79 Gaze Towards the Moon, What Do You See?
"That's a rather unusual blade," Wang Xing remarked. "A pitch-black material, I wonder just what attribute you infused the qi to engender such an object?"
Whist speaking, Wang Xing shifted his foot towards the back, the shortsword flashing towards his right. With a light step forward, his figure suddenly vanished from Li Mo Shang's perception, startling the latter and causing him to jolt.
His gaze sweeping the entire courtyard, Li Mo Shang held the longsword before his chest, the spiritual core unceasingly dispersing spiritual qi throughout his body. Not a single sound or flash of light escaped his perception, his nerves strained as they sought after Wang Xing's presence.
Shua!
Suddenly, an ice-cold sensation flooded Li Mo Shang's body, his senses of danger screaming as a barely perceptible rustling entered his ears. Hastily drawing the sword to rest on his left arm, Li Mo Shang released a fierce stomp as the spiritual qi residing within his limbs rushed outwards in an unstoppable torrent in all directions.
Grinding his right heel, he pivoted towards his right as he completed a full circle, the black blade scything everything within its way. The spiritual qi expanded forth in a shockwave, sending a figure backpedaling as it crashed against him, throwing Wang Xing onto the ground.
Standing while dusting off his clothes, Wang Xing spun the shortsword grasped within his hand, flashing a small smile towards Li Mo Shang.
"Why is your qi so blunt?" he inquired, slowly reversing his grip on the shortsword. "If your qi isn't sharp enough, then how would you possibly defeat anything other than yourself?"
"I don't see any problem from it," Li Mo Shang replied, the longsword shearing an arc onto the grass. "Although, just how are you a cultivator? There was no inclination of anything unique regarding your physique and constitution."
"...as if you would ever get to know!"
Dashing towards Li Mo Shang, Wang Xing swung the blade upwards in a diagonal to his left as he closed the distance between the two. A silver flash darted across the sky as the shortsword made a beeline for Li Mo Shang's torso, a blast of qi trailing behind.
Narrowing his eyes, Li Mo Shang stepped forward with his left foot, the longsword held parallel to the ground and level with his shoulder.
<Mountain Crushing>'s second stance, Breaking Rocks and Severing Rivers!
Aided by a fierce stomp, Li Mo Shang leveraged his momentum to pitch his body forward, the black blade jutting into the ground. The steel sword's appearance magnifying in his vision each millisecond, Li Mo Shang centered his entire weight onto his right leg, affixing himself onto the ground.
Infusing a strand of spiritual qi into his right arm, he forcefully dislodged the longsword, the black blade soaring into the air, accompanied by a tsunami of dirt. Both the ground and air were unforgivingly razed as the longsword darted towards the steel sword, akin to an enraged dragon charging at its prey.
Ting!
"Huh…!"
Smashing the shortsword away, Li Mo Shang bent his knees and lowered his center of gravity, pivoting harshly on his heel towards the right once more. Re-positioning his grip on the longsword that the blade was now perpendicular with the ground, he unleashed another full moon slash.
Feeling the displaced wind rush towards him, Wang Xing decided not to retreat but instead advance, his hands encased in a scarlet glow. Opening the fingers of his left hand and striking it forward, Wang Xing's right hand trembled, a thin stream of qi extending from the palm.
Tang!
To Li Mo Shang's surprise, Wang Xing's palm accurately struck the center of the black blade, not only halting the longsword's sweeping motion, but sending it careening in the reverse direction. Stumbling backwards from the recoil and losing his balance, Li Mo Shang raised his head just in time to capture a pale fist expanding in his vision.
His pupils constricting in alarm, Li Mo Shang manipulated the <Cold Wind's Trace> to accelerate his body as he dodged to the right, the fist grazing his left ear. Sending his right palm to knock away Wang Xing's fist, Li Mo Shang increased the distance as he regained balance.
