Maiden Galaxy

Mount Hua, northern peak.

There were precipitous drops on all sides, clouds crowned the scenery, tunnel networks ran below; this was solitary majesty, like a cloud terrace. Atop a platform, two figures traded blows in battle.

"Duke Wu Of Liang" Li Su's Star Weapons, the "Crimson Blood Flying Serpent Spear" and the "Snowy Night Milky Way Spear," rotated skillfully amidst her assault. Spear-light flashed, and crimson chains and white lights endlessly attacked.

Her opponent was Lu Xiujing. The woman's expression was normal as she deftly evaded Li Xiao's strikes. Her body techniques were agile, the pace of her steps wonderful. She vary easily made Li Xiao's attack miss.

Sun Yingmeng, Jiang Yuezhuo, Mi Fu and the others silently watched nearby.

"How is this Lu Xiujing so formidable. Li Su is actually unable to harm her?" Mi Ji was bewildered. No matter how she looked, Li Su was a very talented martial general whereas Lu Xiujing was merely a spiritual energy Star General, but in the face of Duke Wu Of Liang's assault, she apparently had an abundance of leeway.

"Yes, This Lady feels this is quite peculiar. Lu Xiujing likely has even greater talent." Sun Yingmeng said.

"Your attacks must be even sharper, Li Xiao, this is not enough." Lu Xiujing offered pointers as she dodged. As she spoke, she was already beside Li Xiao.

Li Xiao was very upset: "Being lectured by you truly is abhorrent." The girl roared and made a frightening outburst. The Crimson Blood Flying Serpent Spear unleashed a blood-colored python that coiled towards Lu Xiujing. This was her Dark Rank "Python Constriction," swift and fierce as lightning, exceptionally domineering.

This Dark Rank could obstruct the target's speed, and it was difficult to escape from no matter how fast they were.

Lu Xiujing faintly grinned. The serpent coiled, but inconceivably, Lu Xiujing's figure vanished.

"Huh." Li Xiao was stupefied.

"You should do something a little more unexpected." Lu Xiujing appeared behind Li Xiao.

Duke Wu Of Lian's back chilled as she swiftly dodged away.

Just at this moment, an astral wind descended from the sky. Lu Xiujing pushed her palms out and drew a circle. She dexterously dispelled the incoming force, but the astral wind pushed Lu Xiujing back several steps. She showed an expression of astonishment.

"Who."

Li Xiao saw that someone had sneak attacked Lu Xiujing and was a bit infuriated.

"Sorry, Senior Sister Lu Xiujing." A man and woman arrived at Mount Hua's northern peak.

"Chen Mo!" Everyone was overjoyed.

"I saw Senior Sister Lu Xiujing was taking things easy, so I couldn't help but want to test Senior Sister." Chen Mo smiled and laded on the cloud terrace. Lu Houxiu also alnded as light as a feather.

"Junior Brother." Jiang Yuezhuo was pleasantly surprised.

"You're finally back, huh. Hm, hm, everything alright?" Sun Yingmeng said, her mood slightly foul.

"Mengmeng, did you think about me?"

"This Girl was only thinking you had ran off somewhere to die, whether or not you would have broken arms or legs after you returned. This Lady wants your money to help heal you." Sun Yingmeng pursed her lips. After Jiang Yuezhuo and Mi Fu returned to Mount Hua, they had already summarized Chen Mo's matters.

"This is?" Lu Xiujing spotted Liu Houxiu.

"She is called Houxiu. She's my friend and helped me enormously this time." Chen Mo introduced her.

The Son of Heaven faintly nodded.

Her relaxed and dignified temperament left the girls awestruck.

"This Elder Sister is so beautiful." Sun Yingmeng blankly said. "A man like you really is a flirt. Elder Sister, did Chen Mo use some disgraceful method to rope you in."

"Don't slander my great personal integrity, okay?" Chen Mo rolled his eyes.

Lu Xiujing stared at Liu Houxiu, generally feeling that the woman before her was unfathomable. "I heard Yuezhuo say you went to face danger alone. It seems the results were pretty good. What was that very fierce move just now."

Lu Xiujing was serious. She and Li Xiao had sparred for several days, but neither had sensed that powerful feeling of oppression. If not for her ample experience, she might have been injured by Chen Mo's strike just now.

"I went to the Yuanshou."

Chen Mo did not hide this at all.

