Chapter 372

【Great Si Shan】, a person among the elders and peak masters of the previous generation who had no relatives and was willing to accompany the scriptures for the rest of his life. After taking the position, he organized scriptures and swords for Kongdong and maintained the mountain formation. He never appeared again, becoming a ghostly shadow in the ancient building in the deep mountains.

Such a person, perhaps his wish for the rest of his life was the "Kongdong Sword Collection." If the Huan Si Lou showed him the hope of achieving this success...

Pei Ye did not expect everyone to uphold the distinction between right and wrong. He just also did not expect that a world-class sword sect like Kongdong, and veteran seniors like the Sect Master and the Great Si Shan, would all be unable to withstand such temptation.

Was Kongdong really rotten to this extent?

In the silent and empty Hidden Sword Pavilion, without any warning, a slow and aged voice sounded from behind.

"Young Hero Pei, you are indeed a person who goes forward without hesitation."

Pei Ye did not turn around, lowered his head, and gently gripped the sword hilt.

The moment he realized what this place was, he already understood what would happen.

Every move he made while searching for evidence in the Scripture Library fell into the other party's eyes; the green bird carrying key news would of course be blocked by the mountain formation.

"Maintaining the mountain formation" was originally his duty.

Now he released the green bird, so he followed the note and went, immediately arriving at this "Nine Leaves of Lotus Heart" pavilion.

He was of course going forward without hesitation. Facing these enemies he had hated for a long time, facing the key he had suddenly grasped, and seeing that the location was just a few floors above his head, at this moment the youth only had hot blood all over his body and would never consider other things.

In the air, his left hand had suddenly clenched into a fist, and a whistling flame flow rushed toward the old man from the void.

He stepped on the ground barefoot, holding an unsheathed sword in his hand, the chill cold and thin.

And it was at the moment when the two swords clashed that Pei Ye knew the greatest function of this formation.

Like building blocks with countless rotating shafts, the book wall in front of him, as high as a giant screen, began to move with "click-clack" sounds. From "Carved Hilt," "Hanging Tassels"... to "Jade Placement," "Painted Scabbard," twelve huge book walls wandered like fish, paper scattered, and the pale cold moon shone in from the small window, the light and shadow changing chaotically.

Pei Ye stared fixedly at the person. The old man seemed to be at ease, still walking slowly with his sword. And after another intersection of the book walls... this figure suddenly disappeared.

And at this moment, Pei Ye believed that the other party was also 【Yueque】, but he chose to discard the vast Mystic Qi of both himself and 【Zhanxin Liuli】 at the same time.

【Hidden Sword Formation】, an ancient formation left behind by the pavilion elders when they discussed and exchanged ideas on the "Kongdong Sword Collection" here for the past few hundred years. It could discard Mystic Qi, allowing people with different cultivation levels to exchange ideas only with True Qi and swords.

Pei Ye just didn't understand for a moment why he dared to show his face now. Even if everyone went to the Sword Belly Mountain, it would only take a moment to rush back.

Now he had indeed appeared.

Suddenly the room shifted. Pei Ye immediately drew his sword, locked his brows and looked. The entire book pavilion had actually moved.

No matter if it was a trap, after jumping in, one could always look up and see the hunter.

The old man's figure had been covered behind the book wall, and could only be glimpsed in the intersecting gaps.

Above Zhanxin Liuli, True Qi like flying feathers and broken clouds bloomed at the same time, casting the strongest sword.

Pei Ye turned slowly. In the depths of the shadow ahead, a tall, thin, and upright gray-robed old man, like a faint shadow, was stepping into the candlelight.

His long gray-white hair was disheveled, seemingly only washed but not combed, hanging in front of his chest and covering most of his face, leaving only two star-like eyes. The gray robe was also old and broken, and obviously washed white, with many new and old ink stains on it. The withered and old temperament seemed to have grown out of this building.

With Zhanxin Liuli in hand, did he want to kill himself within a few moves?

"Don't worry, we have plenty of time." The old man's voice seemed slow and hoarse because he hadn't opened his mouth for a long time. He looked at Pei Ye, his eyes cold and sharp.

The old man's sword momentum drifted and turned. The sword that repelled Pei Ye turned back and drew a half-arc. Halfway through, it had already cut through the flame flow. When it reached the position, it hit Zhanxin Liuli with a "ding" sound, suddenly exerting force, and the divine sword was powerfully repelled.

The thing called "sword" was originally only related to True Qi.

