The two combatants, fully engrossed in their duel, had long detected newcomers approaching the area. However, neither paid them any heed; both were entirely focused on using the opponent's sword to validate their own.
The Ruoshui God sword shadows constructed set after set of sword arrays, blooming like ink-wash lotuses.
"I have never seen anyone capable of commanding such a quantity of flying swords simultaneously..."
Her slender arm and wrist waved hundreds of times in a split second. Jingliu's movements of evasion and counterattack seemed to perform an exquisite, flawless sword dance. While blocking, she sought the weak points within the sword array.
The array's swift and violent offensive forced Jingliu to divert more of her mental energy to cope. The battle shifted from an evenly matched contest to one where she was slightly suppressed, with a trend of tilting further against her.
Jingliu sighed helplessly in her heart. She increased her power, swinging her ice blade to shatter a hundred sword shadows and slashing out an Ice Moon Sword Qi to forcibly break open the sword array.
She had wanted to break the formation with technique, but in the end, she still had to break it with force.
"Huh?"
A faint gasp of surprise escaped her lips. Jingliu sensed something was wrong.
The three streaks of Ice Moon Sword Qi, over a hundred zhang long and drawing curtains of cold mist across heaven and earth, exhausted their power and dissipated after destroying only two-thirds of the sword shadows.
In this battle, regarding technique and Sword Intent, Jingliu was firing on all cylinders. But in terms of energy, she was actually holding back.
Keeping her energy level roughly on par with Li Sushang, her attack should have mutually canceled out Sushang's 'Ten Thousand Swords Return to the Heart.' Yet, the result was that one-third of the sword shadows remained.
Her crimson eyes locked onto the sword edges that were half-void and half-real. A purple halo flickered in and out of existence, vanishing in a flash.
"Taixu Heart Qi... Taixu Sword Intent..."
Jingliu could vaguely feel that profoundly mysterious artistic conception.
"Truly incomparable in its wonder."
To be honest, this Taixu Sword Art somewhat exceeded Jingliu's expectations.
"Likewise. I began reciting the Sword Heart mnemonics at age one and have practiced the sword for twelve years. Since I started roaming the Jianghu, I have never seen such ice-cold, biting Sword Intent."
Li Sushang was an honest person and never engaged in mutual commercial flattery. She was genuinely shocked by Jingliu's Frost Sword Intent.
The Sword Qi was condensed without dispersing, the sword momentum fast and precise. Like the north wind in the twelfth lunar month scraping the bones, every inch of chill was nailed into the opponent's most fragile meridian nodes.
Even more seasoned was the calculation hidden within the extreme cold. The aftershocks of the ice explosions deliberately left three openings, luring the enemy into a trap before launching a killing strike.
This Miss Jingliu must be a god of death who had hacked her way out of cruel battlefields and armies of thousands!
Jingliu curled the corners of her lips, just about to reply, when she suddenly realized something. The arc of her smile abruptly froze, and her expression turned peculiar.
"Wait! How long did you say you've studied the sword?"
Is this a realm that can be reached in twelve years of sword practice!?
Upon returning to the Xianzhou this time, Jingliu had seen many, many changes.
One thing left a deep impression on her. That day, while walking on the street, someone stopped her to ask if she wanted to sign her family's child up for a crash course in sword art. The fastest graduation was one semester, guaranteeing a good score in the next Wardance Ceremony to bring glory to the ancestors!
Jingliu found it quite amusing.
Whether it was soliciting a sword master like her as a student, or the concept of 'crash course' sword art.
A semester for the crash course was eighteen years. Many Xianzhou people hesitated, feeling that such a short time for a crash course must be a scam. In reality, it indeed was a scam.
At that time, Jingliu's mental state was decent. Driven by curiosity, she went to watch the sword instructor's demonstration. The instructor had some skill, but not much—purely there to hoodwink Outworlders.
But today, she had actually encountered a genius sword immortal girl who had studied the sword for just over ten years, yet her realm was comparable to, or even faintly surpassed, hers!
