The sky was still the same sky, but the winds and clouds had frozen in place, utterly motionless. The moment the aura swept through, even this dense jungle fell silent; not a single leaf stirred.
Then, a faint ripping sound broke the silence, followed by a thunderous crash behind them. A powerful shockwave tore through like a hurricane, sending the three of them stumbling, battered and exhausted.
"It's the 'Thunderwrath Heaven Shift' of the 'Guest of Azure Skies.'"
You Wusheng kept his cool, as always. Even now, when most would panic, his voice stayed steady and composed. Li Xun couldn't help but admire that.
By this point, the three had no chance of escaping, so they stopped trying altogether.
Ming Li, having stabilized his qi and shaken off the earlier injury, raised his voice sharply. "Hu Buli! You folks from the Three Sovereigns Sword Sect sure know how to make an entrance. First thing you do is charge in swinging. What's wrong? Tired of playing the righteous sect and decided to try your hand at highway robbery instead?"
As she spoke, the three of them mounted their swords and rose into the air. Already waiting up there were five figures, all watching them coldly.
Li Xun quickly scanned the group. Two of them stood out.
One was the man who had just wielded his sword; he was dressed in ink-black scholar's robe embroidered with faint golden dragon patterns. His skin was pale, his features sharp and composed, and his expression indifferent. Most striking were his long, narrow eyebrows; they were sharp, severe, but not without elegance.
The other was a female cultivator standing front and center. One look, and it was clear. Beyond her stunning beauty, she radiated arrogance from head to toe.
But her arrogance wasn't the noble, aloof kind like Qing Luan's. No, hers reminded Li Xun more of Ying Cai'er's....but without the charm. Ying Cai'er knew how to wield her pride like a weapon, enhancing her allure. This woman, on the other hand, didn't bother with finesse. She was straightforward and blunt.
To put it harshly, she was a spoiled little girl through and through.
She wore luxurious robes, filled with rare and expensive accessories, but what caught the eye most was a single, ornate earring. Dozens of fine golden chains dangled from it, nearly brushing her shoulder. As the wind stirred in the sky, the gold strands clinked together, ringing out like wind chimes.
Wearing it on only one ear? That was quite unusual. Clearly a statement of her rebellious nature.
As the three settled in midair, the man in black, the one named Hu Buli, smiled faintly. "Ah, disciples of the Shadow-Devouring Soul Sect. Ghost of the Azure, Ming Li; Fire Fiend, You Wusheng… and this one, I don't recognize.
"You show up at Chicheng Mountain without a formal request, don't send word by sword signal, and then flee the moment you're seen. It's not unreasonable to take your behavior the wrong way, wouldn't you say?"
Li Xun's mind worked quickly. He could already tell this Hu Buli was a proud one. Even though he said, "don't recognize," when he looked at Li Xun, he clearly had no interest in asking who he was. Quite rude. Still, the way he laid out his reasoning was well-structured. Definitely not someone without cunning.
Just then, Li Xun made a decision. His hand, which had been resting lightly on Ming Li's arm, gave the barest squeeze before slipping away naturally.
Ming Li picked up on the cue right away. He fell silent, letting him take over the exchange.
Li Xun's voice cut through the air. Everyone turned toward him as he gave a cold smile. "You make a good argument, Mister Hu. But we were simply chasing our prey. You cut in without warning, and now you're flipping the blame back on us? How's that supposed to make sense?"
"Prey?" Hu Buli's long brows knitted, and the sharp edge in his aura faded slightly. Still, his gaze stayed piercing as he scanned Li Xun's face. "What prey?"
Li Xun glanced briefly in the direction that Kitty had fled, his cold smile still in place. "We've been hunting that Bloodkiss for over a month; this was the closest we've ever gotten.
"The Three Sovereigns Sword Sect must be really something. You crash in out of nowhere and snatch it right from under us. For righteous cultivators, you've got highway robbery down better than most demonic sects."
"Junior Brother Hundred Ghosts!"
Ming Li gave a dry cough, cutting Li Xun off before he could say more. The timing was just right; any further and things might've gotten out of hand.
With a pleasant smile, she turned to Hu Buli. "Please don't take offense, Brother Hu. Our junior here just joined the sect not long ago, and the sword he spent a month refining was eaten by that beast. He's a little… on edge."
His words sounded conciliatory on the surface, but the sarcasm underneath was clear. And she wasn't exactly wrong; there had been seven or eight people chasing after Kitty earlier, so from an outsider's point of view, it really did look like the Three Sovereigns Sword Sect had jumped in halfway and stolen their kill.
Hu Buli considered it from their angle and found himself with nothing much to say.
