The subtle vibration of a window lattice on a water pavilion three hundred *zhang* away, the hum of a Sword Artifact hidden in a merchant’s bamboo basket at a street corner, even the trajectory of the air stirred by a swift’s flapping wings high in the clouds.

Everything appeared in exquisite detail!

Xu Yunfan suddenly opened his eyes. In his Sea of Consciousness, his Self God raised its hand in sync.

As the Sky-Sundering Cloud-Piercing Bow slid from his shoulder into his palm, the dark patterns on its body flared with a blinding silver light. Unseen for three hundred years, the devastating weapon began to hum with a ravenous tremor as Xu Yunfan flooded it with a massive amount of Qi Force, driven by his Pure Yang True Qi.

The instant he gripped the bowstring with his right hand, the Profound Steel Arrow erupted with a dark light, fueled by a simultaneous burst of his Pure Yang True Qi and the Triple Force Dao of his Ten Extremes Martial Arts.

"TWANG!"

The bowstring reverberated like a thunderclap. The instant the arrow left the string, it created a vacuum in a ten-*zhang* radius!

The arrow shaft was wreathed in a spiraling shockwave. All the roof tiles on the buildings in its path were ripped away as it covered the three-hundred-*zhang* distance in an instant.

On the top floor of the water pavilion, several figures leaned against the railing, observing the situation at Changfeng Restaurant.

The effeminate man in the lead was just about to speak when a chill suddenly ran down his spine, and he jerked his head up.

"What is—?!"

Before the words had even left his mouth, a dark streak of light wreathed in a spiraling shockwave had already torn through the sky.

Before the arrowhead even arrived, the violent air pressure had already crushed the window lattice to dust.

The pupils of the purple-robed old man to the left shrank, and the teacup in his hand shattered with a CRACK.

"There’s no dodging it!"

He roared, his muscles bulging and hardening. The Turtle Shell Qi that flared up around his body shattered like paper the instant it made contact with the arrow’s aura. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

The brocade-robed youth’s expression twisted, his previous look of calm, calculated control completely shattering.

"I can’t die!!!"

"Fall back!!"

The effeminate man roared. Before the sound even faded, he had already become an afterimage, shooting backward.

However, the moment the arrow pierced the water pavilion, the thunderous aftershock of the bowstring echoed in their ears, like the chattering teeth of death itself.

The moment the arrowhead touched the railing, time seemed to freeze.

They watched as the wooden pillars silently turned to splinters, the glazed tiles were suspended in the air like a shower of rain, and their own robes were torn by the shockwave into spiderweb-like patterns...

"BOOM!"

Half a breath later, a destructive roar swallowed everything.

The looks of terror had not yet faded from their faces before they were swallowed by collapsing beams and upheaved floorboards.

The last thing the effeminate man saw was the arrow’s remaining force tearing open the distant Profound Iron gate before his consciousness plunged into darkness.

The moment the arrowhead made contact, the top floor of the water pavilion collapsed as if devoured by an invisible behemoth, half the structure instantly crumbling.

What was even more terrifying was that the arrow’s momentum didn’t dissipate. After piercing the ruins, it continued to tear through seven more buildings in its path, finally punching a bowl-sized hole in the Profound Iron gate of Outer Jade Capital City. The fletching on its tail still vibrated at a high frequency, spreading cracks across the gate in a three-*zhang* radius!

Amidst the dust and smoke, Xu Yunfan stood holding his bow, his gaze fixed dispassionately on the end of the arrow’s trajectory.

Xu Yunfan had just started to move when he suddenly felt the air around him stagnate, as if the entire world had been imprisoned by some formless power.

His gaze was deep, showing no hint of emotion as he abruptly looked up.

A woman in a black palace-style dress stood silently seven *chi* in front of him, the tips of her toes tapping lightly on the empty air as if treading on water without a ripple.

She had a slender figure, her ink-black hair half-pinned with a golden phoenix hairpin. The loose strands that fluttered in the wind each seemed to carry a chilling Sword Intent.

The woman’s face was like carved cold jade, with a dot of Cinnabar between her brows as red as blood, making her long, narrow phoenix eyes seem all the more profound.

A galaxy seemed to be reflected in her eyes, yet they were so cold they betrayed no emotion. With just a single, indifferent glance, Xu Yunfan felt his Blood Qi sink as if into a mire, and even his Pure Yang True Qi stagnated by thirty percent.

"To fight without authorization within Jade Capital City is a crime punishable by death."

