Secured

Guo Hongyao had only been chasing after him for the space of an incense stick, but Guo Hongkang was already growing anxious as he waited in place. His previously steady mood began to panic. He flew a li or two north, but feared schemes and ambushes, not daring to advance any further. “Perhaps Li Xijun has someone meeting him. Guo Hongyao can act fierce enough against Li Xijun, but if she ran into that Li Qinghong who cultivates thunder, how could she possibly be a match?” He felt that Guo Hongyao's life was at least not in danger. Although Guo Shentong had been missing for a long time, the east and west islands of Chijiao Island were estranged, and Guo Hongyao's branch had lost much of its standing, she was still of the direct lineage, so she should have plenty of life-saving measures. “I will wait a little longer. If there is still no word after half an hour... she has likely used some talisman to flee. I carry a precious treasure on me; I cannot just wait around here doing nothing.” Guo Hongkang waited quietly, one hand resting on his dharma sword, his eyes closed. Red light flared from his other hand as he pressed two fingers together against his glabella, over his Shengyang Mansion. Using an art to push his spiritual sense to its limit, he still could not detect anything. Left with no choice, he opened his eyes to look. In the distance, he saw a hazy glow of red and gray, clearly the hue of Combined Fire. Inwardly startled, he hastily gripped the talisman Guo Hongjian had given him in his palm, thinking, *It has only been an incense stick of time, and that aunt has already used a talisman... Li Xijun is merely at early Foundation Establishment. His sword qi is passable at best, far from overwhelming. Either he was concealing his strength, or he has reinforcements.* Guo Hongkang made a prompt judgment and quietly began to withdraw, instantly abandoning his plan to wait half an hour. “I'll wait for her for another fifteen minutes at most!” He was one of the foremost figures among the branch family, having secretly mastered many arts, with a bright future ahead of him. Yet he still could not afford to cross Guo Hongyao, terrified that the woman might go mad. After waiting anxiously for several breaths, he finally saw a streak of light flying from the distance. Wobbling and unsteady, its magical light was so dim it was hard to discern, vaguely trailing white vapor. Guo Hongkang squinted, watching the figure crash headlong onto the shore. The protective layer of magical power dissipated, revealing a pale, delicate face. Who else could it be but Guo Hongyao? The fire token was dim, stuck upside-down in the ground nearby. The woman was drenched in blood, the dharma robe upon her dark and lusterless, its gray-red and crimson stains mingled together and glaringly obvious on the island. *Serves her right!* Guo Hongkang thought with dark satisfaction. He immediately linked this to the hazy gray-red glow in the distance, sneering inwardly, *That fool suffered a huge loss and had to burn through whatever trump card she had just to hold him off and flee all the way here. If I weren't here, she wouldn't even have kept her life!* Guo Hongkang descended sluggishly. On the shore, Guo Hongyao swallowed several medicinal pills in quick succession, her complexion easing somewhat. Guo Hongkang took a few steps closer and saw a sword gleaming with cold light lying beneath her garments, still dripping with blood. Understanding that Li Xijun had already been slain by her, he sighed and offered congratulations: “Congratulations, my lady, on slaying your enemy with your own hands.” The Guo Hongyao before him seemed severely injured, gasping for breath as she groaned in pain: “This place is very close to Xifeng Island; someone will certainly come searching! Leave, quickly!” “Come here!” Jolted by her snap, Guo Hongkang hurriedly moved forward. He saw Guo Hongyao propping herself up by the waist, her slender hand picking up the longsword as white and clean as frost. A look of unbearable agony surfaced on her face as she barked, “Take it already!” Disdainful in his heart yet respectful in appearance, Guo Hongkang hurriedly reached out a hand to grasp the spine of the sheath. Yet he felt an unexpected weight in his grip and raised his head in bewilderment. It turned out that Guo Hongyao had not released the sword's hilt. Her slender hand gripped the long hilt as naturally as if she had brandished a blade thousands of times, her five fair fingers clearly defined, carrying an almost graceful elegance. Li Xijun did not know what their relationship was, but he understood that Guo Hongyao was an unreasonable person; all manner of attitudes were best masked under the guise of pain. Whatever their prior dynamic had been, any deviation made complete sense under the throes of severe agony. In that split second, Guo Hongkang's gaze drifted past that hand and landed on Guo Hongyao's face. That face was beautiful, yet the petulant discontent born of ignorance and impulsiveness that usually lingered there had vanished. In its place was an inviolable majesty and a chill that made one feel as though standing amidst a raging blizzard. Her face was cold as frost, her eyes flashing with malice. This still aura of frost and snow made her seem not like Guo Hongyao at all, but like Real Person Tianwan, who was adorned in frost and draped in snow. The moment Li Xijun drew his blade, the sword light of Hankang passed through Guo Hongkang's throat, severing his head cleanly amidst a flurry of falling snow. *Clang!