Chapter 896: Eighteen Stops After

True grandmaster battles, whether it was Luoyang in white meeting Deng Ta'a in Dunhuang, or Xu Fengnian facing Wang Xianzhi who was on his way to Beiliang, were never drawn out. There was no room for pleasantries; victory or defeat meant life or death.

Tuoba Pusa was unsure of the exact origins of the white-robed figure before him, but he had a general understanding. This person had previously traveled through Beimang with a young female swordswoman, occasionally engaging in combat without ever suffering a defeat. Even when facing thousands of cavalry, they could retreat safely. Li Mibi, the patriarch of Beimang's Spiderweb, held this person in extremely high regard, even going so far as to describe the androgynous young beauty as having "future martial arts achievements expected to rival Wang and Xu." Although Tuoba Pusa had no intention of speaking, he was not in a hurry to attack. For one, Xu Fengnian's injuries were confirmed. Furthermore, he was unwilling to lose a favorable situation by acting rashly. After all, martial arts masters of their caliber most dreaded encountering unknown newcomers who might employ unexpected tactics. It was akin to seasoned chess grandmasters who often did not fear facing well-known rivals but found it troublesome to deal with up-and-coming young talents, especially in a decisive match.

This principle also applied to martial arts experts fighting for their lives. Song Nianqing of Dongyue Sword Lake, with his fourteen new swords, once caused great trouble for Luoyang when he was at his peak. Tuoba Pusa also held a unique insight: sword grandmasters emerged endlessly in the martial world. After Li Chungang came Deng Ta'a, and beneath Deng Ta'a, many influential figures appeared, such as Huang Qing of Beimang, Qi Jiajie of Tai'an City, and Jiang Ni, the sword embryo of Western Chu. In Tuoba Pusa's view, the destiny of swordsmanship, from the late Spring and Autumn period until now, must have been largely expended. It was unlikely that a figure like Ancestor Lü would appear again. However, there were far too few grandmasters who used sabers, and no one had yet emerged to reach the widely recognized pinnacle of the world's greatest. Tuoba Pusa's intuition told him that someone was about to rise, and it might very well be the person before him—this young man to whom Xu Fengnian, the King of Beiliang, was willing to entrust his life!

After a thorough inspection, Tuoba Pusa noticed certain clues. The aura within the person Xu Fengnian called "White Fox Face" was not particularly immense; compared to someone like Cao Changqing, it might not even be considered grand. However, the flow of their aura was quite peculiar, describable in one word: "speed."

It was unbelievably fast, like the surging waters of the Guangling River during a flood. This was simply a path to death!

Tuoba Pusa grew increasingly curious about what thought this person harbored that would lead them to sacrifice their lifespan for martial arts attainment. This was no longer something that could be simply explained by the term "martial arts fanatic."

Xu Fengnian sighed softly. Of course, he knew why White Fox Face was so resolute: to become the world's foremost expert before turning thirty and personally eliminate all their enemies. After thirty, life and death were of no concern.

White Fox Face took a few steps and stood before him. "Although I've arrived, don't think we'll both survive. You know, saving you is much harder than killing him."

Xu Fengnian said self-deprecatingly, "Just go all out. I've killed Hong Jingyan this time. If you manage to kill Tuoba Pusa as well, even if I die, this transaction, though a loss, won't be a terrible one. It's acceptable."

White Fox Face placed their palms on the hilts of the two long and short sabers at their waist: the Xiudong Saber and the Chunlei Saber.

