Chapter 8: The Gobi

“Oh?” Lu Shiyuan’s lavish praise finally smoothed away the last traces of displeasure in Shang Si’s heart.

Still, she kept a wary eye on certain matters.

With the auction concluded, the year’s grand event drew to a close. The great families who had converged from every corner dispersed within half a month, leaving Yedu City behind.

The next day, Hua Qiu gathered a few issues requiring Shang Si’s personal judgment and brought them to Dawn Splendor Hall.

Wreathed in curls of fragrant incense smoke, the two had scarcely exchanged a word or two on business when Hua Qiu’s gaze drifted, unbidden, to the golden step-shake swaying gently atop Shang Si’s head.

Her focus shattered in an instant. Puzzled, Hua Qiu remarked, “How did this golden step-shake end up on your head?”

Shang Si paid her no mind and set aside the memorial in her hand to press on with their earlier discussion. “Any fresh developments in Yedu City over the past couple of days?”

“Nothing out of the ordinary. We’ve got eyes on General Nan Jin’s side, and that silver fox incident—attacking right in the street—served as a solid deterrent. But once the auction wrapped up, those folks started trickling out of Yedu one by one.”

“And the group from Sword Spirit Sect?”

“They’re still holed up at the official residence, with no sign of packing up anytime soon.” Noticing Shang Si’s sudden mention of Sword Spirit Sect, Hua Qiu couldn’t resist asking, “Something wrong?”

“Send word to the residence and nudge them along. Yedu doesn’t harbor idlers. Outsiders should head back where they came from.” Shang Si’s tone was offhand, her expression one of idle indifference, as if she’d merely tossed out a passing thought.

Those who knew her, though, understood she never wasted words.

If she’d opened her mouth to send them packing, Sword Spirit Sect’s people had no choice but to go. Hua Qiu saw no point in prying further.

As she turned to leave, however, something else occurred to her. “Oh, right—there’s been more unrest underground lately. Did Tang Mo mention it to you?”

“He’s sent word a few times, but it’s all been vague. I’m planning to head down there myself in a couple of days to take a look.” At the mention of it, Shang Si felt a headache stirring anew. Her voice grew heavier, her delicate brows knitting together. “These past few centuries, the resentful spirits’ outbreaks have grown more frequent, their numbers nearly doubling from the millions we saw a thousand years ago. I don’t know how much longer Tang Mo can keep them in check.”

It was the rotten legacy left behind when the Underworld perished. Without Yedu holding the line, the Three Realms would have descended into chaos long ago.

And yet, there were still those who coveted it all, scheming to sow discord in Yedu and carve out a piece for themselves.

A few days after Hua Qiu departed Dawn Splendor Hall, Lu Shiyuan received a message from Shen Guang and his group: they were preparing to depart and return to the sect.

Over this stretch of time, she had carried on with her senior brothers and juniors much as before, all but forgetting they were in Yedu.

No feast lasts forever. Parting left her with a pang of reluctance, but Shen Guang’s party had already lingered for months—the absolute limit. With the sect buried under endless tasks and the Mortal Realm rife with troubles demanding the attention of cultivators like them, Lu Shiyuan held her tongue and let them go.

Misfortune, however, had a way of striking without warning.

Merely hours after bidding them farewell at the city gates that morning, the Sword Spirit Sect’s dedicated communication spirit talisman flared with spiritual light. “Senior Sister… someone… ambushed…”

The words were muddled, whipped by the roar of wind. Lu Shiyuan called out several times to no avail. At last, a burst of fiendish cackling echoed through before the connection snapped dead from the other end—plunging her heart into her boots.

In a crisis like this, her first instinct was to seek out Shang Si.

Shen Guang’s group had set out at dawn; it was barely noon. Even at a dead sprint, they couldn’t have strayed far from Yedu. In the end, she would need Shang Si’s aid.

