At almost the same time that Master Shengyun opened his mouth, Xu Qing arrived with his fist flying. As rumbling sounds filled the air, Master Shengyun threw his hand out to block the attack. Flying backward, his eyes glowed even brighter.

“I want you to show me exactly what it is about you that’s so suspicious!”

Xu Qing didn’t respond. Eyes burning with more killing intent than ever, he once again closed in on Master Shengyun. The two clashed, and a boom echoed out.

Using some unknown technique, Master Shengyun caused his entire body to glow with brilliant golden light, forming a sea around him that forced Xu Qing to back away. Within that sea of light were numerous glittering magical symbols that formed an attack against Xu Qing. The symbols alone were dangerous, but they linked together to create a power of sealing, casting a glow on the dome of heaven and making the lands shake. As the sea of light spread out, a bit of excitement flickered in Master Shengyun’s eyes. He already had a guess about what was going on with Xu Qing, he just needed proof to confirm his theory.

He performed an incantation gesture with his left hand while taking three steps forward, with each step making a different sign with his fingers. With his first step, an immense sinister wind kicked up around him, bringing frigid coldness with it. With his second step, streams of green light formed out of nowhere, rapidly forming an embryonic sword in front of him. With his third step, the embryonic sword grew larger. From the size of a palm, it rapidly extended, reaching a length of three meters, then 30 meters, and soon, 300 meters. It was completely green, partly illusory and partly invisible, and radiated a stupefying energy that could shake one down to the soul.

After those three steps were complete, Master Shengyun’s dharma force was as deep and resounding as ever. His eyes shone, and he raised his right hand and pointed at Xu Qing, while speaking in a voice that merged with the surrounding sinister wind.

“Jade Emperor Beheads Souls!”

A sea of flames raged around Xu Qing, filled with massive waves that shattered the magical symbols. But seeing the huge green sword, his pupils constricted.

The sword started moving as quickly as lighting, slashing right toward him.

He evaded, but the sword was locked onto his soul, making it impossible to dodge. Xu Qing’s eyes glittered sharply as he abandoned any attempt to evade. Hands flashing in a double-handed incantation gesture, he tapped into the entire flaming world inside him to send fire shooting upward.

The sword arrived. Completely bypassing his fleshly body, it shot inside of him, shrinking down to a tiny size as it did. Then, it became a soul-beheading force that swept right toward his soul.

At exactly the same moment, the life lamp inside Xu Qing created a black umbrella that spread out protectively in front of his sea of consciousness. Xu Qing didn’t bother to try to hide what was happening. He knew that in an all-out fight with Master Shengyun, there was no way he could deceive his opponent into thinking he didn’t have a life lamp. Unusual levels of strength couldn’t come out of nowhere, and also, his shadow was using all its strength to keep Master Shengyun’s dharma aperture covered. Concealing his life lamp was pointless. It made more sense to simply reveal it, then think of a way to kill his opponent.

When the soul-beheading sword hit the black umbrella, the green sword proved absolutely incapable of withstanding the force. It shattered like an egg hitting a boulder, becoming innumerable green sparks that showered down. Xu Qing forced them out of his body.

From a distance, it looked like countless green dots of light erupting from inside him, while at the same time, an umbrella appeared over his head. The black canopy radiated a gruish aura and was covered with black fire that was currently dripping green at the edges. As Xu Qing hovered in the air in those circumstances, his violet robe swaying, it was almost impossible not to look at him.

All of the surrounding cultivators were astounded. It wasn’t just Master Shengyun who was witnessing what was happening. The other cultivators could see it very clearly.

“Life lamp!!!”

Master Shengyun’s eyes went wide, and waves of shock battered his heart. His heart pounded harder than ever before in his life, as he was overwhelmed with a sensation of wild ecstasy. He had realized there was something suspicious going on with Xu Qing, who clearly had three-flame battle prowess. But even with an imperial-class technique, he shouldn’t have been able to stand up to Master Shengyun. Now that the black umbrella was in the open though, his suspicions were confirmed. Now he knew how Xu Qing managed to crush Sima Ling, and what gave Xu Qing the confidence to fight in this situation. He had his answer.

Xu Qing’s expression was the same as ever. He didn’t seem flustered at all. Publicly revealing that he had a life lamp was a big deal. But as far as he was concerned, it was trumped by the possibility of taking Master Shengyun’s life lamp. If Xu Qing got two life lamps, his battle prowess would reach the level of six life flames.

Killing Master Shengyun will make it less likely to cause repercussions. But if word still gets out, then worst case scenario, I just leave Seven Blood Eyes, change my name, and fly off into the sunset! I’ll lose out on the profit from my harbor investment, but an extra life lamp will be worth even more than that!

Xu Qing’s eyes glittered with killing intent as he prepared to attack.

However, that was when Master Shengyun threw his head back and laughed long and hard. Then he flicked his sleeve, sending out over a hundred streams of sword energy. The sword energy swept out over the surrounding lands. As for the cultivators outside of the temple, they had no way to evade it, and in the blink of an eye were stabbed through. Anguished screams rang out. However, the sword energy didn’t disappear. It continued to sweep through the ruins, slaughtering everything in its path!