"What? The Yuanshou!!"

Hearing his words, Lu Xiujing, Li Xiao, Sun Yingmeng, Jiang Yuezhuo, and Mi Ji were all stunned.

"The Yuanshou? You didn't go to participate in the Qilin Martial Emperor's Yuanshou, right?" Sun Yingmeng's jaw dropped, her face pale.

The Yuanshou affair had already spread throughout the Inner Star Fields. A Star Warrior named Mo Chen killed the qilin that the Martial Emperor raised, drawing the Martial Emperor's attention. When Mount Hua learned of this information they made a joke that this Mo Chen name reversed was Chen Mo.

"En."

Chen Mo summarized the events of the Yuanshou. Of course, he did not divulge Liu Houxiu's identity at all.

Lu Xiujing's expression was stern. She seized Chen Mo's hands and looked all over him, "You actually obtained the White Tiger's soul and the Seven Mansion Star Stones. No wonder that punch just now was even more ferocious than Li Xiao's Dark Rank."

"Are you actually a man?" Li Xiao felt that her pride had suffered a tremendous blow: "You actually are capable of killing the White Tiger."

"This matter must be kept secret. Junior Brother obtained the White Tiger's soul and the Five Emperors Seal. We have a very high chance of victory against the Nine Elders Of Sui." Lu Xiujing said.

"Chen Mo, you truly are outrageous. How do you have the guts to dare kill the White Tiger." Sun Yingmeng stepped on Chen Mo's leg. She and Li XIao had just been worrying about this very thing.

"Junior Brother did this for the martial arts competition, don't cause him pain." Mi Ji giggled.

Sun Yingmeng shook her head.

"When I arrived at Mount Hua, the bottom was very rowdy. They're even making bets now."

"En, many people came for this Mount Hua martial arts contest. They say Yang Guang's victory is already certain. She wants to defeat us and obtain our Mount Hua in front of thousands of staring eyes. She wants to make it known to all in the world that Mount Hua is hers." Liu Xiujing nodded.

"Will Little Senior Sister Red Fragrant Child also take part in the battle?" Chen Mo asked.

"Yes."

Mentioning this, Lu Xiujing, Li Xiao, Jiang Yuezhuo and the others were very bewildered. The Red Fragrant Child's cultivation was honestly too low. She was always stuck in Gestational Realm without any way to break through. Even an ordinary Earthly Star could defeat her. Sending her to fight was an inevitable loss. However, this instance was the result of the Red Fragrant Child herself pleading with the Ancestor. She said she wanted to use this opportunity to make a breakthrough in her Realm.

Because they had already considered the number of battles for Mount Hua's certain defeat, there actually was nothing different in the Red Fragrant Child fighting in Jiang Yuezhuo's place, so the Ancestor acquiesced.

"Can this Elder Sister help fight for Mount Hua?" Sun Yingmeng asked Liu Houxiu.

"She is not one of Mount Hua's people. Even if she joined Mount Hua right now, it would be too late." Lu Xiujing did not want Sun Yingmeng to provoke an issue.

"I'll go pay the Ancestral Master a visit, then I'll go visit Little Senior Sister." Chen Mo asked.

"Fine, you have the White Tiger's soul. Over the next few days, train hard with us, Junior Brother." Lu Xiujing faintly smiled. With the White Tiger's soul, Chen Mo's attacks were stronger than a Heavenly Star's. Such an opportunity was very rare.

Chen Mo cheerfully agreed.

Chess Pavilion.

Ancestor Chen Tuan was quietly playing chess with Daoist Shang Zhao Yunchen. Gao Shanxue stood nearby, standing straight as a pine.

"Fellow Yunchen, your chess skills are becoming more and more refined." The girl gently smiled.

Zhao Yunchen somewhat helplessly looked at the game state in front of him.

He had used the "Four Spirits And Eight Auspicious Powers" then the "Four Holies And Court Primordial Powers," each step closely linked with one another, extremely ingenious. This "Four Holies And Four Spirits" was a trump card he had meticulously researched for several decades, but he never imagined what would happen if he used it against Ancestor Chen Tuan.

A "gomoku" easily overturned the situation.

"Compared to the Ancestral Master, Yunchen's mastery is still insufficient." Zhao Yunchen shook his head.

Black and white pieces dotted the board like stars. Very quickly, it was covered in stars, becoming an "Eternal Life Pattern" situation.

