Nine ethereal fox tails, reminiscent of a peacock’s display, fanned out behind Xu Qi’an, gently swaying.
These tails originated from the Princess of the Myriad Beasts Kingdom, the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox.
From the beginning, Principal Zhao Shou and the Martial Alliance Patriarch were merely the cards Xu Qi’an had played openly.
He still had an ace up his sleeve that no one knew about—the Princess of the Myriad Beasts Kingdom.
Xu Qi’an had no direct connection to the Princess of the Myriad Beasts Kingdom. To him, that powerful fox spirit was just a name that appeared in historical records.
But Xu Qi’an knew that if he ever faced a crisis he couldn’t overcome on his own, the Princess of the Myriad Beasts Kingdom would undoubtedly be one of those who would protect him.
The reason was simple: it was the Myriad Beasts Kingdom’s undercover agent who had secretly delivered Shen Shu to his residence back then.
Clearly, would the agent have dared to do so without the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox’s authorization?
The remnants of the Myriad Beasts Kingdom aimed to use the fortune within him to nurture Shen Shu’s severed arm. He and Shen Shu were bound together, for better or worse.
The Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox might not care about his life, but she absolutely couldn’t stand by and watch Shen Shu be sealed away and fall back under the Buddhist Kingdom’s control. Otherwise, what was the point of the Myriad Beasts Kingdom’s carefully orchestrated Sangbo case?
Of course, this only indicated that their interests aligned. If it were just this, Xu Qi’an wouldn’t have entrusted his life to a demoness who had never appeared or contacted him.
The reason he was so certain that the Princess of the Myriad Beasts would intervene, viewing her as his trump card, was because of two things.
First, the little story from Fu Xiang.
It wasn’t that Xu Qi’an looked down on this close friend, but given Fu Xiang’s status and position, how could she possibly know about the Monitor’s top disciple’s past?
It was impossible.
So why did she write such a suggestive story in the letter she left for him?
The answer was simple: it was a hint from the Princess of the Myriad Beasts. On one hand, it suggested who his true enemy was; on the other, it subtly expressed her intention to intervene.
Even so, Xu Qi’an still wouldn’t have considered her his ultimate trump card.
The real reason was that on the day he woke up in the Bureau of Astronomy and went to see Zhao Shou at the Cloud Deer Academy, the Monitor had given him a milky-white pill.
When he swallowed that pill, Xu Qi’an faintly heard a charming, alluring laugh that disappeared in an instant.
Xu Qi’an didn’t know how the Monitor and the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox had become entangled, but that wasn’t important. Between clever people, some things were better left unsaid.
Finally, it’s out… Xu Qi’an felt relieved as he sensed the abnormality at his tailbone.
The reason he cursed the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox as a “stinking woman” was because he had experienced her malicious personality.
She could have intervened earlier, but she chose to wait until this critical moment. Xu Qi’an had almost wet himself, thinking his trump card wouldn’t work.
If that had been the case, he could only pray for a better rebirth in his next life, perhaps born into a wealthy family with a father who acted like a proper parent, and preferably with a long-legged, 36D elder sister who would go “aww” for him.
…
As soon as they appeared, the white-robed sorcerer seemed to freeze, as if hit by a paralysis spell.
Taking advantage of this momentary pause, the nine fox tails acted like tentacles. Some wrapped around the intangible, massive fortune, preventing the white-robed sorcerer from extracting it.
The others lashed out fiercely at the white-robed sorcerer.
They didn’t emit terrifying waves of energy or create spectacular phenomena, yet the white-robed sorcerer instinctively took half a step back, as if extremely wary.
“Hmph!”
He snorted coldly. The Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox’s appearance was both surprising and unsurprising to him.
Unsurprising because he knew of the intricate connection between the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox and Shen Shu; her intervention was expected.
The surprise came from the way she chose to launch this sneak attack.
It’s worth noting that in front of a peak sorcerer skilled in fortune-reading, most concealment techniques would be ineffective. There were only a handful of hiding methods in the world that could escape the eyes of a Second-Rank sorcerer.
