Chapter 11

At the Wenqu Temple, the incense was thick, and many women came to pray, asking the Wenqu Star and the Scholar Ke to protect their sons so they could pass the imperial exams smoothly.

Xun Yi strolled around the Wenqu Temple with Bai Fu, occasionally picking up snacks from the vendors. It wasn't until he felt his pocket that he realized he had forgotten to bring money.

So he said to the vendor, "Aunt Liu, just put it on the tab, and I'll have Ming come to our mansion to settle the bill later. Or, I can go get something for you from over there?" As he spoke, his eyes fell on a vendor nearby who was running a ring toss game.

The moment the vendor saw Xun Yi's gaze, he shuddered all over. If it weren't for the people still playing the game, he would have packed up immediately.

Aunt Liu, who sold sugar syrup and ginger candy, followed Xun Yi's gaze and laughed, "Forget it, it's not easy for people to make a living. Young Master, don't go and ruin his business."

Xun Yi had always had astonishing luck, hitting nine out of ten rings, and the one miss was out of pity for the vendor. Every time there was a temple fair, as soon as he appeared, the vendors would immediately pay him to eat, trying to keep him away from the food stalls and prevent him from going to the ring toss or other games that required luck.

"Little Master Yi, today you can eat whatever you want, it's on me!" the ring toss vendor shouted from a distance, getting up to come over and pay the bill.

"Never mind, I don't have time to play today. We'll do it at the next temple fair." Xun Yi asked for another pack of ginger candy, "Aunt, put it on the tab, and I'll have someone come to our mansion to pay later." As he spoke, he suddenly saw a man with a hurried look leaving the small forest near the Wenqu Temple.

"It's him!" The brush Bai Fu had transformed into shook, "Young Master, stop him, he's trying to run! He must have received some news and is planning to leave the city."

"Don't worry, he won't get far." Xun Yi said goodbye to the familiar vendors, calculated the direction, and headed towards the East Gate to intercept him.

"Damn, damn, damn, damn!" Ma Jingyi cursed in his heart as he mixed with the crowd and headed for the East Gate. "How could they find me so quickly!"

Not long ago, a divine power had swept through the Wenqu Temple, and the deity he served immediately warned him to leave. Someone had also tipped him off, and he and his companions had split up to escape.

"That guy has an identity in the city and can hide, but I can be traced as soon as I'm investigated. I must leave Qinglong City. This is where the city gods' power is strongest. Once I'm outside the city, it will be easier."

He was worried all the way, fearing that someone might catch him.

At the city gate, the guards casually checked his basket, saw the Four Treasures of the Study, and let him pass.

He walked through the East Gate tunnel and into the barbican.

"Ha, a bunch of foolish mortals, do you think you can see through the divine brush my master created?"

Qinglong City had once been a strategic location, and barbicans were built at both the East and West Gates, with their entrances facing south. Walking through the barbican, he saw two guards at the side gate.

They also checked him casually and let Ma Jingyi leave.

Once outside the city, he crossed the moat and felt a great weight lifted from his heart, wanting to howl to the sky.

"No, no, I should be more cautious and leave the main city area first." He walked a bit further, entered a nearby forest, and, seeing no one around, laughed out loud.

"Uncle, don't you think your laughter is a bit grating?" A clear, young voice suddenly came from the treetops.

Looking up, he saw a fair and handsome young man sitting on a branch, his legs swinging, smiling at Ma Jingyi on the ground. He occasionally took a piece of ginger candy, crunching it loudly.

"You are..." Ma Jingyi, not a local, did not recognize Xun Yi, the future head of the Xun family.

"The one who's here to catch you!" Xun Yi, sitting on the branch, patted the wooden sword at his waist, "Have you been selling the divine pens in the city these past few days?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Ma Jingyi, sensing something was wrong, looked around for a way to escape.

"Looks like it's you, then. How about this: if you kneel down and bark three times, shout 'Young Master, spare my life,' and report your accomplices, I might consider going easy on you." Xun Yi looked down at the panicked man, feeling a sense of satisfaction.

"Watching others panic and be at a loss is the most interesting part!" Xun Yi sighed, feeling that the rush of running here had been worth it.

Bai Fu, beside him, shuddered and muttered, "Do you think everyone enjoys tormenting others like you?"

"Shut up!" Ma Jingyi, furious, took out a pen from his basket and quickly wrote the character "神" (shén, god) on his body.

"Master, please lend your power to this humble servant." As the deity entered his body, a golden halo appeared above his head. Xun Yi instinctively felt a vast presence slowly descending from afar.

