Chapter 97: A Resounding Victory

Xu Xuan gripped the blade tightly with one hand, and the vast, mystic soul power from the sea of stars in his memories flowed through his arm and into the ancient sword.

At the other end, Nie Han, who held the hilt, had only just recovered from his shock when his expression changed in an instant. What was happening?

The ancient sword seemed to have abruptly lost all will to resist.

Xu Xuan had not expected that the severed remnant soul of such a formidable ancient sword would be restrained so easily by his own hand.

The soul power of the remnant from his former life was not much stronger than the power he now possessed at the peak of the ninth transformation, yet it could exert such astonishing might.

“Do you want to fight me for this sword too?”

Nie Han’s face hardened, and he increased the force in his palm.

While the two of them each seized one end of the ancient sword, the others all rushed toward the corpse and the stone dais.

Seeing this from the corner of his eye, Xu Xuan inwardly thought that things were bad.

“What use is this broken sword? Kill the remnant soul first, and seize whatever useful treasures remain.”

Within the sea of memories, the remnant soul of his former life held the crackling Purple Soul Jade. The soul stone, originally the size of a brick, had visibly shrunk.

Xu Xuan’s spirit tightened. In his palm, he abruptly unleashed the profundity of the word “Steel,” and that soul force slammed in with a thunderous burst.

Smack!

Xu Xuan slapped the ancient sword away with a single blow, and a faint shriek of the remnant soul within the sword could be heard.

Whoosh-clang—

Nie Han’s body also trembled violently as he watched the ancient sword fly into the crowd.

“Ah!”

The moment the crowd saw the ancient sword, they instinctively dodged in terror and unease.

Swish, swish!

Xu Xuan and Nie Han rushed into the crowd like tigers among wolves.

In truth, the instant the ancient sword was blasted away by Xu Xuan, the remnant soul within it had already been destroyed.

And the direction in which the sword fell was indeed toward the corpse and the stone dais.

At once, the entire field fell into chaos.

Nie Han had only the ancient sword in his heart, while the remaining disciples of both sides were also fighting desperately at the critical moment for the sake of the many treasures.

By now, a great many treasures on the stone dais had already been seized, and only one storage pouch remained.

Hiya!

Xu Xuan shouted sharply, and a ring-shaped gust, accompanied by a thunderous piercing cry, surged into the crowd.

Though the cry could not inflict substantial harm upon immortal cultivators above the fourth layer of Qi Refinement, when unleashed so abruptly it was still enough to churn their blood and confuse their minds.

Taking advantage of this, Xu Xuan closed the distance and directly swept his leg.

Wham!

His sweeping kick sent the corpses and storage pouch on the ground flying as a strong wind tore through the area. One disciple of the Sword Sect was struck and tumbled face-first to the ground, while the others either leaped away or dodged aside.

Bang, bang!

Several corpses and other objects were swept into the air, dust billowing.

No one noticed that the last remaining storage pouch on the ground vanished without a trace the instant it was struck.

“Got it!”

Delighted, Xu Xuan immediately plunged into the chaotic struggle among the disciples of both factions.

In the fierce melee, many disciples were injured, and in the end no one knew who had taken the storage pouch.

With time pressing, everyone then rushed toward the stone dais again to strip away the few remaining treasures.

Xu Xuan adopted a roaming strategy; there were not many of the remaining treasures useful to him, so he did not force the matter, lest he be dragged into the fray.

Very soon, several immortal cultivators at the fourth or fifth layer of Qi Refinement—including Le Feng, Senior Brother Jiang, and the red-haired man from the Sword Sect—were locked in fierce combat over the treasures, their spells and sword techniques engulfing a wide area.

“You’ve already achieved your objective. The remaining power of the soul stone should be preserved for opening useful star-sea memories in the future.”

Inside the sea of stars, the remnant soul of his former life held the Purple Soul Jade, now only the size of a fist, wearing a pained expression at the waste.

After absorbing a small portion of the Purple Soul Jade’s power, Xu Xuan could make out the contours of the remnant soul’s face. To his surprise, it bore a three-part resemblance to his present self, extraordinarily handsome, his bearing faint and elusive.

Whoosh!

The sea of memories in his mind vanished at once.

With the support of the remnant soul from his former life gone, Xu Xuan’s strength returned to the peak of the ninth level of body refinement. He was no match for a fourth-layer Qi Refinement cultivator in direct battle, so he naturally withdrew without hesitation.