That's when the woman Ming Li had called Luo Yujie finally spoke. Until now, she'd been quietly sizing them up with sideways glances without a word. When she finally opened her mouth, her tone was blunt: "If you were in the right, then why run off the moment you saw us? And what's with using that ghost creature to spy?"
"Watch your damn—" Li Xun flared up, about to explode. But before he could finish, Ming Li cut him off again.
While silently applauding Li Xun's excellent acting, Ming Li's face went cold. Ignoring the bratty girl's attitude entirely, he looked straight at Hu Buli, "Brother Hu, my junior's words may be sharp, but everything he said makes sense. If Miss Luo chooses to take our courtesy toward your sect, and our caution regarding the relationship between our two sects, as some kind of underhanded trick... that's not going to look great in front of our elders on either side, is it?"
With that single statement, Ming Li smoothly swept away their earlier use of ghost spirit to scout and their sudden escape, flipping the situation to seize the moral upper hand. Still, inwardly, he wasn't relaxed.
According to their sect's intel, Hu Buli's Thunderwrath Heaven Shift sword technique had reached near-perfection. Ming Li knew he couldn't take him on alone; even with You Wusheng helping, it'd be a tough fight. As for the other four members of the Three Sovereigns Sword, the Hundred Ghosts Sect had no way to deal with them. And being on someone else's turf? If things went south, they could be surrounded in an instant. It'd be utter humiliation.
While Ming Li was calculating risks, Li Xun was also running the numbers in his head: What if the Three Sovereigns Sword really do decide to kill us? He could summon his two Nethermyst puppets, but that meant he'd have to wipe out everyone here, including Ming Li and You Wusheng, within ten breaths, then escape a thousand miles away. That was not going to be easy.
Everyone had their own plans. Well...almost everyone. Luo Yujie wasn't one to bother with schemes and strategies. She jumped in again before Hu Buli could speak.
"All this talk is just your version of the story. Who knows if it's even true? Maybe that Bloodkiss was something you raised yourselves, just to mess with us."
The three from the Hundred Ghosts Sect broke into a cold sweat, though they didn't show it.
Li Xun threw his head back and laughed. "Wow, Miss Luo really is clever! You caught us! That Bloodkiss is totally ours; we even named it Kitty. What now? You gonna bite me?"
Luo Yujie's face turned green with fury. With a loud metallic ring, she drew her sword, ready to strike.
Li Xun didn't back down either. He cracked his knuckles and stepped forward like he was just waiting for a fight. Of course, neither of them was actually going to attack. Ming Li grabbed him on one side while Hu Buli held Luo Yujie back on the other. The scene looked chaotic from a distance, but there was still a safe gap between both parties. No sparks were going to fly just yet.
After a bit of back-and-forth with no real outcome, both sides started to lose steam. Everyone began thinking about how to wrap things up without losing face. Just then, a flash of red light streaked across the sky in the distance. Li Xun jolted like he'd been struck by lightning and shouted, "This bastard! It just flew off again!"
He made to rush off, but Ming Li grabbed his arm and said calmly, "It's fine. It won't get far…"
He turned to Hu Buli and added, "Well, I guess this counts as proper notice. The three of us are going after that Bloodkiss, but we won't go deep into the Chicheng Mountain. Give us twenty days. Fair?"
Hu Buli didn't hesitate. "Ten." His voice was cold.
Ming Li thought for a second, then nodded in agreement. Without wasting another word, the three of them shot off on their flying swords and were gone in a flash.
Once they were several dozen miles out, the trio broke into quiet laughter. Ming Li gave Li Xun a thumbs-up. "Brilliant move, junior brother. Thanks to you, we don't have to sneak around anymore. We can head straight to Longhuan Mountain, loud and proud."
"Of course, your Kitty better know where it's going."
Li Xun laughed along, but his face soon turned serious. "Hu Buli's not that easy to fool. He's playing it cool now, but I'd bet anything the Three Sovereigns Sword will be watching our every move over the next few days. If we're going to find the treasure, it's not going to be smooth sailing."
"Eh, that part's easy," Ming Li said cheerfully. he spun his finger in the air like he was stirring soup. "Just have Kitty take a few extra laps around Longhuan Mountain. Let it stay longer in a few hidden spots… we'll make it work."
Li Xun laughed out loud at that, though inside, he was already planning ahead. If we do find the treasure, there's bound to be a chase. I'd better have Nether One and Nether Two ready… and if it comes down to it, well, a little backstabbing never hurt anyone.
Sensing the danger had passed, Kitty didn't fly straight back. Instead, it reached out to Li Xun with a flicker of spiritual connection. A brief exchange was all it took for it to understand what had happened.