The white-robed sorcerer knew all these methods like the back of his hand, but the concealment technique used by the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox was one he had never seen before.
The white-robed sorcerer was startled but not panicked. He stomped his foot, and the remaining formation arrays simultaneously burst with dazzling clear light, forming a protective screen around him.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Six fox tails slammed against the screen, causing the clear light to vibrate violently, the energy to explode in layers, and forcing the white-robed sorcerer to retreat repeatedly, wild and unstoppable.
The other three fox tails, wrapped around that massive fortune, fell back into Xu Qi’an’s body.
The fortune returned to him.
Phew… Xu Qi’an sighed in relief. The fox spirit was truly amazing!
Seeing this, the Martial Alliance Patriarch and Principal Zhao Shou seized the opportunity. More and more sword intent emerged from the void—Third-Rank peak, approaching Second-Rank sword intent—cooperating with the Confucian Saint’s engraving knife to erode the formation. Like piercing through thousands of troops, they broke through one small formation after another, aiming directly for the enemy commander’s head.
Faced with the assault from three sides, the white-robed sorcerer remained calm. Seeing that he couldn’t extract the fortune for now, he decisively abandoned Xu Qi’an.
The sachet opened automatically, and one magical artifact after another flew out as if imbued with life. These weren’t physical attack artifacts like crossbows or cannons, but artifacts with more mysterious uses.
Some were bronze mirrors, some were sharp fangs, some were small bronze seals, some were delicate pagodas…
Their functions included sealing gods, piercing energy, imprisoning, refining…
Numerous artifacts swirled around. Xu Qi’an’s physical body remained unharmed, but his primordial spirit trembled as if torn into countless pieces, briefly losing consciousness.
The fox tails, like writhing tentacles, seemed to lose their vitality and purpose under the influence of the artifacts, squirming aimlessly.
The white-robed sorcerer reached out his hand, hovering it over Xu Qi’an’s head, once again extracting that massive fortune he had already refined.
“The use of magical artifacts is forbidden here,” Zhao Shou said solemnly.
The white-robed sorcerer’s supreme formation, under the combined fierce attack of the contemporary Confucian master and the half-step Second-Rank martial artist, had been eroded by more than half, no longer able to resist the Confucian’s words-become-law power.
Clink! Clink!
The magical artifacts dancing in the air fell one after another.
The Sub-Sage’s Confucian crown and the Confucian Saint’s engraving knife also self-sealed, concealing their radiance. Scholars are reasonable; scholars are not thugs. The power of words becoming law was equally effective on their side.
Zhao Shou groaned, his face as white as paper—this was the backlash from the boasting technique.
Under normal circumstances, when facing an enemy of the same level, the power of words-become-law could only be used three times if directly applied.
Any more, and the righteous energy would be unable to withstand the backlash of the spell.
However, if the power of words-become-law was used for assistance or to buff oneself, then there was no limit to the number of times it could be used.
Both “teleportation is forbidden here” and “magical artifacts cannot be used” were powers directly applied to the enemy. Even with Zhao Shou’s Third-Rank peak strength, and the assistance of the Confucian Saint’s engraving knife and crown, three times was the limit when dealing with a sorcerer one rank above him.
Without the suppression of the magical artifacts, the nine fox tails instantly became agitated, soaring and thrashing wildly.
The white-robed sorcerer was pushed back again; close combat was a weakness for sorcerers.
The ethereal fox tails, entangled with the fortune, fell back into Xu Qi’an’s body once more.
“Killing eight hundred enemies at the cost of a thousand,” the white-robed sorcerer sneered.
He was mocking Zhao Shou. With the Sub-Sage’s Confucian crown and the Confucian Saint’s engraving knife self-sealed, and the three uses of words-become-law exhausted, this great Confucian scholar could exert little combat power in the upcoming battle.
