Ambush

The door stood wide open, and a draft drifted out from within. What met the eye was an ink-wash screen dividing the main hall from the outer room. Staring at the delicately painted ink-wash screen for several breaths, Tang Ruofu suddenly raised a hand and gently stroked its material with the back of his fingers, murmuring softly, "It seems those two truly intended to settle down in these parts for good. They even went out of their way to capture a Thousand-Handed Ghost Spider to spin silk and weave fabric." Xia Qing also studied it for a few breaths before offering a gentle appraisal of Tianyan's painting: "The girl's attainments in the Dao of painting are quite commendable." "What if the man painted it?" "A man's brushstrokes wouldn't be so delicate and refined." "You certainly know plenty about such refined arts." As they spoke, the two skirted the screen and entered the main hall. Yet the moment he stepped inside, Tang Ruofu's nose twitched slightly, and he abruptly halted in his tracks. Seeing his reaction, Xia Qing, who was following behind him, immediately went on high alert. Her intent-soul surged outward, enveloping the entire pavilion in an instant. Sensing nothing amiss, she asked with a trace of doubt, "Ruofu, what is it?" "Don't be nervous. I was merely a little surprised just now," Tang Ruofu chuckled nonchalantly, pointing toward an incense burner in the corner of the main hall that was sending up wisps of green smoke. He chuckled softly. "Yin lingzhi—a medicinal herb that grows in the ghost mist and nourishes the soul. Lucky for them to find such a rarity." "..." Hearing this, Xia Qing slightly narrowed her eyes. Stepping forward, she arrived before the incense burner in an instant. She reached out, removed the lid, and cast her gaze down, remarking thoughtfully, "The incense ash in the burner has only burned halfway down. Those two must have left a little over half a day ago." "Half a day, is it?" Tang Ruofu drifted down behind Xia Qing, lightly stroking her smooth, long hair. "Your mind is as meticulous as ever, girl." "It's just that you're far too lax yourself." Xia Qing shot a reproachful glare at the man behind her. "A half-day head start at the Origin Realm... the two of us will probably need only about a day to catch up. But delays invite complications. A Holy Venerable from the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion is roaming nearby. If he runs into us, our schemes will come to nothing." At this point, she glanced at the waterskin-like artifact in his hand and asked solemnly, "Ruofu, there won't be any mistakes with your artifact, right?" Tang Ruofu shrugged helplessly. "We've been Dao companions for decades. Do you truly have so little faith in the way I handle things?" Xia Qing immediately glared at him. "Precisely because I know your indolent temperament all too well, I can't be at ease! All those fine messes you made before—wasn't it always me cleaning up after you?" "Uh..." Stunned by the retort, Tang Ruofu muttered sheepishly, "This item is called the Qi-Absorbing Spirit-Converting Pouch. It can convert the Source Qi in the air into spiritual liquid for cultivators to drink." As he spoke, he casually removed the stopper from the waterskin. "At first, I thought this thing was a useless oddity. After all, spiritual liquid is no longer of much benefit to my current cultivation level. But six years ago, when I destroyed an enemy's cave dwelling, I discovered that this treasure wasn't so simple. If it absorbs an abundance of a specific cultivator's qi alone, drinking the resulting spiritual liquid allows one to visually track the aura that person left behind in the air." The moment his words fell, the atmosphere inside the pavilion abruptly tightened. With Tang Ruofu as the center, a wave of Source Qi began to surge within the room. Countless wisps of qi poured along his fingertips into the waterskin artifact. Upon reaching a certain threshold, a sudden suction burst from the pouch, sweeping over the entire pavilion. Gales howled, setting the curtains fluttering wildly. Yet it lasted only a brief instant before everything returned to tranquility. A flicker of hesitation appeared in Xia Qing's beautiful eyes as she asked softly, "That's enough?" Tang Ruofu gently shook the waterskin, and the sloshing sound of liquid echoed from within. He replied with a smile, "Of course." With that, he raised the pouch, took a swig of the spiritual liquid, and passed it to Xia Qing. Taking it naturally, Xia Qing drained it in a single gulp, wiped her mouth with gentle grace, and asked, "How long until it takes effect?" Tang Ruofu pointed toward the pavilion door and chuckled in a low voice, "Right away." Xia Qing blinked in mild surprise and looked back, only to find that her vision had already changed. Within the air where white mist had previously drifted, flecks of golden light and streaks of blood-colored Source Qi had now appeared. In the pale haze, these two colors stood out vividly, extending outward all the way to the edge of her sight. "Is this... their qi?" "What else could it be?" Tang Ruofu replied with a grin, patting Xia Qing on the head. "We should get going. There isn't much residual Source Qi in this room, so the time we have to 'glimpse spirits' is likely only a day or two. We must make haste." Looking at the man beside her, Xia Qing's eyes curved into a gentle smile. "Mm, then let's—" Before she could finish, Xia Qing's expression abruptly froze, and she whipped her head toward the opposite shore of the lake outside the pavilion. Tang Ruofu reacted even faster. In a flash, his figure had already vanished from the pavilion. And in the very next instant— *Boom!* Accompanied by an earth-shattering tremor, a violent roar abruptly erupted across the lake! Sensing the ferocious surges of Source Qi outside, a trace of confusion surfaced in Xia Qing's eyes. *This qi belongs to those two juniors...* *They actually came back?* *Why?* The return of Jinghe and Tianyan brought Xia Qing not the slightest delight. On the contrary, baffling confusion and deep unease instantly seized her heart. In that single instant, thousands of thoughts raced through her mind. For Jinghe and Tianyan to survive seven years under pursuit by the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion and Taiqing Dao Palace—the two mightiest factions of this era—their methods and intellect had to be among the finest in the world, to say nothing of their strength. She did not believe two such individuals would choose to stay and face them in a head-on clash. Even without Tang Ruofu, her own Transcendent Realm cultivation was not something those two could match in combat. When things were out of the ordinary, there had to be treachery afoot. Rather than sheer recklessness, Xia Qing felt they must have something to rely on. *What could it be...* Even as she pondered, Xia Qing's body did not hesitate for a second. Following closely behind Tang Ruofu, she charged out of the pavilion. And in that instant, she beheld the scene outside. Several massive craters had been gouged into the ground. The several Yaoyue Sect elders who had been standing guard outside were now in sorry states, some with blood trickling from the corners of their mouths, some with torn robes, and others scorched black. Above them, a black-robed young girl hovered in midair, gazing downward, her golden pupils blazing with divine radiance like the rising sun. Yet none of that mattered. What truly mattered was that Tang Ruofu—the renowned Sword Madman, a man on the cusp of becoming a Semi-Saint—had also been defeated in a single instant. A young noble in splendid robes with unfastened long hair had appeared out of nowhere beside Tang Ruofu. A three-foot blade drew a sword trail infused with blood and ink across the air, leaving behind a brilliant flurry of cherry blossoms. Tang Ruofu had simply watched the attack close in as though stunned silly. Before his blade could even be unsheathed, his chest was struck clean through in a single blow by that Origin Realm kid, turning into a blurred afterimage that hurtled backward and crashed into the tranquil lake, kicking up monstrous waves! "Ruofu!" The scene before her left Xia Qing bewildered, but more than that, it drove her sense of danger to its absolute peak. And so, the instant she stepped out of the pavilion, a guqin materialized out of thin air beside her, and all surrounding light abruptly plunged into darkness. Looking down from the sky, a sphere a hundred zhang in diameter had abruptly surged up within the mist-shrouded forest! Inside it, every sound vanished without a trace, and all light was swallowed by the dark. Bellsound Black Domain.