Chapter 88: A Crippled Body, an Unyielding Sword

Wang Sheng could have been in the mountains, gazing at the stars with his senior and junior sisters while chatting about life and Daoist realms. He could have been sitting cross-legged amid the cool mountain breeze—lost between heaven, earth, and the stars—while romanticizing cultivation.

Instead, he had one hand turning the wheel of his chair and the other gripping the cracked and battered Abyss Listener.

While calculating how much of his sword intent he could still bring forth, he set his eyes on the people locked in combat amid the greenery. He found himself fortunate that he had never practiced sword-controlling techniques. Otherwise, being called "flappy sword," or even worse, "limp sword," would be too humiliating.

Wang Sheng avoided charging in recklessly. As he wheeled himself closer to the fight, the leader among the trio locked onto him with his spiritual consciousness.

The golden light around Shi Qianzhang was dimming by the second. Worse, his talismanic arts proved completely ineffective against the ghostly woman, who clung to him like an unshakable curse. She struck him with her daggers repeatedly, each hit draining another portion of the talismans' power.

Shi Qianzhang also had the swordsman to deal with. He ceaselessly dodged and leaped, giving the swordsman far fewer openings to land a proper hit despite being able to keep up. Still, even with the Vajra Talisman protecting him, the swordsman kept leaving shallow cuts all over him. Already battered and exhausted enough to not even have the strength to curse, he likely wouldn't last more than a minute or two at this rate.

Wang Sheng exhaled quietly and rolled forward.

The Yin-Yang Cult's young master, who had yet to make a move, turned around and smiled coldly. "Daoist Master Wang, are you here to teach me a few sword moves?"

"Qianzhang and I may not be close, but I can't just stand by and watch him die. Come at me," Wang Sheng replied as he gathered sword intent. His gaze grew sharper and fiercer as he used his sheer presence to suppress his opponent.

The young master was no ordinary heir who couldn't care less about cultivation. On the contrary, his eyes' intensity shone through even his human-skin mask. However, Wang Sheng's sword intent still swiftly overpowered it.

For some reason, the young master did not attack Wang Sheng himself. Instead, he made a hand gesture and stepped aside.

The swordsman, who had been fiercely attacking Shi Qianzhang, roared in dissatisfaction. He then turned and charged straight at Wang Sheng, his blood-red eyes locking onto him.

Initiating his footwork, he moved like a twisting line of blood. He then thrust his Tang blade straight at Wang Sheng's throat, intending to kill him.

Wang Sheng had no time to move away. Moreover, the Seven-Star Sword Formation required intricate footwork to execute properly, making it impossible to use in a wheelchair.

Hence, he simply raised his battered sword with a fearless expression. After all, he was no longer the same man who had descended from the mountain last time—he had more than just the Seven-Star Sword Formation at his disposal now.

As the Tang blade thrust toward him, Wang Sheng withdrew all the fierce sword intent that had originally surrounded him. Right after, he gently extended his sword forward.

Though seemingly slow, the sword strike pulled his opponent in as if it had a powerful suction force, catching the Tang blade. Wang Sheng swayed his arm, drawing the blade off to the left side of the wheelchair. He then sharply swung the broken Abyss Listener at the fingers that were gripping the weapon.

The swordsman was already too close to Wang Sheng. With a furious roar, he was forced to pull back.

Wang Sheng shook his head and chuckled lightly. He had successfully provoked the swordsman.

Behind his opponent's mask, a murderous blood-red glow surged. His demonic blade seemed to come alive as he charged at Wang Sheng once more.

"Blade Slave, don't fall into madness. Daoist Master Wang is merely giving you some guidance," the young master advised from the side.

Unfortunately, his words seemed to fall on deaf ears. The swordsman's attacks became more frenzied, wild, and reckless, focusing entirely on offense with no thought of defense. He swung his weapon at Wang Sheng with relentless fury.

With only a broken sword and the Dual-Polarity Sword Intent, Wang Sheng effortlessly neutralized every strike. He even found openings to counter from time to time.

The last time they had fought, Wang Sheng had forced him to retreat with a tree branch[1]. Now, despite being in a wheelchair and unable to move his legs, he still easily nullified the swordsman's every attack.

The swordsman's aura grew even more unstable. Enraged, he roared repeatedly like a wild beast, his attacks becoming increasingly erratic and reckless.

Unfortunately for him, the Dual-Polarity Sword Intent excelled at precisely this kind of battle.

Tai Chi was said to use "four ounces to move a thousand pounds," and the Dual-Polarity Sword Intent fully encompassed that principle.

Wang Sheng couldn't deflect overwhelming force with minimal effort yet, but he and his opponent were already of equal cultivation. Since he was focused purely on defense, he never showed any openings.

He merely sat in his wheelchair and traced arc after arc with his broken sword, leaving behind swirling air currents.

The twisted blood-red swordsman continued its frenzied assault around him. Yet no matter how fiercely he attacked, he failed to touch Wang Sheng.

The young master clenched his fists several times... and then slowly loosened them again. In less than half a minute, the swordsman was engulfed in a crimson glow, and blood-red patterns spread across his neck.

