In Emei, start by obtaining golden attributes.

Chapter 423 Having a prodigy like you is not a good thing.

As Gu Shaoan left, the elders of Cihang Jingzhai rushed forward.

After checking on Yan Jing'an and Lü Qingluo's injuries, he quickly took out the healing pills from Cihang Jingzhai and fed them to the two of them.

After Song Miyun removed her hand from Yan Jing'an's wrist, she said with a solemn expression, "The sect leader's power has been sealed. We must remove the Qi energy that Gu Shaoan left in the sect leader's body in order to restore the sect leader's power."

As she spoke, Song Miyun invited the other elders of Cihang Jingzhai to sit cross-legged, wanting to help Yan Jing'an remove the sealed power within her body.

Before the group could sit cross-legged around Yan Jing'an, Yan Jing'an waved her hand.

"No need, the seal in my body is fine, I will remove it myself later. You should help Elder Lü back to recuperate."

"Miyun, help me back to the back mountain."

Upon seeing this, Song Miyun quickly stepped forward.

After nodding to the other martial artists around her who did not belong to Cihang Jingzhai, Yan Jing'an, supported by Song Miyun, headed towards the back mountain.

Watching Yan Jing'an and Song Miyun's departing figures, the disciples of Cihang Jingzhai did not look too good.

Almost half of the people unconsciously showed a hint of worry between their brows.

However, while some are sad, others are happy.

Outside Emperor's Peak.

Having breathed a sigh of relief, Gu Shaoan felt much better.

The only regrettable thing is that Qin Mengyao's incident this time was not enough for Gu Shaoan to directly exterminate the Cihang Jingzhai family.

Gu Shaoan represents the Emei Sect in public, and his actions must take into account the Emei Sect's stance and reputation.

Furthermore, Cihang Jingzhai not only had Bai Xiaosheng behind it, but also Zhu Houzhao's support.

If not forced to, Gu Shaoan doesn't want to push things to the extreme right now.

The prerequisite is that Cihang Jingzhai is sensible enough not to provoke Gu Shaoan again.

Otherwise, just as Gu Shaoan said before leaving the Cihang Jingzhai mountain gate, he wouldn't mind if Cihang Jingzhai truly ceased to exist in the Great Wei Kingdom.

However, just as Gu Shaoan had left Dita Peak and arrived at the banks of the Baishui River, preparing to walk straight along the riverbank, Gu Shaoan suddenly frowned slightly, and his originally fast-moving figure instantly stopped.

At the same time, Gu Shaoan's gaze turned to the dense forest in the southwest.

Just as Gu Shaoan looked towards the dense forest, a figure slowly emerged.

A large black robe almost completely covered his body, and his face was covered with a similarly black, polished wooden spiral mask.

The moment their eyes met, Gu Shaoan narrowed his eyes slightly.

At the same time, the eyes beneath the black-robed man's mask were also fixed on Gu Shaoan.

"Interesting. You're only at the Condensing Yuan Qi realm, yet you can detect my aura. It seems you held back some power when you made your move at Cihang Jingzhai."

The voice was hoarse and deep, with the sensation of several sharp objects scraping against the chalkboard, subtly grating to the ear.

Gu Shaoan remained silent, but a sense of gravity quietly rose in his heart.

The black-robed man concealed his aura so well that even Gu Shaoan could hardly detect it.

If Gu Shaoan hadn't instinctively used the "Four Symbols of Heavenly Will" technique to manipulate the surrounding forces of heaven and earth, and happened to capture a special aura through these forces, he would have had no chance of noticing that there was a tail behind him.

Moreover, judging from what the other party said, this man in black robes had already been hiding in the shadows when Gu Shaoan was at Cihang Jingzhai.

Gu Shaoan simply didn't notice.

Given Gu Shaoan's current level of awareness, there's only one possible explanation for why he almost missed it.

The black-robed man opposite was definitely a master of the Celestial Realm.

Moreover, he was a Celestial Realm expert who had entered the Celestial Realm through the Great Three Harmonies, and whose strength was no less than that of Meng Chixing.

As his thoughts raced, Gu Shaoan began to form some guesses about the identity of the man in black robes opposite him.

After a few breaths, Gu Shaoan spoke: "If you have no relationship with the people of Cihang Jingzhai, you will not be chasing after me now. If you have a close relationship with the people of Cihang Jingzhai, why did you allow me to injure Yan Jing'an and then cripple Lü Qingluo?"

"That does pique my curiosity. What is the reason for your presence here?"

Upon hearing Gu Shaoan's words, the man in black robes let out a soft chuckle from behind his mask.

"Cihang Jingzhai is not important. What is important is that if there is a prodigy like you in the Great Wei Kingdom, it is not a good thing."

As he spoke, the internal energy within the black-robed man slowly circulated.

At the very moment his inner energy began to circulate, the surrounding power of heaven and earth, as well as the wind, began to gather towards the man in black robes.

Gu Shaoan stood on the pebble beach by the river, his clothes hanging down without moving, his internal energy also circulating.

