The starlight formed a net, shrouding them like a fisherman's catch; no matter how they struggled, it was useless, and they were quickly devoured by the stellar force.

He sat down cross-legged, his brow furrowed. These five men, having been reduced to dust and shattered bones, vanished completely from the world, as if they had never existed.

He gasped, spitting out another mouthful of purple blood.

He hadn't expected the Huaqing Sect to possess such an overbearing secret art, one aimed only at mutual destruction. A millennium-old great sect was certainly not to be underestimated; this single secret technique was enough to inspire awe.

These twelve figures were masters from the Huaqing Sect. Once his Xin Tong (Mind Perception) engaged, they had nowhere to hide, and the talk of the jade hairpin was merely a ploy to frighten him.

The moment he grasped the hairpin, he sensed Bai Mingqiu's condition: Senior Sister Bai was perfectly fine in the Tianyuan Abyss.

Furthermore, she carried his jade talisman. Should she face danger, he would instantly sense it and appear by her side; there was no possibility of her being held hostage.

They presumed themselves clever, attempting to disrupt his state of mind, but they had miscalculated!

Knowing it was the Huaqing Sect, he showed no mercy. This time, it was just a scare! Next time might be different; he needed to subdue their arrogance and let them know he was not easily trifled with.

Having mastered the Big Dipper Divine Sword, his confidence was solid. Before obtaining starlight power, under such a secret art, even if he didn't die, he would have shed a layer of skin; his injuries wouldn't have been this light.

There is no perfect thing in this world. While starlight is overwhelmingly powerful, its healing properties are poor; it is too domineering, often exacerbating existing injuries.

He sat cross-legged, regulating his breath for a moment, then suddenly snapped his eyes open, frowning as he looked behind him. Three youths in purple robes slowly emerged from the woods, stopping before Li Muzhan.

The moonlight illuminated their half-smirking faces. Their appearance was unremarkable—neither handsome nor ugly—with builds average, similar to his own, such that they wouldn't draw attention in a crowd.

Li Muzhan felt the killing intent and calmly observed the trio.

The youth in the middle looked the youngest; Li Muzhan estimated him to be barely twenty. He smiled sweetly at Li Muzhan, like a cat watching a mouse: "Are you Li Wuji of the Mingjing Sect?"

Li Muzhan formed a seal with his hand, circulating his inner force, looking at them nonchalantly: "I am Li Wuji. Are you from the Purple Star Hall?"

He maintained a dual focus, regulating his breath while dealing with the three. He recalled Chen Daotang describing the attire of the Purple Star Hall: purple robes, with one, two, or even three to five stars embroidered at the collar, indicating their rank.

The youth in the middle had three stars; the other two had two. According to Chen Daotang, ordinary disciples of the Purple Star Hall had one star, experts had two, and three stars signified top-tier experts. As for four or five stars, those were super-experts, best avoided by retreating rather than engaging directly.

His thoughts spun rapidly, and his expression became increasingly casual.

"Good luck," the middle youth chuckled, turning to smile.

The other two youths echoed the laughter: "Indeed, good luck. But with Senior Brother Zhou taking action, whether he's injured or not doesn't matter much!"

The middle youth, Senior Brother Zhou, waved his hand: "Since he's already injured, I won't make a move. You two go!"

"Alright!" the two youths responded with deep voices, charging toward Li Muzhan. Four streams of palm force enveloped him; there was nowhere to flee.

Li Muzhan flicked a finger—Chii!—like tearing silk. The youth on the left hurriedly retreated, pulling his hand back as if avoiding a venomous snake, stopping ten paces away to examine his right palm.

A clear, white circular imprint was branded onto his Laogong acupoint, perfectly defined. The youth's facial muscles contorted. He violently shook his right palm several times before sitting down cross-legged. Soon, purple energy swirled around him, his face looking as if covered by a purple veil.

This was a swift sequence. In the time it took for half a breath, the other youth wisely backed away, avoiding Li Muzhan's finger force, watching his companion cautiously.

