Chapter 58: The Opportunity to Enhance the Starlight Power

The twin Purple Phoenix Divine Blades flashed past, yet the red-haired wild boar kept charging forward.

A flash crossed her violet eyes, and Ye Ziyan wore a look of utter astonishment.

Ling Xuan's speed of attack had actually managed to rival her own. That bizarre technique of his was equal to, if not surpassing, that of Yuwen Ni.

The red-haired wild boar's neck was clearly severed, though it had not yet realized it.

Only when a loud "boom" echoed did it split into two halves, its eyes not even having time to close.

"You... to what level have you practiced the Tenfold Overbearing Arts?"

"My wife, what is there to be shocked about? This is simply utilizing the sharpness of the twin Purple Phoenix Divine Blades," Ling Xuan said with nonchalant indifference.

The blades were sharp, and having once studied anatomy, he knew the bodily structures of these demonic souls inside and out.

Although their sizes varied, their internal anatomy remained the same.

Practicing this time and applying that knowledge made the execution effortless.

To him, the twin Purple Phoenix Divine Blades were practically a pair of scalpels, or familiar silver acupuncture needles.

Hearing Ye Ziyan's evaluation of Yuwen Ni, Ling Xuan could not help falling into a brief daze. "Could that girl also be skilled in the art of acupuncture?"

Little did he know that at that very moment, Yuwen Ni was blushing so fiercely she wanted to bury herself in a snowdrift.

After all that fuss, she had only just learned from her third brother, Yuwen Chengxiang, that the young master she had been yearning for with all her heart was actually a delicate and beautiful maiden just like her, and moreover, was already taken.

To top it all off, that very person was her mortal enemy—the successor of the Celestial Healer's supreme Tai Chi acupuncture technique, and the Heir of the Prince of Changping, whose family philosophies directly conflicted with the Yuwen clan.

The Prince of Changping's Heir may not have possessed overwhelming martial prowess, yet he had cunningly slaughtered nearly half of the Grey Kites that the Yuwen clan had spent years cultivating.

At this instant, new grudges and old hatreds surged together, and Yuwen Ni gritted her icy teeth. "Where is that bastard?"

"The young couple are inseparable; they won't be apart," Yuwen Chengxiang asserted with absolute certainty.

"Really?"

Yuwen Ni instantly broke into a jubilant expression.

If she didn't strike at a moment like this, when else would she wait for?

After slaying the multicolored pheasant, they had turned back to search, only to discover that Ye Ziyan and Ling Xuan's tracks did not lead out of the Three Thousand Mountains, but rather deeper into them.

With a blur of movement, her figure took to the air, startling Yuwen Chengxiang into calling out repeatedly, "Little sister, what are you doing?"

"Don't follow me," Yuwen Ni snapped over her shoulder in a fury. "If you ruin my plans, you'll be sorry."

"This..."

Yuwen Chengxiang was genuinely bewildered.

Could his little sister have grown to detest the Heir of the Prince of Changping so quickly?

Although she told him not to follow, he rolled his eyes, gave a grand wave of his hand, and declared, "Follow them."

"Third Young Master, Fourth Miss told us not to..."

"Tsk, are you going to listen to her or to me?"

Yuwen Chengxiang's face blossomed with a smile. "There's a good show to watch; it's free entertainment if nothing else. Hurry up, follow them immediately."

***

Meanwhile, the trial-by-combat squad composed of Sun Tianxin, Hou Junji, Cheng Yaojin, and others arrived at the Three Thousand Mountains.

Hou Junji immediately set about checking the markings, needing to follow their guidance as quickly as possible to rendezvous with Ling Xuan.

After dispatching another three-eyed flame lion, the twin Purple Phoenix Divine Blades whirled into a silent arc of blades, leaving Ye Ziyan practically rooted to the spot in a daze.

How was it that Ling Xuan could wield her family's ancestral twin blades even more smoothly than she could?

Could this guy's martial talent surpass her own?

A thought suddenly struck her. "Um... should we try incorporating the Nine Styles of Changping into this as well?"

"Don't even think about it, wife. Greed leads to indigestion," Ling Xuan chuckled and shook his head. "Martial arts aren't better the more you know; they require profound mastery."

"Scram!"

She glared at him in annoyance. When had he started throwing her own words back at her to lecture her?

Ye Ziyan flitted past him. "Watch out, Goguryeo scouts."