As the palm collided with the fist, spiritual qi exploded from within Li Mo Shang's palm in the form of black lightning. The black strand of spiritual qi surged into Wang Xing's fist, the scarlet glow dimming greatly as the latter trembled.
Ignoring the invasive qi attempting to rampage throughout his body, Wang Xing howled as he rotated his wrist, the scarlet glow spiraling out and throwing Li Mo Shang onto the ground from the force. His back colliding with the soft earth, Li Mo Shang blinked before rolling towards his left.
Where his head once lay, a steel shortsword pierced the ground.
"You've held up pretty nicely for someone who had just begun entangling with spiritual enhancement."
Wang Xing spoke, his frail voice resounding throughout the courtyard. Walking towards his sword to extricate it, he continued to muse out loud observing Li Mo Shang from the corner of his eye.
"It's really only a pity. You know nothing, merely blundering around with a personal blindfold. Your techniques are indeed deadly, but all you know is how to use them. Lacking the knowledge needed to properly react if interrupted, even if you were to possess greater reserves of qi or a more plentiful cultivation, you would hardly obtain victory."
Wrenching the steel sword from the ground and shaking off the gathered sediment, Wang Xing turned to face Li Mo Shang. Tossing the shortsword into the air and watching it dissipate into particles of qi, he released a light laugh.
"Li Mo Shang. Haven't you seen a mysterious phenomenon in this place? Ever wonder what it was?"
"…what? A mysterious phenomenon…that scene at the central dormitory building?"
"Awake. Slumber. Descend. Elementary structures for arrays, yet when combined and activated simultaneously, they produce a rather odd effect. Have you…perhaps heard of a <Wailing Ghost> phenomenon?"
"…"
Raising an eyebrow at Li Mo Shang's perplexed and confused expression, Wang Xing chuckled.
"Gaze towards the moon, what do you see?"
Spreading both hands to his sides, thin streams of qi coiling around his arms, he raised his left foot into the air. Bringing it onto the ground with a fierce stomp, a sonorous cry exploded from within his body.
"Awake and rend the boundaries of time and space! Primordial dragon of greed and envy, Perkisas!"
Rumble!
Immediately after the words left his mouth, the earth trembled greatly. Thin hair-like cracks ruptured the ground in the courtyard, instantly rousing Li Mo Shang's senses.
An unsettling premonition sinking in his heart, he raised his gaze towards the sky, just in time to see a white beam of light erupt from the roof of the nearest dormitory complex, the Maplewood Dormitory.
The beam pierced through the sky, disappearing beyond the darkness into an unknown destination.
"A beam of light from one of the dormitory buildings…Wang Xing, what is this? Just what have you planned here?"
"Hehe. Li Mo Shang, simply watch obediently. Things have just begun, don't become so excited yet."
As if quelling Li Mo Shang's next words, similar beams of light expanded from the other dormitories, the beams solidifying into pillars. When the twelfth pillar coagulated, a large array began to cover the entire area in the sky, the dormitories serving as central nodes.
Gazing at the white, illusory letters of a language unbeknownst to him, Li Mo Shang's right hand shot towards his chest, directly above his spiritual core. For some reason, the spiritual core seemed to be fluctuating in a rather erratic manner…was it fear?
Silvery light congealed to form diagrams and geometric shapes that decorated the outer regions of the array. When two final rings encircled the aurora, a reaction similarly occurred over the central building.
However, the beam and pillar of light that expanded was a deep scarlet, emanating a sinister intent. The pillar ascended directly towards the exposed moon, dying the white glow bloodred. Seeing the entire formation adopt a similar sheen, Wang Xing released a peal of laughter, his body shaking uncontrollably.
"Here. Come here!"
Stomping onto the ground once more, Wang Xing expelled a cloud of qi, a cloud surrounding and obscuring his figure. Furrowing his brows, Li Mo Shang stepped backwards, cautiously heading towards the fringe of the courtyard whist focusing his perception to monitor Wang Xing's actions.