As for the Martial Alliance Patriarch, although the crude martial artist’s attacks were strong, he had plenty of ways to maneuver. Moreover, that old horse was in poor condition and couldn’t personally join the fight.
For a sorcerer, this was a huge, exploitable weakness.
The white-robed sorcerer made a hand seal with one hand and said in a deep voice, “Rise!”
The stone disc rumbled and rose into the air. On its surface, the supreme formation that had been three-quarters destroyed began to contract and self-repair, forming a simplified version of the “supreme formation.”
Though not as powerful as the previous formation, it was like an exhausted warrior catching his breath. Compared to its broken state, its aura was now stronger and more complete. Those abilities that had been lost, such as teleportation and imprisonment, were now all restored.
For high-ranking sorcerers, repairing damaged formations was a basic skill, just like monks meditating or Taoist’s astral projecting—a fundamental skill within their system.
However, at this moment, the white-robed sorcerer saw Zhao Shou calmly extend his hand, palm facing towards him, and say in a deep voice:
“In this world, the use of formations is forbidden.”
As the words fell, the floating stone disc quickly cracked. One formation after another extinguished, losing their divine power. With just this one sentence, the small supreme formation was weakened by another fifty percent.
The white-robed sorcerer could no longer control the stone disc’s levitation. It fell, along with Xu Qi’an on top of it.
At the same time, an unparalleled sword intent slashed fiercely at the white-robed sorcerer’s back from behind.
The white-robed sorcerer grunted, the flesh on his back splitting open, oozing large amounts of blood.
Since his appearance, this was the first time, the very first time he had been injured. And because this was a martial artist’s sword intent, its killing power was stronger and more terrifying than other systems at the same level.
The white-robed sorcerer staggered backward, distancing himself from Xu Qi’an. At this point, he no longer dared to directly face the Nine-Tailed Fox’s tails.
Sword intent after sword intent emerged from the void. The old horse from the Martial Alliance was fighting dirty, ready to beat a downed dog.
Seeing this, Zhao Shou grabbed Second Young Master Xu’s shoulder, preventing him from rushing over to check on his nephew, and quickly led him away.
“To be precise, it’s killing a thousand enemies at the cost of eight hundred,” Zhao Shou retorted.
Previously, the formation-breaking technique he used wasn’t words-become-law, but rather Wei Yuan’s Unity with the Dao intent that he had borrowed. He recited it out loud and had the engraving knife and Confucian crown assist, merely to disguise it as the power of words became law.
It was purely to mislead the white-robed sorcerer.
This insignificant detail had now become the key to determining victory or defeat.
Zhao Shou sighed inwardly, remembering how Wei Yuan had visited Clear Cloud Mountain alone before setting out on his expedition.
On that occasion, Wei Yuan had seen the stone tablet in the Sub-Sage Hall; on that occasion, Wei Yuan had left part of his blood pill; and it was on that occasion that Wei Yuan had cooperated with him, allowing him to record the “formation-breaking” intent.
At the time, Wei Yuan hadn’t fully grasped the white-robed sorcerer’s scheme, nor did he know of the existence of someone like Xu Qi’an. The causal relationship between the two was too small, and Wei Yuan couldn’t perceive a character whose fate was obscured by divination techniques and who had little connection to himself.
But he had reviewed all of Xu Qi’an’s experiences, and with a strategist’s intuition, he anticipated that Xu Qi’an would face great trouble in the future.
“I hope this can be of use to him. I can’t always protect him; a fledgling eagle must eventually spread its wings and soar,” Zhao Shou seemed to hear Wei Yuan’s words from back then echoing in his ears.
For this young man’s sake, Wei Yuan had truly calculated everything to the last detail.
In the distance, the white-robed sorcerer calmly strode through layers of sword intent, extracting healing pills from his sachet as he moved away from the “sword mountain” encirclement.
The sword intent slashed by the Martial Alliance Patriarch seemed to lose its target at this moment.
The white-robed sorcerer, Xu Da Lang, had concealed himself, causing the Martial Alliance Patriarch to momentarily forget about him.
