Mo Jiu roared through gritted teeth. "Despicable!"
By now, Yunxi had already driven the Mystic Frost Needle into Mo Jiu's body. The instant he sensed the anomaly within, he mobilized spiritual power to block the needles. The next breath, his sword array was smashed apart by a single staff strike, forcing him to flicker back in retreat.
There was no way Yunxi would give him any chance to escape. This was her domain. With a thought, she flashed in front of Mo Jiu. The Seven Stars Soul-Shattering Staff in her hands surged with powerful thunder spiritual force and crashed into the sword he swung up in a panic. The collision of forces made Mo Jiu teleport away again, pouring even more spiritual power into his spirit sword as he launched another round of attacks.
Because Mo Jiu was channeling power into both offense and defense, the Mystic Frost Needle he had been barely holding back began a new round of havoc. Wherever the needles traveled through his meridians, a layer of frost formed, making them brittle. The moment he pushed spiritual power through those frozen channels, they cracked and shattered, worsening his condition.
Yunxi waited for the "Soulmourne" toxin to seep into his soul, and kept her cultivation suppressed to late-stage Void Refinement while clashing with Mo Jiu. She understood the obsession of one who had been given a second chance. It was like the moment she learned she had crossed into a book where her ending was death. Every choice she made afterward was to defy fate.
Mo Jiu, reborn into this life, believed he could not change the Weiling Realm's doom. He used foreknowledge to amass an ocean of resources, breaking through at speed, and even stooped to stealing luck with the Fortune Pearl so he could ascend to the Immortal Realm ahead of others. Yunxi had no intention of becoming his stepping stone.
At the same time, she did not want to drive Mo Jiu into utter desperation, in case he decided there was no way out and chose mutual destruction. A late-stage Void Refinement cultivator's self-detonation could shatter her domain and rebound against her.
So although Yunxi's attacks looked fierce, she was holding back, crafting the illusion that their strength was evenly matched, and that the outcome would be decided by skill.
The longer Mo Jiu fought, the more irritable he became. He had been too impatient. He clearly knew she was a cultivator whose luck shone purple tinged with gold, yet he still went after her. Even now, though their exchange seemed even, he could not shake the sense that she had yet to go all out.
He bit down, unwilling to drag this on. With a sweep of his sleeve, he released a pair of golden bangles from his wrists. As they took to the air, they multiplied into tens of thousands of rings, each one carrying an edge of razor-sharp metal intent as they hurtled toward Yunxi.
Seeing the storm of rings, Yunxi withdrew the Seven Stars Soul-Shattering Staff and raised the Nine Nether Dragon Umbrella. With a light twist of the handle, Hei Yao surged off the umbrella's surface, splitting into nine black dragons, each a hundred zhang long, roaring as they plunged into the golden tide.
Where the hard, upstanding dragon scales scraped the rings, sparks burst in showers. With a single sweeping tail, each dragon swatted clusters of rings into the earth. The muffled thuds went on and on as the nine dragons blotted out even the wind and snow.
Mo Jiu instinctively took a step back, his face darkening. Only then did the truth hit him, and he blurted out, "You're not a late-stage Void Refinement cultivator!"
Yunxi ignored him. She gripped the dragon umbrella and continued feeding in wind spiritual power, while her divine sense drove the Mystic Frost Needle to keep ravaging his meridians.
A stab of pain shot through Mo Jiu's chest. He spat a mouthful of blood. His aura visibly withered.
Hei Yao seized the opening, its talons gleaming with a chill light as it smashed Mo Jiu's protective aura. With a whipping strike of its tail, it sent him flying.
Yunxi withdrew the Mystic Frost Needle from Mo Jiu's body, then teleported to where he fell. As his sword came down, she stamped a sealing inscription into his dantian. Hei Yao took the blow on its tail, then followed through and sent Mo Jiu flying again.
Mo Jiu tumbled across the snow for several rolls before he could steady himself. Two more sprays of blood followed. He looked up at Yunxi walking toward him with the umbrella, fear creeping into his eyes.
"I will give you the Fortune Pearl. Let me go. I have not joined the evil cultivators, nor will I ever consort with them. I only wished to gather enough resources to ascend."
"Hmph. And gathering resources means using the Fortune Pearl to steal luck? How is that different from an evil cultivator? Still, since you know your place, hand over the Fortune Pearl. This Lord will spare your life."
Mo Jiu ground his teeth. "Swear an oath to the Heavenly Dao. Otherwise, I will destroy it rather than give it to you."
He could tell how much Yunxi cared about the Fortune Pearl, so he gambled.
Yunxi suddenly smiled, then spoke slowly. "I, Ran Xi, here and now swear: so long as Mo Jiu hands the Fortune Pearl to me, I will let him leave and will not pursue or kill him. If I break this oath, may fivefold thunder strike me and my cultivation regress."
As her words fell, a strand of law descended into her brow. The Heavenly Dao oath stood.
Only then did Mo Jiu exhale. With a flick of his sleeve, he sent the Fortune Pearl to float before Yunxi.
She arched a brow at the pale-golden crystal hovering in front of her. "So you only have half."
Mo Jiu snapped his gaze to Yunxi, his lips trembling. "How do you know it is only half a Fortune Pearl?"
"Because I have seen a complete one. Or rather, I have seen the Stone Heart of that foolish girl Yan Yun from Yan Ten Village."
At that, Mo Jiu's hair stood on end. "Who in the world are you?"
Yunxi smiled. "Did I not just say it? I am Ran Xi. The village chief of Yan Ten Village entrusted me to retrieve his daughter's heart."
Mo Jiu's eyes darted as his thoughts whirled, but he quickly gathered himself. "I have already given you the Fortune Pearl. Please allow me to leave."
Yunxi let out a short laugh. "What is this? You think half a Fortune Pearl will suffice to fob me off? Are you the fool, or am I? I swore upon a complete Fortune Pearl, not half."
Mo Jiu knew he had truly fallen into her hands. His soul felt weak, his meridians torn and pitted. If he kept dragging this out, nothing good would come of it. He could only take out a token from the Chong'an Auction House from his storage ring.
He had put the other half up for auction. With this token, he could collect the spirit stones once it sold. But judging by her stance, what Yunxi wanted was the Fortune Pearl, not spirit stones.
Yunxi left him no time to hesitate. She drew the auction token into her hand. After confirming it was genuine, she flicked her sleeve and dismissed her domain.
Mo Jiu found himself back in the room. Beside him, Mo Liang, who had been standing guard, lay slumped on a meditation cushion. His breathing was steady. He was merely asleep.
Like a startled bird, Mo Jiu scooped up Mo Liang. Before dawn, they checked out of the inn and fled Chong'an City through the teleportation array.
Not long after the two departed, Xiao Meng appeared before Yunxi and bowed. "Mo Liang will never wake again."