Xu Fengnian was far from unfamiliar with this pair of sabers; in fact, he was extremely familiar with them. He remembered that during his second journey through the martial world, White Fox Face had lent him Xiudong. Even earlier, during his first journey back to Beiliang, that "dog-scrambling" martial world adventure had left him regretting not meeting a true top expert. It was only at the very end that he ran into White Fox Face, which made the then-young master feel that the journey's conclusion was not bad; after three years of arduous wandering, he had finally met an otherworldly master. Xu Fengnian remembered it vividly: later that year, during a heavy snowfall at Qingliang Mountain's Tingchao Lake, White Fox Face flew out of the pavilion, Xiudong and Chunlei drawn from their scabbards. In the heavy snow, it was truly beautiful—the saber techniques were exquisite, and the person even more so. It was probably at that time that the young master began to seriously consider practicing saber techniques and started to look forward to the day when he could possess even half of White Fox Face's graceful style.

Although they had not yet exchanged blows, Tuoba Pusa seemed to have seen through the secrets of White Fox Face's dual sabers. The Northern Mang military god, who had originally been unwilling to engage in idle talk, unusually smiled and said, "You are not my match. Are you truly willing to die here for the King of Beiliang?"

Seeing him remain silent, Tuoba Pusa was not annoyed. He extended his palms to his chest, looked down, and spoke with a hint of melancholy, "Perhaps in the future, I won't have the chance to personally slay grandmasters like you from the Central Plains. Wang Xianzhi and Cao Changqing are both dead; what a pity."

Xu Fengnian suppressed a smile, glanced at Tuoba Pusa, and said in pure, authentic Southern Dynasty officialese, "This person in front of me doesn't understand Northern Mang speech at all, so don't flatter yourself. If you can fight, stop babbling. Do you really want to wait until Huyan Daguan arrives here?"

Tuoba Pusa simply smiled, raised his head, and said, "He won't come."

Xu Fengnian's eyes darkened.

Tuoba Pusa said playfully, "Although I don't know what trick you are up to in Dunhuang City, I learned on my way back south that His Majesty and Li Mibi personally went there, even temporarily borrowing Helian Wuwei's Hexi Army, along with twenty thousand iron cavalry from the Beiting Royal Tent. They gathered a huge force. Even Huyan Daguan, who is said to be a sect unto himself, no matter what his intentions, will probably find it hard to gain an advantage."

Xu Fengnian took a deep breath, suddenly stood straight, and tightened his grip on the iron spear.

Not only was White Fox Face surprised, but even Tuoba Pusa was momentarily caught off guard.

White Fox Face attacked first.

The Xiudong Saber exploded with brilliant light before Tuoba Pusa, like a bright moon rising from the vast ocean.

Tuoba Pusa smashed the moonlight with one punch. After breaking through the fierce saber aura, his other punch aimed directly at White Fox Face's brow.

White Fox Face's other saber, the short Chunlei, arrived late but finally clanged out of its scabbard at the last moment, aiming for Tuoba Pusa's armpit, clearly intending to trade injuries with him.

Tuoba Pusa's punch showed no hesitation, still striking White Fox Face's forehead, while simultaneously retracting his elbow to clamp down on the short saber.

White Fox Face, struck on the forehead, leaned back and kicked Tuoba Pusa in the chest, using the momentum to pull the Chunlei saber from under Tuoba Pusa's armpit.

The Chunlei Saber, infused with an increasingly sharp aura, merely grazed Tuoba Pusa's clothes. As it was pulled out, a metallic clang resonated, like a blade cutting through iron and stone.

White Fox Face, wielding dual sabers, swept backward with feet off the ground, circling Xu Fengnian and his spear like a butterfly around a branch, then lunged at Tuoba Pusa with even greater speed.

Tuoba Pusa raised his arms, crossing them over his head. White Fox Face struck his arms with Xiudong and Chunlei in quick succession. Violent aura fluctuations rippled between them, forming two layers of ripples.

Tuoba Pusa's feet sank deep into the sand, but he only retreated a few steps. Threads of golden light on his arms, like a thousand coiled dragons, showed no signs of diminishing.

By the time White Fox Face's feet touched the ground, they had already unleashed over twenty consecutive saber strikes, with power layered upon layer, showing no sign of weakening. Instead, their momentum was steadily increasing.

