Ling Yu felt annoyed. Why can't I land even one hit? Is Iron Wall really that good?
She had forgotten one of her Shizun's teachings: the more flustered you are, the more chaotic your movements become—and the more weaknesses you expose. It proved to be true.
Xuan Tian could see more openings in Ling Yu's attacks. She's tired. I'd better stop before she hurts herself.
Xuan Tian flipped backward and held out one hand. "Let us stop—"
But before he could finish his sentence, he felt an attack coming from behind. He tilted his head just in time. A sword flashed past his ear.
Xuan Tian turned and faced the attacker. It was Li Ran. He was grinning.
Li Ran stopped and stood beside Ling Yu. "Xiao Wu, you're sparring with Shengzun, why didn't you call your Shixiongs? I want to spar too. Let's do it together!"
Ling Yu's fighting spirit reignited. She nodded firmly, and the two of them attacked Xuan Tian.
Xuan Tian just smiled a little and went along to "play" with them.
With Li Ran supporting her, Ling Yu's movements became sharper and more precise. But they were far from enough to corner Xuan Tian.
Soon, the two youngest disciples of Gu Tianzhu were out of breath.
They stopped attacking, panting.
Xuan Tian also stopped, smiled teasingly, "Forfeit?"
The two young people looked at each other with determination and looked at Xuan Tian.
"Never!" Li Ran and Ling Yu replied enthusiastically.
"But, we also want to play it smarter." Ling Yu smirked.
And shouted, "Shixiongs! Come! Xuan Tian Shengzun wants to practice with us five!"
Xuan Tian's eyebrows shot up, "Playing dirty, aren't we?"
Less than five breaths later, three other disciples showed up.
"What? Spar with Xuan Shengzun? I'm in!" Lu Jianhong jumped and landed beside Li Ran.
"This is a rare chance!" Chen Zhaoyun landed beside Lu Jianhong.
"I will not miss this for the world." Sheng Qingyu landed beside Chen Zhaoyun.
The five disciples surrounded Xuan Tian. They all took out their swords.
Xuan Tian turned around slowly. "Guess I'll show you the difference between you and me."
"Ziyu Tianzhu Wuzhen, first formation!" Sheng Qingyu suddenly shouted. And the five of them moved in sync with Sheng Qingyu's command.
This was one of Ziyu's legendary sword formations—the Five Pillars of Heaven Formation. It required five people, which made it perfect for them. This formation focused on disarming the opponent and rendering them unable to move, completely subdued.
All of them moved according to Sheng Qingyu's shouted commands—"Second formation!" or "Fourth!"
Their movements were highly coordinated and covered each other's openings and flaws. One would attack from above, the other would stop Xuan Tian's attempt to evade to the right. Another would slash from behind, with two others from the front. They had practiced these formations until close to perfection.
Unfortunately, their opponent was Xuan Tian. Not only did he manage to evade their attacks and traps unarmed, he never even needed to block. Somehow, he managed to perfectly evade all of their highly coordinated attacks.
Gu Tianzhu had shown up and was watching from the porch since Sheng Qingyu shouted, "First formation." He didn't stop them because he knew Xuan Tian's skill was far above them and it was a good chance for his disciples. Gu Tianzhu was also a little curious about how Xuan Tian would break the formation.
And Xuan Tian didn't disappoint. He made the gap between them painfully clear—with nothing but technique, precision, and a calm that never wavered.
Gu Tianzhu realized this. The five disciples realized this too. And it dealt quite a blow to them. This formation was among the best in Ziyu and they were the best group of disciples in executing these formations.
They were undefeated.
Gu Tianzhu saw his disciples were disheartened. He was thinking something and came to a decision.
He shouted, "Shengzun! Excuse my impudence! You can punish me later."
He continued without giving Xuan Tian a chance to reply, "Ziyu Disciples heed my order!"
They stopped, lifted their swords, assumed their stances, and pointed them at Xuan Tian, ready to attack. "Yes!"
"Tian Ting Wu Zhu – 3rd!"
The disciples hesitated, then a beat later, "Yes, Shizun!"
At first, nothing happened. But Xuan Tian didn't drop his guard.
Then – slowly but surely, he felt five different spirit energies, vibrating in harmony with each other. Then, their swords glowed blue. Next came the voices. It was the sound of five swords vibrating, like angels descending from heaven, singing.
This was the evolved version of Five Pillars of Heaven, the Five Pillars of the Heavenly Court. They were more powerful, deadlier, with faster and more fluid movements, leaving no breathing room for the opponent.
"5!"
The Five Pillars of the Heavenly Court moved. If their movements before were smooth, now they were flawless. Their attacks were like an iron net, closing in. Spirit energies imbued in the net, making it hard to breathe.
Gu Tianzhu watched with pride in his heart. He taught them this formation just one year ago, and they could already execute it this well. He was sure, no matter how good Xuan Tian was, he wouldn't be able to escape unscathed.
"7!"
All five swords glowed a brighter blue. They moved downward, attacking together and—
CLANG!
"We did it!"
"We hit Shengzun!"
"Finally!"
Three of them were rejoicing. Ling Yu was among them. She was determined that she must land at least one hit. And she did it!
Sheng Qingyu, the most experienced among them, warned, "Don't let your guard down!"
When the dust settled, Gu Tianzhu could see that they didn't exactly land a hit, but they managed to make Xuan Tian block.
The disciples saw that Xuan Tian blocked—with a thin, flexible tree branch!
