Charcoal in the Snow

Tang Ru's eyes burned brightly as he looked around. "To me, the Treasure Pavilion is nothing more than a cage." "I want to roam the Six Domains, living freely and settling scores as I please!" The old man said no more. Bowing respectfully, he vanished. After several breaths, Tang Ru picked up the jade slip and murmured, "Keeping your master alive and out of danger for a month is the utmost I can do." Setting down the jade slip, Li Guanqi whispered, "Thank you." *Whoosh! Rumble, rumble, rumble!!!* Jiuxiao's speed was as swift as lightning, his violent aura tearing through the pitch-black void. *Boom, boom!! Thud!! Clang, clang!!* The battle in the sky was exceptionally brutal. Cang Lu's methods as a zither cultivator were exceedingly difficult to deal with!! Even with Ling Daoyan joining the fray, the two sides remained locked in a stalemate. Suddenly! As if realizing something, Ling Daoyan fixed his tiger-like eyes firmly on Cang Lu's fingers. "The Six-Fingered Zither Demon!!!!" Hearing this, Cang Lu slowly raised his head with a sinister smirk, tilting his head as he looked toward Ling Daoyan. "Oh? To think someone in a petty Great Xia Sword Sect has heard of my name." "Hahahahaha! I'm done playing with you lot." With those words, the momentum of the zither music ringing in everyone's ears abruptly transformed!!! The originally rapid tempo turned chilling and murderous, like ten thousand thundering steeds marching to trample a foreign realm into dust!! As killing intent surged outward, boundless flames erupted beneath Ling Daoyan's feet, sweeping everyone else behind him in an instant! Standing alone with his sword in hand, his grip felt as if he were holding a mountain of immense weight, and the sky beneath his feet abruptly shattered!! "Flame Slash: Army Breaker!!" Cang Lu's expression tightened as an inexplicable sense of oppression weighed down upon him! Ling Daoyan's figure grew ever larger in his sight, like a heaven-propping giant wielding a colossal blade, slashing downward with shocking force! The terrifying force drove Cang Lu straight from the air, slamming him brutally against the bottom of the barrier!! *Bang!!!* Cang Lu's eyes filled with disbelief and shock. *Pfft!!* A mouthful of blood spewed from his lips; at least three ribs in his chest had snapped. A ruthless glint flashed in Cang Lu's eyes. He propped the ancient zither upright on his knee!! Turning sideways, he plucked the strings. Surges of immense power began to gather, waiting for the final moment to erupt. Under the sword momentum of Flame Slash, veins bulged along Ling Daoyan's right arm, and the entire limb swelled visibly. His blood-engorged arm suddenly burst into a mist of blood, dense droplets beading across his withered skin. This strike seemed imbued with the momentum to split the heavens!!! The barrier shattered, and the flaming sword light crashed down instantly!!! *Clang!! Twang, twang!!* Cang Lu roared, "Die for me!!!" *Snap, snap, snap!!!* Three strings on the five-stringed ancient zither snapped violently. A visible hundred-zhang shockwave blasted forth like a curved scimitar!! *Boom, boom, boom, boom!!!* Flames scorched the heavens, and the shrieking resonance tore painfully at the ears! Disciples across the sect instantly bled from their seven facial orifices and fainted. Even sealing their five senses with primal energy was entirely futile. *Rumble, rumble, rumble!!* The terrifying explosion turned the sky into a sea of fire. The sealing barrier maintained by the collective strength of the crowd shattered abruptly. Suddenly! An aged, furious roar rang out! "Traitor, do not think of fleeing!!" *Whoosh!!!* Amidst the chaotic storm in midair, a pitch-black rift split open. Soaked in blood and deathly pale, Cang Lu glanced toward the dust and smoke. With a cold snort, he turned and stepped into the void! Six consecutive beams of sword light shot forth in an instant!! Lu Kangnian roared, "Pursue him!!!" By now, Ling Daoyan's robes were in tatters, crisscrossed by wounds so deep that bone showed through. *Ugh! Cough, cough!!