Tuoba Pusa continuously slid backward. Under the overwhelmingly powerful onslaught, although he appeared composed, he ultimately looked as if he had no power to retaliate. If this were to spread, this alone would surely be enough to make the person nicknamed White Fox Face's reputation soar.

It must be noted that Xu Fengnian was renowned for being able to kill an enemy in a single move, second only to a terrestrial immortal. As one of the Four Martial Grandmasters on par with Xu Fengnian, Tuoba Pusa, when facing ordinary experts, even those in the First-Grade Heavenly Phenomenon realm, would never retreat repeatedly without reserving much strength, even if he couldn't kill them in one strike. Moreover, the current Tuoba Pusa had advanced even further since his thousand-mile battle with Xu Fengnian in the Western Regions. Both his physique and aura were now incomparable to before. This meant that White Fox Face, currently "relentless in victory," with dozens of strikes from Xiudong and Chunlei, was simply too fast. So fast that even Tuoba Pusa temporarily could not find an opening.

Tuoba Pusa had originally thought, what difference would another few dozen saber strikes from this person make? What if their aura flowed eight hundred or even a thousand li in an instant? No matter how long a breath was, it would eventually end, and the old would give way to the new. But as he unwittingly retreated nearly a hundred zhang, he suddenly realized that this person's saber momentum not only had no end but was also getting faster and faster. The latest strikes from their long and short sabers were even faster than the sword strike Xu Fengnian had used to force him out of the city in the Western Regions! Speed itself was not terrifying; what was terrifying was that this speed seemed endless, like ascending to heaven step by step, or as if the heavenly gate never stopped moving!

Tuoba Pusa was quite helpless. If he had been confident in forcibly breaking through the saber momentum earlier, now he could truly only defend until the end.

It was exactly like slow-moving, large-scale heavy infantry encountering an elite light cavalry: they would not lose, but they could only passively endure blows.

Tuoba Pusa silently counted numbers in his mind; starting from three, he had now silently counted up to nine.

Each increment marked a slight, strange "pause" in this person's saber strikes, and after each pause, the strikes became even more rapid.

Xu Fengnian squinted, looking at the battlefield that was getting further and further away from him. Even he could no longer clearly see White Fox Face's figure.

He only saw a cloud of white snow swirling before Tuoba Pusa.

After the twelfth "pause," the golden light on Tuoba Pusa's arms began to flicker slightly.

After the fourteenth "pause," White Fox Face's saber strikes were already imbued with the innate power of wind and thunder, a phenomenon naturally formed by heaven and earth. This was no longer as simple as a Heavenly Phenomenon expert borrowing momentum from the world.

It already held a hint of the Taoist immortal's ability to create a separate dimension within their sleeve, or the aura of a Buddha manifesting a lotus pure land in a small space.

If it were Xu Fengnian with his current cultivation, he could create a move with a similar realm and aura in one continuous breath, but he absolutely could not achieve such continuous, seamless execution, remaining integrated even while changing breaths multiple times.

Between the fifteenth and sixteenth "pauses," Tuoba Pusa attempted to halt his opponent's terrifying momentum, even at the cost of injury. His hands clenched the dual sabers, Chunlei and Xiudong, but the long and short blades seemed divinely assisted. They easily slipped out from between Tuoba Pusa's hands, which were strong enough to tear apart the torso of any Heavenly Phenomenon realm martial artist, like a knife cutting through water.

This simply exceeded Tuoba Pusa's imagination.

But the truth that truly unsettled Tuoba Pusa was that perhaps after the seventeenth, or at most the eighteenth "pause," this person would truly gain the upper hand.

This person's saber strikes had no flashy embellishments, only speed. There was neither Li Chungang's overwhelming, unstoppable momentum of two green snakes from his sleeves, nor Gu Jiantang's instantaneous divine might of the "Square Inch Thunder," nor Deng Ta'a's boundless, free-flowing "Antelope's Horn" immortal sword techniques.

