Real Person Ling Mei’s voice held no pretense of courtesy, tinged even with outright reprimand. Chengyan, however, dared not show the slightest hint of discontent, standing meekly with lowered eyes.
Ling Mei sat upright with his sword strapped across his back, rebuking him like a wayward junior: “Changxiao has always been deceitful. I saw long ago how venomous his schemes were and how ruthless his heart was, and now the disciple he raised is just as undisciplined!”
Chengyan could only murmur assent. Ling Mei continued with a frosty expression, “There is no talking sense into you. Every last one of you from overseas stops at nothing to get your way, stirring up trouble wherever you go. You have brought out one spirit artifact after another. The Shanming Dongyue Cord belonged to Situ Huo—how did it end up in your hands?”
At these words, Chengyan shook his head and replied, “Senior, that spirit artifact was either bestowed by Situ Huo or unearthed by the Situ family somewhere. It truly has nothing to do with our sect. How could it be an artifact given by my Master Changxiao...”
“Who knows?” Ling Mei sneered. “The Shanming Dongyue Cord is not Changxiao’s signature treasure like the Yongjing Xuanhuan. Even if it truly came from you, who could prove it? How do you intend to handle that thing now?”
Chengyan cast a somewhat embarrassed glance up at him and whispered, “Real Person Tianhuo... should be going to retrieve it about now. After all, that item was meant to be returned to them in the end.”
The Shanming Dongyue Cord had barely shown itself before falling into the hands of the Jinyu Sect. If Changxiao Gate had indeed obtained it, this would seem like a massive loss. Yet Ling Mei remembered the history clearly, remarking, “Changxiao truly struck a fine bargain. Back then, Situ Huo pledged the Shanming Dongyue Cord to the Jinyu Sect, only to be driven off by Yuansu. Having missed the appointed date, he hid away nursing his wounds and dared not show himself, so the spirit artifact remained in his possession all this time...
“I imagine Changxiao took on his commission, reaped some benefits, and agreed to return the artifact. Keeping that thing in hand would not even allow a single use, yet it would tie you to Situ Huo and draw a horde of inquisitors. Handing it to Situ Mo cleared your ties while still letting you make use of it...”
Although Real Person Ling Mei hailed from the stubborn, conservative Sword Sect, he was by no means rigid, possessing a remarkably sharp and nimble mind. While he framed his words as mere conjecture, they were almost certainly the unvarnished truth. Ling Mei had the stature to voice it, but Chengyan dared not admit it, replying only, “Senior jests. The matter is far too tangled. Our sect’s Real Person has yet to return from the East Sea, and his whereabouts remain unknown. How could he have orchestrated so many arrangements...?”
Seeing him feign ignorance to the end, Ling Mei let out a contemptuous scoff. “I will waste no more breath on you. Stay here any longer, and Hengli might beat you to death the moment you step outside, leaving the blame on my Sword Sect’s head. This matter ends here—do not stir up trouble around my Sword Sect ever again!”
Feeling as though he had received an imperial pardon, Chengyan promptly took his leave. Ling Mei remained seated in the Great Void, feeling rather unburdened in his heart.
*Li Zhouwei gave a fine pretext. I hardly had to get dragged into the fray, yet I made him owe a favor, having merely stepped forward to project deterrence... Pinning down this Chengyan was enough to douse any thought others had of fanning the flames. Li Ximing accorded me such face, so this intervention satisfies both friendship and reputation!*
Rising to his feet with no small satisfaction, he unslung the precious sword from his back and cradled it in his arms, laughing quietly to himself:
*Now let us see if those old fogies in the sect can still lecture me on morality and orthodoxy... claiming I am unorthodox and have strayed from the sword heart... If we adhered strictly to the immortal manor’s rules of worldly detachment, how could we have saved Li Zhouwei? When rules collide with righteousness, I should like to see what else they have to say!*
***
Lake Wangyue.
The sky hung gloomy, laced with crackling thunder. A continuous drizzle drifted through the air, scattering across the boundless expanse.
