, executing deadly secret martial techniques like the neutralizing martial power of the Great Dissolution Skill and the bursting power of the Asper Horizon Hand, she still could not scratched the Moon Heretic even though Youxue was also fighting beside her and were using all her best techniques as well!

Just as Ji Wuzheng had recovered from the blow that he had just received from the Moon Heretic, Dugu Zhen had attacked him as she executed the Swallow Slash movement by dashing towards him and displaying the third and fifth stance of her Cherry Blossoms techniques, the Windchaser Slide and the Mirror Reflection Splitting Images!

Huo Fu immediately intercepted as he shouted, “Brother, watch out!”

At the same time that Dugu Zhen had made her move, the Blade Heretic had already drawn his sword and had leapt towards the Heavenly Relic!

Ji Wuzheng shouted, “Don’t let them seize the Heavenly Relic!”

Gongsun Jing, Nangong Le and Qiu Wufeng had immediately displayed their best swordplay techniques at the Blade Heretic!

The Blade Heretic immediately slashed at Gongsun Jing, Nangong Le and Qiu Wufeng with lightning speed, slashing them and spilling their blood! “If you want to stop me, I am afraid that you are still early by tens of decades!”

If it were not for Yu’Er and Mei’Er who had also made their moves and displayed their swordplay at the Blade Heretic; Gongsun Jing, Nangong Le and Qiu Wufeng would have been killed in an instant!

The Blade Heretic was startled to see such an astonishing sword display from the twin sisters. Even as he slashed his sword at them with pin-point accuracy, he was met with a sudden resistant. “The Divine Emerald Skill? You are from the Eternal Ice Palace?”

Yu’Er said coldly, “That’s right! Prepare to…”

But before she could finish, the Blade Heretic had imbued his sword with strong deadly sword energy and broke her Divine Emerald Force, sending her scurrying backward!

Mei’Er immediately blocked the second stroke of the Blade Heretic with her cold sword energy, preventing the Blade Heretic from moving forward as she cried panicky. “Sister, watch out…”

Yu’Er gasped as she quickly recovered from the attack and she had flew to Mei’Er again, “The Shifting Stellar Duo Sword Formation, sister! Two in one, one into two!”

The Shifting Stellar Duo Sword Formation and the Shifting Stellar Trio Sword Formation was an intricate formation created to confuse and to utilize the speed techniques and defense techniques of the Eternal Ice Palace.

The Shifting Stellar Duo Sword Formation was even more deadly when it was used by Yu’Er and Mei’Er, precisely because they were splitting images of each other!

This was their last critical death strike technique for them to use now as they made a desperate stand. Even against so many powerful foes, they did not use it as they did not want to disclose their secret martial techniques to anyone.

Yu’Er was now attacking and Mei’Er had vanished behind her, taking the Blade Heretic by surprise!

As soon as he had attacked Yu’Er, she had deflected his attack with a flurrying of sword strokes and displaying the Divine Emerald Force. All of a sudden, Mei’Er had reappeared from behind her and slashed at the Blade Heretic, taking him by surprise.

Just as he had parried Mei’Er’s attacks, she had switched to the Divine Emerald Force and Yu’Er was attacking him again!

Because these two sisters were splitting images of each other, the Blade Heretic was momentarily confused which of the sister would be the attacker and which one was drawing him into making an opening!

Gongsun Jing was clutching his blood soaked chest as he got up weakly, “Brothers, are you alright?”

Qiu Wufeng was trembling as he struggled to get on his knee. He had never expected to be defeated by a mere stroke despite his expertise in swordplay! When the sword stroke of the Blade Heretic had slashed across his body, he was also injured by a deadly sword energy as well. But he said weakly, “I am alright. I can still fight…”

Nangong Le’s swordplay was the weakest but he was less affected by the sword energy due to his Exuberant Divine Skill. But his wound was also the heaviest. He smiled weakly, “I am not defeated yet. Yu’Er and Mei’Er need our help. The three of us can still display the Celestial Star Formation. Let’s fight him again…”

Gongsun Jing nodded as his warm tears streamed from his eyes, “Today, we are going to die for a worthy cause to stop the heretic sect. I am going to wash away all the sins of my clan!” With that, he charged towards the Blade Heretic!

Qiu Wufeng too, had mustered all his remaining strength as he charged at the Blade Heretic at almost the same time as Gongsun Jing!

The Blood Heretic had displayed his hands into claws as he smirked with great disdain at the resistances even as he sped towards the Heavenly Relic, “They didn’t know how futile it is to oppose us.”

But before he could seize the Heavenly Relic, Yi Ping had intercepted him and there was a mighty thunderous thunderclap that shook the chamber aloud as the Blood Heretic retaliated with a blow!

Immediately, the fighting around them paused for a moment as everyone saw Yi Ping and the Blood Heretic had both taken several steps backward!

Yi Ping was carrying the motionless Lie Qing’s who was leaning on him with his left hand and had beaten off the Blood Heretic with his right palm!

Yi Ping said with a solemn heartbreak, “Qing’Er, even though you are not with us anymore but your spirit will lives on.

Everyone was startled.

Yu’Er and Mei’Er broke into tears as they muttered, “Sister Qing’Er isn’t with us anymore…”

Yu’Er stared at the Blade Heretic and Ding Yun with cold hatred as she said, “It is either you die or I die today!”

When she had finished speaking, she had immediately attacked the Blade Heretic with a startled speed but her stroke was immediately countered by the Heretic Blade!

The Blade Heretic hummed coldly even as Yu’Er, Mei’Er, Gongsun Jing, Nangong Le and Qiu Wufeng raised their long swords at the same time as they attacked him from all sides.

The Blade Heretic said coldly, “It is only a matter of time before I can break your sword formation. Already all of you are panting with exhaustion while I have barely even used any strength.”

At the same time, when the Blood Heretic was being forced back, he was secretly startled. “This young man can actually have the martial strength to force me back using only one hand? Is that possible?”

The reason he was startled was because with his combination of martial power and internal strength, there was not many exponents in the fraternity that could stop him anymore. Moreover, his opponent was but a young man!

Dugu Yunzi was looking at the heartbroken Yi Ping. She had never seen him with this type of expression before.

Yi Ping glanced at the Blood Heretic and Ding Yun as he coarsely said, “Yun, I don’t believe you will betray us. There must be a reason for you to do so. No matter what you do, I am willing to listen…”

Dugu Yunzi interrupted, “Forget it Yi Ping. You are still in denial. It is an undeniable fact that I am the Holy Leader of the Sacred Divine Clan. Moreover, I have killed Lie Qing…”

Yi Ping smiled weakly, “I…I don’t know how to explain this but the last time, the last time…in my dreams…I seem to have made many terrible mistakes. Sometimes the truth isn’t so straightforward…”

Youxue had broken free of the Moon Heretic as she sped towards Ding Yun, “Yi Ping, stop saying so much to her!”

Yi Ping said, “Youxue don’t attack her, I almost lost you the last time. I don’t want the same thing to happen again. Yun, please come back. Surely we can talk over…”

Dugu Yunzi simply interrupted Youxue’s charge as she raised her scabbard that had been imbued by her martial force and threw it towards her, forcing her to evade it and back to the entanglement of the Moon Heretic again who hummed coldly as he dealt her a direct blow on her back, “Not so fast, young beauty. Do you think I am non-existent?”

Youxue had immediately coughed out blood! The blow that she had received was simply too heavy even for her Golden Invincible Body!

Yi Ping was about to dash to aid Youxue when the Blood Heretic had attacked him with multiple waves of powerful windforce that had been directed at him!

He was forced to halt and retaliated with his Divine Horizon Hands!

The Blood Heretic had sent blows after blows of shadow claws, displaying intrigue strokes one after another with thunderous impact, stirring up windforce in all directions!

Even though Yi Ping was sweating now but he still refused to put down Lie Qing and fight back blow for blow, stroke for stroke and counter for counter!

The Blood Heretic was now startled. It was because he had already used all his martial power and was using both hands while Yi Ping fighting with just one hand. Even though he knew that the fight would eventually turn on his favor as his opponent got more and more tired, he was not happy. It was because with his present state of divinity and martial strength, he could not bring a young man down.

The Moon Heretic, the Blade Heretic and even Dugu Zhen were all having an easier time than him even though they were fighting multiple opponents. They were so overwhelming in their martial differences with their opponents that they did not even need to use all their strength. Their mere strokes could cause their opponents to evade, parry, block or retaliate hence wearing down their physical strength and internal strength.

Lingfeng quickly gasped to Yi Ping panicky, “Yi Ping, put down Lie Qing. She is dead now. You are only endangering yourself!”

Yi Ping refused to heed her and instead he willed himself with the Absolute Spirits as he displayed several stances of the Divine Horizon Hands once again!

Yi Ping muttered, “Qing’Er…Yun…why…”

The reason why Yi Ping was sweating profusely was not because he was reaching his limit and was hard pressed by the Blood Heretic as everyone had thought, since sweating was a good indication of one’s limitation had been reached and current state of physical conditioning.

The real reason why he was sweating profusely was because he was still transferring his internal strength into Lie Qing’s lifeless body and that action was snapping his stamina at a rapid rate!

All of a sudden, Yi Ping experienced a great discomfort in his heart and his strokes faltered.

The Blood Heretic immediately sensed a moment of weakness and seized the faltering speed of Yi Ping by increasing his own martial power all of a sudden, breaking through his Divine Horizon Hand and sent a thunderous cracking impact on Yi Ping!

Yi Ping immediately coughed out blood as this thunderous impact could grind even stones into dust as he was sent flying through the air!

But the weird thing was the Blood Heretic was also thrown back by a rebounding force that was so almighty that even with the full execution of his martial power, he was not able to stop it!

Yu’Er gasped, “Master!”

In her moment of distraction, the Blade Heretic had slashed her on her shoulder. Even Mei’Er was slashed as she tried to parry for her sister!