"The fourth move of the Maolin Sword Technique, Ghost槐 Welcomes the Guest." The wooden sword drew a beautiful arc, piercing towards Ma Jingyi at an extremely cunning angle.

"Good job!" Bai Fu praised, "This kind of divine possession takes time. Don't give him a chance to cast his spell, just interrupt it!"

Moving like a ghost, with a trail of gray smoke, the sword was like a ghostly locust, causing a cacophony of ghostly cries. Ma Jingyi, who was halfway through the possession, was struck by the sword's aura.

"Bind!" One of Ma Jingyi's eyes turned golden, and he quickly wrote a golden character "束" (shù, bind). The large character instantly turned into a divine rope, trapping Xun Yi.

"Master, this is an attack method of the literary deities, using maxims to control all things. Words, pictures, and speech can all become real attacks," Bai Fu explained.

Xun Yi, recalling how the literary judge had dealt with the white-haired giant beast, asked softly, "How do we counter it?"

Bai Fu transformed into a small figure and sat on Xun Yi's shoulder, "Use the City God Seal on your left hand. Just lightly touch the sword with your left hand to imbue it with divine power, turning the Maolin Sword Technique into a true divine sword technique."

Xun Yi bit his lip, drawing blood, and forcibly broke free from Ma Jingyi's bindings. He swiped his left hand over the wooden sword, and the originally yellow wooden sword glowed with a red-green divine power.

"City God?" Ma Jingyi muttered, feeling a sharp pain in his body, and wrote the character "愈" (yù, heal) to close the wound Xun Yi had inflicted.

"The faith of this believer is not strong enough, and the possession is only halfway complete, so I can't even use a fraction of my power," the deity thought, but then reconsidered, "I still need him to open new markets. I can't give up now. The opponent looks like a novice in divine techniques, and he just obtained the City God Seal. If I can capture him, it will be easier to break into Qinglong City."

The deity, having made up its mind, began to write a third character. But before it could start, its eyelid twitched, and Xun Yi, who had just broken free, disappeared, leaving only a faint fragrance in the air.

"Maolin Eighth Sword —— Osmanthus Fragrance Separates the Soul!" The fragrance of osmanthus spread for miles, and the branches of the osmanthus tree in the moon palace were broken.

The deity instinctively dodged, rolling on the ground to avoid the attack. A silver light flashed, shooting straight from where Xun Yi had disappeared to where Ma Jingyi had been standing.

A large, deep crater appeared in the ground, and Xun Yi's figure reappeared vaguely nearby.

"Tsk." Xun Yi was dissatisfied, looking at the ground. The Osmanthus Fragrance Separates the Soul was a killing move in the Maolin Sword Technique, aiming for a one-hit kill. He hadn't expected it to be dodged.

"Master, this is a deity, even though the possession isn't complete, the deity's instincts are still there. Forcing it to dodge is already a great achievement," Bai Fu said, while summoning the literary and martial judges through his body in the Netherworld to block the surroundings.

"This kid has a good talent," Ma Jingyi thought, seeing how easily Xun Yi combined his sword technique with divine power. "I need to end this quickly and not give him a chance to adapt to the divine power." He quickly wrote two characters, "虎" (hǔ, tiger) and "岩" (yán, rock).

Just writing the character "虎" (tiger) drained much of Ma Jingyi's remaining divine power. The deity, determined, forced Ma Jingyi to write the second character "岩" (rock) by draining his lifespan.

"Unfortunately, this believer's divine power is too weak. If another believer were here, it would be better," the deity thought, sensing another person in the city. But it dismissed the idea, since it had already set up an ambush. Why waste another pawn?

The characters "虎" (tiger) and "岩" (rock) materialized in the air. A fierce, striped tiger roared into existence, and rocks continuously fell from the sky, interfering with Xun Yi's movements as the tiger attacked.

Bang, bang, bang! Rocks fell one after another, and Xun Yi dodged the attacks, but the falling rocks gradually restricted his movement. The character "岩" (rock) continued to rain down rocks.

"Is this a continuous attack spell? I just need to break it, right?" Xun Yi said, blocking the tiger with his sword.

Hearing Xun Yi's words, the deity laughed, "Break it? The Mountain Rock Spell costs this guy ten years of his life. Even a true deity might not be able to break it, let alone a shallow mortal like you."

Bai Fu also whispered, "Master, don't worry, our reinforcements are coming soon. Just hold out until then. Once this is recorded in the Book of Merits, the City God will have an excuse to help you with your heart condition."

"Twisted Banyan Covers the Sky." A huge banyan tree with twisted roots and a dense canopy appeared, repelling the rocks and pushing back the tiger. The canopy acted like a green umbrella, deflecting the rocks and breaking old trees in the forest.

