The Spiritual Duel

Beneath the resplendent crystal chandeliers of the grand hall, the light swayed with dreamlike radiance. Goblets clinked as nobles and renowned figures toasted one another.

From one direction, a number of familiar figures were observing Xiao Chen alongside Kanasi and her infamous older brother—among them Rogu Ao, Hofman, Li Dongbo, Zhuge Kun, Hai Yunxue, and Yan Qingcheng.

The azure-haired youth was exceedingly elegant. He smiled apologetically at a few young ladies around him and then strode toward Xiao Chen and his companions.

“What’s that pervert’s name?” Xiao Chen asked Hai Yuntian, utterly ignoring Kanasi’s glare.

“This… ahem… his name is Qilao.” Hai Yuntian coughed pointedly, as if reminding Xiao Chen that calling someone’s brother a pervert right in front of his sister was a sure way to provoke the young beauty’s fury.

“You’re the pervert! Your whole family is perverted!” The treasured young miss of the Mande family glared at Xiao Chen with eyes that sparkled like gems, muttering curses under her breath. At least she kept her voice low—this was, after all, a banquet held at her own home, and she had no desire to cause a major scene.

Qilao approached with a faint smile, raising his glass in a toast to Xiao Chen.

Xiao Chen raised his glass in return, though he continued speaking quietly to Hai Yuntian: “He doesn’t look like a pervert.”

Hai Yuntian gave an awkward smile, glancing from Kanasi to the ‘pervert’ who was now almost upon them. Kanasi’s jade-like brow was already dark with fury. She seized Qilao’s arm and whined, “Brother… he’s bullying me! And he called you a pervert!”

Qilao was exceptionally distinguished—tall and lithe, fit without being muscular, a man of jade-like grace. His long hair shimmered with a water-blue light, and his eyes gleamed as brightly as stars. There was a particular elegance about him that made one notice him instantly even in a vast crowd.

One had to admit, some people truly were born with a striking presence and extraordinary temperament. Without question, Qilao was one of them. He smiled gently and tapped Kanasi’s dainty nose. “Everyone calls me that anyway. I’m sure you’ve been causing trouble again.”

“Brother…” Kanasi shook Qilao’s arm coquettishly. “That guy is so wicked! He injured Brother Lumuda, blackmailed Cousin Rogu Ao, and bullied me at the Hot Spring Paradise. You have to teach him a lesson!”

The azure-haired girl Kanasi stared with wide, watery eyes, biting her red lips. Her crystal-white teeth and twitching, dainty nose made her look quite adorable. Were she just a little older, the beauteous maidens of the Southern Wastes would have gained a third pearl alongside Yan Qingcheng and Hai Yunxue.

Qilao was not a pervert in the least—at least, he seemed very composed. He gave off a good-natured impression. That was Xiao Chen’s initial reaction.

“You must be Brother Xiao Chen. Over these past few days, your name has nearly worn out my ears.”

“I have long admired your reputation, Brother Qilao. An honor to meet you.”

Seeing the two of them on such cordial terms, Kanasi muttered in dissatisfaction, “Brother, you’re not even helping me…”

Qilao affectionately smoothed his sister’s silky blue hair. “Alright, stop being naughty. I have something to discuss with Brother Xiao. Go attend to your friends over there.”

“Brother…” Kanasi grumbled with a dissatisfied murmur before turning and flouncing away.

Nearby, Hofman and Li Dongbo were deeply disappointed. They had hoped the ‘pervert’ of the Mande family would challenge Xiao Chen to an outdoor duel, but instead the two were being perfectly civil and amiable.

Weaving through the crowd to stand beside Hai Yunxue and the other Southern Wastes beauties, Kanasi huffed, “That guy is utterly despicable! Sister Yunxue, just now Xiao Chen said your figure is too tall.”

“Hehe…” Before Hai Yunxue could speak, someone beside her teased, “Kanasi, did you suffer a loss just now? Now you’re running here to find allies. No matter how blind that fellow might be, he wouldn’t say anything bad about Hai Yunxue’s tall and perfect figure.”

The group of young women laughed softly.

“Brother Xiao, would you care to take a walk outside?” Qilao extended an invitation.

Moonlight was gentle, its clear radiance spreading across the land.

Behind the ancient castle lay a garden filled with drifting floral fragrance in the night air.

“Brother Xiao, are you from the Mortal World?”

“Why do you ask so suddenly?”

Qilao stood on a small stone arch bridge, gazing at the glittering stream below. “I mean no harm. I’d like to ask you about someone.”