The faint golden glow of the Shanming Dongyue Cord froze in midair, suppressing the ferocious Lihuo. As streams of golden light surged, a white-haired old man clad in Tangjin Daoist robes pinched incantation gestures with both hands.
“Situ Biao!”
Trapped by the spirit artifact, the woman in the red dress and her companions could neither advance nor retreat. The Shanming Dongyue Cord was an object of Earth and Metal virtues, making it difficult to counter effectively. It cast chaotic sheets of pale gold radiance, repeatedly knocking the group back.
The Tangjin Gate held the upper hand, yet Situ Biao’s expression was as ghastly as if he had seen a ghost, bordering on despair.
Situ Biao was one of the few surviving elders of the sect. Not being closely related by blood to the main branch and possessing high cultivation, he had managed to survive one round of purges after another. He was far from stupid; having reached this juncture, even if he could not discern the entire grand scheme, he had sensed enough.
Situ Mo had intended to use him as cannon fodder, which Situ Biao had accepted. With little lifespan remaining, he deemed it no great loss to trade his worthless life to secure Situ Mo’s escape. Moreover, with a spirit artifact in hand, he could indulge in some degree of self-delusion. Yet right in the thick of battle, a vast and familiar golden baleful qi had erupted in the east, shooting straight into the vault of heaven.
*Crack...*
The jade talisman in his sleeve shattered. The old man’s grip on the talisman tightly clutched in his hand loosened slightly. After hesitating again and again, he ultimately refrained from casting it, stowing it back into his storage bag instead.
Now that Situ Mo was dead, there was no longer any need for him to hold out here.
*Pfft.*
Not far away, Li Minggong coughed up a mouthful of blood. She too looked up toward the towering golden baleful qi surging in the distance, tears welling in her eyes once more. Through the blur, she noticed that the damnable radiance of the Shanming Dongyue Cord had frozen solid.
The spells of everyone present stiffened simultaneously in midair. Even the billowing Lihuo halted like statues. The mountain-and-river patterns upon the Shanming Dongyue Cord abruptly dimmed as a hand and half a sleeve extended from the empty air.
The sleeve was patterned with golden flames, its cuff embroidered with the dust of gold and stone. The hand was fair, delicate, and possessed long fingers.
Those fingers lightly pinched the Shanming Dongyue Cord. The gray cord, which had seemed invincible only a moment before, twitched in his grasp like a dead snake before vanishing from sight beneath the petrified gazes of the onlookers.
A full breath passed before the flowing river-and-mountain patterns in the sky belatedly faded away. The space beside Situ Biao was suddenly bare. The old man resembled a plucked chicken, shivering in midair.
*Clang!*
With tears in her eyes, Li Minggong held a lamp in one hand, summoning the Dudao Bell, while drawing the sword at her waist with the other. She shouted, “Even a Real Person cannot stomach your Tangjin Gate’s conduct!”
Situ Biao’s scalp tingled with terror as an ominous gale had already begun to whip beneath his feet. Hurriedly pulling out the talisman once more and concealing it in his palm, he shouted through the surging wall of approaching Lihuo, “Withdraw!”
The Chongming Dongxuan Screen remained suspended overhead. Without the Shanming Dongyue Cord backing them, Tangjin Gate’s spells were rendered more than half useless; there was naturally nothing left to fight for. The old man simply held the talisman high and barked, “Li Minggong! Do not push me!”
Tearfully, Li Minggong called a halt to the comrades in front of her, allowing Situ Biao to retreat several li. Driving her true fire, she cast a resentful glare after them, only to freeze in surprise.
She was not the only one stunned; the White Ape, Li Wen, and the others also froze in midair. In the distance, Situ Biao had solidified in place, unable to move, the light upon his body once again ceasing to flicker.
That hand clad in the sleeve of golden stone and fire reached out from the Great Void once more. Spreading its five fingers, it snatched the talisman right out of Situ Biao’s grasp with a swift *whoosh*.
*This...*
Despair deepened on the faces of every Tangjin Gate cultivator, yet the frozen surroundings remained unbroken. The Real Person stepped out from the Great Void. His robes shimmered with the luster of gold, stone, windblown sand, and blazing fire—a seven-foot-tall figure with topknotted hair, trim eyebrows, and handsome features.
