Chapter 419
“Losing a sword duel to someone who plays with hammers? Is the Tianshan Sword Manor really at this level?”
...
In the imperial city, the East Palace.
As he listened to the news brought by his attendant, a porcelain tea bowl, delicately crafted from Langhuan, in someone’s hand began to show fine cracks. Jiang Yu remained composed, but the attendants around him knelt down.
Jiang Yu hadn’t expected Xie Xuan to lose.
First, he hadn’t anticipated that Xie Xuan would choose to use a sword duel as a means of competition.
Second...
“This can’t all be blamed on my senior brother.”
Qing Niao bent down to wipe the spilled tea on the ground and said softly, “Who would have thought that Hua Nongying would suddenly pass by, causing Senior Brother Xie to lose his focus for a moment?”
Jiang Yu replied coolly, “It’s just a woman. Is she really worth making him so unsteady with his sword?”
“But if it weren’t for Hua Nongying, Senior Brother wouldn’t have been inclined to go to Buyun Tower…”
Qing Niao trailed off, sensing the mood and wisely fell silent.
This matter was both a success and a failure because of Hua Nongying.
If it weren’t for her, Xie Xuan wouldn’t have agreed to this challenge; if it weren’t for her, Xie Xuan wouldn’t have messed things up.
“Ha, what does she mean? Does she want to be a part of the ‘Wang Qi Dou Hun’ (旺妻斗魂, literally ‘prosperous wife fighting spirit’) too?”
After switching to a new cup of tea, still warm, a white-haired old eunuch entered the palace.
“Your Highness, His Majesty has sent me to summon you.”
“To the Imperial Study, or... to the Longyang Pavilion?”
“To the Imperial Study.”
...
“Hey, Ice Block, do you know how to play投壶 (tóuhú, a traditional Chinese throwing game)?”
“Never tried it.”
“What about Chu Long?”
“I don’t know either…”
At a roadside stall, the vendor watched as a gentleman and a graceful beauty strolled hand in hand, and couldn’t help but reveal a sly smile.
He looked at Xiao Li, as if seeing a big fool.
He loved doing business with people like this; with a beauty in front of them, who could say they couldn’t do it?
But soon, the vendor was taken aback, as the seemingly upright young man didn’t even play.
“Got it.”
“Wow... another one!”
“Great, all ten hit!”
A cool投壶 machine, a stylish投壶 machine wearing sunglasses at night.
It cleared the table of all the prizes.
Just as they were having fun, Li Mo felt a vibration from the Kongming Wanse Tower (空明万色塔, literally ‘Tower of Infinite Colors’), which made his expression turn strange.
The Kongming Wanse Tower was full.
Where did all this life force come from?
But that wasn’t important.
This meant he could project the form of the Great Sage.
...
PS: Please support with some energy, -3-
Chapter 464: The True Projection of the Great Sage
The imperial capital seemed to have no night.
The map of the country and its people resembled a screen in the imperial city, with soft light like a canopy, displaying countless wonders, as the city basked in the glow, appearing more celestial than earthly.
Li Mo stood on the rooftop of Buyun Tower, gazing into the distance. The higher the level of the tower, the more elevated it became, and the room he occupied was just below the top floor, akin to a seven-star presidential suite in another world, receiving a玄晶 (xuánjīng, a mystical crystal) daily.
From this vantage point, pedestrians looked like ants, the noise below faded away, leaving only silence.
In a daze, it felt as if the bustling capital lay beneath his feet.
“Slurp—”
Xiao Li sat on a stool, holding a large bowl, his left foot resting on a wide armchair, slurping up braised beef instant noodles.
Me, fighting the Great Sage projection?
Li Mo decided to calm down with three big bowls first.
Before long, he took a moment to adjust his breathing and entered the small world.
It was still that阴阳道场 (Yin-Yang Daoist Temple).
“It really is full.”
“So much life force, all from the Demon Summoning Sect?”
Li Mo took out the Kongming Wanse Tower, lowering his gaze in contemplation.
His progress in observing divine intent had slowed down, as he had recently defeated quite a few extreme projections, and he was no longer as inexperienced as before.
He needed stronger opponents.
The surging life force, like the mighty Yangtze River, flowed into the Hunyuan Fan Zhenjing (浑天反真镜, literally ‘Mirror of True Reality’), causing it to radiate an unprecedented brilliance.
Beside the Yin-Yang Daoist Temple, the青石 (qīngshí, blue stone) he often leaned against trembled, sending dust flying.
At that moment, amidst the rumbling, a stone monkey shot up from the ground.
Its body was dark blue, eyes like torches, standing a full丈 (zhàng, a traditional Chinese unit of measurement, about 3.3 meters) tall, with the yin and yang energies swirling in patterns across its body, distorting the surrounding space, its shadow blocking out the moonlight.
