Chapter Thirty-Four: The Past of Blue Ice

She spun around quickly and struck out with a palm, but hit nothing but empty air.

Panic suddenly took hold of her. She had been supremely confident, yet now that the sparring had truly begun, she couldn't even find her opponent. How was she supposed to fight like this? Even with Lan Bing’s formidable strength, she could not sustain such a drain for long. She considered using a wide-range attack, but that would consume far too much energy, and unless she unleashed her full power, such an attack would fail to cover the domain.

For a moment, Lan Bing felt maddened. This was the first time she had been toyed with like this. This kind of tactic was supposed to be her specialty; she had not expected Mo Xuan’s combination with the illusionary realm to be so devastatingly effective. As a practitioner of the Earth Profound Realm, far surpassing Mo Xuan in cultivation, admitting defeat would be contrary to her nature—especially since she had not yet used her full strength. Now she understood: while many phantom attacks appeared, nearly all were illusions, and only the unseen ones were real.

Therefore, she largely ignored the visible strikes. Relying on her experience, she focused on observing potential positions. As his elder, her experience was something Mo Xuan could not match, and since she was also skilled in illusions, she soon sensed the inconsistencies in the environment. With a faint smile, she gathered her strength and slashed toward a spot to her rear-left.

There was no reaction.

Mo Xuan could have cried. It was fortunate that he was the one who had set up this trap; otherwise, he would have been done for—not that it would have been a real death, of course.

“It’s not there!” Lan Bing muttered, confused. “How is it not there either?”

After this, Mo Xuan became much more cautious, not daring to act rashly. A while later, Mo Xuan’s "Three-Heart Illusion" was nearly complete. He could finally counterattack.

From that point on, all his attacks began to manifest as physical strikes. Unbeknownst to her, the illusory blades attacking Lan Bing began to turn into real ones. The transition from illusion to reality was seamless. Lan Bing, still believing she was merely inside an illusion, continued to guard against the unseen, leaving herself completely vulnerable. The consequences were tragic.

Countless blades, formed from the power of heaven and earth, pierced through Lan Bing’s palms, pinning her to the ground and instantly restricting her ability to counter. Immediately after, a deluge of blades rained down at lightning speed, striking her body.

“Ah!” Lan Bing screamed. Her defensive barrier cracked and shattered, and blade wounds appeared all over her body. Faced with Mo Xuan’s bizarre attacks, her eyes turned bloodshot. Crimson spiritual energy surged violently, blocking the onslaught. With a powerful burst of energy, she broke free from the restraints on her hands, rose to her feet, and unleashed a mighty technique: “Blood Blade Annihilation!”

She was forced into her second state, opting for a wide-range attack. Wherever the "Blood Blade Annihilation" passed, the blood-colored spiritual energy flowed relentlessly, completely dismantling Mo Xuan’s Three-Heart Illusion and shattering the Zero Domain. Mo Xuan’s figure finally appeared. He couldn't help but sigh, "It seems it still wasn't enough."

“I truly don’t know where a brat like you learned such a powerful technique.” With the Zero Domain broken, Lan Bing felt no joy, only disappointment. “How can someone leap across ranks like this?”

It was true. A genius like Lan Bing, who could defeat practitioners of the Earth Nether Realm while still at the ninth level of the Earth Profound Realm, possessed combat power far exceeding her peers—a level of talent that perhaps even Meng Yao could not match. She had always been proud, but facing a monster like Mo Xuan, her confidence had plummeted to the depths. She found it difficult to accept this reality.

Indeed, she had only ever been confident in remaining undefeated within her own rank. Mo Xuan was only at the Spirit Sealing Realm—a full three major realms below her. Her pride was shattered. Covering her face, she dropped her dual swords and left in sorrow.

"Hey!" Mo Xuan thought to himself, wondering if he had gone too far.

In truth, he hadn't expected the Three-Heart Illusion to be so powerful, nor that it would force Lan Bing to use her strongest move. If Lan Bing hadn't unleashed her massive power to shatter the Zero Domain, the technique could have caused even more damage. While the power was immense, the cost was equally great; that single move had consumed nearly all of his soul strength and spiritual energy. Of course, the spiritual energy was secondary; the key was the borrowed power of heaven and earth.

Mo Xuan thought that since he hadn't actually won, it should be fine. He picked up the black-gold rose dual swords, wiped them clean, and intended to return them once Lan Bing came out. However, Lan Bing stayed in her room until nightfall, never emerging.