Within just a few seconds that saw Yi Ping flew backward with a thunderous impact and with blood spilling in mid-air, Ji Wuzheng, Huo Fu, Nangong Le, Qiu Wufeng, Gongsun Jing, Yu’Er and Mei’Er, with the exception of Lingfeng and Youxue were all rolling in agony from their injuries on the ground!

The Blade Heretic and the Blood Heretic had immediately joined the Moon Heretic as they joined hands to attack Lingfeng and Youxue, who were already faltering from attacks from all sides!

Dugu Zhen said, “In the end, there are just two capable fighters standing. Ji Wuzheng, you call yourself the Holy Sectarian Master, yet you can’t even hold a candle to your sister.”

Ji Wuzheng smiled coldly as he struggled to stand, “If I am not injured, do you think you can really defeat me? If you are not my wife, do you think I will hold back?”

Dugu Zhen hummed coldly, “Why is that all men likes some face saving measures? A win is a win and a loss is a loss.”

Ji Wuzheng replied, “Don’t underestimate the Holy Hex Sect and my sister. She has after all, taken the Golden Rejuvenation Pill. Her internal strength is a match for the Three Evils!”

Even though he was saying so, Lingfeng was reaching her limited as evidenced by the sweat on her face. Youxue was also sweating profusely while the Three Evils had not even broke into a sweat yet!

Youxue and Lingfeng knew that in terms of internal strength, martial power, martial skills and technique, they were being outclassed! What kept them going was sheer willpower and determination not to be defeated by these vile heretics!

Just as Lingfeng took a step back and was about to seized by the Moon Heretic, Yi Ping had displayed the Asper Horizon Hand with a mighty flurrying windforce that sent the Moon Heretic moving backward!

The Blood Heretic was startled, “You are not dead yet?”

The crashing blow that had landed on Yi Ping was a hit with all his martial power. Even a super exponent may not survive such a direct hit!

Yi Ping staggered weakly with Lie Qing in his embrace as he raised his right hand, “So this is the Heavenly Relic that you want?”

He was clutching the Heavenly Relic in his right hand!

He had picked it up when he was flung back.

Ji Wuzheng was startled as he thought, “Without the Great Dissolution Skill, he can grab the Heavenly Relic?” But he got no further time to ponder more as he quickly shouted panicky, “Third Brother Yi Ping, don’t give them the Heavenly Relic!”

Youxue and Lingfeng staggered weakly beside Yi Ping even as the Moon Heretic, Blood Heretic and the Blade Heretic stopped in their tracks.

Yi Ping shouted angrily as he raised the Heavenly Relic in front of them, “So this is the Heavenly Relic that you want, am I right?!”

All of a sudden, there was a cracking sound as Yi Ping crushed the Heavenly Relic in front of them!

Everyone could see heat and dust vaporizing as Yi Ping crushed the Heavenly Relic with his hand!

Dugu Zhen, Dugu Yunzi, the Moon Heretic, the Blood Heretic and the Blade Heretic was startled and were in disbelief as they muttered, “The Heavenly Relic can be crushed by mortal hand!?”

Even Ji Wuzheng was astonished and was staring in disbelief!

Yi Ping had used all his martial power, augmented by the Aspire Invocation Force as he broke the Heavenly Relic into five smaller pieces in a fit of rage! He scarcely even knows what he had been doing. He was just preparing his martial power for the next attack but because he had not attacked yet and he had the Heavenly Relic in his hand, he vented all his anger and martial power onto the Heavenly Relic instead!

By the time, he had realized that he had accidentally caused the Heavenly Relic to be broken into five pieces as it dropped onto the ground, he himself was stunned!

When Yi Ping had suffered a heartbreaking pain in his heart earlier, it was not because his sentimental emotions had once again triggered the side effect of the Emptiness Translucence. It was because his undying devotion to Lie Qing and his undying forgiveness for Dugu Yunzi had caused his Emptiness Translucence to achieve a stunning breakthrough from the Enigma Divine Ascendant to the Absolute Divine Ascendant!

Aside from being devoid of all worldly attachments, there was actually another way for a practitioner to achieve a breakthrough in the Emptiness Translucence. But it was almost impossible to attain; the practitioner had to be devoid of hatred and also had undying love for the one that he loves. It was either hate or love; both conditions could not be possible to exist at the same time! How could one prove his forgiveness and his undying love for someone at the same time?

Yi Ping had refused to put down Lie Qing, refusing to believe that she had died and even transferred his internal injuries to her dead body even though he was facing a terrible powerful foe at the same time. That was undying devoted love!

Even though he had witnessed Dugu Yunzi injuring and mortally wounding Lie Qing with his very own eyes, he was in great denial. He believed firmly that she must have a strong reason for doing so and that he would be willing to believe her even though he was in great grief! That was undying faith and true forgiveness!

In that very instant when Yi Ping had suffered a heartbreaking pain in his heart, he had actually killed off the doubt emotions in his heart forever, hence attaining the Absolute Divine Ascendant of the Emptiness Translucence!

At the same moment, the divine force power release of the Emptiness Translucence was also at its strongest. So when the Blood Heretic had struck Yi Ping fatally on his chest, instead of causing Yi Ping a fatal wound, he had unwittingly helped Yi Ping by distributing the powerful divine force throughout all his meridian channels. This had the unknowing effect of propelling Yi Ping’s internal strength and martial power to an unsurpassed height!

Before the divine force power release of the Emptiness Translucence had yet to completely merged with his Aspire Invocation Force to form the Boundless Divine Force, Yi Ping had unwittingly use the only force in the entire universe that was capable of breaking or molding the Heavenly Relic, which was actually called the Universal Force by the Celestials as he crushed the Heavenly Relic with his bare hands!

The Universal Force was a rare occurrence that only happened at the creation or destruction of a new state of celestial divinity, enabling the Celestials to create Celestial Weapons and to divine the mysteries of the Ninth Heavens. Certain Celestial Weapons were so powerful that they could create the Universal Force on impact with one another; however the result was not benevolent Creation Universal force but the Destructive Universal Force that brought forth chaos and mayhems.

Lingfeng smiled weakly, “Just nice. You can now distribute these five pieces to them and everyone can have a share.”

Even though she was in a precaution situation, Lingfeng’s humor did not go away.

Dugu Zhen was so stunned that she stammered, “You…you….you…actually broke it!”

The Moon Heretic stammered as well, “Is this Heavenly Relic a fake?”

The Blade Heretic was shouting angrily, “Who wants this broken Heavenly Relic now! Now you have really enraged me!”

The Moon Heretic, the Blood Heretic and the Blade Heretic were obviously extremely enraged as their killing malevolent aura had suddenly intensified!

All of a sudden, there were six bursts of visible blue glow around them as they mustered their martial power!

Youxue gasped, “The Divine Virtuous Force!?”

Dugu Yunzi said coolly, “That’s right. The three elders have not only mastered the epitome levels of the Divine Virtuous Force but they had also successfully merged the Holy Amalgamate Force with it. So what you are seeing now is their true strength.”

Lingfeng broke into cold sweat. This combination of martial force was extremely deadly and had no weakness! The dissolution force of the Holy Amalgamate Force weakened their opponents’ martial power and strength at close melee and the seemingly impenetrable force of the Divine Virtuous Force that could only be penetrated by superior martial power would make them invincible!

No wonder, they seemed to have the confidence of overcoming the Divine Calamity!

Even Ji Wuzheng was dismayed when he had seen their martial display. He knew instantly that even if he was not injured, he could not even be able to defeat one of them, let alone there were three of them now!

Everyone seemed to have given up hope now…

Even Youxue’s will to fight was faltering; she had forced herself with the Absolute Spirits to stand up against their overwhelming martial strength! The results were just plain obvious…

Yi Ping said stubbornly as he displayed the Horizon Heavens, the opening stance of the Divine Horizon Hand. “Life and death is predestined. I will fight you and bring Yun back to my side!”

Dugu Yunzi looked at him curiously…

Even Youxue and Lingfeng were startled at his stubbornness. Until this point, he had not given up on Dugu Yunzi! But did he know that he was facing an impossible odds and he had only one hand that was free?

Lingfeng signed with a soft resignation as she muttered, “That is why I like him. Yi Ping, I will fight with you to bring Sister Yun back to us!”

Youxue nodded too, “Ping’Er, we…will bring her back even if we were to die fighting!”

Yi Ping was deeply moved as he nodded in appreciation at them…

Even Yu’Er and Mei’Er were sobbing, “Yes, bring Sister Yun back…”

They had all been moved by Yi Ping’s undying determination and devotion!

Dugu Yunzi put her slender fingers to her back because she did not want others to see her trembling fingers even as she said coldly, “Don't waste your efforts. It is all meaningless and you only be throwing your lives. Just quietly surrender the Heavenly Relic.”

Yi Ping said quietly, “Youxue, Lingfeng. Step aside please…”

Youxue and Lingfeng both shook their heads in protest!

Yi Ping said with a heartbreaking voice, “Even though you have tried to hide it but I know that both of you have already sustained grievous internal injuries.”

He had already seen the blood tickling down from their lips and knew that they were forcing themselves to fight!

All of a sudden, Lingfeng gasped weakly as she pointed to the five broken pieces of the Heavenly Relic that were on the ground!

The five broken pieces of Heavenly Relic were hissing with vapor and were melted to a reddish coloring as intensive heat melted its outer metal shells rapidly to reveal five yellow pearls!

Everyone was baffled at this curious sight and not knowing what to react, including the Three Evils, Dugu Zhen and Dugu Yunzi!

Lingfeng had gasped with a startled cry, “The Divine Dragon Pills!!!”

Yi Ping quickly said as he recalled that it looked exactly like the Divine Dragon Pill that he previously had, “That’s right…looks like it.”

Xiao Youxue had also recognized the Divine Dragon Pills! But her reaction was even swifter as she shouted quickly, “Yi Ping! Grab the pills and don’t let them have it!”

The Three Evils were astonished as well and were not slow to react as they mustered all their martial power and charged towards Yi Ping, Xiao Youxue and Ji Lingfeng!