The Real Person turned the talisman over in his hand and asked, “Any more?”
Situ Biao trembled from head to toe, shaking his head frantically. The Real Person gave an “Oh,” turned around, and stepped back into the Great Void.
Only then did Situ Biao and his companions flee in a panic, sweat pouring down like rain as they rode the wind away. The Li family cultivators dared not approach the Real Person, and so could only let them escape.
Once Situ Biao’s group had vanished, Li Minggong’s strength finally collapsed. Her vision went black, and she nearly passed out. Beside her, Li Chenghuai stepped forward hurriedly to support her.
During her frantic rush to reinforce them and the fierce battle against Situ Biao armed with the spirit artifact, anxiety had unsettled her mind. She had fought the hardest, completely draining her magical power, keeping herself upright purely through stubborn willpower.
“Eldest Sister...”
Supporting Li Minggong, Li Chenghuai looked left and right; every single person was wounded.
The White Ape had assumed his true form earlier to fend off the Situ family, only to have his heart and lungs pierced by a golden hook, with chunks of flesh gouged from his body in wounds large and small. Now reverted to the appearance of a white-haired brawny man, bone showed through his flesh in numerous places.
Li Wen lacked the strength to stand alone and had only assisted the White Ape from the flank, so he had suffered no grave harm. Beside them, Miaoshui had only recently recovered from her prior injuries when her collarbone was pierced clean through and more than half her neck was sheared away; though patched with Heshui, the wound still appeared grotesque.
Old Qu Bushi possessed little combat prowess in the first place, and risking his life had accomplished little beyond breaking several ribs. The old man simply stared at the ruined mess of the Funan lands below, his heart aching with grief.
As Li Chenghuai took stock of their state, Li Minggong caught her breath, straightening up amid the flames, and asked in a low voice, “Where is Ding Weizeng!”
Before the others had arrived, Ding Weizeng had resisted the entire Tangjin Gate force single-handedly. His injuries could only be graver than theirs. With no sign of him now, the situation boded ill.
“No ominous signs have appeared; he should be all right,” Li Chenghuai consoled her. The group descended together into the great hall. Wiping her tears, Li Minggong asked, “How is the Patriarch’s life jade... That golden baleful qi shooting skyward in the east, was it Situ Mo perishing?”
“I will go inquire immediately,” Li Chenghuai replied, stepping out of the hall first.
Looking at the surrounding cultivators whose eyes were all turned toward her, Li Minggong gritted her teeth and said, “Where is Sun Bai? Summon him at once.”
Beside her, Miaoshui said softly, “Earlier, while battling Duxian Dao, we withdrew, but Guest Elder Sun Bai lacks combat skills and found it difficult to break away. It appeared he was forced to take refuge inside one of the mountain arrays.”
Miaoshui phrased it gently, but Duxian Dao had intentionally let people go; Sun Bai might not have been unable to accompany them. Yet caught between wolves ahead and tigers behind, his resolve had wavered, and he had feigned defeat to slip away and hide.
Li Minggong had already dried her tears. Sun Bai’s behavior was understandable enough; their side had little need of him in battle anyway, and to put it charitably, preserving his life was more useful. She merely said, “Now is precisely when we need him. Call him over quickly.”
The cultivators exchanged looks. Li Wen clearly wished to remain by Li Minggong’s side and did not budge, so Qu Bushi, whose injuries were relatively light, rose on the wind and flew east out of the hall.
Only then did Li Minggong take the main seat, her head spinning dizzily. Holding the Hexagonal Red Flame Lamp and the Dudao Bell while driving the Chongming Dongxuan Screen, she had served as the primary bulwark against the Shanming Dongyue Cord. She had suffered severe internal injuries; though outwardly composed, her body within was in shambles.
The group waited for a while. Before Sun Bai arrived, a beam of white light streaked through the sky, fluttering gracefully as though ascending invisible steps before flying into the courtyard outside the hall.