“Oh? Who is it?” Xiao Chen strolled under the moonlight, crossing the stone bridge and leaping onto an observation platform. He looked up at the endless starry sky, his mind seemingly drifting back to the Mortal World.

“A heavenly fairy, as ethereal as a dream,” Qilao said, a peculiar look crossing his face. His mind seemed to be swept up in some ecstasy as he spoke softly, “Her name is Lan Nuo. I wish to know about her past.”

Under the bright moon, Qilao—elegant as jade—wore such an expression. If the young matrons and noble ladies in the hall could see him now, they would be both jealous and entranced.

Xiao Chen was somewhat surprised that Qilao had met Lan Nuo. He asked calmly, “When and where did you see her?”

“A year ago, I was fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of her in Heavenly Emperor City. But since then, her fragrant traces have vanished completely, like a celestial maiden from the nine-layered heavens. We met only briefly, and there has been no word of her since.” Qilao sighed, his voice laden with emotion and loss. “I know that a woman like her can never truly belong to anyone—not even a god is worthy of her!”

Qilao was known as a ‘pervert’ on the path of cultivation. Before others, he always bore a free and easy posture. But at this moment, his demeanor was completely different from his usual self. There was actually a shadow of regret and loss, and his melancholy was undisguised.

“Lan Nuo… a paragon of the Nine Provinces of Yan Huang. She is peerlessly graceful, a genius of extraordinary talent. At twenty years of age, she had already challenged the world with her sword and found no worthy opponent.” Xiao Chen’s words were calm and unperturbed. He gazed at the stars, as though his vision had pierced through to the Mortal World. “That same year, she cultivated the legendary Divine Guidance. Her cultivation was half-ruined, and she was on the verge of death. Later, with great wisdom, she sought another method to break through the fatal ordeal. She resolved to seal herself in ice, deep within a ten-thousand-foot snow valley. Thirteen years later, a miracle occurred: Lan Nuo revived, brimming with boundless vitality. She walked out of the ice cave, her youth eternally preserved. She had broken through the barrier of death. It was as if a finger-snap had passed—thirteen years of sealing, but time had been kind; her beauty did not age.”

“Legend says that the Mortal World is extremely deficient in spiritual energy, yet she could shatter the void in so short a time. Truly a woman of extraordinary genius!” Qilao sighed deeply. “Now that she has entered the World of Immortality, the seas are vast for fish to leap, and the sky is high for birds to fly. I don’t know how high she can reach, but I believe that within ten years, she will be fearless of the gods of this world! Perhaps even sooner—three years, two years, even one year might be enough!”

This was the truth. Throughout the ages in the Mortal World, how many people had managed to break their bonds and enter the World of Immortality? It could be counted on one hand! Anyone who shattered the void was inevitably an extraordinary talent of a thousand years.

Today, many of the great powers in the World of Immortality whose names shook the world were founded by ancestors who came from the Mortal World.

Whenever he thought of this, Xiao Chen felt a question nagging at him. Since the Mortal World was so deficient in spiritual energy, how had it produced so many earth-shaking figures? Even when those figures arrived in the World of Immortality, they still looked down upon the masses. How should one properly characterize the Mortal World? Perhaps, in the infinite depths of antiquity, the Mortal World was also a holy land of exceptional talent, and its spiritual roots still remained!

“Is there more? I wish to know more about her,” Qilao said, standing on the small stone arch bridge, staring fixedly at the patch of night-blooming roses ahead. The profusion of blossoms was unfolding, their intoxicating fragrance drifting through the air.

“There is nothing more. Lan Nuo is a woman of mystery, like a riddle.”

“When you faced a woman like Lan Nuo, Brother Xiao, did you not feel your heart stir?”

“I have not yet reached a height equal to hers, so I will not indulge in extravagant hopes. My future must be carved out step by step.” Xiao Chen was very calm, unwilling to discuss the matter further.

Qilao smiled, and in that instant his temperament abruptly changed. The trace of loss vanished, and he resumed his free and elegant demeanor. “Actually, I would very much like to fight you. But today is not the right time. How about a spiritual duel instead?”

“Agreed.”

Xiao Chen turned on the observation platform to face Qilao.

“A battle of divine consciousness!” As he said this, Qilao’s water-blue hair whipped backward as if blown by a sudden gale, and his gaze turned incredibly sharp in an instant, shooting out two rays of frosty light like sword beams.

