"Are you all right, Your Highness?"
A grave voice issued from beneath the enclosed iron armor. Huron lowered Orenli in his arms, his tone tinged with guilt as he looked at the wounds on her neck and face. "Do you require me to use a sacred art to heal you?"
"I'm fine. He held back."
Orenli smiled faintly and patted Huron's heavy shoulder, signaling him to set her down, gazing toward the two brothers conversing via voice transmission in the distance. "After all, it seems he intends to use me as a trial for his brother."
Standing once more atop the surface of the flooded field, her amethyst boots stirring gentle ripples on the water, Orenli fixed her eyes on the green-robed man not far away and asked softly,
"Sedis, did you use your full strength just now?"
"..."
Huron fell silent for a moment at the question. Offering no excuses, he simply murmured in a low voice,
"Your subordinate is incompetent."
That green-robed Great Yan man was formidable—so formidable that Huron knew with certainty he was no match for him in a direct confrontation.
Yet the man had chosen to desecrate the duel, dishonoring an opponent from an opposing faction by suppressing his cultivation to battle him.
As a knight, Huron felt he should have been indignant, that he should have called out such desecration. But concern for his sovereign's safety had made him suppress that urge; in fact, a shameful surge of relief had even welled up in his heart.
Because that had been the only possible chance Huron had to overcome that green-robed Great Yan man.
He needed to create an opening while the opponent suppressed his cultivation, and then unleash a lethal strike to gravely wound or even kill him.
The result, however, was failure.
Before he could create that opportunity, the man had already reached the sovereign he was sworn to protect, insolently humiliating her—the Third Princess of the Empire.
And once duty had been breached, any explanation was nothing more than an excuse for his own incompetence.
Orenli glanced sideways at her guardian knight. Raising a jade hand, her slender, fair fingertips lightly brushed against her swollen, stinging cheek as she said nonchalantly,
"Do not blame yourself. At equivalent strength, the only person I have ever seen capable of reaching such heights is that monster of a crown prince. Your failure comes as no surprise to me."
"..."
Her words cut like knives. Spurred by shame, Huron's grip tightened around the hilt of his five-foot-long sword. Amid the rasp of heavy metal scraping, his voice took on a solemn weight:
"Your Highness, please flee at once. I will hold both of them off with my life."
"Flee?"
Orenli turned her slender frame slightly, resting a delicate index finger against Huron's breastplate. Her crimson lips curled into a smile like a blood rose in a winter night. "Why should I flee?"
For the first time, urgency seeped into Huron's normally calm, steady voice:
"Your Highness, the situation is dire. Please do not act on impulse—"
"Quiet."
The light in Orenli's smiling azure eyes turned eerily cold.
"Sedis, since he wants to use me as a whetstone for his brother, he must bear the consequences of such confidence.
"By whatever means necessary, buy me fifteen minutes against him, all right?"
"..."
Silver-white snowy radiance bathed the boundless ridges of the fields in profound silence.
The blade in Huron's hand dipped slightly, its tip touching the surface of the flooded field and stirring faint ripples. Placing his right hand over his chest, he gave a knight's salute:
"Where your heart directs, my sword follows, Your Highness."
"I take it you're done conferring?"
Xu Yuan's warm, smiling voice carried over at just the right moment. "To remain unflustered even now—I suppose I can acknowledge the dignity of your Sien imperial family. How about this: after you're captured, as long as you're willing to volunteer the information we want, I can promise to grant you some decency."
Orenli turned her gaze back. With her back to the moonlight, her azure eyes seemed as deep as an abyss.
"Young Master Changtian, eavesdropping on a lady's private whisperings is hardly the conduct of a gentleman."
Dragging the willow ghost blade through the water, Xu Yuan treaded across the flooded field, smiling as he walked.
"Did I ever claim to be a gentleman? Besides, I imagine whatever intelligence you gathered must include my reputation in Great Yan, doesn't it?"
Hearing this, Orenli lowered her head with a chuckle.
"True enough. A scoundrel naturally cannot be a gentleman...
"Sedis!"
*Bang!*
As soon as the words left her mouth, a massive spray of water erupted behind Orenli, and the tower-like knight standing behind her vanished into thin air.
Xu Yuan made no superfluous movements, continuing forward at an unhurried pace.
Since Xu Changge had said he was leaving this princess from Sien to him, he would not allow anyone else to interfere.
And just as he expected,
no sooner had Huron vanished than a thunderous roar detonated between Xu Yuan and Orenli.
The moment Huron lunged toward Xu Yuan, Xu Changge appeared directly across his path in a flash.
With the suppression on his cultivation lifted, their second clash was an utter reversal.
