All of a sudden, a golden light overflowed and lit up half of the skies while dimming the Milky Way at the same time. Even the bright moon lost its shine. Within that golden light, there was a vast and majestic female deity clad in a dragon robe with an imperial crown on her head, in her hand was an imperial seal. She suddenly appeared in midair.

　　The never-ending golden light came from the imperial seal in her hands.

　　The incoming figure was naturally the Empress. Now, she was the God of the Qingshui River. It could also be said that she was half a Dragon King.

　　The Dragon King was different than a real dragon. It receives instructions from the heavens and it controls the great rivers. It receives the consecrate of prayers from the valley that spans thirty thousand miles and its mana was close to limitless.

　　Of course, once the Dragon King was further away from his river area, his mana would weaken as it was harder to get the force from prayers.

　　Also, the Dragon King would lose the support of the spiritual force of the Qingshui River once it left the river area. It would not be as formidable as celestials and Buddha and even by leaving the river area, there was a risk of dying.

　　Guangfa did not expect that this new river god would undertake this matter so fearlessly and vigorously on behalf of Shen Lian. It was even hard to predict that the river god would come this quickly. Furthermore, he did not even detect anything at all when Shen Lian informed the river god to arrive.

　　One miscalculation turned into many miscalculations.

　　He had compared Shen Lian against his own self, so he clearly could not understand this friendship where one could trust another with one’s own life and death.

　　The Empress was as though a representation of the bright heavens. Her eyes were indifferent and merciless as she quietly stood in midair. There was a monstrous force that swept down and circled Guangda.

　　Guangfa calmed down during this moment on the contrary. He converged his thoughts, his hands started nipping out formula while his mouth recited chants. Suddenly, a black cloud appeared in the sky and a streak of lightly descended from it and brutally cleaved towards the Empress.

　　This was the ‘Yuxiao Deity Thunder Incantation’. It was considered a superb technique amongst other thunder techniques.

　　But when the lightning ray struck on the golden light, nothing happened. When in contrary, the golden light from the imperial seal glowed even more and absorbed the lightning ray.

　　In the end, the imperial seal continuously expanded and flew to the sky until it reached the top of Guangfa’s head. It vehemently landed.

　　It seemed like it wanted to subdue Daoist Guangfa so that he could not turn over a new leaf for a very long time.

　　Shen Lian swung his sword with both his hands, the endless Qi of heaven and earth condensed and the mana in his entire body boiled. Anomalies of the wind, thunder, water, and fire flashed before one another consecutively and it finally condensed into an earthshaking sword gleam. The unmatched sharpness of the sword will was remotely locked on Guangfa.

　　The two peerless powerhouses were enough to cause the mountain to crumble and the earth to break when they made their moves. They also caused the lake water of this area to dry up.

　　The imperial seal in the sky above had the aura to subdue all living beings. Not far away was Shen Lian’s peerless sword gleam that was enough to split the mountains open and to crush Guangfa’s Daoist body.

　　He had almost fallen into a hopeless state of absolute death.

　　Initially, when the imperial seal vehemently came crashing down, there was the Qi of Xuanqing that transformed into a High Cloud to support the imperial seal.

　　But Shen Lian’s unmatched sword will attack his mind and spirit.

　　The confrontation of the spirit was much dangerous than the subduing of the imperial seal.

　　He conjured up his mana to fight against the imperial seal. He also needed to divide his mind and spirit to fight against Shen Lian’s supreme Heart of Sword technique. Furthermore, he did not know when the sword gleam that was condensed by Shen Lian would be shot.

　　He did not even have the chance to pull himself out as he waited for that deracinating blow.

　　Because he would only have that chance when the other’s momentum had come down from its peak.

　　Under these circumstances, the imperial seal came crashing down inch by inch, causing the High Cloud above Guangfa to disappear inch by inch, collapsing like the cumulus clouds.

　　It was also wearing out his mana wisp by wisp, causing him to gradually lose the ability to fight back.

　　Both of Guangfa’s eyes were bloodshot, as the essence and blood of his body boiled. His mouth was mumbling as his vigor continuously evaporated, supplying him with formidable mana. The High Cloud made from the Qi of Xuanqing gradually had the color of blood appearing and it strengthened back to its original state. The Shifting Flood Dragon Pole landed underneath his foot and transformed into a silver lotus with three petals. It supported him.

