"It'll hurt."
With hot breaths pressing down, Mo Xi stared into his eyes from close by. He spoke two words.
"Bear it."
Just as Mo Xi said, undoing the Demon Summoning Talisman was extremely painful, as if he were uprooting thousands of thorned brambles from the other's flesh.
Gu Mang tried to endure at first, but as Mo Xi continued chanting the incantation, he gradually couldn't bear it, and his tensed body weakened under Mo Xi's hands. He started trembling and convulsing, until finally, great big tears spilled from the corners of his eyes, shakily trailing off into his temples.
His eyes were red with tears, but his mouth was still covered by Mo Xi's hand, rendering him mute. His clothes were quickly soaked in sweat, his gaze unfocused and reflecting Mo Xi's face.
With a blink, the reflection shattered, becoming tears.
Mo Xi had to use all of his strength to keep him pinned and unable to rampage.
It hurt. It hurt so much. Into the bone, into the marrow.....
As his trembling lashes came into view, Mo Xi's inability to bear it scared him. He couldn't help but slightly lessen the pressure he was using.
In this moment of weakness, Gu Mang fiercely struggled away from the hand muzzling him. He tilted his head, gasped for breath, and hysterically cried out "aah, aah" sounds, hoarse and pitiful.
Unlike that strong body, when this man cried out, his voice was still as weak as spring leaves.
Actually, Gu Mang had cried like this before.
But no one else knew; only Mo Xi had heard it in bed.
"......Bite me," Mo Xi said in a low voice.
Gu Mang couldn't understand; he absolutely couldn't hear whatever Mo Xi was saying. Mo Xi took a deep breath, and with difficulty, he forced down the unease in his chest and bent down.
At this angle, he knew Gu Mang would habitually bite onto his shoulder.
Gu Mang's canines were too sharp and had broken skin too many times. As for the scars, they still had not disappeared after so many years and maybe wouldn't fade even in a lifetime. Mo Xi thought, This is your old spot, go ahead and bite.
He then ruthlessly continued chanting.
This short respite followed by even deeper suffering made Gu Mang suddenly convulse, taut, hoarsely gasping once more..... Between collapse and rage, his instinct was to open his mouth wide and tightly bite into Mo Xi's shoulder....
His entire body was soaked in sweat, continuously spasming and trembling in Mo Xi's arms....
The closer the incantation came to completion, the worse the pain became.
By the end, Gu Mang couldn't bear it even with biting, letting go suddenly and tilting upwards to gasp in great breaths. His entire face was beaded with sweat, his eyes so wet they resembled the deep sea in the midst of wind and rain.
"It hurts....."
He finally spoke.
This was the first time since Mo Xi returned, since their reunion, that Gu Mang couldn't repress his feelings and so truthfully expressed himself.
"I.....hurt......"
Mo Xi's heart was pulled taut. That organ, once stabbed and could never be repaired, started throbbing fiercely, creating a stabbing pain in his chest.
He watched Gu Mang's eyes. Gu Mang's entire body had already collapsed and fallen slack.
He suddenly had a kind of uncontrollable urge to press his head against Gu Mang's clammy forehead, like long ago, like before anything irredeemable had occurred. To caress his sweat-soaked head and tell him, "It's alright, once the curse is broken you'll be okay, I'll stay with you....I'll stay with you....."
But as he lowered his cheek, just as he got close, he violently remembered the many ways they could no longer go back.
He remembered that Murong Lian was separated only by a stone wall, and unless he quickly released Gu Mang's Demon Summoning Talisman, this entire mess would get even harder to resolve.
Jerking himself awake, he leaned away and closed his eyes a few times, continuing to chant.
It was the last bit.....
Only the last bit.....
Abruptly, he felt a shock of pain at his neck. It was Gu Mang, so weak he could no longer bite into Mo Xi's shoulder, opening his mouth thirstily to bite into something softer instead.
He bit into the side of Mo Xi's neck.
Or, not so much biting, since he was already so weak, but rather mouthing. Underneath that wet mouth, only the sharpest tooth could still hurt Mo Xi, and the others could only barely touch him.
"......"
The final walls in his heart came crumbling down. Mo Xi closed his eyes, thinking, Just this once....only this once. Unthinking of whoever could see them, uncaring of what they would think, even uncaring of all that had happened between them and their deep and bloody hatred.
