It was a day after Lu Qingyun had returned to his abode from his outing with Qin Keqin.Today he was hard at practice in the practice chamber as he was preparing for the regional celestial clans" compet.i.tion. As for Qin Keqin, she was attending a meeting with the grand elders as they had a debriefing for her.
Lu Qingyun thought, "This time round, I must do my very best so that I can bring glory to the Heavens Ridge Villa and to…shake off my good-for-nothing cultivator image."
When he had told Qin Keqin that he had selected for the upcoming regional celestial clans" compet.i.tion, she simply laughed and was amused. "Maybe you should surrender in the first round. They are all powerful opponents, the best of the best."
"How can I let my master look down on me?! I must definitely shine in this compet.i.tion and let Keqin knows that I am no longer the good-for-nothing cultivator. Why is that she has no confidence in me…"
He was finding this to be a little bitter to swallow.
"Yan"Er, are you still there?"
Yan"Er did not reply to him.
"Is she cultivating or is she sleeping?" Lu Qingyun was groaning softly. "But then, since Yan"Er isn"t around, I can finally have my personal time with Keqin…"
As he practiced with his sword, half of the time he was daydreaming about Qin Keqin and was sighing if he should have been bolder at the inn…
"How can I win Keqin"s heart?"
"I want to win her soul, mind and…body completely…"
Just as he was thinking about Qin Keqin, a youthful old man had appeared in the practice chamber, giving him a fright.
Lu Qingyun said aloud, "You again! How did you get in? Xingyuan let you in?"
The Three-Destinies Old Man smiled coldly, "I can come and go as I am pleased. Let me ask you. Why didn"t you do as I"ve bade you? Have you left her?! Do you want to bring a calamity upon her then you will be happy? Or has your l.u.s.t got over to your head?"
When Lu Qingyun saw the Three-Destinies Old Man again, everything that he had once said to him had come back to him like a great hammer. He began to stammer, "I…I…"
But all of a sudden he was growling, "What I do is my business. It doesn"t seem to be your business, am I right? Why are you so angry about it?"
"Young man! I have tried to give you so many advises and yet you are repaying my kindness with ingrat.i.tude and doubt. Are you still a cultivator of the heart?"
When Lu Qingyun heard him, he began to stammer. "Of course, I am a cultivator of the heart…"
The Three-Destinies Old Man said coldly, "This is your last warning. Leave her or else."
"Or else what?" Lu Qingyun asked curiously.
The Three-Destinies Old Man began to grin sinisterly, "Or else don"t blame me for being impolite to you."
Lu Qingyun frowned, "You may be an elder of the clan but I am the senior brother of the clan. I think that I am already too polite to you for not showing you to the door and yet you are threatening me? Do you know what the clan punishment is, for breaking into the abode of a senior?"
The Three-Destinies Old Man smiled coldly, "You want to talk about the clan rule with me? Fine! Do you know what the clan rule for inappropriate relationship with your master is? Do you know what kind of a scandal it will be for you and her?"
Lu Qingyun was startled. He had never told anyone except for Lie Xingyuan about Qin Keqin and him. Moreover, he did not tell anyone that he was in a relationship with his master. Their relationship was supposed to be a secret relationship. He really could not imagine what would happen if the grand elders had known about it. There was a chance that they may even cripple his cultivation and drove him out of the Heavens Ridge Villa.
Was this the calamity that the Three-Destinies Old Man was warning him about?
And he had actually known about it and was giving him an opportunity to turn over a new leaf?
He began to stammer softly, "Old senior, how do you know?"
"How do I know? You are asking the Three-Destinies Old Man who is a diviner, how do I know?" The Three-Destinies Old Man smiled coldly. "Do you want the whole world to know that you have dishonored your master? Do you want me to tell the grand elders? Not only will your master loses her position as sect leader but you will be severely punished. Don"t tell me you did not know how unpopular your standing position within the clan is?"
Lu Qingyun said in a low voice, "Old senior, please pardon me for being rude to you earlier. If you will help me to keep it a secret, I"ll promise to return you a personal favor in the future. How about that?"
The Three-Destinies Old Man laughed, "Do think that a righteous person like me will be so easily bribed? I have already given you plenty of warnings but you have continued to be consumed by the l.u.s.ts in your heart. Do you think that you can drive me away with mere words or are you thinking that you can silence me so easily?"
