Once Upon A Time, There Was A Spirit Sword Mountain

“You guys are so slow.”

“Whuzz!”

After that voice had ringed through his mind, the Seven Stars Sect’s Sect Leader felt his whole body tremble as a huge force was acted upon his body, and in a flash…

His body appeared several hundreds of meters away from his original spot.

The Sect Leader froze for a moment before he breathed out and stabilized his Jade Mansion with his Primordial Spirit; at the moment, cold sweat had soaked all of his back.

Just now, there was a sneak attack. Despite his extraordinary vigilance plus using the Seven Stars Atlas to suppress the space around him, he still failed to sense it. If not for the bit of true spiritual energy that was infused in the Seven Stars Atlas which accumulated in the form of Stellar Accumulation that let him shifted in nearly instant to another place, in the critical moment, he would’ve lost the fight.

“… Damn! Who the hell was that!?”

“Eh, he escaped! Oh, well, Xudan is indeed Xudan, he can’t be treated lightly.”

Wang Lu’s voice was transmitted through the air using the sound transmission technique, full of appreciation. He had carefully laid out the trap, using Xie Chi as the bait, with more than ten loose cultivators as camouflage. In addition, he also put Ling’Er, who has anti-spiritual-energy body that couldn’t be detected by cultivators, which was perfect for a sneak attack, as the real attacker.

In the three months of rapid expansion, the Wisdom Sect met many obstacles that they successfully passed through thanks to Wang Lu using little Ling’Er as the secret weapon. Most of those obstacles were high-level Foundation Establishment cultivators, unfortunately, this sneak attack routine was slightly inadequate if faced with a Xudan Stage cultivator.

“Tsk, we failed.”

Hundreds of meters away, after she missed the target, little Ling’Er slipped her hands into her waist; she dryly said, “What happen then?”

Wang Lu said, “In accordance with the bet, you owe me five hundred spirit stones.”

“… I didn’t ask you about that. Of course, I won’t renege on the bet,” the business owner of a daily turnover of over ten thousand Inn magnanimously said.

“Oh, it doesn’t matter. In any case, I already got your clothing as collateral. If you can’t pay your debt back, I can sell them in an auction.”

“What the! Are you trying to court death!?”

“Rest assured, we have been acquaintance for many years, so I won’t use your clothes to hang myself… Okay, that’s enough, you’re not going to be useful here anymore, so why don’t you go east of the mountain and help that dirty old man clean up the small fries.”

“Tch, fighting small fries.”

Although she was unhappy, before Wang Lu could say again, little Ling’Er had launched her lightness skill, darting through the woods like the wind and disappearing like a ghost.

“Well then, fellow Sect Leader, looks like it’s just going to be us. One on one, Sect Leader against Sect Leader.”

The Sect Leader sneered; the light from the Seven Stars Atlas became even brighter. Under the dim light of the night, it has thick firmament power.

“That’s what I’m looking for!”

The next moment, from the shadow of the trees, more than ten sword energies came out. The Sect Leader was startled, promptly straightened his index and middle fingers to form a finger sword, using it to break those sword energies one by one.

Although there was no real threat, that trick startled him into sweating out cold sweat; he indignantly said, “Is this what you mean by one on one!?”

Just now, it was clearly a simultaneous attack from more than ten cultivators—it was basically a gang up!

Wang Lu’s lazy voice came through the air, “Sorry, but this is my summoning technique… Once cast, more than ten cultivators would be summoned to assist in the fight, impressive, right?”

“Summon your mother!”

The Sect Leader was flustered. He never thought that the opposite party, who came from a prestigious sect, was actually more despicable than those trash level sects! The opposite party was even proud of the gang up method!

However, the sword energies that attacked him just now all came from various level of Foundation Establishment cultivators… Since when did this Wisdom Sect have so many Foundation Establishment cultivators!?

However, he didn’t have much time to dwell on that, because another round of sword energies attacked him again.

This time, the Sect Leader didn’t try to block them. His Seven Stars Atlas was activated, and with the Stellar Accumulation technique, he instantly appeared a hundred meters away next to one of the ambushing cultivators.

That cultivator was so horrified; he had never thought that the other party would be so close to him! He hastily tried to rotate the sword light to protect his body, but it was too late.

“Break!”

