“Long time no see, Qingtong Zhenren,” Yun Song said with a cold face.
As if he hadn’t heard him, Qingtong took the white jade teacup Yan Lie handed him, took a sip, then put it down slowly. Only then did he take a look at Yun Song, but he did not intend to answer the greeting.
Yun Song was livid with anger.
“Since Zhenren accepted the challenge just now, I will ask for advice from the kind of genius who can be trained from an ordinary mortal to Foundation Establishment within one year,” Chao Jun stepped forward and coldly glared at Mo Tianliao. Even the heavenly root geniuses that he knew needed to work hard day and night to achieve Foundation Establishment in their tenth year at the earliest.
“This fellow cultivator has misunderstood. When I entered the sect, I was already at the ninth level of Qi Refining,” Mo Tianliao smiled and said. “Sects accept disciples regardless of whether they have started cultivating or not. Usually, anyone below Foundation Establishment will be accepted. When a rogue cultivator has been wandering alone for a long time, they may want to find a sect to take shelter.”
So he was a self-taught cultivator. When Chao Jun heard this, he couldn’t help but raise his chin even higher, “Well, please advise me.”
“Wait a moment,” Mo Tianliao raised his hand and stopped the man who was about to rush him.
Chao Jun showed a contemptuous smile. He finally knew how to be afraid, huh?
“This hall is very narrow; we may disturb Master’s tea. Let’s go outside,” Mo Tianliao raised his hand and made a gesture of invitation. One just wanted to save face while the other was considering his own Master, having cultivated both his mind and judgement. It was obvious who was superior.
In front of Woyun Hall there was an open space paved with strong Diamantine Stone which was specifically used to deal with such impromptu “sparring”.
The crowd went out. Tianlang Zhenren touched his beard, signalling to Yan Lie, Why did Qingyun Sect know that Qingtong had accepted a dual spiritual root disciple? Go find out.
Yan Lie nodded in response; naturally, he had also noticed. It must be investigated as soon as possible.
The two fighters stood at opposite ends of the open space, while the others surrounded them on both sides.
Chao Jun had an earth attribute. His qi started rushing around him, covering his body in a layer of hazy yellow sand, “I’m a little stronger than you, so I’ll give you three moves.”
Mo Tianliao raised his eyebrows. This was often the case in the righteous path: in the event of an unequal level of competition, those with a higher level would grant several moves. “If that’s the case…” Mo Tianliao had already moved before the latter part of the sentence could even be said.
Three wood thorns caught fire and were shot straight at Chao Jun’s face in a triangle formation.
Chao Jun’s pupils shrank in fear. He hurriedly built an earthen wall for defence, but unexpectedly, once the wood thorns penetrated the wall, they quickly took root and turned into green vines. They split into two, and those two branched into four, and on and on endlessly. In an instant, they had taken over the whole wall and the defence immediately collapsed. Once the earth wall crumbled, it revealed Mo Tianliao, who had already jumped close.
Chao Jun got a fright and immediately took out a pair of common cymbals to attack Mo Tianliao.
The cymbals crashed into each other with a loud clang, and a massive torrent of yellow sand rose into the sky. Mo Tianliao waved his hand, calling on countless fallen leaves and forming a firm shield.
“Hey! Did he not say he would give him three moves? It was only two moves! How come he is already attacking?” Zi Mo shouted from the sidelines.
Chao Jun hadn’t expected a person who had just achieved Foundation Establishment to move so fast that he couldn’t take any measures. If he didn’t attack again, he would be overpowered and beaten. He transferred some qi to his palm and hit the cymbals again.
Mo Tianliao snapped his fingers and a black orb instantly bounced between the cymbals. There was a muffled humming sound. The ball was crushed by the special weapon and the space array inside burst. Two jars’ worth of oil immediately spilled out along with the massive rush of yellow sand.
A small firesnake was quickly launched, and the oily sand immediately turned into a huge fire dragon, trapping Chao Jun in flames and sand.
Chao Jun abruptly stamped his foot and a ten-zhang-high earth barrier covered him tightly in all directions. Fire solidified earth, so as long as the wall was there, fire could not destroy it.
The Woyun Sect onlookers couldn’t help but worry; the man was perfectly hidden. Mo Tianliao had just attained Foundation Establishment, so his spiritual power would soon be exhausted. It was a dangerous situation.
Mo Tianliao, however, was not anxious. He took out a wood thorn, lit it, spun, and threw it into the open space atop the earth barrier — all with perfect calmness.
Chao Jun naturally noticed and hurriedly raised his hand to seal the top with more earth, but the hastily built wall could not withstand against the Submerged Wood thorn charged with spiritual power. This wood thorn could penetrate solid rock!
“Ahhh!” the earth wall instantly collapsed. Chao Jun’s clothes had been stained with oil, and they promptly burst into flames once they came in contact with Mo Tianliao’s woodfire.
