"You had your chance to play nice!" A cold light flashed in the rogue cultivator's eyes. He slammed his palm forward with savage force. A black shockwave of palm energy surged toward my face, thick with sinister, corrupt qi.

I let out a cold snort and raised my blade to deflect. The War-Surge Blade clashed against the rogue cultivator's palm strike with a deafening crash. The sheer force of the impact sent a numbing tremor up my arm, but the rogue cultivator was blasted back several steps as well.

"Interesting," the rogue cultivator said, licking the corner of his mouth. A glimmer of excitement crept into his eyes. "Core Formation mid-stage and you can already take one palm strike from me. So you must be Ethan Lu — the one everyone's been talking about lately. Didn't expect to run into you here."

"Well, well, didn't think you'd actually know this lord's name."

"Don't get cocky — just die!" The rogue cultivator dispensed with further words. He formed hand seals, muttering an incantation under his breath. The corrupt qi swirling around his body grew thicker and denser, condensing into a massive black spectral figure. Its gaping maw yawned wide, and it lunged straight at me.

I didn't dare be careless. I circulated the Tide Saint Body Art, drawing the liquid spiritual energy from the surroundings to form a curtain of water before me. At the same time, I channeled the Dao Ancestor Sword Intent into the War-Surge Blade and swept it in a single cut.

"Evil Cleaving!"

A gold-and-blue blade radiance tore through the air and slammed into the black spectral figure. Violent waves of energy rippled outward through the valley, setting the surrounding stele grove humming and vibrating.

Seeing this, a flicker of surprise crossed the rogue cultivator's eyes. Clearly he hadn't expected my power to be this formidable.

He bit down hard on the tip of his tongue and spat out a mouthful of essence blood, driving it into the body of the black spectral figure. The specter swelled in an instant — larger, more violent — and it tore straight through my water curtain by brute force, hurtling toward me.

My heart sank. I hadn't thought this rogue cultivator would push himself this desperately. The specter's jaws were almost upon me.

"System — invoke the Sea-Suppressing Sword fragments!"

Ding! Invoking the Sea-Suppressing Sword fragments… Invocation successful!

In an instant, two fragments of meteoric iron flew out from the qiankun pouch and hovered above my head, taking the shape of a phantom immortal sword. The Dao Ancestor runes carved along the blade spun wildly, radiating a pressure capable of suppressing ten thousand ages.

"That… that is…" The rogue cultivator stared at the phantom sword, his face a mask of disbelief. "Dao Ancestor Sword Intent! You actually truly possess the Dao Ancestor Sword Intent!"

Before he could react, I directed the phantom sword downward and slashed hard at the black specter.

"You finally understand this lord's might when death is at your door! Ten Thousand Evils, Extinguished!"

A golden sword-curtain erupted from the blade tip, expanding into a vast domain of righteous energy. The black spectral figure let out a shrill, wretched wail within that domain, and dissolved without a trace.

At the sight of this, the rogue cultivator's face went ghastly pale. He spun on his heel and bolted.

"And who said this lord would let you run?" I gave a cold snort and guided the phantom sword, sending a gold-and-blue sword radiance streaking after him.

Shlick!

The radiance struck the rogue cultivator squarely in the back, passing clean through him. He turned his head in disbelief and looked at me one last time — then crumbled to ash and scattered into the air.

With the rogue cultivator dealt with, I let out a long, slow breath. I had won the fight, but the battle had drained a vast amount of my spiritual energy.

"Not bad for a rookie — you actually pulled it off," said the System Elder's voice, carrying a note of genuine approval. "Dao Ancestor Sword Intent combined with the Sea-Suppressing Sword fragments. Cutting down a rogue cultivator like that was like slicing through a melon."

I smiled, recalled the phantom sword, and turned my gaze back to the stele grove. In the aftermath of the battle, I noticed that deep within the grove stood what appeared to be an even older stone stele, its inscriptions far more obscure and difficult to decipher.

"System — analyze that stele."

Ding! Analyzing… Difficulty level is extremely high. Estimated to require a substantial amount of time and energy.

I pondered for a moment and glanced at the spirit stone count on the System panel. After numerous mission rewards and exchanges, I now held a considerable stockpile of spirit stones — more than enough to fuel the System's analysis.

"Begin the analysis."

At my command, the System devoted its full power to analyzing the ancient stele. Vast quantities of spirit stone energy were consumed, and the number on the System panel plummeted at a dizzying pace.

End of Chapter 87: Refusing the Toast, Drinking the Forfeit