He lifted his hand, cradling the back of Gu Mang's head, letting him bite. He stroked Gu Mang's hair, softly coaxing, "It's fine, it's fine....it's all over now.....all over now...."
The pain had passed.
If only their debts and hatred could be so easily cast off, the chasm between them over as quickly as this pain, how nice it would be.
He held and comforted the trembling man in his arms with no one to see. Even he himself was unwilling to bear witness, closing his eyes and gently laying a kiss at the top of his head.
If all the world's suffering could pass too.
How nice it would be.
Released from the curse, Gu Mang slept. Mo Xi rose and summoned the bamboo warrior, commanding it to take care of him. Then he morphed Shuairan into a spiritual snake and left it behind to stand guard. Walking behind the stone wall, he went to help Murong Lian and Yue Chenqing end that fierce battle.
But by the looks of it, they were almost finished and didn't need his help.
Yue Chenqing's spiritual power was shallow; each line of the Sword Destroying Talisman had to be repeated thirty or so times, and with each repeat, Li Qingqian's spiritual power weakened. By now, Yue Chenqing had read it to nearly the last line, and Li Qingqian had grown less capable against Murong Lian.
“Thy blood drips into the urn, thy bones forged into the blade...”
All of these incantations had morphed into hazy plumes of white smoke, winding around Li Qingqian.
“Three chi of water in the case, once a dreamer...”
Li Qingqian was only a man and had been badly scattered, but he was still shakingly exchanging blows with Murong Lian, his face pale. Murong Lian became more leisurely as he fought, knocking him down again and again. He watched him get up, blood leaking from the corners of his mouth, clothes and hair crown all askew.
Murong Lian laughed coldly. "What are you struggling for? Defeat is certain but you insist on being so pathetic, do you like getting kicked?"
Li Qingqian did not respond, simply laughing crazily, his lips parting to spit out a fountain of bloody water. His eyes flashed with an indescribable perseverance and madness.
As though he had to survive for something.
He hadn't achieved that goal, so he could not dissipate nor look on helplessly as the Hong Shao sword was destroyed by Yue Chenqing.
That glint in his eyes wasn’t saying, "My fate is up to me and not the heavens", but rather, "I cannot defeat the heavens, but I must do what I must. Even if I lose, even if I die, even if my ashes drift on the wind—I will not bow down to fate."
I will not bow.
Crazed, he laughed again, and Murong Lian brutally kicked his face again with his silk shoe. Again he crawled to his feet, as if to get closer to Yue Chenqing.
"Hahaha, hahahahahaa—"
".....Li-zongshi."
Mo Xi's single call caused the wildly laughing Li Qingqian to suddenly shake, red eyes turning to ruthlessly stare into Mo Xi's and expressing a type of grotesque yet distracted gaze.
"After the ordeal at the Maiden's Lament Mountain, you disappeared into the mortal world. What happened?"
Mo Xi spoke on a gamble, but as this question was asked, he was certain he’d struck true. Li Qingqian’s eyes had narrowed slightly, that crazed smile beginning to distort.
The Hong Shao Sword, the writing on the wall, the maidens that had been stolen for their similar looks, the extravagantly dressed ghost brides in the cave....
First hatred for her empty fate,
Second hatred for the curse of beauty,
Third hatred for their eternal separation.
This entire thing seemed linked to an unknown woman.
—Why?
What happened at the Maiden's Lament Mountain?
What happened to cause this righteous, upstanding swordsman zongshi to become a vicious sword spirit, this mangled evil corpse?
Mo Xi looked at him. "Who forged you into the sword? Who did you come to Chonghua to find?"
Li Qingqian wanted to laugh, hard swallow, he could only emit a humorously hoarse echoing sound. "Who's Li-zongshi? I'm not! I'm not! Li Qingqian, that idiot, died already!! He should've died already! It's because he had lived too long, lived too unclearly, too desperate for fame, that he could hurt others, hurt himself, falling to that kind of state! He can only blame himself!"
He hatefully spat out the words.
"He deserved it!"
"......"
He shrieked unsteadily, malevolently.
"Who am I looking for? Those girls! Hahaha! I'm here for vengeance! I'm here to kill! I'm here to kill!"
