Chapter 144: A Battle That Disappointed Anle, The Drained Second Prince

The night grew deeper as evening clouds drifted across the sky, obscuring countless starlight.

Reeds and thickets swayed gently in the nocturnal wind.

Yet someone glided effortlessly through the empty air, the tips of their toes brushing lightly against the reeds as they rose into the firmament. Clad in scholarly robes, the figure appeared exceptionally refined and amiable.

The Prince of Jiangling possessed a handsome and elegant visage. Although he was hundreds of years old, he cared deeply about his appearance, maintaining the appearance of a man in his twenties or thirties in the prime of his youth.

With his hands clasped behind his back, he stepped into the void, ascending step by step.

In the distance, a streak of sword light hurtled through the air at incredible speed, resembling a shooting star that suddenly illuminated the pitch-black night.

Su Muzhe stepped upon a sword blade, clad in leather armor. Sword Qi continuously billowed and receded between her brows, her eyes carrying a sense of sorrow, yet within that sorrow lingered a trace of fond remembrance.

She had originally believed that Zhao Huangting would die before the Great Khanate of Northern Yuan. On the eve of his journey north, she had strolled through Shu with Zhao Huangting, just like when they were young and wandering the pugilistic world with swords at their sides.

That era was when the two of them established their deep affection.

Although five hundred years had hurried past and she, Su Muzhe, had grown from a youthful sword-dao prodigy of the Sword Pool Palace into a pillar of responsibility, becoming the Palace Master of the Sword Pool Palace.

Yet, before Zhao Huangting, she remained that same naive and romantic young maiden.

She had once expressed her desire to follow him north to collect his remains, but Zhao Huangting had refused. He said he could not bear for her to witness his death; if that were to happen, he would leave with regrets, for he could not bear to see her shed tears.

Additionally, it was because Su Muzhe’s current status was vastly different from the past. The Emperor of Northern Yuan coveted the Sword Pool Lake immensely. Although he had not yet spared the time to deal with the Sword Pool Palace, once Su Muzhe went north and provided an opportunity, it would very likely implicate the entire sect.

As the Palace Master of the Sword Pool Palace, Su Muzhe shouldered too many burdens and could no longer be as carefree and unrestrained as before.

Su Muzhe had thought that the farewell outside the gates of the Sword Pool Palace that day might well be their eternal parting.

Never had she expected that after Zhao Huangting’s magnificent and vigorous battle in the north, An Le would actually manage to bring him safely back south from the northern lands!

Upon receiving the news, Su Muzhe was overwhelmed with ecstatic joy. She immediately drove her sword out of the Sword Pool Palace and rushed over to reinforce them.

Since eternal parting was no more and she still had the chance to bid farewell to Zhao Huangting once again, her heart overflowed with happiness.

Even this ink-black night seemed far too brilliant in her eyes.

Her demands were not high; she merely wished to accompany him through his final moments.

Suddenly, a scholarly figure ascended into the sky step by step. Beneath the night sky, he wore a refined smile—except that this refined smile was incomparably spine-chilling.

It was entirely devoid of emotion, resembling a numb grin stretched across a leather mask.

The sword light halted. Su Muzhe stood upon her sword, staring fixedly at the Prince of Jiangling who blocked her path. Within her pupils, a chilling frost and murderous intent gradually surged.

"Scram!"

Su Muzhe said coldly.

The Prince of Jiangling looked like a cultured scholar, his robes snapping in the wind. His face seemed coated with a layer of grease, appearing exceedingly greasy.

Gazing at Su Muzhe with gentleness in his eyes, he chuckled softly, "Do not rush over there for the moment. The Second Prince is currently engaged in a contest for the top spot on the Minor Saint Rankings with An Le. Give this Prince some face."

"Scram!"

Su Muzhe raised a hand and pressed it to the center of her brows. Between her brows, a palace constructed entirely of Sword Qi manifested. The countless sword blades suspended within it violently shook and collided, producing a clattering din.

The cultivation method practiced by Su Muzhe was the hidden sword technique of the Sword Pool Palace, which differed greatly from the mundane dust sword of the Sixth Mountain Master. The Sixth Mountain Master nurtured swords within a mundane dust sword box, with each blade containing a different sword intent and Sword Qi.