The Seven Stars Sect’s Sect Leader stepped forward and struck that cultivator with his fist while casting out a spell with his mouth. His Xudan Stage’s Jade Mansion lit up and a mass of highly concentrated magical power wrapped around his fist as it pounded that Wisdom Sect’s cultivator square in the chest.

That cultivator only saw a translucent ripple flickered on his chest before he pitifully cried out, spurted out blood and dropped down like a soft mud.

After he struck that opponent, the Spirit Sword Sect’s Sect Leader was inwardly surprised. He thought that since the other party was a Foundation Establishment cultivator, his punch would only break their defense, but he never thought that he could achieve such an easy victory! That cultivator’s spell casting skill seemed to be seriously inconsistent with that cultivator’s magical power…

However, before he could continue his thought, more than ten sword energies hastily approached him from his back. The Sect Leader once again used the Stellar Accumulation Technique and dodged those sword energies. He then took advantage of this opportunity to wound two other cultivators.

After this success, the Sect Leader found a problem. Originally, Wang Lu had arranged these more than ten cultivators, all of whom were just high-level Qi Cultivating Stage, using a mysterious method to multiply their magical power to the level of Foundation Establishment. Though they were still very much different from the real Foundation Establishment, if they hid and cast their spells from a distance, they were actually no different from a group of real Foundation Establishment cultivators… Without the Seven Stars Atlas’ Stellar Accumulation Technique, it would be hard for the Sect Leader to cope with them.

The only question was, what kind of method could enhance more than ten cultivators’ cultivation level all at once!?

Meanwhile, on the other side, because the Seven Stars Sect’s Sect Leader had easily thwarted their attack and even wounded several of them, the spiritual energy well tactic was unexpectedly broken!

In order to deal with the Seven Stars Sect, Wang Lu mobilized the villagers to the dug several spiritual energy wells in the vicinity through the Feng Shui lines, from which the spiritual energy could be extracted. This, in turn, could greatly strengthen the magical power of cultivators, so much that a Qi Cultivating Stage cultivator could have his magical power elevated to the same level of that of a Foundation Establishment Stage!

Thinking that he could overwhelm the opposite party with their superior number, Wang Lu had previously imparted them a few strokes of Brilliant Sword Energy technique. Combined with arrays, he thought that these cultivators should be able to give the Seven Stars Sect’s Sect Leader a lot of trouble. However, unexpectedly, a Xudan Stage cultivator was powerful far beyond his imagination; the Sect Leader easily beat the shit out of his cultivators! Were it not for the powerful effect of the spiritual energy along the Feng Shui line that helped them protect their bodies, the Seven Stars Sect’s Sect Leader’s blows would’ve easily frightened them out of their mind!

“Tsk, this beast summoning is really not good to look at… enough, all of you withdraw.”

Wang Lu’s order was like receiving amnesty for them. The Seven Stars Sect’s Sect Leader also stopped pursuing them—not because he was lenient toward them, but he really didn’t want to spend his precious magical power on just small fries.

However, just as he stopped pursuing, several sword energies came at him from all directions.

“Damn! What kind of fight is this!?”

Not having enough time to launch his Stellar Accumulation Technique, the Sect Leader used his one hand as the sword fingers to thwart the incoming sword energies, and his other to cast a protection spell on his Daoist robe; it was a rather difficult situation for him.

“Hahaha, Mr. Sect Leader, you don’t think that I would really send my order publicly don’t you?”

The Sect Leader was so angry that he nearly shouted abuse. From the beginning, the opposite party always talked to him through the sound transmission technique to attract his attention. However, the opposite party naturally had another way to transmit the order that was completely concealed from his hearing… He actually fell for this kind of simple trick!

After all, knowing that the opposite party was from a highly prestigious sect, he expected the match would be honorable and fair. But unexpectedly… it was just a mud fight.

However, as a Sect Leader of a sect who had struggled on the bottom rung of the World of Immortal Cultivation, why must he fear a mud fight? Compared to those aloof and mighty cultivators of the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals, wouldn’t he also be a master of fighting in a mud?

Thinking to this, the corner of the mouth of the Seven Stars Sect’s Sect Leader revealed a hint of sneer; the nervousness in his eyes gradually disappeared.

Then, he flipped out his Seven Stars Atlas; he decided not to keep his strength back and instead wanted to use his overwhelming force to crush the opponent… However, at this time, his Seven Stars Atlas suddenly fiercely trembled!