This person's saber strikes were like those of a diligent old farmer, relying on established techniques day after day, year after year, quietly awaiting a predictable harvest.

This was the most terrifying aspect!

It was not that Tuoba Pusa had no backup plans, and his intuition told him that victory or defeat hinged around the eighteenth "pause." But today was not a two-person battle between him and this individual; a young prince, certainly with hidden tricks, stood a hundred and fifty zhang away!

The sixteenth "pause."

Tuoba Pusa opened his middle guard, allowing the long saber to strike his chest like rolling thunder, and the short saber, like a dragonfly dipping into water, hung heavily on his shoulder like a weighty dragon. The staggering Northern Mang military god's feet left the ground for the first time, forced to use the momentum to accelerate backward, solely to create distance between himself and the two sabers.

The seventeenth "pause"!

Just as Tuoba Pusa gritted his teeth, preparing to unleash his trump card, Xu Fengnian gently pulled the iron spear from the yellow sand.

Xiudong struck down directly, splitting Tuoba Pusa so that his knees hit the ground, and he slid backward for thirty zhang. The next instant, Tuoba Pusa, who should not have retreated so far, had vanished.

White Fox Face stood where Tuoba Pusa's figure had disappeared, holding Chunlei in one hand and Xiudong in the other, their back to Xu Fengnian. Seemingly motionless, without the desire to pursue Tuoba Pusa, they suddenly took a step forward, the tip of Xiudong pointing straight ahead.

The eighteenth "pause"!

Tuoba Pusa, who had gone and returned, suddenly appeared a hundred zhang away, his gaze wavering. In the end, he chose to head north.

Xu Fengnian walked to White Fox Face, holding the iron spear, and said apologetically, "Forgive me, I didn't expect your saber strike to be so..."

Xu Fengnian hesitated for a long time, unable to find words to describe the astonishing power of White Fox Face's saber strike. In the end, he could only sheepishly resort to a common phrase: "Such a technical skill."

Xu Fengnian looked at the fading aura to the north and lamented, "If I had known, I should have risked irreparable after-effects to help you stop Tuoba Pusa. Perhaps we truly could have killed him. In my current sorry state, I could still manage two or three moves if I risked half my life."

White Fox Face slowly sheathed their sabers and said coolly, "Six 'pauses' to kill a Second-Grade expert. Nine 'pauses' to kill a Finger Profound expert. Twelve 'pauses' to kill a Heavenly Phenomenon expert. Sixteen 'pauses,' and even a Buddhist Great Vajra's defenses are broken, and a celestial's physique is like white paper. After eighteen 'pauses,' there is no terrestrial immortal before me. As long as I successfully strike first, whether it is Wang Xianzhi or Qi Xuanzhen, I am invincible with the first move; at worst, I can trade my life for theirs."

Stopping beside White Fox Face, Xu Fengnian said helplessly, "Can you please not speak of such domineering feats in such an understated tone?"

White Fox Face remained silent.

Xu Fengnian did not turn to look at White Fox Face's face, quietly saying, "Hurry up and wipe the blood from your face. Don't just focus on maintaining a master's demeanor; there's no one else here."

White Fox Face raised their trembling arm and wiped their cheek.

Only then did Xu Fengnian turn to gaze at that captivating face, which felt neither completely familiar nor entirely strange, and smiled, "Every time I fought Han Shengxuan or Wang Xianzhi, I was beaten black and blue. Only last time, when I parried Qi Jiajie's sword, did I manage to maintain the demeanor of a master from start to finish. It's truly infuriating how people compare!"

White Fox Face said coldly, "Li Yishan asked me to save you once before he died. Now we are even."

Xu Fengnian hummed in response, "We are even."

White Fox Face suddenly frowned and said, "What are you trying to tough out? Both your legs are shaking uncontrollably!"