The True Qi of the Eighth Life still made Pei Ye's sword collapse. The youth's figure lost control and flew high. When he was about to hit the book wall, he twisted his waist and stepped, accurately using the momentum of the formation to twist his figure. Amidst the candle-fire eyes, the person leaped up again.

Pei Ye frowned, realizing that something he didn't know might have happened.

A piercing chill suddenly appeared behind his back!

Pei Ye leaned, twisted his waist, and held his sword horizontally in one go, "clanging" to block this sword. Zhanxin Liuli pulled a stunning long line from behind, heading straight for the old man's throat.

Pei Ye, who was moving forward with his sword, felt his heart and lungs shrink at this moment. 【Drifting Wind】 was used immediately. Sure enough, the next moment, the old man's ghost-like, invisible, and powerful sword crashed into the empty gate in front of him. Pei Ye leaned sideways to avoid it with his sword. The next moment, he immediately interrupted 【Drifting Wind】 and twisted his wrist to hold the sword horizontally in front. The second moment, the old man's murderous slash hit the sword body. Pei Ye coughed blood and flew high. This time he hit the book wall solidly, and only unloaded his strength to stand straight when falling.

He raised his hand to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth.

The sword that had just pressed him to the bottom was as strange as 【Pine Growing in Mist】, and as strong as 【Piercing the Sun】... Pei Ye suddenly understood why the "Kongdong Sword Collection" was so fascinating to Kongdong's predecessors of past generations.

At the same time, he perceived the great pressure coming from the sword almost as never before.

It had nothing to do with cultivation or True Qi. Although the other party was Eighth Life, he also bore 【Chunshou】 and had long been accustomed to moving nimbly and cutting throats between the gaps of these powerful forces.

And now it was the sword technique itself. This feeling of being suppressed, seen through, and calculated... the old man's sword technique cultivation had long stood high above the "Spirit" realm, far higher than him.

The thought only flashed by. Pei Ye went up with his sword again. Snow sword, Zhanxin Liuli, Chi fire... the old man's cold blade was like a dragon. The desire for attack and kill on both sides was incomparably strong. Pei Ye gambled his life to struggle left and right under such strange and unpredictable sword techniques, using Zhanxin Liuli to fight for a breath of respite, his eyes only staring fixedly at the old man's throat.

The so-called wise man must have one loss in a thousand thoughts, and everyone only has one life.

The level of sword technique determines the outcome of the sword fight, but it does not determine the life and death of both parties... Pei Ye had his left hand behind his back, and it had been ten rounds!

In an instant, the sword Qi on 【Zhanxin Liuli】 condensed into a line. Pei Ye retreated and the divine sword advanced. The old man leaned to avoid it, his sword momentum tilting infinitely toward the youth's direction. Pei Ye leaned on the sword to unload, 【Eating Leaves】 jumping like beads.

But this string of beads completely collapsed after the third one. The old man's sword body turned, and the youth's exquisite sword technique collapsed like withered soil.

At this moment, the old man left seven parts of his strength behind Zhanxin Liuli, one part broke the youth's 【Eating Leaves】, and left two parts, piercing straight into the youth's throat. But Pei Ye's right hand lost control, and instead of retreating, he advanced.

His left hand suddenly burst into a snow collapse.

"Snow Collapse" Second · 【Coming and Going】.

The stopping and releasing of "sword momentum" did not require the swordsman to be completely still like the first style. As long as this sword momentum was accumulated to the extreme, it could be released. And Pei Ye had supplemented it with his right-hand sword momentum during the many rounds of losing and retreating.

The power of the Eighth Life was violently tilted at this moment. Pei Ye's own body was suddenly squeezed back first, and the long sword rushed up as if out of control.

The next moment was a determined and powerful collision.

Pei Ye's heart sank to the bottom in an instant.

There was no expected collapse or force-on-force. The other party's sword was like an unstoppable thunderbolt, and the snow collapse was penetrated in an instant... Pei Ye felt almost unbelievably that the other party knew clearly that he was going to use this sword, and understood this sword clearly and thoroughly.

There was no time to think about the reason, because at the same time the sword move was broken, the other party's powerful sword edge pierced through, and the long sword in his hand was completely out of control. Pei Ye gritted his teeth and twisted his strength, but it was absolutely too late to adjust.

At the critical moment, a clear light "dinged" and knocked away the sword hilt in his hand, stuffing itself into his hand.