Everyone other than Yi Ping, Lingfeng and Youxue had heard of the Divine Dragon Pill before and they had thought that it was just a legend! The Dragon Divine Pill was said to possess the ability to increase the martial power of the practitioner tremendously, raising the state of divinity of the practitioner or even have miraculous healing power to bring the dead back to life!

The Moon Heretic shouted, “Don’t let them seize it! These Divine Dragon Pills are even more precious than the Heavenly Relic!”

Lingfeng immediately executed the movement of the Swallow Slash as she dashed past Yi Ping as she substituted the stroke of the Swallow Slash with the invocating martial burst of the Asper Horizon Hand as she clashed against the Moon Heretic, “Didn’t you guys just said you didn’t want these broken Heavenly Relic earlier…”

But before she could finish, the mighty palm power of the Moon Heretic had knocked her flying backward!

Yu’Er and Mei’Er used their last strength to leap and caught hold of Lingfeng as they heard her muttering, “I…sorry…I no longer have any strength to fight beside you, Ping’Er…”

Even as Lingfeng had sped past Yi Ping, Youxue had picked up all the Dragon Divine Pills and displayed her Golden Invincible Stance as she parried the blades of the Blade Heretic with her martial imbued sleeves that were now as hard as iron!

Youxue immediately threw one Divine Dragon Pill to the back as she exclaimed urgently, “Give it to Lingfeng and don’t let her die! Transfer your internal energies and diffuse the vital energies of the Divine Dragon Pill throughout her body!”

Yu’Er immediately caught hold of the Divine Dragon Pill and popped it into Lingfeng’s mouth, inviting angry stares from the Three Evils who could only watch as one of the five precious Divine Dragon Pills got swallowed by Lingfeng as they were caught in a desperate defense put up by Youxue and Yi Ping at the same time!

Almost immediately after Yu’Er had given the Divine Dragon Pill to Lingfeng, she was showing signs of revival!

Yi Ping was not slow to react as he had already displayed the Asper Continuum Horizon Hand as he displayed dozens of shadowy flurry of windforce at the Blade Heretic, Blood Heretic and the Moon Heretic at the same time!

After knocking back Lingfeng, the Moon Heretic turned his target towards Xiao Youxue who had the Dragon Divine Pills but he was being blocked by Yi Ping. He mustered a flurrying of martial power that echo thunderous as he shouted angrily, “Your strokes are still not powerful enough to stop me!”

The Blood Heretic had dissolved the Asper Continuum Horizon Hand as he raised all his martial power on Yi Ping, “I let you have a taste of my blood techniques!”

As the Moon Heretic and Blood Heretic raised their martial power with the blue wisps of the Divine Invincible Force speeding and fading in all directions, the entire floor exploded and was being destroyed at the extraordinary display of their destructive martial power! This immediately sent dust, windforce and pebbles flying in all direction!

Yi Ping still refused to let Lie Qing down as he muttered, “Qing’Er, wait me. I come and join you soon!”

Suddenly he gave a mighty shout as he mustered all his martial power, deflecting the speeding projectiles of the debris as he raised his right hand. “The Asper…Divinity…Horizon Hand!”

When Yi Ping had shouted the skill name of the Asper Divinity Horizon Hand, his surroundings immediately exploded into a ring of bursting martial power, knocking Youxue back and the Blade Heretic back even as he stood on his ground to receive the crushing force of the Moon Heretic and the Blood Heretic at the same time!

In that split second and at the same time, Dugu Yunzi had silently drawn out her long sword and was whirling it one wave after another as barely visible blue wisps was swallowed into her sword!

As soon as she had released her flying sword, she said coldly. “The Invincible Divine Flying Sword!”

In that instant, she had sent her flying sword with an extraordinary tremendous speed as it went through the body of the Blade Heretic, splitting him into half, stunning Dugu Zhen, Youxue, Lingfeng, Ji Wuzheng, Nangong Le, Qiu Wufeng, Gongsun Jing, Huo Fu, Yu’Er and Mei’Er!

In the same instant when Yi Ping martial force clashed against the martial force of the Moon Heretic and the Blood Heretic with a huge thunderous impact that sent exploding ripple of shockwaves around them in a burning fury; Yi Ping, the Moon Heretic and the Blood Heretic had all coughed out blood at the same time.

Even as Yi Ping’s Boundless Force was being consumed by the power release of the Asper Divinity Horizon Hand, he had coughed out blood and was knocked back by the powerful combined martial power of the Moon Heretic and the Blood Heretic; he heard a familiar gentle voice saying. “The Invincible Divine Pandora Darkness Merciless Stokes!”

There were loud wailing screams that came from the Moon Heretic and the Blood Heretic as Lie Qing cut them down with two beaming bluish slashes from her Perpetual Darkness with the reflective halo of her darkness merging display as soon as she drawn her precious long sword!

No one had expected a dead Lie Qing to move!

Yi Ping was stunned that he muttered weakly, “I must be hallucinating. Is this an effect of the deviation phenomena after I have used the Asper Divinity for the very first time?”

Lie Qing was stroking her long hair as she said shyly, “What do you think then? Why didn’t you let go of me? Do you know that you have almost disrupted Sister Yun and my plans to foil the heretic sect? Do you know that I am trying very hard not to laugh at you…”

But before she could finish, Yi Ping had hugged her tightly as he cried aloud, “Qing’Er, Qing’Er! You are still alive! I am so happy…”

Lie Qing shyly said, “Of course I am still alive, silly!”

Yi Ping muttered tearfully, “But I saw you die right in front of me and your heart had even stopped beating…”

It was true that Dugu Yunzi had stabbed Lie Qing. But because Lie Qing had already perfected her Golden Impervious Body, her wounds were able to close and heal rapidly. That was the effect that they had wanted to fool the eyes of their enemies!

It was true that Dugu Yunzi had strike the defenseless Lie Qing fatally on her heart pulse with the Penetrating Hand. But again, she was protected by her Golden Impervious Body and the inherent force of the Invincible Divine Force. And moreover, Yunzi had also restrained herself!

It was also true that Lie Qing’s heart had also stopped beating but it was only because Lie Qing had intentional gone into the state of animated dead on her own accord to hasten her recovery!

Lie Qing whispered almost inaudible as she echoed in Yi Ping’s ears with the Great Whispering Skill, “You know that I am dead, yet you refuse to keep your hands off my breasts…I know you are trying to transfer your internal strength to my heart pulse but you seem to be enjoying taking advantage of me. How am I going to get marry in the future, huh?”

Even though it appeared that Lie Qing was rebuking him but she was in fact, extremely touched by Yi Ping undying devotion for her as she continued, “Today, I finally know how deep your love for me is. I don’t want to be a Celestial anymore…”

Lingfeng, Youxue, Yu’Er and Mei’Er had overcome their initial shock as they flew towards Yi Ping and Lie Qing with utter elation as they cried out, “Sister Qing’Er! You are still alive!”

Even Gongsun Jing, Nangong Le, Qiu Wufeng, Huo Fu and Ji Wuzheng were teary as they suppressed the rush to give Lie Qing a welcoming hug!

Dugu Yunzi’s eyes were in tears as she walked silently beside Yi Ping and Qing’Er.

Yi Ping immediately embraced Dugu Yunzi at the same time as he cried out tearfully, “Yun, I know you will not betray us. I know…I just know…I miss you…do you know how hurt I was when you turn your back on me…”

Dugu Yunzi was trembling as she said tearfully, “Even if I am cursed, I will never, never betray you Ping’Er. I would rather die in your stead than see you die…”

Lingfeng cried as she held Yunzi’s hands, “I am sorry. I have wronged you…”

Youxue was crying as she said, “So am I…Sister Yun, please forgive us! You are the one that saved all of us!”

Even though Yu’Er and Mei’Er were blood soaked, they were so happy to see Lie Qing and Dugu Yunzi on their side again that they were shedding tears of joy and forgetting their agonizing pain!

Dugu Zhen was so startled by the new happenings that she staggered backward even as she looked at Dugu Yunzi hatefully, “My daughter, do you know what you have done? Have you forgotten about the blood curse of the Sacred Divine Clan and the blood oath that you have made?!”

Dugu Yunzi glanced quietly at Lie Qing before she pointed out, “Do you know who she is?”

Dugu Zhen said bitterly, “I don’t care who she is. I only want to know, why did you betrayed your oaths, your clan and your mother!”

Dugu Yunzi sighed softly as she said quietly, “Dearest mother, all these years I have never disobey you. It is all over now…”

Lie Qing broke freed of Yi Ping reluctantly. She raised her long black precious sword at Dugu Zhen as she looked at her keenly with her crimson eyes, “Dugu Zhen, from now on. I am your Holy Leader. My commands are absolute and I am above your oaths!”

Dugu Zhen was startled as she asked, “What do you mean?”

Lie Qing answered, “Let me tell you then…”

A day ago, late at night…

Lie Qing and Dugu Yunzi were both sitting on the roof of the Holy Chapter as they viewed the lofty Holy Amalgamate Mountains from afar.

Lie Qing said coolly as she stroked her long hair in the cool windy breezes, “You don’t have to lie to me. I know from your eyes that you are hiding something from us.”

Dugu Yunzi replied quietly, “I have…nothing to hide…”

Lie Qing sighed softly, “Really? Why is that when we walk past that Dugu Zhen, both of you averted your glances with each other and pretending not to know each other? That Dugu Zhen is really a shrewd lady, keenly observing everyone except for you. Isn’t that a little too weird?”

When Lie Qing had pointed this out, Dugu Yunzi appeared to be jolted!

Lie Qing continued unhurriedly, “And moreover, I see betrayal in your eyes. I have seen this cold expressionless emotion in the eyes too many times.”

She sighed as her tears swelled in her eyes, “In my entire life, I have been betrayed too many times by the people that I have placed my trust in. Moreover, you know that I am a Celestial now and have the ability to divine.”

Dugu Yunzi was startled, “You really have the ability to divine?!”

