Chapter 271: Chapter 271: Grasping the Sun and Moon, Plucking the Stars
A Nine Realms Qi Cultivation Supreme Grandmaster could walk on the wind for a short time, but they would lose their strength after a hundred or so miles at most. In the end, it was no match for the speed of the mechanisms from the Celestial Craft Cave.
’Nine Realms Qi Cultivation...’
Xu Yunfan felt a sour taste in his mouth. He was naturally displeased to be suppressed by such a show of force.
The slightly relaxed attitude he had developed after breaking through to the Bone Marrow Cleansing Realm tensed up once more.
’Only after I truly step into Nine Realms Qi Cultivation will I be able to control my own destiny.’
Seeing Xu Yunfan’s expression relax and the Dragon Scale Armor Leaves he wore slowly close, a faint smile appeared on Bi Sheng’s face.
"Haomiao and Mushan are on Divine Sky Peak of Qingwei Mountain. I imagine you’ll all have a lot to talk about."
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Twilight was the color of iron. On the summit of Divine Sky Peak, the Gang Wind swept up shattered twigs and broken leaves, creating a piercing shriek as it sliced past the edge of the cliff.
Li Haomiao was bare to the waist, his knotted, muscular back steaming with a faint red Blood Qi. The rock beneath his feet was cracked an inch deep from his stance. He had just completed his ninth attempt at breaking through with the Dragon Sparrow Bone Tempering Technique, and his bones rang with the clash of metal.
"Still just a little bit off."
When he clenched his fist, the dark red veins coiled around his arm squirmed like living things. This was the Blood Flood Dragon Force, a secret technique of the Great Zhou Royal Family that only those with the Dragon Sparrow Bloodline could cultivate.
But at this moment, these patterns symbolizing power were burning faintly beneath his skin, a reminder that he had still not broken through the bottleneck of the Flesh Refining Realm.
The Gang Wind at the mountain’s peak carried a bone-chilling cold, whipping Li Haomiao’s gray hair into a messy, snow-white torrent.
He stood at the edge of the cliff on Divine Sky Peak, his knuckles white from clenching his fists too tightly. His gaze was fixed south, in the direction of Jade Capital City.
His heart was no longer in the Taoist Sect. Four months ago, he had learned from disciples downhill that all of Great Zhou was in a state of decay and that the Empress of Great Zhou had slaughtered tens of millions of people.
That devastating news from four months ago had caused the last member of the Great Zhou Royal Family’s hair to turn white almost overnight.
"Still thinking about Jade Capital?"
Fang Mushan’s voice came from behind him.
This man, with his knotted muscles that bulged with every movement, was a completely different person from the boy on The Eight-Hundred-Mile Desolate River Ice-Plains.
He walked over to Li Haomiao’s side, carrying a jar of strong liquor, his expression much more mature than it had been on Jiyun Mountain.
Li Haomiao slowly shook his head without speaking, his gaze lost in the distance.
Fang Mushan didn’t mind. The once-lively Li Haomiao had become completely withdrawn in the last four months.
He broke the clay seal on the liquor jar, took a huge swig, wiped his mouth, and passed it to Li Haomiao.
Li Haomiao took it in silence and began to chug it down in great gulps.
This jar of strong liquor was not merely for drowning sorrows; it was brewed with a large amount of rare Treasure Medicine.
The liquor was amber-colored, with a faint crimson glow swirling within. The moment it was unsealed, a rich medicinal aroma escaped, a mixture of the crisp scent of Snow Lotus and the searing heat of dragon’s blood vine.
It contained hundred-year-old ice ginseng, the Taoist Sect’s secret "fire dates," and the unique Chilled Marrow Jade Liquid from the Huangchuan Icefield, all refined over Earth Fire for forty-nine days.
Drinking it was like swallowing fire, but in an instant, it transformed into a gentle medicinal power that seeped into every limb and bone. It could temporarily suppress the pain from the Blood Flood Dragon Force’s backlash and, even more, stimulate the awakening of the Dragon Sparrow Bloodline.
With every mouthful Li Haomiao drank, the dark red veins beneath his skin pulsed like living things. The potent medicinal power of the liquor clashed with the roiling royal Blood Qi in his body, creating fine golden sparks on the surface of his skin.
A medicinal liquor like this was priceless and without a market. Outside, it would cost at least one hundred thousand silver taels. Only a Sect with the profound resources of the Taoist Sect would have the confidence to plant their own herbs and wait for them to mature over many years.
