Chapter 867: Discussing the Peak Beneath the Moon

Under the night sky, a bright moon hangs high.

A black flying boat streaks past beneath the moon.

On the flying boat, Shentu Yue, Li Fei, and Ning Qingman, dressed in green, stand side by side.

The three of them have left Mount Tiansha together, preparing to make a trip to the Red Dust Pavilion.

Li Fei has taken away that notebook of Ying Jie's, while Ning Qingman has left behind her own sword.

It is merely an ordinary iron sword, not even a magical weapon.

But as long as this iron sword remains plunged into the main peak of Mount Tiansha, Mount Tiansha will not fall into chaos for ten years!

In the presence of a crowd of grandmasters from the Central Plains martial arts world, this act by Ning Qingman is undoubtedly a supreme protective talisman for Mount Tiansha.

Li Fei did not expect this Sword Immortal to do such a thing.

He had originally thought that because she had been wandering the jianghu for so many years, ignoring worldly affairs, she possessed the mindset of an immortal standing above the clouds, looking down upon the world.

Now it seems, could this Sword Immortal actually be quite warm-hearted?

"Let me see your Bright Phoenix Sword."

On the flying boat, Ning Qingman suddenly says to Shentu Yue.

"Yes."

Shentu Yue, who admires this Sword Immortal quite a bit, offers her sword with both hands without hesitation.

Ning Qingman takes the crimson Bright Phoenix Sword.

Clang—

The divine sword is half-drawn, shimmering with light and brimming with sword intent.

"Your master is still the most formidable."

Ning Qingman looks at the divine sword in her hand and sighs:

"Planning strategies from a thousand miles away, she not only struck down her opponent but also increased her cultivation and paved the way for her disciple."

After she finishes speaking, she sheathes the sword and returns the Bright Phoenix Sword to Shentu Yue:

"Keep this sword well; it may be your opportunity to attain the Dao in the future."

Shentu Yue takes the Bright Phoenix Sword with both hands, somewhat surprised:

"An opportunity to attain the Dao?"

She had originally thought that her master letting her come to Mount Tiansha to watch the battle was merely to borrow the Bright Phoenix Sword to strike secretly without attracting attention.

But now, hearing Ning Qingman's implication, there is more to it involving herself.

"Yes, thank you for your guidance, Sword Immortal Ning."

Shentu Yue does not ask further.

She is currently only a martial arts master with two divine abilities; she is still far, far away from attaining the Dao.

So there is no need to be overly ambitious and ask too much.

When the time comes, she will naturally know.

Seeing her so composed, Ning Qingman nods inwardly.

With such a state of mind, it is no wonder Wen Xuexian went to such great lengths to pave the way for her.

"Sword Immortal Ning."

Li Fei, standing to the side, cannot help but ask, "What is Li Ming plotting this time? Could he be wanting to take over the opponent's body while Senior Ying is breaking through his realm, so that he could possess a Martial Saint body without any sequelae?"

This is one possibility he has inferred.

Li Ming is a demonic martial artist with a flawed foundation; although he possesses the divine ability of the 【Demonic Fetus Soul Seed】, he cannot directly occupy the body of a Martial Saint.

Therefore, the best choice is to find a grandmaster about to break through his realm and complete the possession at the moment of the breakthrough.

This way, he could obtain a Martial Saint body with no further foundation issues, compensating for his own defects.

Ning Qingman turns her head to look at Li Fei: "You have quite a lot of ideas."

"Did I guess wrong?"

"If it were truly as you say, then you would be the best choice for Li Ming."

"Hmm."

Li Fei has to admit that what Ning Qingman says makes sense.

Looking at the world, which grandmaster has more potential and more hope of breaking through to become a Saint than himself?

Moreover, possessing him would bring benefits that go beyond just cultivation.

Given his current status and position, for a demonic villain like Li Ming whom everyone wants to kill, that might be the most important thing!

"After condensing Dao principles, a martial artist enters into a contract with the Great Dao of heaven and earth, and it is impossible to possess other Dao principles for the rest of one's life; at most, one can only supplement and strengthen based on the original Dao principles."

Ning Qingman says.

Li Fei suddenly understands.

So Li Ming could not possibly obtain a brand-new Martial Saint body in the way he had inferred.

