Chapter 556
The Empress, Half Fallen
Giant ancient trees instantly transformed into saplings like a fourteen-year-old child. Sparse green leaves fell from thin branches, creating rings of ripples when they touched the surface of the Mirror Lake.
Drip—
Splash… Pu—
Without the support of her original seven-foot tall physique, Sun Juehu’s clothes and shoulder armor all fell to her ankles, revealing her jade-like body.
She closed her eyes and let out a soft breath, hooking the cloth robe with her foot and putting it on before cinching it tight with the rope on her belt, barely covering herself. She looked up at Si Xuanji, who had changed very little, and smiled:
“So, you looked like this when you were fourteen? No wonder you haven’t found a cultivation partner in thousands of years, hehe…”
Sun Juehu recalled the items in her storage bag. Since she now only had Qi Refining Stage cultivation, most of the magical artifacts and weapons in her storage bag were no longer useful.
As for the Mystic Dragon Spear left to her by her father, which weighed tens of thousands of pounds, it had also become a mere decoration.
The only thing she could use…
Sun Juehu waved her hand, and a blunt-headed spirit spear she used for spear practice appeared in her hand.
But in the next moment, the shaft of the spirit spear gradually shriveled until it turned into a piece of ore that had just been dug out of a mine…
Seeing this, she couldn’t help but click her tongue again. She clenched the piece of ore, wanting to crush it, but she couldn’t muster the strength…
“Tsk… If that’s the case…”
Sun Juehu took a step back, bent her knees, lowered her stance, clenched her fists, and glared at Si Xuanji:
“Then I’ll rely on my fists!! Hah—!”
“……”
Si Xuanji bit her lip slightly, took out a hair tie from her storage bag, bit on the body of her Azure Peak Sword, raised her hand to the back of her head, and tied her disheveled black and white long hair into a ponytail. Then, she gripped the Azure Peak Sword again and swept her left hand across the sword body…
Hum—
The iron sword body trembled with a hum.
Then, holding the sword diagonally towards the water surface, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath…
“Inhale—exhale—”
Her bare feet lifted slightly and then stomped heavily on the water surface, creating a ring of ripples.
The small figure, almost at the speed of the expanding water waves, pressed directly towards Sun Juehu.
Soar—
The speed of this sword strike was not something a Law Cultivator could possibly unleash, causing Sun Juehu’s eyes to widen. But she quickly realized that this was probably due to Si Xuanji’s divine ability.
At fourteen, she was still diligently cultivating in Hantian Kingdom, practicing punches and dances under her master’s guidance amidst the cold snow.
This sword strike might not pose any threat in her eyes as a Void Realm cultivator, but for her at fourteen, it was impossible to even see…
Soar—
A silver light swept across the side of Sun Juehu’s cheek. She dodged instinctively by tilting her head, but a lock of her hair was still shaved off.
“Heh—I didn’t expect you to have practiced swordsmanship before you were fourteen.”
“Don’t you like close combat? Back then, I roamed the four corners of the mortal realm with a sword and a horse. The number of martial artists who died by my sword is countless.”
Si Xuanji narrowed her eyes slightly, stepped back, and swept out another silver arc, but Sun Juehu dodged it with an exaggerated bow.
Then, Sun Juehu seemed to have adapted. She took a step back, turned sideways, feinted with her fists, and then delivered a horizontal kick…
Bang—
Her lower leg landed directly on Si Xuanji’s right shoulder, making her stagger and causing her shoulder to ache.
“Tsk—”
The Moon Spirit favored no one, and her current predicament was no different.
Sun Juehu had regressed to the strength of her fourteen-year-old self, and she herself had also regressed to the strength of her fourteen-year-old self.
However, after being captured from the mortal realm and brought to Zhou Xing Tian Yu, she had changed from a Sword Cultivator to a Law Cultivator. But Sun Juehu had been practicing martial arts and spear techniques under her master’s strict training since childhood…
“What does it matter if I’m fourteen?!!!”
Sun Juehu shouted, twisting her body, and delivered another whip kick.
Bang—
Her knee struck directly into Si Xuanji’s abdomen, causing her to spit out a mouthful of sour liquid.
But Si Xuanji quickly used the force to spin twice in the air, spinning out two silver lights, and carved two bloodied marks, down to the bone, on Sun Juehu’s right leg.