CLACK! CLACK!
Accompanied by the crisp sound of metal striking bluestone as feet landed, a figure abruptly touched down thirty feet behind Li Haomiao and Fang Mushan.
The person stood with their back to the two, their Profound-Colored Martial Attire fluttering in the wind. The dark patterns on the Red Fire Dragon-Swallowing Mace at their waist seemed to flow, and the Dragon Scale Armor Leaves on their shoulder blades opened and closed with each breath, emitting the faint sound of clashing metal.
The Gang Wind swept over the summit, yet it vanished silently three feet away from his body, as if crushed by an invisible wall of qi.
Li Haomiao’s hand clutching the liquor jar tightened abruptly, dark red veins bulging from his wrist. He hadn’t even noticed when this person had approached! Fang Mushan’s pupils contracted, and his fingertips had already quietly found the grip of the Long Spear on his back.
The two exchanged a look, both reading shock and suspicion in the other’s eyes. ’Since when did the Taoist Sect have such a master?’
Divine Sky Peak was a forbidden area of Qingwei Mountain. Ordinary disciples couldn’t even take a single step onto its stone stairs, yet this person’s aura was as deep as an abyss, faintly suppressing the surrounding qi until it stagnated.
The two of them were Bi Sheng’s True Disciples, and Divine Sky Peak on Qingwei Mountain was his personal training ground. They were extremely familiar with every single face among the nearly three thousand people in the sect—from the Outer Sect and other True Disciples to the servant disciples who handled chores. Yet the back of the person before them was completely unfamiliar.
Xu Yunfan stood with his hands behind his back, his gaze seemingly lost in the sea of clouds, but in reality, he was using his Dragon Scale Armor to sense every fluctuation of Blood Qi from the two behind him.
He intentionally released the "Jade Bone and Golden Voice" Anomaly of the Bone Marrow Cleansing Realm. With every breath, his bones emitted a clear, metallic ring, and the bluestone beneath his feet was even cracked into a spiderweb pattern by an invisible Strength.
"Who are you?"
Li Haomiao was the first to break the silence, his voice as hoarse as scraping metal.
The other man’s power was immense, making the hair on his body stand on end. He secretly activated his Blood Flood Dragon Force, the great dragon of his spine tensing section by section. If his opponent showed even a hint of hostility, he would unleash the Dragon Sparrow Killing Technique, even if it meant rupturing his own meridians.
Xu Yunfan still didn’t turn around. He simply raised a hand.
"With sun and moon in hand, I pluck the stars from the sky; in all the world, there is no one else like me."
Hearing this, Fang Mushan’s eyebrow twitched.
’What an arrogant bastard!’
Fang Mushan took a step forward, his hand already gripping the two-sectioned Coiling Dragon Long Spear on his back, each section as thick as a baby’s arm.
Before the words had even faded, Xu Yunfan suddenly spun around!
Li Haomiao and Fang Mushan’s expressions both froze. They never expected it to be Xu Yunfan.
The bloodshot look in Li Haomiao’s eyes suddenly eased. His tense back relaxed as if a crushing weight had been lifted, and the dark red veins on his skin slowly receded.
His Adam’s apple bobbed twice, and then he burst into loud laughter, the sound causing the snow on the cliff’s edge to crumble and fall. "A fine ’With sun and moon in hand, I pluck the stars from the sky’! Your talent for putting on airs has gotten even better than when we were at Ninggu Tower!"
Fang Mushan, standing to the side, suppressed his joy and teased, "I’m afraid all that mining has made you lose your mind. You’re not still digging holes in the ground, are you? Don’t be like that flock of sparrowhawks from Bei Mang Mountain, digging up people’s graves everywhere."
Xu Yunfan’s skill at digging tunnels was fast and masterful; he and that gang of Tufu Zi from Bei Mang Mountain were a match made in heaven.
Xu Yunfan laughed heartily. "Figures. A dog’s mouth can’t spit out ivory—you never have anything nice to say."
Back when they were racing across The Eight-Hundred-Mile Desolate River Ice-Plains, Fang Mushan had been insufferably dramatic.
He looked at the once lanky teenager, who in just a few short years had become a brawny, muscle-bound man.
Fang Mushan had already rushed forward in a single bound. He jabbed his Coiling Dragon Spear heavily into the snow and slapped Xu Yunfan’s shoulder blade three times with a hand as big as a cattail fan.