Every sword represented a person mingling in the mundane world; three thousand swords represented three thousand people. When the sword formation stirred, it resembled the rolling dust of the mortal world, quite extraordinary.

Su Muzhe did not follow the path of nurturing sword intent. Her swordsmanship, though termed hidden swords, could be more simply described... as swallowing swords.

Using the spiritual palace between her brows—the Niwan Palace—as a sword scabbard, she swallowed sword blades. She literally stuffed physical swords entirely into the center of her brows, devouring one sword every three days, a hundred swords a year. Over the course of five hundred years... the swords she had swallowed numbered in the tens of thousands!

Fortunately, she was the Palace Master of the Sword Pool Palace, backed by numerous sword-smiths whose resources she could draw upon, which alone supported her ability to swallow tens of thousands of swords within her Niwan Palace.

She did not follow the path of breaking ten thousand techniques with a single sword, but rather overwhelmed others through sheer quantity.

Ten thousand swords sharing a mutual resonance crashing down indiscriminately would cause any fellow practitioner of the ninth realm to feel their scalp tingle.

After all, every single one of these swords contained the spiritual intent and willpower of a ninth realm cultivator.

Watching Su Muzhe, who was prepared to open the center of her brows and unleash her swords without another word, the Prince of Jiangling could not help but smile.

"I know you are worried about the Old Imperial Uncle, but rest assured, the Second Prince's target is only An Le. He will not harm Zhao Huangting in the slightest; of this, I can guarantee."

The Prince of Jiangling smiled.

Su Muzhe, however, did not halt her movements. Sword after sword roared outward, hovering and suspending around her body.

"The Second Prince, Zhao沛? He shares the same temperament as that emperor of the Zhao family—good at bullying the weak and fearing the strong. An Le crossed the Canglang River, deployed his ultimate trump card to slay Tong Guan, and carries the aura of death between his brows. To issue a challenge at this moment—what is it if not taking advantage of someone's precarious state? To pompously call it a contest for the top of the Minor Saint Rankings is truly sickening."

Su Muzhe said coldly, "If he has the ability, he should wait until An Le fully recovers and fight him fairly and squarely. Zhao沛 clearly lacks the courage and wishes to exploit the Violet Qi Golden Lotus to absorb An Le's invincible momentum. It is nothing more than calculating for his own benefit."

The Prince of Jiangling was not surprised that Su Muzhe could see through this, for the Second Prince Zhao沛 indeed held this very objective.

"The Second Prince merely wishes to inherit the crown prince's position. If he can use the Violet Qi Golden Lotus to obtain seventy percent of An Le's invincible momentum, his future cultivation path will be smooth and unobstructed. A minor flaw in his state of mind will not affect him; after all, he is not walking the grand, invincible path."

The Prince of Jiangling smiled.

"It is impossible to let you pass. You and I might as well have a proper exchange. Jiangling Prefecture and the Sword Pool Palace are old neighbors after all, yet you and I have not fought a single time in five hundred years. It is truly a great pity."

The words of the Prince of Jiangling only filled Su Muzhe with utter disgust. "To cross blows with you, I fear it would pollute my sword. Do not imagine that the world is ignorant of the filthy deeds you have committed in Jiangling Prefecture. In reality, everyone is well aware; it is simply because you are a prince of the Zhao family and pull strings with the imperial court to endorse you. Otherwise, given your vile deeds, five-thousand-year-old great demons from the Roc Mountain would have long since walked out to pluck off your head."

The Prince of Jiangling maintained his refined appearance, his greasy face bearing a light chuckle. "Everyone is merely seeking the Dao. This Prince is also seeking the Dao; what is wrong with that?"

"If the Sword Pool Palace truly cannot stomach it, then smash my Jiangling Prefecture. Merely speaking of it with your mouth while taking no action carries no meaning."

The words of the Prince of Jiangling caused Su Muzhe's expression to sink abruptly.

If she could, the Sword Pool Palace would truly wish to march straight upon Jiangling Prefecture and completely wipe away those ugly affairs.

Yet the position of the Sword Pool Palace was far too sensitive. Jiangling Prefecture had been managed by the Prince of Jiangling for hundreds of years, long becoming as solid as a fortress. Even discounting the elite troops privately raised by the Prince of Jiangling, the pugilistic cultivators gathered within his estate alone were extraordinary.

