An Old Friend

Memories of the past were stirred, and Qin Sang's figure came to a slight halt. Zangqing and Jingyu stopped alongside him. Following Qin Sang's gaze, Zangqing saw a Core Formation cultivator from the Xiaohan Realm fiercely locked in combat, wielding a precious saber against an opponent. A flicker of recognition crossed his face. "Fellow Daoist, do you know him?" Qin Sang turned his head, astutely catching the shift in Zangqing's expression. "Could you have some past ties with this lad, Fellow Daoist Qin?" Zangqing asked in mild surprise. "I have a slight impression of him. His saber arts aren't half bad, and he has a bit of a reputation among rogue cultivators. Fellow Daoist Huangfu of the Yin Slaughter Sect saw potential in him and originally wanted to recruit him, but the lad didn't appreciate the favor, stating flat out that the Yin Slaughter Sect's heritage ran completely contrary to his Dao. Fortunately, Fellow Daoist Huangfu values talent and didn't make things difficult for him." A thought crossed Qin Sang's mind as he recalled the Fellow Daoist Huangfu mentioned by Zangqing. He was the current sect master of the Yin Slaughter Sect, one of the Core Formation cultivators of this generation most likely to break through to the Nascent Soul stage. It was said that even Gongliang Yu's cultivation fell slightly short of his. The Yin Slaughter Sect walked the line between orthodox and demonic, regarding itself as an unorthodox school. It had once amassed power rivaling both paths, establishing a tripartite balance. Though it later declined, signs of revival had appeared in recent years, and its current sect master maintained close ties with the demonic path. Cultivators of the Yin Slaughter Sect were all saber practitioners, possessing two great legacies: the Yin Slaughter Saber and the Cicada Wing Saber Technique. "Still a rogue cultivator?" Qin Sang looked down and pondered for a moment. "You two go on ahead. I'll catch up shortly." *** Down on the battlefield, both sides were seeing red. *Clang!* Cleaving aside a fiery-red spear thrusting toward him, Shangguan Lifeng drew several ragged breaths. He cast his eyes around the surroundings, his heart inevitably sinking. This army of the Sin Abyss shouldn't have appeared here at all, descending as if out of thin air like heavenly soldiers. The Two Domains Alliance had never imagined that the Sin Abyss, seemingly in full retreat, would have forces daring enough to infiltrate this deep and lay an ambush. Completely unaware, they had plunged headfirst into the trap prepared by their foes. The moment the battle erupted, their formation was shattered, leaving them to fight scattered and alone. Though their overall strength surpassed that of the Sin Abyss, the current situation was heavily stacked against them. In the distance, dark clouds clustered thick in the sky, and thunder and fire fell like rain in a staggering display of power. That was the Nascent Soul battlefield. The Nascent Soul Patriarchs of both sides were locked in fierce combat, their figures completely hidden, with no telling when the outcome would be decided. *The Sin Abyss waited at leisure and prepared in advance. I fear our Nascent Soul Patriarchs won't be able to secure victory anytime soon. If this goes on, our defeat is a foregone conclusion. Finding an escape route is the wisest course...* The moment this thought flashed through Shangguan Lifeng's mind, he felt a faint prickling pain between his brows as his opponent's fiery-red spear came thrusting again. He hastily cast aside all stray thoughts and formed a saber incantation. His precious blade let out a sharp hum, followed by a sudden, terrifying eruption of blood-fiend killing aura! His opponent, a red-robed youth, was shaken to the core by this surge of blood-fiend aura, an involuntary trace of dread welling up inside him. Horrified, he scrambled to steady his mind. *Swish!* The saber once again parried the fiery-red spear. At that exact instant, a faint ripple spread across the empty air behind Shangguan Lifeng. A transparent, ice-like needle of a sword, no thicker than a finger, silently surfaced and thrust viciously toward his back. Someone had chosen this exact moment of fierce combat to mount a sneak attack. In the face of imminent peril, not a single ripple disturbed Shangguan Lifeng's expression. Paying no heed whatsoever to the concealed sword, he suddenly sprang toward his precious blade, gripped the hilt tightly, and lunged straight toward his opponent. Unity of Man and Saber! At this moment, both Shangguan Lifeng and his blade vanished. All that remained was a scarlet saber ray several tens of zhang long, swift as lightning, appearing above the red-robed youth's head in the blink of an eye and cleaving straight down! The cultivators battling nearby sensed the disturbance and turned to look in shock. "Save me!" His face pale as ash, the red-robed youth shrieked in terror. Seeing this, the cultivator controlling the small sword from the shadows cursed under his breath, *Mad dog!