Chapter 109: Battle of Life and Death

Nangong Haoran glanced back at me. Seeing how relaxed I looked, he smiled. Of course, he knew that after I had risked my life by entering the world of the dead and accomplished such an immense feat, no one in Huaxia could openly make a move against me anymore.

It was just that my achievement had yet to be announced, so very few people knew about it.

At that moment, a middle-aged Daoist in a dark blue robe appeared as though he had materialized from thin air. Holding a horsetail whisk, he spoke淡ly, “Boundless Heavenly Venerable. Nephew Nangong, this matter concerns the Three Pure Ones Sect. You would do well not to interfere.”

“So it is Daoist Fish-Dragon, guardian of the Three Pure Ones Sect. Naturally, I have no authority over the affairs of your sect, but matters concerning the Ninth Bureau fall within my responsibilities,” Nangong Haoran replied. His tone was respectful, but his meaning was firm.

“Then let us speak as colleagues of the Ninth Bureau. A few days ago, I became deputy director of the Bureau’s Consecrated Experts Division. I have come today to discuss certain matters within the bureau with you, Nephew Nangong,” Daoist Fish-Dragon said.

“Daoist Fish-Dragon, I—”

Nangong Haoran was about to invoke Director Zhou, but I interrupted him.

“Brother, forget it. If someone insists on courting trouble, there’s no stopping him.” I rose lazily and walked over to Nangong Haoran.

Nangong Haoran looked at me in astonishment. The last time, if he had not appeared, I would have died at Qu Yuanshan’s hands. Yet now I was suddenly this confident?

But when he saw the certainty in my eyes, he patted me on the shoulder. “Then be careful. I’ll keep an eye on things from the side.”

As Nangong Haoran stepped away, Qu Yuanshan fixed his gaze on me and revealed a cruel smile.

“In this battle, life and death shall be decided. Do you dare agree?” Qu Yuanshan asked coldly.

“Why should I agree? Or rather, what benefit is there for me if I do? You, Qu Yuanshan, the renowned Golden Spear That Never Falls, want to fight a nobody like me to the death. You’ll have to show some sincerity, won’t you?” I said with a chuckle.

“What benefit do you want?” Qu Yuanshan asked coldly.

I stroked the stubble on my chin and grinned. “I have no particular hobbies, except that I like beautiful women. I hear you have a stunning fiancée, one of the three most famous socialites in the capital. How about this? If I defeat you, you hand your fiancée over to me.”

The killing intent radiating from Qu Yuanshan suddenly sharpened, as though he were about to tear me apart.

“Don’t agree? Then forget it. There’s no point in fighting this battle to the death.” I shrugged and turned to leave.

“Stop! I… agree. If you win, I’ll give her to you.” Qu Yuanshan forced the words out with difficulty. He wanted this man dead. Even though he knew that making such a statement would inevitably anger the Xie family of the capital, he no longer cared. There was absolutely no chance that this man could win.

“Make yourself clear. Who exactly are you giving me?” I asked.

“If you win, I’ll give you Xie Yanran.” Qu Yuanshan ground his teeth, forcing each word out from between them.

“Hahahaha, good! Everyone here, bear witness. If I win, Xie Yanran will belong to me, Qin Feng!” I laughed loudly.

Qu Yuanshan let out an enraged roar. The golden spear in his hand trembled, and its radiance surged forth like a dragon, stabbing straight toward the center of my brow.

Clang!

A flash of blood-red light burst from my hand. I swept out with the Blood Fiend Blade and knocked Qu Yuanshan’s golden spear aside.

Qu Yuanshan froze for a moment. He had thrust that spear with all the hatred in his heart. Even if I had managed to evade it, he had never imagined that I could deflect it so effortlessly.

I merely smiled. Qu Yuanshan was a sixth-level Yin-Yang Master, and so was I. What was more, I could sense that my magical power was far more vigorous than his.

Swish, swish, swish!

Roaring furiously, Qu Yuanshan unleashed countless golden spear-rays. They descended like torrential rain, enveloping me completely.

Terrifying magical power erupted. From outside, everyone could see only waves of force rolling through the air. The overwhelming pressure was so intense that they could barely breathe.

Clang, clang, clang…

The ringing of clashing weapons was drowned out by the explosions of magical power. Many people assumed that I could not possibly survive an assault of such intensity.

Then, at that very moment, a streak of blood-red light flashed and vanished.

Yet in the next instant, it seemed to split heaven and earth apart. The countless spear-rays were shredded to pieces in the blink of an eye.

Qu Yuanshan’s pupils contracted sharply. He pulled back the golden spear and raised it to block.