“Hiss—”
Sun Juehu gritted her teeth in pain. Only then did she realize that not only had her body regressed, but her tolerance for pain had also regressed to that of her fourteen-year-old self under Si Xuanji’s divine ability.
But what did it matter if one leg was crippled?!
Sun Juehu reached out and directly grabbed Si Xuanji’s right wrist, then punched directly at her cheek.
Bang—
A splash of blood flew from the tip of Si Xuanji’s nose, landing on the flawless Mirror Lake, dotting it with a blood-red color.
But as Sun Juehu was about to deliver a second punch, Si Xuanji directly grabbed the long hair at the back of her head and yanked it down forcefully.
“Ahhhh—!!”
Then, she retaliated with a knee kick that struck directly into Sun Juehu’s stomach, causing her to cough up a large amount of stomach fluid…
“Cough—”
Slap—
The sound of a slap echoed.
Sun Juehu’s right hand landed heavily on Si Xuanji’s face, causing her head to snap to the side. The next moment, the unusual glint in her eyes finally turned to extreme anger as she raised her sword.
Shua—
The blade swept directly into Sun Juehu’s shoulder bone…
But before it could sever the bone, Sun Juehu used her left hand to suppress Si Xuanji’s right hand, forcefully pushing it down.
The two fourteen-year-old girls clawed at each other, their eyes meeting, and then simultaneously threw their heads back…
Bang—
Their foreheads collided with a dull thud…
Both Sun Juehu and Si Xuanji felt their heads go blank, their eyes rolled upwards, and they fell backward. But halfway down, their upward-rolling eyes turned back, and they retreated to stabilize their bodies.
Tap tap—
The sound of bare feet treading water merged into one.
Sun Juehu stabilized her body, leaned forward, and swung a fist down again.
Si Xuanji stabilized her body, lowered her stance, and swept her sword upwards.
Bang—
The fist landed heavily on Si Xuanji’s right cheek, knocking out a bloody milk tooth…
The silver light also sliced into Sun Juehu’s flank, but it was blocked by the jade-like bones she had forged since childhood…
“Cough—” “Hah!!!”
Bang bang bang—
Shua shua shua—
The two no longer defended themselves, and each sword strike and punch landed heavily on the other’s body, bringing them the most unbearable pain in a thousand years.
“Si Dan Yue!!!” “Sun Juehu!!!”
It was like children fighting, but every move targeted the other’s vital points…
Bruises appeared deep beneath Si Xuanji’s skin, and sword marks were engraved on Sun Juehu’s fair body…
The flawless water surface they had stepped on barefoot was now stained red with the blood they had spat and shed.
However, after all, they were only in fourteen-year-old bodies. Such a fight did not last long. The injuries and exhaustion of their physical strength reached their limit in just fifteen minutes.
Splash—
With the sound of two people falling into the water, they both collapsed onto the water surface seeping with their own blood.
But it seemed they were inherently incompatible. The blood of Si Xuanji and Sun Juehu that fell into the Mirror Lake did not mix even in the water, separating into two bloodstains.
“Hah… Hah… Hah…”
Si Xuanji panted, feeling as if all her bones were shattered and her body was exhausted. A wave of sleepiness washed over her.
She struggled to keep her eyes open, using her last bit of strength to look towards Sun Juehu beside her.
She wasn’t any better off.
Even though as a body cultivator, her bones had been forged like iron since childhood, after so many sword cuts and so much blood loss, she would certainly be dizzy from anemia.
Seeing Sun Juehu lying motionless beside her, Si Xuanji finally felt a little relieved and loosened her grip on the hilt of the Azure Peak Sword.
“Cough, cough—”
But in the next moment…
Splash—
Sun Juehu seemed to have been waiting for this moment. With a face full of blood but no color, she crawled with all her might and grabbed her Azure Peak Sword from her hand.
“Si… Si Dan Yue!!!”
“Hiss—”
Sun Juehu crawled onto Si Xuanji, raised both hands to grip the long sword, raised it above her head, and pointed the tip at Si Xuanji’s chest.
“Die!!!”
Si Xuanji had no strength to move at this moment. Looking at Sun Juehu, who was straddling her and stabbing with the sword, the Yin-yang eyes returned to their previous calmness:
“You’re the one who’s going to die!!! Sun!!!”
Sun Juehu had no time to argue with her and forcefully thrust the sword in her hand down…
“Hoarghhh—!!!”
However—
Drip—
The sound of dripping water like a spring entered Sun Juehu’s ears.