　　At the same time, uncountable silver streaks circulated and guarded Guangfa.

　　However, his facial complexion turned from red to white. The silver streaks of the silver lotus gradually dispelled under the pressure of the imperial seal, the Renwang Imperial Seal.

　　During this moment, there was a melodious singing that rang in the sky:

　　“The bright moon by the side of the clear pond, the green willow and the peach blossom by the shore.

　　It had a certain clean taste, there were a few floating red clouds high up in the air.”

　　“Zhenren Shen, please have mercy. Daoist Mu Zhenzi is here to greet you.”

　　The singing stopped and far away in the skies, there was a break of the dawn light. A white cloud leisurely approach and there were two people on top of it. One of them was the incarnation of Yanxu, Qingwei. He was looking at Shen Lian with mirth.

　　Another person had a kerchief on his head and his Dao robes were wide. His sleeves fluttered and he wore a pair of straw sandals and held a bamboo stick in his hand. He certainly has the manner of a celestial.

　　It was the other pupil of Guangfa’s master, Mu Zhenzi.

　　Shen Lian hummed silently and the condensed sword gleam viciously attacked Guangfa. At the same time, he spilled out a thunder rune and the sky full of lightning rays to block Mu Zhenzi’s way.

　　The lightning cracked and flashed, separating the sky. Following that, the Empress and Shen Lian vanished without a trace.

　　When Shen Lian saw Yanxu appeared, he already knew that things were going to be impossible. He was decisive and did not drag on, he telepathically told the Empress to retreat with him.

　　The sword gleam was very formidable as it directly broke through the silver streaks that surrounded Guangfa.

　　There was a long gash in the front of Guangfa’s chest. This sword mark that appeared on the fair and supple skin faintly had some of the sword gleam lingering in it.

　　He continuously vomited mouthful of fresh blood, with some white essence of the blood mixed with it. His face was ashen like paper and his silver lotus treasure was on the verge of tethering.

　　Mu Zhenzi waved his flocket and there was mana being inserted into Guangfa. Since they were from the same order, Guangfa’s injuries were soon stabilized. However, without ten or twenty years of laborious practice, it was hard to recuperate.

　　Furthermore, this battle was a major setback for him. That was because while he was confronting Shen Lian, he was being subdued since the beginning till the end. This was very disadvantageous for his later cultivation.

　　Guangfa’s look was of regret and his voice was very weak. It was close to being broken as he asked, “How did you get here in time?”

　　Mu Zhenzi pointed towards Yanxu and answered, “It is all thanks to Junior Apprentice-Brother Qingwei that I could make it here in time.”

　　Guangfa cupped his hands towards Yanxu as a sign of respect, “Thank you, Junior Apprentice-Brother Qingwei.”

　　Yanxu sounded very concerned, “You do not need to be so courteous to me, it is my duty as the junior. I already foresee that Shen Lian would be difficult to deal with so when I saw him coming, I immediately gave Senior Apprentice-Brother Mu Zhenzi a message. Luckily, he made it on time.”

　　Guangfa nodded. The three of them sighed for a while and then went off on the cloud.

　　It was not long after that Shen Lian arrived at the Qingshui River with the Empress. This was the Empress’s territory. Unless it was the Guangqing immortal Zhenren that made the move, or else it did not matter how many people come, it would be hard to contend with the Empress here.

　　She had a curious look on her face as she inquired, “Why would you let them go like that? You should know that this time, as long as you and I collaborated, there is still a big chance that they would stay even if Mu Zhenzi came.”

　　She could not simply leave the river area. Today was an excellent opportunity to take them down, hence she did not expect that Shen Lian would so easily retreat.

　　It was truly not his usual style of doing things.

　　Shen Lian asked, “You saw the young man beside Mu Zhenzi?”

　　The Empress answered properly, “That person’s Qi of Dao is pure and would be considered a genius figure, but he hardly poses a threat to you and me.”