Furthermore, because of the Sword Pool Lake, the Sword Pool Palace was coveted by Western Liang, Dali, and Northern Yuan. Once they truly dared to muster their disciples to attack Jiangling Prefecture, the Western Liang, Dali, and Northern Yuan empires would never let slip such an opportunity.

For a moment, feeling stifled and enraged in her heart, Su Muzhe ceased wasting words.

With a surging clatter, the sword blades poured out from her Niwan Palace, transforming into a roaring river of flying swords. With a pinch and a press of her sword fingers, she smashed them directly toward the Prince of Jiangling.

The expression of the Prince of Jiangling also cooled slightly, though a refined veneer quickly resurfaced.

He was merely stalling Su Muzhe; there was no need to fight to the death over this. However, Su Muzhe's strength was undeniably formidable, and being able to become the Palace Master of the Sword Pool Palace naturally made her extraordinary.

The Prince of Jiangling raised his palm and traced a finger across his center.

Instantly, his skin split open, and from that wound floated three drops of intensely crimson blood that squirmed continuously. The Prince of Jiangling flicked his finger.

Those three drops of blood swelled against the wind, transforming into three gigantic great demons that crashed toward Su Muzhe's river of swords.

The Sword Pool Palace...

A flash of crazed crimson crossed the depths of the Prince of Jiangling's eyes.

Sooner or later, he would trample the Sword Pool Palace flat and occupy the Sword Pool Lake!

Using the boundless Sword Qi of the Sword Pool Lake to forge his magical treasure, by then... the tenth realm would be within reach!

***

The heavenly thunder of the peach-wood sword collided with the Sword Qi of "Swallows Returning to the Nest." Amidst the clashing of metal, a pool of lightning shattered uncontrollably, lightning intertwining in all directions like a spiderweb and scorching the ground with rising waves of heat.

White robes stained with blood fluttered violently in the wind whipped up by the Sword Qi and lightning radiance.

An Le held "Swallows Returning to the Nest" in one hand and swept it forward. The vital energy of the fifth realm congenital perfection was no longer suppressed, erupting overwhelmingly from his meridians and spurting out along the tip of the sword.

The sword tip seemed to linger with wind and thunder. Sword Qi gave birth to wind and thunder, and the wind-thunder Sword Qi crashed down with unstoppable force, completely shattering that pool of lightning!

The peach-wood sword entwined with heavenly lightning was instantly knocked down to the ground by a single sword strike. Amidst flying dirt and debris, the peach-wood sword rebounded backward.

Like a swimming fish, it floated by the Second Prince Zhao沛's side, electric arcs flashing and intertwining continuously upon it as if an immortal stood within a pool of lightning.

Zhao沛 had studied the Dao in the Heavenly Master Mansion since childhood, combining it with the precious cultivation techniques treasured within the Great Zhao Imperial Dynasty. Endowed with brilliant talent, he had far outpaced his peers, claiming the pinnacle of the Minor Saint Rankings all the way through.

Had the Emperor of Zhao not later borrowed seed from an immortal to give birth to Zhao Xianyou—a natural-born immortal seed—he, Zhao沛, might have stood atop the Minor Saint Rankings for many years.

Now that Zhao Xianyou had withdrawn from the rankings, he naturally became the number one.

As a member of the royal family, wishing to converse with the Sage Master naturally granted certain privileges; there was no need to pass the metropolitan examination—that was one.

One merely needed to defeat the top scorer of the imperial examinations and then meet the First Mountain Master to complete the third condition for conversing with the Sage Master, after which one could naturally hold a dialogue with him.

However, members of the royal family had never truly achieved a dialogue with the Sage Master. Apart from the founding emperor of the Great Zhao Dynasty, Emperor Taizu, who once conversed with the Sage Master after founding the dynasty, the vast Great Zhao Dynasty had seen nearly a millennium pass across north and south without a single royal family member achieving dialogue with the Sage Master.

And he, Zhao沛, perhaps held hope of breaking this seemingly cursed prejudice.

An elderly member of the royal family had once sighed softly, saying that while the Sage Mountains claimed to grant privileges to the royal family, they actually raised the standards for the royal family to converse with the Sage Master in invisible ways.

Whether this was true, Zhao沛 did not know... but he felt it made a great deal of sense.