If he dared to attempt possession before the opponent broke through, the subsequent breakthrough would inevitably fail.

And if the opponent had already succeeded in the breakthrough, it would be impossible for Li Ming to complete the possession at all.

A dead end.

"Then what is Li Ming plotting?"

"Actually, the direction of your inference was correct. As a demonic martial artist with a flawed foundation, what he is plotting is indeed to complete his foundation. However, it is not by using a soul seed to replace a body, but by using Dao principles to devour the power and destiny of the opponent during their breakthrough."

"His Dao principle is called 【Heaven Devouring】, and his 'Dao' is—to diminish the insufficient to supplement the excessive!"

Ning Qingman points out Li Ming's Great Dao directly.

"To diminish the insufficient to supplement the excessive?"

Li Fei murmurs, having gained some insight.

Ning Qingman: "It is a pity that there are too few grandmasters in this world with the ability to challenge the Martial Saint realm. Among the few, many have deep backgrounds, and Li Ming has no chance to strike."

"That is why he spent twenty years slowly planning and laying out his scheme, only then selecting Ying Jie."

Li Fei nods.

Indeed, in the last hundred years, the total number of grandmasters who have challenged the Martial Saint realm does not exceed the number of fingers on two hands.

Most of them are either people from the imperial court, or from the Buddhist or Daoist schools, the Heavenly Pavilion, or the Red Dust Pavilion.

These people all have supreme powerhouses behind them, and there must be supreme powerhouses guarding them during their breakthroughs; how could Li Ming possibly have a chance to strike?

"Sure enough, there is nothing simple about seeking the Dao. Even after becoming a Martial Saint, the path remains arduous."

Li Fei sighs inwardly.

Shentu Yue, standing to the side, listens quietly to their conversation, occasionally stealing glances at Li Fei.

She is indeed still far from attaining the Dao, but the person who once stood at the same height as her is now only one step away from that realm.

"Sword Immortal Ning, I saw you easily defeat Li Ming today; may I ask how you would comment on the supreme powerhouses of this world?"

Li Fei suddenly asks out of curiosity.

He sees that Ning Qingman is someone quite willing to guide others, perhaps truly warm-hearted, so he takes the opportunity to ask some questions regarding supreme powerhouses.

One Supreme, three Demonic Villains, five True Monarchs, seven Martial Saints.

Aside from that Supreme who is recognized as the first, who is strong and who is weak among the rest? Who is ranked second, who is third? Who is the weakest?

There has never been a recognized consensus, and it has always been one of the pieces of 'gossip' that many jianghu people are most curious about.

Hearing Li Fei's question, Shentu Yue's eyes also brighten instantly.

Clearly, she is also very interested in this 'gossip'!

Ning Qingman ponders for a moment and actually speaks:

"Lin Tianyi goes without saying. Among the four True Monarchs and that Buddha, in my view, Qingxu is the undisputed first!"

Li Fei and Shentu Yue nod at the same time.

Both of them strongly agree with this point.

Qingxu may not be the first powerhouse in a thousand years to challenge the realm above the supreme, but he is definitely the closest!

If his earthly Dao kingdom had been built back then, he truly might have become the first person in history!

"After Qingxu, that late Imperial Preceptor, in my view, can be ranked second."

Ning Qingman continues.

This ranking makes Shentu Yue somewhat surprised, and she hesitates to speak.

In her view, after Qingxu, the contemporary Buddha who single-handedly killed his way into the imperial palace should be the second.

Ning Qingman notices the change in Shentu Yue's expression and looks at her:

"Too many people underestimate Xiang Yunshu, but they don't stop to think: in the last hundred years, besides him, who else has killed a supreme powerhouse? And killed two within just a few years?"

Shentu Yue: "But..."

Ning Qingman knows what she wants to say:

"You think Xiang Yunshu had the help of national destiny and borrowed external power, so this battle record should be heavily discounted?"

"Then think about it: today, your master and I joined forces and laid out plans for many years, yet we still couldn't completely kill Li Ming. Are supreme powerhouses really that easy to kill?"

"Both my Dao principles and Xiang Yunshu's have the ability to crack the Dao principles of others, but our paths are completely different. If the two of us were to meet on a narrow path and fight for the first time, I would only have a twenty percent chance of killing him. But if I couldn't kill him in the first encounter, my chances of winning would become lower and lower thereafter; the longer it drags on, the more thoroughly I would be defeated. This is the terrifying aspect of Xiang Yunshu!"