The moment Xu Xuan stepped back—

“Whoever blocks me dies—”

Nie Han, holding the broken ancient sword, leaped through the air and struck down with a single sword blow from above. A silver sword beam several yards long, along with a sword intent that pierced the mind, forced everyone on the field to dodge in all directions; none dared meet its edge head-on.

Xu Xuan inwardly marveled. Nie Han was already a sword master who had comprehended sword intent, and with the aid of this ancient sword his power had only grown sharper. Fearsome indeed—aside from Yun Yuanhang and Yu Mo, there was probably no one among the two factions who could defeat him.

With Nie Han’s arrival, the struggle for the last few treasures on the stone dais entered a fever pitch.

Xu Xuan had already withdrawn, but then he suddenly remembered something, and his gaze fell upon the pale young woman lying quietly in a corner of the hall.

Swish!

He darted to Yu Qin’s side, crouched down, and examined her. That blood-red sword wound stretched from her shoulder to her lower abdomen, shocking to behold. Her jade-white, snow-fresh skin had not even finished closing; blood still trickled steadily from the wound.

The severity of the injury was unclear, but if this continued, Yu Qin might very well bleed to death.

“This... what should I do?”

Ashamed and anxious, Xu Xuan showed the first trace of panic. He truly knew nothing about healing.

His heart was burning with urgency when he saw Yu Qin’s eyelashes flutter slightly. She struggled to open her eyes, revealing only the faintest glimmer of clear and flawless brightness, so dim it seemed like a candle in the wind, ready to go out at any moment.

“Senior Brother... I’ve held you back again.”

Her weak voice was full of disappointment, apology, and a touch of self-reproach.

“No, Junior Sister Yu.”

Xu Xuan seized her hand and said earnestly and urgently, “This time, you really helped Senior Brother a great deal!”

He was not saying this merely to comfort her. At the crucial moment, the Golden Shield Talisman she had brought out had enabled Xu Xuan to emerge intact from the sword aura storm deliberately brewed by the ancient sword. Otherwise, he would at least have suffered grievous injuries and lost all chance to compete in the end, let alone seize the opportunity to step into the half-step tenth level.

“Senior Brother, you’re comforting me again...” A faint smile bloomed on Yu Qin’s bloodless little face, pure and white like untouched paper. Holding Xu Xuan’s hand, which was growing colder by the moment, she asked timidly and with worry, “Am I... going to die?”

Die?

Xu Xuan noticed that Yu Qin’s breathing was weakening and her body temperature growing colder and colder. His heart lurched, and he became flustered.

He simply did not understand medicine, and he had no healing pills on hand. There must certainly be some in Yu Qin’s storage pouch, but since she had not reached the Qi Refinement stage, it could not be opened.

“I can’t let you die...”

Xu Xuan took a deep breath, and at this critical moment he suddenly activated the word “Still.” A sheet of icy chill spread through his body.

At once, two methods surfaced in his mind:

One was to smash the storage pouch open with brute force. A normal storage pouch of ordinary material could never withstand Xu Xuan’s strength.

But forcing it open in that way would likely shatter the medicines and other items inside, and it would not be easy to quickly identify which was the healing pill.

Since that was so—

His eyes flickered and settled on the spiritual well at the center of the square.

He shot upward and quickly reached the well, scooping up a quantity of spirit spring water with both hands.

Xu Xuan remembered the effect of soaking in the spirit spring before: his injuries had basically healed.

He fed some of the spirit spring water into Yu Qin’s mouth first, then sprinkled some over her wound.

As expected, the wound immediately began to show signs of healing. Overjoyed, Xu Xuan repeatedly brought over more spirit fluid from the spring.

During all this, the other disciples were too busy fighting over the last few remaining treasures to pay him any mind.

In just a short while, Yu Qin’s entire body had been soaked through with the spirit fluid. Xu Xuan wiped the sweat from his brow and saw her open her clear, immaculate eyes. Color gradually returned to her face, a faint rosy hue like the warm glow of dawn.

“Ah, what a waste... Such precious spring spirit fluid, used to save someone like this—it’s practically another bath of spirit liquid.”

The voice of the remnant soul from his former life sounded in his mind.

“So long as she’s fine. Anyway, this trip into the secret realm has already earned more than enough.”

Xu Xuan replied indifferently.

“That’s true. Such a fine girl—her heart is pure and spotless, her outer self and inner self equally clean, and she’s a rare top-grade spiritual root besides. It would truly be a pity if she died. Why not consider raising her as a concubine?”

The remnant soul from his former life lowered its voice.

“A concubine?”

Xu Xuan stumbled in place, his expression strange, as though he had seen a ghost.

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