Therefore, his battle against An Le today was not merely to inherit the invincible momentum, but to defeat this top scholar. If he accomplished this, only the final condition would remain. With the opening of the Seventh Mountain now imminent, he even harbored the ambition to contend for the position of the Seventh Mountain Master.

If he could become the Seventh Mountain Master, the crown prince's position would naturally be without a doubt.

As for the Emperor of Zhao's scheming for longevity—without a heart sword above the eighth realm, fusing immortal blood to seek longevity would only result in one's will being controlled by immortal anomalies, reducing one to a puppet...

The Emperor of Zhao would not make such a decision.

Therefore, when the scheme failed, the establishment of a crown prince by the Emperor of Zhao became an absolute necessity.

Lifting his hand to grasp the lightning peach-wood thunder sword, Zhao沛's hair flew wildly and his luxurious robes billowed. Staring at An Le, fighting intent gradually surged within his pupils.

An Le had grown stronger, which ironically relieved him of any psychological burden. To go all out, defeat An Le, crush An Le, and inherit his invincible momentum—his future would undoubtedly be a smooth road!

Zizzizi!

Purple lightning darted continuously—Sword Thunder Arts!

Arousing the sword thunder to banish ghosts and goblins!

Even Zhao沛's pupils contained the momentum of thunder. Pointing his peach-wood sword from afar, Sword Qi instantly materialized like a thunder spear, rapidly cleaving toward An Le.

His Niwan Palace opened and closed, his divine soul intertwined, vaguely transforming into a visualization diagram where lotus flowers bloomed, every single lotus petal concealing Sword Qi.

That was the supreme visualization technique of the Heavenly Master Mansion: "Blooming Sword Lotus."

An Le did not retreat. Wielding "Swallows Returning to the Nest" in one hand, his figure flashed forward instantly. With an ultimate-grade tier-one sword like "Swallows Returning to the Nest" in hand, An Le feared no collision whatsoever!

Sword light surged within his eyes—Swordsmanship: "Bamboo Twigs"!

The three lyric-card swords had become increasingly refined in his hands. Having watched Zhao Huangting display those three stunning human-world swords in the northern lands, though An Le could not fully replicate them yet, it had vastly elevated his own proficiency with the three swords!

Coupled with the God-Communicating Sword Body, An Le's mastery of the lyric-card swords had reached nearly the pinnacle of the lower five realms!

Upon the earth, green bamboo sprouted from Sword Qi. As the green bamboo swayed with incomparable sharpness, it forced Zhao沛 to retract his peach-wood sword to fend off the Sword Qi!

Amidst intersecting sword lights, An Le quickly closed the distance between himself and Zhao沛.

The Ancient Beast Five-Fowl technique was deployed, and vital energy surged turbulently within his body.

The ancient beast apparitions contained within his flesh and blood suddenly manifested, with a fierce tiger roaring and an aggressive bear bellowing!

The strength gripping the sword in his hand grew increasingly formidable.

Countless bolts of lightning were cleaved to pieces by An Le holding his sword. Having completed his body-tempering fifth realm perfection, An Le's congenital spiritual energy transformed into a lake, released without reservation at this moment. The explosive physical force caused Zhao沛, who had just touched "Swallows Returning to the Nest" with his peach-wood sword, to change countenance in sheer terror!

The immense force made it nearly impossible for Zhao沛 to hold onto the peach-wood sword in his hand!

Gracefully attempting to distance himself, Zhao沛 felt that the concentration of An Le's congenital spiritual energy was even denser than his own!

This was incredible. Zhao沛 had lingered at fifth realm perfection for several years, hoping to use the Violet Qi Golden Lotus to break into the sixth realm; though he failed, the gathering of his congenital spiritual energy had still been immensely vast!

Boom!

Sword collided with thunder; the lightning pool burst apart, and countless green bamboo swayed, their leaves as sharp as sword blades, exploding forth in a devastating slash!

An Le wore a expressionless face, pressing forward step by step while gripping "Swallows Returning to the Nest." Every swing of his sword caused the Sword Qi to coil like a horned serpent. In the pitch-black night, the sword light resembled a dragon, and the Sword Qi rang out long and clear!

Zhao沛's expression was grave as he continuously thrust out the peach-wood heavenly thunder, yet the lightning radiance was invariably cleaved apart!

An Le pressed forward relentlessly, that sword "Swallows Returning to the Nest" drawing closer and closer to him. The gap between the two seemed to narrow rapidly.