In a flash of thought, Jingliu realized something else was wrong. Her expression grew even more peculiar. She hesitated for two seconds before asking:
"Sushang, how old are you?"
Jingliu no longer continued to act young, reverting to her usual tone.
"16? Or maybe 15?"
The brown-haired, twintailed girl stood on her sword in the air, blinking her eyes as she considered with a smile.
"..."
Jingliu's mouth opened slightly. She felt sweat streaming down her back.
This is freaking 16!?
In the concept of the long-life species of the Xianzhou, 16 years old was still the infancy stage!
Currently, in Jingliu's impression, Sushang was a Xianzhou native. Whether it was her speech, conduct, or living habits, she was a proper, dyed-in-the-wool Xianzhou native under the Reidou banner.
Now you're telling her that the talent suppressing her in technique is a 16-year-old infant?
Jingliu's mouth twitched. She had the illusion that her worldview, built over nearly a thousand years of sword practice, was on the verge of collapse.
"Oh, wait."
Under Moonscar's reminder, Li Sushang changed her tune with a disgruntled expression: "I slept for over five hundred years, so now I seem to be 537 years old."
Specifically, she slept for 521 years.
"Hmm?" Jingliu raised an eyebrow.
Slept for over five hundred years? What is that about?
"My age isn't important."
Moonscar took back control of the body. "What's important is, Sister Jingliu, do you want to take me as your master?"
"..."
Jingliu slightly regretted acting young at the beginning.
She wasn't sure if the girl before her had recognized her—she probably hadn't—but guessing her age was easy.
Sometimes, Jingliu felt this girl was even better at glib talk than Jing Yuan's apprentice. Yet, at other times, she seemed like a gallant hero of the Jianghu.
A strange person.
She even had the potential to become the next General of the Luofu.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Ruoshui God and the ice blade crossed hundreds of times in an instant. They turned into roaring sword shadows and moonlight sword shadows, expanding and clashing in every inch of space. Merely the aftershocks of the battle caused the earth to crack and space to tremble!
"Fine. Defeat me, and I will take you as my master."
The black veil over her eyes had long since slipped off. Those eyes, crimson as blood, reached a certain peak at this moment, resembling a boiling, churning pool of blood.
The instant Jingliu raised her head, moonlight pierced through the dark clouds.
A layer of white frost appeared on the ground illuminated by the moonlight. The 'Comedy Duo' and Bailu, watching from afar, felt an inexplicable chill all over their bodies when the moonlight hit them, causing them to shiver.
"Alright."
Moonscar said with a smile, turning on auto-battle.
Li Sushang felt somewhat torn between laughter and tears regarding the bet between 'herself' and Jingliu, but she could sense that terrifying Frost Sword Intent.
"To deal with the next sword, we can only use the Sword God."
[I will help you.]
If Li Sushang unleashed the Taixu Sword God alone, the victory would be unstable; Jingliu suppressed her in terms of energy level. Mainly, Li Sushang couldn't use the Honkai Impact 2 version of Taixu by herself; she needed Moonscar's cooperation.
[Isn't that bad?]
Li Sushang felt it was a bit unfair. Wasn't this two against one?
[Eh, how can you think like that!]
Moonscar didn't mind at all. She analyzed it with righteous confidence.
[The two of us are one person; we are both Li Sushang. How can you call it two against one? Even if Aha came, this would still be a fair 1v1 duel!]
Li Sushang felt there was something wrong with that logic, but for a moment, she didn't know how to refute it.
[Stop thinking, it's coming.]
Moonscar hurriedly interrupted Li Sushang's train of thought and silently thanked 'Little Pillow' for bringing the 'airhead virus' over and infecting 'Big Pillow'.
"Okay."
In the silent world, in the solidified spacetime, moonlight pierced the dark clouds.
Under the dumbfounded gazes of Bailu, Guinaifen, and Sushang, Jingliu moved first.