Chao Jun hastily drew a torrent of sand to bury himself, barely managing to put out the fire. Mo Tianliao narrowed his eyes, took out a wooden sword, ignited it with his woodfire, and chopped down toward the sand mound.
“Impudent brat!” When Elder Yun Song saw this killing move, he could not sit still. He jumped up to slap Mo Tianliao.
No matter how capable Mo Tianliao was, it was impossible for him to withstand the powerful blow of someone in the Half-Immortal stage. He felt a shiver run down his spine.
At this critical moment, there was a loud bang! and a white jade-like hand firmly caught the deadly palm. The huge wave of spiritual force sent Mo Tianliao directly into the air.
Meng Hu jumped into the air, grabbed Mo Tianliao by the collar, and calmly carried him down.
The other two had already started to battle.
Sect Leader Tianlang Zhenren raised his hand and promptly built a barrier all over the Woyun Sect people. Don’t joke, a fight between two people at the Half-Immortal stage could destroy the entire Wotian Abode!
Qingyun Sect’s people by the side saw that the situation was going south and immediately hid behind Woyun Sect’s barrier. Even Chao Jun, who had just gotten out from the sand, was no exception. It was only that his trousers were burned through, so he had to cover his rear with both hands as he scurried over.
Mo Tianliao was not in the mood to laugh at him. He frowned, observing the fight.
Elder Yun Song’s wood magic was very strong; countless giant vines rose up into the sky. One vine became ten, and ten became a hundred; it was the same as Mo Tianliao’s recent move, but it was one hundred times stronger. Hundreds of giant vines tipped with thorns rushed straight towards Qingtong.
The white clothes appeared delicate amid the huge mass of writhing black vines. Qingtong tapped his foot gently, and white frost spread from the soles of his feet. With a snap of his fingers, all the vines were frozen solid. Not a single one was missed; each was frozen accurately, without even one superfluous icicle.
The people from Qingyun Sect gasped at the sight. How precise a spell was needed to achieve this?!
Qingtong didn’t cast another spell, but raised his hand, and a huge spiritual palm reached towards the frozen vines and crushed them with a crunch.
Yun Song immediately transferred his spell, countless wooden thorns hung in mid-air, like a huge bed of nails, heading directly towards Qingtong.
Because this spell required one to control each wood thorn individually, it took a huge toll on the soul of the wielder. Without a sufficiently powerful soul, it couldn’t be used.
When ordinary people saw this, they would immediately try to erect some sort of defence, but Qingtong just snorted coldly. He opened his hands, and countless icicles materialized in front of him, pointing upwards.
Bits of wood and ice were flying all over the sky. The white-clad beauty spun and dodged past the countless debris, smashing Yun Song’s defences with one punch and ramming straight into his eye socket.
Yun Song was speechless! What kind of tactic was that?!
However, Qingtong had no intention of explaining. He grabbed him and gave him a good beating. Finally, he uttered, “Have some dignity!” and drifted away gracefully.
The crowd looked at Yun Song, who had been beaten black and blue, and at Chao Jun, who was covering his ass. For a while, they couldn’t react. So… this was what a duel between powerful cultivators was like… maybe?
Mo Tianliao looked at the brilliant white beam of light that was shooting straight towards Woqing Abode. He frowned, gave da-shixiong a one-sentence explanation, and ran after Master, leaving behind a group of embarrassed people looking at each other speechlessly.
After entering Woqing Abode, Mo Tianliao ignored the ban on flying swords and anxiously chased his Master towards Qingning Palace.
Qingtong walked into the hall, but could no longer stay conscious. Everything went dark and he collapsed, but he was caught by Mo Tianliao, who had just rushed in.
The face of the man in his arms was pale. His eyes were closed, and his black hair quickly became snow-white. Mo Tianliao frowned harshly, lifted the man in a bridal carry, and hurried into the inner hall.
The inner hall was as quiet as always.
Mo Tianliao gently placed the man in his arms on the bed, sat down by the edge, and pressed two fingers to the cold, white wrist. He closed his eyes, waited a moment, opened his eyes, and quietly looked at the unconscious man. Fortunately, there was no injury. He probably overtaxed his soul, and with it already damaged…
After an unknown amount of time had passed, Mo Tianliao slowly stretched out his hand, took hold of the jade-like left hand, and, bit by bit, as if handling a unique treasure, drew back the plain wide sleeve. A bracelet, inlaid with rare gems and shimmering with blue light, was tightly fastened to Master’s wrist.
Mo Tianliao closed his eyes, covered the wrist bit by bit, bent over, and took the sleeping man into his arms.
A warm power once enveloped and protected his soul… Mo Xiaozhao, who was always sleepy… Master whose soul was damaged… Mo Tianliao felt the bottom of his heart ache with an almost unbearable pain. He slowly drew closer, then gently, ever so gently, pressed a kiss to the smooth forehead. “Xiaozhao, don’t be afraid, I am here. Sleep.”
Thank you everyone for the comments