A wave of mental pressure, as fierce and brutal as a primordial ancient beast, crashed down upon Xiao Chen!

For a fleeting moment, it seemed as if a thousand souls were wailing, and ten thousand great waves were roaring—a spectacle of immense scale!

In that instant, Xiao Chen understood why Qilao was called a pervert. Beneath his refined and elegant exterior lay a heart that longed for battle. When his fighting spirit erupted, he was as wild as a savage beast—fierce, powerful, and nearly freakish!

In terms of divine consciousness cultivation, Qilao had already surpassed the scope of the Mortal-Shedding realm. His consciousness was condensed into a tangible divine sword, nearly unstoppable!

Xiao Chen was as motionless as a mountain, his divine consciousness as vast and deep as a boundless ocean. No matter how many thousands of divine swords or millions of great waves came surging at him, they all merged into the sea, as unfathomable and deep as could be.

The invisible struggle between them shattered the grove of flowering trees that lay between them. Then, in utter silence, the vegetation turned to ash—as if nothing had ever grown there, leaving only a layer of dust on the ground.

BOOM! The marble stone arch bridge cracked and collapsed. Qilao flew backward, his face somewhat pale. The observation platform also cracked and swayed dangerously. Xiao Chen’s face was drenched in sweat. He soared into the air and landed on a pavilion.

Then a blazing divine light erupted between them—the power of their divine consciousness!

The light was so dazzling it dimmed the stars and the moon above!

Their spiritual waves were vast as the sea!

This was an exceedingly perilous battle. The slightest misstep would crush and erase one’s spiritual consciousness, leaving one a living corpse.

A full quarter-hour passed before everything returned to calm.

Nothing remained between them. The pavilion had turned to sand; the lotus pond had dried up and cracked. A stretch of marble pavement silently collapsed into a crater ten meters deep.

Between them lay a massive chasm!

“Spirit-Treasury?” Qilao looked at Xiao Chen in astonishment.

Xiao Chen did not reply. After a moment’s thought, he said, “Your divine consciousness has already broken into the Spirit-Treasury domain.”

“My divine consciousness is certainly powerful, because I am a Spiritist.”

In the distance, several scions of the great families shook their heads. Hofman said with undisguised regret, “Pity. Why didn’t they keep going? Damn it, is that bastard really that strong? I wish someone would finish him off! Even the pervert of the Mande family didn’t seem to gain the upper hand. That’s hard to believe.”

Li Dongbo was also sighing. “Truly astonishing. Why can’t someone take care of him? The rumor can’t be true, can it—that he has some connection with the entity deep in the Southern Wilderness?”

“So what if he has connections?” Hofman’s eyes flashed with a murderous glint. “There are still ways to play him to death without making the entity deep in the Southern Wilderness unhappy.”

“Bah, don’t blow your own horn,” came a sneer from beside them. A young nobleman said, “I heard from my old man that your family’s elder wanted to make a move—but in the end, he went and came back without doing anything.”

Gnashing his teeth audibly, Hofman said viciously, “My family lost five Spirit-Treasury experts. That debt won’t be wiped clean so easily. Sooner or later, I’ll find someone to kill him!”

On the other side, Yan Qingcheng, Hai Yuntian, Zhuge Kun, Hai Yunxue, Kanasi, and the others had also witnessed the spiritual battle just now.

Fatty Zhuge Kun teased, “Oh, miss from the Mande family, it seems your brother isn’t in top form today. He’s sullying his reputation as the invincible pervert.”

“Fatty, don’t provoke me! Do you want me to knock your teeth out?” Kanasi glared furiously at the fat man. But given her sweet appearance and her water-bright, ethereal look, even her fiercest scowl was rather cute.

“That’s right, Kanasi. Was your brother holding back on purpose? How could he possibly not beat Xiao Chen?” Some of the girls nearby held a blind idolatry for Qilao.

“Love-struck fool!” A cold snort came from a tall, imposing figure carrying an iron sword as he strode toward the main hall.

“You…” The girl’s next word, “—stop!” was abruptly cut off as Kanasi covered her mouth.

“Do you have a death wish? Do you know who he is?”

“Who is that bastard?” The girl was extremely indignant.

Several young matrons and noble ladies were also angry.

“He is Dugu Jianmo. Two years ago at a banquet, the eldest daughter of the Liu family was throwing her weight around, and he simply swung his sword and cut off her head,” Kanasi whispered.

“Ah, it’s him!” Clearly, all the women knew of Dugu Jianmo’s reputation. They immediately fell silent.