Chapter 130: Encountering Li Yuanhua on the Road

The White-Clothed Sword Ghost, Chen Taifeng. His name was also on Yuan Yi’s list. At one hundred and twenty years old, he had already attained the Realm of Exterior Scenery, and rumor had it he was only a step away from the Realm of Equalizing All Things.

In the Mingzhao realm, there were four great families: Fang, Chen, Ji, and Li. The Ji clan, being the royal surname of the ancient Yue Kingdom, was undeniably the strongest of these four. The Chen family came second, the Fang family third, and the Li family ranked last.

Watching the direction in which Chen Taifeng had vanished, Xu Zhong calculated, "This Chen Taifeng’s sword intent is far stronger than mine. If I don’t use the Golden Core Dao Tree, I fear I won’t be able to handle him."

"Judging by the direction he took, it seems to be the Monster Court of Sleeping Dragon Valley." That was the temporary palace of the Vine Dragon. Hearing those around him say this, Xu Zhong could not help but head toward the Monster Court as well.

Before long, he arrived within an Exterior Scenery world. According to the map, this should be the Mibao Monster Cave, occupied by General Mibao, a toad monster with significant cultivation. To reach the Monster Court, one had to pass through nine Exterior Scenery worlds even by the shortest route.

Xu Zhong stepped into this place. The Mibao Monster Cave had not yet collapsed, meaning General Mibao had not been slain—but that was only a matter of time. Here, he sensed a vital energy similar to that of the Mohai Monster Cave, though far more concentrated. This power permeated the Mibao Monster Cave, dyeing the world a deep crimson; the sun, the moon, and the starry sky were all blood-red, with strands of vital energy surging forth.

"The treasure held by this General Mibao is even more powerful than that of the master of the Mohai Monster Cave."

Possession of a treasure is a crime in itself. Without the strength to back it up, such a treasure is a fatal burden.

As soon as Xu Zhong entered, he felt several divine senses probing him. However, he employed the Black Tortoise Seven Constellations technique, reversing life and death, preventing these Qi practitioners from tracking his movements.

Xu Zhong muttered to himself, "With so many people hiding here, is the treasure in General Mibao’s hands enough for everyone to share?"

He moved with the Seven Stars Step, his body like a shooting star, flashing a white line through the Mibao Monster Cave, covering three or four miles in an instant. He had not yet mastered the arts of shrinking the earth or distancing the heavens, so he could only rely on this footwork to travel.

Before he could get close, he heard an angry roar. "You all want to kill me? If you want me dead so badly, even if I die, I will drag you all down to Fengdu with me!"

Following General Mibao’s roar, the entire Exterior Scenery world shattered, its mountains and rivers crumbling. Everything within these thousand miles, hidden in a Mustard Seed of Sumeru space, began to collapse and was converted by General Mibao into a terrifying aura. With a grab, it turned the sun, moon, stars, and the land into clear and murky Yin-Yang energy. It opened its mouth and swallowed, its cultivation soaring infinitely until it momentarily possessed the power of the Equalizing All Things Realm.

"Do you think sacrificing your Exterior Scenery will make us retreat? What a delusion." A young man’s figure emerged from the void. His own cultivation was not high, only in the Realm of Riding Objects, but the guardian behind him was beyond the Exterior Scenery realm, in the Realm of Equalizing All Things.

The youth stared at General Mibao and said to his guardian, "Old Li, kill it. I want its Golden Core and the Blood Ganoderma planted in its heart."

"As you wish, Young Master!"

After speaking, Old Li took a step forward, stretching out his hands—the left pointing to the sky, the right to the earth. In an instant, he stabilized the mountains and rivers, obstructing the collapse of the entire world.

"With me here, you still want to self-detonate your Exterior Scenery?" Old Li sneered, striking with his palm. Beneath the palm, six heavenly dragons emerged, breathing out six suns and moons. The entire Exterior Scenery world began to warp under his strike.

Rumbling explosions erupted one after another as flowers of blood bloomed in the void. These droplets of blood flowed upward, toward the sun in Sleeping Dragon Valley. Old Li was not only attacking General Mibao but also the Qi practitioners hiding in the shadows, hoping to fish in troubled waters. After one practitioner died, several streaks of light fled the Mibao Monster Cave, but some stubborn ones remained hidden. Xu Zhong was among them.

He was not looking to fish in troubled waters; he was merely curious about what the Blood Ganoderma mentioned by the youth looked like.

Under Old Li’s palm, General Mibao was suppressed. The toad struggled incessantly: "You are stronger than me, but I am no soft persimmon." It unleashed all kinds of spells, spitting out gale-force winds, heavenly fire, and thunder. These powers converged into a colossal collision, the terrifying air currents sweeping across the sky and causing the Exterior Scenery to buckle.

General Mibao broke free from Old Li’s palm, its eyes flashing with divine light that exploded outward, reaching across the sky. As it opened its mouth and pressed down, the world turned upside down; raging flames emerged from all sides, and supreme divine light poured down from above.

Old Li’s expression tightened. That which flowed downward was Mibao’s Undying Spiritual Light. It intended to use this light to kill. Within the Undying Spiritual Light lay the power of its soul’s Yin aspect.

With a thunderous punch, General Mibao sent Old Li flying. Old Li spat blood, and upon landing, he stomped on the earth, forming a hand seal to manifest the supreme vision of "A Hundred Rivers Returning to the Sea." Instantly, all the rivers in the Mibao Monster Cave flowed toward him, condensing under his palm. He was using General Mibao’s own Exterior Scenery to strike at it.