The wind along the Baishui River felt as if someone had grabbed its throat.

The river was still lapping against the shore, but the sound of the waves suddenly seemed very distant. The chirping of insects in the dense forest was also as if separated by an invisible curtain, leaving only the faint hissing sound of leaves being blown by the wind, rubbing back and forth between the two.

Seemingly sensing something, a look of astonishment flashed in the eyes beneath the black-robed man's mask.

next moment.

The man in black robes took a step down.

"Boom-"

The sound of his feet landing was not loud, yet it was like a heavy hammer striking the rocky shore. The pebble beach seemed to tremble, and fine sand rose from the cracks in the rocks like dust. Immediately afterward, his aura surged forth, as if drawing in the breath of the entire world.

The wind direction has changed.

The mist was pulled into a vortex.

Even the ripples on the river's surface appeared to "rewind" strangely at this moment, as if they had been gently touched by an invisible hand from afar.

The man in black robes remained silent, yet his figure vanished from the spot at the same instant.

When he reappeared, he was already three zhang in front of Gu Shaoan. He clenched his fists and used his shoulder and back to propel his waist, delivering a punch to Gu Shaoan.

The moment the fist was thrown out, the air was compressed into a visible gray-white wall of air, and the booming sound was like muffled thunder rolling across the riverbank, crushing everything in its path with overwhelming force.

Faced with this punch, Gu Shaoan's eyes narrowed slightly, but he did not take it head-on. He gently crushed the gravel under his feet and shifted his body half a step to the side, like a white shadow gliding across the ground.

The next moment, the wind from the punch grazed his clothes, and the corner of his clothes exploded with a "snap," sending up pebbles that shot towards the tree trunks on the shore, instantly creating several small holes in the bark.

The instant his punch missed its mark, Gu Shaoan's right hand was already on the hilt of his sword.

"Chong-"

The sound of the sword being drawn was clear and sharp, like tearing silk. As the sword flashed, the fierce wind along the riverbank seemed to be cleanly cleaved open by the cold light.

A cold star flashed at the tip of the sword, aimed straight for the wrist of the man in black robes.

The man in black robes lowered his arm, his fist suddenly changed direction, and he swung his fist horizontally.

"clang!"

The man in black robes clashed his fist with the Heaven-Slaying Sword. The clang of metal against metal echoed across the riverbank, startling several birds that were perched nearby into flight.

Immediately afterwards, the man in black robes delivered another punch, the force of which was like a surging tide, continuous and unending. Each punch seemed to carry the wind of the river and the power of the forest, pressing down so hard that it was hard to breathe.

In an instant, fists flew in succession.

The power of heaven and earth was like weeds on a wall, sometimes drawn towards Gu Shaoan, and sometimes drawn into the black-robed man's body. Thanks to this power, even though their moves appeared simple and unadorned, they contained an immense and terrifying force.

The force of the punch tore through the fog, churned up sand and stones, and flattened the reeds along the riverbank as if they had been plowed by an invisible giant plow.

Gu Shaoan drew his sword and met him.

The sword light does not directly clash with the fist force, but rather flows like a stream of light through a crack, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, sometimes retracting, sometimes extending.

Each light tap of the sword landed precisely on the "node" where the opponent's force shifted, forcing the man in black robes to retract his fist and launch another attack.

The two men advanced and retreated in just a few breaths, leaving dozens of footprints of varying depths on the gravelly beach beneath their feet, the edges of which were cracked like a spider web.

Further out on the river, the waves were repeatedly stirred up, and the water droplets turned into fine white foam in the wind.

Just then, the man in black robes suddenly slumped his shoulders.

His punching motion suddenly slowed down, but the wind in the air suddenly tightened, as if he had caught the tail of the "momentum".

Immediately afterwards, he threw a punch, and a layer of blurry energy condensed in front of his fist. Wherever the fist passed, the air crackled and popped.

At the same time, a powerful punch, as if the heavens and earth were collapsing, arrived suddenly.

Gu Shaoan's eyes turned cold, and he raised his longsword horizontally, the blade trembling slightly.

He also draws upon the power of heaven and earth.

But when Gu Shaoan swung his longsword, the power of heaven and earth seemed to perfectly merge into the sword, making the sword light stretch across the sky like a straight golden line.

The moment the river breeze swept past him, it seemed to be guided by the sword intent, converging along the direction of the sword's edge into a thin and sharp wind line.

The sword light thus became clearer and brighter, like the first ray of sunlight suddenly appearing in the fog.

"Boom!"

The moment the fist clashed with the sword light, a deafening explosion finally erupted.

The shockwave spread outwards from the two people, sending rubble flying outwards as if swept away by a broom. The canopies of the old trees along the riverbank trembled violently, and withered branches snapped off in a clatter.

The water surface was shaken open, creating a fan-shaped depression, which then rebounded sharply, with waves crashing against the shore.

The man in black robes took two steps back, each step leaving a shallow pit in the stone beach.

Gu Shaoan slid back half a foot before regaining his balance.

