Li Qingxian held out his left hand, and Divine Light shone from between his brows. The light wove itself into a translucent Life Disc above his palm, visible to all.
It was Li Qingxian’s first time using a Life Disc, but he had already memorized the Technique until it was second nature. Coupled with the vast amount of literature on Fate Skills he had been reading, he soon had it under control.
"Next, I will need the help of you esteemed Daoist Cultivators. This will consume a fair bit of Magical Power."
Several Middle-Grade Daoist Practitioners lined up in an orderly fashion behind Li Qingxian.
Li Qingxian silently chanted an incantation and cast the skill. Thirty-six white lines, visible only to him, branched out from the Life Disc, each connecting to one of the thirty-six phases. Wisps of blue light flowed through the white lines.
A gentle breeze stirred. Everyone sensed an inexplicable aura emanating from Li Qingxian, causing the nearby sand and blades of grass to tremble.
The crowd looked around and sighed inwardly. Unless one was a Fate Master, it was difficult to witness a Fate Skill.
Shen Xiaoyi and Shen Xiaohua channeled their Magical Power, beginning to Observe Fate and Qi.
A Fate Grid is formless and a Trend Formation is formless, but a Fate Skill has form.
As if playing a zither, Li Qingxian’s right hand gently plucked the Life Disc. Six Fate Skill lines trembled lightly.
In the distance, a Stone Ox burrowed into the earth, two fish dove into the water, an Eagle soared high into the sky, a Seven-Color Flower weaved through the trees, a large grasshopper bounded through the wild grass, and a butterfly, freshly emerged from its cocoon, fluttered gracefully.
Six Phases of Destiny Seeking.
Shen Xiaoyi frowned slightly, but Xiaohua chuckled and whispered, "Those must be the six Fake Phases. That Fate Master from Nether Mountain is in for some bad luck."
A look of exasperation flashed across Shen Xiaoyi’s face.
As soon as Xiaohua finished speaking, a massive banner, black with golden script, appeared high in the sky. It was about a hundred feet tall and inlaid with the Big Dipper—the Seven Stars. Each star was a skull.
When Shen Xiaoyi saw the Seven Stars, her expression darkened.
Xiaohua said, "Looks like the opposing Fate Master is no good. He actually kills people to refine his fate-casting. It takes a villain to punish a villain. Hmm..." Xiaohua felt like she had misspoken, but at the same time, felt she was right.
The great banner unfurled in the sky, and the Six Phases flew uncontrollably toward it.
The instant the Six Phases were swept into the banner, Li Qingxian flicked a Life Line with his right hand. Another six phases flew out, their Life Lines connected to the previous six, and they instantly arrived and merged.
The twelve phases shot straight into the Chaotic Banner and vanished along with it.
The Cultivators who had been assisting Li Qingxian swayed and frowned.
They hadn’t seen anything, but they all felt that something had happened.
However, Li Qingxian and the other two Fate Masters clearly perceived a strange wind forming ahead before it vanished.
Li Qingxian stared ahead. All twelve Life Lines had snapped. The broken lines flew about randomly in mid-air like headless flies, making it seem as though the Six Phases of Destiny Seeking had failed.
Xiaohua couldn’t help but laugh. "The enemy Fate Master is in for it now! Twelve Fake Phases went into the Chaotic Banner together and detonated the instant he tried to retract it. Not only did it damage the Chaotic Banner, but I bet it also injured his Spirit Platform. This Li Yangguang—no, this Li Qingxian must have seen his opponent use that Chaotic Banner many times to have come up with such a specific counter."
Li Qingxian chanted an incantation again.
"I beseech Celestial Fate, Celestial Fate above. Draw down the heavenly light, Supreme Yang and unyielding. Define the fates of men, the fates of men below. Sweep away the filth, let all that is righteous be arrayed..."
The crowd only felt the sun grow a little brighter. But in the eyes of the Fate Masters, a great hole suddenly tore open in the sky. Intense sunlight erupted from the hole, instantly transforming into an ocean of light that covered the mountain range for dozens of miles around.
Wisps of filth transformed into black smoke and rose upward.
Li Qingxian secretly memorized the location of each plume of black smoke.
Next, Li Qingxian concealed the tracks of the Immortal-Seeking Bees. Shen Xiaoyi and Shen Xiaohua only saw a ball of golden light appear above Li Qingxian’s head, from which hundreds of smaller golden lights flew out and scattered in all directions.
Shen Xiaoyi scoffed softly, recognizing the Immortal-Seeking Bees at a glance.
"So he was the one who released the Immortal-Seeking Bees in the city. The Life-Seeking Sect is truly willing to spare no expense," Xiaohua whispered.
