Chapter 69: Breaking Skill with Strength
In Jing Di’s team, Que Xianming got along best with the beast tamer. But while Que Xianming looked frivolous and flamboyant on the outside, deep down he was hot-tempered and rough—unlike Xu Sanshan, who was the same inside and out.
Que Xianming, “That white tiger of yours is quite beautiful.”
“It only looks fierce, but it listens to me especially well.” Xu Sanshan replied proudly. “Come on, Beibei, give Brother Que here a roll.”
Que Xianming reached out to stroke the tiger’s head, but the golden-eyed white tiger stepped back two paces, its body tense, a low growl rumbling in its throat.
Xu Sanshan was puzzled. It had refused Elder Meng a ride earlier, and now it refused to let Brother Que touch it. He leaned close to the tiger’s ear and muttered, “Beibei, since when did you get so shy? Give me a little face here.”
Que Xianming waved it off. “It’s fine. You beast tamers of the human realm—who’s the strongest among you? And what kind of spirit beast does he control?”
Spirit beasts of the human world and the demon clans of the demon world were not the same; he was only curious.
The beast tamer’s booming voice carried so far that Meng Xueli, overhearing their conversation, gave Xiao Tingyun a helpless look.
Xu Sanshan puffed his chest. “My master is the sect leader. His serpent carries a trace of azure dragon bloodline—I’ve seen it with my own eyes. The grand protector of my sect has a luan bird, and they say it has phoenix blood. But phoenixes have long vanished from the three realms, so who knows if that’s true? The two of them have never fought, but if they ever did—if they got heated and went all out—our sect would be done for.”
Through sound transmission, Que Xianming mocked Meng Xueli: “You, a great demon, came to the human realm and ended up as Ji Xiao’s household pet, trapped on one corner of Changchun Peak. You’re not even as favored as a mirage beast.”
Meng Xueli, “Pah! Go ask around in the human world—who knows Ji Xiao and I are only pretending to be Dao companions? Who doesn’t say Ji Xiao spoils me?”
Que Xianming. “Ugh!”
But then a thought struck him. “You really are competing with a mirage beast for favor. Same question as before—don’t tell me you secretly have a crush on Ji Xiao?”
Meng Xueli mumbled, “I don’t like him. He doesn’t like me.”
Que Xianming waited for a moment, expecting his friend to explode in rage as usual. But instead, he saw the former Snow Mountain King lower his head, the tips of his ears flushing red.
Que Xianming thought, This is bad. Before he could press further, Xu Sanshan spoke up again:
“The two of them never settled who was stronger. But when I was little, my master told me that deep in the Western Sea lived three vicious flood dragons, huge and covered in glittering golden scales. They were originally demons from the demon realm, but after sneaking into the human world, they would sometimes stir up storms at sea, eating people at will, tormenting the islanders of the Western Sea. If anyone could subdue one of those flood dragons—make such a great demon a contract beast—that person would be the number one beast tamer under heaven. Even I would admit it, no complaints!”
Ji Xiao furrowed his brows slightly, looking both helpless and guilty. Everyone knew he was taciturn, and apart from Meng Xueli, no one paid close attention to his expressions.
Meng Xueli sent a sound transmission: “What’s wrong?”
Ji Xiao only shook his head lightly.
Xu Sanshan slung an arm around Que Xianming’s shoulders. “When I was young, I swore I’d tame a flood dragon. But once I grew up, I understood—that was nothing but a fool’s dream. The stronger a spirit beast is, the prouder it is. If your skills don’t surpass its strength, it will never form a contract with you. You’d have to beat it first, then trap it for a few days, and communicate with it until it yielded. Without even a sea at home, how would I trap a flood dragon? Might as well dream on.”
Que Xianming tilted his head. “Flood dragons? Legends say that in ancient times, when a great flood dragon transformed into a true dragon, it could shatter the void and soar into ascension on a cloud of light. But now that spiritual energy is withered, for a flood dragon to ascend and break through this world’s barrier—it would be near impossible.”
Xu Sanshan scratched his head. “There’s really such a saying? I’m a beast tamer myself, yet I never knew. Brother Que, your knowledge is impressive—truly admirable!”
Que Xianming basked in the praise. “Oh, not at all, not at all.”
If not for the need to keep his demon identity secret, he would have loved to summon demon fire right then, roast a chicken, or grill a fish to treat the other.
The group soon reached the nearest teleportation array to investigate and confirm their suspicions. From a distance, they saw three figures circling the glowing blue platform like headless flies.
Almost at the same time, the three noticed them. Standing more than ten zhang away, one called out, “Fellow Daoists, don’t misunderstand. We were just about to use this teleportation array, but the formation is malfunctioning—we can’t get out.”
Ambushing travelers at teleportation arrays, or looting them when they arrived, was a common tactic in the secret realm. Seeing Meng Xueli’s group numerous and imposing, the three by the platform feared being mistaken for attackers and preemptively struck. They hurriedly backed away, flying fast while shouting again, “Everyone, we’ll leave right now and go find another teleportation array.”
Meng Xueli shouted, “Don’t go, wait!”
The three thought he meant to stop them and bolted even faster, using their lightfoot techniques until their afterimages vanished into the forest in the blink of an eye.