Lie Qing smiled at her, “That is right. All Celestials have the ability to divine. Why do you think Lele sends me here? She knows that you are in trouble and I am the only one that can help you.”

Dugu Yunzi was silent for a while as she averted her teary eyes, “I am not as good as what all of you thinks. I am also not as chaste and innocent as the other maidens. Do you know that I am actually from a known heretic sect with an infamous reputation in the martial fraternity?”

She looked teary at Lie Qing with her voice trembling in extreme grief, “Do you know that that I am now being forced by my mother, Dugu Zhen to betray the man that I truly loves? Do you know how heartbreaking my innermost is? Do you know that I am also the Holy Leader of the Sacred Divine Clan and I have to bear the burdens that are placed upon me by the clan elders?”

Her voice grew even melancholy as her tears fell silently, “I only wish to be with Ping’Er but my blood oaths prevented me from betraying my holy sect. Those that betray the Sacred Clan even if they have descendants, the males would be slaves while the females would be prostitutes. They would never enjoy a full life and be cursed for all generations to die of horrible mishap. Anyone that took them in would be met with the same fate too. That is how deadly my blood oaths are!”

Lie Qing was startled.

Dugu Yunzi lamented, “And tomorrow, I have to betray everyone. You have better warn the others and ask them to flee as far as they can. It is because if you stay, all of you will surely die!”

Lie Qing looked at her into her eyes before she said slowly, “Good sister, you are not leaving with us?”

Dugu Yunzi’s voice was one of great despair, “By telling you all this, I have already broken my oaths and have betrayed my clan. By going with all of you, I will only be harming Yi Ping and everyone! Please, please leave me alone!”

Lie Qing said quietly, “Good sister, I truly understands what you have been through.”

She looked up the skies and at the seven beaming celestial stars above as she said softly, “The Invincible Divine Clan used to be the most powerful heretic sect in the fraternity and we have achieved domination over all the other major martial clans. I am the Heavenly Temptress of the Invincible Divine Clan. After the Invincible Divine Clan had been annihilated by the Celestial Palace, I have founded the Virtuous Palace in the Far East as a remnant of the Invincible Divine Clan to avoid pursues by the enemies of the Invincible Divine Clan. But it was not before long that I was betrayed by my own followers, including your ancestor Ding Jun…”

Dugu Yunzi was startled as she quickly interrupted, “What do you mean by you have founded the Virtuous Palace? Aren’t you just a descendant of the Invincible Divine Clan? And what do you mean by, you are the Heavenly Temptress?!”

Lie Qing averted her glances, “I lie. I didn’t want anyone to know my true age. Don’t you find it weird that the Celestial Liege knows me? The Invincible Divine Clan that he had destroyed is not a recent happening but one that happened a long time ago, before the founding of the Virtuous Palace. That is why I have named our group the New Virtuous Palace so that I can seek vengeance on the present descendants of the Virtuous Palace.”

Dugu Yunzi stammered, “How is it possible for you to live this long…it is impossible…then are you really a true Celestial?”

She suddenly gasped, “That means that Celestial Liege was not just stating things metaphorically when he talks about the feud the Celestial Palace had with the Invincible Divine Clan many centuries ago. He was actually there! So my mother and clan elders are not chasing a mad dream but they actually found a way to ascend as a Celestial. Are you really the Heavenly Temptress?!”

Lie Qing nodded as she covered her face with her hands, “I am indeed the Heavenly Temptress and please don’t go around telling anyone or I will surely faint. The last time I go to town, my fraternity name seems to be even more notorious than ever before.”

She lamented as she cursed softly, “Don’t let me catch those rumor spreaders that added to my notoriety or I surely skin them alive! And from what Youxue and you have shared with me, there is also a legend of the red eyes in the Virtuous Palace. It seems that the red eyes of the Celestial Palace that massacred my other clan, the Invincible Divine Clan now become the oppressors of the Virtuous Palace. I was betrayed by your ancestors and they had covered that betrayal with another tale. Those traitors did not want to let their descendants know their evil deeds and had covered everything up.”

Dugu Yunzi said, “My ancestor Ding Jun did not betray you. In fact, he had secretly founded the Sacred Divine Clan to honor you and to remind us to destroy the Virtuous Palace one day. But the Virtuous Palace that you have founded has too many super exponents. Moreover the Xiao Clan kept many martial secrets like the Dark Mono Sword Formation to only descendants of the Yuan and Xiao Clan. There are also the secret martial skills of the Eighteen Unbreakable Hands, the three killing techniques of the extinct Southern Isle Clan and others.”

All of a sudden, Dugu Yunzi bowed down on her knees, “My respect to the First Grand Protégé Mistress!”

Lie Qing was taken aback but she quickly recovered from her surprise as she smiled mysteriously, “Good sister, don’t ever bow to me. I will surely feel very bad. Please get up first. Let me ask you; that mean if the Sacred Divine Clan is created in my name, does it also mean that I can also void all the blood oaths too?”

Dugu Yunzi was startled as she quickly replied, “That’s right…in all our ceremonies and oaths; we will always invoke the name of the Heavenly Temptress to be our witness…and her dead spirit to execute the oaths…”

Lie Qing laughed softly, “Oh Heavens! I have become a dead spirit now. That’s great. Then, I shall release you from all your oaths. You have never betrayed the Sacred Divine Clan because you have never betrayed me! Then can I just avert this crisis of yours by announcing my presence?”

Dugu Yunzi said quietly, “I am afraid that it is not possible. Many sect elders that had protested against the ‘Celestial Pan’ as a dangerous gambit that may destroy the clan had all been killed by the Three Evils. Even if you are the Heavenly Temptress, the ‘Celestial Plan’ cannot be stopped now because the entire Sacred Divine Clan is now so close to becoming Celestials. Moreover, would anyone believe you and believe someone that had never led the clan for even one day of her life? They would rather kill you than believe in you.”

Lie Qing smiled bitterly, “I ought to remember this as another betrayal. So much for using my name to unite the scattering protégés into the Sacred Divine Clan and then forgotten about my real person. Oh Heavens!”

Dugu Yunzi, “We should flee on this very night…but for Ji Wuzheng and Sister Lingfeng, would they believe us?

Lie Qing asked, “What if we choose to stay behind and make a stand?”

Dugu Yunzi sighed melancholy, “Sister Qing’Er, you do not know who your opponents are or else you won’t think about it. I know very well how powerful the Three Evils of the West are. Moreover they have already merged the Holy Amalgamate Force with the Divine Virtuous Force into a Super Virtuous Amalgamate Force. Any one of them is already considered to be a superior super exponent and moreover there are three of them. Even if Yi Ping and you can defeat them, you may not survive your injuries too. The odds of winning against one of them are fifty-fifty for both sides. But if they joined hands, no one in the martial fraternity will be able to stop them except for the Dark Mono Sword Formation of the Virtuous Palace.”

Lie Qing smiled mysteriously, “What if we fight evil with evil?”

Dugu Yunzi asked, “What do you mean, sister?”

Lie Qing turned extremely solemn, “However, this will be very risky for you and you may even be killed by Yi Ping and the rest.”

Dugu Yunzi said with quiet determination, “I am not afraid of sacrificing my life for Ping’Er and for the rest of my good sisters, as long as everyone can have a chance of surviving. I am willing to do that!”

Lie Qing said, “This will requires extreme acting skills on our side. I just hope that Yi Ping doesn’t make it so hilarious in an otherwise serious situation or the entire plan will come to a futile end. Sometimes you know, like Lingfeng, I cannot resist giving him a hard kick for saying or doing stupid things at the wrong time. Luckily, Sister Lingfeng always gives him a timely hard knock for that or else I surely will be the next to kick him hard!”

Dugu Yunzi laughed softly, “Actually me too…”

But she quickly asked, “What is the plan? Can you divine it first?”

Lie Qing sighed softly, “There is no such thing as divination.”

Dugu Yunzi was startled, “But you just say Celestials have the ability to divine and you can see the betrayal in my eyes? You have also said that Lele has sent you here because she has divined that we are in danger?”

Lie Qing smiled weakly, “Good sister, I am sorry. I lie again.”

Dugu Yunzi was startled.

Lie Qing said shyly, “Lele don’t have any ability to divine. She lies too. It doesn’t take a genius to know that all of you are going to be in danger. Because all of us are worry for Yi Ping, it just a convenient excuse to use divination as an excuse for me to come to your aid. She may think I can’t tell but somehow I can tell all from her sheepish and subtle expressions. As for the betrayal in your eyes, it is based on my personal experience and not a result of any divination.”

Dugu Yunzi was stunned, “Sister Lele and you are really so alike…in many ways. I am beginning to feel that the two of you may be twins in your previous life. Even your mannerism is the same…”

Lie Qing laughed softly, “Is that so? Sometimes I think so as well.”

She looked at Dugu Yunzi for a while before she said, “Sometimes I feel that I have known you, Lingfeng, Yu’Er, Mei’Er, Lele, Yixian, Youxue and even Yi Ping from a long time ago too. But that’s not important. So here is the plan…the code for action will be Invincible Divine...”

Dugu Zhen laughed coldly as she looked at Ji Wuzheng, Yi Ping, Lie Qing and Dugu Yunzi one by one, “So, that is the plan…what a good plan. We all have been fooled. The three elders are dead now. The Celestial Plan is now shattered. I have lost everything now…”

Ji Wuzheng said quietly, “You have not lost everything. You still have me and you are still the proud mother of our three daughters.”

Dugu Yunzi nodded as she cried out, “Dearest mother, you still have your Yunzi!”

Dugu Zhen was stunned as she looked tearfully at Ji Wuzheng, “After all that I did, after you have known that I am from the heretic sect, you are still willing to forgive me?”

Ji Wuzheng reached out for his hands and immediately Dugu Zhen fell into his embrace as he said, “No matter what you did, I am willing to forgive! I can’t do with you. I know that throughout the years, you have also done an excellent work in the Holy Hex Sect. No one will need to disclose that you are from the Sacred Divine Clan. It is almost no more now.”

