Chapter 697: Mirror Image in the Blade
Qi Jiuyi wore a smile, but his gaze was extremely cold. His aura reached its peak at this moment.
His battle intent soared to the heavens.
For a long time—roughly two or three years—he had been searching for an opportunity, a chance to perfectly defeat Qin Mu!
He was a favored son of heaven, the bloodline of the Southern Heavenly Red Emperor, a young genius who cultivated the techniques of two Imperial Throne-level powerhouses. Carrying dreams and ambition, he descended to the lower realm, only to be ganged up on by Qin Mu and Zhe Huali as soon as he arrived!
Later, in a one-on-one duel, he was defeated by Qin Mu.
Two failures, a monumental disgrace.
And now, by disrupting Qin Mu's Dao heart, he had found his golden opportunity to wipe away that shame!
He had waited for this chance, engineered this chance!
"Those who learn from me may live; those who imitate me will perish."
Qin Mu had Long Qilin step back, speaking earnestly: "In a duel between experts, attacking the mind is paramount. I've always been good at striking at my opponent's Dao heart. You, Zhe Huali, Xu Shenghua, and even the Great Venerable—all of you have survived my blows and are still standing. You're all talents, and I've watched you grow. But you made one mistake: instead of striking directly, you imitated my art of psychological warfare. The moment you had that thought, you were doomed to lose, because I'm better at it than you."
Qi Jiuyi's body blazed with flames, manifesting the vision of a phoenix perching on a parasol tree. He forced himself not to dwell on Qin Mu's words, sneering, "Your techniques and divine abilities can never match my Qi family's Imperial Throne ultimate arts. One of my great divine abilities can overpower three of yours!"
His divine abilities accelerated faster and faster, many times quicker than before. Clearly, after his defeat by Qin Mu, he had reflected deeply, trained arduously, and made astonishing progress!
Imperial Throne techniques were profound and unfathomable. For cultivators in Yancheng, every step of enlightenment required constant refinement and contemplation, with only a stroke of luck leading to a state of Dao realization.
Even a once-in-five-hundred-years sage like the Yancheng National Teacher needed decades or even centuries of accumulation to comprehend his own Dao sword, and finally required the guidance of the previous generation's Sword God, Village Chief, to break into the Dao realm—achieving a level of sword cultivation that even Qin Mu could not match.
The figures from the Village of Broken Elders who had comprehended the Dao realm—like the Butcher, the Blind, and the Deaf—all had remarkable attainments in their respective paths.
But they had devoted their entire lives to a single pursuit, enduring countless hardships, trials, and setbacks before reaching the Dao realm.
Even someone like Qin Mu, a "dominant body," faced unimaginable obstacles when stepping onto the path of the sword.
In the Hall of Human Sovereigns, the First Ancestor Human Sovereign shattered his bones and flesh, destroyed the techniques of all past human sovereigns, and brutally beat Qin Mu, striking at his physical body, spirit, Dao heart, and skills. Qin Mu knelt in the mud, begging, but could only watch helplessly as the Second Ancestor Human Sovereign's remains were destroyed.
That blow nearly broke Qin Mu completely, and only afterward did he traverse the Taihuang Heaven, battle Cheng Sha, and attain enlightenment in the City of Separation. The blood and tears he shed were beyond words.
But Qi Jiuyi, who cultivated Imperial Throne techniques, was different. Growing up in the Heavenly Court, guided by the Southern Heavenly Red Emperor Qi Xiayu, and apprenticed to the Netherworld Black Emperor Yin Tianzi, he trained in two Imperial Throne techniques.
Imperial Throne techniques were vast and profound, granting the ability to comprehend the Dao and reach the Dao realm without needing the tempering that the National Teacher, the Butcher, or the Blind had undergone, nor the setbacks they had faced.
Qi Jiuyi's cultivation had always been smooth sailing. But precisely because of this, the Dao realm forcibly elevated by such techniques had significant flaws.
Qi Jiuyi had always believed he could rank among the top ten in the same realm, if not be invincible—until he met Qin Mu, that rustic youth who had crawled and struggled in the lower realm.
After losing to Qin Mu twice in a row, he realized his shortcomings. The Dao realm brought by Imperial Throne techniques wasn't truly his own; it lacked that bone-deep resonance.