* Guo Hongkang had suspected nothing, following right in Guo Hongyao's footsteps as Li Xijun beheaded him! Yet Guo Hongkang was not Guo Hongyao after all. The moment shock surfaced in his pupils, his first reaction was neither to salvage his injury nor to parry the strike, nor even to pull back distance. Instead, he ignited the talisman held in his hand. That Combined Fire talisman detonated right against their bodies. In an instant, both were swallowed by flames, and Li Xijun's silhouette was thrown backward, trailing a long streak of gray fire. A dazzling gray-red brilliance erupted. The dense Combined Fire in Guo Hongkang's palm had already turned into pure black, like a boulder plunging into a lake, throwing up plumes of sky-filling flame. The sea around the island was emptied in an instant, Combined Fire roaming freely as the sea surface collapsed into a massive, hollow semicircle. *Rumble!* Guo Hongkang's decision could not have been more correct. This single talisman was enough to prove his composure under peril and his meticulous caution. Had he not been so prudent as to palm the talisman in advance, how could he have found an opportunity to interrupt Li Xijun? As for Guo Hongkang's head, it had already been sheared off by Li Xijun, and now, under the concussive blast of Combined Fire, body and head were blown apart, flying in different directions. The head soared through the air, eyes bloodshot, muttering incessantly. The space below his neck was completely empty. The sheer terror would have broken an ordinary person, yet he had triggered the talisman without hesitation. Had he lacked even a shred of that resolve, he would have followed in Guo Hongyao's footsteps, becoming another dead soul beneath Li Xijun's blade. *Thank goodness!* *Sword origin! Li Xijun!* *Guo Hongyao... how is that possible! It has only been the time of an incense stick, and with the flying back and forth, she actually died by his hand?!* *If not for this, why would I care about that woman's life or death?!* His headless torso quickly halted within the flames. Calmly forming hand seals to ride the wind, his long robes fluttering, he deflected the Combined Fire and flew off to retrieve his head. As the caster who practiced Combined Fire himself, the damage Guo Hongkang sustained was lighter than Li Xijun's by any measure. He had already caught his head, but the sword origin at his throat clung like a thick layer of frost and snow over the wound, preventing him from piecing it back together. Taking the blast of such a powerful talisman at point-blank range, Li Xijun had suffered only burns to his eyes and cheeks, with Combined Fire churning within him rather than incinerating him completely. For this, he had to thank the dharma robe from Guo Hongyao that he wore. Though he had not refined it, it was an artifact of the Combined Fire lineage, its material capable of withstanding flames to a degree. Li Xijun swallowed down blood and steadied himself in midair. Frosty magical power surged from his Qihai to fend off the Combined Fire clinging to him. Yet the flames still leaped across his body, leaving his vision a gray, indistinct blur. *My eyes are injured...* Though he had not purged the Combined Fire and could not deploy his ocular technique for the moment, he had already deduced the situation. In that fleeting instant, Guo Hongkang realized the truth: he needed to pause to mend the gap at his neck, while Li Xijun needed to regulate his breath to purge the notoriously toxic and tenacious Combined Fire from his body. Life and death between them had to be decided within dozens of exchanges! Guo Hongkang stared at the sword light with trepidation. The distance between him and Li Xijun was not far, and having assumed the man was a sword cultivator capable of slaying Guo Hongyao in mere exchanges, he had expected to be cleaved in two along with his shield. Now he let out a long breath, delighted rather than frightened, thinking, *The agony of Combined Fire must be impairing his swordsmanship!* *I have a chance!* “Go!” Guo Hongkang now regarded Li Xijun's swordsmanship as on par with the direct lineage of the Sword Sect. With one hand, he released several talismans to defend; with the other, Combined Fire flowed as he summoned two streaks of gray light, casting his spell with a shout. The two gray lights crossed the sea with immense speed, making no attempt to parry the three incoming sword lights as they hurled straight toward Li Xijun, detonating clusters of gray fire around him. His spiritual sense was still usable. Li Xijun spat a mouthful of blood, letting the mist of blood vanish into flame. Urging the bright frost beneath his feet, he reversed his longsword and unleashed three streaks of flowing light. Autumn Moon Listens in Harmony! Li Xijun's sword light similarly made no attempt to ward off the flames, driving straight for Guo Hongkang. The three agile, cunning beams leaped through the air, battering his dharma shield into shattered remnants. Li Xijun showed no fear. A swath of color flew from his sleeve: the Chongming