Raising their gaze, several dark shadows drifted out from the forest, chattering discordantly as they charged toward them.

"Whoosh, whoosh..."

Crossbows twitched as arrows flew through the air.

The Art of Aura Observation activated instantly. All five Goguryeo scouts were at the Mysterious Realm of the Qi Sea.

Though not tall, they were agile in movement, leaping through the mountain woods like apes.

"If Hou Junji were here, you could have them race each other in speed," Ling Xuan said with a crooked smile, immediately unleashing his Serpent-Like Evasion.

During this period, he had constantly used demonic souls as targets for practice.

Moreover, those demonic souls were not high in rank, and he had not yet truly fought against opponents of his own cultivation realm.

To test his true strength, he had to cross swords with peers of equal realm to see just what level he had reached.

Twisting his body to dodge the incoming arrows, he swept the twin Purple Phoenix Divine Blades upward. He executed the Tenfold Overbearing Arts with a bizarre technique, instantly enveloping two of them.

As for the other three, there was no need to worry.

Ye Ziyan had already arrived, her Scorching Prairie Fire-Phoenix Spear whipping out floral patterns of light as she launched a fierce assault.

She had bottled up enough frustration over this period.

This time, she showed absolutely no forbearance. If Ling Xuan could progress so rapidly, how could she allow herself to fall behind?

"Aroo..."

The roar of a demonic soul suddenly echoed, and the ground trembled.

A massive five-star blue-glow violent black bear lunged down fiercely.

"The five of them are yours; I'll handle the demonic soul," Ye Ziyan said without a moment's hesitation, thrusting her spear forward.

"You really think highly of me," Ling Xuan muttered speechlessly.

Little White Snake was not by its side, having slithered off to track the Mysterious Water Black Serpent soul, leaving him to face them alone.

Five opponents at the Mysterious Realm of the Qi Sea—an exact match in cultivation.

***

Five curved sabers met the twin Purple Phoenix Divine Blades.

Ling Xuan's heroic spirit surged as his legs lashed out in a flurry of shadows.

The five Goguryeo scouts maintained expressionless faces as they instantly scattered, surrounding Ling Xuan.

Instead of attacking immediately, however, they summoned their Shikigami.

The moment the Shikigami appeared, Ling Xuan was nearly overcome with wild joy: the Shikigami of all five men were serpentine entities, specifically Crimson-Refining Red Snakes.

The Crimson-Refining Red Snake was precisely the demonic soul that Little White Snake needed to devour in order to evolve.

It was like being handed a pillow just as one felt sleepy, or fresh mountain spring water when dying of thirst.

Right now, even if someone begged him to finish the fight quickly, Ling Xuan wouldn't want to.

Wielding the twin Purple Phoenix Divine Blades and unfurling his Serpent-Like Evasion, he immediately began to circle and engage them in combat.

The five Goguryeo scouts fully unleashed the power of their Shikigami, combining their efforts to form a formation resembling a giant serpent that tightly bound him within its coils.

With Serpent-Like Evasion swaying left and right, Ling Xuan darted unpredictably.

His legs moved like serpents, and his hands struck like a venomous snake darting its tongue, finding every opening and weakness.

The five Goguryeo scouts chattered incessantly in their native tongue.

Five figures drifted back and forth, crowned by the writhing forms of five Crimson-Refining Red Snake Shikigami.

"Boom!" Their palms collided head-on.

Comparing pure strength, Ling Xuan discovered that the strength of these five men was actually not weak.

Yet compared to the binding coils of the spirit snake, the gap remained quite significant.

"Vile beast, go die!"

Ye Ziyan's stern shout rang out from nearby.

The strength of the violent black bear was by no means inferior to the multicolored pheasant they had fought previously; if anything, its raw physical power was even greater.

The Scorching Prairie Fire-Phoenix Spear spat tongues of flame, forcing Ye Ziyan to resort to her own Shikigami power.

In a split second, a shadowy purple phoenix materialized, and the soul essence of a fire-phoenix soared forth.

Boom after rumbling boom echoed through the air.

Though the violent black bear possessed a thick hide and was pierced by several spear strikes, bleeding profusely, it did not hinder its ability to continuously parry Ye Ziyan's attacks.

"Brat, facing the five of us, you still dare to let your mind wander?"

A scout roared angrily, "Execute the stranglehold!"

Ling Xuan chuckled, "Stones from other mountains can polish jade—didn't you know that?"