He became more hateful as he shrieked, but shattered light became visible across his body—as if with Yue Chenqing's last chant, he would end up as ashes on the wind, together with the secrets he held.
“Holy sabre travels short, why not return to the earthly world,” Yue Chenqing finished.
…
The Hong Shao Sword jerked suddenly, a blue light shining from the blade.
Yue Chenqing was shocked into opening his eyes.
Murong Lian was leaning against a stone pillar, yet he only just felt something was wrong. "What happened? What's wrong with this damn sword?"
Yue Chenqing had never seen this kind of situation before and anxiously chanted again. “Holy sabre travels short, why not return to the earthly world...”
Hong Shao suddenly stopped its shaking, followed by all the black water rushing back into the blade at a frightening speed. "Not good!” Yue Chenqing said quickly. “It's going to break free!!"
The sound hadn't faded before it was followed by an explosion, his sight going dark. His body was flung by the waves, smashing into the stone wall and causing him to spit out a mouthful of blood.
Yue Chenqing looked up in panic, only to see that Hong Shao had flown straight up in the middle of the bloody fight. It emitted a dazzling light from a cloud of black smoke, illuminating Yue Chenqing and Murong Lian's pallid faces.
Murong Lian clung to the wall as he stood, grinding his teeth. "This is...."
Yue Chenqing cried out involuntarily. "The Sword Destroying Talisman had a reverse effect, the barrier seal broke!! Murong-dage, come quick, come take care of it!!"
Was there any need for Yue Chenqing to say so? Murong Lian swept over, as if to use the qiankun pouch to contain it again, but due to Yue Chenqing's mistake on the last line, Hong Shao had already broken free of its restraints. This time, its strength and resentment were both difficult to handle, and it unexpectedly shot out another burst of sword energy, flying towards Li Qingqian and smashing Murong Lian into the ground with the blast.
Murong Lian opened his mouth to spit out, "Yue Chenqing! You good for nothing!"
"Didn't I already say that I was useless and didn't know it?!” Yue Chenqing said dejectedly. “It was you who forced me to do it!"
"How did you mess up the last line!?!"
Murong Lian's nose had twisted in rage.
"I didn't make a mistake!" countered Yue Chenqing. "Holy sabre travels short, why not return to the earthly world. How could I have remembered it wrong? It must be, it must be something I don't understand! Or I drew it wrong at the beginning, I....."
Explaining further was useless. Li Qingqian was clutching the glowing Hong Shao Sword—the sword spirit fusing with the body!
Seeing the cloud of light burst forth, Mo Xi shouted, "Tuntian Barrier!"
A beam of golden light sprang forward from his palms, morphing into a massive whale. Whistling, it cast aside all of the rock debris, completely enveloping the people on their side under its halo.
Left out by the whale, he who had recovered the sword was exploding with terrifying evil energy. Floating in midair, surrounded by bluish streaks of power from the sword, he slammed against the Tuntian Barrier and released a frightening flow of spiritual energy.
Li Qingqian lowered his head, watching the scars on his arms and palms heal. He straightened his clothes, a sinister smile forming on his pallid face.
After a long time, he turned around with smiling eyes, looking askance at Yue Chenqing below.
"Yue-gongzi has not learned enough.”
His face was still very unsightly; the previous pain of nearly dissipating his soul was not so easily cast off, but comfort was not relevant now that his power had explosively increased.
"Many thanks for your unintentional support."
Murong Lian watched as this situation became worse and worse, and was still intimately connected to his own Luomei Pavilion. Utterly discomfited, he turned to Mo Xi. "Why don't you fight? Too weak to fight a sword spirit?"
"If I fight him, you'll open the protective barrier?" Mo Xi said angrily.
"I—" Murong Lian choked, following up with, "Don't you still have Shuairan? Let Shuairan take him down in snake form!"
"Shuairan is protecting Gu Mang!"
It was as if Murong Lian had found a huge weak point of Mo Xi's, refusing to let go of internal issues in front of the enemy. "Very well, of course you........."
Mo Xi angrily broke in. "If he goes berserk again, you'll stop him?"
"You—!"
"Murong-dage, it's useless." At this time, Yue Chenqing spoke up, his little face stark white. "This level of sword spirit and sword body, after fusing, is undefeatable under hundreds of blows. Only an artificer zongshi could hope to defeat him."