Holding the sheathed Mingyuan Sword, Xu Changge deflected Huron's mountain-heavy strike with the hilt. The force was diverted into the earth, instantly blasting a pit several fathoms deep into the flooded field and causing Huron to pitch forward, thrown momentarily off balance.
For experts at the level of Xu Changge and Huron, such a fleeting opening was more than lethal.
Yet Xu Changge did not use his sword; he chose his leg once again.
A lightning-fast whip kick lashed out, striking Huron right against the iron armor protecting his neck!
*Boom!*
Gale-force winds whipped up Xu Yuan's unbound hair and ruffled Orenli's star-spangled purple gown.
When the dust settled at the epicenter of the collision, Xu Yuan witnessed a scene that caught him somewhat by surprise.
This time, Huron was not sent flying by Xu Changge's kick as he had been upon their first encounter.
The muddy water swept away by the blast gurgled softly as it flowed back into the shattered crater.
At the center of the pit, both men still stood.
Xu Changge's leg remained pressed against the side of Huron's neck, a hint of contemplation in his narrow eyes as he looked down at the burly armored warrior nearly brought to his knees.
His neck crooked, his banyan-tall frame bent forward from the sheer impact, legs slightly bent and armored gauntlet braced against the ground, Huron was still standing.
After a moment of silence, a faint fluorescent glow began to shimmer across Huron's heavy iron armor.
Following several breaths of stillness,
Huron slowly moved. Supporting the weight of Xu Changge's calf against his neck, his bent, burly frame rose bit by bit.
Their contest of raw force caused the surrounding air to tremble; silent power forced the muddy water trickling back into the pit to reverse its course and flow uphill against the slope.
Watching this scene, Xu Yuan figured this was likely the luminous barrier Li Junqing had mentioned earlier—the one capable of standing firm even against a Grandmaster's lethal Dao charm strike.
With that thought, Xu Yuan did not pause his stride, continuing toward Orenli.
He wanted to see how his eldest brother would handle this.
After boldly proclaiming that his third brother should duel Orenli one-on-one, surely he wouldn't fail at merely clearing the field, right?
If that happened, all the aura and posturing he had built up would turn into a total joke.
At the thought, a sly, wicked grin crept onto Xu Yuan's lips.
Truth be told, he really did want to see his pretentious elder brother get humbled for once.
Unfortunately, Xu Yuan's anticipation was dashed almost immediately.
Xu Changge looked down at the burly man, his voice mild:
"A fine technique, with much merit. However..."
"..."
Huron paid him no heed. An impassive gaze projected from behind the visor of his helmet as he silently reached to grab the ankle pressed against his neck.
"...it is not enough."
As the words fell, Xu Yuan—who had been observing the surroundings with his spiritual vision—suddenly shuddered. His hand gripping the willow ghost blade trembled from an inexplicable dread that welled up inside him.
It was a familiar case of PTSD.
And after a moment's thought, Xu Yuan realized where this familiarity came from.
His maternal uncle, the Sword Saint Feng Jiuxuan.
Xu Changge was currently emanating a qi dynamic similar to Feng Jiuxuan's—the very dynamic he had released on the day he gave Xu Yuan a thorough beating.
Huron, situated at the center of that qi dynamic, seemed to sense something as well; his pupils contracted sharply.
In the next instant,
*Hum—*
A resounding sword hum tore through the silent firmament.
Prime Minister's Manor, northwest, top floor of the Sword Pavilion.
The spacious chamber appeared rather empty at a glance, devoid of decoration and furnishings. Instead, sword scores of every variety crisscrossed the floor and walls.
At the very center of these sword scars, a middle-aged man in pristine white robes sat cross-legged with his eyes closed.
Suddenly, the silence within the chamber was shattered. Without warning, a fresh sword slash manifested on the stone wall before the man.
Slowly opening his eyes, Feng Jiuxuan glanced toward the inner courtyard and furrowed his brows.
"Changtian went out, and Changge isn't in the manor either?"
Muttering softly under his breath, Feng Jiuxuan pushed himself up and walked over to the chamber's only window, a smile touching his lips.
"Walking his own Sword Dao, yet he still has the leeway to cultivate what I taught him back then to such a degree... But what is Changge up to tonight?
"Xu Yinhe has been busy with other matters lately. For Changge to use it outside Di'an City, it must have something to do with that Changtian kid."
Talking to himself, Feng Jiuxuan turned his gaze toward a distant direction.
"Hmm... that troublesome brat. Should I head over and take a look?"
Watching Xu Changge set his Cloud-Treading Boot back onto the ground, Xu Yuan swallowed hard as he stared at the sword slash that stretched from beneath his brother's foot all the way to the edge of the horizon.