When they looked up, both Gu Shaoan and the man in black robes felt a sense of solemnity.

The next instant, the man in black robes twisted his body, changing his punch from a straight line to a spin, his whole body approaching like a black whirlwind close to the ground, his fist surging out from under his ribs, aiming straight for Gu Shaoan's waist and abdomen.

Gu Shaoan lightly touched the ground with his toes, his body rising half a foot, and the sword blade pressed down with the momentum, slashing diagonally downwards.

The man in black robes braced himself with his arms, attempting to parry the sword's edge.

In that instant, Gu Shaoan's sword aura suddenly "brightened".

The sword light was like the rising sun breaking through the fog. First, a sliver of clear light pierced through the gloom, and then it transformed into several layers of sword light that spread diagonally downwards.

The light was not dazzling, but it caused a momentary lapse in one's vision and sense of rhythm, as if the morning light had suddenly appeared in the fog.

The Emei Sword Manual - Sword Ten: Dawn.

The black-robed man's movements finally showed a very slight pause.

Only half a breath.

But that's enough.

"laugh--"

The sword flashed past his protective energy, cutting a straight slit in the front of his black robe.

The man in black robes was forced to retreat several steps, and his footing gave way before he could barely regain his balance.

In the brief moment when he was forced back, the man in black robes seemed to sense something was wrong. He flicked his left hand, and a dark iron ball shot towards Gu Shaoan like a meteor.

When it was still three zhang away from Gu Shaoan, the outer shell of the iron egg exploded.

A cloud of gray-black poisonous powder suddenly shot out, like a wall of smoke that rose abruptly, spreading instantly with the river wind and severing the line of sight and the flow of energy between the two.

Wherever the poison powder passed, the tips of the reeds along the riverbank quickly turned gray, and even the damp stone surfaces were corroded with tiny pits, demonstrating the ferocity of its toxicity.

Standing behind the wall of fog, Gu Shaoan felt a strange sweetness mixed with a pungent smell, like rotten leaves and metallic powder mixed together.

Upon identifying the scent of the poison powder, Gu Shaoan frowned, and a sudden tremor ran through the depths of his dantian.

"Yan~"

A resounding dragon roar erupted from within him, his inner energy surged, his robes fluttered like flags, and bursts of fierce energy surged forth from Gu Shaoan's body like a whirlwind, whipping up the fine sand on the gravel beach and causing the reeds on the riverbank to bend over in unison.

However, the poison powder in front of Gu Shaoan remained completely still amidst the surging energy within his body.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the toxic fog.

The man in black robes used this brief respite to retreat. He lightly touched the tree roots on the bank with his toes, and his figure, like a shadow swallowed by the night, leaped up and rushed straight into the dense forest from which he had come.

Realizing the black-robed man's intentions, Gu Shaoan snorted coldly.

The dark blade finally hovered steadily and precisely above the empty scabbard, its legs slightly bent.

In the instant his true essence surged, a point of golden light began to condense on the tip of the Yitian Sword, which was hovering at the top of its scabbard in Gu Shaoan's hand.

In an instant, the hustle and bustle of the riverbank fell silent. The sounds of waves, wind, and insects seemed to be pulled away, leaving only the faint hissing sound of a sword blade gently rubbing against the air.

The next instant, with a light tap of the tip of Gu Shaoan's sword, a thin, almost imperceptible golden thread emerged from the tip of the sword.

"Sword Nine - A Sword Across Worlds".

The sword energy was as thin as a hair, yet terrifyingly straight, as if it wasn't "slashed" out, but rather cut a slit in space itself.

The golden thread flashed briefly in front of Gu Shaoan before disappearing—and when it reappeared, it had already pierced through the gray-black poisonous fog and rushed towards the black-robed man in the distance.

The condensed golden sword light moved with lightning speed, instantly covering a distance of ten zhang and catching up with the black-robed man who had reached the edge of the dense forest.

Sensing the whooshing sound behind him, the man in black robes suddenly turned around, his shoulder blades slightly lowered, and his five fingers formed a claw.

The moment that hand reached out, it seemed to lose all color, its skin turning from dark to white, as if carved from white jade.

Fine lines are faintly visible on the knuckles, resembling the veins of mountains and rivers, or the outward manifestation of some kind of meridian.

"Ding!"

Immediately afterwards, a very crisp, light sound rang out.

The sword light, as thin as a golden thread, was precisely caught in his palm by his five fingers.

Then, the man in black robes shuddered violently, and with a burst of strength, he forcefully shattered the golden sword energy in his hand.

The moment the sword energy, formed by condensing the essence of heaven and earth, the power of heaven and earth, and special forces, was shattered, it instantly created a terrifying shockwave, like the eye of a hurricane.

On the other hand, the man in black robes used the remaining force of the sword energy and the speed of the shockwave to not decrease but increase, and instantly rushed into the dense forest.

The next instant, the energy in the forest completely vanished.

Only the river water lapping against the shore remained, the poisonous powder being swept away by the wind and then gradually pressed down by the damp fog.

(End of this chapter)