Happiness is, the cat eats fish, the dog eats meat, Ultraman beats the little monster.
Although Li Shiyin was only at the late Foundation Establishment realm, it must be emphasized again that for her, realms had lost meaning already. When she fought with Jiang Xiaobai at the mid Gold Core realm, it was like Ultraman beating the little monster.
At that time there was heavy snow, fluttering down into the courtyard.
Li Shiyin and Jiang Xiaobai stood three yards apart facing each other. She said to Jiang Xiaobai: "Please draw your sword."
The snow was heavy, blowing around in disorder, obscuring Jiang Xiaobai's line of sight. Although the girl across from him was very near, he couldn't see her clearly.
He knew his own cultivation was much higher than hers. When he heard her ask him to attack first, he wanted to refuse at first, upholding his senior's magnanimity, and let her attack first. But in the end he didn't, because deep down he had a feeling that he probably couldn't beat her after all.
Without saying much, he directly used his sword controlling skill, calling out all seventy-two of his lifebound swords.
When the flying swords hovered in the air, filling the courtyard, even the falling snow was all blocked. The dense sword qi was like cold air, making it even colder.
The snowflakes that landed on the flying swords also turned them white.
Jiang Xiaobai couldn't see the girl across from him, but he clearly felt the contempt emanating from her entire body.
"Receive my sword!" He shouted.
The seventy-two flying swords in the air then fell down towards that girl, along with the snowflakes.
And under his seventy-two extremely powerful flying swords, he saw the girl across from him raise her right hand to the sky.
Her hand opened like the most beautiful lily blossoming in the snow. A dazzling, purple-black radiance lit up in her palm. Sword qi shaped like fishes flew out from her palm, rising up to meet his seventy-two flying swords.
He looked up to see the white swords and black qi clashing in the snow, suddenly feeling a destined sense of birds in flight meeting fishes in the sea. He was the fish trapped in the seafloor, while she was the bird soaring in the sky.
Jiang Xiaobai knew he might not be able to beat her, but he didn't know there was such a huge gap between them.
As soon as his lifebound swords touched that sword qi flowing like fishes, the next second, the swords were pierced through, as if sharp blades had punctured flesh and blood, as if divine weapons had met ordinary swords. His flying swords and her qi weren't on the same level at all.
In one move, he had lost. The other side hadn't even drawn her sword, only using qi.
With his lifebound swords destroyed, his mind and spirit were damaged. He sprayed out a mouthful of blood towards the sky. The red blood and white snow intersected in midair, especially beautiful.
He half-knelt powerlessly down, straining to lift his head to see his destroyed swords falling along with the snow, landing around that girl like the snow. This scene was also especially beautiful.
The broken swords were densely stuck all around that girl's body, as if they were surrounding her. He suddenly felt satisfied.
He lowered his head to watch his blood drip into the snow, drop by drop, like plum blossoms blooming one by one.
Someone walked over, treading on the snow. Without raising his head, he knew it was that girl approaching, because even in the cold heavy snow when scents were dulled, he could still smell her beauty.
"To die by your hand is my best resting place," he said in a low voice.
Li Shiyin looked at the kneeling swordsman, puzzled. "I didn't plan on taking your life though?"
Jiang Xiaobai lifted his head to gaze at the girl, revealing a satisfied smile.
With blood at the corner of his mouth, he smiled and said, "I was going to die anyway. If you make a move now, then it will be you killing me."
Upon hearing this, Li Shiyin activated her Divine Sight to examine Jiang Xiaobai, and replied, "I only used sword qi and controlled the sword intent. You just suffered backlash to your mind and spirit. With some days of recuperation you'll be fine. But with your temperament, it might take a year or half. But you definitely won't die."
"So you really don't know anything." Jiang Xiaobai understood now. The Li family hadn't told Li Shiyin about the crisis facing Northern Chu at present. He thought for a while, then shook his head and sighed, "Then it's better this way."
"What do you mean?" Li Shiyin frowned.
Somehow she felt everything was weird ever since she returned home this time... Even this incomprehensible, silly swordsman was acting strange.
"Ha!" Jiang Xiaobai laughed bitterly. Struggling to stand up, he staggered forward, circling around Li Shiyin to go pick up his swords.
While pulling out swords from the snow, he asked, "Even in Daohuang Sword Sect, you must be an unparalleled genius among your peers, right?"
"There are still many stronger than me among my peers," Li Shiyin didn't lie however. Lu Junxing, Liu Baiyun, and Dong Zhongyuan could all beat her.
Jiang Xiaobai turned back while hugging some swords, examining the truth of Li Shiyin's words.
Then he obtained the truth. He shook his head by himself, "A sect this powerful is truly unimaginable."
He kept pulling out swords, murmuring, "I came to challenge you this time, partly to fulfill my life's desires before death, and partly because my heart held hopes and delusions... I hoped there might be a chance to obtain your favor, Fairy.
"But after testing it out, I realized the gap between us is truly too great."
Hearing Jiang Xiaobai's words, Li Shiyin was greatly shocked. She asked in bewilderment, "You like me?!"
Jiang Xiaobai grasped a sword hilt, but didn't have the strength to pull it out. Not turning back, he said, "Is it that weird for me to like you?... Not liking you would be weirder!"
"But we've only met once before. And fought once," Li Shiyin really found it bizarre.
"There's no need for reason when liking someone," Jiang Xiaobai pulled out the sword, hugging it in his arms as he kept walking forward to pull out the next one. "Whether immortal or monster, as long as you don't completely lack feelings, you'll end up liking someone... I just happened to like someone I shouldn't have."
Hearing this, Li Shiyin couldn't help but think of her own master. When she first met her master, she still disliked him quite a bit, but slowly, unknowingly, she realized she had grown to like her master already.
She nodded. It seemed there really was no need for reason when liking someone.
Jiang Xiaobai pulled out his swords one by one, hugging them all in his arms. Shabby and tattered, there were seventy-two swords in total.
And he himself was also injured, staggering while holding these seventy-two flying swords. He left the Li estate looking destitute.
He had come as the Sword God, but as Li Shiyin watched his departing figure, she felt he was like a stray dog now.
Li Shiwen and Li Zhan had been observing the fight from the corridor. Now that Sword God Jiang Xiaobai had been defeated and left, they walked over to Li Shiyin's side. Li Shiwen asked Li Shiyin in astonishment, "You won just like that?"
Li Shiyin turned to glare at him, "I told you many times I'm very strong!"
"Who knew you were this strong..." Even after witnessing the battle between immortals with his own eyes, Li Shiwen still found it unbelievable. He kept asking, "Just one move? You guys exchanged one move and he lost?"
"I guess you can call it one move!" Li Shiyin nodded.
Only then did Li Shiwen gain some sense of how ridiculously strong his silly little sister was. He silently nodded, and looked towards Li Zhan.
Li Zhan knew what he meant, but remained silent, shaking his head. So Li Shiwen also let it go.
"Brother..." But then Li Shiyin asked, "Why did the Sword God say he was going to die?"
Li Shiwen was silent for a moment, then replied, "Perhaps he has another duel arranged with someone... I don't understand matters between you cultivators."