Chapter 230: Heaven Has Died, The Yellow Heaven Shall Rise

"Do you think I qualify as a legacy-level martial artist?" Li Weiyi suddenly asked.

Jiang Ning had previously witnessed Li Weiyi's clashes with Ku Di and Dao Di from the shadows and was naturally happy for his achievements today. "I suppose so! But Ku Di is only ranked eighth in the Southern Realm's first division. You still have a gap between you and her, and you're several levels behind Ge Xiantong."

Li Weiyi said, "Li Jiufu had an arm severed by Luan Sheng and Lin You, but he didn't flee Qiuzhou City."

"Cang Li had his head nearly smashed by Luan Sheng and Lin You, but he wasn't intimidated and still dared to fight again."

"Lu Cangsheng and the Dragon Hall, despite knowing that the Thunderous Sky Sect and Dragon Gate's strength is far inferior to the Imperial Court and the Far West Ash Region, still dared to participate in the Hidden Dragon Lantern Festival. Honestly, from my own perspective, I might call them the 'Two Worms of the Eastern Realm,' but they genuinely possess a heroic spirit—a refusal to be defeated and a willingness to face challenges."

In Jiang Ning's mind, her thoughts drifted to the Five Seas Realm boundary in Burial Immortal Town, the clash with the Fire Crow cavalry on the river, and... the Soldier Ancestor Swamp that night.

Perhaps the reason she valued him so highly was that he always possessed a fighting spirit capable of turning the impossible into reality.

Jiang Ning's face remained cold as she controlled her expression. "You have your reasons, and I have mine. You can't persuade me, and I can't persuade you. Perhaps the ways men and women think are inherently different."

"Then let's fight. I'll severely wound you, reduce your combat power to what it was seven days ago, or even before the year began. By then, you'll know you must leave Qiuzhou City!"

Li Weiyi clearly understood that Jiang Ning's reason was, "Li Weiyi absolutely cannot survive at Ge Xiantong's hands."

On Peach Blossom Mountain, on the Triple Heavens.

Hidden Lord and Zuoqiu Ling stood side by side, gazing toward the eastern part of the city, their expressions deeply solemn.

"The Second Palace Master's method must be to first recruit, and if recruitment fails, immediately eliminate. Jiang Ning has already been used for recruitment, so who will be used for killing?" Zuoqiu Ling already had the answer in his heart.

Hidden Lord said, "I only hope the Imperial Court underestimates them a little."

"I'm more worried that Li Weiyi won't even get past Jiang Ning. We were all young once; what young man can resist a beautiful woman? Just like Yao Qingxuan back then, if she had only mentioned it to me, I would have certainly brought her to the Zuoqiu household. No old man could have stopped me." Zuoqiu Ling felt immense pain whenever he recalled those days.

"Still dwelling on the past?"

Hidden Lord shot him a cold glance, then added, "You should worry more about tonight's situation!"

By the river.

Li Weiyi suddenly put distance between himself and Jiang Ning, drawing his Yellow Dragon Sword. Its cold gleam radiated as he let out a long laugh. "The Imperial Court? The Imperial Court is like the setting sun, a crumbling edifice, collapsing externally and decaying internally. I advise your Jiang family to quickly choose a new enlightened lord, or to rise up, otherwise, you won't escape the fate of your family's destruction."

Li Weiyi was worried that Jiang Ning might hold back, which the Second Palace Master would notice. Therefore, he spoke with extreme bitterness and malice, intending to genuinely enrage her.

"Clang!"

Jiang Ning summoned her Startling Feather Sword, and the spiritual energy within her body bloomed like a cloud, enveloping the buildings on both sides of the street. "You refuse the toast but drink the penalty!" she said coldly. "To dare curse the Imperial Court and the Jiang family is truly ill-mannered."

All parties were alarmed.

"It seems negotiations have broken down!"

Many pairs of eyes looked over.

Whether Jiang Ning killed the rising star Li Weiyi or Li Weiyi escaped from Jiang Ning's grasp, both would be matters of great significance.

"It's not a curse, it's a fact. Of the twenty-eight Lingxiao Prefectures, how many does the Imperial Court still control? The turbulent current of this degenerate age rolls forward; you cannot stop it."

Li Weiyi retreated onto the bridge and, amidst the night wind, raised his hand with high spirits and shouted, "The Blue Sky is dead; the Yellow Sky shall rise. When the year is Jiazi, the world will be auspicious!"

Jiang Ning was genuinely angered by him; he dared to shout anything, forcing her to resort to ruthless measures.

As a member of the Imperial Court, how could she tolerate such rebellious slogans?

