Chapter 951: Heaven's Gate Opens

Dust rose everywhere.

The head of the Zhenwu Dharma Idol exploded, its headless body still leaning forward. Yet, the clay statue of the Saint remained intact, though it showed some slight cracks.

The Zhang family Saint deliberately touched the scholar's cap on his head, and, facing the young vassal king who had likely used all his trump cards, mocked, "Doesn't hurt, does it? Is that all you've got?"

This man always spoke with an incredibly arrogant tone, yet it was precisely as he said: anyone in the world who opposed him, even Xu Fengnian, was nothing more than an ant trying to shake a tree!

The old scholar narrowed his eyes and tutted, "I told you long ago, with your limited personal fate energy, you're no match for me tonight. Even if you're unwilling to fully tap into the fate energy of Beiliang, why won't you even gather that of your own Xu family? Xu Weixiong and Xu Longxiang are hardly ordinary people; they are both barely individuals carrying significant fate energy. It wouldn't hurt to borrow some from them. Why insist on shouldering this burden alone? What's the point? You're about to die; why quibble over such minor details? Didn't you, Xu Fengnian, always joke that you never make a losing deal?"

Xu Fengnian ignored him, remaining silent.

From childhood, as the eldest legitimate son of the Xu family, he was always the one to give various ingenious and rare trinkets to his elder sisters and Huang Man'er; he had never asked for anything from them, nor had the thought ever crossed his mind. Just like when he obtained the pair of young tiger-qilin beasts, he unhesitatingly gave them separately to his second sister and Huang Man'er.

When he obtained the new sword, Spring and Autumn, from the Qi family sword-smith in Beiliang, his first thought was of his brother, imagining that he could finally replace his wooden sword. When he snatched the River Pawn from Jiang Fuding, he also thought of borrowing Embroidered Winter and Spring Thunder from White Fox Face, finally able to repay a favor.

Xu Fengnian had always firmly believed that having received so much, he should not complain but rather be generous.

The old scholar stared into Xu Fengnian's eyes and sneered, "A single falling leaf signals autumn. The grandest vassal king of Liyang, wielding 300,000 elite cavalry, yet such an indecisive fool—it's utterly laughable!"

Xu Fengnian slowly replied, "Ramble on when you've won. It's too early for that now."

The Zhang family Saint laughed heartily, "The moment I win is the moment you die. Who would I then share my thoughts with? Do you expect me to chatter away to a dead man?"

Xu Fengnian's gaze was firm, his expression cold. "My master, Li Yishan; Wang Jijiu of Shangyin Academy; Zhang Julu of Liyang; Wei Jingtang of Jizhou, who asked me to bring him a handful of earth; and many, many others. In my mind, they are true scholars. You, this Confucian Zhang Saint, are lucky you haven't dared to show your face for centuries, otherwise, you'd truly be a laughingstock."

The Zhang family Saint was unconcerned, smiling faintly, "It's also too early to say that."

Xu Fengnian held his breath and focused, finding it increasingly difficult to track the old scholar's aura since the Zhenwu Dharma Idol dissipated.

The old man raised his arm and casually swiped the air, instantly producing a three-foot length of azure vital energy.

The old man seemed lost in thought, sighing, "Perhaps later generations only know of my scholarship, but they don't know that the tradition of traveling with a satchel, wearing scholar's robes, and wielding a sword, began with me."

As the Zhang family Saint's vital energy condensed into a sword, Xu Fengnian instantly drew his blade, silently.

The old man stood his ground, twisting his sword-wielding arm behind him. With a simple 'standing sword' stance, he parried the talisman blade that had attempted to slice off his head from behind.

After that, no matter what angle the elusive talisman blade appeared from, this Zhang family Saint merely used an ordinary sword-holding stance, yet his defense was impenetrable.

The exchange of blows between the two lasted for as long as it takes an incense stick to burn.

Xu Fengnian finally stopped twenty paces in front of the Zhang family Saint.

The old man remained calm and composed, the three-foot sword aura in his hand as formidable as ever.