Supreme powerhouses can win, but they are hard to kill.

Besides Lin Tianyi, who dares to say they can kill a supreme powerhouse with one hundred percent certainty?

This is the reason why Ning Qingman ranks Xiang Yunshu so high.

Shentu Yue quickly bows: "This junior was shallow."

Ning Qingman waved her hand: "Just casual chatter, no need to be so formal."

"Qingxu is first, Yunshu is second, and that Buddha is third; this is the ranking in my heart. As for the remaining two Daoist True Persons, I am not familiar with them."

She briefly finished the ranking of the "Five True Persons."

"As for the Seven Martial Saints—"

Li Fei and Shentu Yue both stared at her intently, wanting to hear how this "Sword Immortal" evaluated herself and the other six Martial Saints.

Compared to the path of arts, her ranking of the martial path was clearly more persuasive.

"Wenren Zheng entered sainthood through the path of war; he does not follow the path of a commander who directs from afar, but the path of a battle general who cuts down generals and seizes flags. Among the four schools of military strategy, he is the master of the 'Military Situation' school. His ability in single combat is even stronger than his ability to lead troops in battle. If I were to cross swords with him—"

"There is a seventy percent chance that I would die and he would be severely injured."

"There is a thirty percent chance that we would perish together."

Ning Qingman admitted quite candidly that she was inferior to Wenren Zheng:

"Tai Yu of the Great Luo Sect once had a battle with Lin Tianyi years ago. It is said he was defeated miserably, but he was also inspired and immediately went into seclusion to cultivate."

"Before this, he dared to stand up and contend with Qingxu for the position of Sect Master; even if he underestimated Qingxu, it shows that his strength greatly increased after his seclusion!"

"As for the two Martial Saints of Pudu Temple, the Buddha-Eye Heavenly King lacks sufficient potential, so there is no need to say much. The River-Suppressing Heavenly King attained the Dao with the foundation of Buddhist heritage, and his potential is extremely high. In my view, he has the opportunity to catch up to or even surpass Wenren Zheng."

"However, now that the Buddhists are being besieged and slaughtered by the imperial court and temples everywhere are being destroyed, the River-Suppressing Heavenly King's cultivation base will certainly be affected. And as for Tai Yu, the eight hundred years of luck of the Great Luo Sect were almost exhausted by Qingxu, so he is similarly affected."

"In my view, among the seven Martial Saints, Wenren Zheng, Tai Yu, and the River-Suppressing Heavenly King can be ranked in the top three."

Ning Qingman said a great deal in one breath.

Li Fei recalled the battle between Qingxu and Tai Yu that he had witnessed with his own eyes on the Cloud Sea Terrace of the Great Luo Sect.

He then recalled that battle on the Bai Feng Plains.

Comparing them to Ning Qingman's commentary, he could not help but nod.

"As for the fourth..."

Ning Qingman looked at Shentu Yue, "Your Master has become increasingly formidable over these years. This time, by laying out a plan to sever the karma of Li Ming, her cultivation base should be able to advance further. Perhaps she is not just ranked fourth."

"Ah?"

Shentu Yue did not expect Ning Qingman to hold her Master in such high regard.

After Wen Xuexian, the Pavilion Master of Red Dust Pavilion, became a saint, she almost never stepped into the pugilistic world again, and there were no more legends about her in the world.

Her pugilistic nickname, "Severer of Red Dust," existed because people believed she had severed her own worldly ties, henceforth ignoring the pugilistic world and not entering the mortal realm.

Therefore, compared to the other six Martial Saints, Wen Xuexian was the most low-profile, and Shentu Yue had originally thought Ning Qingman would place her Master's ranking very low.

She did not expect that the other party would actually think Wen Xuexian had a chance to enter the top three!

"What about the last three?"

Li Fei could not help but ask.

Ning Qingman smiled: "The last three, it is better not to speak of them."

Although she was unwilling to elaborate on the remaining rankings, Li Fei could roughly judge from her tone.

She likely considered herself stronger than that Buddha-Eye Heavenly King of the Buddhist school, but since the two had never fought, speaking directly like this in front of two juniors would seem like bragging.

