A glint of admiration flashed in Yan Qianlie's eyes. Although their paths diverged, he grew increasingly respectful and admiring of this woman.
Her poise and demeanor, her haughty arrogance, and the repeated losses he had suffered at her hands in the various open and covert struggles of the past few months.
In the eyes of the demonic path, all female cultivators were mere furnaces. Although Yan Qianlie followed a bloodthirsty, battle-hardened path and had long since lost any desire for men and women, his disdain for women remained deeply ingrained. He had never considered Qiu Wuji a shrew before.
Her fame was merely due to those hypocrites of the righteous path, who fawned over any pretty woman, making her seem like a goddess, praising her as if she were some kind of powerful figure…
Now he realized that Qiu Wuji was a true top-tier cultivator, the strongest opponent he had ever encountered in his life.
To win, one must strike at her resolve from another angle: "Sect Leader Qiu, are you aware that your all-out attack is exactly what I planned?"
Qiu Wuji smiled faintly: "It's nothing more than secretly planting some pawns to launch a sneak attack on Cloud Ridge Mountain... But Sect Leader Yan, are you aware that our sect has been secretly practicing new techniques these past few days? Right now, with myriad shadows and layers upon layers of mountains, even if you went there yourself, you might not be able to find a way to break through?"
Yan Qianlie was slightly taken aback.
But then Qiu Wuji said leisurely, "Sect Leader Yan, are you quite puzzled about where the Boneless Elder has gone recently?"
Yan Qianlie replied calmly, "A mere skeleton in a tomb, nothing to fear. I have my own arrangements."
Qiu Wuji said, "You've paid attention to the Boneless Elder, but perhaps not to the Poison Hand Demon Lord."
Yan Qianlie chuckled, "What can a mere stray dog whose primordial spirit has escaped do?"
Qiu Wuji said calmly, "Our sect has a very good disciple named Chu Tiange. You should have heard of him by now."
Yan Qianlie nodded, "This person is tenacious and unyielding..." "His fortune is extraordinary; he forged his Golden Core at a young age. Many of his men's plans have failed because of him; I've indeed heard of it. Yunji Sect is indeed a place of outstanding people and talents."
"In your eyes alone, Chu Tiange might just be a junior worthy of a few words of praise; in your eyes alone, the Poison Hand Demon Lord is nothing more than a stray dog." Qiu Wuji smiled slightly: "But when Chu Tiange, carrying the Poison Hand Demon Lord's primordial spirit, sneaks into your Nine Burning Altar, you should perhaps consider what kind of reaction their cooperation will produce." Yan Qianlie's expression changed slightly.
"Clang!" The Autumn Water Jade Sword suddenly drew its sheath, its shimmering divine light illuminating the night.
Qiu Wuji brandished her sword, pointing: "In our battle, I truly desire to savor the fight itself between evenly matched opponents. External distractions only cloud the mind and are of no benefit to the Dao. Sect Master Yan's Hellfire, capable of scorching heaven and earth, is something I have long admired. Why not offer your guidance?"
Yan Qianlie thought this woman was rather insidious. She'd said everything, good and bad. Was this how her master taught her to follow the righteous path?
However, her words were true. A surge of heroic spirit rose within Yan Qianlie. He decisively ignored the external distractions and laughed loudly: "As expected of Qiu Wuji… Take this!" A ferocious, incomparably powerful flaming fist tore through the air, a roaring, ferocious fire dragon.
Where the fire dragon passed, the ground several feet away was scorched black.
Qiu Wuji's figure in the distance blurred, like autumn water merging into the night sky.
It was as if Qiu Wuji was everywhere, the shimmering water engulfing the flames.
"Clang!" A dazzling sword light erupted under the bright moon, its unparalleled power slicing through the night and the flames.
While the outside world was buzzing about the battle between water and fire, people suddenly remembered that Qiu Wuji wasn't a water-based cultivator.
She was a sword cultivator!
The most powerful, the most ruthless, the sword capable of annihilating everything!
"Boom!" The entire mountain exploded, black flames swirling skyward.
Night, black flames, a dark aura, a distorted and chaotic space.
The cultivators watching from afar could no longer see the scene at the center of the battle; they could only see a dazzling sword light bursting forth in the darkness, like the eternally unfallen moon in the night sky.
The moonlight, like water, gently spread across the world, reflecting on the mountains and water, reaching far into the heavens.
... As a cultivation novel, Chu Ge's fight descriptions are very detailed.
This chapter wasn't finished; I found a point to post it as an incomplete chapter.
Readers were both thrilled and cursing.
Relieved that the climax was well-written, Chu Ge was also furious that Duan Zhangge was going too far. Stopping the fight halfway through was utterly inhuman!
