The heavy sword pierced through his shoulder, and blood flowed incessantly. Even for someone in the nascent soul stage, if such a wound didn't kill him, it would certainly damage his very foundation.
Fury rose in Min Zhan's heart; he wanted nothing more than to tear the Xu Xian before him into pieces.
Nangong Ning seized the opportunity. Taking advantage of the turbulence in her opponent's spiritual energy and his momentary distraction, she broke free from her restraints, recalled Ningyue, and swiftly struck out with her sword.
"Frostbloom!"
The sword sang under the moonlight as a freezing chill poured forth.
Min Zhan's divine sense jolted.
Seeing the sword qi inches away, he scrambled to react.
With a burst of force, he sent Xu Xian flying.
Xu Xian felt a heavy weight crash into his chest, as if he had been struck by a massive sledgehammer.
His internal organs were in such agony that he could barely breathe, yet he still gripped Wait tightly. He used the momentum to wrench the heavy sword out before being hurled backward...
Although Min Zhan narrowly avoided the core of the sword intent, he was likewise sent flying by the residual shockwave.
He slammed into the formation wall with a dull, booming thud...
Nangong Ning spared only a fleeting glance toward Xu Xian before making an instant decision.
Her grip on Ningyue's hilt shifted gracefully. She stepped forward, and the air exploded with a sharp crack as she shot forward like a feathered arrow, lunging at Min Zhan through the rising dust.
If she was to kill Min Zhan, this was her only chance.
Xu Xian flew back nearly a hundred meters before finally hitting the ground. Even then, the force did not dissipate; he continued to tumble across the earth, snapping bamboo and shattering stones in his path. The friction carved a trench nearly a foot deep into the soil...
When he finally came to a halt, his back burned with searing pain, and his stomach felt as though it had been turned inside out.
The moment he tried to stand, he coughed up a mouthful of blood with a loud "wah," splattering the ground within five paces.
He looked up.
In front of the shattered formation wall, dust swirled amidst a chaos of sword intent and saber light.
Two blurred figures were locked in a lethal struggle, their movements incredibly fast.
However, in the time it took the youth to wipe his mouth, the victor had already been decided.
A figure was sent flying out from the fray.
Xu Xian's eyes darkened as he realized the one being knocked back was Nangong Ning.
Without a moment's hesitation, he forced himself up despite the searing pain and sprinted forward. He leaped into the air and caught her firmly.
However...
The brutal impact caused his left arm to sag, accompanied by the faint, sickening sound of cracking bone.
Xu Xian bared his teeth in a grimace of agony, his face contorting, yet he did not let go. Instead, he pulled Nangong Ning tighter into his embrace.
He let the momentum carry them backward.
Enduring the suffocating pain, he used his Pupil of Insight at the moment of impact to drive the heavy sword, Wait, deep into the earth to shed their momentum.
The blade sank into the ground.
It tore through stone and soil with an ear-piercing screech.
Despite this, the two still slid back a full ten meters before coming to a complete stop.
Xu Xian knelt on one knee, one hand gripping the sword. After letting go of Nangong Ning, his other arm hung limply at his side, devoid of strength.
He deliberately kept his head low, hiding his pained expression where no one could see it.
Nangong Ning clutched her caved-in chest and forced herself to swallow a mouthful of blood. She hurriedly asked, "Little Grand-Uncle, are you all right?"
Xu Xian let out a low, pained growl. "I won't die."
Nangong Ning gritted her teeth and said at an inopportune moment, "I thought you were dead too... but you shouldn't have come back."
As the pain began to dull slightly, Xu Xian whispered, "I didn't want to either, but I couldn't fight my way out alone."
This was both a truth and a lie.
It was true that Xu Xian couldn't fight his way out.
But if he had relied on his concealment techniques, he might have been able to slip away secretly, though it would have cost him considerable effort.
Nangong Ning didn't push further. She accepted his words, even though she knew in her heart that Xu Xian had returned solely to save her.
It was an unwise choice.
Yet it had already happened.
There was no use in words now.
Min Zhan stepped out from the smoke. One arm was missing and bloody, and his shoulder was equally crimson. His armor had shattered and fallen away, and his red robes were reduced to tattered rags.