As for the final one, Qin Mingli, among the Seven Martial Saints, he was the latest to break through and had been a saint for the shortest time, so in all likelihood, his strength was the weakest.

"Sword Immortal fifth, Buddha-Eye Heavenly King sixth, Qin Mingli seventh?"

Li Fei had a judgment in his heart.

"Sword Immortal Ning, what about the Three Demons?"

Shentu Yue also curiously pressed on.

She felt that listening to this "gossip" tonight was very satisfying.

"The Three Demons are much of a muchness; there is no need to break down their rankings."

When Ning Qingman mentioned these three, her tone was clearly somewhat disdainful:

"The Ancestor of the Underworld River cultivates sorcery; his methods are diverse and the most sinister and vicious."

"Li Ming has the strongest life-saving methods and is the hardest to kill."

"There is also the 'Demon Spear' Tian Youpeng, who came from a background as a killer, killing his way up step by step from the very bottom; he is the best at killing people."

Clearly, because the Three Demons walked the demonic path, their foundations were unstable, and their combat power ranking was inevitably at the very bottom of all the peak powerhouses.

As for who was stronger or weaker among the three, Ning Qingman felt they were all about the same.

In any case, none of them could beat her.

At this point, Ning Qingman had already commented on all the True Persons, Martial Saints, and Demons.

But Li Fei still felt unsatisfied and continued to ask:

"Sword Immortal Ning, if all the peak powerhouses were counted, how do you think they should be ranked?"

Although she was behind a cloak, Li Fei still felt that after hearing this, Ning Qingman glared at him and said ungraciously:

"There are too few bouts between them; it is impossible to rank them."

Li Fei was not reconciled: "What if we only rank the top three?"

"Yes, Sword Immortal Ning, what if we only rank the top three in the world today?"

Shentu Yue, who was on the side, also asked.

Ning Qingman pondered for a moment:

"The first needs no mention; if Qingxu were still here, he would be the undisputed second. Yunshu and that Buddha could both contend for third."

"As for now, Qingxu and Yunshu are both dead, and that Buddha is severely injured and likely cannot recover in the short term. Wenren Zheng should be very stable as the world's second."

"The third will be produced between Tai Yu and the River-Suppressing Heavenly King. If Sister Wen could advance further, she would also have a chance to contend for third."

Li Fei and Shentu Yue looked at each other, both feeling very satisfied.

Tonight, the two of them listened to the world's Sword Immortal discuss the peak powerhouses under the moon, and the final top three of the world she evaluated could be said to be full of substance!

And after Ning Qingman finished evaluating the peak powerhouses, she seemed somewhat unsatisfied.

She looked at Li Fei and smiled:

"Tuoba Shanhai, the Grandmaster recognized as the strongest in the Grassland Royal Court—I have seen him, and he is not your match. If that Northern Barbarian King had not been severely injured, he might have had a chance to contend with you."

"As for now, you are the undisputed strongest Grandmaster; you should be comparable to the Princes of the Western Continent!"

Li Fei smiled slightly, tacitly accepting this evaluation.

"Among the top-tier True Persons, there are still a few who can threaten you: the Great Arhat of Pudu Temple who has the best chance of breaking through, the current acting Sect Master of the Feathering Sect, Wuhui, and also Da Man of the Wish-Fulfilling Sect in the Grassland Royal Court."

Ning Qingman continued, "If you add in those Princes of the Western Continent, and count all the powerhouses of both continents together, looking at the whole world, you have a chance to rank in the top thirty. Truly, the younger generation is to be feared!"

Li Fei calculated silently.

Except for the deceased Qiming, two of the original sixteen peak powerhouses of the Eastern Continent had already died, while there were currently thirteen Prince-level figures in the Western Continent.

Adding the three top-tier True Persons with extraordinary strength that Ning Qingman just mentioned, it added up to exactly thirty people.

And looking at the whole world, besides these thirty people, Li Fei had no more rivals!

So he really did have a chance to rank in the world's top thirty.

Shentu Yue, on the side, looked at his profile, her eyes bright.

"The top thirty in the world, huh?"

Li Fei looked up at the night sky.

The bright moon hung high, and the stars shone under the night curtain, each vying for brilliance.

In this boundless universe of stars, there are always some stars that will be exceptionally dazzling.

Asking for monthly votes.

(End of chapter)