Dugu Zhen muttered, “You have no idea how influential is the Sacred Divine Clan. There are still three powerful elders that know my identity that are undercover on the orthodox clans’ side.”

Ji Wuzheng said, “It doesn’t matter. I will protect you even if it means that I have to give up my life for you.”

Dugu Zhen sighed tearfully, “You…”

She turned and looked at Lie Qing as she stammered, “Are you really the Heavenly Temptress?”

Lie Qing nodded quietly.

Dugu Zhen fell on her knees as she said, “May Grand Protégé Mistress forgive me for any transgression that I have made. I am also willing to atone for my terrible mistakes!”

Lie Qing said awkwardly as she fingered her long hair in front of her face, “Rise please. Your daughter, Yun is my good sister. How would I have the heart to punish her dearest mother? You just need to reveal to us the further plans of the Sacred Divine Clan as atonement. Then we can prevent a martial calamity from happening.”

Dugu Zhen nodded even as Dugu Yunzi and Ji Wuzheng helped her up at the same time while Yunzi said shyly, “Stepfather!”

Ji Wuzheng was very happy, “I have got another daughter now. It is something worth celebrating and I should open my precious wine cellar!”

Huo Fu was rubbing his bloodied face that was mixed with his tears. He had never seen such a moving scene in his entire life before and was quiet the entire time…

All of a sudden, Yi Ping clapped his hands as he said excitedly. “So this is all part of a plan! I almost got fooled by it.”

Lingfeng gave Yi Ping a weak kick as she laughed softly, “You are slow, aren’t you? And it is not almost. You really got fooled by it.”

Yi Ping smiled bitterly, “I almost thought that I have lost Qing’Er and Yun’Er. Qing’Er, Yun’Er, why didn’t you tell us your plans beforehand? At least I won’t be so panicky!”

He took a quick look around him and nodded silently to Nangong Le, Gongsun Jing and Qiu Wufeng who all gave him a thumb up from afar. “At least we are lucky to have all survived. This is one of the hardest fights that I have ever fought…”

Lie Qing said shyly as her eyes displayed a thousand affections for him, “If we tell you and the sisters first, we will not get the result that we want. You have such bad acting skills, if we tell you first; the plan would be doomed from very start. Also, or else I won’t know how much you really care for me.”

Dugu Yunzi nodded affectionately at him, “Ping’Er, now I also know how you feel for me…”

Mei’Er exclaimed with a mischievous look in her eyes, “I also want to know how much Master have for me in his heart. Prove to me, Master!”

Yi Ping could only smile bitterly at Mei’Er.

Yu’Er had covered her face at her sister open declaration of her heart. That was really so bold of her sister and she was startled!

Mei’Er said, “Master, I want you to prove it now! Did you not see my injuries and wounds? All these are for you!”

Yu’Er quickly said, “Mei’Er, you are asking Master to prove his love for you and not the other way round!”

Mei’Er protested softly, “Is there a difference?”

Yi Ping bowed to Ji Wuzheng as he glanced at Lingfeng, “Big Brother, I have a favor to ask from you.”

Lingfeng was startled as she quickly thought, “Is he asking for my hand? I won’t say no if he really asks…”

Yi Ping said, “There are now five Divine Dragon Pills now. One of the Divine Dragon Pills has been taken by Lingfeng and there are only four left. I have two friends of mine who may need the Divine Dragon Pills urgently. Can I have two of the Divine Dragon Pills?”

Ji Wuzheng laughed, “We are brothers. Of course you can have it. Even if you want all of it, I will surely give it all to you!”

Yi Ping said, “That’s alright. I don’t need more.”

Ji Wuzheng said solemnly, “Alas, you should take one for yourself too. These Divine Dragon Pills are actually created from your own hands and I really have no more right to them. What I own is actually the Heavenly Relic and not these Divine Dragon Pills.”

Dugu Zhen smiled gently. She was now at peace with herself and did not hunger to be a Celestial anymore. It did not matter even if her husband wanted to give all the precious Divine Dragon Pills away! All she wanted now, was to spend time with Ji Wuzheng…

Yi Ping said to Youxue, “Youxue, can I have two of the Divine Dragon Pills and return two of the Divine Dragon Pills to Brother Wuzheng?”

Youxue quietly opened her hand and revealed only one Divine Dragon Pill as she said sheepishly, “There is only one left now…”

Everyone was stunned.

Yi Ping was in a daze as he asked her, “What happened to the other three?!”

Youxue averted her enthralling glances as she said sheepishly, “I have consumed one earlier while you are all talking.”

Everyone was stunned…

Youxue explained sheepishly, “I am also seriously injured so I have taken one of the Divine Dragon Pills.”

Yi Ping muttered, “I have thought that you have actually consumed three at the same time. You have taken one and where are the other two?”

Youxue pointed at Yu’Er and Mei’Er, “It in their stomachs now.”

Yu’Er and Mei’Er too, were sheepish as they said at the same time, “We are injured and we almost die too…”

Mei’Er said, “Or else you won’t see me talking to you now. I will be lying there. Is that what you really want to see huh?”

Yi Ping smiled weakly as he sighed, “The Divine Dragon Pills cannot be consumed by practitioners that have less than sixty years of internal strength or it does more harm than good. Youxue has the martial foundation already but the two of you... “

Yu’Er was suddenly sorrowful, “Master, will we die?”

Mei’Er said, “But we are feeling a lot better than earlier…”

Lingfeng said, “I don’t have sixty years of internal strength too…”

Youxue quickly said, “There is no need to worry. The Divine Dragon Pill does not necessary need to be used to increase the practitioner’s martial strength. It can also be used to save lives. Much of the potency of the Divine Dragon Pill will be consumed in the process of treating your injuries and wounds.”

The truth was that Youxue was not confident of what she had said but she withheld her worries...


Yi Ping was a little relieved to hear that…

Huo Fu, Ji Wuzheng, Dugu Zhen, Lie Qing, Dugu Yunzi, Lingfeng, Gongsun Jing, Nangong Le and Qiu Wufeng were all stunned that four out of five of the Divine Dragon Pills had all been consumed at such a rapid rate!

Yi Ping murmured bitterly, “One Divine Dragon Pill is now left. Should I give it to Yixian or Lele?”

When Youxue saw that Lingfeng had really revived so suddenly, she knew instantly that these Divine Dragon Pills were not fakes. All of a sudden, a thought crossed her mind. Lingfeng martial progression would surely advance much faster after consuming the Divine Dragon Pill. If that happened, then Yi Ping would surely trust her more and more. With that thought in mind, she immediately popped in one of the Divine Dragon Pills in secret!

After consuming it, she was overwhelmed with guilt. She had thought that if she could find one or two others to take it too, then she would not feel so awkward later. So she gave one each to Yu’Er and Mei’Er who had also immediately taken it!

Yi Ping said to Youxue, “Do you know that it is improper to take others’ stuff first without asking? Didn’t your parents or elders teach you that?”

Youxue said coolly, “My father and elders, including my mother just told me that anything that I can lay my hands on, it is mine. It is the responsibility of others to protect what they want. If they can’t protect it, then finder is keeper.”

Yi Ping was stunned, “Did your parents really teach you that?!”

Dugu Yunzi giggled, “That’s right. That is the rule of the Virtuous Palace!”

Yi Ping, Ji Wuzheng, Huo Fu, Gongsun Jing, Nangong Le and Qiu Wufeng were stunned at this revelation.

Yi Ping said to Yu’Er and Mei’Er, “Is that a rule of the Eternal Ice Palace too?”

Yu’Er said shyly, “We have no such rules. But if a good sister offers us something good to eat, it is considered disrespectful not to take it.”

There was nothing Yi Ping could do now except to smile weakly.

Ji Wuzheng laughed, “It seemed that you have a lot of troubles in your hands in future with these maidens. Don’t worry too much about the Divine Dragon Pills. You can have them all.”

Yi Ping bowed respectfully, “Thank you Brother…”

Youxue, Yu’Er and Mei’Er said at the same time, “Thank you!”

The only person that was sore about the Divine Dragon Pills was actually Lie Qing. She was actually counting the number of state of divinities that she could actually reach with each of the Divine Dragon Pill that had gone up in smoke! “They have no idea how precious the Divine Dragon Pills are…consuming them so recklessly…faint! These Divine Dragon Pills can only be obtainable by the sheer arrangement of destiny and cannot be sought…”

All of a sudden, Yi Ping said to her, interrupting her thoughts. “Qing’Er, I found the name of the Heavenly Temptress to be so familiar. Did you mention that you are a protégé in the Heavenly Temptress Clan? Why have you become the Heavenly Temptress now?”

Lie Qing looked at him as she pretended to be upset, “I don’t want to explain to someone as stupid as you. Go figure out yourself!”

Yi Ping was left in bewilderment as he thought, “Did I say something wrong?”

While he was still pondering why, Youxue had quietly fallen into his embrace as she said quietly, “Sometimes it is better not to know too much, as long as everyone can be together…”

When Youxue had fallen into Yi Ping’s embrace, Lingfeng, Yu’Er, Mei’Er, Yunzi and Lie Qing had also fallen blissfully into his arms.

The sight was enviable and it seemed that time had stopped for them.

Indeed, for a long time, no one dare to disturb their tranquil gathering!

Nangong Le, Gongsun Jing and Qiu Wufeng were exchanging enviable glances with one another even as they sat on the floor. Their injuries were too heavy for them to move, especially Gongsun Jing who had been fatally slashed by the Blade Heretic on his leg.

Youxue suddenly whispered, “Ping’Er, who does you really like the most? Is it me? Have you already forgotten what we have been through that night?”

Yi Ping was stunned by her question and all of a sudden, he noticed all the other maidens were looking at him with an equally hostile look around them as they waited for him to answer this question!

Lingfeng warned him gently, “You have better answer correctly or else you will be dead very soon.”

Yi Ping smiled most bitterly.