His white hair was a disheveled mess, and blood dripped steadily from his person.
He was in a state of utter wretchedness.
The dignified air of the veteran general he had held moments ago was long gone.
His face showed signs of exhaustion, but his eyes were filled with a chilling frost. He walked forward slowly, staring intently at Xu Xian and Nangong Ning from a distance. He said in a deep voice:
"A fine sword spirit root indeed. A fine young lad. No wonder you were taken in by the Sword Ancestor the moment you entered the sect. Seeing you today, you truly live up to the rumors."
He paused, then corrected himself. "No, it's not just living up to rumors. It is an astounding surprise. I am utterly speechless. To think you didn't die... Heh, and you even dared to fight your way back. At the foundation establishment stage, you actually managed to wound me... Rare. Truly rare! You aren't just a genius; you must be the kind of beast that appears only once in ten thousand years in our Fanzhou."
Xu Xian showed neither fear nor subservience. He met Min Zhan's gaze, spat out some bloody water, and said without modesty:
"Your old bones are tougher than I thought too. You can certainly take a beating. It seems your mother didn't beat you enough when you were a child, you vile bastard."
Min Zhan sneered. "Heh... Sharp-tongued. It seems that besides your extraordinary talent and monstrous aptitude, that mouth of yours is also quite something."
Xu Xian chuckled and retorted, "I can't compare to you. You talk so much nonsense while fighting. They say people get more composed as they age, but you're the opposite. You're just like those sixty-year-old hags at the village entrance, yapping non-stop every chance you get just to show off. Should I say you're lonely and empty, or did your master have you gelded, leaving you acting like a prattling woman..."
Xu Xian unleashed a torrent of insults. Even though he was heavily injured, his words were clear and his delivery fluent. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he was eloquent in his vitriol.
Min Zhan's face turned white and red by turns.
Nangong Ning listened, stunned...
She could only think that his insults were incredibly harsh.
If this were a battle of wits and tongues, the winner was already clear.
She couldn't help but whisper, "Well said, Little Grand-Uncle."
Xu Xian curled his lips and didn't forget to wink at Nangong Ning, unable to hide the small spark of smugness in his eyes.
Min Zhan suppressed his rage. Seemingly unwilling to let a junior get the better of him verbally, he feigned a casual air and said, "Truly a glib tongue. Just like your spirit root—despicable..."
Xu Xian stood up, pulling Wait out of the ground, and continued to curse:
"Don't waste your breath on me. I'm afraid I'll dirty my mouth just by insulting you. If you're so old you can't even lift your blade, then hurry up and get lost. I don't kill the old, weak, women, or children. I can spare your wretched life."
Min Zhan trembled with rage, his internal essence surging violently.
"You truly deserve to die!"
Nangong Ning and Xu Xian instantly grew alert, as if facing a formidable enemy.
At that same moment...
The giant snake behind them let out another roar and slammed into the barrier, followed by another explosive boom.
But unlike before, this time it smashed through that wall of the formation.
A formation flag dimmed and eventually dissolved into fine dust in the moonlight and wind...
The giant snake, freed from its cage, hissed at the sky. Carrying a belly full of fury, it lunged at the nearest target, Min Zhan, opening its bloody maw as if to swallow him whole.
To their surprise...
Min Zhan did not dodge or hide. He remained standing exactly where he was.
He slowly turned his head, his eyes burning with overflowing rage. At the moment the giant snake lunged, he raised his left hand, pointing a pitch-black stone at the creature.
He shouted, "You shut up too!"
His voice was like a heavy bell, exploding like a thunderclap that drowned out everything else. As spiritual energy was poured into the small stone, the runes upon it began to churn. In an instant, a bloody light erupted.
Boom!
A ripple of blood-colored light shimmered under the moon. Time seemed to freeze at that moment. The mountain-like giant snake stood there with its maw wide open, frozen solid before Min Zhan.
Aside from the flickering light of the dark blood on its body and the movement of its eyes...
Everything else had come to a standstill. It seemed to have been sealed.
Xu Xian was stunned, his throat bobbing. "What... what the hell is that?"
Nangong Ning looked on in disbelief and murmured, "It's the Soul-Binding Curse..."
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