However, this time Chu Ge wasn't intentionally cutting off the fight. His gaze was more serious than ever before.
He was reviewing the details of the fight he had written, checking if they differed from what he had just witnessed.
Differences in details were normal, especially regarding Qiu Wuji. Now that she had "broken the boundary and seen the truth," many of her actions no longer followed his descriptions, and Chu Ge was used to it.
But what if Yan Qianlie's details were also different?
Was it a butterfly effect caused by Qiu Wuji's different actions, leading to different choices in response to Qiu Wuji's different attacks?
Or was it because Yan Qianlie was also showing signs of "breaking free from the Heavenly Dao"?
This couldn't be ignored.
Given Yan Qianlie's level of understanding, since he had already perceived the existence of the "Heavenly Dao," attempting to break free was perfectly normal. What Qiu Wuji could do, Yan Qianlie certainly had a chance of doing as well.
Had anything gone unnoticed in ordinary times, but during this life-or-death duel, were these signs revealed?
Was it possible that the ending would deviate from the book's plot and spiral completely out of control?
Chu Ge slowly wrote a new chapter on the document, his mind taut, not missing a single detail of the sword light and flames clashing within the black flames.
Details invisible even to powerful cultivators were crystal clear to him.
"These past few days, you've often been wandering aimlessly, your whereabouts unknown," Yan Qianlie whispered within the flames. "I thought it might have hindered your cultivation, but this time, your cultivation has become even more solid and refined. All changes are within your mind, like the moon reflected in water." Qiu Wuji swung his sword, piercing the flames, and said calmly, "Likewise, your refinement is truly remarkable, also beyond my expectations."
"So..." A strange look appeared in Yan Qianlie's eyes, a mixture of excitement and malice. "Your Myriad Manifestations Shadow is something completely beyond the concepts of the Cloud Realm Sect. No one in the world would have thought... I don't even know if the Heavenly Dao thought... you were breaking free from it, right?"
Qiu Wuji's expression hardened.
A wisp of white appeared within Yan Qianlie's black flames.
The white flame.
attached to Qiu Wuji's sword, spreading and burning silently, melting iron without a sound. In the blink of an eye, it followed the Autumn Water Jade Sword, which was supposed to isolate all flames, and invaded Qiu Wuji's meridians.
"Does Heaven know what I've practiced?!" Yan Qianlie roared to the sky, "Trying to control my fate, Yan Qianlie? To hell with Heaven!"
"Boom!" A raging inferno of white flames replaced the night.
Qiu Wuji coughed up blood, staggering backward in horror.
She could suppress the white flames, but what truly terrified her was that Yan Qianlie had discovered it?
How could he have discovered it?
This slight tremor in her composure was the cause of defeat in a battle of this level!
How could Yan Qianlie let this opportunity slip by?
With a roar, a terrifying wave of heat surged into the sky, turning the entire green peak into nothingness.
Caught in the center of the flames, Qiu Wuji could only deploy her defenses and swiftly retreat from the hottest point.
A flash of fire, and Yan Qianlie was already blocking her path, his eyes filled with bloodthirsty rage: "Stay here!" His demonic hand transformed into a fist, and a terrifying beam of light was about to slam into Qiu Wuji's back.
A glint of light flashed in Qiu Wuji's eyes. He spun in mid-air, and the half-broken Autumn Water Jade Sword suddenly pierced the center of his fist.
"Boom!" The sky collapsed, the earth roared, and a hundred miles of green peaks were reduced to ruins.
"He said I would win, and I will win!" Blood trickled from Qiu Wuji's lips, his eyes resolute: "You can't escape." Yan Qianlie was about to scoff when his heart suddenly clenched.
His painstakingly cultivated white flame had inexplicably degenerated, rapidly reverting to its original black flame, much weaker than before.
An irresistible pressure descended; it was the Heavenly Dao correcting the world's course: "Erasing the super-plot techniques that shouldn't exist."
This appeared harmless to Yan Qianlie on the surface, but in battle, it was fatal.
It was like wielding a precious sword, confident in its power to cut through iron, only to have it suddenly break… In that moment, anyone's reaction was vulnerable.
Sun Ce died here.
So did Yan Qianlie.
With a soft "thud," the Autumn Water Jade Sword pierced Yan Qianlie's heart.
The flames subsided, and peace returned to the hundred miles away.
With a violent howl, the fiery spirit fled.
Qiu Wuji coughed up blood, too weak to chase, and too lazy to bother.
She looked up at the moon, as if she could see a smiling face within it.
Chu Ge saved the document and published a chapter completely different from the actual battle, a relaxed smile on his face: "I told you I could help you with a blow... I told you not to underestimate your opponent, you'll get a spanking when you get back."