The white light coalesced into a figure clad in a pale white Daoist robe. Refined and scholarly, he wore a look of deep worry. It ought to have been an elegant scholar’s attire, yet it had been scorched in several places by Combined Fire, lending him a somewhat disheveled air.
It was Cui Jueyin who had arrived first.
“Master Cui!”
Li Wen immediately went forward. Compared to the other outsiders around them, he seemed to place greater trust in Cui Jueyin, whom Li Ximing had brought back, and pulled him to his side.
Seeing that more than half of Li Wen’s jade armor was shattered and his aura somewhat languid, Cui Jueyin felt a twinge of unease. Catching sight of the sorrow on their faces, his suspicions were confirmed, and his heart gave a heavy lurch. He murmured, “Seeing the thunder stirring earlier, I knew something had gone wrong... How hateful...”
Hearing this, Li Minggong began to cough, hiding the blood in her palm before swallowing a pill. “Thank you for holding off Guo Hongjian in the wilderness. Were it not for you, the dense forest would have been in grave peril.”
Cui Jueyin cupped his hands. “It was not my doing alone. Xuanyue has a man named Fuyuezi. His strength is outstanding, and his craft and cultivation are extraordinary. He truly deserves to be called the foremost in Xuanyue.”
Just as he finished speaking, Qu Bushi hurried in with Sun Bai. The old man looked utterly disheveled and somewhat ashamed, bowing low. “My strength was insufficient; I beg Your Ladyship’s pardon.”
Li Minggong had no patience for courtesies, promptly bidding him step forward to check her pulse. Only then did Sun Bai gather his robes, step forward, and channel azure light from his Immortal Foundation’s wonder, placing his fingers upon her fair wrist. His face drained of color in shock, and he hastily closed his eyes to circulate his magical power.
Li Minggong’s complexion improved slightly. Swallowing back a mouthful of blood, her speech grew smoother as she urged urgently, “Quickly, look for Ding Weizeng... Dispatch our people; we must find him first. Nothing must happen to him.”
As she spoke, she withdrew her hand, gesturing for Sun Bai to check Miaoshui’s and the White Ape’s injuries first. Coughing twice, she asked, “Do any of you recognize the Real Person from earlier?”
Miaoshui had been listening quietly for some time. When Sun Bai moved to examine her wounds, she pushed him toward the old ape instead, saying, “In my earlier years, I cultivated around this region and had some entanglements with a Jinyu disciple. Later, owing to family matters, it came to naught. But I heard descriptions back then. That person should be Real Person Tianhuo, the youngest of the Tian generation in Jinyu...”
Li Minggong committed the name to memory. Once Sun Bai had examined everyone and assessed their injuries, she dismissed them to heal, turning to Cui Jueyin. “Brother Jueyin, I must trouble you to search for him.”
Cui Jueyin nodded, took his leave, and transformed into a streak of light. The entire hall fell abruptly silent, leaving only Li Wen sitting cross-legged outside the hall, quietly standing guard over her.
Only then did Li Minggong let her tears fall. Coughing softly, she thought with bitter grief:
*Now... of our family, only Chenghuai and I are left. Chenghuai was brought along later by Uncle Jun; he has less shared history and lacks prestige, making it even harder for him to step forward... I cannot enter secluded cultivation right away. I must first properly arrange brother Cheng’s funeral affairs.*
*Brother Cheng... back then in the small courtyard on Qingdu Peak... the brothers and sisters sat gathered together, unable to fit even around three large tables. Uncle Xijun accompanied the Patriarch over. Back then, I never even imagined I could achieve Foundation Establishment.*
*In those days, I figured that I, Li Minggong, would merely be an assistant. Yet now... I am the only one left to face all of this.*
Li Minggong rested for a time, carefully tending to her wounds. What seemed like a long time passed in a daze before Li Chenghuai returned from outside the hall. His expression was grave, a blend of sorrow and joy, as he whispered:
“Eldest Sister, Situ Mo has indeed fallen. Word has arrived that the Patriarch took action above the Salt Lake, first slaying Situ Mo to avenge our feud, and then, braving the six cultivators of Changxiao, went on to kill Yu Nanzi...”
Chapter 773