Choushi seemed calm, save for his sharp gaze directed at Ruoxi who was coming from far away.

　　Even though she was still a young girl, there was no denying that she was a true beauty.

　　She had waist-length hair and impeccable features. A portion of pine branch was in her hand, and it swayed in the wind. She looked just like Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara who held willow branches in her hand and was equally graceful. In the night lit by moonlight, there seemed to be dews seeping out.

　　When Ruoxi stepped into the venue, dark clouds shielded the moonlight and sent the world into darkness.

　　In this low-light situation, one could only sense the opponent with one’s divine thoughts.

　　However, Ruoxi had disappeared the moment she walked in.

　　Initially, Choushi had prepared plenty of Dao techniques and was ready to use them. He did not expect to lose his target. He remained calm as he gestured the Dao formula with his hands. Suddenly, the clouds and wind shifted. Immeasurable divine aura struck.

　　The divine aura was like rainbows flying across the sky, or iron rope extending across the river; it seemed to be alive. It was bending all over the place; from the ground to the clouds and the sky, it was everywhere.

　　Gu Caiwei sighed, “He is not cultivating Taixu Strategy, and yet he could use three Dao techniques of different nature – cloud, water, and wind. This is very curious indeed.”

　　The eight Qis of Taixu Strategy were the sky, earth, mountain, swamp, water, fire, wind, and lightning respectively. This was the reason why it was so easy for the user to perform Dao techniques of varying nature. Moreover, the eight Qis had different qualities to them. Hence, it was possible for the user to manipulate the different types of Dao techniques at the same time with ease.

　　The Spotted Laurel Technique cultivated by Choushi was remarkable due to his amassment of mana, but it was not quite possible for him to operate Dao techniques of varying nature.

　　It was obvious that he had some other form of Dharma that allowed him to transform his technique.

　　However, Gu Caiwei could tell that Choushi was only capable of this because of the strength of his divine thoughts. This was why he could multitask.

　　However, if his secret technique was similar to Taixu Strategy, he would not have to put in so much effort.

　　Choushi went all out. He engaged his divine thoughts and Dao techniques of three different nature just to force Ruoxi to show herself.

　　However, Ruoxi took advantage of the timing and made use of the moment where the dark clouds had shielded the moon. That in itself gave her a head start. This showed that Ruoxi was definitely ahead of Choushi in terms of making use of the Qi dynamic of heaven and earth.

　　A battle between Dao practitioners were more than mere spells and techniques. The Dao practitioner would have to make use of the timing and take advantage of the favorable climatic and geographical conditions. If one were to excel in the latter aspects, one would have to work on one’s attainment and state.

　　The disciples who were spectating could not compare to the both of them in terms of capabilities, but they were still a part of Qing Xuan. Since young, they had been exposed to various theories about Dao. Hence, they only needed to ponder briefly on the current situation to understand what was happening.

　　Initially, Choushi was conserving his strength and building up to the moment where his Junior Apprentice-Sister Shen had arrived. Then, he would charge at her like a rolling river. He was planning to keep her in a disadvantageous position by launching endless rounds of attacks at her. Moreover, with Choushi’s deep mana, it was unlikely that his pace of attack would slow down.

　　Sooner or later, Junior Apprentice-Sister Shen would lose her ground and show an opening. If that happened, Choushi had a high chance of winning. However, even though Choushi was still attacking now, he did it out of necessity and not out of choice. It was not just to trace Ruoxi down, but he was attacking in order to make sure that there was no opening that Ruoxi could take advantage of. In essence, he was actually playing defense.

　　Junior Apprentice-Sister Shen was able to make use of the natural phenomenon – the veiling of the moon by the clouds. With that, she turned her defensive stance into an offensive stance.

　　Of course, Junior Apprentice-Sister Shen would have to be able to hide her vital force perfectly in the dark. Her tactic relied on her ability to achieve that.

　　The wind and clouds stirred, and it affected beyond the battle venue. The Qi dynamic shot through the clouds and disturbed the clouds that were veiling the moon.