When she spoke, her voice was clear and cold, yet the end of her words carried a metallic clang, like the striking of stone and metal.

With a light flick of her wide sleeves, the subtly embroidered nine-layered Cloud Pattern on her cuffs began to glow faintly. The fallen leaves within a ten-*zhang* radius froze in mid-air, their edges taking on the cold gleam of a Frost Blade.

The shimmering Frost Blades, with a light flick of the woman’s sword finger, suddenly transformed into a sky full of cold stars that rained down on Xu Yunfan.

Each Frost Blade was as solid as if it were real. Wherever their edges passed, the air was sliced open with fine traces of ice, and even light itself was distorted.

Xu Yunfan crouched slightly, his Blood Qi boiling like lava. The Dragon Scale Armor Leaves on his body hummed and vibrated. The instant the Frost Blades drew near, the Blood Qi swirling around him was frozen into crimson Ice Crystals that rustled as they shattered and fell.

In his Linn Character State, his expression showed not the slightest hint of panic. His Pure Yang True Qi circulated madly within him, but he was still suppressed by that chilling Sword Intent, unable to move an inch.

And yet, even in this situation, he still resolutely gripped the Mountain-Suppressing Sea Hammer, activating his Earth Vein Power and merging it with his Dragon Scale Armor.

But just as the Frost Blades were about to enter a three-*zhang* radius around Xu Yunfan, the void suddenly trembled.

HISS!

All of the Frost Blades, as if they had fallen into a Melting Furnace, vaporized and dissipated in the blink of an eye, not leaving behind even a single speck of ice.

"Tianshu Sword Master, Su Wanqing."

An old but resonant voice descended from the clouds, "It’s been many years. Your kung fu of Condensing Qi into Sword is even more domineering than those old geezers from the Sword Pavilion."

His power arrived before his voice.

The entire world seemed to be gently stroked by a formless, giant hand, and the once-stagnant Spiritual Qi suddenly surged like a tide.

Xu Yunfan felt his body lighten, and the oppressive chill that had made it difficult for him to move melted away silently, like snow under a blazing sun.

He looked up abruptly and saw a slovenly figure standing in the air, his tattered Taoist robe flapping in the wind. He was surrounded by Nine Layers of Innate Gang Qi, each layer like a blazing sun hanging in the sky, dyeing the clouds for a hundred *zhang* around with a golden brilliance!

Bi Sheng of the Taoist Sect!

Xu Yunfan exited the flow state of the Linn Character Technique, and the corner of his mouth twitched almost imperceptibly.

He looked at the slovenly old Taoist standing in front of him and almost couldn’t stop himself from laughing out loud.

’Who would have thought that this old coot—the one Master Bi Yuan used to chew out and lock in solitary confinement three times—would now be my Guardian?’

He suppressed the urge to throw his head back and laugh as Bi Yuan’s parting words flashed through his mind: "Go and do as you see fit. If the sky falls, someone powerful will be there to hold it up."

’Back then, I guessed the Taoist Sect must have sent a Ninth Realm Grandmaster to follow me in secret.’

’I just never, ever expected that this "powerful person" would be old Bi Sheng himself—the same guy who’d completely misjudged me back then, only to come shamelessly trying to get on my good side later!’

’Still, to think it was actually Bi Sheng.’

As if sensing something, Bi Sheng suddenly whipped his head around and glared at him.

His old face, red from drowning his sorrows in wine, was now a mask of gritted teeth. "I ought to call you my ancestor! Your first day in Jade Capital and you shoot down half a street? Do you think this is the archery range behind the Taoist Sect’s mountain?!"

Xu Yunfan blinked, feigning innocence, and simply smiled without saying a word. ’The Great Zhou of today is not what it once was. If they want a fight, the Taoist Sect has no reason to be afraid.’

The old Taoist’s withered fingers curled inside his sleeve. Seeing Xu Yunfan’s expression, something inside him hardened—his fists.

’Just now, when that arrow tore through the air, I clearly saw its trajectory rip across the sky. Truly an unforgettable sight...’

"You little brat."

Bi Sheng suddenly lowered his voice, a trace of admiration flashing in the depths of his cloudy eyes. "That arrow... it had some of the flair of the ’Heaven-Sundering Bow.’"

Seeing the two of them exchanging winks and glances, the cold light in Su Wanqing’s eyes intensified. Her black palace dress stirred without a wind, and the nine-layered Cloud Pattern on her cuffs erupted with a blinding silver light.