Beyond the Divine States

Chapter 18 The Flaming Old Fox

Not a single drop of rain could fall into Lake Qifeng.

The large area of the lake had been covered with thick ice. The floating steam in the air all turned into falling snow and hail.

The masked woman of the Oracle Sword Heavenly Sect supported herself with the sword, standing on the surface of the lake. Beneath the mask, there was blood dripping down.

She raised her head.

In the air, the b****y figure of the evil fox was surrounding the old man while the wizard patriarch was struggling with difficulty while holding the seemingly burning ancient book.

The woman wiped the blood off her chin with the back of her hand. As she breathed, the surface of the ice under her feet suddenly cracked. She jumped up, turned into a gust of sword Qi and slashed at the b****y figure.

Clang.

The woman's sword reached nothing but it seemed to hit something, making a sound of clang.

The old fox said, "Eek!"

As its original 81 shadows integrated, it suddenly swung its tail and shook away the sword that slashed its back. Meanwhile, the wind and snow gushed toward where it stayed, filling the hole in its back caused by the s***h of the sword at a visibly fast speed.

The sword was shocked away but she created another gust of sword Qi with two fingers of the other hand. The sword Qi, just like a disk, hit the old fox at an extremely fast speed, exploded, turned into numerous dazzling arc-like sword Qi and cut its huge body together.

"Nowadays, the swordsmanship is getting fancier and fancier, but it is fair enough to say that the divine intent of the sword is on the decline compared with 500 years ago," the old fox sneered and its eyes suddenly became darker. Its illusory body got as hard as a stone, forcibly bouncing the sword Qi away. "I don't know who your master is. What a waste of your talent!"

As it spoke, the storm raged. The woman put her sword before her chest to block the backlashed evil power, floating backward for a few steps.

Staring at the huge figure, she said in a cold voice, "I've been learning for a short time only. This has nothing to do with my sect."

The old fox shook its head gently. "The divine intent of the sword doesn't depend on the cultivation level. 600 years ago, when Qiu Ziguan, the Sword Saint, was still young, a group of mountain ghosts plundered his village. Half-awake, he struck a s***h, and thus, the mountain ghosts all retreated in submission. At that time, he hadn't started cultivating yet."

The woman slightly frowned. Maybe 500 years was too distant. Never had she heard of the Sword Saint named Qiu Ziguan in history. Neither did she believe that a so-called non-cultivator could repel ghosts with one s***h.

The old fox took a glance at her and said, "As you are quite gifted, I wanted to give you a little advice. However, it turns out that you are a fool too. Today, if you can get out of the icy lake with your sword, I can consider sparing your life."

"Don't ever try to mess up with my mind." The woman slightly shook her head and cleared away all the distracting thoughts.

The old fox's image was huge and its magic was unfathomable, but now, it was a wisp of soul only, so its cultivation level was not higher than hers.

What she was pondering over was surely not how to escape from the lake but how to win.

In the blizzard, the woman slightly retreated. Amidst her sword clothes, a shrill noise arose. As the sword rose and dropped as fast as the lightning, a streak of white rainbow hit the image of the old fox in the sky.

Behind the old fox, the wizard patriarch that had fallen on the ice had a rest temporarily.

Just now, he was held up by the demonic thoughts. If the woman didn't help him out with her sword Qi, he could have died now.

A cold thought arose from the depths of his mind. Without any concealing, he shouted, "Stall it for several more minutes!"

As he spoke, he spread the ancient book that had integrated with his soul, muttering an old spell in his heart. A wave of faintly discernible old Qi spread from within his body and the surrounding storm disappeared. The ancient book in his hand moved despite no wind. Amidst the rustling sound of pages turning, the words flew out one by one, dissembled and joined together in the air.

The woman took the hint and threw out the long sword directly. With her soul, she harnessed the sword to badger with the image of the old fox. Meanwhile, she wrung her hands. Then, the aura spurted out of the sea of her consciousness, rushing towards the old fox just like white dragons swallowing the wind and vomiting the snow.

"Sword locks?" The old fox was slightly surprised. It rushed downward, trying to avoid the moving trajectory of the white dragon.

This was the first time that the old fox compromised in this battle.

Its falling position was where the wizard patriarch spread the book and cast the spell.

The woman put on a cold look. Three rainbows converged and the sword locks were about to be formed. How could she let the old fox escape?

The overwhelming blizzard was just like the sword Qi, which intertwined and formed locks. The locks, which were connected end to end, stopped the old fox from escaping.

She shouted and then vanished in situ. Her long sword, just like snow and frost, broke through the ice and snow and left with her.