Mo Xuan began to worry that he had deeply hurt her. On reflection, Lan Bing was around the same age as him. In the cultivation world, reaching the Spirit Sealing Realm meant one was essentially a half-cultivator with a lengthened lifespan; reaching the Earth Three Realms meant becoming a true cultivator with a doubled lifespan. The higher the rank, the longer the life, and one’s appearance would gradually stabilize. Those in the Heaven Three Realms lived for nearly a thousand years. In reality, the age gap between them was not significant.

Even so, should she be this upset?

By nightfall, Mo Xuan began to grasp the truth. He remembered the first time he had used illusions on her. Normally, even if she were caught off guard, it shouldn't have succeeded given their gap in cultivation. But at the time, Lan Bing had shown no desire to resist. She had immersed herself in the illusion as if it were real, as if she were carrying some hidden sorrow.

Uneasy, he went to her door. He knocked gently, and before he could apply any force, the door creaked open. Perhaps she had forgotten to lock it, or perhaps she was so lost in her grief that the physical world no longer mattered.

The room was dark, with no lights on. Only the faint moonlight filtering in provided any visibility. In a corner, Lan Bing sat on the floor, back against the wall, hugging her legs and sobbing continuously. The sound was quiet, audible only once he entered the room. She hadn't changed out of her damaged clothing from the sparring match; the bruises and wounds visible on her body made her look like a pitiful beggar.

Was this the Lan Bing he knew?

Mo Xuan didn't know how to comfort her, but he couldn't just walk away. He knelt beside her, wanting to use his spiritual energy to heal her wounds, but she refused. At a loss, he said in a panic, "I... I’m sorry. I promise I will never use illusions on you again. If you want, Sister Bing, I will do my best to become a copy of you."

Lan Bing’s eyes were brimming with tears, and her pale blue pupils were traced with red bloodshot lines. She looked at him and sobbed, "Am I really that useless?"

"No, no," Mo Xuan explained, seizing the moment to channel his spiritual energy into her body while she wasn't paying attention. "Sister Bing, you can fight someone in the Earth Nether Realm to a standstill and even defeat them. Even I cannot compare to that. In my heart, you are the best, and without your guidance, I would not be where I am today."

"But I couldn't even beat you," Lan Bing said, seemingly softening, no longer pushing away his healing efforts, though she remained heartbroken.

"That was purely an accident! I just used a trick to borrow the power of heaven and earth!" Mo Xuan explained the key to his victory. He paused, surprised by how smoothly his spiritual energy flowed into her body.

"The power of heaven and earth, heh." Lan Bing’s eyes filled with tears, and she suddenly let out a hollow laugh. "That is also a part of strength."

At the very least, she seemed to be feeling a bit better.

"You must be curious why I was so affected by losing just one match..." As she spoke, she began to recount her past.

Mo Xuan listened intently, finally learning that she carried a burden of vengeance similar to his own. When she was very young, Lan Bing and her mother lived in hiding in a small village, leading a peaceful life. She never knew who her father was, and her mother never spoke of him, as if there were some unspeakable secret. Her mother’s name was Dongfang Yuanyi.

Later, their village was attacked by a group of powerful assassins, and they were the targets. To protect Lan Bing, her mother lured the assassins away and was never seen again. Though it was unspoken, it was all but certain she had been killed. Lan Bing had managed to escape, only to fall into a lake and nearly drown. She was only six years old at the time.

She was saved by a man named Gu Kai. Gu Kai was the son of the master of Wanren Peak of the Qihong Sect, so Lan Bing grew up in the sect. She was a genius with exceptional aptitude, rarely matched within the sect. She trained hard in the hope that one day she could find the truth and seek revenge.

This was very similar to Mo Xuan. That was why she had empathized with his hatred and why she had spoken those words to him when she brought him food. She had experienced similar things, just with different targets.

Mo Xuan, at the eleventh level of the Spirit Sealing Realm, had nearly defeated her, which had shattered her fiery and proud heart. Her passion had been crushed, leaving her vulnerable and doubting her own abilities.

Even a major sect like the Qihong Sect would not go to such lengths for her. There, no one helped her find the truth. Because of this, she fell into conflict with the sect, was expelled, and became a thief. Even so, she never neglected her cultivation. Over the years, the three of them had traveled far and wide, exploring ruins and seeking treasures, until they eventually settled here.

As she spoke, Lan Bing realized she had said too much. She suddenly came to her senses, grew nervous, and blushed deeply. "Ah, I... you... hmph!"