At the same time, Li Qingxian plucked the Life Lines again. One end of the twelve lines connected to the Fake Phases, while the other connected to twelve Child Immortal-Seeking Bees.
Suddenly, a ten-foot-tall Winter Snow Plum Blossom Porcelain Bottle appeared high in the sky. The cyan porcelain bottle slowly tilted, and a stream of pure white water poured out. As it fell, it split into hundreds of watery threads, each one rushing toward a Child Immortal-Seeking Bee.
With a flick of his right finger, a Qi Fortune Fish leaped into the Destiny Scale. The Destiny Scale shot out with a whistle, charging straight for the porcelain bottle like a fierce general.
The scale weight spun with a WHOOSH and smashed into the cyan porcelain bottle with a BOOM.
CRACK!
Everyone heard the clear sound of porcelain shattering.
The porcelain bottle exploded. The gushing water fell limply to the ground. Then, the fragments gathered, reforming into a bottle covered in cracks before vanishing.
Xiaohua’s jaw dropped.
"The most powerful part of the Destiny Scale is the scale weight? Isn’t that thing for weighing Fate Grids?" Xiaohua looked at Shen Xiaoyi.
Shen Xiaoyi looked completely baffled.
"I don’t know either..." Shen Xiaoyi’s voice was softer than usual.
Both of them knew that whether a Life Artifact clashed with another or shattered, it was all just an external phenomenon. The reality was a contest of the astrological power within the Life Artifacts. Li Qingxian’s Astrology was so tyrannical that he had directly crushed the Astrology contained within his opponent’s Life Artifact.
Shen Xiaoyi said in a low voice, "That was a Fortune Bottle. I have one too. What a shame..."
"With its Astrology shattered, it won’t recover for at least three years. Any related Fate Skills will also be greatly reduced in power. This Li Qingxian is really hiding his true strength," Xiaohua said.
The swarm of bees danced in the sky. After a while, there was still no movement from the opponent. Li Qingxian thought for a moment and decided against sending out the True Six Phases, dispatching the Fake Six Phases to search instead.
The Fake Six Phases were slightly weaker, but they still worked well in coordination with the Immortal-Seeking Bees.
Slowly, in Li Qingxian’s eyes, specks of white light began to appear across the mountains, like dandelion seeds drifting in the distance.
Those were the traces of Astrology, but they were too fragmented to form Life Lines.
After a long time, Fei Yan asked in a low voice, "Master Xiaoli, how is it going?"
"Just a little longer. The opponent is from a major power like Nether Mountain, after all. And they’ve already used a Fate Skill to clean up their tracks. I’m slowly searching..."
As soon as Li Qingxian finished speaking, a mirror’s glint flashed in the sky. A ten-foot-wide Ancient Silver Mirror materialized, its reflective light sweeping over Li Qingxian and the others.
Li Qingxian merely frowned.
Shen Xiaoyi, however, took half a step back. Her face darkened, and she tightly clutched her sleeve with her right hand before letting out a soft sigh.
"What’s wrong, Young Master?" Xiaohua stepped forward to support Shen Xiaoyi.
Shen Xiaoyi shook her head, keeping her gaze lowered.
Suddenly, the Ancient Silver Mirror’s aura turned cold and sharp. Then, a Golden Shield carved with a dragon’s head and a Snake-Head Purple Rope rose up at the same time. The three Magical Artifacts flew in unison toward Li Qingxian.
"Why did that person suddenly fly into a rage?" Xiaohua exclaimed.
The light in Shen Xiaoyi’s eyes dimmed.
Li Qingxian didn’t understand why White Nether Son was suddenly going crazy. Without overthinking it, he sent three Qi Fortune Fish leaping out. They entered the Destiny Measuring Ruler, the Destiny Scale, and the Destiny Fishing Rod, respectively. The three Life Artifacts then ascended into the sky amidst a white mist.
The Destiny Measuring Ruler slapped against the Golden Shield. The scale weight of the Destiny Scale smashed down on the purple rope’s snake head. The hook of the Destiny Fishing Rod landed right in the center of the mirror.
Three distinct shattering sounds rang out in succession. All three of the opponent’s Life Artifacts exploded, erupting in a brilliant, multicolored light.
Li Qingxian raised his arm to shield his eyes and retreated several steps.
When he moved his arm away, the shattered Life Artifacts had dissipated. Li Qingxian’s own Life Artifacts were completely unscathed, and he recalled them with ease.
Li Qingxian shook his head and said, "Still too young..."
This time, everyone saw it. A great wind rose out of nowhere between heaven and earth, violently shaking the branches and flattening the wild grass for dozens of miles around.
The way the crowd looked at Li Qingxian now contained something more, something inexplicable.