With his current state, can he really make it out of Tianshui City

Li Yunzhi did not respond. He merely circulated the righteous qi within his body in silence.

He could sense that this old man was extremely dangerous.

“Please.”

The instant Ghost Hand finished speaking, his entire body vanished from the spot.

The next moment, the space behind Li Yunzhi twisted abruptly. A pitch-black palm reached out from the void, striking straight toward the back of his heart.

Countless phantoms of vengeful spirits coiled around that palm, shrieking miserably.

Without even turning his head, Li Yunzhi struck backward with one palm.

“Suppress Evil!”

A white palm print collided violently with the black ghost hand.

Boom!

A terrifying shockwave spread in every direction, deepening the cracks already covering the arena.

Li Yunzhi’s body swayed, and a thread of blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

Ghost Hand, however, had retreated to his original position without a scratch. A trace of mockery flickered through his dark eyes.

“Mr. Li’s righteous qi truly lives up to its reputation.”

“Unfortunately…”

He extended his tongue and licked his lips. “You’re already at the end of your strength.”

Before his voice had even faded, he attacked again.

This time, it was not a single hand, but dozens!

Countless black ghost hands reached out from the void, densely packed like locusts sweeping across the land, completely surrounding Li Yunzhi.

Li Yunzhi drew a deep breath. The righteous qi around his body surged wildly.

He formed hand seals, and the phantom of the Confucian scholar appeared behind him once more. Holding a bamboo slip, it swept it fiercely toward the ghost hands.

Countless streaks of azure light flew from the bamboo slip, transforming into invisible sharp swords that cut every one of the ghost hands to pieces.

Yet after being shattered, the ghost hands turned into black smoke and re-formed.

Moreover, there were even more of them than before!

“It’s useless.”

Ghost Hand’s voice came from every direction, carrying a hint of smugness. “These ghost hands of mine were refined from the vengeful souls of a thousand people. They cannot be destroyed or dispersed.”

“The more you kill, the stronger they become!”

Li Yunzhi’s expression darkened.

He could feel the righteous qi within his body being rapidly drained by those ghost hands.

If this continued, he would not be able to hold out for long.

“In that case…”

A trace of resolve flashed through Li Yunzhi’s eyes.

He suddenly bit through the tip of his tongue and sprayed a mouthful of vital blood onto the ink-jade bookmark.

The ink-jade bookmark hummed, and its azure radiance blazed brightly.

Old Ce’s phantom flew out from within it, his expression turning extremely grim.

“Old Li, have you gone mad? This will cost you your life!”

“It’s fine.”

Li Yunzhi brought both hands together.

“Righteousness fills Heaven and Earth; all arts shall be repelled—break!”

Boom—!!!

Terrifying righteous qi erupted from his body, transforming into a pillar of light that soared into the heavens and enveloped the entire arena.

Before this power, the ghost hands melted away like snow beneath the blazing sun.

Ghost Hand’s figure was forcibly driven out. His face was deathly pale, and black blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

“You…”

Before he could finish speaking, Li Yunzhi had already appeared before him.

Li Yunzhi joined his fingers together like a sword and thrust them straight toward Ghost Hand’s brow.

Ghost Hand’s pupils contracted sharply. He tried to dodge, only to discover that the righteous qi had locked down his entire body, leaving him completely unable to move.

“No—!”

Pfft!

Li Yunzhi’s fingertip pierced through Ghost Hand’s brow. Terrifying righteous qi poured into his sea of consciousness, instantly shredding his soul to pieces.

Ghost Hand’s body froze in place, the light in his eyes rapidly fading.

Thud!

His corpse fell to the ground.

Once again, only Li Yunzhi remained on the arena.

He stood there covered in blood, his aura feeble to the extreme.

Yet he remained standing.

“Next.”

The entire hall fell deathly silent.

Everyone had been shaken by what they had just witnessed.

At this moment, the refined middle-aged man resembled an undefeated god of war, standing unbowed upon the arena.

However—

“Mr. Li, you’ve worked hard.”

A gentle, jade-like voice rang out.

On the second floor, a young man dressed in a moon-white robe slowly stepped forward.

His features were handsome, and a warm smile curved his lips. He looked every inch the elegant young nobleman.

Yet the instant he appeared, the temperature throughout the entire Treasure Pavilion seemed to drop several degrees.

“It’s him…”

“The lord of Moonshadow Tower!”

Exclamations rose from the crowd.

Moonshadow Tower was an assassin organization infamous throughout the cultivation world.

And its lord was an existence spoken of only in legend.

It was said that he had never failed. Regardless of who his target was, once he made his move, death was certain.

“You…”

Li Yunzhi looked at him, and a trace of disappointment flashed through his eyes.

He knew that this battle would be difficult.

“Mr. Li, you’ve already done more than enough.”

The Moonshadow Tower Lord smiled as he walked onto the arena. “Leave the rest to me.”

He raised a hand and gave Li Yunzhi a gentle wave.