After swallowing the pill, he felt its power spreading through his body, dispelling the chaotic sword intent. He smiled at Xu Qi’an and said:
“I now understand the relationship between Shen Shu and the Myriad Beasts Kingdom. Although the Princess of the Myriad Beasts’ method of intervention surprised me, I was prepared for her as an enemy.”
“A son is still just a son. Trying to outwit the father? You’re far from it.”
As he spoke, the effect of concealing fate wore off.
After concealing fate, the person involved couldn’t appear before others, or the technique would automatically fail.
These “others” included enemies, numerous bystanders, and more than three of one’s relatives or those with deep karmic connections.
Everyone present either had deep karmic ties to him or was an enemy.
Therefore, the fate-concealing technique could only be maintained for an extremely short time and couldn’t be used repeatedly.
In the void, waves of sword intent reappeared, slashing towards the white-robed sorcerer.
However, at this moment, the world lost its color.
In the truest sense, all colors faded away at this moment, turning to black and white, including Xu Qi’an, Zhao Shou, and others, as well as the white-robed sorcerer.
In this colorless world, only one person retains their hue.
A female Bodhisattva wearing a white kasaya, with hair like a cascading waterfall.
“Colorless… Dharma… Appearance…”
Zhao Shou uttered these words at an extremely slow pace.
One of the Nine Great Dharma Appearances of Buddhism, one of the Nine Bodhisattva Fruitions.
The Colorless Dharma Appearance!
“I… damn… you… Xu… Da… Lang…” A national curse slowly flashed through Xu Qi’an’s mind.
He felt his body and thoughts sinking into a quagmire, taking a long time for a single thought to surface, unable to move a muscle.
The Buddhist sect had intervened… Of course, they had. The white-robed sorcerer had borrowed the Demon Sealing Nail, so he must have told the Buddhist sect about Shen Shu’s existence. Given the relationship between the Buddhist sect and Shen Shu, how could they not intervene…
These thoughts slowly flashed through Xu Qi’an’s mind.
Then, he heard old, slow curses in the Sword State dialect coming from the void.
Even the old horse from the Martial Alliance was forced to curse.
Principal Zhao Shou must be cursing inwardly too… Just as Xu Qi’an thought this, he heard Zhao Shou’s angry, slow voice:
“Verily, her mother’s displeasure!”
What does that mean? Xu Qi’an didn’t understand for a moment.
“You didn’t deceive me. Shen Shu is indeed within him. Very good, this is excellent,” the female Bodhisattva’s voice was pleasing to the ear, but devoid of emotion, without fluctuation:
“You take back the fortune that belongs to you, and I’ll take Shen Shu away. But Xu Qi’an cannot die. He has deep karmic ties with our Buddhist sect and is key to resolving the current conflict between Mahayana and Hinayana Buddhism.”
She raised her hand and gently wiped the air.
The white-robed sorcerer regained his color and the ability to speak fluently. He said, “He will die once the fortune is extracted.”
The snow-white barefooted female Bodhisattva said indifferently:
“So you can’t extract the fortune now. Come with me to the Buddhist realm, and after I reshape a Buddhist body for him, you can then take away the fortune.”
Oh, it seems my fate isn’t too tragic… Xu Qi’an slowly turned this thought over in his mind.
The white-robed sorcerer fell silent.
The female Bodhisattva’s silver bell-like voice said, “After reshaping his Buddhist body, he will be free from all worldly concerns, transcending the mundane world. He won’t seek revenge on you.”
Verily, her mother’s displeasure!
Xu Qi’an was greatly alarmed, a sense of crisis surging again. He could tell that becoming a Buddhist disciple wouldn’t be much better than death.
Being free from all worldly concerns was no better than dying.
The white-robed sorcerer immediately nodded, “Agreed.”
The female Bodhisattva turned her head to look at Xu Qi’an, flicking her finger to release a beam of Buddhist light. The pale golden Buddhist light traversed the black-and-white world, shooting into Xu Qi’an’s body.