Wang Sheng's attention was drawn to the bloodstained Tang blade, a familiar sense of revulsion rising in his heart. It seemed to be the very opposition of his Dao of the Sword.

Nearby, the golden radiance around Shi Qianzhang disappeared. The effect of the Vajra Talisman had ended. Shi Qianzhang had clearly been waiting for this moment. Without hesitation, he bit down on the finger he had been holding next to his mouth.

However, before he could make another move, the ghostly woman darted past the crane spirit's entanglement and lunged straight at him!

Her daggers spun like the black butterflies with golden patterns fluttering around them, ready to take Shi Qianzhang's life.

Shi Qianzhang turned pale, seemingly already staring at the gates of hell before him. He had only managed to hold on this long thanks to the Vajra Talisman. Without its protection, he was as defenseless as a three-year-old against the woman; one strike, and he was done for.

At that moment, Wang Sheng exclaimed, "Martial Aunt Jingyun! Use sword control to kill her!"

A powerful gust of wind rushed toward the ghostly woman from the side. Her expression tensed, but she quickly avoided it. Her footwork was so fast that the incoming sword energy was rendered completely ineffective!

The brief moment of respite allowed Shi Qianzhang to leap backward, press his bleeding finger against the talisman on his chest, and swiftly draw a blood curse. The talisman, which had already lost its power, then glowed again and protected Shi Qianzhang, its golden light now tinged with red.

In just a brief moment, his survival had been decided!

Unable to find Jingyun's presence, the woman turned and glared at Wang Sheng. She couldn't even detect any trace of sword control. In truth, the young sword cultivator had simply sent a surge of sword energy from the side.

Wang Sheng sighed a little. He wasn't sure if he had successfully helped Shi Qianzhang escape death, but in that moment of distraction, the Tang blade's energy managed to graze his shoulder. Fortunately, the wound wasn't too deep.

He unleashed his Dual-Polarity Sword Intent again. Unable to break through his defenses, Blade Slave was forced into an endless rage.

Amid the fierce battle, Wang Sheng pieced clues together and finally understood something that had puzzled him before: the reason he had never heard of Shi Qianzhang in his past life.

𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Guo Qianxing, a man nearing his death, triggered the Supernatural Revelation Club incident. Making it his final ambition to break the monopoly that Daoist sects held over cultivation, he had painstakingly devised a series of plans, but the club had been exposed earlier than expected.

Wang Sheng tried to look at the situation purely as an observer, distancing himself from it to see what changes he had caused.

The Supernatural Revelation Club had been exposed because of Chi Wen, the daughter of the Special Investigation Unit's captain. Hence, its exposure had nothing to do with him. He only accelerated its collapse.

Moreover, the Yin-Yang Cult's connection to Guo Qianxing stemmed from Wei Chiyu's Three Scrolls of the Medicine God. Whether Wang Sheng was involved or not, Guo Qianxing would have still gotten the cult's secret support and orchestrated tonight's ambush.

In other words, the Yin-Yang Cult would have targeted Shi Qianzhang tonight no matter what. This deadly calamity was his fate—the reason why the talisman prodigy perished early and why Wang Sheng never heard of him in his past life.

The Yin-Yang Cult clearly had grand ambitions. Compared to their patient and calculated approach, the Five Gods Cult was nothing.

If Shi Qianzhang had simply chosen to ignore Guo Qianxing, the three Yin-Yang Cult members would likely never have shown themselves. They would have just slipped away unnoticed after the auction.

Even now, although they were taking matters into their own hands, they deliberately avoided killing any members of the Special Investigation Unit and treated Wang Sheng, an outsider, with indifference. They made every effort not to provoke the powerful man behind him.

A sect that knew how to grow in the shadows and avoid unnecessary exposure made for a truly formidable enemy.

Taking all that into consideration, Wang Sheng could now make sense of the young master's reluctance to fight. Since they didn't intend to wipe out witnesses, they couldn't just expose their techniques, aura, cultivation method, or spells.

Wang Sheng even suspected that the young master of the Yin-Yang Cult wasn't just wearing a human-skin mask; he had likely disguised even his physique.

Once reinforcements arrived, he would probably rush into the hospital, assume another identity, and vanish entirely in the chaos. His public identity could even belong to a prestigious, orthodox sect.

While Wang Sheng was deep in thought, a sharp whistle suddenly echoed from an unknown direction. The young master's gaze sharpened as he flicked his hand toward Shi Qianzhang.

"Retreat!" he decisively commanded.

The black light—a black barracuda—struck Shi Qianzhang's chest and exploded on contact. The impact sent Shi Qianzhang flying. However, his Blood-Cursed Vajra Talisman protected him from death.

On the contrary, the attack merely revealed another reason why the young master had chosen not to fight: His cultivation wasn't that high to begin with. Whether he fought or not would have made little difference.

One's background could determine what kind of treasured artifact they wielded, but it could never decide which Daoist realm they belonged to.

1. This is referring to the mahogany wood sword ☜