“Open!”
Gu Linshu let out a cold cry. He tapped his foot on the ground and flew into the air along with the Cangchen Brush. With both hands, he forcefully struck out a talisman to meet Xu Chang’s incoming dark blue blade.
That single talisman instantly split from one into ten, then ten into a hundred, and a hundred into thousands, forming a jade-blue light pillar. It was over ten meters long and two meters wide, surging straight toward Xu Chang with a speed so terrifying the naked eye couldn’t catch it, leaving only a series of afterimages.
“Agh!”
Xu Chang’s face darkened as he let out an angry roar. He swung the dark blue blade down with both hands, and the blade suddenly manifested a body dozens of times larger than itself. The edge vibrated with countless flame-like cold lights as it collided head-on with the ten-zhang-tall talisman light pillar.
Boom—
Bang! Bang! Bang!
At the moment of impact, the talisman light pillar shook violently and let out an explosive roar. Hundreds of talismans were sliced open by the three-meter-long dark blue blade, scattering in all directions like sharp shards of ice.
“Ah! Watch out!”
The disciples watching from the sidelines were nearly hit by the collateral damage. Fortunately, just as the stray energy was about to reach them, the training field’s protection array activated automatically, and a barrier enveloped Gu Linshu and Xu Chang.
“Look! Xu Chang is spitting blood!”
Those disciples ignored their fear for their own safety, their eyes shining with intense focus as they stared at the two people inside the barrier.
None of them expected that the youth could actually fight back and forth with Senior Brother Xu Chang so brilliantly!
Xu Chang’s hands, which gripped the dark blue blade, began to tremble, and his arms gradually lost their strength. Blood seeped from the corner of his mouth. Seeing that the talisman light pillar had not weakened but was instead growing even stronger and was about to overwhelm him, his pupils constricted, and he reluctantly chose to retreat.
It was impossible. He had painstakingly cultivated for a hundred years; how could he be less powerful than the dozen or so years of cultivation from this brat?!
In that single second, Gu Linshu, who had been observing him the whole time, seized the opportunity and formed a hand seal.
“Go!”
His right finger pointed toward his opponent, and an Emerald Giant Sword—two zhang long and one zhang wide—shot out with ferocious speed. Seeing Xu Chang attempting to swing his blade and dodge, Gu Linshu brought his hands together in a seal and then snapped them open.
Two giant swords actually manifested!
One drew Xu Chang away, while the other Emerald Giant Sword performed a smooth, curving dive toward his waist.
Bang!
Xu Chang’s pupils shook violently. Before he could even react, his body curled as his abdomen was struck by the sword from below. He flew straight back at high speed and finally slammed against the barrier.
“Agh!”
Boom!
With a thunderous crash, the giant sword swept up a cloud of dust. The disciples outside couldn’t see Xu Chang’s exact condition, but everyone knew.
He had lost.
He, who had cultivated in the Early-Stage Foundation Establishment for a hundred years, had lost to a fourteen-year-old youth in the same realm.
“...”
He... he had succeeded!
He truly was a Foundation Establishment cultivator!
A fourteen-year-old genius!
Everyone stared with wide eyes, speechless. The previous doubts and mockery were nailed to a pillar of shame from which they couldn’t be removed. Their scalps felt numb, and their blood surged with excitement.
The dead silence of the surroundings was so heavy that one could almost hear the frantic drum-like thumping of their own hearts.
It wasn't just because these people of limited experience had seen a true genius of legend today.
It was more because this genius had proven that even if a cultivator in the same realm had the advantage of age and experience, it didn't matter. Gu Linshu had defeated him in less than ten moves without even moving a single step from his original spot.
This was a heavy blow.
It was the most direct and glaring blow from the gap between a genius and an ordinary cultivator.
The one who felt this most deeply was Xu Chang, who was inside the barrier as the dust cleared. His clothes were tattered, he was coughing up blood, and he looked pathetic beyond belief.
“You... are you really only fourteen years old...?”
He clutched his bleeding abdomen and slowly dragged himself up from the ground, his face pale with disbelief as he stared at the opposite side. Gu Linshu did not show even a hint of pride from his victory.
“No.” Gu Linshu shook his head indifferently.
A glimmer of hope emerged in Xu Chang’s dark eyes. He was about to smile, happy that he had guessed correctly—that the boy must be some old monster who had possessed a body through rejuvenation. If he hadn't lost to talent but only to someone who had a head start, then he could accept it.
“In three... three months, I will be fifteen,” Gu Linshu added with his usual honest precision.
Who would have thought that Gu Linshu’s honest words would cause the light in Xu Chang’s eyes to completely extinguish? He knew there was no need to lie to him at this point.
Xu Chang lowered his head to look at the blood on his hands and stomach. He began to mumble to himself, his mental state becoming unstable.
“Fourteen... fourteen... and me, how old am I? Oh, right, I’m one hundred and nine years old. My parents are gone. That year, I reached the Early-Stage Foundation Establishment, and I still am... After all these years, I’m not even as good as your fourteen years. No, perhaps even less.”
“Father, Mother... what is the point of my cultivation? Am I just meant to be a whetstone for these geniuses?!”
He had only knocked Gu Linshu out. He knew full well that it was usually hard to determine a winner between cultivators in the same realm, yet his master had insisted he fight this boy. What was it if not using him as a whetstone? It was laughable and tragic.
“Heh, hahaha! Hahaha, fourteen years old!! It truly is an unbridgeable chasm! Ahahaha!”
“Mortals, cultivators, ahahaha! To cross life and death and the passage of years, ahahaha! Even cultivation has different tiers! Hahaha, why? Ah, hahaha!”
It wasn’t just the light leaving his eyes; Xu Chang suddenly began to laugh and scream like a madman. He was about to lunge toward Gu Linshu.
“Ah, what’s wrong with Senior Brother Xu Chang?!”
“He’s gone mad!”
“No, his Dao Heart has shattered.”
In this region where spiritual energy was scarce, Xu Chang—who had carried his parents' hopes, cast aside mortal thoughts to step onto the path of cultivation, and had been praised by many for his decent talent—had been crushed by a naked, cruel reality.
Gu Linshu’s eyes turned slightly cool. This hadn’t been his intention.
Seeing Xu Chang coming for him, he was about to act when the barrier dissipated in the next second. Helian Zhou flashed forward and grabbed Xu Chang, striking him unconscious to steady him.
He looked displeased, but he didn’t dare vent his anger as he looked at Wen Li, who had flown to Gu Linshu’s side.
“Since your purpose has been achieved, Fellow Daoist, please leave. The Moquan Sect does not wish to make an enemy of you, but we will not allow you to casually trample on our disciples just to trade for safety.”
Wen Li waved her hand, and a pill bottle flew toward him. “Give him this pill. His sanity will recover. As for whether he can still cultivate, that will depend on his own mental fortitude.”
To put it bluntly, Xu Chang had experienced too little, and his Dao Heart was not firm. It was his own fault and had nothing to do with Gu Linshu. However, one had to maintain some level of face. They would likely deal with each other again in the future; she had already offended the Fifth Elder of Danfeng Valley and could not afford to make an enemy of the Moquan Sect as well.
There was a Nascent Soul expert holding down the fort here, after all.
Helian Zhou also knew that Gu Linshu wasn’t to blame, but with so many disciples watching, he had to maintain an attitude. He nodded coolly.
“I will not see you two out.”
Wen Li took Gu Linshu and quickly departed.
...
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