The clay statue of the Saint, which he had summoned into the mortal world, also had not vanished. It continued to gaze quietly towards the distant foot of the mountain.

The old man casually surveyed his surroundings, then chuckled in disbelief, "Nonsense! Using the remnant soul of a Beiliang true dragon within a talisman blade as the core, that's barely acceptable. But then you employ the Divine Firmament Thunder methods of Dragon Tiger Mountain? That's quite a stretch, isn't it? What kind of 'Thunder Pool manifesting in the human world' is this? How could it summon deities and cast out ghosts? How could it suppress demons and subdue monsters?"

Around the old man, twenty-one miniature flying swords hovered at varying heights.

Twelve of the flying swords were gifts from Deng Tai'a: Xuanjia, Qingmei, Zhuma, Chaolu, Chunshui, Taohua, Emei, Zhuque, Huangtong, Pifu, Jinlu, and Tai'a.

The other nine flying swords were later forged by the Mohist Grandmaster of Qingliang Mountain at Xu Fengnian's request, based on various sentiments from his life: Fengdu Old Flood Dragon, Bookworm, Water Spirit, Beautiful Beard, Childish Fun, Wild Fox, Lanolin, and Ant-Sinking.

On each motionless flying sword, a shimmering golden yellow talisman appeared.

The Zhang family Saint let out a soft "Oh?" and asked curiously, "Why is the core character of the talisman missing? Daoist schools in the world may divide and merge, but ultimately, for talisman sects, the core of a talisman is nothing more than a dozen or so characters within the 'gang' character. If the talisman core has no character, where does the spiritual energy for this talisman you painstakingly created come from?"

Xu Fengnian tightened his grip on the hilt of his blade and sighed softly.

This was supposed to be a Thunder Pool he intended to use to suppress the Celestial Being Tantai Pingjing.

As for what kind of talisman this was, it was actually quite obvious.

Since Xu Fengnian was in Beiliang,

this talisman was naturally the "Liang" character talisman!

Between the twenty-one swords, their intents were connected.

Between the twenty-one talismans, lightning interconnected them.

The old man shook his head and said, "When one reads to their heart's content, the rise and fall of empires are but a turned page. What is a small Thunder Pool?"

The Zhang family Saint stood his ground, holding his sword in one hand, dipping the other hand in his saliva, and made a gesture as if turning a page.

Page after page turned.

With each page turned, a flying sword fell to the ground.

When the last flying sword teetered on the brink of falling, Xu Fengnian, for the first time, held his blade with both hands and began to charge straight forward.

The Zhang family Saint waved his sleeve, dispersing the three-foot vital energy, and stepped forward, sneering, "Do you truly think I fear your mountain-sealing, evil-warding technique?!"

In an instant, the old man's left hand gripped the tip of the blade. Just as this Confucian Saint ancestor was about to slap with his right hand, he stopped, his brows tightly furrowed.

A streak of rainbow light suddenly cut across the sky from the direction of Xixiang Pond, then landed at an even faster speed behind the old man, or rather, in front of the clay statue of the Saint.

The sword was named Manjiaxue.

When the sword fell, there was no falling snow.

Instead, it brought two dazzling pillars of light descending from the sky.

Like the opening of the Heavenly Gate!

The Zhang family Saint helplessly said, "You brat are truly annoying."

The old man, likely gathering strength to deal with the magnificent Heavenly Gate, merely loosened his grip on the blade tip, then casually pushed aside the young vassal king and turned around.

The clay statue of the Saint seemed to be strongly pulled, slowly sliding into the Heavenly Gate, its majestic form gradually fading from view.

The old man lifted one foot, then the other, each time stepping onto the ground.

Taking root upon landing!

Powerful gusts of wind seemed to blow from behind the old man, his sleeves flapping violently as he leaned towards the Heavenly Gate.

Xu Fengnian turned his head to the east and said in a deep voice, "Swords, come!"

Still thousands of miles away, the Peach Blossom Sword God, flying on his sword, laughed and replied, "One Wu Family Sword Mound, two hundred thousand swords—is that enough?!"