Wang Ping didn’t refuse Xiao Lingzi’s request for an audience, but he summoned Zuo Xuan to his side as a precaution. Naturally, he had no intention of bringing an enemy into the sect.
At the mountain gate.
The Inner Sect Disciples had already cleared out everyone in the vicinity.
When Wang Ping and Zuo Xuan arrived, they saw Xiao Lingzi standing all alone at the mountain gate, calmly facing Wang Ping’s scrutiny.
Xiao Lingzi looked exactly like his portrait. He was clean-shaven, and if not for the blue Taoist robe he wore, an outsider would have mistaken him for a frail scholar.
His Taoist robe was immaculate, with only a single storage pouch on his belt.
"I have heard of Daoist Changqing of Qianmu Mountain’s renown for many years. Seeing you today, you are indeed a person of distinguished bearing." Xiao Lingzi was also sizing up Wang Ping. When Wang Ping stopped about fifty feet away, he clasped his fist in a Taoist salute.
"You’re too kind." Wang Ping returned the salute. "What brings you here today, Daoist?"
"To settle the dispute between us, of course."
"What do you an, Daoist?"
Wang Ping had no intention of admitting to what happened with the White Water Sect.
Xiao Lingzi smiled faintly. "From the very beginning, I tried to persuade Brother Bai, but he was hopelessly lost in the beautiful future Li Yan had constructed for him. His current calamity can be considered a matter of causality. My powerlessness to avenge him is also a matter of causality. You have walked the Great Dao, while I have walked a lesser path."
"As the saying goes, ’He who follows the Dao finds much support; he who strays from it finds little.’ This is my causality." He gave a bitter smile. "Even though I foresaw this outco when I decided to seek revenge, I still find it difficult to accept."
Wang Ping could only remain silent. Again, he could not admit to anything concerning the White Water Sect.
Xiao Lingzi looked at the silent Wang Ping, but he didn’t resort to verbal jabs like calling him a hypocrite. Instead, his expression turned solemn. "I ask for your guidance, Fellow Daoist, so we may settle this matter of causality. To avoid harming the innocent and creating more causal entanglents, you may choose the location."
Wang Ping would not pass up such a perfect opportunity. He imdiately sent a voice transmission to Yang Hou, telling him to clear the isolated island south of Shang’an Prefecture—the one he used to practice Magic—and its surrounding area.
He also needed to confirm the identity of the man before him to make sure he was truly Xiao Lingzi.
「The next day.」
A Star God from the Daoist Scripture Hall arrived and confird Xiao Lingzi’s identity by comparing their spiritual signatures.
After waiting for a full day and night, Xiao Lingzi was led to the isolated island by Wang Ping, Yu Lian, and Zuo Xuan.
"What a fine place."
Xiao Lingzi looked around, sighing in sincere admiration. "Back then, Brother Bai and I dread of finding an island just like this to live out the rest of our days."
As he spoke, he raised his left hand and ford a Hand Technique. Instantly, the space in a radius of several dozen feet around him collapsed.
Wang Ping didn’t hold back. The mont Xiao Lingzi ford the Hand Technique, he activated the Spirit Gathering Array on his right wrist and preemptively summoned ten Golden Armor Soldiers to charge.
CRACK!
A sound like snapping bamboo echoed as the Golden Armor Soldiers made contact with the collapsing space. The valiant soldiers rapidly disintegrated within it, and in a re instant, the spatial collapse had spread right in front of Wang Ping.
It seed to want to drag Wang Ping into the distorted void and tear him to shreds. To his eyes, the space before him beca unreal, as epheral as an illusion.
Yet he could feel a tangible force. In the Inspiration Realm, he saw that within the fissures of the collapse, Spirit Bodies were shattering and dying, and Spiritual Qi was being cut off by the fractured space.
Wang Ping, however, was unafraid. He used the most direct thod available: manifesting a massive amount of Wood Spirit Qi to replenish the void. The collapse was halted instantly. Then, seven iron bamboo swords ford a killing array, raging around Xiao Lingzi.
CRACK! CRACK...
It was that strange cracking sound again, but the iron bamboo swords remained perfectly intact. They just couldn’t seem to harm Xiao Lingzi.
"It seems this duel is destined to end with my defeat."
Xiao Lingzi’s forlorn voice rang out, and all the fighting spirit drained from him.
Wang Ping dispelled the killing array. He now had the absolute advantage, with Yu Lian and Zuo Xuan providing backup nearby. Though the thought was unsettling, he wanted to read Xiao Lingzi’s complete mories because he had ntioned Li Yan.
But just then, Xiao Lingzi’s aura flared violently. He pulled a jet-black Longsword from his storage pouch and plunged it into his own heart.
He spat out a mouthful of black blood and roared, "Changqing!"
As he roared, the space in a hundred-zhang radius around him suddenly shattered, including the area where Wang Ping stood. It was as if that entire section of space had been abruptly carved out.
The ’carved out’ region was a void of absolute darkness. It was blackness from every angle, a total nullity in both the physical world and the Inspiration Realm.
At the edges of this dark void were faint traces of a downward drift. From the side, it looked as if the darkness itself was falling. No, the darkness was stationary; it was the entire world that was sinking at an imperceptible rate... or so it seed.
"Incredible!"
Yu Lian, who had been observing the fight, glanced at the spot beside her.
Wang Ping’s figure swiftly materialized. The one who had been fighting Xiao Lingzi was an illusion he had created with the Water Moon Bell.
anwhile, the dark void ahead was nding itself at a visible rate, as if being neutralized by the fundantal laws of the surrounding space.
"A space-type Star God."
Zuo Xuan stated calmly, "When you face one of them, you must strike to kill at the first opportunity. You cannot afford to take any chances."
Wang Ping nodded. "He was well aware of his own value, and he used it."
By the ti they had each finished speaking, the collapsed space had fully restored itself. Only Xiao Lingzi was gone, vanished without a trace.
’I never expected things to go so smoothly.’
Wang Ping suddenly felt the whole affair had been overly dramatic. All sorts of characters had played their parts, each with their own agenda, ultimately leading to a situation where not even Xiao Lingzi’s bones remained.
"He was the one who kept emphasizing causality, wasn’t he? This is the ’effect’ he received," Zuo Xuan replied quietly.
...
The matter with Xiao Lingzi concluded swiftly. The only trace he left behind was the recorded ti of his death in the Daoist Scripture Hall.
After resting for a day, Wang Ping perford a divination for himself. Then, he once again slipped away from Qianmu Mountain, this ti under the guise of a mortal scholar, boarding a rchant ship bound for the Southeast Islands.
He needed to resolve the matter with his Second Senior Brother, Liu Zixiu, as quickly as possible and put the lingering thought to rest. Then, he could focus on his closed-door cultivation, complete the first half of the *Taiyan Talisman*, and obtain the Secret Technique for the second half. He had to strive to reach the Third Realm before the world truly descended into chaos.
Only by reaching the Third Realm could he even qualify to be a spectator. Only then would he have a chance to leverage his current sches and play the part of the oriole on the final battlefield.
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