Striking from this angle, even an immortal Golden Immortal would lose his head.

The wind blade indeed lived up to its purpose, instantly sinking into Miao Feng Xian’s neck!

Success in one strike! “Mo Tizhun’s” lips curved slightly, unable to believe how smoothly things had gone.

However, this hint of a smile never fully bloomed, because Miao Feng Xian’s head not only remained attached but didn’t even spill a drop of blood!

No, it should be said that he hadn’t sustained even the slightest external wound.

“Mo Tizhun’s” eyes flashed as his left hand rose slightly, launching another wind blade directly at Miao Feng Xian’s face. His form moved like a ghost, stepping forward to close in on the Crown Prince, while a cold gleam from his right sleeve slashed toward Miao Feng Xian’s throat.

This attack was like a golden snake striking—swift and venomous. Having failed in his sneak attack, he now resorted to direct assassination.

Miao Feng Xian tilted his head to avoid the wind blade and with a “clang” blocked the opponent’s long sword with his curved blade. His gaze toward “Mo Tizhun” carried the ferocity of a lion: “The Great State Preceptor Yun, even resorting to such underhanded tactics!” What he had just used was an extremely precious protective magical artifact given to the State Preceptor by the Yao court, capable of absorbing one serious injury. But this object could only be effective once.

As their blades clashed, both men felt the weight of the other’s strength. Now that his identity was exposed, Yun Ya let out a long laugh and wielded his sword with serpentine movements.

Miao Feng Xian was well acquainted with this State Preceptor’s reputation. When the old Yao King was alive and spoke of Wei’s ruler and ministers, it wasn’t the Wei sovereign he feared most, but rather this enigmatic State Preceptor Yun Ya. Two State Preceptors had already fallen at his hands, including Miao Feng Xian’s mentor. Thus, the two men shared national grievances, familial hatred, and personal vendettas—all to be settled at once.

Miao Feng Xian stomped his foot, instantly turning the ground beneath Yun Ya into quicksand that wouldn’t support even a feather. Anyone standing on it would lose their footing, their body tilting backward.

Miao Feng Xian pounced like a fierce tiger, his dual blades carving an “X” shape. If his opponent were to be struck, his head would fly high into the air with just this one move.

Yun Ya’s body leaned backward, but he wasn’t in a hurry to regain balance. Instead, he lightly flicked his sword tip against the ground, sending a bit of sand flying toward Miao Feng Xian’s eyes.

This move resembled a ruffian’s fighting style, especially since a red glow was mixed with the sand. Miao Feng Xian expanded his spiritual perception and in a split second saw it clearly—he discovered that among the earth-yellow grains were tiny insects mixed in. They resembled lice in form but had grotesque mouthparts; one could imagine the agony of being infested by such creatures.

Yun Ya was an expert in breeding venomous insects. This poisonous creature had a beautiful name: “Red Haze.” In the poor, treacherous southwestern mountains of Wei, many strange creatures thrived. These bizarre insects lived in the Smoky Wave Mountains, where each dawn and dusk the entire mountain range was shrouded in red haze—not mist, but swarms of these strange insects emerging to feed, covering the sky and ground, descending upon any living being they encountered.

Their saliva could dissolve flesh and melt bone. One or two might not be particularly remarkable, but thousands were terrifying. Feng Miao Jun had also raised these creatures for Yun Ya in a small bottle, knowing that under his secret technique, tens of thousands of Red Haze insects would devour each other until only about sixty remained. Each survivor’s toxicity was hundreds of times more potent than before.

Miao Feng Xian intended to shatter them with his blade’s energy, but unexpectedly, these creatures weren’t even afraid of sword energy and continued to fly toward his face.

Though he didn’t know their true danger, anything from Yun Ya’s hand was cause for extreme caution. Unable to retreat due to his current technique, he breathed out a blast of cold air, freezing both the sand and Red Haze insects into tiny ice crystals.