He was near tears. ".....It's all my fault...."
Li Qingqian, now out of danger, had no plans to tangle any further with them. He appeared determined to quickly break away in order to complete his mission. With a raise of his hand, he set down a scarily powerful sword glare barrier, separating Mo Xi’s people from himself, and took up Hong Shao to fly out of the cave.
"Quick, after him!" Murong Lian said.
"What use would chasing be?” Yue Chenqing wailed. “I just said, right now he’s more or less invincible, only the most powerful artificer zongshi could...."
He didn’t even finish.
Suddenly, a beam of blinding white light shot towards Li Qingqian's back! It was the bamboo warrior, rising into the sky, utterly uninhibited by Li Qingqian's barrier. With one flip, he landed in front of Li Qingqian and unsheathed his sabre with a shing to block Li Qingqian's way.
This not only shocked Li Qingqian; even Yue Chenqing was dumbfounded.
He just said this kind of fused sword spirit was invincible and only artificer zongshi with skills on par with his father could defeat it.
Who was the zongshi?
The bamboo warrior?
That would be too ridiculous!
Just as his brain was a buzzing mess, he suddenly heard the bright sound of a sword from behind. Yue Chenqing turned to see a man with fluttering white robes arrive on the wind from the cave entrance—
The man's white robe was light and elegant, silver trim gleaming faintly and jade crown standing tall against long hair. The snowy silk ribbon on the crown fluttered with his sleeves.
All the fluttering sleeves and silks gave off a striking immortal aura. He was a man with extremely delicate features, but those features could not hide his inborn majesty. His eyes seemed to hold an apathetic coldness, making it so his simple elegance was not a soft tenderness, but a freezing indifference.
The white-clothed xianjun swiftly steered his sword to land, expressionlessly raising that refined face.
Those severe sword brows and majestic phoenix eyes swept across the battlefield, coldly landing on the bedraggled Yue Chenqing—he gave a dismissive snort.
Then he stood with a wave of his sleeves, horsetail whisk resting on his arm.
—This was the "Ignorance" from Chonghua's "Greed, Hatred, Ignorance".
The master of the bamboo warrior, Murong Chuyi!
"It'll hurt."
With hot breaths pressing down, Mo Xi stared into his eyes from close by. He spoke two words.
"Bear it."
Just as Mo Xi said, undoing the Demon Summoning Talisman was extremely painful, as if he were uprooting thousands of thorned brambles from the other's flesh.
Gu Mang tried to endure at first, but as Mo Xi continued chanting the incantation, he gradually couldn't bear it, and his tensed body weakened under Mo Xi's hands. He started trembling and convulsing, until finally, great big tears spilled from the corners of his eyes, shakily trailing off into his temples.
His eyes were red with tears, but his mouth was still covered by Mo Xi's hand, rendering him mute. His clothes were quickly soaked in sweat, his gaze unfocused and reflecting Mo Xi's face.
With a blink, the reflection shattered, becoming tears.
Mo Xi had to use all of his strength to keep him pinned and unable to rampage.
It hurt. It hurt so much. Into the bone, into the marrow.....
As his trembling lashes came into view, Mo Xi's inability to bear it scared him. He couldn't help but slightly lessen the pressure he was using.
In this moment of weakness, Gu Mang fiercely struggled away from the hand muzzling him. He tilted his head, gasped for breath, and hysterically cried out "aah, aah" sounds, hoarse and pitiful.
Unlike that strong body, when this man cried out, his voice was still as weak as spring leaves.
Actually, Gu Mang had cried like this before.
But no one else knew; only Mo Xi had heard it in bed.
"......Bite me," Mo Xi said in a low voice.
Gu Mang couldn't understand; he absolutely couldn't hear whatever Mo Xi was saying. Mo Xi took a deep breath, and with difficulty, he forced down the unease in his chest and bent down.
At this angle, he knew Gu Mang would habitually bite onto his shoulder.
Gu Mang's canines were too sharp and had broken skin too many times. As for the scars, they still had not disappeared after so many years and maybe wouldn't fade even in a lifetime. Mo Xi thought, This is your old spot, go ahead and bite.
He then ruthlessly continued chanting.
This short respite followed by even deeper suffering made Gu Mang suddenly convulse, taut, hoarsely gasping once more..... Between collapse and rage, his instinct was to open his mouth wide and tightly bite into Mo Xi's shoulder....