The Second Prince Zhao沛 already understood that An Le had been luring him to strike. The state of life and death between his brows and his withered condition were all false.

However, even if An Le had genuinely lured him into attacking, Zhao沛 actually should not have felt fear, because Zhao沛 himself was a dual fifth realm perfection practitioner.

As the number one on the Minor Saint Rankings, he should have possessed his own rightful confidence.

At this moment, however, Zhao沛 suddenly understood why An Le had the audacity to lure him out.

An Le had slain Tong Guan, and far from declining, his condition had climbed step by step. Both his spiritual refinement and physical tempering had stepped into fifth realm perfection, granting him the qualifications to assault the sixth realm.

A chill crept into the Second Prince Zhao沛's heart, for he knew that An Le had not been practicing cultivation for very long. To reach fifth realm perfection in such a brief span of time... if this was not a monster, what was it?

No wonder he could gather such a torrential invincible momentum!

At this moment, he fully believed the words of the Prince of Jiangling: once An Le stepped into the sixth realm, he would definitely be no match for him.

Even now, as a dual fifth realm practitioner, Zhao沛 already felt the pressure.

"It should not be like this!"

Zhao沛 gritted his teeth, a fierce glint flashing in his eyes.

He tapped a finger against the peach-wood heavenly thunder before him, causing a massive mass of Sword Qi and lightning radiance to explode in front of him, attempting to force back An Le's advance. A mysterious yellow talisman slipped from his sleeve and burned in his hand.

Red flames suddenly rose around An Le, resembling a rising golden crow that transformed into a prison, binding him within.

"Arts of the Heavenly Master Mansion."

An Le narrowed his eyes. He had heard Zhao Huangting introduce the Heavenly Master Mansion; like the True Martial Temple, they excelled and were renowned for their mystical arts.

However, the sword furnace between An Le's brows clanged, and the divine soul sitting atop the heart sword suddenly opened its eyes, sweeping out a thousand zhang of colorful radiance!

The heart sword darted out from between his brows!

The spiritual willpower linked within that talisman was directly slashed apart by a single sword strike!

With the sweep of that thousand zhang radiance, the talismans slipping from Zhao沛's sleeves were instantly doused as if poured with water, unable to ignite at all!

Zhao沛's pupils contracted!

Yet An Le had already closed in upon his body, his indifferent gaze colliding with the terrified pupils of Zhao沛.

***

An Le even felt a slight sense of disappointment in his eyes.

"Number one on the Minor Saint Rankings... is this truly all?"

An Le felt that this battle was not very satisfying. Zhao沛's cultivation was indeed formidable, being a dual fifth realm perfection practitioner, but in terms of combat power... he failed to provide him with much surprise.

To deal with Zhao沛, An Le had gone all out from the very start, holding back no trump cards whatsoever.

Yet under such all-out effort, Zhao沛 appeared somewhat feeble.

A dragon roar suddenly exploded around An Le, and the brilliant golden dragon transformed from his invincible momentum coiled above.

It brought a continuous upward surge to An Le's momentum!

With the blessing of the God-Communicating Sword Body, the "Swallows Returning to the Nest" in his hand trembled with near-frantic excitement. Sword Qi rang out as he executed "Flowers on the Grass," carrying the melancholy and resentment embodied within the swordsmanship!

Countless Sword Qi shot forth like arrows!

The aura surged to the Dipper constellation!

It wrapped and coiled around the ultimate-grade tier-one sword, "Swallows Returning to the Nest"!

With a mighty and heavy sword strike, he slashed down fiercely!

In truth, from shattering the talismanic art to swinging down his sword, An Le's closing speed was far too fast!

The Second Prince Zhao沛 naturally had no time to deploy mystical arts again, and could only raise his peach-wood sword to block. Sword collided with sword, as if their figures had frozen together in an instant.

The posture even carried a hint of intimacy, shoulder pressed against shoulder.

However, the Second Prince Zhao沛's expression fluctuated violently, because the millennium-old peach-wood heavenly thunder sword in his hand had begun to emit a wailing sound at this moment!

Dense cracks began to emerge across it.

Bang!

The sword slashed down by An Le, along with his pressing shoulder, slammed viciously into the Second Prince Zhao沛's shoulder, resembling the charge of an unmoving, fierce bear.

