30: The needle penetrates the body, the intention enters the heart, he didn't win, I didn't lose, we are evenly matched!

Lu Jiuyuan moved!

"Zheng--!"

Guhong Sword let out a piercing cry unlike anything before, as if a sleeping Vicious Beast had suddenly awakened!

The four-edged sword body trembled violently, and the chilling killing intent, condensed like a needle, which had been firmly suppressed by Ye Gucheng's vast Sword Intent, erupted with a hundredfold ferocity, like a volcano pushed to its limit!

He transformed into a streak of azure lightning, tearing through the sky!

There were no complex Moves, no grand trajectories, only a 'stab' that condensed his entire will, power, speed, and even burned with a certain resolute determination!

The target was still Ye Gucheng's throat!

This stab was faster than before! More ferocious! More absolute!

So fast it seemed to transcend the flow of time! So ferocious it carried the tragic resolve of mutual destruction! So absolute it left no room for retreat!

This was Lu Jiuyuan's sword, unleashed beyond his limits at the brink of life and death, under the oppressive Sword Intent of Ye Gucheng, which descended like the Nine Heavens!

It was the only opportunity he had seized in that 'stagnant' moment, the only possible way to break the deadlock!

A flicker of genuine surprise finally crossed Ye Gucheng's unruffled eyes.

He had seen many fast swords in the world, but only this one was so fast.

And the will contained within this sword!

It was a desperate resolve, turning oneself into a pure instrument of destruction, a willingness to be utterly annihilated!

It was as if all things in the world, including his own life, had become fuel to be discarded at this moment, solely to achieve this ultimate 'stab'!

Facing this transcendent, tragically destructive stab, Ye Gucheng's finger, resting on the sword hilt, moved slightly.

His movement was extremely subtle, so subtle it was as if only moonlight flowed across his fingertip.

However, the moment his fingertip moved--

"Qiang Lang--!"

A clear, lofty sword cry, as if from beyond the clouds of the Nine Heavens, resounded throughout the small courtyard!

The ancient sword at Ye Gucheng's waist was unsheathed!

No drawing motion was seen!

It was as if the sword had always existed in the Void Realm, only now revealed by the moonlight!

A streak of sword light, whose brilliance, etherealness, and loneliness were beyond description, suddenly illuminated the scene!

It did not seem to belong to the human world!

It was like an immortal light flying from outside the heavens, carrying the supreme Concept of judging life and death, overlooking the mortal realm, and also possessing an ultimate sharpness that pierced through everything, breaking all obstacles!

The moment the sword light appeared, it instantly overpowered the azure electric gleam that Lu Jiuyuan had unleashed with all his killing intent!

Time, at this moment, seemed to be infinitely stretched.

In Shangguan Xueer's eyes, only that stunning, unearthly sword light remained.

It occupied her entire vision, her mind, making her forget fear, forget to breathe, leaving only a sense of awe and suffocation, almost like worship.

This was -- Celestial Flight!

Lu Jiuyuan's tragic, resolute, and transcendent stab, before this sword light that seemed to come from the Nine Heavens, appeared as small and tragic as a moth flying into a flame.

"Ding!"

An extremely subtle, yet incredibly clear, crisp sound!

Like ice beads falling into a jade plate, or cold spring water dripping into a deep pool.

There was no earth-shattering collision, no raging, overflowing force.

Two sword lights, moving at their absolute fastest, collided in the Void Realm with pinpoint precision, like needle points meeting a wheat awn!

The point of collision was precisely the four-edged, flat tip of Lu Jiuyuan's Guhong Sword!

And the cold, gleaming tip of Ye Gucheng's ancient sword!

Time seemed to freeze at this moment.

Two figures, one azure, one white, stood motionless in the cold moonlight.

Sword tips touching!

Ye Gucheng, in white robes whiter than snow, maintained his indifferent gaze, as if that stunning sword strike was merely an offhand gesture, stirring not a ripple in his heart.

Lu Jiuyuan's face suddenly paled, and his sword-wielding arm visibly trembled violently.

An indescribable, overwhelming, terrifying power, like the Milky Way pouring down from the Nine Heavens, or the entire firmament pressing down, slammed into his body along the Guhong Sword's blade!

That was not merely unparalleled Internal Energy, but also a lofty Sword Intent, high above all, not to be defiled!

It brutally tore at Lu Jiuyuan's Meridians, impacting his mind, as if to utterly crush him along with his will!

Bang bang bang!

Lu Jiuyuan could no longer suppress it; blood spilled from the corner of his mouth, and he staggered back three steps!

Ye Gucheng stood there silently, his long sword pointing diagonally, moonlight falling upon him, his white robes unstained, as if he had never moved.

"Your sword is very good, Sword Devil, a well-deserved title!" Ye Gucheng's voice was as cold as ever, as if stating a simple fact:

"Unfortunately, it's not enough! I'm taking the jade pendant!"

"What a Celestial Flight! Truly stunning!"

Lu Jiuyuan smiled, though each breath pulled at the burning pain in his chest and abdomen.

But there was no trace of defeat in his eyes; instead, a nearly crazed flame burned, a Battle Intent made even more fervent by being crushed by a stronger power.

"I've seen your sword, now I ask you to witness my needle!"

As his words fell, Lu Jiuyuan's left hand gently rose!