"You take the universe as the locks and your sword Qi as the chains. Nice move." The old fox had a glint of astonishment first and then disdain in its long and narrow eyes. "If my body still remained, you might be able to keep me trapped for a few minutes, but now..."

Before it finished talking, the woman and the sword had come at it together. The old fox's figure was like a flame. Now, as the sword wind blew over, it split up within an instant. The three streaks of sword Qi went at the old fox but at that time, the old fox's cracked figure was suddenly blasted into countless spots just as if the fireworks were set off.

The flames were not like fire but flowing water.

How could the big locks crossing the river be able to stop the water from flowing eastward?

The soul of the old fox went around the slots of the chains formed by the sword Qi, reshaping and meanwhile rushing at the wizard patriarch.

However, the wizard patriarch lied before too.

He didn't need 15 minutes. The moment the old fox's soul went through the sword locks, he had also completed the ritual.

The old man suddenly opened his eyes. With its eyes astonishingly glistening, it muttered.

"Grand Ming Building, Hong Mansion, Mountain Guarding Residence and Dark Chamber."

The shadows, seemingly illusory and real, took the shape of the mentioned buildings around the old man.

These buildings all originated from the imperial city of the state of Zhao and were also recorded in the ancient book.

The hidden spirit among the words in the book was drawn out now. Old as it was, it was still vigorous.

The tall buildings were like swords while the mansions were like mountains.

The old fox trapped within was shocked into pieces and the fragmented parts were running about in the formation like fireflies.

The old man raised his book high like a pilgrim and uttered names one after another, trying to take this opportunity to kill the old fox.

At the moment, the old fox was still in the state of a soul and the images in the book were not real either, which happened to be able to suppress it now.

Now, the woman's sword also caught up.

In the illusorily structured gate tower, the human figure, the fox figure, the flame and the snow figure, just like shot bullets, collided, bounced off and then collided again.

The ice below was cracked by the aura. As a result, half of the lake water was melted at a visibly fast speed.

This meant that the spiritual power of the old fox was also dramatically diminishing.

The wizard patriarch was old now, so his body also couldn't afford the operation of the ancient book for long.

He and the old fox were both waiting for the other one to get exhausted first.

Now, the old man was stepping on a floating ice plate. Covering his chest, he coughed severely and shouted in a hoarse voice,

"Eastern Palace, Changxiang Palace, Zhaixing Pavilion..."

Above Lake Qifeng, the illusory figures floated like fantasied edifices in a mighty style, which were a 100-year-old city in miniature.

"Jiazi Hall, Jiuling Tower, Qianyu..."

The old man faltered and sighed rather than voice out the word palace.

The Qianyu Palace had been destroyed. No longer did it exist.

The Taoist form of this magnificent city was still one step away from completion.

The rustling sound of page turning was also like a sign.

Due to the lack of the last stroke, this old city was incomplete anyway.

In the Taoist form of the imperial city, the old fox suddenly stopped and the firefly-like fire spots returned to its body. In this old city, even his huge image still appeared a bit small.

"That's it?" The old fox asked in the human language.

The moment it finished speaking, the woman's sword also arrived. With the sound of clatter, the old fox reached out its hands to catch the sword coming at it.

Those were a couple of human hands. The ten fingers gripped the sword tightly and the sword Qi which was spurted out of the blade also crashed the two hands severely.

The woman was slightly shocked. Her sword move was forcibly resisted by the old fox, which provided a great opportunity for her to completely maul it. Nevertheless, somehow, a nasty feeling suddenly alarmed her sword mind.

The wizard patriarch also had the same weird feeling.

However, he had no time to consider other things. The book had turned to the last page; the formation had begun; the imperial city in the middle of nothingness and reality pressed toward the old fox.

That was the lock of a city in the true sense.

Even the surging torrent could only take a detour in the face of it. Moreover, now that the old fox was trapped within, how could it escape when the gate was not opened?

However, at the supposedly decisive moment, the woman suddenly turned into a streak of sword Qi and retreated at an extremely fast speed.

The wizard patriarch felt quite weird and then his foreboding was testified the next moment.

His turbid and old eyeballs mirrored a bit of light. Then the light quickly spread out and turned into a flame. The fire was not real but it was still tremendously fierce, which spread throughout the whole city.

The fire was burning in the sky, within which the old fox's figure suddenly magnified for thousands of meters.

"How is that possible?" The wizard patriarch and the woman in white screamed at the same time.

The old fox froze the lake water with its mysterious Taoist method before. They both thought that the old fox's fiery form was deceptive and that what it cultivated should be some cold magic.

When the woman in white touched its flame, she didn't feel the heat at all.