Boom!

Qu Yuanshan’s entire body was blasted into the ground. His feet scraped backward more than a dozen steps, and he nearly fell to his knees.

He was utterly horrified. Only then did he realize that I, too, had already reached the sixth level of Yin-Yang Mastery—and that the force of my magical power surpassed his.

“Kneel before me!”

With a cold shout, black light covered my hand. A claw seemed to emerge from the void and slammed down toward Qu Yuanshan.

Boom!

Black waves of energy exploded outward. The golden spear in Qu Yuanshan’s hand bent under the impact. His armor and clothing were torn apart, his body covered in lacerations, and at last his knees could bear no more. He fell to the ground on both knees.

In the next instant, the Blood Fiend Blade in my hand traced a crescent of blood-red light and appeared at Qu Yuanshan’s throat.

“Stop!”

Daoist Fish-Dragon shouted and flashed into existence beside us. With a sweep of his horsetail whisk, he dissolved my fatal strike.

“Daoist Fish-Dragon, this is a battle to the death. By interfering, you have violated the rules,” Nangong Haoran said.

“Hmph.”

Daoist Fish-Dragon snorted coldly and said nothing. He had to save Qu Yuanshan, regardless of the consequences.

I closed my eyes and savored the exchange, feeling that I would perform even better the next time.

I had also gained a deeper understanding of my own strength—one that had far exceeded my expectations.

I knew that my magical power would be deeper than that of Yin-Yang Masters at the same level, but I had not imagined it would be deeper by such a margin.

I also knew that my spiritual power and reaction speed were exceptionally strong. Even so, I had not expected those advantages to become so pronounced after reaching the sixth level.

“Old Fox Zhou, if you don’t come out and uphold justice soon, my heart is going to turn completely cold,” I called out.

The moment my voice fell, Director Zhou appeared.

“Daoist Fish-Dragon, since this is a battle to the death, no matter how much we elders may pity the younger generation, we cannot break the rules, can we?” Director Zhou said with a smile.

Yet the moment the words left his mouth, every syllable seemed to transform into a massive mountain that pressed down upon Daoist Fish-Dragon.

Daoist Fish-Dragon’s face turned deathly pale. His body swayed, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.

Damn. Old Fox Zhou had really been hiding his strength. I was utterly shocked. I had never sensed how powerful the old fox truly was. I had not expected him to possess such terrifying ability.

Daoist Fish-Dragon was undoubtedly at least a seventh- or eighth-level expert. Yet Director Zhou had infused his magical power into his voice and caused such devastating damage. Could he perhaps have reached the Grandmaster Realm as well?

“Director Zhou, Qu Yuanshan is my senior brother’s disciple. Even if I have to stake my life, I must protect him,” Daoist Fish-Dragon said.

Director Zhou frowned. The Mad Daoist might be eccentric and half-mad, but he was a genuine grandmaster. If he truly caused a commotion, the situation would indeed be difficult to handle.

“You may preserve his life, but what will Three Pure Ones Mountain pay in exchange for it?” Seeing Director Zhou’s expression, I spoke up.

Daoist Fish-Dragon glared at me. If looks could kill, I would probably have been riddled with wounds by then.

“Could it be that the Three Pure Ones Sect considers its mountain a place beyond the law, existing above the nation?” I asked, deliberately striking at his weakest point.

In Huaxia, no sect or faction could ever place itself beyond the authority of the state.

Otherwise, Mount Mao and Mount Longhu, once two of the three great Daoist traditions, would not have met such contrasting fates—one dissolved and the other fallen into decline, even during the era of warlord chaos.

To oppose the nation was to court death, whether one followed Daoism or Buddhism.

Daoist Fish-Dragon’s expression changed drastically. He barked, “The Three Pure Ones Sect is a Daoist sect of Huaxia. How could we possibly be beyond the law? Stop spouting nonsense!”

“You want to save his life without paying the price, trampling the rules whenever you please. I’d say you’ve grown too accustomed to standing above everyone else,” I said淡ly.

Daoist Fish-Dragon could barely withstand the pressure. If the higher authorities truly formed such an impression, it would not be long before the Three Pure Ones Sect followed Mount Mao’s path.

“What do you want?” Daoist Fish-Dragon demanded angrily.

“I want him dead.” I pointed at Qu Yuanshan, whose face was ashen and whose body was covered in blood.

“You… Fine. This is one of the three supreme talismans of the Three Pure Ones Sect—the Upper Pure Talisman. It is a treasured relic that protects our sect, said to have been refined by the Three Pure Ones, the founders of our tradition. I will use it to buy his life. Is that acceptable?”