"Is he trying to blackmail me?" Lu Qingyun was quietly thinking. "I don"t care about my own reputation but I can"t allow Keqin"s reputation to be sullied by me…sigh…"
So he said solemnly, "What do you want?"
The Three-Destinies Old Man saw that his threat seemed to be working so he smiled, "What do I want? Simple. Promise to leave her."
Lu Qingyun was quiet for a while and he was forced to think. Until today he had never thought that this old man would come to confront him and had even known his relationship with Qin Keqin. He had suddenly realized how wrong he had been and that his relationship with Qin Keqin would soon come to a miserable end.
With a soft sigh he said, "Old man, who you are exactly? And why are you breaking us apart?"
"I am a nice old man." The Three-Destinies Old Man was smiling.
Lu Qingyun: …
He said slowly, "I"m a forth realm expert and not a low level cultivator…"
"So you are thinking of silencing me?" The Three-Destinies Old Man interrupted with a soft laugh.
Lu Qingyun clenched his fists tightly before he said solemnly, "I only want to tell you that I am not a lowly good-for-nothing cultivator that won"t back off without a fight to be with the one that I love. I don"t mind what the others will think of me but I cannot allow her reputation to be destroyed."
Then with a woeful sigh, he said. "If you can threaten me today, you can threaten her in the future as well. I have no wish to kill anyone but for her sake…"
Lu Qingyun had flashed out his half-step divine sword ten with a wave of his hand, "We can only settle this with a duel. If I am able to defeat you then you must promise me never to reveal this matter to anyone. But if I lose, I will be a dead man. I will use my honor to protect her honor."
"A fight?" The Three-Destinies Old Man smiled delightfully. "You must know that I"ve never shied away from a fight."
With a gleeful smile, he had taken out a long black sword. "Young man, don"t say that I didn"t warn you first. I"m really a formidable old man!"
Lu Qingyun nodded with a woeful smile, "I can tell. Because I didn"t notice you when you have entered the practice chamber. Your cultivation level isn"t weak."
The Three-Destinies Old Man smiled coldly, "At least you"re not so dense after all. If I am able to defeat you then you will leave her and never to look for her ever again!"
Lu Qingyun said, "Do you think that I will want to live without her? Do you think that I will really leave her?"
"Good. Then I won"t be merciful with my sword strokes." The Three-Destinies Old Man had immediately displayed his animus aura and his cultivation strength appeared to be on the same level as Lu Qingyun.
Lu Qingyun too, had displayed his profound aura as he lifted his sword as he said slowly. "So the calamity that would befall Keqin is a lie? You are only trying to make me leave her, am I right?"
The Three-Destinies Old Man chuckled, "That is right. I will make sure that you will never, ever see her again or use your filthy hands to touch her ever again!"
"That will depend if you are able to force me to do so!" Lu Qingyun said quietly.
The Three-Destinies Old Man hummed coldly, "I have not really met anyone who is my match for a long time. Since you are but a junior, I will allow you to make the first move."
Lu Qingyun smiled weakly, "I hope you do not regret it."
This old man looked really formidable. Although he did not know who this old man really was but he was not going to be careless.
He had just created a new fourth level sword stance from the Flaming Phoenix Sword, the "Soaring Heavens as One" and he knew that he had no other choice but to use it today!
Within a blink of an eye, Lu Qingyun had immersed himself with his profound aura as his profound aura began to burn with a wavering of rainbow hues around him.
The Three-Destinies Old Man was quite startled and he muttered, "You are so young and yet you have already attained the Heaven, Earth and Human, three as One Unison."
In the realm of martial arts, when a pract.i.tioner could merge with the Heaven, Earth and Human as One Unison, it also meant that his Spirit the Heaven, Earth the Soul and Human the Body had broken off the restrains of the human limits and he was now a super exponent.
Usually a non-cultivator could only use only one-tenth of their body"s potential while a cultivator could use a third of their body"s potential. But for a person that could unite the Heaven, Earth and Human as One Unison, he was only limited in his body"s potential.
"Good! You are indeed my worthy opponent!" the Three-Destinies Old Man said nonchalantly. "Then I won"t have to hold back anymore."
"Be careful!" Lu Qingyun shouted. "Alpha Soaring Heavens as One."