A single banyan tree formed a forest, the strongest defensive move in the Maolin Sword Technique. With divine power, it became a real, massive tree behind Xun Yi.

Xun Yi adjusted his breathing. After the banyan tree was destroyed by the rocks and the tiger, he changed his sword technique: "Maolin Eleventh Sword, Ancient Pine in Snow."

In the harsh winter, the sky was filled with snowflakes that turned into ice blades. The banyan tree disappeared, and a green, ancient pine tree appeared behind Xun Yi. Countless pine needles shot out, turning the tiger into a sieve, blood splattering the pine tree.

Ancient Pine in Snow, the hidden meaning was a sword that stained with blood.

Xun Yi's face was stern, both hands gripping the sword, looking at the cursive character "岩" (rock) falling from the sky. "Sparse Plum Shadows!"

The scattered plum shadows turned into dozens of light beams, following the wooden sword towards the "岩" (rock).

The character glowed red and immediately sent Xun Yi flying, but the character itself remained unharmed.

"Ha... Ha... This blood curse, using the lifespan of a living being, is not something a mortal's sword technique can break," the deity said, taking advantage of Xun Yi's attempt to break the spell. It wrote another character, this time a line of poetry —— Phoenix in Scarlet Flame.

Suddenly, a fierce fire burned, and a golden phoenix with fiery wings circled the forest. The red flames devoured the forest like a beast.

The dense forest was set ablaze, and the heat waves were intense.

Xun Yi frowned and suddenly rushed towards the deity. Capture the leader first, maybe killing it would break the spell?

The deity quickly used the "岩" (rock) character to build a massive stone wall in front of itself, blocking Xun Yi.

"Master, you can't attack it without breaking the character. This is a literary secret technique. Wait for the literary judge to arrive. Just be careful not to get burned," Bai Fu said, not believing that Xun Yi could break the divine spell with his current strength. He just wanted him to stay safe until he and the literary judge arrived.

Xun Yi didn't speak, but through the gaps, he could see the person on the other side still carving new spells. He felt anxious but calmed down, closed his eyes, and squatted in a horse stance, recalling the Maolin Sword Technique his father had once demonstrated.

Sweat poured down his forehead, and sparks from the fire burned holes in his scholar's robe.

"Blooming Peach Blossoms." Peach blossoms appeared around him. Bai Fu had wanted to advise him to use the ancient pine for protection. Suddenly, he saw red maple leaves among the peach blossoms.

"Maple Fire Connects the Sky?" Bai Fu was both surprised and delighted. This was one of the three hidden moves in the Maolin Twelve Swords. The autumn wind was bleak, and the maple leaves were like fire.

"Combined sword technique!" Bai Fu remembered what the founder of the twelve swords, Maolin Gong, had said. He immediately understood what Xun Yi was doing.

The Blooming Peach Blossoms and Maple Fire combined, and the red maple leaves and peach blossoms swirled with flames.

Layers of fire circles enveloped Xun Yi, and the flames from the burning forest gradually gathered around him, forming his own power, ultimately creating a fire dragon: "Go!"

The fire dragon roared in the sky, and the golden phoenix, made of fire, faced a formidable opponent. The fiery glow engulfed the phoenix in another sea of red flames, and the sword's aura shattered the "岩" (rock) character and charged towards the deity.

The deity's expression was cold: "Seal!" It again drained Ma Jingyi's lifespan to write the character "封" (fēng, seal). The red fire dragon and the seal character collided, and the deity's body flew into the seal, turning into a fire dragon talisman.

"Combining sword techniques can invoke the five elements. This sword technique has transcended the mortal realm," the deity examined Xun Yi.

Xun Yi grunted and gripped his sword, but after taking a few steps, he suddenly stiffened, his face contorted in pain. The wooden sword fell to the ground, and he collapsed, curling into a ball.

"I can see that your body is already weak. Engaging in such intense combat and using this combined sword technique, can your body handle it?" the deity said calmly, "If I wanted to force your illness to flare up, why would I write these characters to delay time?"

"Kid, you have talent, but no experience. A mere mortal who just obtained the divine seal thinks he can fight a superior deity?" The deity flicked its finger, and a burst of energy shattered the earth beneath Xun Yi, sending him crashing into a tree.

"Spit—" Xun Yi spat out a mouthful of blood and struggled to consciousness.

Just as the deity was about to finish him off, it suddenly looked around. The divine shield created by the literary judge and others was about to fall, and the deity was gradually losing contact with its body.

"Fine." It left a final message, "You can slowly wait to die. With your heart condition, you won't last long." With that, it transformed into a gust of wind and rushed towards the shrinking gap in the sky.

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