Muddy water rushed into the chasm of the sword gouge with a splashing murmur, surrounded by eerie quiet.
In that instant of wrestling just now, Xu Changge's downward-striking leg seemed to have transformed into a sword, cleaving the entire field in two.
Standing alone in the crater,
Xu Changge glanced back at Xu Yuan's solemn face and smiled gently.
"Changtian, any thoughts?"
Xu Yuan licked his lips and chuckled softly.
"Well... I'm thinking your sword technique is terrifyingly strong, Big Brother."
"No, you must be wondering whether you could defeat me if we were at the same cultivation level."
Xu Changge seemed to see right through Xu Yuan's thoughts. Shaking his head lightly, he said in a low voice,
"This is Uncle's sword—the purest sword. If you wish to learn, I can have Uncle teach you."
With that,
Xu Changge turned his gaze toward Orenli and Huron standing not far away and said,
"You should know what I intend to do. I hope you will cooperate. This is my final warning."
His voice was quiet, yet brooked no defiance.
A stifling silence spread between the two Sien emissaries.
Huron stood beside Orenli, his helmeted head bowed low.
"My apologies, Your Highness. Had you not pulled me away with a spatial magic ring, I would likely already be dead."
Orenli stood atop the water. Above her upturned palm hovered an ink-black, intricate formation diagram glimmering with an abyss-like sheen.
After staring at Xu Changge for several breaths, she slowly turned her eyes toward her guardian knight, all emotion drained from her azure irises.
"Sedis, use that right away. Otherwise, you won't even last a minute against him."
"Understood."
Without the slightest hesitation, Huron gave a soft assent. "This incompetent one is willing to atone to you with his life."
Hearing this, Orenli stopped looking at Huron. Fixing her gaze on Xu Changge, she sighed softly and chuckled helplessly:
"For Young Master Changge to be this powerful, I suppose there is truly no room for refusal. However, I wonder if your brother is as formidable as you?"
"..."
Xu Changge didn't look at Orenli, nor did he answer her question. Sweeping his gaze over the armored warrior, he leapt into the air and vanished from the spot.
Seeing this, Huron showed no intention of ambushing Xu Yuan in Xu Changge's absence. Stamping the ground, he bolted at full speed in the direction Xu Changge had gone.
The sword gouge remained. Across the open field, aside from the wind, there was only the soft, trickling murmur of water.
Orenli let out a gentle sigh and rubbed the bridge of her nose, complaining to Xu Yuan:
"Young Master Changtian, your elder brother's temper is truly wretched. Is there really no one in Great Yan who can put him in his place?"
Xu Yuan glanced in the direction Xu Changge had left and chuckled.
"You don't need to probe. I can tell you straight out: my brother is the strongest person of his generation."
"Is that so?"
Orenli chuckled softly at his words, gazing at the sword mark that split the fields as she remarked in a clear, reflective tone, "Truly formidable. I wonder who would prevail between him and that monster of a crown prince."
"The crown prince? The one you mentioned in your voice transmission earlier?" Xu Yuan asked with mild intrigue.
"Yes."
Orenli gave a soft assent, her slender figure floating into the air without the slightest fluctuation of qi dynamic. "The first in line of succession to the throne of our Sien Empire, a terrifying monster."
Xu Yuan stroked his chin as he began circulating the Blood Yuan Heart Calamity Art, smiling.
"Since he's the crown prince, he's your brother. Is it really appropriate to describe him as a monster?"
Orenli raised a delicate hand and swept it through the air before her. Magic rings of various hues began to coalesce in midair, their eerie glow reflecting off her cheeks and lending a bizarre cast to her gaze.
"If you ever have the chance to meet him, you will know whether my description is inaccurate."
Scarlet brilliance and golden light flickered in Xu Yuan's narrow eyes.
"If there's ever a chance, I'd like to meet him too—though I'd still bring Xu Changge along."
Orenli looked up at the moonlit sky and spread her hands wide, her intricate gown fluttering, an enigmatic look in her beautiful eyes.
"Is that so? I would also love to see which of those two monsters would win. Unfortunately, you won't have the chance. I will subdue you before he returns, and then take you with me."
Xu Yuan lowered his stance slightly, raising the blade of the willow ghost blade level.
"Oh? You're that confident you can defeat me?"
Moonlight cascaded like a waterfall. Thirteen glowing magic rings coalesced and hovered behind her, and Orenli, suspended in midair, looked like a deity.
She looked down at him from above:
"Because I am the strongest of my generation."
Hearing this, Xu Yuan smiled. With that smile, he uttered five words:
"What a coincidence. Me too."
Chapter 490