Zhao Yunchen looked in front of him.

"For this martial arts competition, even the outside world scoffs at Mount Hua." Zhao Yunchen said.

Ancestor Chen Tuan did not reply. She calmly focused on the chess game.

Zhao Yunchen knew that inquiring the Sleeping Immortal about the odds of victor was very rude, so he did not bother probing any further.

"Chen Mo has returned." Gao Shanxue lifted her gaze.

An escape-light landed. Chen Mo cupped his fist and deferentially said: "Disciple Chen Mo greets Ancestor."

The girl smiled: "So long as you have returned."

"Disciple has made Ancestor worry." Chen Mo said.

"For this Mount Hua martial arts competition, aid your Senior Sisters." Immortal Chen's expression was warm.

"As you command."

"Fellow Chen Mo, your chess skills are exceptional. Your Servant wonders if you can save this chess game?" Zhao Yunchen asked.

Chen Mo glanced at the board and noticed it was "eternal life." It was a variant mentioned in the "Collected Writings on Forgetting All Cares and Worries and Enjoying Life," and solving it actually was not hard.

"Sure."

Chen Mo's next move was marvelous.¹

"Eh?" Zhao Yunchen was astonished.

Chen Mo's move was known in weiqi vocabulary as "the miracle of changing life and death,"² used to handle eternal life states like this. It was able to change life and death, a surprise attack when least expected, a game changer. The white pieces' longevity could also fall into a death state.

Immortal Chen gently nodded, a faint smile upon her lips: "The Red Fragrant Child will fight this time. Chen Mo, what is your perspective."

"So long as Little Senior Sister Fragrant Child has faith, I won't oppose." Chen Mo said: "Even if she loses, we'll have the Senior Sisters win the situation back."

Immortal Chen smiled with ease.

"Xiyi has something you need to go help the Fragrant CHild with."

"Ancestor Immortal, your orders, please."

…

Beside the Secret Dragon Pool, a girl in a red jacket and long gown still assiduously trained her boxing techniques. 

She trained with particular dedication. Her speed sometimes nimble as a cat, sometimes ferocious as a tiger. Her movements were like a roving dragon, every punch and maneuver like a biting cold spear, swift as a charging horse.

Her arms and legs moved together, top and bottom following one another, attacking openings when they presented, pouncing on gaps. Her techniques had offense and defense, illusion in reality and reality in illusion, one technique with many variations. Compared to the first time he saw the Red Fragrant Child train, her current technique was already more and more practiced, and after melding with the Bagua, they had become fierce and varied.

"Hmph!" The Red Fragrant Child heard someone approach. With a shout, she turned and threw a punch.

The punch-wind pounded Chen Mo in the face.

Like a large spear slaying a dragon, with chilling cold light.

Chen Mo blocked with the back of his hand, easily diverting and dispelling her energy. Seeing her attack fail to achieve any results, the Red Fragrant Child harrumphed.

"Little Senior Sister, your boxing technique is already one of a kind. I wonder if it has a name or not." Chen Mo asked.

"This technique does not deserve a name if it is unable to even defeat a Star General." The Red Fragrant Child paused and said: "Did you come to convince me to give up on competing, too?"

"No."

Chen Mo slightly smiled. All of a sudden, he leaned and threw a punch towards the Red Fragrant Child. Chen Mo's figure was like a mountain, lofty and indomitable. The Black Turtle emerged, and when he punched, his body moved swiftly like a primeval beast. The power in his arm, in his approaching punch, slashed like a tiger's paw.

This immovable Black Turtle and the attacking White Tiger, his offense and defense were perfect.

The Red Fragrant Child's body quivered. A chill passed over her, and she felt Chen Mo's attack was unbeatable. She was unable to find any openings. The girl bit her lip, her eyes filled with resolve. All of her senses covered this punch-wind. Her little hand shook, and with power like an entwined wind, she dispelled it.

The Red Fragrant Child's hand was numb, and she retreated with an expression of astonishment.

"What is this?"

"The Black Turtle and White Tiger True Spirits." Chen Mo cupped his fist." Junior Brother has specifically come to learn from Little Senior Sister."

"The Four Symbols! You actually have two." The girl was unconvinced: "Good, bring it on."

1. Author-san being lazy. ↩
2. 生生死變化奇 I have no idea if this is real or not. ↩