The Qin Emperor woke up. As he saw Jing Jiu standing by the tripod, he felt extremely disappointed. "It's impossible; how could the rules be breached?" he muttered.
Jing Jiu turned his head to shoot a glance his way, thinking this was indeed a stupid question.
The goal of Cultivation was to breach the rules, to free oneself from the restrictions, and to ascend.
If one expected to acquire the pity or permission of heaven so that the heavenly thunder would not fall, they wouldn't be able to achieve anything great. One had to brave the heavenly thunder to achieve something extraordinary.
It was the same principle regardless of whether it was in the real world or in the Illusionary Realm.
Since the first day when Jing Jiu was reborn in the Royal Palace of Chu State and heard the statement in his mind, he had never thought of contending for the tripod.
All he thought of was winning the tripod!
It was mostly meaningless to become the ruler of the world and acquire the recognition from the so-called godly commissioner; it was because achieving these deeds still depended on the heaven or others.
As long as he could breach the rules and break through the upper limit of this world, the tripod would definitely be his.
Though many people, including the Qin Emperor, thought it was an impossible feat, in his eyes it should be something all the participants of the Dao Competition were able to accomplish.
The world of the Green Sky Mirror was constant, but the participants of the Dao Competition came from the outside world, so as long as they could maintain a clear Dao Heart, they shouldn't even have the limit in their minds.
They had entered the illusionary world from the real world; how could the rules in this world restrict them?
It was easy to talk about, but it was actually immensely difficult to carry out. Apart from Jing Jiu who had a clear and tenacious sword heart and ignored all the rules and restrictions, who could achieve the same feat?
"Even if you could breach the rules, how would you obtain the Fairy Book?"
The Qin Emperor yelled behind him resentfully, "If you could acquire the recognition from the godly commissioner, he might give you the Fairy Book. Who can give it to you now?!"
The decorating lines on the bronze tripod exuded faint fairy energy; so the Fairy Book of Longevity should be inside it. However, as the Qin Emperor said, how could Jing Jiu take it out of the tripod?
"The rules are the decorating lines of this world. As they vanish, the reality will present itself."
Jing Jiu didn't pay any heed to the Qin Emperor. He looked at the bronze tripod and murmured, "It looks like you are the Fairy Book."
Having said this, he reached out his hand and was ready to grab the tripod.
Yet, his hand stopped short when it was still far away from the bronze tripod.
He pulled back his right hand slowly, and looked at the bronze tripod silently for a long time. It was unclear what he was thinking, or waiting for.
Seeing his back figure, the Qin Emperor had numerous guesses and uneasy thoughts.
After a long while, Jing Jiu reached out to the bronze tripod with his left hand.
Now that he had made up his mind, he did it without any hesitation; and he grabbed the bronze tripod. His movement was as fast as the lightning and as nimble as the lightest wind.
In the last thirty years, he had looked at this bronze tripod countless times in the small temple, and also held it many times. He was certain that it was merely a regular bronze tripod.
Yet, his perception of it was obviously different this time.
He could sense a strong fairy energy coming out from it.
And it also contained a delicate and far-flung spiritual awareness.
All of a sudden, the bronze tripod vanished into thin air.
The expression on Jing Jiu's face grew very cautious, as he clenched his left hand into fist.
Countless bright light rays shot out from his fist, making his hand look so translucent that the bones in the hand could be seen clearly.
The sight was gorgeous as well as eerie.
Those light rays contained a great deal of elegant and peaceful fairy energy. Though they looked mild, they in fact had a tremendous amount of energy hidden inside.
Jing Jiu raised his eyebrows slightly; his body started trembling uncontrollably.
The pain he was experiencing at the moment was much more than that he displayed.
This was the assault of the fairy energy!
If it were other participants of the Dao Competition, including Zhao Layue who had the strongest Dao Heart, they would have no choice but to open their hands.
Yet, Jing Jiu didn't do so. His face grew pale, as white as a white paper.
He could hear a bird's cry from a distant peak top, which seemed to be a warning.
A trickle of fresh blood came out from the corner of his mouth; but he still held his fist tightly and didn't let it open.
A crisp ringing of a bell could be heard clearly in the distant part of the sky, or perhaps from the other world.
The expression in Jing Jiu's eyes grew clearer; it was almost indifferent.
He yelled softly, "Fold!"
Pah!!!
It sounded like a book being folded together.
Boom!!!
Booming thunder broke out at the same time, and then died out instantly.
The Buzhou Mountain began shaking violently, as if it would collapse in the next moment.
The pebbles and the rubbles on the peak top all floated in the air, and then spread to the surroundings at a high speed.
The distant ocean of clouds did the same thing.
Infinite objects were propelled by an invisible and powerful force to the edges of the space!
The blue sky became bluer, and the clean air became cleaner.
It was empty atop the peak.
Jing Jiu stood in the middle of the empty space, looking up at the sky.
He found that the sky seemed thinner than before, meaning he was closer to the sky now.
Next, he looked at the ground, and found that it seemed thicker, meaning he was closer to the ground.
All this meant that the heaven and the earth were closer to each other.
Finally, he lowered his head to look at his own left hand.
