"I ask you all to die!"
Xiao Mochi's voice spread outward, echoing through the air, striking straight into the hearts of everyone who heard it.
Throughout the Wu Capital, throughout the Kingdom of Wu, Xiao Mochi's words reverberated.
Some ordinary civilians in the Wu Capital lifted their heads and looked around in confusion, wondering if they had misheard—if it was some kind of illusion. A voice had suddenly sounded right beside their ears, then vanished in an instant, and it was telling someone to go die.
Some cultivators within Wu's borders felt their minds shake. They knew it wasn't hallucination—it was the clash of great powers in combat.
And the opponent's realm was terrifyingly high—at the very least an immortal-tier cultivator. Otherwise, those words would never have carried ten thousand miles beyond.
Inside the small world, the moment Xiao Mochi's words fell, those cultivators bound in chains were all pierced through the heart by one pear-blossom sword after another.
Every last one of them burst into blood mist, scattering and drifting through the air.
The other cultivators could no longer afford to care about them.
They had come here to feast on flesh—yet now they were the ones being treated like fish on the chopping board!
How could such a thing be allowed?!
The Sect Master of Thundercloud Sect glared furiously, gripping a thunder whip in his hand. With one lash, he struck out directly.
This whip was also known as the God-Striking Whip, the Thundercloud Sect Master's life-bound treasure.
Though the God-Striking Whip was only a half-immortal-grade divine weapon, that didn't mean a higher-grade treasure always possessed greater killing power.
The God-Striking Whip's destructive force, pushed to its limit, surpassed many immortal-grade treasures in this world.
"Lying in the night, I hear the wind and rain;
Iron steeds and frozen rivers gallop into my dreams."
Facing the attack, Xiao Mochi recited softly. In an instant, warhorses manifested out of thin air—armored in iron, charging straight toward the Thundercloud Sect Master!
The thunder whip in the Sect Master's hand moved so fast it left afterimages. Every strike cracked down with a bolt of lightning following behind.
Yet no matter how he lashed at the warhorses, he could not wipe them out.
The iron steeds slammed into the Sect Master's Dharmic Avatar. He spat out a mouthful of blood, and that towering hundred-meter avatar grew increasingly illusory—as though it would completely shatter in the next moment.
The Sect Master of Longquan Sword Sect found an opening and thrust his sword toward Xiao Mochi's heart.
Xiao Mochi shifted aside, then drove a punch forward—square into the man's chest.
The Longquan Sword Sect Master was blasted back by that single strike.
In the next instant, gripping his longsword, the Sect Master tore open a gap in the very heavens.
Within Wu, sects were numerous—but sword sects were rare.
Longquan Sword Sect was the number one sword sect of Wu, and its Sect Master was an old, established immortal-tier cultivator.
"Lord Xu, lend me your sword."
Xiao Mochi reached out with his right hand, grasping toward Xu Ming's direction.
The sword at Xu Ming's waist trembled violently. The Imperial Sword broke free, flew out, and landed in Xiao Mochi's hand.
At that moment, the waters of the Yellow River in the heavens poured down in reverse. Xu Ming could clearly sense that this "water" was in fact sword qi given physical form.
But Xiao Mochi merely swept his blade once—and the sword-qi river crashing down from the sky was cleanly severed.
The remaining sword qi still fell toward Xiao Mochi, but it was no longer worth concern.
Xiao Mochi turned the sword hilt. Under the pull of his spiritual energy, the falling "river water" carved a line through the air.
"Fall."
With only that single word, he turned water into sword—returning the man's own technique back to him. With one strike, he sent it straight at the Longquan Sword Sect Master.
The Sect Master could not evade in time and could only resist with sword qi. As the long river of sword qi finally emptied, Xiao Mochi appeared before him.
One slash. Two slashes. Three.
Xiao Mochi brought down sword after sword upon the Longquan Sword Sect Master. The man was no pure sword cultivator—what his spiritual power drove was not true sword intent—yet every time he caught one of Xiao Mochi's strikes, his arm grew incomparably heavy.
Only then did he remember:
These scholars of White Deer Academy might not cultivate the sword path—yet once they take up a sword, their righteous qi becomes sharper than sword qi itself.
And Xiao Mochi's every strike—he could not dodge.
"No… it's not that I can't dodge… it's that I must take them head-on!"
The Longquan Sword Sect Master felt a kind of rule-force binding him. Under this rule, he was compelled to withstand every one of Xiao Mochi's strikes.
This was the Confucian Gentleman's Sword.
One versus one.
Bright and open. Upright and honorable.
This man had already touched the laws of the Great Dao!
Just as the Longquan Sword Sect Master was trembling in shock, Xiao Mochi's final sword fell.
The Sect Master exploded into blood mist—and merged into that sheet of golden paper.
Everyone's minds tightened. Even the Ascension-realm cultivators fell into silence.
The Longquan Sword Sect Master was a seasoned immortal-tier powerhouse.
Yet in the end… he was killed so simply by Xiao Mochi!
And the man hadn't even relied on Wu's mountains-and-rivers fortune.
This man had done it purely through his own strength!
"May I ask your honored name?" The Wei Kingdom retainer, White-Headed Elder, looked at Xiao Mochi. He had no idea when Wu had produced yet another Ascension-realm powerhouse.
"Wu's Prime Minister, Xiao Mochi." Xiao Mochi cupped his hands in salute, modest and refined.
"Xiao Mochi…" White-Headed Elder repeated the name, feeling it sounded familiar.
He looked at Xiao Mochi and asked calmly, "Are you the Xiao Mochi from White Deer Academy?"
Xiao Mochi smiled. "I have already left White Deer Academy. What I do has nothing to do with the Academy."
"…"
White-Headed Elder stared at the middle-aged man before him.
Judging by his bone age, the man was only in his forties.
And yet such a young man had actually reached the Ascension Realm!
White-Headed Elder felt as if he were dreaming.
How could this be possible?
How could the world contain such a genius?
Xiao Mochi…
White-Headed Elder had heard the name before—rumors said Xiao Mochi was the most gifted scholar White Deer Academy had ever produced, and even its headmaster spoke of him with endless praise.
But that was all. Beyond that, what Xiao Mochi had done, what realm he had reached—he knew nothing.
And now, at their very first meeting, the man stood in the Ascension Realm.
Whether there would be anyone after him, White-Headed Elder could not say.
But for Xiao Mochi to enter the Ascension Realm before the age of fifty—this was truly unprecedented in all of history.
"You shouldn't be here. And you shouldn't be doing such foolish things."
White-Headed Elder looked at Xiao Mochi and let out a sigh, his eyes filled with regret.
"Since you're already in the Ascension Realm, you should understand exactly what you're doing. With your talent, dying here and now… is it really worth it?"
The breeze stirred Xiao Mochi's blue robe. He still wore that gentle smile—soft as spring wind.
"I did what I wanted to do," Xiao Mochi said. "What is there to ask about whether it's worth it or not?"
