Chapter 698: Immortal's Move

This clash of brute force also resembled a conflict of opposing elements.

In water, the dragon's power reigns supreme; on land, the elephant's might is revered.

Xu Longxiang, the only fortunate person of this era born into the Vajra realm, was considered Beiliang's sturdiest shield.

However, he encountered Huang Qing, whose single sword chilled all thirteen states of Beimang—the sharpest spear in the northern wilds.

With only three inches of his sword drawn, Huang Qing's presence became grand and overwhelming.

It was as if a celestial sword immortal had snapped a string of prayer beads, sending thousands of bead-like sword energies, like large and small pearls on a jade plate, surging forward.

Xu Longxiang, meanwhile, treated the vast desert sand as a drumhead. With one powerful punch, he unleashed an upheaval of the earth, causing yellow tornadoes to continuously erupt from the ground, turning everything upside down.

The blue, pearl-like sword energies shattered and disintegrated upon impact with the yellow sand, raising a blinding dust cloud.

Although the earth's upheaval possessed the invincible might to overturn mountains and rivers, each of the bead-like energies guided by sword qi contained spiritual essence. While the vast majority were shattered by the sand tornadoes, no fewer than a hundred blue sword pearls bypassed the sand pillars, surging en masse towards Xu Longxiang.

The stoic-faced Xu Longxiang stepped forward, raising a rapidly flowing, fan-shaped sand wall before him. The pearls crashed against the wall, creating a dazzling spectacle of mutual destruction, yet also conveying the futility of a hopeless endeavor.

Blue sword energy scattered and flowed chaotically, while the yellow sand surged boundlessly.

As his "A Hu Zhu" technique was on the verge of failing, Huang Qing, in his green robe, pressed his left hand to his sword and arrived silently and gracefully.

Huang Qing casually drew his sword from his waist and struck Xu Longxiang's chest with the hilt. The Defengbo, which had been unsheathed three inches, was violently forced back into its scabbard after the impact.

Xu Longxiang was not knocked airborne; his feet remained rooted, but his body slid backward several meters. The young man slightly bent, forcefully halting his retreat, then instantly began to sprint, fiercely unleashing both fists at the green-robed swordsman.

Huang Qing flicked his wrist, holding his sword horizontally before him, his left elbow bracing the scabbard, as he absorbed the impact of Xu Longxiang's double fists.

The Defengbo, ranked sixth among the world's famous swords, emitted a piercing roar from its scabbard, which trembled violently.

Xu Longxiang maintained his posture, striking the sword with both fists and continuing his forward charge, while Huang Qing was pushed back over ten meters.

Huang Qing, whose feet were a foot off the ground, calmly pushed his sword out of its scabbard by an inch, a faint smile on his face, as he gently tapped with his thumb.

The "Li Ge" (Farewell Song) unfolded, a single layer.

Xu Longxiang paid no mind to the sword move, intent, or stance, and slammed his fists again.

Two inches of blade, a second layer.

Three inches meant a third layer.

Xu Longxiang repeatedly struck the scabbard with his fists. Though Huang Qing, suspended in mid-air, never relinquished his sword, he couldn't halt Xu Longxiang's relentless charge. However, with each increasing layer of "Li Ge," Huang Qing's retreat distance after each of the young man's punches grew shorter.

After Xu Longxiang unleashed his eighth punch and the eighth layer of "Li Ge," Huang Qing finally stood unmoving, displaying the composure of a grandmaster who remains steadfast even if Mount Tai crumbles before him.

Huang Qing, his long sleeves billowing, looked at the young man. He remained silent, but his eyes revealed undisguised surprise and admiration, mixed with a hint of disappointment now that the engagement seemed to be settling.

The final punch, which unleashed the legendary power of eight dragons and eight elephants, certainly belonged to a martial arts prodigy rarely seen in the world. Yet, Huang Qing still had the ninth layer of "Li Ge," and even the ultimate 'Tenfold Mountain' technique. If this young man, whose reputation echoed throughout Beimang's court and populace, were to stop here, Huang Qing wouldn't claim victory without drawing his sword, but he would at least stand firmly invincible. Huang Qing's decision to face Xu Longxiang with the sword intent of "Li Ge" was born from a subconscious urge to compare the youth with Murong Baoding, the long-established 'Stone Buddha.' Years prior, Huang Qing had engaged in a non-lethal, point-to-point spar with that influential royal relative. Since his youth, Huang Qing had aspired to shatter the "Vajra Meditation" of the white-robed monks of Liangchan Temple with his sword, aiming to accomplish what Tuoba Bodhisattva had not. Murong Baoding, renowned for his indestructibility, was undoubtedly an excellent whetstone for his sword. The young man before him, rumored to have caused cracks in Murong Baoding's golden body within Qingcang City, Liuzhou, was an even more compelling test.

The expressionless Xu Longxiang, seemingly without passion, delivered another punch. His previous eight punches had all built up progressively, the dragon-elephant power increasing in layers, and Huang Qing's "Li Ge" had simply followed suit, accumulating layer by layer.

