Chapter 41 A Blessing in Disguise

Moxuan came to a halt.

Escape was no longer an option, so he had to devise another plan. A resolute smile surfaced on his face. "Want me dead? It's not that certain yet. You might not necessarily be my match."

"Hmph, what arrogant nonsense. Let me see just how you plan to defeat me... What!" That person’s expression flickered slightly, feeling a sudden surge of unease as he confronted an overwhelming and abrupt pressure.

To defeat the person before him, or at least buy as much time as possible to reach the depths of the mine, bluffing was his only resort.

As their eyes locked, that person was already drawn into an illusion, where everything seen and felt was mere fabrication.

Though it might not necessarily work, stalling for even a single moment was better than nothing.

"Illusion of the Real and Unreal." Trapping the opponent with this move was exceptionally practical; blending reality with illusion made one dizzy and disoriented.

Amplifying the power infinitely through the illusion actually proved somewhat effective, surprisingly buying him a fair amount of time.

"A mere illusion, and you actually think it's all that impressive!" With a violent burst of energy, the man shattered the technique, causing the entire illusionary realm to dissipate into nothingness.

Yet, Moxuan's figure was nowhere to be found.

"Interesting! I'd like to see just how far you can run!" A cold glint flashed in the man's eyes as he tore through the air in pursuit.

However, he was once again entangled by Moxuan's bizarre techniques.

Naturally, the opponent had no idea that this illusion was actually nested within another illusion.

The boundaries of real and false blurred completely, leaving him momentarily unable to distinguish which scene was genuine and which reality truly was.

After all, being a powerhouse of the Third Heavenly Realm, once his mind was briefly disrupted and he managed to calm his spirit, he quickly understood the mechanics behind it.

The man had never expected Moxuan to be so utterly troublesome to deal with.

Discarding his initial attitude, a firm and unwavering determination to eliminate Moxuan took root in his mind.

Just as Moxuan was about to enter the mine, the man stepped out from a spatial fissure, blocking the entrance. "Want to go in? Haha, it's not going to be that easy."

Moxuan raised his chin slightly, then sneered at the man, "Look up."

"Haha, nothing more than a mere phantom!"

As it turned out, this one was entirely real.

A massive boulder, condensed from the sheer power of heaven and earth, came crashing down violently.

Boom!

It pinned the man directly to the ground at the bottom.

Without a moment of hesitation, Moxuan flashed into the cavern!

Outside, having been thoroughly played by Moxuan, the man looked rather disheveled and flew into a furious rage. "You have successfully provoked me."

Seething with anger, the man swept his divine sense outward, slashing open spatial fissures one after another as he swiftly forced his way inside.

Inside the mine!

Strictly speaking, this place had been abandoned following the death of the Seventh Elder, but the original paths and secret tunnels remained intact, and Moxuan was deeply familiar with the terrain.

Although the man was formidable, he dared not unleash destructive force of too grand a scale.

This presented Moxuan with an opportunity.

Half an hour later, the internal passageways were damaged nearly beyond recognition, leaving fewer and fewer areas for Moxuan to utilize.

The entrance to the Sword Sage's Legacy!

"Let's see where else you can run!" The man finally caught up.

"I had no intention of running anymore!" Moxuan had successfully lured him in. With a flash of his footsteps, he retreated outside the array formation.

"What!"

The moment the man stepped into the area, he was instantly bound by a restraining force, rendering him completely unable to move.

"Bastard!" A terrifying wave of spiritual energy crushed down from the heavens.

The array guarding the Sword Sage's Legacy showed faint signs of fracturing under the pressure. With a crisp *crack*, the surrounding barrier began to shatter piece by piece.

With the array failing to restrain him, Moxuan realized he had played things far too dangerous; had he known it would come to this, he should have fled toward Luochuan City instead.

Forget it!

The road to Luochuan City was much farther, and he probably wouldn't have survived escaping for that long anyway!

With a single palm strike from the man, a palm force of incomparable might, infused with blazing heat and accompanied by a piercing, dull roar, blasted forward.

Thud!

Moxuan took the full brunt of the attack, sent flying directly from the deep interior and slammed hard against the ground outside.

"Ah..." Moxuan let out a cry, vomiting a mouthful of blood as he plummeted from the air and crashed motionless onto the ground.

Was he going to die just like this?

The disparity in their strengths was simply too vast; it was a gap he was utterly powerless to bridge.

The man's figure descended, hovering in the air just above Moxuan's side. "After going through so much trouble, it's finally over!"

From start to finish, Moxuan never even caught a glimpse of the man's face, only hearing his voice and seeing those piercing eyes.

Just as the man moved to snuff out Moxuan's life, a pristine white figure materialized before Moxuan, driving the man back with a single strike.

"Heart-Heaven Realm!" Panic flashed across the man's face. Clearly, compared to Xueyue, he was somewhat inferior.

Yet, unwilling to retreat empty-handed, the man clashed with Xueyue in a battle of cataclysmic proportions.

The man had hoped to seize the chance to finish off Moxuan, but suddenly found himself devoid of any opening whatsoever.

Moreover, the terrifying shockwaves generated by their clash of formidable powers shook Luochuan City, alerting three figures within the city!

Two of them were Third Heavenly Realm powerhouses of Xueyue's caliber, who had been assisting Xueyue in maintaining the protective barriers for the tournament.

The third was an elderly man of unfathomable strength. With a single thought, this elder tore through the void and sped directly toward the battlefield.

"Consider yourself lucky!" Sensing other powerful presences approaching, the man dared not linger and fled instantly.

Xueyue did not give chase. Instead, she came to Moxuan's side and carried him away.

Only the chaotic remnants of the battle remained scattered across the surroundings; the once-fine mine had been brutally torn apart.