His entire body was soaked in sweat, continuously spasming and trembling in Mo Xi's arms....
The closer the incantation came to completion, the worse the pain became.
By the end, Gu Mang couldn't bear it even with biting, letting go suddenly and tilting upwards to gasp in great breaths. His entire face was beaded with sweat, his eyes so wet they resembled the deep sea in the midst of wind and rain.
"It hurts....."
He finally spoke.
This was the first time since Mo Xi returned, since their reunion, that Gu Mang couldn't repress his feelings and so truthfully expressed himself.
"I.....hurt......"
Mo Xi's heart was pulled taut. That organ, once stabbed and could never be repaired, started throbbing fiercely, creating a stabbing pain in his chest.
He watched Gu Mang's eyes. Gu Mang's entire body had already collapsed and fallen slack.
He suddenly had a kind of uncontrollable urge to press his head against Gu Mang's clammy forehead, like long ago, like before anything irredeemable had occurred. To caress his sweat-soaked head and tell him, "It's alright, once the curse is broken you'll be okay, I'll stay with you....I'll stay with you....."
But as he lowered his cheek, just as he got close, he violently remembered the many ways they could no longer go back.
He remembered that Murong Lian was separated only by a stone wall, and unless he quickly released Gu Mang's Demon Summoning Talisman, this entire mess would get even harder to resolve.
Jerking himself awake, he leaned away and closed his eyes a few times, continuing to chant.
It was the last bit.....
Only the last bit.....
Abruptly, he felt a shock of pain at his neck. It was Gu Mang, so weak he could no longer bite into Mo Xi's shoulder, opening his mouth thirstily to bite into something softer instead.
He bit into the side of Mo Xi's neck.
Or, not so much biting, since he was already so weak, but rather mouthing. Underneath that wet mouth, only the sharpest tooth could still hurt Mo Xi, and the others could only barely touch him.
"......"
The final walls in his heart came crumbling down. Mo Xi closed his eyes, thinking, Just this once....only this once. Unthinking of whoever could see them, uncaring of what they would think, even uncaring of all that had happened between them and their deep and bloody hatred.
He lifted his hand, cradling the back of Gu Mang's head, letting him bite. He stroked Gu Mang's hair, softly coaxing, "It's fine, it's fine....it's all over now.....all over now...."
The pain had passed.
If only their debts and hatred could be so easily cast off, the chasm between them over as quickly as this pain, how nice it would be.
He held and comforted the trembling man in his arms with no one to see. Even he himself was unwilling to bear witness, closing his eyes and gently laying a kiss at the top of his head.
If all the world's suffering could pass too.
How nice it would be.
Released from the curse, Gu Mang slept. Mo Xi rose and summoned the bamboo warrior, commanding it to take care of him. Then he morphed Shuairan into a spiritual snake and left it behind to stand guard. Walking behind the stone wall, he went to help Murong Lian and Yue Chenqing end that fierce battle.
But by the looks of it, they were almost finished and didn't need his help.
Yue Chenqing's spiritual power was shallow; each line of the Sword Destroying Talisman had to be repeated thirty or so times, and with each repeat, Li Qingqian's spiritual power weakened. By now, Yue Chenqing had read it to nearly the last line, and Li Qingqian had grown less capable against Murong Lian.
“Thy blood drips into the urn, thy bones forged into the blade...”
All of these incantations had morphed into hazy plumes of white smoke, winding around Li Qingqian.
“Three chi of water in the case, once a dreamer...”
Li Qingqian was only a man and had been badly scattered, but he was still shakingly exchanging blows with Murong Lian, his face pale. Murong Lian became more leisurely as he fought, knocking him down again and again. He watched him get up, blood leaking from the corners of his mouth, clothes and hair crown all askew.
Murong Lian laughed coldly. "What are you struggling for? Defeat is certain but you insist on being so pathetic, do you like getting kicked?"
Li Qingqian did not respond, simply laughing crazily, his lips parting to spit out a fountain of bloody water. His eyes flashed with an indescribable perseverance and madness.
As though he had to survive for something.
He hadn't achieved that goal, so he could not dissipate nor look on helplessly as the Hong Shao sword was destroyed by Yue Chenqing.