Jingliu leaped high. Her graceful figure in the air moved as she pleased, appearing delicate and slow like a fairy floating toward the Moon Palace, but in reality, she was vigorous and powerful, like a madwoman going to chop down the nine heavens.
The dark clouds densely covering the night sky dissipated at a speed visible to the naked eye the moment Jingliu leaped up. A dazzling moon disk broke through the clouds.
"Let this... round of moonlight..."
Like the ravings of a fairy wandering at night, the full moon was gradually cannibalized as Jingliu swung her sword.
"...Illuminate the myriad rivers!"
Darkness ended, a total lunar eclipse. It was as if the light of the entire bright moon had been slashed out along with this sword.
Epiphyllum blooms and dies, the Galaxy pours out dreams. Ten thousand ancients in a flash, a moonlit night in the human world.
"Shen is the extreme of change, the subtle word for myriad things; it cannot be interrogated by form."
A water-blue divine seal unfolded in the firmament, obscuring the moonlight. A golden Shen aggregate mark ignited on Li Sushang's forehead.
[Taixu is formless, the substance of Qi. Its gathering and scattering are but the guest forms of change.]
Mysterious, profound light emerged around the girl, blurring spacetime.
Occasionally, a few rays would shoot out as if breaking through a cage, exploding in mid-air in the form of black thunder-light!
"With the heart as the sheath..."
Immediately after, the finger incantation in the girl's hand formed abruptly and was placed before her chest. The red feather at the end of her hair shone with brilliance.
"...Nurture the sharp sword!"
The sky broke!
A giant sword, glowing with strange colors and radiating a boundless, ancient aura, slowly descended like the sky curtain hanging upside down. The terrifying pressure seemed to make the world unable to bear it.
Lost.
The moment Li Sushang unleashed the sword, the result appeared in Jingliu's heart.
The strange colors permeating the giant sword made the boundaries of spacetime seem dislocated.
The clear moonlight penetrated space, yet, as if sprinkling onto a lake surface, it produced an unrecognizable deflection.
When the Sword of the Moon finally touched that profound Taixu, its direction was no longer the same as when it started. It interfered with probability and affected causality.
Even with Moonscar's full assistance, it could only succeed for that short single breath, but that was enough.
The Taixu Sword God was already miraculous. Now, with the addition of the Honkai Impact 2 Taixu, it reached straight to some kind of root origin—not to mention Moonscar also used Fenghuang Down.
Let alone Jingliu, even if Phantylia came to eat this strike, she would have to cough up blood!
Jingliu stared blankly at the Sword God descending from the sky.
Unreasonable. Incomprehensible.
Meaning unclear. Unavoidable.
Unknowable, and thus irresistible.
Am I going to die?
Even with Jingliu's mental fortitude, faced with the Taixu Sword God empowered by the cooperation of Moonscar and Li Sushang, Fenghuang Down, and Honkai Impact 2 Taixu, she couldn't help but give rise to such a thought.
Moonscar and Li Sushang did not hold back. They truly and solidly hit Jingliu with this Sword God.
In the deepest part of Jingliu's sea of consciousness.
Black mist emitting screams, murmurs, and ravings permeated the area. That was the concrete product of the regret remaining from when she personally cut down her comrades after falling into the Mara-struck state in the past.
There was even more regret, hatred, enmity, and resentment, transforming into hands of darkness, surging toward Jingliu, poised to drag her into the pool of Mara.
The Sword God's hundreds of millions of sharp edges poured down. Like rain, they slashed and eradicated the negative consciousness and the resentment of rage until nothing remained.
In the real world, Jingliu stood like a statue amidst the aftershocks of the clash between the Moon Sword and the Ancient Sword, falling into a brief slumber.
"Phew~"
Panting heavily, Moonscar picked up the comatose Jingliu in a princess carry to dodge the aftershocks.
"Mn~ From today on, I am Jing Yuan's grand-master."
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