"When autumn comes, on the eighth of September, my flowers bloom, and all other flowers perish. A fragrant scent pierces the heavens, and the whole city is clad in golden armor." Li Weiyi shouted again.

"You're asking for death!"

Jiang Ning could no longer tolerate it, fearing the rebel would utter more treasonous words.

A cold sword light pierced the night sky!

Like a celestial fairy, she instantly crossed a dozen zhang, arriving at the bridgehead.

"Whoosh!"

The spiritual energy emanating from her body automatically condensed into sharp white feathers in mid-air. These white feathers, along with the sword light, attacked Li Weiyi.

Li Weiyi knew her cultivation was exceptionally high and constantly improving, so he dared not confront her directly. He leaped off the bridgehead, landing on the water.

He touched the water lightly like a dragonfly, then sprang up, treading on green smoke, and fled along the river toward the South City.

As long as he returned to the South City, with the strength of the Jiuli clan and the Zuoqiu household, neither Jiang Ning nor Ge Xiantong would be able to harm him.

With his Pure Void Cicada-Chasing Steps, Li Weiyi was a notch faster than Ku Di in terms of speed.

He had only rushed out a dozen zhang.

To Li Weiyi's shock, spiritual energy white feathers drifted in front of him.

Only after truly becoming Jiang Ning's enemy did he realize how terrifying these white feathers were. They were ubiquitous and as sharp as flying daggers, constantly assailing his protective spiritual energy.

Even more terrifying, five-zhang-long white luminous wings sprouted from Jiang Ning's back. Bathed in light, they illuminated the nine heavens, pristine and flawless, instantly catching up to him.

"Dreaming of escaping back to the South City? Dream on!"

She hovered a few zhang above the river surface in front of Li Weiyi, her aura reaching its peak state, and swung her sword.

A dazzling sword energy, dozens of meters long, like a solidified ripple, completely enveloped Li Weiyi's vision.

There was nowhere to hide.

Li Weiyi stood on the river surface, his combat technique manifestation appearing behind him as if standing on a turbulent sea, and swung his sword straight down.

"Taiyi Parts the Sea!"

"Boom!"

One horizontal, one vertical, two sword lights clashed.

Jiang Ning's sword energy was too dense, seemingly boundless.

Li Weiyi couldn't completely cleave through it and was struck by the residual sword energy. Fortunately, he had already activated his three-layered protective magical artifact battle-robes. His body flew backward, his chest feeling as if it had been struck horizontally by a wooden club.

In Burial Immortal Town, Jiang Ning already possessed the combat power to hunt down the Dragon Court.

Afterward, she continuously expanded her ancestral field, and her cultivation had been progressing for several months.

With her current strength, it was by no means easy for an ordinary legacy-level practitioner to escape from her grasp.

"It seems she really wants to severely wound me and personally expel me from the Hidden Dragon Lantern Festival. Yes, if I can't even get past her, how can I get past Ge Xiantong? She's assessing me!"

He couldn't fight her in an open area.

Li Weiyi left the river path, moved through the forest, then slipped into narrow alleys and hidden culverts, aiming to negate Jiang Ning's speed advantage from her luminous wings.

"Whoosh!"

Jiang Ning retracted her wings and landed on the ground, descending into the dense architectural jungle, disappearing from Li Weiyi's sight.

Li Weiyi felt a great sense of unease. He quickly released his spiritual sense perception, maximized his hearing and smell, and looked up at the inner city wall ahead, continuing south.

Suddenly, a warning sign emerged.

Hundreds of thousands of sword energies, like a tide, surged from the darkness.

It was unclear what sword technique Jiang Ning was using; it seemed she alone could withstand a thousand soldiers and ten thousand horses, and the spiritual energy within her body was many times denser than Li Weiyi's.

"Bang bang!"

Li Weiyi executed his footwork, continuously swinging his sword, defending impenetrably. He conjured a sword net in front of himself, shattering all the incoming sword energies.

Before his eyes, figures flickered like illusions.

Dozens of sword shadows appeared simultaneously, crisscrossing everywhere. Li Weiyi calmly observed, responding to the constant changes with steadfastness, and locked onto her most genuine sword strike.

This sword strike aimed directly for his wrist, intending to sever his tendons and prevent him from recovering his combat power for several days.

Li Weiyi formed a palm seal with his left hand, unleashing a golden-yellow divine seal condensed from palm force, intending to force Jiang Ning back. Jiang Ning did not retreat, her momentum undiminished, and she also struck out with a palm print from her left hand.

"Boom!"

The palm prints clashed, and spiritual energy surged outward.

Li Weiyi retreated a dozen zhang, his feet plowing a long furrow. His left arm, which had clashed with the palm force, was so painful it lost all sensation.