Meng Xueli rubbed his face and asked Xiao Tingyun, “Do I look like a bad guy?”
Ji Xiao studied his features seriously and answered with complete honesty, “No. I think you look very good.”
Que Xianming broke into a fit of violent coughing and walked off in the distance. He was getting more and more confused about Meng Xueli—did he like the powerful and aloof Ji Xiao, or did he like his young, tender disciple instead?
Meanwhile, the others gathered around the teleportation array to examine it. The platform was smooth, without a trace of damage, blue light still flowing over its surface. But when they looked closely, they saw a faint layer of violet light surrounding it, like an invisible wall blocking the path, preventing them from entering.
Liu Jing muttered, “This is an Absolute Spirit Array. It was created by my master. For Ning Wei to be able to borrow one… so the Wuyin Sect really was involved.”
Song Qianyi thought to herself: No doubt it’s not just one. At least three. With Mingyue Lake being close to Wuyin Sect, it’s inevitable.
Meng Xueli said, “Explain in detail.”
Liu Jing compared the violet glow to his formation plate, fiddling with it as he spoke: “Once the Absolute Spirit Array cuts off heaven and earth’s spiritual energy, those inside can’t draw on their true essence. Right now, it’s being used to lock down the teleportation array. Makes sense—teleportation arrays are infused with a Sword Sovereign’s intent and divine techniques. How could they be destroyed so easily? They couldn’t do it, so they laid an Absolute Spirit Array over it…”
Xu Sanshan: “What does that mean?”
Zheng Mu, “Make it simpler.”
Liu Jing thought for a moment: “If you think of the teleportation array as a gate inside this secret realm, opening it leads to the outside world. Since they couldn’t shut this gate, they added another lock over it. As long as the second lock holds, no one can enter, and the gate inside becomes useless…”
Song Qianyi, “Enough! I understood from the start!”
The other two teammates didn’t dare ask further.
Since every skill had its master, Meng Xueli asked the formation master, “Is there a way to break it?”
Liu Jing braced himself and said, “I’ll try.”
His teammates looked on expectantly as he circled the platform, spinning his formation plate quickly with one hand and tossing out a dozen pieces of different formation materials with the other. They sank into the ground and began to shift, tracing out intricate lines around the platform. As he moved, the violet barrier flickered faintly.
But his brow furrowed deeper, his face grew tense, and sweat poured down his forehead like rain.
Time dragged on. The violet glow only grew stronger. Jing Di grew restless. “Is it really that hard? Aren’t you supposed to be the best formation master of your generation in Wuyin Sect?”
“You know nothing!” Liu Jing shouted angrily. “I’m going up against my master’s work!”
Not only was he being crushed by the array’s power, he was also under immense psychological pressure.
He finally threw down his formation plate and took a deep breath. “I can’t do it. My master’s arrays are impossibly complex—I’ve never been able to solve them since I was a child. I couldn’t even solve the iron chain puzzles he made. I can’t…”
Meng Xueli patted his shoulder and said calmly, “You can. Maybe not today, but one day you’ll solve it.”
Liu Jing nodded, pale-faced.
Meng Xueli added, “Let me try. You step back.”
Jing Di’s eyes lit up with joy. “Elder Meng, you know the Absolute Spirit Array?”
Meng Xueli shook his head. “Not a bit.”
Ji Xiao silently led the group to retreat.
In truth, Meng Xueli had no confidence at all. He summoned all his true essence and slashed down with his sword.
Seeing this, Liu Jing shouted, “No, don’t!” If someone tried to brute-force an array, it might break—but if it didn’t, the backlash would be immediate. The array would absorb the attack and hurl it back at the attacker.
But Hundred Generations of Time had already fallen. At that exact moment, Ji Xiao’s hand slipped out from his wide sleeve, fingers forming a delicate orchid gesture, and with a light flick—
Crack—
Everyone heard the sharp sound of ice shattering. They watched in shock as the violet glow dissolved under Meng Xueli’s sword. For a moment, no one could speak.
Meng Xueli himself was the most baffled. Sword in hand, he felt that something was off. Seeing everyone staring at him, he rubbed his nose and muttered, “An accident, just an accident.”
Liu Jing was glad the array had broken, but he also felt like his twenty years of formation studies had just gone to waste. His feelings were a tangled mess. “So… so what was that? Elder Meng used strength to overcome finesse?”
Ji Xiao, remembering his little Dao companion’s preferences, corrected him: “It was winning people over with virtue.”
Meng Xueli suddenly strode forward, touched the platform, and whispered nervously, “The Absolute Spirit Array is broken, but… it looks like I also split the teleportation array.”
Liu Jing saw the deep sword marks carved into the platform and didn’t know what expression to make. “…That’s true.”
Xu Sanshan still didn’t get it. “So… what does that mean? We wasted our time?”
The atmosphere fell silent again. From the forest, a flock of crows burst out of their nests, wings beating as they filled the sky.
Song Qianyi frowned. “No. The teleportation arrays were fortified with the Sword Sovereign’s divine techniques. Even great figures couldn’t destroy them, only seal them with the Absolute Spirit Array. How could Elder Meng have actually cut one apart?”
Huge shoutout to @_nyanmaru_ on Discord for commissioning this! The chapter will be posted regularly, show your support for Ciacia at Kofi.