An invisible burst of force instantly slashed toward Li Yunzhi’s throat.

The attack was as swift as flowing light, silent and imperceptible, yet it contained an extreme sharpness capable of piercing through a mountain.

This was the way of an assassin: kill with a single strike and leave no room for mercy.

Yet Li Yunzhi neither dodged nor evaded.

His blood-stained eyes were fixed upon the Moonshadow Tower Lord. The righteous qi around him, already on the verge of dispersing, suddenly flared once more, blazing like oil set aflame!

He opened his mouth and spoke each word with crystalline force, his voice ringing like a great bell.

“Below, I shall become rivers and mountains—”

Boom!

A heavy aura, weighty as mountains, suddenly manifested across the arena. The fatal burst of force collided with it, producing a muffled boom before shattering inch by inch.

“Above, I shall become the sun and stars—”

Rather than retreat, Li Yunzhi advanced, taking one step forward. The entire Treasure Pavilion trembled beneath his foot.

The indistinct phantom of the Confucian scholar behind him suddenly solidified. Above its head, the sun, moon, and stars seemed to turn in rotation, radiance blazing in all directions!

“Among men, I shall be righteous—”

As the final word fell, Li Yunzhi’s fingers formed a sword. His body and dharma aspect became one, and he pointed down toward the Moonshadow Tower Lord, who stood drifting lightly before him.

Majestic and upright, brilliant and resplendent!

For the first time, the warm smile that had always adorned the Moonshadow Tower Lord’s face turned solemn.

He did not meet the attack head-on. His body drifted backward like a falling leaf.

At the same time, his hands swept through the air before him, tracing one profound arc after another. Dozens of invisible blades of force, even more condensed than those before, wove together like a spider’s web and sealed off every path around Li Yunzhi.

Clang, clang, clang, clang—

A dense series of impacts rang out.

Li Yunzhi’s fingertip shattered blade after blade, yet his momentum did not diminish in the slightest.

The Moonshadow Tower Lord’s figure, meanwhile, flickered continuously across the arena. Every time he appeared, he left behind a lethal attack; every time he retreated, he seemed utterly composed.

The battle between the two was completely different from the bloody slaughter that had come before.

One fought with broad, sweeping movements and overwhelming momentum, seemingly representing the righteous path of Heaven and Earth as it cleansed all filth from existence.

The other was elusive and unpredictable, every move aimed at killing, like a venomous snake lurking in the shadows, waiting only for the instant a flaw appeared.

Terrifying waves of residual energy continued to spread, completely tearing apart the arena, which was already in ruins.

Countless stones shot outward, striking the protective formation around the first-floor hall and sending ripples across its surface.

Even with the formation shielding them, the cultivators standing nearby still had their blood and qi thrown into turmoil, their faces turning pale.

Many could not withstand the pressure and scrambled backward, rolling and crawling away for fear of being caught in the crossfire.

The entire first-floor hall instantly descended into chaos.

Pfft—

On the arena, Li Yunzhi spat out another mouthful of blood.

His righteous qi was powerful, but in the end, it was a tree without roots.

Several wounds had already appeared on his scholar’s robe, each deep enough to expose bone. They had been inflicted by the invisible blades of qi wielded by the Moonshadow Tower Lord.

Across from him, the Moonshadow Tower Lord was in no better condition.

The cuff of his moon-white robe had been scorched through by the righteous qi, and wisps of black smoke curled from the hole.

The hand hidden within his sleeve was trembling slightly.

The two men faced each other from a distance, both breathing somewhat raggedly.

“Cough… cough…”

Li Yunzhi coughed violently. With every cough, flecks of blood sprayed from his mouth.

Yet he still stood straight, like a spear that would rather break than bend.

The Moonshadow Tower Lord looked at him. After a moment of silence, he suddenly smiled.

Facing Li Yunzhi, he bowed slightly.

“I intended to take advantage of the situation. Who would have thought I’d only end up making a fool of myself?”

He shook his head, his tone carrying a hint of self-mockery, as well as sincere admiration.

“Sir Li’s path is pure—and powerful.”

“There’s no need to continue fighting.”

“I’m a man who loves money, but I also believe there’s a proper way to take it.”

“There’s no need for me to throw my life away here.”

“I also wish you success in every battle to come.”

He couldn’t be certain that Li Yunzhi truly intended to defend this place to the death.

A Mahayana cultivator who had no fear of sacrificing his life was still extremely terrifying.

The enormous amount of spirit stones was certainly tempting, but a Mahayana cultivator was already at the limit beneath the True Immortal realm.

Besides, he himself was not short of money.

Taking these spirit stones would merely improve his life from very good to exceptionally good.

It would not bring about any fundamental change.

So there was no need to keep fighting.

With that, he truly turned around. His figure flickered, and he drifted off the arena like a ghost. After several flashes, he vanished from everyone’s sight.

The entire hall once again fell into deathly silence.

He won?

Li Yunzhi… had won again?