　　“Actually, there is one matter that I did not make it clear to you. That young man is none other than the traitor of Qing Xuan. His Dao name is ‘Yanxu’. Even though he is not from the school of the Celestials and Buddha but the ordinary immortal Zhenren could not do anything to him either. Furthermore, he is very well versed in the many secrets of Qing Xuan. I only did not think that he could be this deceiving and enter the Guangqing Sect. The formidable foe that I faced last time was him.” Shen Lian explained plainly.

　　The Empress asked, “Then what is the purpose of joining Guangqing?”

　　Shen Lian quietly replied, “This is also the one thing that is hard for me to understand, because there are the five immortal Zhenrens in Guangqing, even though his supernatural powers are hard to detect, it would still be like walking on thin ice by being there. If it was because of some Dao techniques, it would not make sense for him to remain there for so long. After all, with his methods, he does not need too much time to get Guangqing’s true teachings. Not only that, Guangqing’s cultural inheritance is almost the same as us, Qing Xuan.”

　　“No matter what, it seemed like that person is an enemy and not an ally. Also, with your identity, it would be hard to expose him. Are you going to let him have his way like this?” She had always been someone who acted in a sweeping manner. Now that she had separated ally from foe, she would not hesitate to get rid of the enemy. That was why she would say this.

　　Shen Lian answered, “It is actually a good thing that he had been found out by me. Doesn’t matter if he is exposed or not, he is already in the open. Also, he was also the one who was pushing in this matter with Guangfa. However, it was most likely that Guangfa did not notice that the one pushing from behind was actually Yanxu. He still thought about letting me be suspicious of the other people in Qing Xuan and leaked out information that is related to me.”

　　“What good does this do for him? If he wanted to deal with you, he should have appeared from the beginning and not wait until the arrival of Mu Zhenzi and allowed us to also injure Guangfa,” the empress pointed out another suspicious point.

　　A gleam flashed pass Shen Lian’s eyes and he asked, “How did Huang Longzi escape from your clutches?”

　　The Empress answered, “He escaped by himself. But there was something fishy going on because originally, he had already exhausted all his options but with reasons unknown, he had a little bit more strength and forcefully severed half his body to escape from me.”

　　Shen Lian sighed, “Guangfa was also injured today.”

　　The Empress pondered for a while and said, “These two matters are related.”

　　“I’m afraid we had become his helpers. Or rather, his target is not only on me but the masters in Guangqing. As for why, I fear only he himself is clear about that.” Even though Shen Lian was catching onto something, it was still not the complete picture.

　　Even though Yanxu’s way of doing things seemed outrageous, but there was still some kind of purpose to it. For example, when he first encountered Yanxu, the other had given him the Qi Instrument when in actual fact, it was the Jingguang Temple’s relic.

　　Even though Guangfa was known for being the most resourceful amongst the twelve Zhenrens, but compared to Yanxu, he was but a small firefly glow. He was nowhere close to Yanxu who was as bright as the moon.

　　The Empress followed, “No matter what schemes he has, as long as you attained longevity within ten or twenty years, everything would be resolved. After all, those who have the biggest stick in this world could sprout their principles.”

　　Shen Lian nodded, “It is indeed so. Once I am done with this Qingjiang matter, I will return to the mountain gates and settle down to cultivate for a period of time. This month, you and I can properly exchange the gained knowledge from cultivation.”

　　“I have that intention too.”

　　The two spoke for a while and the moon began the set westwards. It seemed that it was approaching dawn and Shen Lian took his leave. He leaped into the sky and arrived at the Qingjiang Sword Sect that was beside the Qingshui River.

　　He entered his compound and saw that there was still a candlelight burning. Ruoxi was leaning on the table while practicing her calligraphy.

　　Shen Lian asked nice, “What are you writing?”

　　Ruoxi answered, “Uncle, you are different from what the poem says.”

　　He then saw a poem written on the white paper.

　　“Zhuoshu with the thick eyebrows spoke like thunder, once he heard of the news of unfairness he then put his cup down.

　　He took his sword and went a thousand miles through the sky. He left in the evening and will return at night.”

　　Ruoxi said very seriously, “Uncle, you left in the evening and you only come back now at dawn.”

　　When Shen Lian heard this, he regretted in silence about the fact that he should not have told her about stories on Sword Celestials. The corner of his lips twitched as he said, “Go to bed.”