The ethereal fox tails hissed with green smoke, like snow melting in sunlight.
“Heh!”
A woman’s coquettish voice came from the void, seemingly disdainful.
“Monitor, the big fish has taken the bait. What are you waiting for?”
The coquettish female voice said indifferently.
As the words fell, a figure appeared in the distant sky.
White as snow, with white hair and beard.
He stood motionless in the high sky like a deity ruling over this world.
The Monitor has finally arrived… Xu Qi’an felt relieved.
“Liuli!”
The Monitor’s tone was calm, but his voice was like rolling thunder as he said solemnly: “Entering the territory of Great Feng without permission is punishable by death!”
At this moment, he seemed to establish a connection with the rules of the universe, gaining their approval.
He acted in the name of Great Feng’s guardian deity, not touching upon the matter of revealing heavenly secrets.
The Monitor reached out his hand, grabbing a bronze disc from the void. The back of this disc was engraved with the sun, moon, mountains, and rivers, while the front was inscribed with the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches. As soon as it appeared, the entire world began to boil.
The Colorless Realm shattered with a boom.
The female Bodhisattva frowned slightly, her white kasaya instantly dyed red with blood.
The female Bodhisattva was occupied with the Monitor, but the white-robed sorcerer still could hinder them, at most returning to the previous situation.
He faced Zhao Shou, who could no longer fight, the Martial Alliance Patriarch in poor condition, and the Nine-Tailed Fox who had undergone the baptism of Buddhist light.
At this moment, the Monitor’s intervention and the appearance of the Fate Disc forcibly broke the rules set by Zhao Shou. Magical artifacts could be used again, and formations could be deployed.
Formation patterns flickered under the white-robed sorcerer’s feet as he flashed closer to Xu Qi’an.
Freed from the constraints of the Colorless Realm, Xu Qi’an regained his ability to move freely. He looked at the white-robed sorcerer and said:
“Do you want to taste the backlash of fortune?”
The white-robed sorcerer was stunned, then his expression changed dramatically. The formation under his feet expanded, layer after layer, enveloping Xu Qi’an.
He manipulated magical artifacts, piling on effects like god-sealing, imprisonment, and refinement.
All at once, these effects were crushed down on Xu Qi’an.
But Xu Qi’an was faster. He spat out a piece of paper folded into a small square from his mouth, held it between his fingers, and forcefully stabbed it into his abdomen, creating a bloody, see-through hole.
The Curse-Killing Technique!
Xu Qi’an’s life force rapidly weakened, approaching death.
There are two forms of the Curse-Killing Technique. The first involves obtaining the target’s blood, hair, or even close-fitting clothes or items, using these as a medium to launch the curse-killing.
At the Third-Rank level, one could perform remote curse-killing without any medium, but the effect would be greatly reduced.
The other form involves using one’s flesh and blood as a price to launch a curse-killing against the target.
The prerequisite is that the enemy must have caused you sufficient harm recently.
The white-robed sorcerer perfectly met the conditions for the latter.
Puff!
The white-robed sorcerer spewed blood violently, with large amounts of blood gushing from his mouth and nose, instantly severely wounded.
His calm face finally showed an expression of shock and anger.
Xu Qi’an laughed hoarsely: “Originally, this move was meant to kill you. I’ve been holding back, planning to use it at the crucial moment. I didn’t expect you to be in cahoots with the Buddhist Bodhisattva. What a pity.”
“I summoned the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox for another purpose too—she could restore my ability to move, allowing me to use the Curse-Killing Technique.”
Before this, his body had been restrained by the white-robed sorcerer, completely unable to move.
“Taste the Curse-Killing Technique of a person with great fortune, taste the backlash of fortune, you unfilial dog.”
Xu Qi’an mocked unrestrained.
Formation patterns surged under the white-robed sorcerer’s feet, carrying him through successive teleportations, fleeing without a backward glance, giving the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox no chance to pounce.
He left without any reluctance, seemingly sensing the threat of death.