Immediately he had flashed his sword with a brilliant red flare at the Three-Destinies Old Man. This stroke was extremely brilliant, swift and contained all of his martial power that he could muster.
The Three-Destinies Old Man raised his black sword to parry the incoming brilliant red flare and there was a brilliant and explosive shockwave that forced the two fighters to take several steps back.
Lu Qingyun was gasping for his air as he had temporary exhausted all his entire profound energies while the Three-Destinies Old Man was still standing coolly when the shockwaves had died down.
"Not bad. Is that all you got?" The Three-Destinies Old Man hummed coldly.
Lu Qingyun stared at him with shock. He could not believe what he was seeing. Although he had not really tested his new sword stance yet but the martial power that he had just released was enough to kill any sixth rank desolate beast outright.
"Now is my turn." The Three-Destinies Old Man said as he raised his sword.
All of a sudden Lie Xingyuan had rushed panicky into the chamber practice after she had heard an explosive sound and saw an old man who was trying to flash his sword toward Lu Qingyun.
Lie Xingyuan had immediately attacked the old man with her palm, "Who are you?!"
The Three-Destinies Old Man was startled when Lie Xingyuan had suddenly rushed into the practice chamber. Her aura was so faint that he did not detect her approach.
He quickly raised his left palm out of natural reflex and had struck her shoulder with a thunderous impact.
Immediately Lie Xingyuan had spurt blood and she was sent flying against the wall. Immediately she was knocked unconsciousness.
"Xingyuan!" Lu Qingyun was horrified and his eyes had immediately murderous.
The Three-Destinies Old Man was staring blankly at his left palm and he was muttering, "The profound aura of…the Invincible Divine Force…impossible…"
Lu Qingyun forced himself to circulate all his remaining profound energies as he raised his sword, "How dare you hurt Xingyuan! You are a beast, a monster!"
His profound aura began to flare brilliantly as he swung his sword at the Three-Destinies Old Man. This was his "Beta Soaring Heavens as One", an additional level of power with the power technique of the Phoenix Burst incorporated into it.
Again the Three-Destinies Old Man had parried his sword stance but this time the explosive shockwaves did not explode in the way of Lu Qingyun but had exploded around the Three-Destinies Old Man.
This caused the Three-Destinies Old Man to be thrown against the wall with a thunderous impact.
Lu Qingyun did not wait to see if he had won or not and he was immediately at the side of Lie Xingyuan, "Xingyuan! Are you alright?" He panicky began to examine her body for internal injuries and was checking her pulses.
The Three-Destinies Old Man was actually unharmed by the explosive shockwaves. An ordinary fourth realm expert would have died in that instant but not him.
He was actually stammering, "Is she…alright?"
Lu Qingyun shot him an icy look, "If she is harmed in any way, I will surely perish together with you!"
The Three-Destinies Old Man was sighing softly as he took out a pill, "Here, let her take this divine pill. This is a wondrous pill. I can promise you that it will surely heal her of her wounds."
Lu Qingyun hummed coldly, "Who knows if your stuff is actually poison? Save it for yourself!"
"Let me take a look at her…." The Three-Destinies Old Man was saying weakly.
Lu Qingyun flashed his sword in front of him, "I am afraid that you have to get past my sword first!"
Just as the Three-Destinies Old Man had wanted to say more, Qin Keqin had appeared at the entrance of the practice chamber and she was trembling.
The Three-Destinies Old Man was startled when he saw her and he was muttering, "Yuqin, I…let me explain…"
Qin Keqin said with trembling lips, "Do you know what you have done? Leave the divine pill behind and get out of here. I don"t want to see you!"
The Three-Destinies Old Man was also trembling and he was muttering, "What have I done…" With that he had vanished to the entrance.
Lu Qingyun did not know why the Three-Destinies Old Man would suddenly be so afraid of Qin Keqin. But he had no mood to ask why.
His only concern now was to revive Lie Xingyuan!
He swore silently that he would kill this Three-Destinies Old Man if anything was to happen to Lie Xingyuan!
"Yun"Er, let me take a look at Sister Xingyuan…" Qin Keqin said woefully.
Qin Keqin had rushed back to the abode because she was linked with Lu Qingyun"s divine sword and that her divine sense could feel the t.i.tanic clashes that had just happened.