However, this interruption slowed his movements by half a beat and partially obstructed his vision. In his haste, Miao Feng Xian thought he glimpsed a pair of enormous cloud wings unfurling behind Yun Ya, beating backward!

The wings had barely formed an outline before Miao Feng Xian could examine them closely, and they dissipated into the air as if they had never existed. But Yun Ya, propelled by this force, was suddenly thrust forward, his speed more than doubled from before!

At this moment, the aura around him abruptly changed from mysterious and unpredictable to sharply imposing, like a famous sword just drawn from its scabbard—cold light radiating in all directions, majestic and formidable!

This was the true face of the Wei Kingdom’s State Preceptor. The Yao people who had gathered around, alarmed by the commotion, didn’t dare look directly at him, lest their eyes be cut by the sharpness of his sword.

Miao Feng Xian, being at the forefront, fared no better. Before the opponent’s sword even touched him, the sword energy, which had suddenly extended by two feet, had already penetrated three-tenths of an inch into his chest. With his life at stake, he was forced to move sideways, and a round shield materialized before his chest.

This shield resembled a turtle shell—perfectly round and flawless, naturally emitting a golden light. It appeared just in time to block Yun Ya’s strike.

With a light “puk” sound, like metal striking leather, the shield shattered and dissipated. Miao Feng Xian was pushed back several yards by the impact. When he landed, his face was as white as paper, and he spat out a mouthful of fresh blood.

This turtle shield was an ancient treasure preserved in the Yao Kingdom’s treasury. Since Miao Feng Xian had inherited the position of State Preceptor, he had been nurturing it with his heart’s blood, making it one of his life-bound magical artifacts. Unexpectedly, it was reduced to nothing under Yun Ya’s heaven-shocking sword.

Miao Feng Xian was severely injured by the backlash force.

However, with the Yao King newly deceased, he as State Preceptor could not access the elemental power. With a nation’s power supporting him, his cultivation would increase by at least twenty percent. In contrast, Yun Ya’s power was abundant and nearly at its peak. With this disparity, the gap between them widened considerably.

Yun Ya’s long eyebrows arched upward, but he asked: “Did I not impersonate Mo Tizhun convincingly?”

The killing intent around his body was stern, his usual laziness and casualness long discarded. Miao Feng Xian felt that his attacks were sometimes fierce, sometimes elusive, making them difficult to adapt to. Moreover, there was a strange sensation, as if silk threads were being spun continuously, wrapping the surrounding air layer by layer, making movement increasingly difficult for those within.

This suffocating feeling grew stronger, making one want to cough blood. Miao Feng Xian realized that his movements had indeed slowed down; despite his cultivation, he couldn’t deploy it effectively.

“Yes, convincingly.” In just these brief dozen breaths, he had sustained four or five wounds, some deep, some shallow, all narrowly avoided in the nick of time.

During the battle at Wufu Snow Mountain, the Yao State Preceptor had the home-field advantage, yet Yun Ya was still able to defeat and kill him. Only now did Miao Feng Xian deeply understand that his mentor’s defeat at Yun Ya’s hands was not unjust and that this man must have many more killing techniques he hadn’t yet revealed.

Fortunately, by this time, the Yao people had gathered around, among them many cultivators, all directing their mystical powers at Yun Ya.

From a distance came Zhao Rushan’s roar: “Crown Prince, that Mo Tizhun is an impostor!”

Nonsense, Miao Feng Xian already knew that. The problem was that he didn’t even have the mental energy to shout back, having already faced multiple dangers.

However, just as Zhao Rushan’s voice faded, someone came flashing through the light, a heavy hammer in hand, smashing down toward Yun Ya’s head!

This hammer grew as it met the wind, becoming large as a millstone, generating a whistling sound and dimming the light around it, as if it could split the earth in two.

Even Yun Ya didn’t dare to confront this attack lightly and dodged it with a flash of his body.