“Is this the Great Sage projection?”
Li Mo felt a sense of familiarity; it resembled the无支祁 (Wúzhīqí, one of the 72 transformations) from his repertoire.
But just then.
The little figure in his dantian glowed with the stone monkey’s divine pattern, and the Great Sage’s divine intent manifested behind him, gazing at the stone monkey through the rustling wind.
For the first time, it revealed a hint of human-like emotion.
“Once you’ve fought, you’ll know the difference.”
He took off his pure yang long robe, revealing a robust young man, wielding a hammer.
Facing this seemingly Great Sage projection stone monkey, he didn’t dare to be careless.
As soon as his white robe touched the ground, the stone monkey leaped high, its shadow enveloping the young man, and the heavy star hammer in Li Mo’s hand felt as light as a feather, as if it propelled his body into a spinning motion, crashing down.
The hammer struck the stubborn stone, producing a deafening sound.
In the clash of strength, Li Mo, relying on the power of the玄兵 (xuánbīng, mystical weapon) and the might of his hammer techniques, was nearly evenly matched.
The stone monkey dug its feet into the ground, stopping its momentum, its tail swaying slightly as it quickly adjusted its posture, its coiled body exploding forth like a spring.
It seemed to know no martial arts.
But when it punched, what appeared simple was clearly a dance between stillness and motion, embodying the principle of simplifying the complex.
At this moment, Li Mo’s intent and body were in perfect harmony; every strike he practiced while forging, every hammer blow, burst forth in his mind.
Strike!
He didn’t take a step back, the hammer felt both light and heavy, lightly extending to strike the stone monkey’s arm joint.
However, this poised hammer strike was easily intercepted by that seemingly simple punch.
Not only did it fail to land a hit, but it seemed to amplify the opponent’s strength, and he was caught in a vortex-like force, leaving his center wide open!
Not good.
Li Mo’s body glowed with a golden light, and in the second round of their exchange, he was forced to reveal his indestructible form.
Clang—
Sparks flew as he took a solid punch, being knocked back to the edge of the Yin-Yang Daoist Temple.
If it weren’t for his indestructible form, this battle could have already been declared over.
Li Mo suppressed his surprise, painfully pulled out two strands of hair, and three figures, all wielding hammers, struck at the stone monkey simultaneously.
But facing the three divided Li Mo, the stone monkey became even more adept, making the two extra avatars a burden.
In the end, one avatar was struck on the elbow, and instead of slowing down, it rose up, both hands clasped in a fist, crashing down from the air, seemingly light and slow.
It can also use the “Seven Settlements of Heaven and Earth”?
Li Mo’s heart jolted, and he had to dodge.
No, wait.
The stone monkey didn’t know any martial arts; it relied on simplifying the complex, purely instinctive in battle, turning decay into wonder. This wonder could be martial arts or something else.
But what was its essence?
The plain fists, elbows, and even its tail seemed like a tempest.
Li Mo barely defended himself, even being forced to use法天象地 (Fǎtiān Xiàngdì, a technique that allows one to manipulate the environment), yet he still couldn’t gain the upper hand.
Clearly, their strengths were nearly equal, and he had more techniques.
Yet he was the one without the power to fight back.
Li Mo’s breathing grew heavier.
Since his debut, he had never faced such a suffocating opponent. Even against those of higher realms, he could always find their weaknesses or use other means to bridge the gap.
But at this moment, facing a stone monkey whose physical and divine essence were nearly equal to his own, he felt a sense of helplessness.
If this continued, he would surely lose.
Just then, a beam of moonlight suddenly burst forth.
The太阴 (Tàiyīn, the Great Yin) in the small world lit up.
Everything around seemed to slow down, and the anxiety and powerlessness in Li Mo’s heart were suddenly washed away by the cool, gentle divine intent of the Great Yin.
In the moonlight, the stone monkey’s movements appeared to slow down; he could see every hair, every flow of strength.
The stone monkey vanished.
Only the most fundamental and simplest things remained.
The stone monkey was like this, and so was Li Mo; he had never felt so clearly aware of himself, of the existence of his physical body.
A surge of enlightenment washed over him.
“It seems I’ve never truly understood my own heart.”
Li Mo’s heart lake calmed, casting aside all techniques, ultimate skills, and divine powers.
Clang—
Another collision.
An unremarkable, yet masterfully simple hammer struck against the blue stone fist, not as if they were enemies, but as if he were forging iron.
Li Mo activated法天象地, and his arm suddenly swelled.
As he swung the hammer again, a dazzling golden light flashed before his eyes.
Boom—
The tremendous recoil sent him staggering, his blood surging uncontrollably.
A gilded long staff appeared before him, blocking the hammer strike of法天象地, standing firm.
The stone monkey remained in place, halting all its movements.
Its expressionless face seemed to come alive.
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