Inwardly, the Sect Leader knew that this was the sign of the lack of magical power… he promptly stimulated his Xudan Stage’s Jade Mansion and transferred some of the magical power to his Seven Stars Atlas to subside its tremble, however…

When he looked up to the sky, his heart sank. Originally, the bright moon filled the sky. However, this time, the sky was actually dim without any light, as if it was surrounded by a veil, which blocked the moonlight and most of the stars!

The Seven Stars Atlas’ marvelous power was boundless, but each time it was used, it consumed an astonishing amount of magical power, which was beyond the Sect Leader’s power to supply. Thus, most of the magical power came from the essence of the moonlight as well as the power of the stars revolution. He had arranged his meeting with Xie Chi at night, partly because if a fight erupted, under the curtain of the night, the Seven Stars Atlas would be an important key to victory.

But lo and behold, the secret of the Seven Stars Atlas had actually already been ascertained by the opposite party, and thus had made such a targeted arrangement!

Within the Sect, besides the Sect Leader, only a few closest Elders knew the secret of this Seven Stars Atlas… It was unbelievable to believe that these people were traitors, but there was no other explanation for the present situation.

“Hehe, what do you think of my moon well arrangement?”

As soon as Wang Lu finished his rhetorical question, the Sect Leader immediately noticed the silver light that glittered the area surrounding the peak. If one attentively looked, one would see that it was uniquely shaped like a well; the scattered moonlight and starlights that filled the sky were actually converged into it, which turned it into this as-clear-as-spring-water veil. Seeing this scene, the Sect Leader’s heart turned colder. That moon well was obviously not prepared in a rush, which meant… how much long ago when his most trusted people betrayed him?

“Don’t look as if from now on you’ll no longer believe anyone. I don’t need to bribe the people around you to correctly guess that tiny secret of yours.”

“Humph.” The Sect Leader coldly snorted; obviously, he didn’t believe.

Wang Lu laughed. “Since you can guess that I’m from a top rank sect, you should know that, as a disciple of that sect, even though my cultivation stage is still low, my knowledge on the Immortal Cultivation is still far extensive than trash level cultivators like you, so don’t use your level of knowledge to figure out my reasoning ability. As soon as I knew that your main weapon is the Seven Stars Atlas, I’ve already guessed your origin. If I’m not mistaken, you should come from the Broken Star Sect, which was the subordinate of the Stellar Sect. Your core cultivation method should be the product of the Secret Art of Seven Magnificent Stars. Later on, due to your incomplete understanding of this method, you patched it with your own understanding and turned it into the Secret Art of Seven Stars. This could be considered as taking a different route, yet it unexpectedly propped you up until you reached the Xudan Stage. What a pity, as long as it was just an approximation of the Secret Art of Seven Magnificent Stars, you can only come close, but it will never be like the original.”

The Sect Leader was silent, but his face was livid because what Wang Lu said was all true.

This Xudan Stage cultivator, a veteran of the Immortal Cultivation World who had experienced countless of hardship, finally felt a trace of fear this time. Even if the opponent were a Jindan Stage cultivator, it would’ve not shaken his moral as strongly as this, however… it really felt like sh*t when one’s deepest secret was casually dug out into the open.

However, the Sect Leader’s morale was only low for a short period of time. After a moment, a fresh feeling spread out from his Jade Mansion, which revived his fighting spirit.

Admittedly, a bottom rung cultivators deeply lacked several things compared to cultivators from the prestigious sects. However, as one of those bottom rung cultivators who had struggled for many years, his tenacity could not be compared to those cultivators who had lived like a prince… He had experienced many situations that were more desperate than this time; as long as he could crawl up, there would always be a way out.

“No need to talk nonsense anymore, if you really have such a brilliant skill, why resort to schemes? Spread out your Jindan aura, and I’ll immediately bow my head and admit defeat. Can you do it?”

Having regained his morale, the Sect Leader, with a clear and loud voice, continued, “Only the weak would resort to intrigue. Since you come from a respectable sect, then act respectable. Come out and fight me fair and square!”

However, the Sect Leader’s method of goading someone into action was immediately defused.

“Okay, as long as you can crawl to me, I will give you a chance to challenge me.”

Damn! Did he even have face!?