Senior Brother Zhou glared fiercely at Li Muzhan, stepped behind the injured youth, bent down, and pressed his palm onto the young man's back, injecting a torrent of inner force.

He frowned. An invisible force circulated within his Senior Brother's meridians. His Senior Brother's inner force could not resist it, and adding his own power proved futile.

This force was wantonly destroying the meridians; their combined inner force was useless. A thought flashed through his mind, and he suddenly redirected his inner force to follow behind this disruptive force, seeking to repair the meridians.

The former was destroying, while he repaired. With a shift in his cultivation technique, the Purple Star Hall's unique healing method activated. His inner force transformed into spring water, rapidly nourishing and mending the meridians.

Li Muzhan shook his head and smiled, glancing at the cautiously watchful youth, then at the other two who had stopped attacking. That single move had aggravated his own injury.

His injury wasn't severe, but the starlight was too tyrannical. Circulating it worsened the damage. He had used starlight earlier to intimidate them, compounding the injury, necessitating focused healing.

He was using his inner force to heal, while the other two pondered how to counteract the starlight. The last one stood guard, preventing Li Muzhan from launching a sudden offensive; Li Muzhan’s previous strike had intimidated him, making him afraid to press the advantage.

After a while, the two from the Purple Star Hall, working in tandem, utilized a Yi Hua Jue (Flower-Shifting Art) to painstakingly expel the residual starlight. Under the Purple Star Hall’s unique healing technique, their injuries recovered rapidly.

Li Muzhan’s inner force was pure, and his injuries also healed quickly. After the time it took to brew a cup of tea, the three opened their eyes almost simultaneously, glaring at each other.

Li Muzhan smiled, rose lightly, extended his legs to balance himself steadily, and laughed: "Came specifically to kill me? You really think highly of me!"

"Li Wuji, we underestimated you!" Senior Brother Zhou frowned and said in a deep voice, "What martial art are you using?"

Li Muzhan smiled, shaking his head, remaining silent.

Senior Brother Zhou sneered: "Playing coy! The thirty-six meridians of the Mingjing Sect—I refuse to believe I can't recognize them!"

Li Muzhan’s eyebrows twitched slightly. He smiled: "A word of advice, I have had other fortunate encounters!"

"Hmph, attack!" Senior Brother Zhou sneered and lunged forward, the other two following. The three formed a triangle, surrounding Li Muzhan, and unleashed a fierce assault with their long swords.

Sword light poured down like rushing water, resembling several waterfalls cascading onto him. Li Muzhan's sword movements were slow, sprinkling a veil of hazy sword light to guard his body, repelling the torrent of sword light.

With a continuous series of dense, clear metallic clangs, Li Muzhan drifted lightly on his feet, and the three followed his movement. Soon, they plunged into the forest.

Trees in their path turned into splinters; only after they passed did the fragments begin to drift down.

They fought from the east end to the west end, traversing the entire forest, and then ascended the mountain. Li Muzhan’s footwork was ethereal and swift, yet his swordplay remained slow and measured.

The starlight from the sky poured in ceaselessly, nourishing his body. When uninjured, starlight benefited him, but with an injury, it enlarged the wound—the nature of the Star Element is to diminish the deficient and oversupply the abundant.

As his swordplay progressed, the starlight grew stronger, and the starlight on his sword intensified. Li Muzhan secretly admired the prowess of the Purple Star Hall; ordinary people would be instantly shattered upon contact with their starlight, yet these men could withstand it—their cultivation methods must hold some profound secrets.

They quickly reached the mountaintop, facing a bottomless abyss. Li Muzhan leaped down without hesitation, causing the three from the Purple Star Hall to halt.

Mid-air, Li Muzhan twisted his body, shook his head at the three, and flashed a smile of disdain, enraging the trio who stamped their feet and slashed at a nearby pine tree.

Li Muzhan inwardly lamented that these three men had clear minds; even in this situation, their blood wasn't boiling over enough to jump after him.

The cliff was deep, far exceeding the mountain's height. His Eye of the Void had already shown him it was a raging river. His figure flashed and vanished in the air. The next instant, he reappeared on another mountain tens of miles away.