From then on, he too embarked on the path of self-enlightenment, which was why he had made such great progress and improvement.
Behind him, on the parasol tree, nine phoenixes cried out. A nine-headed phoenix flapped its wings and soared, circling the tree. In the phoenix nest, another egg cracked, and a smaller nine-headed phoenix fluttered its tender wings, feeding on wind and dew, absorbing phoenix fire. It quickly grew and took flight again.
Qin Mu raised an eyebrow. In just a short time, sixteen nine-headed phoenixes had emerged from the nest. Colorful phoenixes with long, gorgeous tails flew around him, their cries forming clear Dao tones.
He stood there, surrounded by a radius of over ten li, as massive nine-headed phoenixes wove in and out, forming a wondrous formation.
Within this formation, Qi Jiuyi stood opposite him, the parasol tree behind him, its fiery blossoms blooming like trumpets. The fiery clouds among the branches pulsed with a strange rhythm.
The youth beneath the tree exuded an air of calm composure.
Qin Mu felt a pang of regret. He shouldn't have given Qi Jiuyi the time and opportunity to unleash his great divine ability. Qi Jiuyi had grown far too powerful since their last clash, and granting him this chance had put Qin Mu on the defensive.
Clearly, Qi Jiuyi's great divine ability, "Phoenix Perching on Parasol Tree," had entered another wondrous realm, filling in his deficiencies.
Suddenly, the Dao tones from the phoenixes in the air grew piercingly high, and they lunged at Qin Mu!
At the same time, Qi Jiuyi moved slowly beneath the tree, his eyes fixed on Qin Mu as he fended off the phoenix attacks.
Qin Mu stood his ground, not shifting his feet. Instead, he grew three heads and six arms, blocking the phoenixes from all directions. He used the First Ancestor Human Sovereign's "Heaven and Earth Technique," holding off the sixteen phoenixes. Despite their relentless assault, they couldn't harm him.
Standing alone between heaven and earth, holding back the collapsing sky—the First Ancestor Human Sovereign's technique centered on the self as the heart of heaven and earth, most effective in this situation.
Qi Jiuyi moved, mist swirling behind him. From the mist emerged nine phoenix heads, staring at Qin Mu, searching for his weaknesses.
His hands shifted continuously, and the technique forming the parasol tree underwent subtle changes. He was calculating the flaws in Qin Mu's moves and divine abilities.
Suddenly, Qi Jiuyi's eyes lit up. His right hand drew a circle, and his left hand thrust through it, striking toward Qin Mu.
At that moment, the sixteen phoenixes attacked in unison, engulfing Qin Mu!
The simultaneous assault of sixteen phoenixes was devastating!
In an instant, phoenix feathers became swords, wings became blades, claws became hooks, and beaks became spears—like thousands of spirit weapons attacking Qin Mu at once. Combined with the scorching phoenix fire burning everything, the spot where Qin Mu stood turned into a sea of flames, like the epicenter of a cataclysmic explosion!
A terrifying shockwave swept in all directions, shattering, melting, and vaporizing rocks and stones. The flames formed a ring of blinding light, surging outward, consuming everything until it expanded fifty li before its power waned!
Amid the explosion, streaks of dazzling sword light suddenly appeared, piercing phoenix heads, severing necks, shearing wings, cutting feathers, and lopping off claws!
"Brother Qin, your great divine ability is spent. You're no match for me!"
Qi Jiuyi laughed loudly, his palm force piercing through the explosion's center, aimed straight at Qin Mu's back.
Qin Mu turned and struck back with his palm. Before their hands met, still thirty zhang apart, their palm forces erupted!
Qi Jiuyi's palm force formed a bridge of phoenix feathers—countless feather-like swords constructing a flying bridge, its forward thrust so fast it created the vision of a soaring bridge.
Qin Mu's palm strike, however, created a crystalline path, meeting Qi Jiuyi's force. As his power surged, countless crystals sprouted and expanded in all directions, their structures vastly different. Suddenly, flames erupted from within the crystals!
It was heavenly fire—the divine ability of the Heavenly Fire Path, a flame more terrifying than phoenix fire. It directly melted the terrifying power hidden in Qi Jiuyi's countless swords, rushing toward him.