Lu Shiyuan sped toward Dawn Splendor Hall, all the while channeling spiritual power into a sound transmission talisman in hopes of reaching her. But her energy poured forth like a stone into the sea—swallowed without a trace.

The other end remained as still and silent as a mountain.

After the time it took to burn half a stick of incense, she alighted lightly on the steps leading to Dawn Splendor Hall, colliding head-on with Liuzhu. “Miss, what brings you here?”

“Is Shang Si in? I tried sending her a sound transmission, but she hasn’t answered.” Lu Shiyuan usually paused to chat with Liuzhu whenever they crossed paths, but urgency left no room for pleasantries this time; she couldn’t even muster a smile and cut straight to it.

Liuzhu merely shook her head gently. “The underground has been stirring up trouble lately. The Female Lord went down to investigate first thing this morning. Some spots down there block transmissions—sound talismans don’t reach.”

“But if you’re facing some thorny problem, miss, you could try the Divine Valor Camp. General Nan Jin would be happy to help.” Liuzhu could tell Lu Shiyuan had urgent business for Shang Si, so with her unavailable, she deftly offered an alternative.

The two were still talking when, right after Liuzhu finished speaking, the sound transmission talisman tucked in Lu Shiyuan’s sleeve lit up several more times and drifted out on its own.

It was just like someone on the other end impatiently urging her on.

With the situation so dire, Lu Shiyuan couldn’t afford to hesitate any longer.

She quickly calculated her current recovery—about thirty percent of her cultivation—plus the spirit artifacts Shang Si had given her, and that Black Iron Token to boot… Whether she could actually save anyone by charging in straightaway was another question, but she ought to be able to preserve her own life, at least.

Coming to this conclusion, she waved her hand to summon the glowing talisman back. Her voice rose with urgency, though she didn’t realize it: “Liuzhu, please go invite Ghost Lord Nan Jin. Tell him that six hundred li east of Yedu City, someone is ambushing my sect members. Beg him to lend a hand and break the siege to save them.”