Huang Qing's heart inexplicably skipped a beat, prompting him to abandon his original intention of continuing with "Li Ge." With a soft cry, he decisively bypassed the ninth layer and directly unleashed "Tenfold Mountain." Huang Qing, now encircled by six or seven azure rainbows forming a protective aura, not only failed to block the ninth punch with "Tenfold Mountain," but witnessed the azure rainbows shatter in the blink of an eye. The Defengbo was bent into an astonishing arc by the dual fists, forcing Huang Qing to retreat further and further until he finally halted his momentum some eighteen meters away, the Defengbo's scabbard slowly regaining its straightness. Feeling neither anger nor fear, but rather a mix of awe and satisfaction, Huang Qing transitioned his arm from a horizontal sword posture to a clearly more solemn vertical, raised-sword stance, deftly discharging the immense residual force on his blade in the brief moment of the stance change.

Huang Qing calmly rubbed his thumb on the sword hilt. The spectacle of sword energy transforming into azure rainbows was gone, yet this calm demeanor only intensified the oppressive feeling of an approaching storm.

Li Chungang had passed away, but fortunately, there was still a Peach Blossom Sword God.

Before returning to land from his oceanic quest for immortals, Deng Tai'a had parted the sea with a single sword, flooding the Guanyin Sect.

In his lifetime, Huang Qing had only once ventured into the Liyang martial world, stopping short at Beiliang. There, he had a brief encounter with Li Yufu, the young abbot of Wudang Mountain, before swiftly returning to Beimang. Their interaction was neither contentious nor tense; instead, Huang Qing seized the opportunity to admire the magnificent spectacle of the eighty-one peaks converging towards the main summit. He also observed, both at dawn and dusk, the serene sight of hundreds practicing martial arts together to the sound of morning bells and evening drums before the main Wudang Palace on Mount Dalialian. Although Huang Qing ultimately did not continue his journey to the central plains—neither challenging the white-robed monk Li Dangxin nor encountering Deng Tai'a, the new foremost swordsman—he departed and returned with great satisfaction. Moreover, during his casual conversation with Li Yufu, he gained unexpected insights that greatly benefited his martial arts cultivation. Regarding the concept of "Dao" (the Way), Huang Qing believed his peaceful, brief exchanges with Li Yufu ended without a clear victor. However, in the realm of "Shu" (technique or skill), he attained a particularly profound and fresh understanding.

Xu Longxiang did not press his advantage. Huang Qing slightly raised the ancient sword in his hand and chuckled softly, "I am Huang Qing, of the Qijian Yuefu, the one close to Sword Qi, and this is my sword, Defengbo. In my youth, I entered swordsmanship through the path of chess. At thirty, I returned to chess, believing that if I ever returned to swordsmanship, it would mark the culmination of my martial path. Unexpectedly, I inadvertently discovered a new approach, achieving the third of my sect's 'Chess Piece, Chess Player, Observer' realms. From this, I created a new sword art, originally intending to use it to gauge my spirit against Deng Tai'a..."

The young man looked utterly baffled and muttered, "Just fight. Why all this talk?"

Huang Qing smiled nonchalantly, yet patiently explained softly, "It's described as a single sword, but it could be a hundred, a thousand, or even ten thousand swords. To be precise, it should be a game of swords."

Xu Longxiang wasted no words. He simply strode forward, launching a direct sprint towards the garrulous middle-aged swordsman.

Like a scholar encountering a soldier, Huang Qing merely smiled, then his expression turned solemn. He closed his eyes, drawing in the boundless righteous Qi of heaven and earth.

Waves of majestic righteous Qi permeated the space between heaven and earth.

A chessboard vaguely took shape, with the world's famous rivers and mighty streams serving as winding lines, and towering mountains and colossal peaks as the enormous chess pieces.

It became a small, self-contained world.

While Huang Qing's current display of power suggested his swordsmanship was merely at the Finger-Profound realm and his spirit at the Celestial Phenomenon level, his breadth of spirit in this moment reached that of a terrestrial immortal.

No wonder Huang Qing returned to Beimang so content after his journey to Beiliang.

Huang Qing released the Defengbo from his hand. The ancient sword quickly floated before him, half unsheathed.

Huang Qing made a gesture with his right hand as if picking up and placing a chess piece, softly enunciating, "Wudang Mountain. 'Top'."

'Top' is a term in Go.

This perfectly countered Xu Longxiang's formation, which, though seemingly formidable, was somewhat clumsy.

A surge of sword energy erupted horizontally.

Xu Longxiang shattered the ethereal aura of the "Wudang Mountain" that stood before him with a brutal shoulder bash.

Huang Qing continued to "pick up" and "place" his "pieces."

The subsequent two "pieces" involved extremely subtle shifts.

This was known as "Small Point."

Yet the sword energy was deep and solid.

While ordinary sword moves adhered to established forms, and a standard game of Go naturally involved players taking turns, one piece at a time, this 'game of swords' created by Huang Qing involved pieces falling like a whirlwind, completely abandoning all rules.

Following "Small Point" came "Tight Breath," which led to "Elephant Step Fly." This was further combined with "Sealing and Suppressing," and then followed by the continuous unfolding of the "Thousand-Layered Treasure Pavilion Stance."

Huang Qing's elegant face radiated a solemn, divine brilliance, like that of an immortal or a Buddha.

All the yellow sand that a mere breeze could stir was, at this moment, astonishingly still. Only the majestic sword energy surged unchecked.

I possess unparalleled and abundant sword energy.

Eventually, a single sword will declare itself to heaven and earth.

I have forty years of suppressed frustration that could not be unleashed.

Today, I must finally give voice to my innermost feelings.