Any cultivator who Master Shengyun thought had seen Xu Qing’s life lamp were slaughtered. He didn’t want any witnesses around! The existence of a new life lamp was simply too monumental.

Master Shengyun already thought of Xu Qing’s life lamp as his own. Once he got it, he would have seven-flame battle prowess, and that mere thought had him completely excited. As he well knew, life lamps were incredibly useful when it came to the heavenly palaces of Gold Core cultivators. One life lamp could be used to create a heavenly palace hidden within the life mist! And two lamps could create two such palaces!

That was also why he hadn’t called his dao protectors back. He was worried that the three of them wouldn’t be able to keep their greed in check. After all, his own life lamp was different from Xu Qing’s. The reason he was so willing to reveal his own life lamp was that few people in the Emperor-Receiving Prefecture could take it from him. After all, his own lamp didn’t actually belong to him. He was just being allowed to use it. But he could sense that… Xu Qing’s was different!

It actually belongs to him!! How did he get it? The number one chosen in Seven Blood Eyes is so deceptive!

The greed in Master Shengyun’s eyes grew deeper, and he started laughing loudly.

“I never thought my destined opportunity would show up here. Xu Qing, my personal life lamp is actually with you!”

As he spoke those words, golden light erupted from Master Shengyun, and the ravagemist bird appeared behind him. It was 300 meters in size, with a green body and a red tail. It had a long beak, a huge abdomen, and looked incomparably freakish and ugly. The ravagemist bird threw its head back and let loose a piercing cry, then looked at Xu Qing with vicious ferocity.

Xu Qing’s eyes narrowed as black fire erupted behind him, spreading out in all directions as the golden crow appeared, its tail bursting with fire.

Eyes radiating killing intent, Xu Qing shot forward.

Master Shengyun’s expression was one of greed as he did the same thing.

In the blink of an eye, Xu Qing and Master Shengyun slammed into each other, this time with much more intensity than before. It was a battle of raw speed, strength, and defensive capabilities. They weren’t using many magical techniques, and even their imperial-class techniques weren’t much help. For the moment, they were just trying to assess their opponent’s weaknesses. Then, as the fighting intensified, they focused solely on unleashing killing moves.

Master Shengyun’s imperial technique was actually called Ravagemist Bird Consumes Heaven. As a result, his vicious ravagemist bird voraciously tried to consume the golden crow. 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘭．𝑜𝘳𝘨

Of course, Xu Qing’s imperial technique was Golden Crow Assimilates Myriad Spirits. As a result, his ferocious golden crow viciously tried to assimilate the ravagemist bird.

From a distance, the ravagemist bird emanated golden light, while the golden crow was wreathed in black fire. One was consuming, one was assimilating. One was snatching, one was absorbing. Energy surged and winds screamed!

It was the same with Xu Qing and Master Shengyun. The two fought back and forth in midair. They matched each other move for move. Occasionally, Xu Qing was sent slamming into the ground, only to stand up in the rubble and start fighting again. Occasionally Master Shengyun was knocked far into the distance, where he would smash into a building that would collapse onto him. Then he would burst back out into the action.

Their fight caused the air to ripple and distort. It shattered the land. Neither opponent seemed capable of getting the upper hand, and both had their life lamps on display in the form of projected umbrellas.

Xu Qing’s was black, and the black flames covering it emanated a terrifying might. Master Shengyun’s was seven-colored, and pulsed with a mysterious power. The two umbrellas crushed down on each other, causing a massive tempest. It was impossible to determine which was superior.

Both combatants’ eyes were full of ferocity as they used their imperial-class techniques and life lamps to viciously fight each other. Soon, they backed away from each other, coughing up blood. They were about 300 meters from each other in the air above the daoist temple.

On one side was Master Shengyun, wearing a golden daoist robe, surrounded by golden light that illuminated the land below. He had a seven-colored umbrella overhead, also radiating dazzling light, and a vicious ravagemist bird behind him, howling as it sought to devour heaven. Combined with his unusual good looks, Master Shengyun seemed like a young sovereign lord descended from above. He seemed insufferably arrogant!

On the other side was Xu Qing, wearing a violet robe, surrounded by a black sea of fire that burned the dome of heaven. He had a black umbrella overhead that made him seem profoundly grue-like, and a majestic golden crow with vicious eyes that longed to assimilate the world. As the crow’s tail draped over Xu Qing, it seemed like an imperial robe! Combined with Xu Qing’s exceptionally attractive face, he seemed like an ancient emperor strolling through the mortal world. He was like a masterpiece of the ages!

Master Shengyun stared at Xu Qing, his eyes shining and full of killing intent. At the same time, he was forced to admit that Xu Qing was truly strong, so much so that it was appropriate to say he could very well become an Ancient Emperor.

In fact, in the small worlds beyond the Revered Ancient mainland, battle prowess like this would be similar to the Nascent Soul level. Revered Ancient contained the most high-level cultivators imaginable. According to the ancient records Master Shengyun had read, before the arrival of the broken face of the god, there were thousands of small worlds beyond the mainland.

And in those places, cultivators were so weak that even a single life flame counted as the great circle of Foundation Establishment.

Places like that simply couldn’t compare at all to Revered Ancient.