* Shangguan Lifeng was ignoring the sword at his back entirely, fighting with sheer suicidal ferocity. Even if the sneak attack killed him, the red-robed youth would undoubtedly perish beneath his blade. Unable to stand by and watch his companion die, the assailant had no choice but to reveal himself to make the save. *Boom!* The saber ray was brought to a halt. Having narrowly escaped death, the red-robed youth remained thoroughly rattled. Humiliation and rage welled up within him, and with a furious roar, he joined his companion in besieging Shangguan Lifeng. Shangguan Lifeng abandoned his earlier reckless momentum, fighting while falling back, but pressed hard by the two of them, he was clearly outmatched. Right then, without any of the three noticing, the faint shadow of a sword materialized out of thin air beside them. Only then did they realize that the surrounding space had somehow grown dim. The opponent before them vanished, and it felt as though they had been dragged into an unknown expanse. The bizarre phenomenon left Shangguan Lifeng secretly unnerved. He swiftly drew his blade back into a defensive guard, yet strangely, he felt no harm come to him. Immediately after, two bloodcurdling screams rang out. The darkness ebbed like a tide, and his sight returned. It was then that he discovered, to his utter shock, that both of his opponents lay dead. Their bodies and magic treasures were entirely intact with no visible external wounds, yet not a shred of life remained in them. They had turned into cold corpses. Such ghostly, terrifying methods made Shangguan Lifeng draw a sharp breath of cold air. The two had died with their eyes wide open, staring emptily up at the sky, sending an involuntary shiver down Shangguan Lifeng's spine. *Whoosh!* The ebony sword transformed into a streak of sword light and flew back. A trace of hesitation crossed Shangguan Lifeng's face before he hastily flew after it. He watched the sword alight before a figure and sink smoothly into the man's body. "Junior Shangguan Lifeng offers his gratitude to Senior for your lifesaving aid!" Shangguan Lifeng hurried forward to offer a bow of utmost respect, keeping his head lowered and not daring to look too closely. A soft sigh drifted down to him. "Does Fellow Daoist Shangguan no longer remember an old friend?" Shangguan Lifeng, who had been lost in speculation over why a Nascent Soul senior would specifically step in to save him, froze at the words. He jerked his head up, his expression a mix of shock and doubt. "Senior, you are..." "This poor Daoist is Qingfeng. Have you been well, Fellow Daoist?" Qin Sang asked with a faint smile. This man had been an acquaintance he met long ago while searching for spirit herbs alongside Yunyouzi, and they had once joined forces to slay an enemy. Since that parting, this was their first reunion in two hundred years. He still remembered that Yunyouzi had held Shangguan Lifeng in high regard back then. The elder's judgment of character had indeed been spot-on; the man had achieved the Core Formation stage. Though only at the early Core Formation stage, for a rogue cultivator, that was already an extraordinary feat. Even more remarkable was that Shangguan Lifeng's saber technique held a faint trace of the killing sword's flavor from the Essence Cultivation Sword Chapter. Before they had parted back then, Shangguan Lifeng had not hesitated to give up a thousand-year spirit herb just to ask Qin Sang to demonstrate his sword technique. He had truly managed to grasp something of his own from it, which had now blossomed into considerable form. "Daoist Priest Qingfeng!" Shangguan Lifeng cried out in sheer disbelief, his face filled with shock. The sword demonstration Qin Sang had given him all those years ago had deeply shaped his path ever since; how could he possibly forget? Two hundred years ago, both of them had only been in the Foundation Establishment stage. Shangguan Lifeng had undergone a lifetime of bitter cultivation and arduous pursuit, struggling past the age of two hundred before finally seizing a sliver of opportunity to achieve Core Formation with great difficulty. Relying on his exquisite saber arts, he had made a name for himself and stood out among peers of his level. Yet meeting again now, his old friend was already a Nascent Soul! A Nascent Soul Patriarch under three hundred years old!