He had defeated the Shu family’s strongest blade and forced back the legendary Moonshadow Tower Lord!

At that moment, everyone’s gaze changed as they looked at the bloodstained figure standing on the arena.

It was no longer mere awe. There was now also a trace of fear that came from the depths of their hearts.

This man was a madman!

Li Yunzhi stood in the center of the battered arena, his chest heaving violently.

He paid no attention to the complicated looks from those below.

He merely raised his head and once again swept his gaze across the silent private rooms on the second floor.

He had not been praying that his previous battle had intimidated everyone so thoroughly that no one would take the stage, allowing him a moment to catch his breath—or even enabling him to win outright.

He simply raised his bloodstained finger and pointed toward the darkness that was still stirring restlessly.

Then, in a hoarse voice that was almost impossible to hear, yet somehow reached every ear in the hall, he issued his challenge.

“Who’s next?”

…

In a corner of the hall.

Su Jiu’s small hands were clenched tightly around the hem of her clothes, mist clouding her fox-like eyes.

“Senior Brother… can he still win in the end?”

Women were, after all, emotional creatures.

In her eyes, the scholar on the arena, who had charged forward despite facing countless enemies, possessed an indescribably tragic and poignant beauty.

Though she had never met him before, she still hoped he would reach a good ending.

Su Ji hesitated for a moment. Seeing that his junior sister looked as though she was about to cry, he decided to tell her the truth.

“He can keep winning for a while. He might even win all the way to the end.”

Su Jiu’s eyes brightened at once.

“But he’ll most likely die today.”

Su Ji’s next words were like a basin of icy water, extinguishing the flame of hope that had just begun to burn.

“Or rather, any lone Mahayana cultivator—even one at the peak of the Mahayana realm—has no chance of leaving Tianshui City alive.”

Su Jiu froze and looked at him in confusion.

But Su Ji offered no further explanation.

He leaned back against his chair again and even yawned, utterly out of place amid the tense, oppressive atmosphere around them.

“You should watch the person on the arena carefully as well. Seeing experts like these fight at close range will do you good.”

“I’m going to sleep for a while.”

“Wake me after two and a half shichen.”

Two and a half shichen.

To a mortal, it might have been only half a night.

But to Li Yunzhi on the arena, it was as long as a full cycle of reincarnation.

Su Jiu nudged Su Ji’s arm right on time.

“Senior Brother, the time’s up.”

Su Ji opened his eyes, his gaze settling on the center of the arena.

That figure was still standing.

Only, the once-pristine scholar’s robe had now been soaked through with blood, hardening into patches of dark red. It was impossible to tell how much belonged to him and how much belonged to his opponents.

There were too many wounds on his body to count. The deepest ran from his left shoulder to his right abdomen, nearly splitting him open. Pale white bone showed through the gruesome tear.

Yet he continued to stand, like an evergreen rooted in a mire of flesh and blood. His body swayed, but he never bent even slightly.

On the high platform, Tong Xiaoxiao bit down hard on her lower lip.

She did not understand the limits of a Mahayana cultivator.

But she could see the wounds left by every blade and every sword. She could see the drops of blood falling onto the arena.

She had never imagined that Li Yunzhi would truly fight through an entire night for the sake of a single promise.

She had thought herself merely a drowning person, blindly clutching at any piece of driftwood within reach.

Who could have imagined that this piece of driftwood would truly hold up a sky that was on the verge of collapse?

“Dong—”

A long, resonant bell rang out through the Treasure-Gathering Pavilion.

Time was up.

No one dared to take the stage again.

Beneath the arena, the crowd that had once been clamorous had fallen completely silent.

Everyone’s eyes were fixed on that blood-red figure.

Shock, awe, disbelief…

He had won?

Under a relentless succession of challengers, after being besieged by dozens of opponents of the same level, this seemingly refined, gentle scholar had actually held the arena!

Li Yunzhi breathed heavily.

He slowly raised his head and swept his gaze across the silent private rooms on the second floor. His voice was so hoarse it was almost inaudible.

“Who’s next?”

No one answered.

It wasn’t that they didn’t want to.

Nor was it that they didn’t dare.

There was simply no need anymore.

The incense had burned out, and the rules had been set.

On the high platform, Tong Qiannian’s lips trembled as he prepared to announce the result.

“Sir Li, you’ve worked hard.”

“Brother Tong, I’m afraid it’s too early to offer congratulations.”

A calm voice rang out without warning. Yet it was like a basin of icy water, extinguishing the last trace of warmth that had just begun to fill the hall.

On the second floor, the window of the Shu family’s private room opened silently.

Shu Wanjuan stood there in a black robe, his hands clasped behind his back and a gentle smile on his face. Perhaps, to him, the bloody battle just now had been nothing more than harmless entertainment.

“Don’t forget the rules you set yourself.”

“Winning the arena means nothing.”

“At most, it gives him the right to take the token and the ancient sword.”

“In his current condition, can he really make it out of Tianshui City alive?”