To have survived such a devastating attack and still retain a breath of life—it was Xueyue's first time encountering such a tenacious constitution.

Space of Time!

Plunged into unconsciousness, Moxuan found himself back in this realm. He had never expected the Space of Time to be so potent, even when all the clocks within it remained frozen solid.

Yet, a margin of maneuver still existed.

He clearly sensed that at that critical instant, a surge of power—originating from this very realm—had suddenly neutralized the most fatal point of impact.

A truly miraculous phenomenon.

However, the frost encasing the clock of time had grown even thicker.

As Moxuan regained consciousness, a swirling mass of blue and red Qi churned within his body. His eyes grew profoundly deep, and a surge of explosive power burst outward, bearing faint signs of an impending breakthrough.

Yet, Moxuan's Qi was in complete chaos; attempting to break through in this state would inevitably leave severe lingering complications.

Fortunately, Xueyue was right by his side. Witnessing this, she seized the moment, channeling her formidable Heart-Heaven Realm cultivation to forcefully suppress the chaotic currents of Qi rampaging within Moxuan's body.

Everything had been well within her control until, suddenly, the bizarre spatial anomaly within Moxuan's body erupted with an abnormally powerful suction force, devouring Xueyue's True Essence.

Even Xueyue found it difficult to halt the process, realizing that cutting it off forcibly could trigger a fatal backlash for Moxuan: "If it weren't for the fact that you saved Mengyao, I wouldn't bother with this!"

Xueyue's Qi was inherently tied to ice and snow. Severing half of her own True Essence, she channeled the entirety of it into Moxuan's body to stabilize his condition.

True to their reputation, Third Heavenly Realm experts were unimaginably powerful; once the insatiable vortex within Moxuan finally reached saturation, it naturally subsided.

Xueyue's naturally cold complexion grew bitterly frosty, a thin layer of rime coating her skin.

Her aura, too, visibly weakened as a consequence!

Judging by the circumstances, she would likely remain in this debilitated state for quite some time.

Bolstered by this external power, Moxuan not only smoothly broke through to the Qi Gathering Realm but soared straight to the second tier.

"You really do have nine lives, surviving an attack like that and even managing a breakthrough," Xueyue could not help but exclaim in admiration.

Waking up and sensing the changes within himself, Moxuan felt a sense of wonder. He had never imagined that withstanding a lethal blow from a Third Heavenly Realm expert could yield such immense benefits, as if his potential had been unlocked all at once.

Yet, how many times could such a miracle repeat itself? Had Xueyue not been there, Moxuan—even with a successful breakthrough—would have required an extensive period of seclusion under the absolute best conditions, to say nothing of the worst-case scenario.

Sensing the chilling residual energy, he knew Xueyue had saved him, prompting him to express his gratitude as his very first words.

Xueyue offered no grandiose remarks, simply brushing it off politely while avoiding any mention of why she had chosen to rescue him in the first place.

Once things settled down, Moxuan recalled the events and immediately asked why she had appeared there.

"Someone risked their life in the middle of the night to come find us," Xueyue replied without giving a direct answer.

"It's her!" Deep emotion stirred within Moxuan's heart. Lan Bing's injuries had been severe; his haste in leaving earlier had stemmed from fear, but he at least knew that leaving her behind would not result in her death.

Anxious to check on Lan Bing's condition, he prepared to visit her immediately despite his own injuries.

There was truly no managing a stubborn fellow like him.

By now, the final matches of the tournament had essentially concluded.

Moxuan's absence caused quite a stir, but ultimately, Mengyao defeated Chen Pengfei to claim first place.

Operating at peak condition and wielding the Sword Domain, she managed to secure victory despite the six-tier cultivation gap—a truly formidable feat.

True to her identity as the Young Sect Master of the Demon Clan, her prowess was breathtaking and naturally earned widespread admiration.

As for Chen Pengfei, he had managed to re-enter the finals through the repechage round. Following the elimination of two spots in the preliminary qualifiers, he and Feng Xiaoxiao claimed the remaining two positions.

Among the eighteen finalists, although Feng Xiaoxiao ranked near the bottom, she still secured her place.

Having missed the subsequent matches, Moxuan was relegated to ninth place.

Mengyao remained completely oblivious to the events of the previous night; otherwise, she likely would have abandoned the tournament entirely.

"It's so infuriating! That guy actually skipped the matches!" Fuming with indignation, Mengyao stormed angrily back to their quarters.

"Shh, keep your voice down!" Xueyue informed Mengyao of Moxuan's condition.

At that moment, Moxuan and Lan Bing were both resting.

Mengyao instantly calmed down, though a lingering sense of regret and disappointment washed over her. "I suppose he's just lucky."

Two days passed before Moxuan's condition gradually improved. His very first task was handling a challenge letter personally delivered by Mengyao.

Yet, Moxuan hardly had the leisure for such matters. Lan Bing's injuries were more severe than his own, requiring his utmost and meticulous care. "Sister Bing, why don't you go stay with Mengyao for a while? She misses you and wants your company."

Caught entirely off guard, Lan Bing looked at Moxuan, feeling as though he were trying to chase her away—though not quite fitting the description. "What? Do you think I'm too weak and want to be rid of me? Hmph, I'm not that fragile; I was simply lacking a bit of preparation, otherwise I wouldn't fear anyone."

Though spoken in a fit of pique, her words only intensified Moxuan's anxious state of mind.

Right on cue, Mengyao arrived. True to her unceremonious nature, treating the place as if it were her own home, the sound of her voice echoed from afar.

Moxuan stepped out to greet her and handle the situation.

"Shh, lower your voice!" Moxuan smiled warmly, gesturing for her to quiet down before asking, "Sister Bing still needs to rest. What brings you here?"