Chapter 325
Li Shiyin's fighting style was like this: fearless and ruthless. Once she caught a weakness or broke through the opponent's defense, she would seize on that opening to attack relentlessly, suppressing them all the way to death.
Even though Zi Yi was a Primordial Spirit cultivator, once Li Shiyin broke through his defenses at close range, he was still suppressed and beaten down.
On one hand, such a fierce style seemed inconsistent with Qin Ran's persona; but on the other hand, having no chance to turn the tables once a weakness was exposed was quite in line with Qin Ran.
Li Shiyin's sword was imbued with sword qi. Her sword moves rained down like a storm upon Zi Yi, not giving him any chance to counter attack... After all, no matter how profound Zi Yi's mystical arts, he still needed time to cast them. Even if his casting time was as quick as a thought, he still needed the time to form that thought.
At this moment, he had no choice but to brace the huge sword qi above his head - if that sword qi came crashing down, he would be cleaved in two. And he needed to defend against Li Shiyin’s lightning-fast close-quarter sword qi, because each sword qi that landed left a bloody hole in his body.
Zi Yi tried to resist, but it was too forced. In just a fleeting instant, not only was the mystic art he had just unleashed shattered by that treasured sword, his whole body was riddled with sword wounds, blood dripping everywhere as sword qi permeated him.
Seeing this situation, Zi Yi simply stopped resisting and exclaimed in praise: “Such valor! Such ruthlessness! Nothing like a feminine demeanor!”
Hearing this, Li Shiyin's sword faltered involuntarily. She wondered in confusion - being attacked like this, how could he still have the leisure to speak?
She looked at Zi Yi again and saw a smile still on his blood-stained face.
She sensed something amiss...
But her sword did not cease.
As Li Shiyin floated erratically around him, Zi Yi praised again: “You really are quite strong.”
“But...”
There was that “but”. Li Shiyin’s heart sunk as her sword paused briefly once more. She thought: things had already come to this, what other tricks could he still have to turn the tables?
She then heard him continue: “But this is still far from enough!”
As these words fell, Zi Yi completely gave up resisting. He not only stopped blocking Li Shiyin’s sword, he also ignored the giant sword qi above his head. The white figure holding up that sword qi was directly retracted back into his body.
In that instant, the enormous sword qi carrying potent sword intent pierced down from above his head.
And in this same instant, fearing that he might not die, Li Shiyin unleashed her full movement technique, stabbing out over a hundred sword strikes toward him!
Sword qi attacked from all directions. It looked as though Zi Yi was about to be hacked to pieces by Li Shiyin...
He tore apart first!
Before the purple sword qi descended and the treasured sword reached him, he split evenly down the middle all on his own. After splitting open, a wisp of white brilliance floated out from inside.
The thick sword qi passed between his bisected body and stabbed into the ground, plunging deep into the rocks. The boulders were split open by the sharp sword qi, forming a ravine over ten zhang long.
The purple sword qi was embedded in the rocks, half its length exposed outside, showing no signs of fading... Neither the sword intent nor qi dissipated.
Li Shiyin turned Zi Yi’s split body into a sieve. But with sufficient control over her mystic power and sword techniques, she was able to halt her attack at the first sign of trouble.
She peered ahead in shock and suspicion at the cleaved body...
Empty!
It was an empty shell!
Like a snake’s molted skin left behind after shedding, or the cast-off shell of a cicada.
“What kind of mystic art is this?” Her heart shook as she quickly looked toward the white glow that flew out.
The white brilliance that emerged from Zi Yi’s body came to a stop far away. It elongated and warped in the darkness, then with a sudden blur, transformed into Zi Yi’s appearance.
This new Zi Yi appeared completely unharmed. He smiled radiantly at Li Shiyin and said: “This move is called Golden Cicada Shedding Its Shell.”
Li Shiyin glanced at the distant Zi Yi, her heart growing heavy. With a wave of her sword she cleaved apart what remained of Zi Yi’s shell, letting it fall to the ground.
She asked: “With an escape art like this, how many more times can you use it?”
Zi Yi laughed loudly and proclaimed: “How could a low level cultivator at Foundation Establishment possibly understand the profundities of us Primordial Spirit masters?
“An art like this, I can use thousands or even millions of times!”
Primordial Spirit?
Li Shiyin remained silent as she recalled her master mentioning what the Primordial Spirit stage was like, and how it differed from Golden Core Foundation Establishment, but she couldn't remember the specifics.
What exactly was profound about Primordial Spirit? She couldn't recall clearly, only that it had something to do with Primordial Spirit.
Oh well, no point fretting over what she didn't know. She could always ask master later - at most she might get scolded a little, then she could take the chance to act cute with her master...
Her thoughts wandered even as her cold voice rang out: “Then I’ll kill you a thousand times, ten thousand times!”
The Muran Sword rose again...
Heaven's stars resonated together!