That glint in his eyes wasn’t saying, "My fate is up to me and not the heavens", but rather, "I cannot defeat the heavens, but I must do what I must. Even if I lose, even if I die, even if my ashes drift on the wind—I will not bow down to fate."
I will not bow.
Crazed, he laughed again, and Murong Lian brutally kicked his face again with his silk shoe. Again he crawled to his feet, as if to get closer to Yue Chenqing.
"Hahaha, hahahahahaa—"
".....Li-zongshi."
Mo Xi's single call caused the wildly laughing Li Qingqian to suddenly shake, red eyes turning to ruthlessly stare into Mo Xi's and expressing a type of grotesque yet distracted gaze.
"After the ordeal at the Maiden's Lament Mountain, you disappeared into the mortal world. What happened?"
Mo Xi spoke on a gamble, but as this question was asked, he was certain he’d struck true. Li Qingqian’s eyes had narrowed slightly, that crazed smile beginning to distort.
The Hong Shao Sword, the writing on the wall, the maidens that had been stolen for their similar looks, the extravagantly dressed ghost brides in the cave....
First hatred for her empty fate,
Second hatred for the curse of beauty,
Third hatred for their eternal separation.
This entire thing seemed linked to an unknown woman.
—Why?
What happened at the Maiden's Lament Mountain?
What happened to cause this righteous, upstanding swordsman zongshi to become a vicious sword spirit, this mangled evil corpse?
Mo Xi looked at him. "Who forged you into the sword? Who did you come to Chonghua to find?"
Li Qingqian wanted to laugh, hard swallow, he could only emit a humorously hoarse echoing sound. "Who's Li-zongshi? I'm not! I'm not! Li Qingqian, that idiot, died already!! He should've died already! It's because he had lived too long, lived too unclearly, too desperate for fame, that he could hurt others, hurt himself, falling to that kind of state! He can only blame himself!"
He hatefully spat out the words.
"He deserved it!"
"......"
He shrieked unsteadily, malevolently.
"Who am I looking for? Those girls! Hahaha! I'm here for vengeance! I'm here to kill! I'm here to kill!"
He became more hateful as he shrieked, but shattered light became visible across his body—as if with Yue Chenqing's last chant, he would end up as ashes on the wind, together with the secrets he held.
“Holy sabre travels short, why not return to the earthly world,” Yue Chenqing finished.
…
The Hong Shao Sword jerked suddenly, a blue light shining from the blade.
Yue Chenqing was shocked into opening his eyes.
Murong Lian was leaning against a stone pillar, yet he only just felt something was wrong. "What happened? What's wrong with this damn sword?"
Yue Chenqing had never seen this kind of situation before and anxiously chanted again. “Holy sabre travels short, why not return to the earthly world...”
Hong Shao suddenly stopped its shaking, followed by all the black water rushing back into the blade at a frightening speed. "Not good!” Yue Chenqing said quickly. “It's going to break free!!"
The sound hadn't faded before it was followed by an explosion, his sight going dark. His body was flung by the waves, smashing into the stone wall and causing him to spit out a mouthful of blood.
Yue Chenqing looked up in panic, only to see that Hong Shao had flown straight up in the middle of the bloody fight. It emitted a dazzling light from a cloud of black smoke, illuminating Yue Chenqing and Murong Lian's pallid faces.
Murong Lian clung to the wall as he stood, grinding his teeth. "This is...."
Yue Chenqing cried out involuntarily. "The Sword Destroying Talisman had a reverse effect, the barrier seal broke!! Murong-dage, come quick, come take care of it!!"
Was there any need for Yue Chenqing to say so? Murong Lian swept over, as if to use the qiankun pouch to contain it again, but due to Yue Chenqing's mistake on the last line, Hong Shao had already broken free of its restraints. This time, its strength and resentment were both difficult to handle, and it unexpectedly shot out another burst of sword energy, flying towards Li Qingqian and smashing Murong Lian into the ground with the blast.
Murong Lian opened his mouth to spit out, "Yue Chenqing! You good for nothing!"
"Didn't I already say that I was useless and didn't know it?!” Yue Chenqing said dejectedly. “It was you who forced me to do it!"
"How did you mess up the last line!?!"
Murong Lian's nose had twisted in rage.