Just like when she was dragged into this cave by Si Xuanji, in an instant, everything in her vision disappeared, replaced by the wind and snow of the Eastern Domain, and the blood- Fiend spiritual light that now enveloped her.
“What?!”
Sun Juehu’s eyes widened. She instantly realized she had exited the divine ability. The large peaks blocking her vision were in front of her chest. Her Nascent Soul realm cultivation allowed her senses to instantly expand to a radius of a thousand li.
But…
The pain had not disappeared.
In that Mirror Lake cave, the wounds carved by Si Xuanji’s mortal sword on her body were still bleeding.
She couldn’t move!!!
Most of her meridians were shattered, and her spiritual energy was sealed in her dantian due to her injuries, rendering her unable to mobilize it…
Under normal circumstances, this situation would not be life-threatening.
But now, the fiend light of Gu Yan’s Heavenly Demon Formation was surging towards her from all directions.
Could it be that she and Si Xuanji had been fighting in that cave for so long, while only a moment had passed outside?
Sun Juehu gritted her teeth. If it were her before, blocking these fiend blood would have been effortless, but now…
“No good!! Hahhh!! Move!! Hands, move faster!!!”
She struggled with all her might to move her hands, trying to block the fiend light surging towards her with the dragon spear in her hand. But even with all her effort, her hands only moved an inch or two.
Si Xuanji, who was meditating in the center of the pit below, had exhaustion filling her Yin-yang eyes. Looking at Sun Juehu in the sky, she finally relaxed her entire body:
“Hoo…”
With a breath.
The blood-red light surging from the surrounding earth directly swallowed Sun Juehu in mid-air.
Boom—
The spiritual light exploded, illuminating everything within a thousand li radius once again.
Taishang Wusun and Zu Yuan on the mountain peak a thousand li away were also stunned. Neither of them understood what had happened.
In their eyes, Sun Juehu went from wearing dragon armor to being covered in wounds in just an instant…
“Bald donkey… Did you see clearly? What happened?”
Although Taishang Wusun didn’t understand, he pretended to be profound, clasped his hands together, closed his eyes, and nodded:
“Amitabha…”
“… …”
Not long after, the spiritual light dissipated…
The floating mountains that had been suspended in the sky due to Si Xuanji’s Moon Spirit lost their support and plummeted from tens of thousands of feet in the sky.
Dong dong—
Si Xuanji lay on her back in the pit, looking at the mountain peaks falling towards her from the sky. As if she had given up resistance, she closed her eyes.
“Anping…”
At this very moment,
Tap tap—
Light footsteps sounded by her ears, causing Si Xuanji to open her eyes again. She saw a young man holding an oil-fan standing beside her. His deep purple eyes were filled with heartache, but he seemed to have expected this outcome, his expression remaining as calm as ever.
The next moment, an ice-blue sword qi flashed across the sky, turning the mountain peak that was falling towards him and Si Xuanji into scattered gravel.
Pei Lianxue, holding the Snow Jade Myriad Spirit Sword, landed quickly to the side after splitting the mountain peak:
“Senior Brother!! Done splitting!”
“Mm… Then all that’s left is…”
Ye Anping turned and walked towards the back. A blood-red figure plummeted straight down from the sky, crashing onto the rocky ground about twenty feet away.
“Cough—”
Blood foam gushed from the corner of Sun Juehu’s mouth. Her eyes were dazed as she looked at the sky, as if her consciousness had drifted thousands of miles away. But soon, she regained her senses and struggled to turn her head to look towards Si Xuanji.
“…Cough, cough—”
“Senior Sun, please forgive my impudence…”
Ye Anping closed his eyes, cupped his hands in a salute, then took the Snow Jade Myriad Spirit Sword from Pei Lianxue beside him and walked step by step towards Sun Juehu, standing beside her and looking down at her:
“Senior Sun, I don’t dislike you, nor do I have any enmity with you. But Xuanji is my cultivation partner. No one in this world would tolerate their cultivation partner being threatened by others…”
“Cough, cough…”
Sun Juehu coughed out a mouthful of blood foam, seemingly wanting to say something but unable to speak.
Her eyes were wide open, staring intently into Ye Anping’s eyes.
Reflected in her blood-stained pupils was the image of a Nascent Soul cultivator raising the Mystic Ice Spirit Sword in his hand.
However, as his spirit sword fell…
“Senior Brother!! Be careful!!!”