* The blood he coughed up was flecked with bits of shredded flesh. Looking down at his chest, tumultuous power was still running rampant. Blood trickled from both of his ears; his eardrums had long since ruptured. His arm was now a purplish-black. Leaning on his sword in midair, he forced himself to stay upright. Lu Kangnian turned back and caught sight of this. Knowing that Cang Lu had already used a secret technique to escape, he could only let out an angry snort and abandon the chase. Turning around, he hurried to Ling Daoyan's side. "Elder Ling, are you all right?" The old man's chest heaved violently. Raising a hand, he turned his head and said, "I'm fine. Go check on Old Li, quickly!" Lu Kangnian's throat bobbed as he forcefully swallowed down a mouthful of rebellious blood. In a flash, he arrived at the summit of Tianlei Peak. Looking at Li Nanting, heavily injured and near death, Lu Kangnian's eyes reddened. The palm he placed on the old man trembled slightly. He naturally felt the life force constantly draining from Li Nanting's body. Though Ling Daoyan had protected his meridians with spiritual liquid and the Spirit Fish Clan's thousand-year fish pearl kept him clinging to life, his golden core... Right now, the golden core inside Li Nanting was like a shattered stone forcefully pieced back together. Should even the tiniest crumb fall from it, the core would completely shatter. And the power released when the golden core broke would cause the old man's body to explode!! Even if the core held, the life force inside him was draining away at an alarming rate. In other words... Li Nanting was currently no different from a dead man. Beside them, the middle-aged woman held Li Nanting's cooling hand, looking at Lu Kangnian with vacant eyes. "Nanting... he'll be fine, won't he...?" Lu Kangnian opened his mouth, only to find himself unable to say a word. Yu Sui'an stood at the side blankly, tears streaming incessantly down her cheeks. Her hands fluttered in helpless distress, not even knowing where to rest. She turned toward the chaotic sky, her eyes full of yearning. "Little... Little Blindie... hurry back..." "Please, hurry back..." *Buzz!!!* Violent lightning abruptly flared within the turbulent currents of primal energy in the sky! *Crack!!!* A pitch-black rift a hundred zhang across suddenly tore open! *Roar!!!* A massive dragon nearly twenty zhang long bolted out!! In an instant, everyone went on high alert as if facing a mortal foe!! The terrifying dragon might of a rank five great demon weighed down so heavily that disciples could not even raise their heads. Ling Daoyan immediately looked up, sword raised!! Yet right after, he saw a youth radiating killing intent standing atop that enormous dragon head. "Guanqi..." Paying no mind to Jiuxiao, Li Guanqi teleported down to Tianlei Peak. Seeing the cooling, blood-soaked old man lying on the ground, Li Guanqi felt as if his heart were being twisted with blades. Especially when he sensed the condition inside the elder's body, his face darkened to a terrifying degree. Grasping the old man's cold hand, Li Guanqi asked in a raspy voice, "Cang Lu... where is he?" His face smeared with blood, Lu Kangnian answered softly, "He was heavily injured... and fled..." *Boom!!!!* Killing intent flared uncontrollably in Li Guanqi's eyes, only brought back under restraint after a long pause. Li Guanqi rose abruptly and tore space open with a wave of his hand. Surging with primal energy, he formed an ultra-short-range spatial transmission channel. *Whoosh!* An elder clad in black robes stepped out, silently took out a palm-sized jade bottle, and handed it to Li Guanqi. Bowing respectfully, he stepped back into the void, threw out a radiant cloud shuttle, and vanished. Holding the jade bottle, Li Guanqi felt its immense weight. Uncapping it, a tremendously potent aura of life force instantly permeated the air!! Ling Daoyan's eyes narrowed as he exclaimed, "Green Bamboo Jade Marrow—at least five thousand years old!!" Without the slightest hesitation, Li Guanqi fed the entire bottle of Green Bamboo Jade Marrow to the old man. The jade marrow circulated through his body, eventually pooling around his golden core. Instantly, the draining of the old man's life force slowed considerably. Yet everyone understood: Even a treasure this precious had only bought the elder an extra month of life... For a time, an oppressive silence settled over them all.