With that, she channeled her spiritual power into a streak of arrow-like light and shot off toward the horizon in the direction out of the city.

~~~

High above, six hundred li east of Yedu City.

Flying sand and rolling stones filled the air, dust clouds billowing everywhere. In the thick fog of yellow earth that blanketed the sky, a faint spiritual glow flashed every few breaths. It sliced through the layers of sand fog like a sharp blade, hurtling straight toward the two figures cloaked in black ahead—but it was always effortlessly dispelled by a transparent spiritual barrier just before it could strike home.

Of the seven fellow disciples who had set out together, only Shen Guang was left, gritting his teeth and holding on.

He staggered forward through the choking dust fog, his cyan robe long since soaked through with blood.

No longer able to tell one direction from another, he frantically rummaged through his Spirit Ring, dumping bottle after bottle and jar after jar into his mouth in a mad frenzy, repeating the motion without cease.

Yet the spiritual power restored by the medicines couldn’t keep pace with how fast it was draining away.

The two cloaked figures toyed with him like a mortally wounded animal struggling to its last breath, advancing step by step but holding back from the kill. Like unrelenting ghosts, they haunted him; whenever Shen Guang’s steps slowed and he seemed on the verge of collapse, one of them would loose a glancing light blade—painless, but enough to remind him that peril still lurked on all sides.

“What a pathetic waste,” came a disdainful scoff from behind him. The voice was deliberately disguised, low and strange, sending shivers crawling over the scalp.

The words struck some raw nerve deep in Shen Guang’s heart. The man, who had been shambling forward with mechanical determination, suddenly halted. He whirled around to glare into the thick fog behind him. “You bastards—who the hell are you people? What grudge does Sword Spirit Sect hold against you to deserve such ruthless treatment?”

“Cultivators who presume to guard the Dao deserve death.”

“And what is the Dao, that mere human ants like you can presume to define it?”

“…”

“Ants are ants, nothing more.”

Two bursts of eerie, jagged laughter rose one after the other, the first barely fading before the second cut in, echoing from every direction at once.

Shen Guang leaned on his Pine Cloud Sword for support, straining in vain to pinpoint where the enemies lurked.

Blood seeped from between his teeth as he ground them together. “If you’re going to kill me, then get on with it. What’s with all the yapping? Skulking around without showing your faces—that’s the mark of cowards and rats.”

The words had barely left his mouth when a blast of spiritual light sent him sprawling to the ground.

Out of the dust fog stepped the two cloaked figures. “Your mouth sure is tough.”

“I wonder if that flesh-and-blood body of yours is as tough?” One narrowed his sharp, hawk-like eyes and stomped down hard on Shen Guang’s chest. In the same instant, the man beneath him coughed up a thick spurt of foul blood, the rusty tang growing heavier in the air over the barren plain.

He was just about to press his advantage when a low whistle of wind rose from the distance.

“Finally here. I’ve been waiting half the day—nearly lost my patience.” The man muttered to himself, lowering his gaze. He timed it perfectly, twisting aside with perfect grace as the incoming strike neared, dodging it neatly before leaning back and retreating two steps.

The pair showed no surprise at Lu Shiyuan’s arrival.

“Senior Brother!” After forcing the cloaked men back with a single strike, Lu Shiyuan dropped to her knees at once to check Shen Guang’s wounds. “How is it just you? Where are the others?”

Shen Guang fell silent. The answer was obvious without words.

All the rest—the other six—had fallen to treachery.

Lu Shiyuan didn’t know why, but though she’d only been in this world for less than two years and spent even less time with these so-called fellow disciples, an inexplicable wave of sorrow welled up inside her all the same.

But this was no time for grief.

Shen Guang shot a glance at the cloaked men, who still eyed them with predatory intent, then looked back involuntarily toward the direction from which Lu Shiyuan had come. “Shiyuan—just you alone?”

“Of course not.” Lu Shiyuan took the Pine Cloud Sword from his hand and rose slowly to her feet. Her slender feminine frame was naturally more delicate than a man’s, but the aura she exuded was in no way inferior to that of the two cloaked figures. “Shang Si and Nan Jin are on their way. Once they get here, we’ll settle this account properly and unmask whatever sneaky coward is behind all this.”

“Let me take a guess. Could it be someone I know?” The woman’s posture was relaxed and natural. At the end of her words, the corners of her lips curved up in a playful arc, her confidence so absolute that it was hard to doubt she was telling the truth.

It was as if her backup would appear behind the two of them at any moment.

When the words “Nan Jin” left her mouth, the person hidden under the cloak instinctively tensed up, as if recalling some unpleasant memory.