Sensing that Wang Xing had done nothing else than release an arbitrary burst of spiritual qi, he couldn't help but frown once more in puzzlement. What exactly was he beckoning to?
Roar!
The earth quaked once more, the fissures in the ground doubling their size as deep cracks tore through the earth. An animalistic roar shattered the sky from afar, thunder rumbling in the cloudless night sky.
Purely from the sonic shockwaves, fearsome gales rocked the environment, toppling trees with ease. Feeling the spiritual core quiver again, Li Mo Shang pressed his molars together, a cold light flashing in his eyes.
Tightening his grip onto the spiritual sword, he thought of the nine interlocked suns. A quiet invocation rang, hidden underneath the shrieking winds and boom of thunder.
"<Cast away light, shackle hope, vanquish all>!"
The tattoo of the nine interlocked suns blazed on Li Mo Shang's back, the spiritual qi withheld within the qi circulation unit centered in the Lung Meridian erupting into a ruthless frenzy.
His body was shrouded within a golden radiance, and Li Mo Shang discovered that the engraving of the nine suns on the spiritual sword had lit up, glowing with a resplendent light. Detecting the surge of qi and the visually overbearing display of the Nine Imperial Suns, Wang Xing averted his attention from the formation, glancing at Li Mo Shang.
After examining him for a short moment, his brow lifted in surprise.
"So early, and he has awakened a partial legacy? Not too bad, now things get a little interesting."
"…<In Opposition>."
With his gentle whisper, the longsword vibrated, pale azure inscriptions of words in an ancient script forming alongside of the blade. As he aimed the longsword towards Wang Xing, Li Mo Shang could faintly perceive the inscriptions releasing weak vibrations, dispersing spiritual qi into the environment.
Perceiving the same thing as Li Mo Shang, Wang Xing's gaze hardened before he gave a gentle sigh.
"…You're not permitted to view the rest of the ceremony."
Digging his right foot into the ground and springing forward, Li Mo Shang swung the blade downwards in a vertical strike. However, he suddenly froze midstep, his pupils constricted in shock.
A pale palm pressed against his chest.
Although there weren't any fluctuations of qi contained within the attack, Li Mo Shang found a great fear strike his very soul. It was as if he had suddenly been thrown into a room of subzero temperature, his movements and thoughts sluggish and indistinct.
"What…"
"This is where you stop. I suppose, you can reminiscence your cherished memories of this place in the future."
Coldly interjecting amidst Li Mo Shang's involuntary mumble, Wang Xing spoke. Infusing force into his palm, he easily shoved Li Mo Shang backwards, tearing apart space with his other hand.
Tossing Li Mo Shang into the spatial tear, Wang Xing no longer bothered to pay attention to him, returning to inspect the formation in the sky. As he fell into darkness, Li Mo Shang could barely hear Wang Xing's muted murmur.
"If he can survive there, then that might be rather troublesome. Hopefully he has a hidden arrogant demeanor that will get him slaughtered. That would be for the best. A mere half-assed Body Tempering Realm managing to resist the strength of a Divine Dao's cultivation, that <Heretic Manual> is indeed impressive. Even though there was a lack of killing intent, still a remarkable feat regardless."
His consciousness abruptly disconnecting, Li Mo Shang vanished into the abyss, the spatial tear mending and restoring itself in a matter of minutes.
However, neither he or Wang Xing had noticed that as Li Mo Shang was unceremoniously tossed into the spatial tear, a small quartz bead had fallen onto the ground.
-
That day, the Immortal Realm received a shocking statement from the Demon Palace. As they heard the message, every immortal could not help but alternate between a fleeting sigh, expression of anger, or reveal a look of gloating.
"The first tribulation for the bearers of the <Heretic Manual> has completed. The flow of time in the respective domains will subsequently be altered to accommodate for the additional troubles."