Suddenly, a brand new and abundant power was born from his hand. Pei Ye held Zhanxin Liuli horizontally and firmly caught this sword, for the first time not retreating under the enemy's offensive.

Perceiving the divine sword's questioning of the Mind-Spirit Realm, Pei Ye hesitated for a moment and opened his heart to it.

Suddenly, a subtle connection was established. Pei Ye immediately felt that the sword in his hand was used as he wished.

The Eighth Life True Qi of Guxie passed to Zhanxin Liuli was now all in his hand, plus his original cultivation, his power now exceeded the old man's.

But it was hard to say whether this was good or bad... because no matter how powerful a weapon he held, the essence was that his sword technique could not compete with the old man.

Until the woman's peaceful and cool voice sounded in his heart: "Are you okay?"

". Miss Ming?!"

The woman could never descend to the battlefield with a single sword.

Pei Ye carried 【Slicing Heart Zhanxin Liuli】 on his back, which was actually within the reach of the woman's power. But all sword techniques came from people, not from swords. Therefore, except for some sword moves, Ming Qitian could not remotely release those divine sword techniques through a sword.

And another threshold was that the woman also had no way to clearly perceive the situation on the battlefield.

There were no eyes on Zhanxin Liuli. Pei Ye had always controlled Zhanxin Liuli based on his own judgment. The woman only supplied power trustingly. Especially now that the Mystic Qi was gone, Zhanxin Liuli's own perception was greatly weakened, and it all relied on Pei Ye's five senses to perceive the situation.

The woman on the other side perceived the abnormality from Zhanxin Liuli's movements.

Thus 【Zhanxin Liuli】 connected with Pei Ye's mind and established a connection with him.

Of course, Pei Ye's five senses still could not be transmitted to her, but when Zhanxin Liuli was in Pei Ye's hand, the woman could clearly perceive how Pei Ye used his sword, and thus get a glimpse of the situation of the battle.

Thus it was almost immediate.

Not knowing who the enemy was, not knowing what weapon they held or what martial arts they used, and not knowing where the enemy came from or how they attacked, only after the youth held the sword to respond could the woman infer what happened there based on the trajectory of the sword movement, and then slightly repair the youth's sword use.

Just like this, with 【Slicing Heart Zhanxin Liuli】 as a bridge, after the woman slightly intervened in the battlefield, the situation of the sword fight suddenly changed.

It was as if a soul had been changed in the youth's body. The sword technique began to be superior, profound, and light. The two long swords crisscrossed amidst the flying book walls, and the floating paper and gauze moon were cut into pieces by the sword shadows.

Pei Ye had never had such a divine experience. He clearly felt that his sword was being constantly modified, but there was no resistance at all.

His power could always flow out happily without any discount, and his sword turning would never be interfered with. The woman seemed to know what move he was going to make next, and the sword movement added by Zhanxin Liuli always gave him help just where it itched. With the advantage of power, the old man could never find a flaw in him again.

Pei Ye attacked crazily, arrogantly leaving all kinds of life-threatening flaws to the woman. The old man's face could never leave his six feet. They chased each other... until after nearly twenty breaths, Pei Ye suddenly perceived a trace of something wrong.

The old man's face and pupils were as cold as ever, icy and deep like the sea, quiet like the abyss. Pei Ye suddenly felt that this feeling had a kind of trance-like familiarity, but the next moment, the sudden change interrupted his thinking.

Sword marks.

After Pei Ye held Zhanxin Liuli, the sword marks caused by the two sides' exchanges had already been left all over the Hidden Sword Pavilion.

The old man looked at him coldly and spat out four syllables: "【Three Lights Enter the Cage】"

Formation technique.

Pei Ye didn't know how heavy the four words "maintaining the mountain formation" were, and he couldn't imagine what kind of talented formation attainments it took to set up a formation during such an intense sword fight. Just at this moment, the entire Hidden Sword Pavilion suddenly fell into complete darkness.

A familiar scene. Pei Ye instantly understood the old man's intention.

—Among Pei Ye, Zhanxin Liuli, and Ming Qitian, the only perception ability was Pei Ye's five senses. The woman's god-like sword assistance had always been based on the youth's sword movements.

Now that the vision had disappeared, the old man himself was of course limited, but he was never afraid of fighting with the youth relying on intuition.

This move only isolated the woman who was far away in the mountain belly.

She could still perceive those sword movements, but when the youth himself didn't know whether his sword movements were correct or logical, how could she judge the situation on the field and move his sword bit by bit?