"I didn't make a mistake!" countered Yue Chenqing. "Holy sabre travels short, why not return to the earthly world. How could I have remembered it wrong? It must be, it must be something I don't understand! Or I drew it wrong at the beginning, I....."
Explaining further was useless. Li Qingqian was clutching the glowing Hong Shao Sword—the sword spirit fusing with the body!
Seeing the cloud of light burst forth, Mo Xi shouted, "Tuntian Barrier!"
A beam of golden light sprang forward from his palms, morphing into a massive whale. Whistling, it cast aside all of the rock debris, completely enveloping the people on their side under its halo.
Left out by the whale, he who had recovered the sword was exploding with terrifying evil energy. Floating in midair, surrounded by bluish streaks of power from the sword, he slammed against the Tuntian Barrier and released a frightening flow of spiritual energy.
Li Qingqian lowered his head, watching the scars on his arms and palms heal. He straightened his clothes, a sinister smile forming on his pallid face.
After a long time, he turned around with smiling eyes, looking askance at Yue Chenqing below.
"Yue-gongzi has not learned enough.”
His face was still very unsightly; the previous pain of nearly dissipating his soul was not so easily cast off, but comfort was not relevant now that his power had explosively increased.
"Many thanks for your unintentional support."
Murong Lian watched as this situation became worse and worse, and was still intimately connected to his own Luomei Pavilion. Utterly discomfited, he turned to Mo Xi. "Why don't you fight? Too weak to fight a sword spirit?"
"If I fight him, you'll open the protective barrier?" Mo Xi said angrily.
"I—" Murong Lian choked, following up with, "Don't you still have Shuairan? Let Shuairan take him down in snake form!"
"Shuairan is protecting Gu Mang!"
It was as if Murong Lian had found a huge weak point of Mo Xi's, refusing to let go of internal issues in front of the enemy. "Very well, of course you........."
Mo Xi angrily broke in. "If he goes berserk again, you'll stop him?"
"You—!"
"Murong-dage, it's useless." At this time, Yue Chenqing spoke up, his little face stark white. "This level of sword spirit and sword body, after fusing, is undefeatable under hundreds of blows. Only an artificer zongshi could hope to defeat him."
He was near tears. ".....It's all my fault...."
Li Qingqian, now out of danger, had no plans to tangle any further with them. He appeared determined to quickly break away in order to complete his mission. With a raise of his hand, he set down a scarily powerful sword glare barrier, separating Mo Xi’s people from himself, and took up Hong Shao to fly out of the cave.
"Quick, after him!" Murong Lian said.
"What use would chasing be?” Yue Chenqing wailed. “I just said, right now he’s more or less invincible, only the most powerful artificer zongshi could...."
He didn’t even finish.
Suddenly, a beam of blinding white light shot towards Li Qingqian's back! It was the bamboo warrior, rising into the sky, utterly uninhibited by Li Qingqian's barrier. With one flip, he landed in front of Li Qingqian and unsheathed his sabre with a shing to block Li Qingqian's way.
This not only shocked Li Qingqian; even Yue Chenqing was dumbfounded.
He just said this kind of fused sword spirit was invincible and only artificer zongshi with skills on par with his father could defeat it.
Who was the zongshi?
The bamboo warrior?
That would be too ridiculous!
Just as his brain was a buzzing mess, he suddenly heard the bright sound of a sword from behind. Yue Chenqing turned to see a man with fluttering white robes arrive on the wind from the cave entrance—
The man's white robe was light and elegant, silver trim gleaming faintly and jade crown standing tall against long hair. The snowy silk ribbon on the crown fluttered with his sleeves.
All the fluttering sleeves and silks gave off a striking immortal aura. He was a man with extremely delicate features, but those features could not hide his inborn majesty. His eyes seemed to hold an apathetic coldness, making it so his simple elegance was not a soft tenderness, but a freezing indifference.
The white-clothed xianjun swiftly steered his sword to land, expressionlessly raising that refined face.
Those severe sword brows and majestic phoenix eyes swept across the battlefield, coldly landing on the bedraggled Yue Chenqing—he gave a dismissive snort.
Then he stood with a wave of his sleeves, horsetail whisk resting on his arm.
—This was the "Ignorance" from Chonghua's "Greed, Hatred, Ignorance".
The master of the bamboo warrior, Murong Chuyi!
