Step step

I move through the forest to avoid the gaze of the man with the spear.

'I need to first heal my left arm before I start fighting again.'

Rummage

I start to rummage through my bag, looking for a healing talisman.

'Maybe I shouldn't have filled my bag with all these formation tablets.'

'Is it this one?'

I pull out a talisman, only to find it’s a formation tablet for flames.

'Wait, these could be useful.'

'If I die here with these, I won't be able to sell them, so I should just use them.'

I first heal myself with a talisman.

A wild thought occurs to me, and I start to enact it.

I zoom through the forest using the Third Move.

Using Gang Qi propulsion, I throw the tablets near my feet, using the dispersing Gang Qi to spread them around the forest.

While laying the formations, I stumble as something rises in front of me.

Rumble

A giant stone pillar rises from the floor in front of me, forcing me to change direction.

'Don't tell me he thought of the same thing?'

A slight smile breaks out on my face because of the man's selfless gesture.

'Thanks for delivering all of this money to my doorstep.'

I start moving to a tablet I see lying around, grabbing it only to find—

Chiik.

A bolt of lightning shoots from the tablet.

A look of shock crosses my face as I dodge the lightning, but I end up falling to the ground.

'I've finally met my match.'

Before I can get back on my feet, the man throws his spear again, now with a yellow spearhead.

I dodge it by tilting my head and send out three Gang Spheres to distract him while I regain my footing.

Three swords created from the Gang Spheres intercept the man.

Before long, the swords transform into clones of myself and start battling with the man.

I get back on my feet and perform the Sixth Move while moving toward my opponent's location.

Sixth Move: Light Liberation.

Attacking with my swords, I use the momentum of my opponent to fuel my power, gathering his energy as my own.

The man attacks a sword clone, slicing it in half. Before disappearing, the clone shoots three knives from its wrist.

The man, as if expecting the attack, dodges.

"Paltry tricks! At least have some decent tacti—"

During his monologue, another clone slashes his back.

"Argh!"

He attacks the other clone with his spear, but before his spear reaches the clone, the final clone appears to block it.

That clone, bearing the brunt of the attack, disappears.

The last clone turns back into a Gang Sphere and attacks him with all its might.

He stops the attack by performing an incantation gesture.

The incantation creates a hastily built firewall, which clashes with the Gang Sphere and collapses.

A bit of the Gang Sphere breaches the firewall and reaches his location.

Before he has a chance to recover, I finally reach his location and slice sideways, but my opponent smirks.

During my recovery from the dragon attack, he put on special gloves and blocked my sword's attack.

He blocks my sword and prepares to stab me with the spear.

'Did he not use the gloves before to throw me off?'

Gritting my teeth, I create two more Gang Spheres, infuse them into myself, dodge his attack, and flee toward the border.

"Running away again? I don't think so."

'Dang it, he's going to catch up.'

'I'll use all my Gang Spheres at once and escape his pursuit. I can't spend any more energy fighting him.'

'I have to save energy in case there's a battle involving the other three.'

I steel my resolve and move toward the forest's border.

Seven more Gang Spheres appear around me and fuse into my consciousness.

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A nine-fold increase in speed occurs.

I act as a blur and make a beeline for the exit of the forest.

I make it to the border of the forest but feel an intense sensation of dread.

Squinting my eyes, I find the source of the dread and discover that the entire forest is covered by a wide formation.

I take a sword stance and prepare to unleash the Fourth Move of the Plum Blossom Bloom technique.

Using my increased speed, I gather my Gang Qi at the tip of my sword and lunge into the barrier.

'That attack just now was almost as strong as a Pseudo-Core Formation attack. The barrier should be broken now.'

I examine the barrier, but to my utter surprise, it's still standing tall with only a small crack.

'Dang it, is this a Core Formation barrier? How much did I piss off those cultivator bastards at the Baek clan for them to employ this?'

'It's going to take at least an hour for me to break this barrier.'

'I don't have that much time. The other cultivators should arrive in a minute.'

I look back to see the man with a spear chasing after me.

"I guess I should end him first. That would alleviate my burden a bit."

I take a sword stance and prepare my move.

'I need to attack with all I've got.'

I jump off a nearby tree and reach his location.

I start using the Plum Blossom Bloom technique at its strongest.

Plum Blossom Bloom

First Move: Plum Meteor.

A simple downward attack, symbolizing the fall of a Plum Blossom and the start of the life cycle of a plum blossom.

I slash downwards with such speed that I appear as a blur.

The man tries to block the sword with his hand, but it only ends up cracking the glove on his right hand.

'What happened to this demon? Why is he so scary all of a sudden?'

Before completing my first move, I speedily enact the second move.

Second Move: Rotation of Life.

An attack that clouds the opponent's divine sense and blinds them, giving me the chance to gain distance. It also lays sword energy everywhere for later use, symbolizing the start of a new life and the spreading of roots into the world.

I temporarily blind the opponent before putting distance between us.

I gain some distance before immediately starting the Third Move.

Third Move: Blurry Soil.

A move using Gang Qi to accelerate off the ground and increase my speed by propelling myself with the force of the Gang Qi. It also keeps the second move active, blurring my location from the opponent.

I move and perform the Second Move in intervals of microseconds, constantly.

Swoosh

I take a lunging stance and move toward my opponent at astonishing speed.

Fourth Move: Undaunted Will.