He settled in the branches of a tree, sat cross-legged, and soon entered a state of meditative stillness. The sun slowly shifted westward and eventually set. Dusk turned to night, and the full moon rose, hanging in the night sky and casting down soft, clear light.

He suddenly opened his eyes; they were as clear as water, but quickly returned to their normal appearance, indistinguishable from someone who hadn't cultivated martial arts—returning to simplicity.

He sprang down, his form vanishing in mid-air.

He appeared in a grove of trees, standing between two branches, squinting slightly as he observed a campfire in the distance.

The bonfire blazed fiercely, dispelling the night chill and illuminating the faces of the three men. They sat quietly by the fire with their eyelids slightly lowered, motionless.

Li Muzhan narrowed his eyes, circulating his starlight, merging with the night, concealing his presence. Starlight was supremely effective at masking one's aura.

He clung to the fork of the tree, swaying with the trunk, not only blending with the darkness but integrating with the wood. He even emptied his mind, aligning his consciousness with the void.

After about an hour, the night grew deeper, and the air grew cold. Li Muzhan slowly opened his eyes, suddenly flicked a finger, and with a barely perceptible light whistle—

Bang! The youth named Zhou was violently thrown up, striking a large tree behind him. Leaves rustled down as the youth remained stuck against the tree for a long time.

As he flew away, the other two were also thrown up, striking two separate trees. Amidst the rustling leaves, they clung to the trunks, unable to fall for a long time. Before the three could hit the ground, Li Muzhan flashed next to Senior Brother Zhou, his right palm pressing down silently, as gentle as a caress.

Bang! Senior Brother Zhou raised his palm to meet the contact. The two palms collided with a dull thud. He crashed through a pine tree as thick as a thigh and was flung over ten yards, embedding himself in another pine tree.

He spat out a jet of blood, glaring viciously at Li Muzhan. He tried to speak but the rising blood choked his mouth, preventing any sound.

The other two groaned and slid down onto the soft, thick earth. Their bodies were limp as mud; they struggled to rise but ultimately failed.

Li Muzhan flashed ten yards away and looked at Senior Brother Zhou with a smile: "Surprised? Unwilling to accept it?"

The youth named Zhou opened his mouth but could not utter a sound, his gaze burning with resentment.

He was indeed unwilling. He hadn't managed to unleash his terrifying secret art, and watching Li Muzhan's faint smile only intensified his unwillingness.

Li Muzhan focused his Xin Tong to its limit, dividing his attention, and shook his head with a smile: "Your Purple Star Hall martial arts are nothing more than this. I heard you have some formidable secret arts, but regrettably, I won't get to witness them."

His words were gloating after a victory, enraging the three until their faces flushed red. Blood trickled from their mouths, and their eyes fixed him with venomous hatred, wishing they could devour him raw.

Li Muzhan shook his head: "However, judging by your cultivation levels, even your secret arts aren't anything grand—at most, capable of mutual destruction!"

The three showed expressions of disdain. Li Muzhan smiled: "Besides enhancing your cultivation, what other use do your secret arts have?" ... "Then there's nothing special about that either!"

His Xin Tong spun rapidly, capitalizing on their agitation, and the images in their minds became clearer. Although he couldn't see their secret art methods entirely, he grasped its function.

He inwardly trembled. Their secret art was called the Star Calling Art (Huan Xing Shu). It bore a slight resemblance to his own Heavenly Astral Divine Sword, but was even more domineering—it borrowed the starlight from the heavens for a short period, pushing the physical body to its absolute limit.

If he hadn't known about such a technique and preemptively ambushed them, allowing them to use it, Li Muzhan mused that the outcome would be unpredictable, and he would very likely be the one in trouble.

He sighed inwardly. The Purple Star Hall truly could not be underestimated. What was the connection between the Star Calling Art and the Heavenly Astral Divine Sword, the Big Dipper Divine Sword, and the Heavenly Secret Sword?

A sliver of doubt caught his attention, but he pushed it aside. Three more streams of finger force shot out, and simultaneously, he floated backward, retreating far away from the trio. (To be continued)