Ch56 End
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Chapter 58: The Ascension Sect



It was late at night and Yi Ping had gone down the Holy Amalgamate Mountains alone without a word. He had saw flames rising from the foot of the mountains and knew immediately that something was amiss.

Not even a full day had passed after he had fought with the Three Evils of the West.

He was astonished how light his body had been after he had looked into the Emptiness Translucent silver scroll at the Tranquil Clan. His entire body was energized with rejuvenating vigor that even he could find no words for that. He was now more alert and did not even feel sleepy. The amount of sleep that he required was drastically reduced and even a short nap could rejuvenate him like a full rest.

Upon reaching a sheer cliff below, he mustered his Boundless Divine Force which used to be his Aspire Invocation Force as he jumped down to the ground below. Somehow he knew he could make it through the jump. Indeed, he landed lightly and he heaved a sigh, “I can actually jump from this height? In no time I will be able to reach the mountains below.”

He muttered, “Qing’Er, Youxue…Lingfeng, Yunzi…Yu’Er, Mei’Er…forgive me. I don’t want to endanger any one of you anymore. Aside from Xiao Shuai, Gu Tianle, Zuo Tianyi, Yuan Shao, there are still many more powerful exponents on the opposing side. That old man that we fight on the mountainside is also really deadly. I really don’t want to see anyone of you getting injured or even died in front of me anymore.”

Something that he could not explain seemed to be drawing him into the camps of the orthodox clans. Somehow he had an uneasy feeling that the truce was not what it seemed to be. He muttered, “Brother Wuzheng, if I enter the orthodox clan camps alone, then it won’t constituted as a breach of the truce?”

Just as he had begun to whistle a tune, he sniffed a light familiar fragrant as he looked around him with a startled expression!

Two beautiful maiden with long raven hair, in black velvet had just walked enchantingly into view. They were identical and were laughing softly in the windy darkness.

Yi Ping’s heart was beating very fast when he had caught sight of them as he stammered, “Yu’Er and Mei’Er, why are you here? You have not recovered from your wounds yet…quickly turn back!”

Yu’Er flew to him immediately as she looked up to him, “Master, our injuries are almost healed. The Divine Dragon Pill may be a little hard to swallow but it is quite effective in treating our injuries. Other than feeling just a little weird, we are really alright.”

Mei’Er was also beside Yi Ping in an instant as she sighed softly on his neck, “Master, you are thinking of abandoning Mei’Er and goes down the mountains alone? I want to fight beside you, no matter how difficulty the road in front is. You are not going anywhere without us and we are not allowing that to happen.”

Yi Ping smiled bitterly, “It is too dangerous, Yu’Er and Mei’Er. Go back, I command you…”

Yu’Er interrupted, “Look over there first.”

Yi Ping turned and saw four extremely beautiful maidens were standing near the edge of the mountain slope below and they were casting forlorn glances at him; indeed they were Lie Qing in her elegant pink dress, Yunzi in her gray robe, Lingfeng in her white garb and Youxue in her light yellow long dress.

Yi Ping was stunned, “They are also here?!”

Mei’Er laughed softly, “We have been waiting for you for quite some time. So what’s take you so long to be here?”

Yu’Er added, “It is either you go back, let us come with you or...”

Mei’Er continued, “Or…you just have to follow us to protect us!”

Yi Ping signed in resignation as he held their hands, saying aloud in a clear audible voice. “Let’s go!”

Lie Qing, Youxue, Lingfeng and Yunzi had heard him and they were smiling and had immediately turned around and were hopping down the mountains in advance!

When Yi Ping and his companions reached the camps of the orthodox clans, it was already daybreak and the mayhem that they had seen were simply too appalling!

Thousands of exponents were lying on the ground and several hundreds were still fighting and there were also many individual duels!

But when Yi Ping had hopped into their midst, the fighting between the exponents ceased all of a sudden!

Whether the exponents were the orthodox exponents, the unorthodox exponents or the heretic exponents, they had all paused in their tracks!

Yi Ping was startled for everyone was now staring in his direction, causing him to be extremely awkward!

His original intention was to muster a martial shout to get all the fighting exponents’ attention but as soon as he had flew into the camp, the fighting had totally ceased!

While the exponents were fighting, their sixth sense alerted them to the presence of a righteous air that had suddenly descended upon them!

This was totally different from the usual killing malevolent air and in each of every single exponent’s heart; a weird throbbing feeling had suddenly seized them!

When they had all turned around, they were stunned to see that the righteous air had come from a young handsome man in white who had with him two sword scabbards by his side. Somehow this insignificant young man was the very source of their attentions and there was a mystifying magnetism around him!

They were further stunned when almost immediately after the young man had arrived, six extraordinary beautiful maidens had also appeared into view next to him. Awed by their unbelievable beauty and their elegance expressions, all the exponents began to lower their weapons or soften their combat stances!

Quite a few exponents had already recognized Yi Ping as the young hero that had dared to come on his own to challenge Gu Tianle, Jue Yuan and Zuo Tianyi as they muttered among themselves, “I recognize him. He is Yi Ping…”

Yi Ping shouted aloud as he mustered his martial power, “Everyone! Stop fighting…”

The martial power of his shout was so pure that his shouts could be heard clearly throughout the entire camp and even resonated a few times. Immediate, even the doubtful exponents were immediately in awe of his internal strength!

Mei’Er was giggling to Lingfeng in an almost inaudible whisper, “They have already stopped fighting!”

Yi Ping had overheard Mei’Er as he hummed softly before he shouted again, “Everyone, listen to me. Go back to where you have come from! This fight is meaningless!”

Some exponents were muttering, “Even if we want to retreat, would the heretic exponents spare us?”

Dugu Yunzi stepped out as she eyed the heretic exponents. She knew that they were unwilling to reveal their names and she had no intention of letting the others know that some of the surviving heretic exponents that were looking at them now were actually her clan elders and protégés!

So she said, “I am the Holy Leader of the Sacred Divine Leader. My holy will is the holy execution.”

She raised her long sword elegantly and said demurely, “Sacred Divine of the Heavenly Temptress Will, I command all the Sacred Divine protégés to go now!”

If she had come earlier, the elders of the Sacred Divine Clan may not want to listen to her as they were waiting for the Three Evils to reinforce them. But they had not turned up and most of their numbers were either dead, wounded or suffered from extreme fatigue from the fighting throughout the night. Upon seeing righteous air of Yi Ping and the extraordinary air of their Holy Leader, the elders of the heretic sects shouted, “Go!”

Immediately hundreds of exponents began to pull out of the vicinity, carrying their dead and wounded with them!

The orthodox exponents did not stop them and were only too relieved.

Lingfeng said coolly, “I am the Holy Maiden of the Holy Hex Sect. Those who are weary and did not want to fight anymore can just leave. The Holy Hex Sect does not have the desire to dominate the martial fraternity. The death of the Old Sword Saint was just the result of a friendly duel between my brother and the Old Sword Saint. Whether you believe or not, it is up to you.”

It was mostly the exponents from infiltrators and those clans that had suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the other clans that had heeded her advice and began to withdraw. But the vast majority of the clans remained!

Lingfeng had no sympathy for these unorthodox clans for they did not fight on the same side as the Holy Hex Sect. Most of the unorthodox clans presented were actually on the side of the Honor Manor and had raised the pretentious banner of righteousness!

This was the martial fraternity, where the lines between orthodox and unorthodox clans were sometimes extremely blurred. If an unorthodox clan joins the orthodox clan, then it gained fame and was considered to be an orthodox clan by the heroes of the fraternity. But if an unorthodox clan joined the Holy Hex Sect, then it was considered to be an evil sect and was branded as an unorthodox clan or a heretic sect!

Even the majority of the orthodox clans were not spared the clan struggles within the orthodox martial fraternity. To be just an orthodox clan required a proven action. It was because an orthodox clan was not yet a righteous orthodox clan and not yet a major orthodox clan!

That was why there were over two hundred martial clans, big and small that flocked to the righteous banners of the Honor Manor, which was leading martial clan in the fraternity. Through the success of the Honor Manor, all the clans presented would be able to gain renowned for their clans!

Youxue said coldly, “They are consumed by their lust for the martial secrets of the Holy Hex Sect. Now that the heretic sects have retreated, they are all thinking that they may stand a chance to storm the Holy Chapter Citadel. Even if most of them are injured, they will crawl up the mountains for a chance for glory.”

There was a cold laughter that shook the surrounding!

It was Xiao Shuai!

Behind him were Yuan Shao, Han Shaodong, the Sword Sage, the Element Sage and many others!

Five hundred fresh elite exponents from the Twelve Golden Halls of the Honor Manor had also appeared as they quickly surrounding Yi Ping and his companions!

But it was not Xiao Shuai or the five hundred fighters that had surrounded them that had startled Yi Ping. It was because he had caught sight of an angelic young maiden that had walked into view. Immediately they had exchanged glances as the angelic young maiden was also looking at him at the same time. Even though this was the first time that Yi Ping had caught sight of her but he immediately murmured, “The Dark Enchantress of the West…”

Lie Qing had also noticed her and had heard him as she whispered, “You know her?”

Yi Ping shook his head even as all the maidens were secretly annoyed with him. They were all curious who this angelic maiden was and what was her relationship with Yi Ping!

Lie Qing asked, “Then how did you know her name? Don’t you tell me, you know her name in a dream?”

Yi Ping smiled bitterly.

Lie Qing whispered softly, “Be wary of her. She may be a difficult exponent to handle. If I am not wrong, she is already a Celestial and one with extremely high attainment. When a Celestial has reached past a certain attainment, the eyes will turn to gray. That means that she has already got past to the Celestial Divine Stage of Crisis and soon about to Ascend. That’s why she could disguise her crimson eyes.”

Yi Ping smiled weakly, “Indeed she has gray eyes. But isn’t that a strange thing? Only blind people have gray eyes. Don’t tell me she is blind?”

Lie Qing stomped on his foot hard as she rebuked him lightly, “Does she look like a blind maiden to you?”