This natural-born spirit beast was frighteningly clever. Without waiting for a command, it let out a chirp and flew straight toward Longhuan Mountain.
Li Xun and the other two laughed together. Then, with a shout, they took off in pursuit.
Now that they could fly openly, their speed was leagues faster than before. What had taken them half a day earlier, over a thousand li, they now covered in just a couple of hours.
Up ahead, Kitty gave another sharp cry before darting straight into the forested mountains.
The trio dimmed their sword light and skimmed low over the treetops for a while until Li Xun called for a halt. Only then did the three cultivators and the one beast beast come to a coordinated stop.
"Junior Brother Hundred Ghosts, did you find something?" Ming Li asked, glancing off into the distance. He frowned. They were still a good distance from where the intelligence said the location was.
Li Xun had Kitty circle the area—partly as a distraction, partly as a guard. Meanwhile, he stood silently, brows furrowed as he studied the surrounding trees, saying nothing for a long time.
Ming Li gauged the distance to their destination and couldn't help drawing in a sharp breath. "Still seventy to eighty li out… If this really is a restrictive formation from the Mystic Cycle Sect, then their reputation is well-earned. At this scale, step-by-step decryption could take until the next lifetime!"
"I don't know if it's Mystic Cycle Sect's," Li Xun said, eyes still scanning the forest, "but let me ask you this. Senior Brother Ming Li, are we sure the intelligence our sect received was exclusive?"
"What?"
Ming Li frowned. But before he could say more, Li Xun landed silently to the ground.
His toes barely touched the ground, when he suddenly sprang up again. Mid-air, his palms opened and closed: his true breath moved then stilled. In that split second, he had identified and neutralized 24 displaced qi mechanisms, diffusing the pressure from an imminent formation trigger before it could activate.
Only then did he gesture for the other two to land.
Although his technique had been extremely skillful just now, at this moment, none of the three were smiling.
Li Xun parted the underbrush and waved the others over. "Look at this; these markings are still fresh. Definitely not some leftover from years ago. And this restriction is strange. It doesn't seem to manipulate primordial qi like most formations do. It's more… mechanical device."
Whenever he stumbled upon something that piqued his curiosity, Li Xun would forget the world. This was a type of restrictive formation he'd never seen before. Not especially complex, but certainly intriguing.
Ignoring whatever calculations Ming Li and You Wusheng might be making, Li Xun did one mental arithmetic and then began tracing the restriction markings all the way along.
Each sect had their own approach to formation crafting, and their restrictions naturally varied. Although Li Xun had studied from numerous traditions and had the innate talent to blend them into a unique understanding of his own, encountering something this unfamiliar still tripped him up. More than once, he nearly triggered a backlash.
While Li Xun immersed himself in the challenge, Ming Li and You Wusheng behind him were tense with every step, never sure if disaster might strike.
"Fascinating," Li Xun finally said as he straightened up after nearly half a li of careful progress. "This isn't just formation art; it's got traces of mechanical art.
"The way the qi mechanisms flow\... there's no connection to the primordial qi of heaven and earth. Instead, they act like triggers, alarms, guides, transformations. No inherent lethality… but if this were paired with some nasty tools, like a few Reverse Surge Blood-Dissolving Needles…"
Ming Li couldn't help but laugh bitterly. "Junior Brother Hundred Ghosts, could you not joke about that? You think Reverse Surge Blood-Dissolving Needles are fun toys? If ten or so of those things went off, I'm not sure we'd survive."
As he said that, something clicked in his memory. "Wait… I've heard of restrictions like this somewhere." He turned to You Wusheng. "What do you think?"
You Wusheng frowned and nodded slowly. "Must be from one of the great Mechanism Sects."
Just then, up ahead, Li Xun raised a hand, signaling silence. He crouched low and gently brushed aside a tangle of shrubs. Then his body stiffened. He turned and beckoned urgently. "Seniors… do you recognize this?"
He stepped aside to let them see what had been hidden beneath the foliage.
It was a small, exquisitely crafted hook. Like something used to hang a bed canopy. No larger than a palm, it had a sleek, flowing curve and was lacquered in a brilliant crimson. At first glance, it looked like a tiny red crescent moon.
But the hook wasn't resting on anything; it hovered mid-air, slowly spinning in place.
Both its inner and outer arcs shimmered with a sharp, cold glint. As it spun, the crimson gleam reflected off the metal in a hypnotic, dangerous swirl. Both dazzling and deeply unsettling.
Ming Li and You Wusheng held their breath at the same time.
"The Little Scarlet Hook!"