His sword-wielding right hand, though saved, still sustained a bloody cut that broke the skin.

Before he could circulate his energy to heal his numb left arm,

Jiang Ning unleashed another full-force sword strike.

Li Weiyi bravely met the attack.

The two swords violently collided, and Li Weiyi was forced to continuously retreat, ultimately crashing heavily against the inner city wall.

Jiang Ning transmitted her spiritual energy, "Do you understand the gap now?"

"In terms of speed alone, I don't think Ge Xiantong necessarily matches you. So the fact that you can always catch up to me doesn't prove anything," Li Weiyi said.

"Then let's go again."

Jiang Ning rapidly dragged her battle sword, the two blades rubbing together with a harsh screech, sparks flying. Then, she swung her sword upward, slashing toward his waist and abdomen.

Li Weiyi had long since cultivated the Ruyi Qiankun Sword to a very high level. Its techniques changed at will, and he blocked her sword, his body retreating like a swimming dragon toward the top of the city wall.

Jiang Ning followed like a shadow. Her Startling Feather Sword seemed to stick to his Yellow Dragon Sword. She pursued him onto the city wall, thrusting at his neck, and then transmitted her spiritual energy, "I haven't even used the Dragon Awakening Art yet!"

"Be careful!" Li Weiyi warned.

Jiang Ning's expression subtly changed. Spiritual energy burst from her body, instantly sending the seven attacking Phoenix-Winged Moth Emperors flying.

Li Weiyi seized the opportunity to retreat rapidly, creating distance between them.

In the brief exchange just now, he had already sustained internal injuries. Wiping blood from the corner of his mouth, he said, "What a formidable Feathered Immortal! Truly worthy of being the Second Palace Master's top disciple. But these injuries are nothing!"

Even though Jiang Ning knew Li Weiyi might now possess legacy-level combat power, she was still astonished that he could block so many of her sword strikes. In him, she saw a masculine aura that many eunuchs in the Imperial Court lacked.

Li Weiyi swung his left arm like a whip. After the spiritual energy circulated through his golden meridians, the pain and numbness vanished instantly.

His rapid recovery speed was another advantage that allowed him to dare to face opponents stronger than himself.

Seeing Jiang Ning's slender figure become blurry and unidentifiable, Li Weiyi felt a headache coming on.

Her speed was too fast!

Spiritual energy surged to his feet. Li Weiyi kicked off, his body rocketing upwards, appearing ten zhang high. As he ascended, a dragon shadow flashed beneath his feet.

He took a second step in mid-air, his body rising again and moving south.

A third step, a fourth step...

The Yellow Dragon Ascends to Heaven technique, covering ten zhang with each step, was incredibly fast.

This movement technique was so miraculous that the martial artists in the city had never heard of it nor seen it. In a short while, Li Weiyi seemed to ascend to the heavens, appearing below the low-hanging dark clouds, in a posture as if he intended to directly cross the city from hundreds of meters above the ground and return to the South City.

Unfortunately, he was facing Jiang Ning, who could fly.

After a brief moment of surprise, Jiang Ning spread her wings and flew, catching up to him. Behind her, a magnificent and mysterious pavilion and palace appeared as her combat technique manifestation.

The mere attack unleashed by her combat technique manifestation caused the spiritual energy within Li Weiyi's body to become chaotic, preventing him from further using the Yellow Dragon Ascends to Heaven technique, and he began to plummet toward the ground.

"The spiritual energy of the Fourth Sea is indeed problematic; it's very unstable."

Li Weiyi released clouds of spiritual energy from his feet, negating his downward momentum.

"Boom!"

He hit the ground heavily, causing the street to dent and crack over a large area.

Before he could get up,

Jiang Ning had already arrived above him. The two pursued and retreated, countless sword shadows flickering as they exchanged several moves.

"Swish! Swish..."

The seven Phoenix-Winged Moth Emperors arrived, like seven flying daggers, surrounding Jiang Ning.

Their body length was already very close to seven inches, just short of their final transformation. The combat power of each one was comparable to a human martial artist newly entering the Seventh Sea.

With all seven working together, their combat power was absolutely not to be underestimated.

They hadn't originally wanted to attack Jiang Ning, but Li Weiyi told them that only by staying could they get enough dragon bones and dragon seeds. These two types of food were enough to make their physical bodies even stronger and allow them to quickly transform into commander-level strange insects.

Li Weiyi and the seven Phoenix-Winged Moth Emperors joined forces. Eight forces collided with Jiang Ning's combat technique manifestation, causing the street to instantly explode, sending rubble flying everywhere.