She circulated her mystic power and in a flash, her form disappeared.
Flying Immortal Questioning the Way!
“This won’t do,” Zi Yi said with a smile and shake of his head. He closed his eyes as a translucent white glow like cicada wings lit up around his body.
In the darkness, he alone shined with a luminescent white light, hovering in mid-air as if he were the only person left in the world.
Suddenly at some point, he raised his sleeve and fluttered it. A wisp of white brilliance shot out toward a certain spot in the darkness.
“Pa!”
A Starlight Sword appeared amidst the blackness to parry away that white brilliance, followed by Li Shiyin’s figure also materializing from that darkness.
With a single sword strike, Li Shiyin split that white glow in half and frowned deeply. It looked like... Zi Yi could pinpoint her position while she was using Flying Immortal Questioning the Way.
She pondered briefly before disappearing once more, rushing toward Zi Yi.
Seeing Li Shiyin stubbornly fly in close once more, Zi Yi shook his head with a laugh. He clasped his palms together, then separated them after a moment. The white glow she had blocked now bubbled continuously forth from his hands like froth, swarming toward the darkness in dense numbers.
Like they had a homing function, these white wisps all streamed toward the fast-moving Li Shiyin.
At this moment, Li Shiyin was akin to an airborne bird flitting about at high speeds, while those white glows were like arrows - a whole army of arrows, dense and crushing like a locust swarm as they flew her way.
The first white glow arrived, and Li Shiyin split it with a sword strike, but this halted her movement. Thus the second white glow reached her even faster, forcing her to stop again and slice it apart. But very quickly, the third, fourth...
Then countless more white radiances flew at her!
“This won’t work!”
These white glows gave her an immense sense of danger. She couldn’t touch any of them - the slightest graze would disturb her balance and undoubtedly lead to certain death!
“Dreamlike Starlight!”
With a wave of her left hand, Li Shiyin detonated five or six Dreamlike Stars. Countless sword qi splashed out to block the encircling white glows!
But the white radiances were too powerful, and her Dreamlike Starlight sword qi could not contain them for long before dissipating...
Making a decisive judgment call, Li Shiyin unhesitatingly pointed her Muran Sword forward. Fusing body and blade, her entire being instantaneously transformed into a colossal sword that cleaved through the sea of white, charging out!
Bursting from the glows, she rushed toward Zi Yi without even a backward glance!
"What?"
Li Shiyin was surrounded by her own white glow, Zi Yi thought she would undoubtedly die, he never expected that Li Shiyin could still unite with the sword.
The speed of uniting with the sword was extremely fast, Zi Yi had no time to react at all, and was cut in half again by a sword.
Li Shiyin separated from the sword, held the Murmuring Sword in her hand, and looked back, only to see another cluster of white glow flying out of Zi Yi's shell and condensing into a new Zi Yi in the distance. Flawless, just like the beginning.
"Still not dead? Really can't hurt him?" Li Shiyin's heart was shaken.
“How is it? Do you still want to do it?" Zi Yi asked with a smile, "As for such a sword technique that unites with the sword, how many more times can you use it?"
"Humph!" Li Shiyin said coldly, "I can use it countless times!"
In fact, this move to unite with the sword is related to the primordial spirit, and what is consumed every time it is used is not only mana, but also the power of the primordial spirit.
Today was the second time Li Shiyin had used this move. Her primordial spirit power had been exhausted by more than half, and she could hardly use the unity with the sword again.
But she must not show weakness in front of the enemy!
As she spoke, she continued to rush towards Zi Yi, still stubbornly trying to get close...
But this time, she had just got up and stopped.
...Because someone came!
Li Shiyin looked to the side, in the darkness in the distance, there were two sword lights rushing towards this side extremely fast. The aura of the master of that sword light was very powerful, probably also a Primordial Spirit cultivator.
...There were not many Primordial Spirit cultivators in the entire Land of Immortal Legacy, how could three of them suddenly appear here in an instant?
Zi Yi also discovered that other Primordial Spirit cultivators had come. He looked over there and saw the two people stop not far away. He recognized them and hurriedly bowed, "Daoist Friend Zhou, Daoist Friend Zhang! Why are you here?"
"Passing by here, seeing the fluctuation of swordsmanship here, there seem to be experts, come and take a look." Daoist Friend Zhou replied, "I didn't expect it to be Daoist Friend Zi Yi."
While the three were chatting, Li Shiyin had also seen the two sword cultivators who had come. And when she saw those two sword cultivators, her expression suddenly became extremely solemn.
Because the people who came were none other than the Primordial Spirit Cultivators of the Boundless Sword Sect in North Chu Country. These two people had surrounded and attacked them with the black-clothed boy and red-clothed young woman outside the Land of Immortal Legacy during the Devouring Demon Willow incident.
They were the main culprits who caused her master's serious injury and death...
Li Shiyin remembered grievances very much, so even after four years had passed, she still remembered these two people.