Daoist Fish-Dragon raised a hand and tossed a stone talisman toward me.

I caught it and examined it carefully. The stone felt unexpectedly smooth beneath my fingers, and the talisman seemed to contain profound mysteries. Combined with its impressive reputation, that was enough for me to put it away.

“Very well. I’ll let this bastard off today. But from now on, his fiancée belongs to me, Qin Feng. Hahahaha!”

Daoist Fish-Dragon carried Qu Yuanshan away through the air, while Qu Xiangtian immediately turned and fled.

“Qin Feng, you should not have taken the Upper Pure Talisman,” Director Zhou said with a frown.

“Was that old Daoist Fish-Dragon setting me up?” I asked.

“The Upper Pure Talisman is indeed one of the Three Pure Ones Sect’s three supreme talismans. Legend has it that it was refined by the Three Pure Ones, the founders of the sect. You may have brought yourself no small amount of trouble by taking it,” Director Zhou said.

“Trouble? I’m a meritorious member of the Ninth Bureau. Director Zhou, surely you won’t refuse to protect me?” I said with a chuckle.

“I can’t deal with all that for you. Besides, provoking the Xie family was extremely unwise. Qu Yuanshan’s engagement to the Xie family will naturally be called off, but you will also earn their hatred,” Director Zhou said helplessly.

“What’s wrong with the Xie family? Why would they hate me? Am I not far better than Qu Yuanshan? With a fine son-in-law like me, they should be proud!” I said with a shrug.

Director Zhou looked at me and shook his head with a bitter smile. This boy was nothing but trouble.

…

The Capital, the Xie residence.

After taking a phone call, Xie Wenlong’s expression darkened.

After a long while, he made another call and said in a deep voice, “Announce publicly that Qu Yuanshan and Yanran’s engagement is terminated.”

“What happened?” Madam Xie hurried over after hearing her husband’s call.

“Qu Yuanshan has gone too far. He actually used Yanran as the stake in a wager, and after losing, he gave her away to someone else,” Xie Wenlong said grimly.

“What? How outrageous! That boy from the Qu family dared to humiliate our Xie family and our Yanran like this? We absolutely cannot let him off!” Madam Xie flew into a rage as well.

Xie Wenlong said coldly, “Naturally, I won’t let him off easily. And there is also that boy called Qin Feng. He must have eaten the heart of a bear and the gall of a leopard to think that merely belonging to the Ninth Bureau means I can’t touch him.”

At that moment, in a villa on Crescent Moon Mountain in the outskirts of the capital, a tall woman with a fashionable short haircut and exquisitely defined features was smiling as she sipped tea with another woman dressed in a cheongsam, whose cool beauty seemed untouched by the mortal world.

Just then, the first woman received a phone call and furrowed her delicate brows.

“Yanran, what could possibly have happened to make you frown?” the woman in the cheongsam asked with a smile.

“It’s both good news and bad news. The good news is that my engagement to Qu Yuanshan has fallen through. The bad news is that he wagered me in a battle and lost me to someone else,” Xie Yanran said coldly.

The woman in the cheongsam seemed to have heard an amusing joke. Her eyes curved as she smiled.

“It’s all because your charm is too great. For you, this is good news. Qu Yuanshan is fairly decent in many respects, but he lacks generosity and breadth of spirit.”

“You mean he’s narrow-minded?” Xie Yanran asked.

“Being narrow-minded does not necessarily mean lacking dignity. The problem is that he is clearly petty and narrow-hearted, yet insists on pretending to be broad-minded. He is nothing but a hypocrite,” the woman in the cheongsam replied.

Then, curiosity appeared in her eyes. “Who exactly won you?”

“An Yin-Yang Master named Qin Feng, from the Ninth Bureau,” Xie Yanran replied.

“Perhaps you two should get to know each other better?” the woman in the cheongsam suggested with a smile.

“We can certainly get to know each other better. I’ll make him understand what a serious mistake it was to wager me, Xie Yanran, in a battle,” Xie Yanran snorted. The aura that suddenly erupted from her body was astonishingly powerful.

“Control yourself. Don’t overturn the tea I prepared so carefully,” the woman in the cheongsam said.

Xie Yanran restrained her aura and looked at her companion. “Good sister, you’re still the best. No man dares pester you. Why don’t you teach me a few tricks?”

“You carry too much attachment to the mortal world. You could never learn them,” the woman in the cheongsam replied.

“That’s true. How could a wildflower of the human world like me compare with a celestial maiden like you?” Xie Yanran said with a smile.