Pei Ye didn't know how deeply he had studied 【Slicing Heart Zhanxin Liuli】 for this ambush, nor did he know whether this 【Three Lights Enter the Cage】 formation was a cage trap he had prepared long ago, or a calm insight and counter-countermeasure after facing the Zhanxin Liuli sword. Either way, it was enough to raise an unprecedented crisis in the youth's heart.

Without the slightest delay, the sharp long sword had suddenly forced its way to his face.

Pei Ye blocked horizontally with his sword, and sure enough, he returned to the realm of fighting alone. After two exchanges, a bloodstain flew out on his arm.

But the youth was never afraid of strong enemies. He supported himself with almost absolute calmness. On the other side, the Black Chi, which had been breaking the formation with Chi fire from the beginning, was also about to succeed.

What was astonishing was that the divine experience just now had once again visibly raised the youth's sword technique. He tried hard to pursue that feeling just now, as if the woman was still standing behind him.

The old man's lips had long been pursed very seriously. Now, seeing that the Black Chi was about to succeed, and the youth had once again used the lingering charm to support an unimaginable amount of time, he closed his eyes gently, and the long sword in his hand suddenly changed.

Pei Ye felt his heart and lungs shrink suddenly in the pitch black—what a fast sword!

Like a sudden wind sweeping across, a sense of familiarity surged from his heart. This is...

Pei Ye fell into complete astonishment. The green-skirted girl had told him about this sword, Lu Yunsheng of Tianshan had performed it for him casually, and Miss Ming had also talked to him about it twice.

But he couldn't figure out why it appeared in the hands of Kongdong's 【Great Si Shan】!

—Tianshan "Eight Steeds Sword" · 【Chasing the Sun and Surpassing Shadows】!

Pei Ye tried to cut the trajectory of this sword in his heart at the fastest speed... he hit it and was flicked away.

The fastest style in the "Eight Steeds Sword" that only the talents of the Fengchi Pool could practice. Even if placed in the world, it was a sword technique that was difficult to deal with. The combination of the blocking sword's power and speed had to be extremely unique. It was indeed almost impossible for the youth to block this profound sword technique he hadn't seen many times with intuition.

This sword rushed straight to his chest and abdomen.

Pei Ye's heart sank straight down, his chest and abdomen had subconsciously tightened like a stiff board, but the next moment, the long sword in his hand suddenly transmitted a floating turn as beautiful as flowing water.

It slid across the blade of the old man's long sword as clearly as a zither sound. 【Chasing the Sun and Surpassing Shadows】 was like a wooden board with nowhere to exert force, sliding obliquely, sliding past Pei Ye's body.

And then with two clear sounds of "ding-ding," Zhanxin Liuli flicked and picked, its momentum like a broken zither string, having already cut a flying stream of blood on the old man's collarbone, who was leaning back suddenly.

Of course, there was no support from the five senses.

Just like when she sensed the sword intent of 【Clouds Covering the Eyes and Losing Feathers】 through the wall, now, in the exchanges of the two swords, the personality of the person using the sword had also been outlined thoroughly in the woman's heart.

Such unawareness, unfeeling, unsensing, unseeing—the sword is just in the heart.

Without the support of the youth's correct sword movements, the woman already knew how the other party was going to use his sword.

Pei Ye was still stunned in front of this sword. Behind him, the Black Chi had already transmitted a cold and fast voice: "The formation hub has appeared, break the formation!"

Pei Ye turned his head suddenly. On the wall, the beautiful fire line was performing a complete formation diagram. Pei Ye used Zhanxin Liuli to break it with one sword. Amidst the flying wood and broken walls, the Mystic Qi poured into Zhanxin Liuli abundantly. A light and deep sigh came from behind at the same time.

Pei Ye felt a sense of familiarity with the meaning contained in this sigh for an instant. It was the light sigh made by a talented person who had exhausted all his strength but still could not cross those heavens. Pei Ye twisted his neck and looked back. The old man with gray-white long hair stood quietly in the pavilion with his sword, but his face was as usual, as if he had long been accustomed to it.

He lowered his eyes. Pei Ye, still in mid-air, had already thrown the powerful Zhanxin Liuli toward him. The snow-white cloud Qi filled the entire pavilion in an instant. Wood chips exploded, paper floated in the sky, and after everything was chaotic, the person was already nowhere to be found.

Amidst the trembling of his heart, Pei Ye gripped the sword hilt in his hand tightly, his throat as if bound: "—Chase!!"

(End of chapter)