His left hand still clenched into a fist; and a sliver of fairy energy vaguely exuded from it.
The fairy energy was very light; nobody, besides him, could perceive it.
It was the time for him to leave now that the Fairy Book was in his hand.
Jing Jiu looked around, from the blue ocean in the east to the capital of Chu State and finally to the mountain. He discovered that the green leaves turned red again.
"I'm leaving," he said.
It was unclear whom he said this to.
He took a step to the empty space.
On the Cloud-Dream Mountain.
In the Huiyin Valley.
In the manor cave in the rear of the building.
By the Green Sky Mirror.
Many gazes fell on Jing Jiu's body.
The moment Jing Jiu stood up on the futon, all the participants of the Dao Competition knew that something significant would occur.
Jing Jiu suddenly made a move. He took a step forward.
Then, he opened his eyes, becoming awake.
He looked around and saw Liu Shisui, Bai Zao, Tong Yan, Zhuo Rusui, and those participants of the Dao Competition whose names he couldn't remember.
All the participants of the Dao Competition, including Tong Yan, bowed to him in unison, to congratulate him.
Jing Jiu nodded to return the greetings. Then he glanced at Liu Shisui once and headed for the outside of the cave.
The small glass bell rang once and then followed him close behind.
Seeing this, the crowd was startled.
When the participants of the Dao Competition came back from the Illusionary Realm of the Green Sky Mirror, they couldn't help but feel bewildered; it would even take someone like Xi Yiyun some time to truly calm down after waking up.
Nobody could stay so calm like he did. He didn't need any time to transfer his mind from the illusionary world to the real world; it seemed that the decades of experiences in the other world hadn't existed at all!
"You hold your horses there!"
A furious shout blurted out in the manor cave.
The group turned around to look in the direction of the voice.
They saw Bai Qianjun sitting on the futon. He had already opened his eyes, awake. His eyes were full of anger and resentment.
"What you did is not compliant with the rules. I'm not convinced!"
Tong Yan furrowed his eyebrows, making them look a bit bushier.
He knew that it was inappropriate for his Young Sister to say anything, so he was ready to speak.
Unexpectedly, Bai Qianjun had just come back from the Illusionary Realm and still had the brutal temperament of the Qin Emperor. As such, his behavior was rather senseless because he was still in a bewildered mental state.
He employed the Escape Method of Heaven and Earth to arrive behind Jing Jiu, and swing his fist at Jing Jiu's back.
His fist exuded a faint white glow, which had amazing and powerful energy.
Jing Jiu turned around and simply thrust his fist to counterattack.
Bai Zao mumbled to herself, "No!" She thought that Jing Jiu would suffer since Jing Jiu didn't know that her Big Brother had employed his life magic treasure and chose to counterattack with his own fist.
She had too much confidence in Jing Jiu, so she hadn't thought of helping him, but it was too late for her to employ the South-Screen Bell to help Jing Jiu now.
The Green Mountain Sect cultivated the sword work, and the Center Sect cultivated the magic methods. Though both sects were not specialized in the strength, their bodies, as the Cultivation practitioners, were as strong as the iron, and their fists were also as powerful as the heavy hammers. As such, everybody thought that the collision of two fists would give off a thunderous booming sound. Unexpectedly, the sound echoed throughout the manor cave was…
Click!!!
The clicking sound was very crisp, like a youth cracking a freshly picked fruit with all his might, and also like the fresh sugarcane being broken by somebody in the middle.
In fact, the sound was more like an old chair or table being crushed by somebody sitting on it.
It was like the ruins of the small temple on the peak top of the Buzhou Mountain.
Along with the clicking sound, the fist of Bai Qianjun was shuddered; all of his fingers were broken; and his life magic treasure was torn into shreds.
The formidable force of Jing Jiu's thrusting fist followed Bai Qianjun's arm upwards; next, the bones in Bai Qianjun's arm and shoulder were shattered, and the bones in his chest had numerous fractures.
The repercussion could be described as "breaking through all barriers and foes".
Bai Qianjun was knocked away and landed heavily on the Green Sky Mirror, spitting out a large amount of fresh blood.
It was deathly quiet in the manor cave.
The group looked at Jing Jiu with shocked expressions on their faces.
The whole world knew that Jing Jiu could be said to be the most powerful swordsman of the young generation, especially after the sword fight between him and Zhuo Rusui. Yet, Bai Qianjun was nonetheless the young genius nurtured by the Center Sect secretly for many years. Normally, the difference between the two of them shouldn't be so significant.
Yet, why did Jing Jiu have such an overwhelming power over Bai Qianjun when their fists collided?
It was evident that it was not due to the difference of the Cultivation state, or the difference of the amount of the Sword Source.
The group fixed their gazes on Jing Jiu's fist, and found that he used his left fist.
Tong Yan remembered one thing; Jing Jiu had been clenching his left hand since he woke up from the Illusionary Realm of the Green Sky Mirror, and had never released it.
Recalling the last scene in the Illusionary Realm, Tong Yan suddenly generated a strange idea: Was it possible that Jing Jiu hadn't put the Fairy Book away and held it in his hand the entire time?