Yi Ping shook his head as he said, “No…”

Lie Qing said, “This is the sign of a Celestial Ascend. It is called the darkness before the light. When she has ascended successful, then her eyes will turn golden! At that point of time, even if all of us joined hands together, we may not be able to defeat her. Unless, of course we are all Celestials and with at least one of us beyond the Crisis level.”

Lie Qing did not continued anymore because Xiao Shuai had approached within their hearing range!

When Yi Ping had looked intently at the exponents that had surrounded them, he had recognized Yan Nanfei and Shangguan Qingyun among them. He immediately bowed silently with his hands politely when he saw them!

Xiao Shuai had walked in front of Yi Ping but he had maintained a considerable distant away from Yi Ping as he laughed, “What do we have here? The Holy Leader of the leading heretic sect and the Holy Maiden of the leading unorthodox sect are both here? It seems that I do not need to expend any efforts and you have already fallen into my hands. So Yunzi, you are actually the Holy Leader of the Sacred Divine Clan. This is really a surprise. Even though I have suspected the Ding Clan to be associated with the heretic sect but I have never the Ding Clan to be the famous Dugu Clan.”

Dugu Yunzi interrupted coldly, “That’s right. I am Dugu Yunzi, the Holy Leader of the Sacred Divine. Let me introduced you to my grand protégé mistress the Heavenly Temptress. She is the founder of the Sacred Divine Clan and the Virtuous Palace.”

Lie Qing stroked her long hair as she smiled mesmerizing, “Alas, my grand protégé descendants. Why didn’t you greet your grand protégé mistress?”

Xiao Shuai laughed coldly and eyed her with scorn, “You are the Heavenly Temptress? I am afraid that you are several centuries too late! Don’t make me laugh. You are nothing but a pretty face. Not only will the Virtuous Palace not let you off but the rest of the martial clans will also do the same too. You are the descendant of the red eyes clan and we all know that you live by feasting on human blood and hearts!”

After he had coolly rebuked the young and mesmerizing Lie Qing who had claimed to be the Heavenly Temptress, he had expected thunderous shouts and cheers from his side but instead there were total silence!

He turned around and was startled to see Xiao Fei and Xiao Ao were smiling in idiocy at Lie Qing, Youxue, Lingfeng, Yu’Er, Mei’Er and Dugu Yunzi.

There were not the only ones; the Element Sage and his grand protégé nephew Chi Zhengqi were both staring dreamily at them. There were also Shangguan Qingyun, the Martial Sage, Yan Nanfei, the Sword Sage and even Han Shaodong!

For a moment he was too speechless to continue until Yi Ping interrupted him, “You are as stupid as me. I didn’t figure out the last time but now I finally do. The Heavenly Temptress is but a hereditary title. That is why Qing’Er is the Heavenly Temptress. Now you got it?”

Immediately, Lie Qing and the other maidens had burst out in soft laughter as they chuckled softly.

Lingfeng was laughing so much till her eyes had turned watery as she said to Yi Ping, “You are… (chuckle)…so smart (chuckle)…now!”

If the maidens did not laugh, then it would not be that bad for Xiao Shuai’s side. Once they had started laughing unwillingly, their every single gesture had melted the hearts of all the onlookers, as they had never seen such a mesmerizing carefree natural laughter. Immediately, the fighting spirits of the exponents seemed to drop drastically. Even the evil exponents that were looking lustfully at them could not find the heart to hurt them.

Even Zuo Tianyi was muttering, “Yunzi…if I want you back now, is that possible?”

Yi Ping was startled by the maidens reactions as he thought, “This is a serious moment. Why are they laughing at Xiao Shuai?”

From Yi Ping’s blank expression, Lingfeng knew that Yi Ping did not know that they were laughing at him. When she had finally thought she could stop laughing, Yi Ping’s blank expression made her laughed jovially again.

Even Youxue, who usually would not laugh easily, was smiling jovially…

Xiao Shuai did not know why they were laughing too…

He turned to stare fiercely at Youxue as he appraised her, “My daughter. Do you know that I have been looking everywhere for you? It has been three, four years now? You have grown up now and have grown into a true beauty. How old are you when you left the Virtuous Palace? Sixteen?”

Youxue laughed softly, “If you want to know how many Golden Rejuvenation Pills I have left now, I can tell you. I have finished all of it.”

Xiao Shuai was stunned as he thought miserably, “My precious…Golden Rejuvenation Pills…”

When Youxue saw his disappointed expressions, she added cheekily. “If you are looking for the Heavenly Relic to ascend as a Celestial, you can also forget about it. That is because Yi Ping has destroyed it during the battle with the Three Evils.”

Xiao Shuai was stunned.

After some time, he asked. “Where are the Three Evils now?”

Youxue said coldly, “They have already ascended as the Three Celestials of the West and have gone to the Blissful Realm of the Western Paradise now. They are one step earlier than any one of you!”

Xiao Shuai was even more startled when he had heard that, as he muttered. “Xiao Fan didn’t say a word to me…those bastards…they have already ascended…all our plans for nothing now…”

Youxue said, “You don’t have to worry for Xiao Fan. He has been enlightened by the Three Celestials of the West and has gone to become a monk now.”

Xiao Shuai nearly suffered a heart-attack after hearing bad news after bad news.

Xiao Youxue was not telling the truth. She just enjoyed tormenting Xiao Shuai.

Xiao Shuai said coldly, “Do you know how precious these Golden Rejuvenation Pills are and how much effort that I have put to obtain it? Do you know that with these Golden Rejuvenation Pills, I would have perfected the Divine Virtuous Force and learnt the Golden Impervious Body? Do you know that the Virtuous Palace depends on these Golden Rejuvenation Pills to help us to ascend as Celestials and saved our lives later?”

Xiao Youxue said melancholy and her eyes had turned teary, “Do you know that I am your daughter and not your tool? You really want to drink my blood then you will be content?”

Xiao Shuai was a little startled when he saw her tears…

Just as Yi Ping was about to step forward to clarify, Lingfeng had immediately jabbed him and took a quick telling glance at him. He could only smile bitterly and kept quiet.

Xiao Shuai beamed with anger, “My two sons, Xiao Yuanjia and Xiao Da, who among you have killed them!”

Yi Ping immediately said coldly, “I am the one! I am Yi Ping, son of Yi Tianxing!”

There were a sudden mutterings among the older exponents who seemed to recognized Yi Tianxing’s name!

Lie Qing and Dugu Yunzi gasped secretly. It was because Yi Ping was taking all the blame for them upon himself!

Xiao Shuai stared at Yi Ping coldly, “So it is you! I promise you that you won’t be able to leave this place alive!”

Xiao Shuai said to Han Shaodong and Gu Tianle, “Order your men to attack them at once!”

Yu’Er interrupted, “You are not fighting us yourself? You are the one that is talking so much!”

Xiao Shuai hummed coldly, “Young lass, if it isn’t for your protégé mistress I would have taught you a lesson now for being disrespectful to me. Even your protégé mistress dares not be disrespectful to me and you have the cheek to give me a lecture. I am not teaching this young man a lesson personally because I am his senior. I don’t want the heroes of the fraternity to laugh at me for bullying a young man!”

Yu’Er and Mei’Er hummed coldly.

Yi Ping had already stepped forward as he raised his hands with the Heavens Horizon Stance!

He whispered to his companions, “Step aside. Remember what you have promised me earlier while we are coming down. Only when I am in trouble, you can aid me or else I won’t allow any one of you to follow me.”

All the maidens sighed softly and looked affectionately at Yi Ping. Even though they were not willing to let Yi Ping fight alone but they knew that at this moment, they must support him quietly so that he would not be distracted in this crucial battle. They could only nod reluctantly…

Yunzi sighed secretly, “It is obvious that they are trying to force him into exhausting his strength…”

These five hundred exponents that had surrounded Yi Ping were the best fighters that were selected from the Honor Manor, the Infinity Sword Clan, the Divine Sword Martial Clan and many more!

And these five hundred fighters were placed under the alliance leadership of the Honor Manor!

Han Shaodong took a glance at Shen Xinyue for further instructions.

She nodded slightly…

Earlier, Shen Xinyue was startled to hear the powerful echoing of martial force that had swept throughout the vicinity and was amused that someone was actually expending his martial power even before the battle had begun.

The entire contingency led by Xiao Shuai were alarmed that the fighting had suddenly stopped. When Yi Ping had displayed his martial force shout, Xiao Shuai had led them outside to confront the intruder. This intruder turned out to be just a handsome young man with a righteous air, surrounded by six heavenly maidens!

When Shen Xinyue had caught of Yi Ping, Lie Qing, Yu’Er and Mei’Er, she almost gasped in disbelief! It was because she had recognized the four of them!

Even though they were all slightly different now but due to her superior state of divinity, she could recognize them as a previous incarnation of a former Celestial that she had known!

The young maiden who was wielding the divine sword Perpetual Darkness, was in fact Luminous Star, one of the Three Star Sisters of Fate. She had recognized the Perpetual Darkness because that was originally her divine sword but she had lost it during a deadly fight…

But now, when she had reached out to her aura sense towards the Perpetual Darkness, she was met with rejection from her very own sword!

She immediately thought with a sense of loss, “Don’t tell me, she has successful merge into one with the Perpetual Darkness?”

But she quickly got over the loss as she remembered that she had found another divine sword, the Blue Heavens that could also aid her in her ascension. The Perpetual Darkness was a true sword of calamity and was a sword of great darkness. Unless the practitioner had entered the darkness itself and found the light within, then it would be disastrous for the practitioner eventually.

Many years ago, an old Ascended Sage had given her the Divine Sword Perpetual Darkness which was the first artefact that she had owned. Even though he had warned her not to pry too deep into the mysteries of the Perpetual Darkness as she could ruin her state of divinity, she did not heed his advice as artifacts of any kinds was simply too rare even for the Celestials.

Because she wanted to ascend as soon as possible and to reach new stages of divinity, she could not resist the temptations of the Perpetual Darkness and started practicing the divine stages of the Perpetual Darkness. In time to come, among the Celestials, she was to be known as the Dark Enchantress of the West.