After the chat over there ended, the black-clothed boy Zhou Daoist asked Li Shiyin, "This girl is...?"
Zi Yi was puzzled: "Her talent in swordsmanship is top-notch, and she is also a sword cultivator from your North Chu Country, you should be familiar with her."
The red-clothed young woman looked at Li Shiyin for a while. Women remember other beautiful women better than men remember beautiful women. Looking at Li Shiyin, she said, "This little sister looks so familiar, have we seen each other somewhere?"
"If I'm not mistaken..." Facing three Primordial Spirit cultivators, Li Shiyin still had no fear. Her voice was clear and confident, "You should be from the Boundless Sword Sect, right?! Then you are from North Chu Country, please help me kill this Xuanqin primordial spirit cultivator!"
When they heard her say this, Zhou Daoist in black clothes and Zhang Daoist in red clothes smiled indifferently. They were from the Boundless Sword Sect, and they were also from North Chu Country, but...
They were immortals, and mortal affairs had nothing to do with them. How could they help mortals?
The young woman in red spoke again and asked, "Little sister is so pretty, have we met before?"
"Land of Immortal Legacy!" Li Shiyin answered her truthfully, there was nothing to conceal, "I am the disciple of Dan Peak Chief Qin Ran of Dao Sword Sect, may I ask your name?"
Love is love, hate is hate. If these two people helped her kill this Xuanqin primordial spirit cultivator today, she would be willing to give them a chance to reconcile, but obviously they didn't want to. Then she didn't have to be polite to them either.
"Dao Sword Sect... Dan Peak... Qin Ran..."
When the black-clothed boy and the red-clothed young woman heard Li Shiyin's self-introduction, they both smiled meaningfully. This buff was fully stacked.
"I didn't expect Qin Ran to have such an outstanding disciple." The young woman in red said with a smile, but did not introduce herself at all, "It really takes resources to cultivate good cultivators... If my Boundless Sword Sect had spirit stones and elixirs..."
"My master said that rotten mud cannot support walls and rotten wood cannot be carved." Li Shiyin said to her, "If the aptitude itself is not good, just piling on resources will only make it a flashy but useless thing, just good-looking. This kind of cultivator will shatter at a touch."
When she said this, her eyes were fixed on the group of three primordial spirit stage cultivators, and her meaning was too obvious.
There was a cold light flashing on the sword in the hand of the black-clothed boy. Hearing Li Shiyin say this, he asked, "Did your master ever say you are very arrogant?"
"No." Li Shiyin was always honest. She replied, "Master said I was simple and cute, sincere when speaking. He loved me dearly."
"All those with good talents have this attitude." Zi Yi commented. "They just don't know, which high-level cultivator was not a talent with extraordinary natural endowments at first?"
The young woman in red looked at Li Shiyin's pretty face and sighed, "What a pity!"
And with her sigh, the aura of the black-clothed boy suddenly rose, and the black evil sword qi on his sword also swelled violently. Staring at Li Shiyin with tiger eyes full of evil spirit.
The next moment, swirling with darkness and carrying boundless evil qi, he killed Li Shiyin.
"Humph!!!" Although the opponent was very powerful, and there was no possibility of winning, Li Shiyin was not afraid at all. She still mobilized her magic power, swallowing and spitting out star sword qi, and rushed to meet the black-clothed boy...
She didn't rush up.
Because just as she got up, a white tiger suddenly appeared in the darkness not far from her side. The white tiger swallowed the darkness around her in one gulp, she was wrapped in the darkness and went into the white tiger's mouth.
The white tiger held her in its mouth, jumped back, jumped into the darkness, and disappeared again.
"Profound Underworld Spirit Tiger?" The black-clothed boy stopped at the place where the white tiger disappeared, sheathed his sword, frowning, "It's been hiding here alone?"
"What a powerful concealment technique." The young woman in red came over and sighed, "As expected of the king in the darkness."
Zi Yi came to this side, still in shock: "Is this Profound Underworld Spirit Tiger her guardian beast that has been lying in ambush here?"
He didn't notice the figure of the Profound Underworld Spirit Tiger at all. If the Profound Underworld Spirit Tiger had attacked him just now, he wouldn't have been able to react in time.
"It's not her guardian beast, it's her master, Qin Ran's guardian beast." The young woman in red said with a smile.
"Qin Ran?" Zi Yi asked, "Who is this that you have mentioned several times?"
"A dying man." The black-clothed boy said coldly.
He was not a man with a broad mind either.
The young woman in red said, "The chief of Dan Peak of Dao Sword Sect, an alchemist, very sly and extremely sinister."
"Just an alchemist..." Zi Yi said, and suddenly reacted, "So you didn't just happen to pass by?"
"I was worried that he might not die thoroughly, so I came specifically to help Daoist Friend Zi Yi lend a hand." The black-clothed boy said.