Now, as the fire showed up in the sky, they both felt the heat that was burning their souls.

The imperial city could seal the water but not the raging fire. It seemed that only when everything was burned to ashes could it come to an end.

The ancient book of the wizard patriarch was also affected, whose fringes started to roll up and had the faint trace of being burned.

"How is it possible that ice and fire are contained within one body?" The woman muttered to herself. If she were not covered by a mask, her astonished face, or a nearly flurried one, could be clearly seen.

The old fox sauntered in the fire and burned the buildings and mansions into ashes as it moved. It took a look at the woman in white and sneered, "You've reached the realm of Half Step Purple Court. How can you be so shallow-minded? The South Continent is so small indeed. You just thought residing in an immortal mountain as a recluse was cultivating quietly? Humph. Even if you die here today, you just deserve to."

The woman in white tried her best to stabilize her swayed sword mind. The long sword stayed beside her, humming tremblingly, which seemed to be aggrieved.

The old fox seemed to be suppressed under the city for too long. Now it finally got out. After having an enjoyable battle, it was willing to speak a bit more. Then, it reminisced, "More than 500 years ago, I went into the fiery pulse at the earth's core. My whole body was covered with wounds, with my furs all burned up. Do you know what I saw at the depths of the earth's core?"

The old fox answered itself, "I saw a sea of ice, which was one thin layer of sticky rock away from the flowing magma. After that, I went into the magma to take a shower when I felt cold and jumped into the sea of ice to chill myself when I felt hot. Decades later, I finally understood the law that everything is balanced from within. That day, I broke through the realm of Purple Court and entered Five Realms. I even faintly got to learn a bit about the Three Great Realms above that. It is a shame that my greed for Taoism almost ruined my hard-won cultivation base. Luckily..."

After saying that, the old fox gave a reminiscent look and heaved a sigh.

"Luckily, at that time, I met a saint..."

"A saint?" Even at the life-and-death moment, the woman in white still couldn't help asking.

The old fox's voice was slow as if carrying the weight of 500 years. "The saint expounded Taoism, analyzed the law of the universe to me, and even helped me understand the injustice and justice of the world. At that time, he told me something... After that, I stopped thinking about the Three Great Realms. Thanks to that, I've survived from the calamity that happened 500 years ago until now."

The old fox said what it really meant. It often talked to itself in the depths of the underground palace. Now that it got out of the palace, no matter who the listener was, no matter how the current situation was, it still wanted to say something, just because it had the urge to speak out.

"A saint... There was a saint 500 years ago?" The woman in white knew it was an important juncture of life and death and still couldn't help asking.

The old fox said patiently instead of rushing to make a move, "That was a true saint, a saint who was going to break through the rigidness and lead the world to great freedom, but due to the law of the universe, unfortunately..."

Its sigh resounded throughout the imperial city.

The flame surged.

The illusory imperial city was finally destroyed by the fire.

After the fire lost its root, it gradually faded away.

The scorched earth of the whole city turned into ashes and drifted down.

The woman in white wanted to draw out her sword but she could only feel that her sword mind was swayed in faint fear.

The wizard patriarch had slumped on the floating ice. He stared at the empty sky, unable to believe that the magnificent scene had been gone. And the aura of the ancient book in his hand had mostly vanished and subdued.

The flaming old fox landed before him.

"As the city has been broken through, the home and the motherland are both gone; the journey of cultivating and pursuing Taoism is in vain."

The wizard patriarch muttered to himself tearfully. An idea flashed through his mind. If only the goddess were here!

He didn't know whether the goddess was still alive after that day. If she was dead, why was her body gone? If she was alive, where was she now?

The old fox stirred up the flowing fire and walked by his side.

The flame, like a sword, pierced through his heart.

The old soul brought out the true temperature of the flame.

However, the wizard patriarch only felt chilly all over his body so this man almost as old as the state of Zhao passed away with the thought.

"The little girl told me that I would be backlashed if the state of Zhao's fortune was ruined, so I thought I would be seriously injured if I killed you. Unexpectedly, your heart has long not been with the state."

The old fox grabbed the ancient book that was about to drop and swallowed it.

In the underground palace, within the dark furnace, the real soul of the old fox suddenly opened the eyes.

A chain was broken then.

The soul of the old fox got into the body of the wizard patriarch.

The old man stood up straight like a zombie. He turned around and looked at the woman in white with a stern look in the air.

After their gaze met each other, the woman harnessed her sword and left without hesitation.

"Good for you." The wizard patriarch possessed by the old fox stretched himself out. That wisp of soul got out of the underground palace and went into the wizard patriarch's body. He grinned, "But it is too late."