Because in the realm of the Celestials, those who possessed a Heavenly Relic were rare enough, she was soon known as a First Celestial. The difference between a First Celestial and a normal Celestial indicated the difference in actual supremacy between the two.

At that time, the Celestial Realm were divided into three main fractions, the Ascension Sect which she belonged to, the Great Quiescent Sect and the Melody Palace. There were other Celestials that did not belong to the three main fractions and were known as the Autonomous Celestials.

Luminous Star was from the Melody Palace while this young man who called himself Yi Ping was known as the White Sage of Emptiness and he was from the Great Quiescent Sect.

She was also known as an Ascendant as she was from the Ascension Sect, so were the twin maidens who were in the same sect as her. The twin maidens were then known as the Eclipse Heaven Goddess and the Axis Heaven Goddess. They were two of the most supreme Ascendants in the Ascension Sect, able to divine all the celestial signs and constellations.

Even though she was a First Celestial herself, the Ellipse and Axis Heaven Goddesses were still supreme. Even in the Ascension Sect, they were a mystery. But one thing was for sure, they had already reached the Ascend Level as evidenced by their golden eyes! It was rumored that that the Ellipse and Axis Heaven Goddess had already survived through a cycle of the Calamity Star in the past. Even though they were in the same sect but they hardly knew one another; the Celestials lived in isolation from one another.

When the Calamity Star had suddenly descended one day, panic quickly spread throughout the Celestial Realm for most of the Celestials had never experienced the cruel realities of the event known as the Divine Descendant in their life before, which was the opposite of the Divine Ascendant. This was also the only time that the Celestials were allowed to kill other Celestials without incurring the Divine Calamity and the Divine Wrath.

When the Celestial Descendent happened, every year for the next seven years the Celestials must kill another Celestial and absorbed their celestial force to avert the calamity of the Divine Descendant. This virtually forced the weaker Celestials to fight for their own survival.

There were many stronger Celestials that refused to partake in the killing but after experiencing the deadly calamity effect of the Divine Descendant during the first year, most were too scared or too seriously injured to experience the Divine Descendant a second time and one year was not enough for them to fully recover!

In their weaken state, most of the stronger Celestials who were still recovering from the Divine Descendant were killed by the weaker Celestials who took the opportunity to kill the weaken First Celestials and seized their artifacts!

By the second year, the terrible reality had sunk into the hearts of all the Celestials. No one wanted to destroy their years of cultivation and be killed. A full scale terrible Celestial war began. Many Celestials were killed, including Celestials that were Crisis Level and Ascend Level!

The Ascension Sect was the biggest and most powerful celestial sect, with many Celestials of Crisis Level (gray eyes) and Ascend Level (golden eyes). It was plain obvious that the other Celestials were being outclassed by the more numerous and powerful Ascendant Celestials.

Maybe it was precisely the Ascendant Celestials were too powerful; many of them had actually belittle their opponents and were careless. In the end, they paid the price for being careless with their lives!

She could still remember that day vividly. She had arrived too late to lend the Ellipse and Axis Heaven Goddesses a helping hand. To her horror, they had already fallen on the ground and their eyes seemed to be pleading at the White Sage of Emptiness for mercy.

A fierce fight broke out between the two of them.

If the White Sage of Emptiness had not fought with the Ellipse Heaven Goddess and the Axis Heaven Goddess, she might not be his match. She had recently heard that he had even defeated the Three Star Sisters of Fate. She shuddered to think that what kind of a person he was and what was his level of attainment that even the deadly Celestial Star Formation could not stop him? It was because the Three Star Sisters of Fate was feared for their deadly Celestial Star Formations and few Celestials dared to trifle with them on account of that.

Maybe it was because the White Sage of Emptiness had exhausted himself during the epic fight with the Ellipse Heaven Goddess and the Axis Heaven Goddess, she soon found herself gaining the upper hand!

Just when she was about to kill the White Sage of Emptiness, she was startled to be attacked by the Ellipse and Axis Heaven Goddesses at the same time. Injured by the sudden attack, she had slipped and fell down to the mountain gorges below!

She survived the fall but had lost all her celestial force. It was a lucky thing that she had practiced a type of divine martial art called the Divine Rejuvenation Force. But maybe it was because she had lost all her celestial force, she was also spared the visitation of the Divine Descendant.

Because she had lost her divine sword during the fall and had survived, she gave herself a new celestial name, the Fiery Phoenix! The phoenix was a sign of rebirth. After she had lost her Perpetual Darkness, she forced herself to relearn the Divine Rejuvenation Force again. To her surprise, she made several breakthroughs with the Divine Rejuvenation Force and in her celestial levels after spending more than a thousand years in quiet recluse!

Without the Perpetual Darkness and with a thousand years of quiet time, she had by now broken through the Crisis Level and was now a Supreme Celestial!

To her stunning surprise, when she had visited all the old haunts of the Celestials, she had discovered that she was the only one left. What had exactly happened in the aftermath of the Divine Descendant? Had all the surviving Celestials ascended to the ninth heavens already?

Even though the Divine Descendant was harmful, it had the effect of shortening the Ascend period and returned an auspicious omen when it was time for the Celestial to face the Ultimate Divine Wrath. Once a Celestial reached the Ascend Level, they still had to face one major tribulation in the form of an Ultimate Divine Wrath in order to ascend successfully. Because the Ultimate Divine Wrath was so deadly, an auspicious omen was much needed to lessen its malevolent power for the Celestial to overcome it.

Even though the betrayal had helped her instead of harming her but to this day, she was still bitter about it. Imagine if you were her, having come all the way to lend her fellow Ascendants a helping hand and moreover they were the Supreme Celestials of the Ascension Sect. In the end, instead of appreciating her, they had attacker her!

All of a sudden, her thoughts were distracted by the cries of five hundred exponents that had charged and had surrounded Yi Ping!

Yi Ping had displayed a flurrying of blows and immediately the windforce of his Divine Horizon Hands caused a dozen exponents to fall and roll on the ground with cries of pain!

Barely had a dozen exponents fall onto the ground, Yi Ping had displayed the Asper Continuum Horizon Hand in a desperate bid to deal with the more capable fighters that were all displaying their best killing techniques on him!

Immediately, more than two dozen exponents were rolling on the ground after they were struck by the irresistible martial force of the Asper Continuum Horizon Hand!

Even before the confusion had ended, Yi Ping had dashed through the hundreds of exponents as he displayed his Divine Horizon Hands, felling dozens with every change of stance as he displayed strokes after strokes!

All the exponents were astonished!

It was because they had never seen anyone who could move so fast, while changing stances with such lighting speed at the same time!

Even Lie Qing was stunned.

It was because the Divine Horizon Hands and the Asper Continuum Horizon Hand was a type of martial art that consumed a lot of martial power and strength. That was why it had to be displayed while stationary to conserve as much martial strength as possible. After displaying it, the practitioner would be tired and continuous display of the same stance would only cause the stances to be weakened and hence become an exploit for the opponents!

But Yi Ping was just displaying his Divine Horizon Hands as he walked swiftly in all directions, knocking one powerful exponent after another!

Even Xiao Shuai was taken aback as he secretly muttered, “He still have so much strength? I barely even step back to relax and one hundred expert exponents are now lying on the ground!?”

Han Shaodong was shouting, “Readied the sword formations and don’t panic! Fight martial power with martial power.”

Gu Tianle was enraged as he shouted, “Are you guys all lambs? Use all your strength and don’t underestimate your opponent.”

He was so enraged that he mustered his martial power and leapt towards Yi Ping as he shouted angrily, “Young man, do you dare to accept my Ultrapowerful Force!!!”

Immediately the surrounding air around Gu Tianle was busting with his martial power and the harnessing of his windforce. Everyone knew that this was the moment that they were all waiting for; the clash between the Ultrapowerful Force and the Asper Horizon Hand!

Xiao Shuai, Han Shaodong, the Martial Sage, the Sword Sage and the Element Sage were both humming coldly to themselves as they thought, “Your grandfather is an old friend of ours. We all know the weakness of the secret techniques of the Divine Horizon Hands and the weakness of the Divine Horizon Hands itself. You can only use it at most just a few times. Then you will be overcome by exhaustion and will eventually succumb!”

Yi Ping was still sweeping and fighting the exponents with the Divine Horizon Hands when Gu Tianle had leapt upon him with the Ultrapowerful Force. But he simple raised his hand up with a simple movement and there were a thunderous explosive impact as he sent Gu Tianle flying in the opposite direction, as he crushed and landed with a huge thunderous impact!

Lingfeng, Yunzi, Yu’Er, Mei’Er, Youxue and Lie Qing were so worried when Gu Tianle had suddenly interfered in the battle and had started the battle with his famous technique, the Ultrapowerful Force!

When Gu Tianle was sent flying in the opposite direction, all the maidens were baffled as they secretly gasped, “What is this martial force?! How did his martial power improved so tremendous? He wasn’t this strong when he was fighting against the Three Evils. Did he secretly consume the Divine Dragon Pill?”

That was actually Yi Ping newly acquainted Boundless Divine Force. When used together with his absolute equilibrium martial force and with the Circular Rejuvenation of the Origin, Yi Ping martial power had not only increased tremendous but he was also regaining back his martial strength rapidly if his opponents were not on par with him, allowing his unconsumed martial power to be converted back to his martial strength again!

The maidens were not the only one that were surprised, Xiao Shuai and most of the exponents were all stunned that Gu Tianle, a super exponent could be flung off so effortless!

While they were stunned and were looking at Gu Tianle who was struggling to get up again, Yi Ping had fell another fifty exponents onto the ground!

Shen Xinyue inhaled deeply as she calmed down. She was startled when Gu Tianle had suddenly jumped into the battle. “I am worried for him? No…I just want to kill him myself…”

Zuo Tianyi had a burning hatred for Yi Ping as he stepped forward while saying coolly, “Let me take care of him. I just happen to know his fatal weakness.”



Ch 58 End
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