It knocked Zhao沛's body flying backward, the hand gripping the peach-wood sword cracking and bleeding.

An Le's body, however, remained as steady as Mount Tai, heavily stamping down a foot that caused the ground's cracks to intertwine like a spiderweb. This propelled his kinetic energy, causing An Le to lunge forward once more!

Swordsmanship: "Roaming Youth"!

The transition between one swordsmanship and the next was like a violent storm, leaving Zhao沛 utterly no time to catch his breath!

As another sword cleaved down, Zhao沛 could only raise his peach-wood sword to block once more.

Sword lights kicked up flurries of afterimages in the night. Every single sword strike that An Le brought down upon it threw Zhao沛's vital energy into turmoil, causing blood to spurt continuously from his sword-gripping hand!

Puchi!

Finally, with a mournful cry, the millennium-old peach-wood sword was cleaved through by "Swallows Returning to the Nest," shattering into countless fragments that flew horizontally in all directions like birds startled from their nests!

The Second Prince Zhao沛 retreated again and again, suppressed to the point of complete breathlessness by An Le's tyrannical sword momentum!

Terror intertwined within his pupils.

He could not quite comprehend why An Le's combat power was so terrifying. Was the amplification of invincible momentum... truly this immense?

Gritting his teeth, Zhao沛 gazed at the charging An Le once more, unable to help raising his blood-stained hand to tap the golden sand between his brows.

The Violet Qi Golden Lotus...

He had no choice but to utilize the power of the Violet Qi Golden Lotus!

The power of the Violet Qi Golden Lotus was intended by Zhao沛 to be used for breaking through his cultivation realm. Using it for combat was squandering heavenly treasures; every bit used was a bit less...

Yet the current situation left him no choice but to use it!

"Swallows Returning to the Nest" cleaved down fiercely.

A robust violet qi burst forth from within Zhao沛's body, and instantly, a golden lotus phantom quietly blossomed around his form!

In a flash, the "Swallows Returning to the Nest" thrust by An Le felt as though it had plunged into cotton, unable to advance even a fraction of an inch further.

The Violet Qi Golden Lotus...

An Le narrowed his eyes, his expression growing much more solemn. To him, the Violet Qi Golden Lotus somewhat resembled the "Aura-Drawing Technique," though it was slightly weaker than the latter.

Still, it could not be underestimated.

Clear Qi seemed to breed beneath his feet, kicking up wind and waves that ruffled Zhao沛's robes and hair.

Suspended within the Violet Qi Golden Lotus and bathed in its power, his pupils were suffused with a golden hue!

He stared fixedly at An Le!

The amplification brought by the Violet Qi Golden Lotus was enough to let him tear through his realm bottleneck and step into the sixth realm territory, but the consumption was equally massive!

Feeling the power within the Violet Qi Golden Lotus draining away at a rapid pace!

Zhao沛's heart was bleeding. As his hair flew wildly, he hooked his fingertips, causing miniature golden lotus flowers to revolve around his body!

Each golden lotus flower was arranged in the shape of a sword.

With a shift of Zhao沛's mind, the golden lotus flowers enveloped him, pushing forward that lotus-flower sword to instantly draw a golden streak across the nocturnal sky!

In a flash, he closed in upon An Le, thrusting that golden lotus sword directly into An Le's body to pierce his chest!

When the power of the Violet Qi Golden Lotus crashed into An Le's body, the corners of Zhao沛's lips could not help but curl upward into a smile.

Yet very soon, the smile at the corners of his lips froze.

Raising his head, he instead saw An Le—pierced through by the Violet Qi Golden Lotus—wearing a slightly peculiar expression as he glanced at him, looking somewhat unsatisfied.

Then, he saw An Le raise his hand. Before Zhao沛 could even react, a large palm covered his forehead, enveloping that grain of golden sand.

Zhao沛 only felt the world spin round and round.

Then his entire head was forcefully pressed down by An Le, the back of his skull smashing savagely into the ground.

With a muffled thud.

It smashed a depression into the earth, embedding his entire head into the muddy ground.

And this was still not the most humiliating part...

The most humiliating part was... Zhao沛 felt something draining away from within his body.

A tyrannical and majestic force spread outward from An Le's palm.

Bit by bit, the Violet Qi Golden Lotus between his brows was...

Sucked completely dry.