Pei Lianxue, standing beside Si Xuanji, instantly turned into a beam of light and flashed to Ye Anping’s side, using a spare spirit sword from her storage bag to place a silver spear close to his neck.
Ye Anping looked sideways, and what entered his eyes was the face of a woman whose eyes were trembling, seemingly on the verge of tears but holding back.
“Commander Xu… I wrote about this in my previous jade slip…”
Hum—
Dang—
The silver spear let out a dragon’s roar, but Pei Lianxue blocked it with a sword strike. However, looking at Xu Mulan, Pei Lianxue did not immediately counter-attack. Instead, she hugged her Senior Brother’s waist and retreated ten steps, protecting him behind her.
“Sister Xu?”
Xu Mulan was trembling all over. She swallowed and walked to Sun Juehu’s side, guarding her with her spear, and shouted in a near-crying voice:
“I am from Hantian Kingdom’s Snow-clothed Guard, and I am the Empress’s personal guard!! I will absolutely… absolutely not allow anyone to disrespect the Saint!! Young Master Ye, I will not yield!! If you want to kill His Majesty, you must first kill…”
Before she could finish speaking, Ye Anping frowned and patted his Junior Sister’s shoulder, signaling her not to interfere. Then, he bent down and flashed, arriving in front of Xu Mulan. He raised the Snow Jade Myriad Spirit Sword in his hand and unleashed an Inquiring Sword Art towards Xu Mulan’s forehead.
“Ah?”
Xu Mulan was surprised that Ye Anping didn’t even let her finish speaking. She hurriedly raised her silver spear to block, but the difference in their weapons was hundreds of grades.
As the silver spear’s shaft touched the blade of the Mystic Ice Spirit Sword, it instantly snapped into two pieces.
The Mystic Ice sword blade descended directly towards Xu Mulan’s brow. She was shocked but did not close her eyes. Instead, she gritted her teeth and faced the sword blade coming towards her forehead.
Seeing her expression, Ye Anping narrowed his eyes, changed his sword path in mid-air, and then delivered a whip kick to Xu Mulan’s waist.
“Cough—”
Xu Mulan’s waist was covered by Xuan Jia armor, but the force of this kick directly caved in the Xuan Jia, turning her into a flat stone. She skidded dozens of times on the muddy ground nearby before managing to stop.
Although Xu Mulan was not seriously injured, her head buzzed.
When she recovered from her dizziness and looked up again, Ye Anping was already standing beside Sun Juehu, thrusting the Mystic Ice Spirit Sword vertically into Sun Juehu’s chest…
“Ah!!”
The fear froze Xu Mulan’s body like ice.
Sun Juehu looked at Ye Anping standing beside her, but seemed to have found peace. She shifted her gaze from his face to the moon, which was like a round disc in the sky, and her lips parted slightly:
“Father, daughter has ultimately lost…”
A tear mixed with blood squeezed out from the corner of her eye and flowed down her cheeks.
Her gaze traversed the moonlight, the wind and snow of the Eastern Domain, and time.
Sun Juehu slowly closed her eyes and exhaled her last breath, ready to relax and welcome her end.
But at this very moment, an annoying dialect from the Southern Domain entered her consciousness.
“Why are you walking so fast? Little Sun girl, keep this old man company, won’t you~…”
?
As Sun Juehu was wondering, a splash of cool spring water poured onto her face.
She suddenly opened her eyes again.
Ye Anping was still standing beside her, holding the Snow Jade Myriad Spirit Sword. On the other side, a transparent dwarf in a golden Daoist robe was pouring wine onto her face with a wine gourd…
Seeing Yun Tianmi’s grinning face, Sun Juehu’s pupils instantly contracted in anger. She instinctively straightened up and threw a punch at him, but Yun Tianmi dodged by twisting his body.
“Heh…”
Yun Tianmi turned his body, retreated ten feet away, tilted his head, bit the Jade Gourd, took another drink, and winked at Sun Juehu:
“Yo yo, still quite spirited! Haha…”
Sun Juehu was stunned for a moment before she reacted. She turned her head to look behind her and saw that her body was still lying at Ye Anping’s feet. Ye Anping, holding the Snow Jade Myriad Spirit Sword, was staring at her and Yun Tianmi with a speechless expression, as if to say:
—It seems the Snow Jade Myriad Spirit Sword can’t be kept any longer…
…