A silver gleam, so subtle as to be almost imperceptible, like a lover's softest sigh, or Death's most precise caress, shot silently and without warning towards Ye Gucheng's heart!

Speed! Surpassing sound! Surpassing thought! Surpassing all his previous needle speeds!

Ye Gucheng's pupils suddenly constricted!

This time, the indifference on his face was finally broken, revealing a look of solemnity for the first time!

The moment Lu Jiuyuan raised his hand, he felt a genuine, life-threatening aura of death!

Cannot block it! Will die!

This thought, like a cold viper, instantly coiled around his lofty sword heart.

Since the Major Achievement of "Celestial Flight," this was the first time he had so clearly smelled the scent of death, so closely felt the chill of life being pierced through!

In the nick of time!

Ye Gucheng's hand on the sword hilt tightened suddenly!

Om--!

A sword cry, clearer and more resonant than before, tore through the stagnant air!

The ancient long sword in his hand did not block horizontally—there was simply no time!

The sword body, following an illogical trajectory, instantly swept across his chest, the blade precisely striking that life-claiming silver gleam!

Puff!

An extremely subtle, yet incredibly clear, muffled sound.

The embroidery needle was indeed struck, and cut in two; the latter half was severed and fell.

But the front half had already embedded itself in Ye Gucheng's chest.

Ye Gucheng's sword-wielding hand visibly trembled violently! His fair, slender, rock-steady fingers instantly turned white at the knuckles!

He grunted, his face instantly flashing with an unusual pallor, like perfect white jade covered in a thin layer of frost.

The needle pierced the body, the intent pierced the heart!

"Good! What a Sword Devil! What a Yamas Summons!"

Ye Gucheng's voice was still cold, but for the first time, it carried an almost imperceptible tremor, a mix of shock and anger.

He looked deeply at Lu Jiuyuan.

That gaze was no longer merely the indifference of one overlooking the mortal realm, but like a deep abyss, reflecting Lu Jiuyuan's pale, blood-stained, yet defiantly arrogant figure.

This gaze was complex and hard to fathom, containing cold killing intent, admiration for a worthy opponent, and even a hint of... a disrupted chess game's gloom.

No words, no farewell.

Ye Gucheng's figure suddenly became ethereal!

As if moonlight underwent a strange refraction on him, his snow-white robes merged with the cold moonlight.

Swish!

Only a slowly dissipating white afterimage, drawn out by the rapidly departing figure, remained in place.

The person had vanished from the spot!

The next instant, he had drifted silently like a true wisp of cloud, landing atop the tallest green bamboo outside the courtyard.

The bamboo tip merely bent slightly, then sprang back, as if it had only carried a wisp of breeze.

He stood on the bamboo tip, his back to the small courtyard, his white robes fluttering in the night wind, like a solitary cold star suspended in the sky.

The moonlight outlined his tall and isolated silhouette, but it could no longer conceal the dangerous and turbulent confrontation he had just experienced.

He did not look back.

He merely tapped his toes lightly on the resilient bamboo tip.

"Swoosh--"

The sound of rushing air was barely audible.

The white figure, as if pulled by invisible threads, instantly merged into the vast night, disappearing into the darkness in the distance.

His speed was even greater than when he arrived, carrying a resolute unwillingness to linger.

In the small courtyard, the suffocating, terrifying sword pressure suddenly receded like a tide.

The air began to flow again, and the night wind rustled through the bamboo leaves.

Thump!

Lu Jiuyuan, who had been holding on, could no longer support himself and knelt heavily on the ground!

Guhong Sword "clang"-ed as it plunged into the dirt in front of him, supporting his tottering body.

"Wah--!"

A large mouthful of hot blood, no longer suppressed, gushed out, staining the ground in front of him and the hem of his azure robe.

He coughed violently, each cough pulling at a searing pain in his internal organs, as if being cut by knives.

But he lowered his head, his hand gripping the sword hilt, veins bulging, knuckles white, showing no sign of letting go.

"Xiao Jian!"

Shangguan Xueer cried out in alarm, rushing out of the house like a startled rabbit, and threw herself beside Lu Jiuyuan.

Her small hands trembled as she tried to help him up, yet she was afraid of hurting him, her eyes welling up with tears in her urgency.

"You... how are you? Don't scare me!"

Lu Jiuyuan didn't answer, only gasped violently.

After a long while, he slowly raised his head, his face devoid of color, his lips also bloodless, but his eyes shone astonishingly!

"Cough... cough cough... Good... what a Celestial Flight..."

His voice was hoarse, flecked with blood, yet full of power, "So... this is the true 'momentum'... this is the legendary Sword Intent reaching the Void Realm... cough... Good! Very good!

It was by borrowing his momentum that my own Sword Intent was ignited! This one sword strike is worth ten years of arduous cultivation!"

He stared fixedly in the direction where Ye Gucheng had disappeared, his gaze as sharp as an eagle's.

"Don't worry, although he acted with elegance, that needle has entered his heart; he is no less injured than I am.

He didn't win, and I didn't lose!"

"Tonight was truly exhilarating!" He bared his teeth, stained with blood, his smile tragic yet incredibly unrestrained.

"September fifteenth, night of the full moon... The Summit of the Forbidden City! Heh heh!"