Qi Jiuyi's face changed drastically. The parasol tree behind him floated forward. He gripped the tree with both hands, roared, and swung it like a weapon, crashing down toward the Heavenly Fire Path!
Boom—
The collision of their palm forces and the ancient tree, though not as terrifying in sheer power as the previous strike, unleashed its force within a confined area, making it even more dangerous!
The mountain rock beneath them completely melted. The power of their techniques acted on each other simultaneously, pressing down on their bodies with immense weight.
Long Qilin watched from a distance, carrying a massive sword orb on his back. "The Sect Master doesn't have a spirit weapon in hand. He might be at a disadvantage. This sword orb is too heavy—should I put it down first?"
Just as he thought this, a deafening roar shook the heavens and earth. The ground trembled violently, and then Qin Mu and Qi Jiuyi vanished.
When the aftermath of their battle cleared, Long Qilin saw a deep pit, a massive hole about a hundred zhang in diameter, its depths invisible.
Long Qilin hurried over, poked his head into the hole, and looked down.
The great hole didn't seem to have been blasted out by their techniques; rather, the ground beneath was hollow, and they had collapsed it.
"Looks like the underground space of the God-Breaking Mountain Range. There are chains there, sealing a long blade..."
Long Qilin hesitated, reluctant to go underground. During the battle against Shangcang, Qin Mu and the others had discovered various bizarre things beneath the God-Breaking Mountain Range.
The underground space was extremely eerie. Not only was there a long blade running north-south, but also a temple, with chains suppressing the blade.
Even stranger, one of the Yancheng stone statues had drilled down here, only to get its head stuck under the blade. And this place had been shattered by the National Teacher's Earth-Shattering Cauldron, creating a connection to another world.
Most peculiar of all, this long blade was also the boundary between Yancheng and the Great Ruins.
"This concerns my rations. I have to go, in case the Sect Master is in danger."
Long Qilin jumped down, qilin fire emerging from his feet to support his body as he flew into the underground space.
The underground was hollow. Thick chains bound a blade of astonishing length, its edge facing downward. A majestic stone statue had its head stuck on the blade.
Not far away, a grand temple stood beneath the blade.
Long Qilin looked around and finally spotted Qin Mu and Qi Jiuyi. They were now perpendicular to the underground space, standing on the blade's surface, running and fighting.
The blade's surface was as bright as a mirror, flawless, reflecting their figures with perfect clarity—like two Qin Mus and two Qi Jiuyis locked in battle.
The surface was so smooth that their reflections were like the moon in water. Though they fought fiercely, the blade's surface remained undisturbed.
Qi Jiuyi had taken on his nine-phoenix form—nine heads, human body, phoenix heads—while Qin Mu had three heads and six arms, each with its own unique traits. They were now in close combat, different from their earlier divine ability clash. Every punch landed, leaving both bloodied and battered.
Suddenly, Long Qilin noticed something eerie. The blade no longer reflected their physical forms, but rather a nine-headed phoenix and Qin Mu's primordial spirit!
Qin Mu's primordial spirit and Qi Jiuyi's primordial spirit had somehow been drawn into the divine blade, fighting within its space!
"I knew this place was strange..."
Long Qilin rushed forward, intending to rescue Qin Mu, but then he looked down at the mirror-like blade surface and froze. In the mirror was another Long Qilin, majestic and spirited, very robust.
Long Qilin's fur stood on end, because at that moment, through his primordial spirit, he saw his own physical body!
"My primordial spirit has been pulled into the mirror too!"
Long Qilin's four legs scrambled, feeling like he was stepping on the mirror's surface, yet also like he was treading on nothing. Panic seized him.
"There's a ghost—"
Before he could finish, two Qi Jiuyis, bloodied, tumbled and rolled toward him, stopping at Long Qilin's feet—one at the feet of his true body, the other at the feet of his primordial spirit.
Long Qilin looked up and saw two mirrored Qin Mus walking over, their steps halting before the fallen Qi Jiuyi.
————La la la, I'm home. This chapter, I wrote 3,600 words. I'm not proud, just letting my tail wag to the sky~~