118: Chapter 118 The Victory or Defeat of T1 and T2

The next day.

Meng Li had a match with Yan Nantian as agreed.

It had to be said that Yan Nantian truly deserved to be recognized as the world's number one even by Yao Yue; his strength was indeed formidable, especially when he had a sword in hand.

Once the Divine Sword Technique was deployed, Yan Nantian brandished his sword, and his Sword Qi crisscrossed continuously, with an incredibly astonishing destructive power.

Even though Meng Li's power was strong enough to easily unleash Sword Qi as well, it was difficult to secure a victory.

This was not because his strength was weak.

On the contrary, Meng Li could feel that his strength had already surpassed Yan Nantian's, but he followed the path of drawing from many sources (collecting). In the way of the sword alone, even though he had glimpsed the various essentials of the Divine Sword Technique during the exchange, his level was only a notch above proficient.

Proficiency was a passive effect that came with the Wedding Dress Divine Skill.

Being a notch above was due to Meng Li's accumulation; he was proficient in more than one sword technique, and even if he didn't use the sword much, he had gained quite a bit of insight.

Yan Nantian, however, specialized in the Divine Sword Technique and had been famous in the Jianghu for his swordplay for many years, earning the title of Grandmaster in this path.

The fact that Meng Li could fight him using sword techniques without losing was purely due to his formidable cultivation compensating for the gap in technique.

Yan Nantian, with his discernment, could naturally see this.

After stopping at the right moment, he couldn't help but ask, "Which sect does your Beiming Divine Skill come from? To think your cultivation has reached such a formidable level at such a young age."

Meng Li replied, "The Xiaoyao Sect."

"Xiaoyao Sect?" Yan Nantian murmured the name, thought for a while, and said in confusion, "I've never heard of it."

Meng Li fabricated a story casually, "This Beiming Divine Skill was obtained by me during a chance encounter in my early years. According to relevant records, it is the supreme martial art of the Xiaoyao Sect. The Xiaoyao Sect was a hidden School near Tianshan hundreds of years ago; their recruitment of Disciples focused on following fate and one's heart, so there weren't many members in each generation."

"Later, due to an incident, the Legacy was broken."

"The Ancestral Master of the Xiaoyao Sect was named Carefree Child, who was fond of Daoist studies, especially admiring the ancient sage Zhuangzi."

"The concept of the Beiming Divine Skill is taken from 'Zhuangzi: Wandering Beyond', with the accumulation of Internal Energy as its primary objective. It emphasizes that once Internal Energy is thick enough, all the world's Martial Arts can be used by me, just like the Northern Sea; large boats and small boats are all carried, large fish and small fish are all accommodated."

"Therefore, this Cultivation Technique has its unique aspects in the path of accumulating power."

Only then did Yan Nantian understand, and he didn't ask further.

He had only asked out of curiosity and didn't intend to investigate anything deeply.

Although Xiao Yuer, the Five Great Villains, and others nearby were even more curious, they didn't speak up either.

Because Meng Li spoke with such detail and added the label of a chance encounter, even if they were curious, it would be hard to ask anything more.

However, they didn't suspect Meng Li of lying.

Because with Meng Li's strength right there, there was no need for it.

The next day, Yan Nantian left Poison King Valley and headed to Yihua Palace to settle the matters of the past.

Xiao Yuer and Hua Wuchuan, being involved parties, followed along.

Meng Li didn't join the commotion but stayed in Poison King Valley to continue reading the medical and poison classics collected by Chang Bai Cao and Su Rushi.

A few days later, news arrived.

The battle between Yan Nantian and Yao Yue and Lian Xing at Yihua Palace was fought with great momentum.

In the end, Yao Yue and Lian Xing were defeated.

Meng Li was not surprised when he learned of this.

Yan Nantian's strength was already superior to either Yao Yue or Lian Xing individually, and even against the two of them joined together, he wouldn't necessarily lose.

Otherwise, Yao Yue and Lian Xing in the original story wouldn't have resorted to trickery.

Now that Yao Yue had discarded her cultivation and was relearning, she most likely hadn't returned to her Peak state; combined with Lian Xing, they naturally found it hard to win against Yan Nantian.

As for trickery...

Yan Nantian's memory had no issues now, and with Xiao Yuer and Hua Wuchuan by his side, it would be difficult for Yao Yue to use tricks even if she wanted to.

However, although Yan Nantian won, he didn't kill Yao Yue and Lian Xing, only saying that the past grievances were now settled, before leaving with Hua Wuchuan and Xiao Yuer.

Meng Li was also not surprised by this result.

After all, Xiao Yuer had said before that Yan Nantian was only going there to settle the grievances and didn't plan on taking revenge.

However, while Yan Nantian didn't intend to seek revenge, Old Red Leaf and Little Red Leaf, who received the news of Yao Yue and Lian Xing's defeat, couldn't sit still.

