CHAPTER 233: 233- GIVE ME A PILL!

Fang Tian blade split the air with a deafening crack, smashing into his opponent’s chest and sending the woman crashing through the side of a burning building.

Lin Zhaoyue, by contrast, tilted her head and let out a small sigh.

Her smile faded to a pout, her vines pausing mid-whip. "Really, husband... I was just starting to have fun."

Fang Yuan didn’t so much as glance her way. His expression remained carved from stone, his focus absolute.

Instead, his realm spread further, outward, downward, everywhere rolling across the battlefield like a shadow dragged from the heavens.

Wherever it passed, the Qin soldiers faltered, their breath caught in their throats, their knees buckled.

Even the banners that once surged so confidently now wavered in the smoky air.

The purple lattice shuddered. Cracks spiderwebbed across the glowing cage as Xiao Bai slowly straightened her posture.

A faint tremor rippled through the air, followed by a sound like glass splintering under pressure.

BOOM!

The formation shattered outward in a violent storm of violet shards, dissolving into mist before the fragments could even touch her.

Xiao Bai stepped forward from the ruins of the prison, her robes unruffled, her eyes fixed squarely on Fang Yuan.

But her gaze flicked, once, to the battlefield below, where her sect members were forced to their knees under the weight of his suppression.

Then it slid to the other figure, sent hurtling through a burning building, now pinned once more beneath Fang Yuan’s relentless spiritual pressure.

Her lips parted, but before she could speak, Fang Yuan’s voice brushed against her mind.

"Let’s bargain. I’m sure we can work this out."

Her expression didn’t stir, smooth and still as a frozen lake.

Her voice slid across the telepathic link, steady, almost reassuring in its composure.

"There’s no need, Fang Yuan. Your Fang Clan is still very young while my sect has the heritage of thousands of ages. Whatever you possess, I already hold in greater measure. Why should I bargain? I’ll simply kill you and take what remains."

Fang Yuan’s lips curled in open disgust. He let the thought fall away and answered aloud, his voice sharp, mocking.

"You think you can kill me?"

The words carried, echoing across the battlefield.

Then his eyes narrowed, his aura ignited like a collapsing star, and his next words came like a thunderclap, shaking heaven and earth alike:

"I want to see you try your best then!"

Xiao Bai didn’t hesitate.

The moment Fang Yuan’s challenge thundered through the air, she surged forward like a storm given flesh, her figure a streak of white tearing across the battlefield.

Fang Yuan’s eyes narrowed. So be it.

His hand rose, two fingers joined like a blade, his spiritual qi condensing until the very air trembled with its density.

His voice, low but resonant, carried the force of a decree:

"Tyrant Light Sword—Second Form: Star Form."

Five strokes tore through the air in an instant, so fast they seemed to fall at once rather than in sequence.

Each arc exploded with brilliance, lines of qi burning into existence, weaving together into a five-pointed star that pulsed with blinding radiance.

But Fang Yuan didn’t stop.

His blade blurred again and again, motion overlapping motion, as though he were carving five skies at once.

In mere breaths, five more stars blazed above, each one interlocking with the others until the heavens themselves seemed pinned under his will.

When the last stroke settled, Fang Yuan lowered his arm. A faint tremor ran through it.

He exhaled, and with his left hand, he casually massaged his right forearm, as if brushing away fatigue, though the stars still roared overhead.

Six blazing five pointed stars spun into being, screaming with destructive intent as they streaked toward Xiao Bai.

It wasn’t the perfected burning sphere his disciple had conjured, but it was enough. More than enough.

If strength cannot win against her, Fang Yuan thought, his qi surging like a flood tide, then it only means I haven’t used enough strength.

The five pointed stars howled through the air, their light blotting out the battlefield below as they closed in on Xiao Bai.

The six blazing stars howled as they descended.

Xiao Bai lifted her sword, her movements smooth, her face composed.

One after another, she met the radiant strikes head-on.

The battlefield exploded with light.

Each collision roared like thunder, shaking the very foundations of the city.

Dust and fire churned upward, swallowing the sky.

When the light cleared, Xiao Bai still stood, her robes torn in streaks, faint gashes across her arms and shoulders.

Blood welled, dripped, then vanished as her flesh knitted itself back together in the blink of an eye.

Not a scar remained.

She exhaled lightly, her tone calm, cold, as if lecturing rather than fighting.

"Look at that, Fang Yuan. Which one of us do you think is at a disadvantage? To heal myself costs barely a flicker of qi. But you? To injure me, you must pour torrents of spiritual essence into every strike. What will come first, I wonder, me failing to block your stars, or you exhausting yourself dry?"

Fang Yuan laughed.

A short, sharp bark of amusement that cracked like a whip through the tension.

His eyes gleamed with a dangerous edge.

"Me? Running out of spiritual qi? You can only dream."

And then, before her very eyes, he turned his hand over.

From the void itself, a gleaming pill of deep, iridescent silver emerged, its surface swirling like liquid moonlight.

A Hollow Spirit Pill.

Fang Yuan held it between two fingers, his expression as casual as if he were dangling a sweetmeat at a banquet.

"Look at this. Tempting, isn’t it? Its primary use is... different, yes. But it just so happens it can replenish my qi as well. An endless reservoir, at my fingertips."

For the first time, Xiao Bai’s composure cracked.

Her eyes widened, her breath hitched, and her voice burst out with raw, disbelieving fury.

"Are you insane?! That’s a Hollow Spirit Pill!"

"Oh? So now you’re suddenly interested." Fang Yuan clicked his tongue, amused, and without hesitation popped the Hollow Spirit Pill into his mouth.

The faint glow of its power seeped into him instantly, his aura surging as though the heavens themselves had poured strength back into his veins.

Across from him, Xiao Bai froze.

Her sword lowered by a fraction, her gaze fixed on him with a sharp, calculating intensity.

A Hollow Spirit Pill.

She had seen one before, long ago. But never this potent, never this refined.

This one was different.

It looked like this one single pill contained enough qi to restore her own reserves tenfold.

The implications clawed at her composure.

Her mind ran the math swiftly. If she persisted, this man would not simply stand and be crushed while saving the treasure.

He would burn through everything, empty his arsenal, and drag her into the abyss with him if he could.

Her jaw tightened. For the first time, she tasted the bitter edge of compromise.

Through clenched teeth, she sent her thoughts directly into his mind, her tone cool but edged.

"I’m willing to bargain with you."

Fang Yuan’s lips curved faintly an answer already forming in his head.

"No."