One Hand to Suppress Su Changqing

A cultivator who uses a sword and possesses sword intent is actually not a sword cultivator!

This was something Qin Ran could not understand.

But when he raised his head to look at the mana net that had dropped down, he knew that he was locked in place by the mana net and had nowhere to escape. So he knew that Su Changqing was not lying.

Judging only by this one mana restrictive technique, one could know that his attainments in mystic arts were no weaker than his sword skills.

"Realm of Illusions!"

But restrictive techniques could also be broken through...

Qin Ran's eyes flashed with a stellar radiance. He did not cast an illusion technique on Su Changqing, but rather cast it on the mana net that had dropped down instead.

Although his soul was not one hundred percent congruent with his fleshly body, his soul was sufficiently powerful.

Firstly, his soul was the soul of a modern person fused with the soul of someone from this world, so it already possessed the combined power of two souls to begin with. Secondly, he had been continuously cultivating the unnamed soul refinement mantra from Dan Peak.

With such a powerful soul, matched with the Mystic Eyes illusory techniques of the Realm of Illusions, he was actually able to plunge the net into an illusory realm. The net was thrown off balance and suddenly skewed, falling off to the side.

"Qin brother's command of techniques is truly unconstrained by convention!" Su Changqing praised.

And upon seeing that Su Changqing's net had failed, Bai Ruoxi raised her sword and flew out from within Su Changqing's mana barrier, stabbing towards Qin Ran.

"Soaring Feathers!"

A white radiance shone from her body as countless white feathers manifested, enveloping her and transforming her into a massive white feather sword.

That gigantic white feather sword moved with astounding speed, its sword tip stabbing into Qin Ran.

"So your true body is here!" Bai Ruoxi said resentfully. "Let's see how you try to wheedle your way out!"

She then saw Qin Ran explode into smithereens with a rumbling blast, his entire person disintegrating into countless doppelgangers that fled in all directions. When she looked ahead once more, Qin Ran's figure was nowhere to be seen.

"He can even escape from this?" She truly could not believe it.

"He won't get away!" Su Changqing stretched out a hand. The mournful roar of a divine dragon rang out as he grasped. "Capturing Dragon Palm..."

"Roar!"

Qin Ran, who had been disguising himself as a doppelganger amidst the fog, suddenly froze. Next, he felt the fog around him constricting inwards. He looked up to see the fog rapidly taking shape, transforming into a gigantic dragon claw that grabbed him and fiercely slammed him into the ground.

"Bang!"

Before he could even react, a misty white dragon claw had him pressed flat against the floor.

"What an amazing grapple!" Bai Ruoxi appraised with a word of praise. Brandishing her sword, she charged over.

She had yet to arrive herself when her White Feather Sword Qi arrived first, slashing straight towards Qin Ran's head.

"Dreamlike Waters of Clarity!"

Qin Ran shouted out sternly. A transparent water barrier coalesced over his head, blocking Bai Ruoxi's White Feather Sword Qi before vanishing alongside it in a burst of water droplets.

Beyond the confrontation between the white feathers and water droplets, Bai Ruoxi flew over sword-first, stabbing towards him once more.

"Illusory Bubble Shadows!"

As he spoke out loud, the bubbles wrapped around Qin Ran's body rapidly expanded, forcing open a gap between the dragon's claws even as they blocked Bai Ruoxi's sword strike.

Qin Ran pushed hard against the ground, and while the dragon claw was distended by the bubbles, he exerted himself fully to flip the dragon claw right over!

"Waters of Fleeting Years..."

Without pausing for but a moment, he immediately used a technique to merge into the fog, vanishing from sight. He then swiftly re-emerged from within the mist by Bai Ruoxi's side, his hands raised up as he smashed the Nine Provinces Cauldron straight towards Bai Ruoxi.

"Feathered Wings!"

Bai Ruoxi gripped her sword with both hands, sword radiance flowing over her body. A pair of white wings abruptly sprouted from her back, with every feather upon the wings being condensed sword qi.

As Qin Ran's cauldron smashed down, it just so happened to land upon this pair of wings. The wings instantly scattered apart into motes under the impact, and the innumerable sword feathers swirled back towards Qin Ran!

"Oh shoot!"

Before Qin Ran could react, his clothes had been shredded to pieces in but a moment. The swirling sword qi swept in once more, carving out streak after streak of bloody gashes, together with bursts of red lightning.

His mortal fleshly body was forged from tribulatory lightning. Faint traces of lightning still remained within.

Relying on the toughness of his fleshly body, Qin Ran forcefully endured a wave of sword qi, carrying streaks of crimson tribulatory lightning along with him as he fled into the fog. When he reemerged, he had already changed into a fresh set of clothes, hiding away the numerous fine sword wounds all over his body as he reappeared at another spot.