He exchanged a glance with his companion at his side, then let out another strange chuckle. “Lu Shiyuan, you don’t need to bluff me. With the Ye Capital Ghost Lord’s strength, if she wanted to come, why would she have to wait?”

“Heh, so it really is someone I know. You even know my name.” Laughter seemed to bloom in Lu Shiyuan’s amber eyes.

But that brilliant smile didn’t last long. The two opponents leaped forward, splitting up to encircle her from both sides. They had seen through her intentions and had no plans to let her keep stalling.

Since she had dared to come alone, however, Lu Shiyuan naturally had her ways of coping.

Waves of powerful attacks came at her. Protecting Shen Guang, Lu Shiyuan dodged while hurling out treasures and artifacts from her Spirit Ring as if she were scattering money. No matter how hard the two cloaked figures tried, they couldn’t get close to her.

In an instant, the wasteland was ablaze with spiritual light, like a dazzling fireworks display exploding with beautiful blooms.

A childish way to stay alive.

“Damn it!” After several rounds of assaults, the cloaked man’s face grew increasingly ugly, his words squeezed out through gritted teeth. “How many spirit artifacts does this damn girl have on her?!”

He was green with envy!

Meanwhile, his companion urgently called out a reminder. “Brother, we need to find a way to get close to her. Otherwise, we won’t accomplish our goal this trip.”

“I know.” The man clenched his fists, his voice sinking low.

The standoff dragged on. Though the two attackers had temporarily halted their assault, Lu Shiyuan’s cultivation was low. Aside from throwing out the sea of artifacts from her Spirit Ring to block attacks, she had no way to drag a severely injured person all the way back to Yedu.

For now, all she could do was hope that Shang Si or Nan Jin would hurry up and bring reinforcements.

It was unclear if the heavens had heard her prayers, but soon a vast pressure rolled in from the direction of Yedu, an overwhelming force that let everyone sense Shang Si’s presence ahead of time.

It was both a warning and a sign of worry.

A warning to those with ill intentions not to try harming anyone else—once she arrived, the consequences would be dire. And also concern for Lu Shiyuan’s safety.

After all, the bit of cultivation Lu Shiyuan had just recovered simply wasn’t enough.

“Now!” The man raised his right hand. Seizing the moment when Lu Shiyuan was distracted by sensing Shang Si’s aura, he unleashed a charged strike from beneath his cloak with thunderous speed. By the time anyone reacted, the attack—brimming with vast spiritual power and laced with faint, unnoticeable gray threads—was already upon them.

No one had expected him to dare strike in the second before reinforcements arrived.

The suffocating sense of death loomed right before her. In that instant, countless faces flashed through Lu Shiyuan’s mind—familiar ones, strangers, from her previous life and this one. They finally settled on Shang Si’s smile.

But the expected pain never came. Someone had blocked the blow for her.

Shen Guang flew backward like a severed kite, crumpling lightly into a depression in the wasteland. His breathing grew faint.

At that moment, two streaks of light streaked through the sky. One landed in front of Shen Guang before Lu Shiyuan could, kneeling down and using her own spiritual power to stabilize his injuries. The other chased after Ling Yuan and his companion as they fled.

Shang Si and Nan Jin had finally arrived.

“It’s fine. He won’t die.” Before Lu Shiyuan could shed tears, Shang Si spoke up right on time.

Her tone was flat. After feeding Shen Guang a Consolidation Pill, she quickly withdrew her hand in distaste, then slowly stood, casually positioning herself between Lu Shiyuan and Shen Guang like a sturdy wall. “His injuries are serious. Don’t touch him for now.”

Hearing this, Lu Shiyuan immediately stopped in her tracks.

She sniffled and looked toward Shang Si, her almond-shaped eyes brimming with tears. “Shang Si…”

Why did you take so long? I almost died!

Lu Shiyuan wailed inwardly, but in front of Shang Si, she didn’t dare let her emotions run too wild.

Shang Si seemed touched by that call as well. A touch awkwardly, she met Lu Shiyuan’s almond eyes, softening the chill in her expression. She stepped closer, then opened her arms and gently pulled the girl into an embrace to comfort her.

One second, two seconds. The air seemed to still.

The wind whipped at their robes, rustling loudly.

“There. Does that feel better?” Shang Si’s soft whisper finally came at Lu Shiyuan’s ear, filling the hollow of unease in her heart.

She let out a soft “Mm.”

For some reason, she unconsciously rested her chin on Shang Si’s shoulder. Her entire body relaxed, and the tip of her nose was filled with that fresh, clean fragrance that had been haunting her dreams lately.

The two shared a brief embrace amid the pitiless wind.

Once she had properly soothed the girl, Shang Si finally had a moment to survey the chaotic aftermath of the battle.

Shattered remnants of spiritual artifacts littered the ground, surrounded by pockmarked craters everywhere. Anyone who saw the scene would curse it as a criminal waste of heavenly treasures.

Yet after taking it all in, Shang Si’s phoenix eyes curved upward ever so slightly, a rare glimmer of amusement rippling through her gaze. “You’ve gotten smarter.”