Chapter 1681: Ambush

As evening fell, Wang Wuxie, who had been meditating in the Pure Yang Palace, stood up and walked straight out, his steps remarkably light.

He soon returned, however, and tidied his appearance in front of a bronze mirror. He nodded with satisfaction at the handsome and refined image reflected there, then strode out.

Earlier in the day, a disciple from White Jade Capital had delivered a message: Yan Xuehen had invited him in a letter to meet somewhere tonight at the third watch. He had vaguely told the disciple at the time that he would certainly not disappoint Revered Master Yan, primarily because he didn't want anyone to know about their private nocturnal meeting, which could easily damage Yan Xuehen's reputation if word got out.

Although surprised by Yan Xuehen's personality, which seemed unlikely to make such an invitation, the letter had been delivered by a White Jade Capital disciple and was in Yan Xuehen's own handwriting, making it undeniably genuine. Perhaps Yan Xuehen had been lonely all these years, and after their reunion at Purple Mountain, she had considered him the most compatible among her many suitors, leading her to invite him... As Wang Wuxie pondered, his mood instantly brightened, and a smile involuntarily curved his lips.

He arrived near a secluded pavilion behind Guanshin Peak. Wang Wuxie thought, "Xuehen certainly went to a lot of trouble. Few disciples of the True Yang Sect itself knew about such a remote and quiet place." This also suited her reserved nature; she surely wouldn't want their meeting to be seen by others.

From a distance, he saw a slender figure in white sitting by the pavilion. Although only her back was visible, the faint moonlight was enough to perfectly outline her graceful and alluring form. Although Wang Wuxie had prided himself on his improved composure over the years, at this moment, it was as if he had reverted to the nervousness of his youth.

"Why did she invite me here in the middle of the night?" he wondered. "Is it to discuss Peng Wuyan's disappearance, or to privately express our feelings to each other? If it was the former, there would be no need for such secrecy. But if it was the latter..." The thought that his long-cherished dream might finally come true today made every cell in his body cheer with excitement.

"Xuehen, I'm here," Wang Wuxie called softly after tidying his clothes once more as he walked closer. He dared not raise his voice, fearing others might hear and thus startle the beauty.

However, the figure did not react. Wang Wuxie paused, wondering if his voice had been too soft. So he raised his voice slightly, but the figure remained motionless, only her skirt hem swaying gently in the night breeze.

"Could she be asleep?" Wang Wuxie wondered. "Or perhaps she's been waiting too long and is annoyed, not wanting to talk to me. Ah, I should have come earlier," he thought. "It's truly improper to make Xuehen wait for me in such a place for this kind of matter." With these thoughts, he walked closer, murmuring apologies to the figure.

Yet, the figure still did not react, and doubts arose in his mind. "Xuehen?" he questioned. Instinctively, he reached out to her shoulder, worried that something might be wrong. Suddenly, his expression changed, and he instantly recoiled. But it was half a beat too late. The slender white figure suddenly exploded, leaving some scorched marks on his hands.

This was not the end; he accidentally inhaled two breaths of the white mist that dispersed in that instant, and immediately felt a dizzying sensation in his head. "Damn, I've been poisoned!"

Just then, a dazzling sword light suddenly flared from the side. If Lou Wucheng were here, he would surely feel inferior about the sword techniques he had previously used, as they would utterly insult the very concept of "sword." Above the night sky, a moon-white palace suddenly appeared. Unlike the vague palace Lou Wucheng had created earlier, every brick, every tile, and even the intricate patterns on this palace were clearly visible. It exuded an otherworldly aloofness and majesty, like that of an immortal, as if inviting one to ascend to the heavens, an invitation impossible to refuse.

This was the true Everlasting Sword! Legend had it that enemies who died by this sword still had a peaceful smile on their faces, as if overjoyed at seeing an immortal realm or content with being granted eternal life. Wang Wuxie felt a strange sensation wash over him. The path of immortal cultivation he had pursued for years now seemed to show a glimmer of hope; if he only reached out and embraced it, he would very likely grasp the opportunity to become an immortal.

However, as the foremost figure among the Nine Daoist Sects, he was not an ordinary person after all. He immediately snapped out of it, realizing, "This is Li Changsheng's Dao. If I, Wang Wuxie, am to become an immortal, I must follow my own path. How can I achieve immortality by relying on someone else's Dao?"