The disciples froze.
Li Ran gasped. "Wow! Shengzun, you're amazing!"
Ling Yu pouted. "This can't be!"
Xuan Tian pushed the branch upward and broke the formation. The disciples were forced to take a few steps backward.
"Still want to play?"
Ling Yu flared, "Play? You call this playing?"
Xuan Tian shrugged, "What else should I call it?"
"You!"
Gu Tianzhu laughed, while approaching them. "Calm down, Xiao Wu. Shengzun means no harm. And he was right. For him, this is nothing but a play."
"But, Shizun – " Ling Yu protested.
"Enough. This was nothing but a great opportunity for all of you. You've always complained that you can't fight freely since you cannot hurt other disciples."
He gestured to Xuan Tian, who deliberately slashed his 'weapon' few times.
"Now you can fight with Shengzun until you can't really move anymore. No need to hold back."
Six pair of eyes all looked at him, sparkling.
Xuan Tian took a step back, he let go tree-branch sword, "Wait, you're making me your sandbag?!"
Ling Yu approached at the same speed he retreated, eyes smiling, hands gripping her sword.
"Shengzun, you dropped your 'sword,'" she sing-songed.
"Wait," Xuan Tian kept walking backward.
"Shengzun, please help us," Li Ran chimed in, also sing-songing, following Ling Yu's lead.
"Wait, we need to discuss this," Xuan Tian insisted, still retreating.
Lu Jianhong—who had hesitated before—now understood that Xuan Tian was really playing with them. He joined his two juniors in approaching.
"Shengzun, five years ago you promised to spar."
Sheng Qingyu and Chen Zhaoyun suddenly ran up and blocked Xuan Tian from behind.
Xuan Tian stopped. The other three disciples halted as well.
He looked at Sheng Qingyu and Chen Zhaoyun. "So this is how it's going to be, huh?"
Five smiling faces nodded in unison. "Yes, Shengzun!"
Gu Tianzhu shouted, "8-9-8!"
Five pairs of hands moved simultaneously, circulating spirit energy. Their swords vibrated harder than ever, the sound growing louder. Then, the swords levitated—hovering in front of them. Their fingers danced rapidly, forming several hand seals in succession. The blades glowed bright blue—so bright they were nearly white.
Xuan Tian narrowed his eyes. Oh? They are serious. He smirked. Let me see their 'seriousness.'
"Attack!"
For the second time that night, the Five Pillars of Heavenly Court moved in harmony, trying to incapacitate their opponent.
When suddenly—
"General! Urgent! It's Bai Xunli!"
Lin Qian's voice rang out as she ran from inside the house.
Gu Tianzhu paled. His disciples had already launched their attack at full power—they couldn't stop now. Trying to withdraw would cause serious internal injuries.
His five disciples paled as well. They knew the consequences, but they didn't want to hurt Xuan Tian—not when he was distracted.
Right before panic set in, a calm voice cut through—
"Don't lose focus. Keep going!"
The five disciples didn't have the luxury to think and hesitate. They followed that order and finished the attack. They could only hope Xuan Tian was as strong as their Shizun claimed.
CLANG!
The swords hit something solid and stuck.
Xuan Tian was already out of the formation and stood in front of Lin Qian.
"What's wrong with Captain Bai, Doctor?"
The six people from Ziyu were dumbfounded.
The disciples saw their swords stuck where Xuan Tian was supposed to be. And they couldn't move them. As if the swords had turned to stone.
Gu Tianzhu was dumbfounded because he couldn't see when and how Xuan Tian moved. It happened faster than a blink of an eye.
When Xuan Tian asked Lin Qian, he also flicked his hands gently and the swords dropped to the ground, clanking loudly.
Xuan Tian ignored them and focused on Lin Qian.
"I need your help, General."
They had already walked into the house, heading for Bai Xunli's room, followed by Jing Xue.
The disciples were looking at each other and bend over to retrieve their swords, still processing what had just happened.
Li Ran turned to Gu Tianzhu, "Shizun, you said Shengzun is strong. I never thought he's this strong!"
Gu Tianzhu, looking at Xuan Tian disappearing into the house, could only nod.
Chen Zhaoyun sheathed his sword and turned to his shixiong, "Da Shixiong, you were also amazing! You were the only one who didn't panic and even told us to keep going. Otherwise, we would all suffer internal injuries."
"Thank you," he added sincerely, bowing slightly.
Shen Qingyu looked at his 2nd Shidi, confused, "It wasn't me. I was just as panicked as you were."
They were looking at each other again.
"If it wasn't you, who was it? The voice was so close, like right beside my ears, I thought it could only be you. Shizun was too far." Lian Jianhong asked.
A beat.
They came to the realization at the same time and whipped their heads toward the house.
"It can't be…"
Ling Yu stood there, staring at Xuan Tian's back. Her mind was in chaos, trying to process what had just happened.
This was the first time she had witnessed true strength—not just raw power, but power that could destroy and yet chose not to. All because of the willpower of the person wielding it.
Her Shizun had always warned her not to fall under power's control. "You must be the one in control," he used to say. But until tonight, she had never truly seen someone who was in complete control of their power.
Even Ziyu's Mu Xuanyan Shengzun had once admitted he had lost control and hurt others. But Xuan Tian... he didn't just restrain his power. He commanded it like it was an extension of his breath.
So that's what true strength means… it isn't about how much power you have, but how you use it.