Dongxuan Screen, which he had hesitated to reveal for fear of exposing his identity, lit up beside him. A profound golden light enveloped him, keeping the gray flames firmly at bay. Chijiao Island did not belong to the Jiangnan orthodox lineages, nor did any of the seven figures of Chongming Hall belong to the Combined Fire lineage, so the painting on the screen did not stir. Even so, the Chongming Dongxuan Screen was an ancient artifact, more than sufficient to withstand his spell. Seeing his magic unable to hinder his opponent and watching Li Xijun advance, Guo Hongkang gathered his power and finally summoned a flying needle from his acupoint. Grayish-white, about a finger long, and entirely unadorned, it brought immense joy to the cultivator. Moving his lips, he shouted, “Strike!” Li Xijun was already exceedingly close. Suddenly feeling a needle-like prick in his Shengyang Mansion, his face washed over with pain and chill. With a thought, cyan light rippled across the screen, casting down a dark cyan glow: “Chongyuan!” The Chongyuan art of the Chongming Dongxuan Screen was a grounding technique designed specifically to counter flying swords and magical lights. It instantly seized the white needle in midair, forcing it to a grinding halt inch by inch. Though Li Xijun blocked the needle, he still spat a mouthful of blood. Even without landing, the needle agitated the Combined Fire within him, assailing him from inside and out, throwing his body into utter turmoil. Steeling his resolve, Li Xijun circulated Bright Frost Pine Ridge, banishing pain and emotion from his mind. His longsword lit up inch by inch as he closed the distance by several paces. Seeing the sword cultivator advance once more and his prized magical artifact rendered useless, Guo Hongkang was scared out of his wits. His hands kept casting fire without pause, only to find goose-feather sword qi drifting down amidst a blizzard. It pierced his body like ten thousand steel blades, wringing a wretched howl from his throat. *Splurt!* “You—!” Guo Hongkang heard only a sound of shattering by his ears. The three flowing beams of sword qi vanished, and chill surged through his Shengyang Mansion. Lacking a protective Foundation Establishment dharma robe, his body instantly disintegrated into minced flesh, turning into a rain of fire midair. His severed head scrambled in horror to retrieve medicinal pills, only to discover three snowy-white sword lights already sweeping toward him. Li Xijun had reverted to his original appearance, his eyes burned to an ashen white, gray-red Combined Fire still licking across his body. “Damn it!” The white jade box slipped and fell, seized midair by Li Xijun. With Combined Fire still surging at his chest, he tucked the jade box into his robes and sped away on the wind into the distance. *** Xuanyue Gate. Mists swirled and music echoed across Yuexi Peak, the main peak of Mount Xuanyue. The Real Person in the seat of honor wore plain cloth, his white hair lustrous as jade, falling over his shoulders. Raising his brows, he looked to the side with a smile: “Fellow Daoist Junjian?” Seated in the guest position was a white-robed man, his brow slightly furrowed, carrying a faint chill between his refined features as he gazed at the mist upon the peak. Spoken to by the Real Person, he replied, “Naturally, I possess no Bright Yang spiritual objects.” Having said this, he pushed forward the white jade cup before him and looked up at Real Person Changxi. The old Real Person looked at him deeply, sighing, “The Li clan are intelligent people. Venturing deep into the Eastern Sea now, they may well be relying on their favor with you. The world is a bustling place, and those of the Purple Mansion wield divine abilities; if one does not act with complete honor and loyalty, one ends up just like Donghua.” Junjian shook his head gently and replied, “Everyone is pleased to sit back and watch. Chijiao Island covets the Combined Fire token in my hands, and even Real Person Xiao has gone to the North Sea. With everyone pushing and passing the buck, it has finally been forced before me, compelling me to clash with Chijiao Island.” “Thank you for your guidance, Senior. But this time, Chijiao Island struck first. Tianwan either did so deliberately or lacked the divine ability to prevent it; neither side holds moral ground, so there is no reason for me, Junjian, not to go.” Changxi said, “Such is the way of things. You do not wish to choose a side, yet they force you to. If you wish to remain untainted, you can only stand alone. Earlier, Changxiao was busy cleaning up Chengyan's mess and was restricted on all sides; he will not act recklessly now. Furthermore, with Real Persons Hengxing and Kuangyu moving in concert, Changxiao cannot foresee the moves—this piece cannot be recovered.” Junjian rose, looking quietly at the old man before him, and said softly, “To this junior, it does not look so simple. Changxiao is a master at manipulating karmic mandates; it is too early to draw conclusions.” Junjian laughed heartily, toying with a palm-sized, exquisitely dainty little golden hammer. The Great Void opened before him, and he stepped inside, leaving behind a final remark: “Only when they lack moral ground would I, Junjian, intervene! Otherwise, why would they have sent Guo Hongkang?”