General Mibao was enraged, but it was only in the Exterior Scenery realm, not the Realm of Equalizing All Things. While this was its own world—a manifestation of its power—one who had reached the Realm of Equalizing All Things could naturally call upon the power of all things within that world. It punched out, shattering the vision of the returning rivers.

But behind the vision was Old Li. He pointed his finger forward, and terrifying beams of divine light shot out, condensing innate energy into long swords. Thirty-six thousand flying swords circled under his control, forming a map of ten thousand miles of mountains and rivers. As the map pressed down, the entire Mibao Monster Cave was filled with sword qi.

*Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!*

The sword qi was frantic and chaotic, filling every corner of the world.

*Bang! Bang! Bang!*

Clusters of blood flowers bloomed in the sky. Xu Zhong was struck by a sliver of sword qi; his skin split, and a lingering sword intent remained in his spine, persistent like a maggot in the bone.

Another group of Qi practitioners died. Now, even the bold ones felt the urge to retreat and fled the cave. Xu Zhong hesitated, then began to carefully withdraw.

The moment he turned, a spell struck at him. It was like a spear, vibrating to repel all filth, generating gales that filled the sky and colliding with the heavens to produce divine thunder. It came crashing down upon Xu Zhong with the force of wind and thunder.

Xu Zhong turned his body, opened his mouth, and spat out a Samadhi True Fire that condensed into a gigantic fire dragon. It coiled around the wind and thunder, swallowed them, and refined them into droplets of water that fell to the ground. But as soon as his Samadhi True Fire was released, it vanished, extinguished in the void. He could sense that his fire had been captured by someone’s magic treasure.

He looked behind him. A Qi practitioner walked over, a flaming cauldron floating behind his back. The cauldron spewed endless fire-attribute spiritual energy, which transformed into a true dragon coiling behind him. It was not the youth from before.

"We are all just here to watch the fun; why must we kill each other?" Xu Zhong looked at the flaming cauldron, activating his Water-Attribute Secret Treasury to seal his internal essence and isolate himself from the fire energy.

"It wasn't easy for me to come here. A thief never leaves empty-handed; if I don’t have something in my hands, I’d be embarrassed to leave." The practitioner flipped the flaming cauldron downward. "If you want to blame someone, blame yourself for being the weakest."

Once a fight broke out, it would alert the youth and Old Li, so the battle had to be finished as quickly as possible. Most of those hiding here were in the Realm of Riding Objects, with a few in the Exterior Scenery realm waiting to fish in troubled waters—they were not easy to deal with. Thus, picking the softest target was the best strategy.

But Xu Zhong was no soft target.

"Your magic treasure is not bad." Xu Zhong took out his sword pellet and looked at the flaming cauldron. "I will begrudgingly accept it."

Seven hundred and twenty flying swords flew out from the pellet, circling downward to form the Hundun Sword Array. They condensed into a single, massive sword infused with Yin power, which he slashed downward.

The practitioner blocked the divine sword, but in the next moment, four white banners flew out, transforming into the Four Divine Beasts that stepped across the four directions to suppress everything. Just as the practitioner suppressed the beasts, his soul was struck out of his body by a jade ruyi. As his soul attempted to cast a spell, a rattle drum shook three times, shattering his soul directly. The scattered soul was swept up by the Samadhi True Fire and refined into a soul pill.

Xu Zhong put away the soul pill, his own treasures, and the practitioner’s flaming cauldron, then quickly leaped out of the Mibao Monster Cave. He had not gone far when he frowned.

Waves of power descended from the void, probing him brazenly. Xu Zhong roared, the sound rolling like thunder, transforming into a storm that shattered the void-dwellers: "Who dares to spy on me? Get out here!"

Seeing this, the observer in the void moved, stretching out a hand to suppress the stunning thunderclap.

"My name is Li Yuanhua; you should have heard it!" Li Yuanhua stood in the void, black hair fluttering, surrounded by rolling black smoke. He was like an endless sea eye, swallowing all spiritual energy within hundreds of feet. This was merely his base state; once he began to practice, he could lock onto and absorb the spiritual energy for a hundred miles around, along with the vital essence of living beings and plants.

This was the youth from the Mibao Monster Cave, and Old Li was his guardian. His expression was indifferent, his eyes one black and one white—very peculiar. He clearly recognized Xu Zhong. "I received a letter from my family saying that you hunted and killed the pet dragon I raised on the Du River."

"You also boasted that you would hunt down the young elites of the great families. I suspect you are one of Yuan Yi’s people. By all rights, I should kill you."

"However, I see your strength is not bad. Become my follower and join the Li family, and I may forgive your previous offenses!"

"Hahahaha..." Xu Zhong laughed as if he had heard a joke. "Your pet dragon was killed because it was less skilled than its opponent. It deserved to die; where is the offense in that?"

"As for whether I am one of Yuan Yi’s people, that has nothing to do with you."

Li Yuanhua’s killing intent flared. "It seems you are unwilling!"

Xu Zhong gathered his spiritual energy. "You want to kill me? That’s perfect; I have the same thought."

"How arrogant!" Li Yuanhua’s killing intent surged. "Then I will send you on your way!"

He pressed his hand downward, and a terrifying black tide surged forth, the rising and falling of the tide representing the cycle of life and death. The immense pressure caused the Exterior Scenery world they were in to collapse, revealing a state of total destruction.

"I say the same to you: I will send you on your way."

Xu Zhong looked at him, smiled slightly, and reached out to break the opponent’s spell. The next moment, the two collided.