Suddenly, a surge of purple energy burst forth from his body. A faint ethereal image of a purple mountain appeared around him, clashing with the immortal palace descending from the sky. With a mighty boom, the nearby pavilion instantly turned to dust, and all the surrounding flowers, grass, and trees were snapped in half.

Wang Wuxie quickly flew outwards, using the force of the recoil. Although he wasn't afraid of Li Changsheng, this entire affair was a thorough conspiracy, and Li Changsheng certainly wouldn't be the only one present. As expected, as he retreated, two golden lights, trailing fiery tails like meteors, suddenly shot towards him from the side. They contained an incredibly terrifying force, as if capable of leveling entire mountaintops.

"The Vajra Twin Bracelets of the Lihentian!" Wang Wuxie's heart tightened. Guan Chouhai was also here.

His expression turned solemn. His sleeves grew with the wind, suddenly becoming as vast as a banner, and a profound and subtle soft force directly sent the Vajra Twin Bracelets flying back. Just then, a figure leaped from behind, stretched out their hands, retrieved the twin bracelets, and put them back on, then once again blasted towards him. Among the Nine Daoist Sects, Guan Chouhai, originating from the Earth element, possessed incredibly heavy fists; even Wang Wuxie dared not meet them head-on. He saw him stepping on the Seven Stars, taking incredibly profound steps to narrowly dodge the opponent's frontal assault from the side.

Then, the purple energy in his palm flared, suddenly splitting into black and white, forming a Taiji Yin-Yang symbol that blasted directly towards Guan Chouhai's waist. The Yin-Yang symbol exuded an aura of annihilation, clearly indicating he had unleashed a killing blow. Although Wang Wuxie usually practiced self-cultivation and temperance, he was by no means an unyielding purist; in this situation, he naturally wouldn't hold back in the slightest.

Guan Chouhai was startled, but the opponent's movement technique was too strange; he couldn't react in time and was directly struck. However, he didn't die on the spot. Instead, he stamped his foot on the ground, and after a strange tremor ran through his body, an identical Taiji Yin-Yang symbol suddenly bounced back towards Wang Wuxie.

"Star Shift!" Wang Wuxie's heart tightened. He hadn't expected the opponent to have mastered this legendary Earth-element ultimate technique over the years, which could use the profound solidity of the earth to dissolve and reflect enemy attacks. He dared not waste time defending. Instead, he gambled on sustaining injury to seize the opportunity to fly in another direction. As long as he escaped this trap, as the Sect Master of the True Yang Sect and on his own territory, he would be perfectly capable of counter-attacking and defeating them.

However, he had barely flown out far when several sword lights suddenly shot towards him from the front, forming a tight sword array, as if to grind everything into minced meat. Wang Wuxie's expression turned solemn. Without dodging or evading, he directly extended a palm forward. A hand transformed from misty purple energy directly passed through the sword array and grabbed towards the person controlling the swords behind it. That person hadn't expected Wang Wuxie's move to be so miraculous. Just as he watched the hand clench around his neck, almost simultaneously, a flash of lightning appeared, and he vanished from his spot, reappearing dozens of yards away in a tree, looking at Wang Wuxie with lingering fear.

"Thunderbolt Flash? Xuan Bajing!" Wang Wuxie exclaimed, staring at the person in the tree, his heart sinking. "I didn't expect you to have secretly come." Xuan Bajing was the Sect Master of Kunlun Void. Although Kunlun Void had sent Elder Xuandu to lead their people this time, Wang Wuxie hadn't expected Xuan Bajing himself to have secretly come up the mountain and set up an ambush here. At this moment, the eight swords flying in the air all flew back behind Xuan Bajing, inserting themselves into his sword scabbard like a peacock spreading its tail.

"As expected of Wang Wuxie," Xuan Bajing sighed with emotion, "to only suffer minor injuries from our combined surprise attack, and even almost hurt us in return." Wang Wuxie, however, couldn't be happy. Although he had handled the situation beautifully just now, he had ultimately lost his chance to escape. Now, Li Changsheng and Guan Chouhai had drawn closer, subtly encircling him in the center.

He couldn't help but glare angrily at Li Changsheng: "Everyone says the Everlasting Sword is the sword technique closest to immortality in the world, and should be exceptionally noble and pure. Yet, you resort to such despicable and base methods. It's a disgrace to the name of the Everlasting Sword!" He now understood perfectly that all of this was a trap. Who else but Li Changsheng could have sent a White Jade Capital disciple with Yan Xuehen's handwritten letter to lure him into it?