A move using the speed gained from the Gang Qi propulsion to land a sword lunge on the recovering opponent. It symbolizes the will to bloom anew and the rush of the seed into the outside world.

Zoom

The man finally regains his senses, only to feel an intense sensation of dread from the nearby celestial energy.

He finally sees a blur moving toward him, but unlike before, it's moving at a much faster speed.

He starts to dodge, but the sword connects.

Slash

"Aargh!"

He feels immense pain.

Thanks to the man's reflexes, the sword only hits his shoulder, but that was enough.

The sword Qi from the lunge bores into the opponent's body and starts to wreak havoc.

Before he can neutralize it, Yi Shan attacks in a myriad of ways using the Fifth Move.

Fifth Move: Explosive Expansion.

Sword attacks from multiple directions with explosive Gang Qi are used repeatedly to gain the upper hand. It symbolizes the spreading of the branches.

A sideways slash grazes his chest.

He uses his spear to block the sword, but to his surprise, Yi Shan throws his sword and begins a barrage of fists near his abdomen.

The barrage of fists causes him to cough up a mouthful of blood.

The sword that Yi Shan threw above lands in his hands, and he restarts his onslaught of sword attacks.

The man makes an incantation gesture to summon the flame dragon, but to his horror, it vanishes, absorbed by Yi Shan's sword.

He spins his spear to shield himself from Yi Shan's attacks.

Yi Shan attacks through the crevices of the spinning shield.

The man dodges to the side, but his other arm is also injured.

Throughout all of this, the Sixth Move is active, and Yi Shan is slowly building up his energy.

The Sixth Move, Light Liberation, works on the principle of absorbing the opponent's energy for use in the Seventh Move.

After gaining enough energy, Yi Shan begins the Seventh Move.

Seventh Move: Plum Blossom Bloom.

It uses the energy gathered from the opponent and the sword energy laid everywhere to trap the opponent in a sword formation. It symbolizes the blooming of the plum blossoms.

The opponent tries to attack but is restricted by a vast amount of sword energy.

'I thought he was wasting energy. It turns out he was making this formation.'

Yi Shan lets go of the sword and starts to accelerate it rapidly. He spews out the nine Gang Spheres and absorbs them into the sword to increase its power further.

The sword uses the sword energy, turning pink in color, acting like a blooming plum blossom to illuminate the world.

Even with the upper hand, Yi Shan has only one thought in his mind.

'This isn't enough.'

'Good thing I kept those tablets there.'

He gives a signal and unleashes all the stone tablets at once.

A massive boom occurs, and a huge amount of energy gathers inside the formation.

'I'll make you pay for making me waste my precious spirit stones.'

The added energy increases the brightness of the formation, and hundreds of clumps of sword energy gather, beginning to transform into petals from a plum blossom tree.

I act as the nucleus of the sword formation, acting as the trunk of the tree.

With all the preparations complete, I start the last move of the Plum Blossom Bloom technique.

Eighth Move: When Petals Fall.

The petals formed from sword energy are launched at the opponent from multiple directions, attacking from a multitude of angles. It symbolizes the fall of the petals.

All the petals are positioned to attack the opponent.

The opponent tries to think of a way out by calculating the celestial energy, but he sees only one way ahead of him.

'Death.'

'Death, death, it's all death.'

'There must be one way, right?'

I look at the intent coming from the opponent.

It's showing despair and a tinge of fear.

'Darn it, am I really going to die here?' thought Baek Shen.

With no other way out, Baek Shen does the only thing he can think of and crushes a jade slip in his hand.

A voice transmission is sent to Baek Meng, who, upon learning of his situation, blazes toward him at top speed.

He breaks a jade slip given to him by a Grand Elder.

This grants him the Flying Escape Technique of a Core Formation cultivator.

He rushes off at top speed, with the other two also increasing their speed, but without a jade slip, they fall behind.

Meanwhile, the sword formation is finally ready, and the petals rain down on Baek Shen.

He uses all his power to avoid them, but the petals are endless, and he gets pierced repeatedly.

The majesty of the formation is endless, illuminating the sky with its pink hue.

A few dozen petals fall on him, and he starts to ooze blood from his mouth.

He looks around, seeing only trees uprooted and the ground flattened by the power of the formation.

In the center of the battlefield, he sees a man in a black robe standing completely still, looking at him.

His expression is completely calm, and a merciless look is visible in his eyes.

Baek Shen had never feared anyone of the same cultivation as him.

But for the first time in his life, he genuinely fears someone near his strength and starts panting.

The sword formation seems to be in its finishing moves when, all of a sudden—

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Baek Meng is seen flying at incredible speeds, nearing the fight between the two men.

Baek Meng is shocked by the sight of the formation and develops a fear of the martial artist.

'No wonder he can slay peak Qi Condensation cultivators.'

He increases his speed, only to see Baek Shen almost beheaded by the onslaught of sword energy.

He spends a bit of his vitality, increasing his movement, piercing through the barrier, and saving Baek Shen in the nick of time.

Baek Meng looks at Baek Shen, only to see his left hand cut off and his right hand missing three fingers.

"Here, have this talisman and heal. We'll do something about your arm after we return to the clan."

Baek Meng then glares at Yi Shan with hatred.

"I won't let you get away with this, Desolate Demon."

Yi Shan is removed from his trance, glances at Baek Meng, and retorts,

"I'd like to see you try."