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Under the moonlit night, three men departed from the desolate garden. The three of them walked for three days and three night, sharing stories and laughing all the while. On nights where a full moon shone bright above the starry sky, they would sit beneath the stars and drink, discussing the state of the cultivation world.
On the fifth day, they arrived at the edge of the garden. A peatland intersected by rivers and boggy plains. The sun had not yet risen. Dew drops covered the surrounding fauna. Aside from the sound of chirping cicadas, the peatlands were eerily quiet. No sooner had Sean stepped onto a patch of grass did a raspy voice cackle, “Heheheh… old friend, leaving so soon? And here I was wondering when the array surrounding this place would fall.”
“Shénqí Lǎorén, how dare you show your face here!!” Raged Fǎ Shù. The elder, with both hands outstretched, began to rise in the night sky. He condensed the qi in his surroundings and channeled them into an invincible wall of blades. These blades lined up in unison, creating a fence that expanded forty thousand kilometers in each direction. In an instant, the humid grassland had turned into a dry wasteland. Only red dirt and dry clay remained.
With two fingers, Fǎ Shù spun his wrist, and directed the wall of sword intent into a torrential whirlpool. Not to be outdone, a mighty serpent coiled out from the heavens above and charged into the raging maelstrom of sword intent. Before the two raging forces could clash, however, the mythical beast suddenly turned into mist. From that mist, an elderly man slowly walked out. He was slightly hunched over, and walked with a limp. In his left hand he held a cane that extended from where he stood, one hundred thousand feet in the sky, all the way to the ground. This man was Shénqí Lǎorén, the infamous Butcher of Hwa Zhu.
“I felt a ‘ripple’ in the air and followed its voice*. How funny it is that I would be led here. Old friend, you have kept the Seven Triangulum Star Dew plant well hidden, but today that secret is no longer!” Shénqí Lǎorén snickered. “Hand over the Triangulum Star of Fortune, and perhaps I will leave your dead body intact!”
“Intact your mother-!” Fǎ Shù drew his blade and flew forward. The two elders clashed under a starlit sky. Shénqí Lǎorén eventually drew blood by landing a blow that forced Fǎ Shù to fly twenty million miles across a desolate plain. Fǎ Shù replied in kind by forming his sword will! This sword will was the culmination of his life’s work studying the way of the blade. With a single strike, peerless sword dao would meet Buddha, slay Buddha, meet God, slay God, meet Devil, slay Devil! The force of impact blew Shénqí Lǎorén thirty billion miles into the sky, however, this sly devil had foreseen this and had brought with him the ‘Wukong Pees on the Pillars at the Edge of the Universe but it is actually Buddha’s Palm Sitar’! This immortal treasure was actually the cane that Shénqí Lǎorén was holding in his left hand! It wasn’t a sitar at all! Shénqí Lǎorén waved his ‘The-name-of-this-rod-is-too-long’ sitar and pointed at Fǎ Shù. The immortal treasure exuded a faint glow that froze space and time. Then, by a mysterious force, the universe was rotated three degrees to the left on the vector axis, thus allowing Shénqí Lǎorén to somehow end in front of Fǎ Shù again! Sean Wu wanted to cough up blood. What kind of bullshit was the author writing? Of course! The author can write whatever he wants! Because at the end of the day, none of this matters in regards to the plot!
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Needless to say, the two elders were both evenly matched.
“Very impressive, Fǎ Shù. My heavenly treasures are of no use here.” Cackled Shénqí Lǎorén, “even in old age, your ferocity has not waned.”
“If you cannot defeat me, then why do you dare?!” Thundered Fǎ Shù.
“It is simple, who’s to say I came here alone?”
Shénqí Lǎorén smiled, revealing a row of blackened teeth. A piercing light shot out behind him, forcing Fǎ Shù into the ground. This ray of light had traveled over the furthest reaches of the continent. It had traversed great mountains, desolate plains, and even impenetrable pillars of qi and dao. One hundred thousand miles away, a ringed panda had just finished tying a napkin around its neck and with fork in hand, was preparing to consume a heavenly nascent yew leaf, when suddenly, a destructive ray passed by, completely obliterating the dish. Ten kilometers from where the two elders fought, an elderly village head got out of bed for a midnight snack. The man stretched his old bones and patted his belly. Sitting at his kitchen table, the village head took a sip of tea and nodded his head. He could feel a gentle breeze in the air. The soothing sounds of the surrounding wildlife put his heart at ease. Wait, didn’t he close the windows before going to sleep? Why would there be a gentle breeze inside of his house? The village head opened his eyes and nearly spat out his tea. Where the fuck did the other half of his house go?! Meanwhile, Fǎ Shù was being suppressed by a piercing-light array. The source of this devastating power, came from none other than Wǒ Bìxū Lā Shǐ, the right hand man of the Heavenly Slaughter Sect’s great emperor, Qiánlièxiàn jiǎnchá!
“A thousand apologies, great elder.” A red-haired man stepped out and into the moonlight. Wǒ Bìxū Lā Shǐ continued, “I am only a half-step away from the third stage of moon yin soul refinement and therefore require your Triangulum Star of Fortune!”
“Even if I had one to give, I would rather burn it to a crisp!” Fǎ Shù spat out a mouthful of blood. The elder dug his fingers into the ground and twisted his palms. The surrounding earth bent and broke as the old man heaved himself upward.
“Hmm, to shatter an array by destroying its foundation. Very clever.” Nodded Wǒ Bìxū Lā Shǐ. “Still, you are one, and we are two. Even you can understand this, no?”
“I understand you come to bring me your head!”
“So I have.” Wǒ Bìxū Lā Shǐ put on a disappointed smile.
Fǎ Shù immediately lunged at the two as he enveloped himself within a torrent of sword qi. The reluctant Wǒ Bìxū Lā Shǐ sighed and readied his spear. Shénqí Lǎorén snickered and put forth one hand before the other. One more, these titans were prepared to clash.
“This does not bode well, ah!” Pàng Zi shook his head. “Elder Fǎ Shù may be fierce, but he is not invincible. I fear this battle will end with his loss.”
Thundering blows trailed across the night sky. At Shénqí Lǎorén’s command, a seemingly endless number of demonic serpents flew to intercept Fǎ Shù. The sky rained down with blood as countless bodies fell, but this did not stop their numbers in the slightest. At last, a crack in the formation appeared, and a cackling Shénqí Lǎorén flew forward to take advantage of this moment of weakness.
Meanwhile, Wǒ Bìxū Lā Shǐ was already inside this raging maelstrom, and with spear in hand, was exchanging blow after blow with Fǎ Shù. Waves of light followed the afterimages of the red-haired man’s dancing spear. An assortment of colors flooded the heavens above, as though a painter had swept his brush across the sky.
Fǎ Shù clasped his hands and released his five acupoints. A red vapor began to exude from his body, leaving a trail of mist. To the untrained eye, it would have seemed that the elder had once again enveloped himself within true sword qi, however this would be considered incorrect! Where the art of qi manifest one’s will and intent into true arts, the opening of one’s five acupoints represented the opposing philosophy, to push one’s physical body to the limits! The reddish mist trailing behind was actually the meteoric evaporation of blood leaving the body! Fǎ Shù was not yet finished. The blood mist enveloping him grew even more intense. The elder’s skin turned bright red; blue veins emerged across Fǎ Shù’s temple. An ocean wave of bloodlust seeped from where the elder stood.