　　Some disciples were in awe of Choushi’s state of attainment and his impressive wealth of mana.

　　The gathering of the dark clouds was caused by the convergence of the Qi dynamic of Yin and Yang. Choushi had used his own Qi dynamic to trigger the explosion of the Yin and Yang convergence of the dark clouds.

　　A lightning struck and the thunder shook the cloud platform.

　　Under the Divine Thunder, the power of the spiritual Dao technique that Ruoxi had mastered would be severely discounted. At the same time, the cloud platform made out of clouds was situated high up in the air. As it was not far from the dark clouds in the first place, it was affected as well. It was charged with thunder and lightning.

　　This caused the battle venue to experience the brightness of the day. It also gave rise to chaotic Qi dynamic which had disturbed Ruoxi.

　　The disciples who were spectating saw the strong lightning, which illuminated Junior Apprentice-Sister Shen’s face – she was calm and unaffected.

　　Her pine branch swayed gently and gracefully. Its overlapping shadows traveled at least one hundred feet, shattering both the lightning and divine aura emitted by Choushi.

　　Despite the lack of manifestation of her murderous intent, but the disciples who were spectating knew that if they were the one who was caught in this situation, they would definitely have lost to this move.

　　Choushi’s face darkened. A small hole appeared on his sleeve. Junior Apprentice-Sister Shen’s move earlier had gotten close enough to him. Its speed and precision were above that of Zhao Siming.

　　At the same time, the sword aura emitted by the pine branch altered the balance of Yin and Yang. It had eliminated the Qi dynamic of Yin and Yang within the clouds through the Technique of Two Poles.

　　This had effectively calmed the lightning and thunder.

　　Being the calculative person that he was, he was not too disappointed.

　　He shook his Dao robes and his mana started rolling like a powerful river.

　　A gust of dark green smoke was coming out from the top of his head. Immediately, it transformed into countless small and intense sword aura. They charged at Ruoxi – just as how the autumn wind would caress the fallen leaves.

　　Gu Caiwei remarked surprisingly, “He even learned Chang Qingzi’s ‘Sword Aura of Green Smoke’.”

　　Of course, Shen Lian had heard about Chang Qingzi. He enjoyed quite a reputation in the cultivation community. His real name was Li Shouzhuo and was an orphan. However, he had an unexpected encounter, in which he had ingested a demonic elixir. Not only did he survive, he was a changed man. He managed to build up a solid Dao foundation. Subsequently, he cultivated to the point of awakened entrance and started having mana.

　　After, he started to seek out the celestials and learn about Daoism. He had traveled through all of the famous mountains and huge rivers. However, due to his age and his previous informal methods of martial exercises, the hint of malicious Qi in his Dao foundation that stemmed from the demonic elixir remained. Hence, he was not taken in by any of the celestial sects. In the end, he lost the drive and retired in a quiet village after getting married to a normal woman.

　　One day, after coming back from visiting his friend, he found that everyone in his village, his family included, had been massacred by a demon clan.

　　The demon clan was a shape-shifting demon king. At that point in time, he was not equipped to do anything. However, after stumbling across a nameless sword scripture by chance and having attained Huandan, he set out to seek revenge on the demon king. Since then, he hated all of the demon clans in the world and would kill every demon that he came across.

　　His temperament was extreme and he found himself in constant solitude. At last, he set out at sea and there was no news about him in hundreds of years.

　　However, before he set out, he had his last battle at a huge desert. The swordcraft he was using back then was the Sword Aura of Green Smoke. He made a name for himself by slaying a doyen from the Green Lotus Sword Sect.

　　The Green Lotus Codex of the Sword of Green Lotus Sword Sect was a remarkable offense technique. In that battle, the Sword Aura of Green Smoke triumphed over it. It was no surprise that the world was shocked.

　　Choushi remained static and his gaze was intense. The numerous sword auras were slashing all over the sky. There were even ravines in the clouds created by Shen Lian.

　　Some disciples were worried for Junior Apprentice-Sister Shen and hoped that she would emerge unscathed.