These two, who were uncle and nephew in name but father and son in reality, had harbored resentment since they were coerced by Hua Wuchuan's force, and that resentment extended to Yihua Palace. After Yao Yue burned down the Red Leaf Pavilion headquarters, they hated them to their very core.

The reason they had delayed their retaliation was because they were wary of, and even feared, the strength of Yao Yue and Lian Xing.

The two wanted revenge, but they cherished their lives even more, worrying that if the retaliation failed, it would bring about a pursuit from Yihua Palace.

So, they had been accumulating power and waiting for an opportunity.

The advancement of the Poison King Heroes Gathering and the Alliance of various sects against Yihua Palace were all part of their handiwork.

Back when Yan Nantian and Xiao Yuer went to the Red Leaf Pavilion branch to investigate Jiang Feng's matter, the two had seemingly yielded to Yan Nantian's force, but they also had the intention of diverting the trouble elsewhere.

Now Yan Nantian had indeed attacked Yihua Palace and even defeated Yao Yue and Lian Xing.

Old Red Leaf and Little Red Leaf immediately understood that the time for revenge had come!

Given the personalities of Yao Yue and Lian Xing, they wouldn't admit defeat easily, so they must have been injured in this battle, possibly quite severely.

Furthermore, their defeat would surely weaken their deterrent power over the various sects in the Martial Forest. After all, these sects all had more or less some grievances with Yihua Palace; if it weren't for the fact that Yao Yue and Lian Xing were too strong and their reputation too formidable, they would have attacked Yihua Palace long ago.

Thus, only two days after Yan Nantian's group left Yihua Palace, the Flower-Elimination Alliance, led by the Eight Great Schools, attacked Yihua Palace.

Its Alliance Leader, just like in the original story, was the Sect Head of the Huashan Sect, Qian Buyi.

The Flower-Elimination Alliance arrived at Yihua Palace with great fanfare, but in less than half a day, the ground was covered with corpses, and they fled in collapse.

Because while it was true that Yao Yue and Lian Xing lost to Yan Nantian, they didn't suffer much injury.

After Yao Yue was adjusted by Meng Li using the Mi Xin Great Technique, she not only let go of the past but her personality was also not as proud and overbearing as before. Being in the stage of relearning and with her Martial Arts not yet restored to its Peak, she knew it was normal to lose to Yan Nantian and didn't find it disgraceful; she accepted the loss and didn't stubbornly persist.

Lian Xing had a weaker personality and already intended to resolve the past grievances, so she naturally accepted it as well.

Seeing this, Yan Nantian stopped and left.

Therefore, after this battle, Yao Yue and Lian Xing had at most suffered some minor injuries.

With the foundation of Yihua Palace, they had almost recovered in two days.

In addition, since Hua Wuchuan left, Lian Xing and Yao Yue, considering the issue of Yihua Palace's Legacy, had the intention of cultivating talent.

Hua Xing Nu, Hua Shui Nu, and Hua Ying Nu, who often stayed by their side, benefited from this and were taught a portion of the Hun Yuan True Qi by Lian Xing. Hua Xing Nu was a palace maid from the same period as Hua Yue Nu; she already had Martial Arts and a decent amount of cultivation, and her strength surged shortly after learning the Hun Yuan True Qi.

After practicing diligently for another period of time, while her cultivation wasn't Peak-level, dealing with ordinary Sect Head-level figures wasn't much of a problem.

Hua Shui Nu and Hua Ying Nu were slightly inferior by comparison, but they were not weaker than the Elders of ordinary sects.

So, after the people of the Flower-Elimination Alliance charged into Yihua Palace, they encountered a total crushing.

Lian Xing and Yao Yue joined forces to crush the high-end combat power of the Flower-Elimination Alliance.

Hua Xing Nu, Hua Shui Nu, and Hua Ying Nu, along with the rest of Yihua Palace, dealt with the core combat power of the Flower-Elimination Alliance; while they might not have secured an immediate win, they could stall for time with ease.

The low-level personnel went without saying; they were pure cannon fodder, and the casual aftershocks from Yao Yue and Lian Xing could deal with them.

In this battle, the high-end combat power of the Eight Great Schools was slaughtered to the point of a generational gap.

The other various sects also suffered heavy blows.

The fierce reputation of Yao Yue and Lian Xing once again shook the Jianghu.

Yihua Palace once again became a Forbidden Ground that people in the Martial Forest spoke of with pale faces.

Spreading along with it was Yihua Palace's pursuit order, with the targets being Old Red Leaf and Little Red Leaf.

As for this matter, Meng Li felt it had nothing to do with him, treating it purely as entertainment and putting it aside after hearing about it.

Unexpectedly, Little Red Leaf actually found the Meng Family Village and said he came for him...