In that brief skirmish, both sides had unleashed several mystic techniques in a flash. Yet Qin Ran, with his lone self, had directly confronted Bai Ruoxi and Su Changqing head-on before making a "clean getaway".

How should this be put?

Based on that clash, Qin Ran could at the very least boast about it for...ten years!

"Let me tell you, regarding that Su Changqing fellow who was the personal disciple of some Lingnan Immortal Sect or whatever, it's said that he has no peers among his contemporaries and possesses the bearing of an immortal. But so what? I subdued him with just a single hand. You ask why I only used a single hand? Because my other hand was also simultaneously subduing his fellow disciple of equal talent."

Qin Ran came to a stop midair, his face sunken and severe. Yet another bubble slowly coalesced, enveloping him once more...obscuring the fog whilst also binding his wounds.

During that clash, Bai Ruoxi's sword had slashed apart the bubble, allowing Qin Ran to come into direct contact with the fog of this land of immortal legacies for the first time. And unlike ordinary people, he had deliberately merged into the fog by using the Waters of Fleeting Years technique, which could not merely be considered "direct contact". It was practically "intertwining intimacy". Hence, his perceptions were clearer than what Su Changqing and the rest felt.

And Su Changqing had not lied to him. This fog really could devour mana, or rather, cultivation bases!

In that brief moment when he had merged into the fog, a whole layer of his golden core had been gnawed away.

No wonder even someone as powerful as Su Changqing still had to sit down and drive the fog away with techniques.

"Qin brother's command and variety of techniques is truly enviable!" Upon seeing Qin Ran using another bubble to insulate himself from the fog once more, Su Changqing remarked, "Can you feel the might of this fog now?"

When he heard Su Changqing's words, Qin Ran suddenly realized something. He laughed and replied, "My bubbles can insulate me from the fog for a long period, leaving me unaffected by it. But what about you?"

"Qin brother, thank you for reminding me of this!"

Su Changqing also laughed. He got to his feet and beckoned with a raised hand, summoning up a bubble above his palm.

This bubble was about the same as Qin Ran's bubbles. However, while Qin Ran's were colorless and transparent, much like water bubbles, Su Changqing's bubble was silvery-gray, similar to the color of his previously unleashed Sword Qi.

Su Changqing focused his will, causing the bubble to expand until he could fit inside it. He then manipulated the bubble to cling tightly to his body, coating himself in a layer of silvery-grey "skin".

"What do you think?" He asked Qin Ran. "Does this technique, Illusory Bubble Shadows, meet your approval?"

"You, how can you...?!" This was yet another thing beyond Qin Ran's expectations. His expression unchanged, he questioned Su Changqing, "The myriad phenomena of this world, I encompass and expand them with creativity!" Su Changqing replied. "Qin brother, this is what is meant by the 'Dao of Creation Scripture'!"

"Dao...Dao Scripture?" Upon hearing these two words, Qin Ran shuddered in fright uncontrollably. This Su Changqing was even more terrifying than he had imagined.

"You cultivate...a Dao Scripture as your fundamental technique?!"

What exactly was a Dao Scripture?

Cultivation was exactly the act of seeking immortality and inquiring on the Dao, striving to attain immortality whilst probing ever deeper into the Dao.

The "Dao" within Dao Scripture referred to the act of seeking immortality and inquiring on the Dao.

The Dao that can be spoken is not the eternal Dao. The name that can be named is not the eternal name.

The true Dao was unspeakable, unhearable, invisible, unfathomable.

As for Dao Scriptures, they represented the enlightened understandings on the Great Dao attained by those who had reached the end of the cultivation path, which they then spoke out to teach others.

In a certain sense, Dao Scriptures could be considered "visualizable Daos".

Although by articulating it out in spoken words, it was no longer that "eternal Dao", no longer that supreme existence transcending all, eternal and unchanging.

Su Changqing cultivated such a technique!

This was far too terrifying.

No wonder he could fight the Tentacle Demons with just Golden Core cultivation, no wonder he could fight evenly against the Eight-Tier Demon King unicorn that commanded lightning...

As a cultivator of a Dao Scripture, this should be only natural!

"Run, run away quickly!"

Qin Ran spoke earnestly from the depths of his heart, not deceiving anyone. This was the closest he had come to death.

He transformed into Waters with the fastest speed he could manifest at his level of cultivation, then recklessly drilled into the fog without any regard for expenditure. He turned into fog, fleeing wildly towards the exterior of the fog.

"Qin brother, why leave in such a hurry?"

Su Changqing also transformed into the fog, wrapping up Bai Ruoxi as he gave chase and left the fog.