Xu Fengnian, who had just been pounded full force on the back by Tuoba Pusa's fists, grinned. "If I'm not mistaken, you can actually only use seventeen 'pauses' right now. It's still a bit short of your 'invincible first move' claim, isn't it? Your posture with hands behind your back, as cool as it looks, is actually quite difficult and tiring."

Both fell silent.

In the end, Xu Fengnian gave in. "Who carries whom? Of course, I'd like to carry you, but I'm afraid you wouldn't be happy about it, so you decide."

And so, in the vast yellow desert, that comical scene unfolded.

White Fox Face, in a white robe, stumbled along, carrying a young prince on their back, the latter dragging the iron spear in his hand.

White Fox Face complained, "Worse than a woman!"

The young prince, "dependent on another," said helplessly, "Whatever you say. By the way, White Fox Face, do you remember the first time we met?"

White Fox Face's eyes seemed distant, but they deliberately replied in a cold tone, "I don't remember."

"I remember," the young prince, who had an arm around White Fox Face's neck and dragged the spear with the other, rambled on, his voice growing lower and more indistinct. "Back then, I just thought you were a true martial arts master, incredibly dashing, and an incredibly skillful master too..." At some point, he simply fell asleep.

White Fox Face carried Xu Fengnian. After he had completely fallen asleep, she muttered to herself, "Actually, back then, I also thought that once I had my revenge, I would take you with me to wander the martial world. The world is vast, north and south of the Yangtze, we would go everywhere..."

In his sleep, Xu Fengnian would occasionally call out "White Fox Face," and the latter would softly respond.

White Fox Face did not tell him that, in truth, they could have unleashed up to nineteen "pauses" today, enough to take Tuoba Pusa down with them. It was not that they were afraid to die, but that they were reluctant to die.

The cost of being reluctant to die was that they would never again be able to return to the peak mental state of the nineteen "pauses" in this lifetime.

White Fox Face thought for a moment. Since revenge itself was a huge joke, whether or not they became the world's foremost expert in the future no longer mattered.

Later, in his slumber, Xu Fengnian softly mumbled names, uttering indistinct murmurs. There were faint mentions of Hongshu and Dunhuang City. White Fox Face only knew that when he mentioned the name Qi Dangguo, it was accompanied by an undisguised sorrow that he perhaps only dared to express in his dreams.

White Fox Face could not quite understand what kind of psychological journey had transformed that carefree young man into the current King of Beiliang, a "fool who drew a prison around himself."

She also could not understand if she liked the glib young man more, or the current fellow who did not even dare to loosen his grip on that broken iron spear while sleeping.

Nangong Puye, who had considered herself a man from a young age, suddenly exclaimed in anger, "Xu Fengnian!"

Startled awake, Xu Fengnian immediately shivered. Lying on White Fox Face's back, he said with a terrified expression, "What's wrong? What's wrong? Did I touch your chest? Don't chop off my hand, please don't! It must be a misunderstanding!"

White Fox Face took a deep breath, quickly dispelled that thought from their mind, and said hatefully, "Keep your paws to yourself! Go back to your pipe dream!"

"Or should I carry you instead?"

"Shut up!"

The truly exhausted Xu Fengnian simply groaned and continued to sleep.

At that moment, neither of them could have imagined that many years later, the new King of Beiliang, whose achievements were as formidable as Xu Xiao's, would travel alone to Tai'an City. The new Liyang Emperor did not show himself, so what awaited this undisputed foremost hero of the court was not a heartwarming reunion between brothers, nor a beautiful tale of a fitting monarch and minister for the annals of history, but a situation where one man was surrounded by enemies throughout the entire city.

That time, White Fox Face still appeared by his side just in time. This person named Nangong Puye gave the Liyang court, or more accurately, the truly unified world, an absurd answer.

"I've come to take my wife home."

Perhaps only White Fox Face in the world could love Xu Fengnian as their own woman.

And it did not matter at all if the world liked it or not.