Chapter 45

“Feng Xiwu? You certainly arrived quickly.”

“…”

The woman standing in the clear blue sky and the woman leaning against a tree, smiling in the secluded dark forest, formed a stark opposition. The slanted boundary between light and shadow extended into the distance, separating the snow on the high mountains from the spectral fire of the abyss. Light and darkness mingled yet remained distinctly separate.

Feng Xiwu moved Liuli behind her protectively and looked down from her high vantage point at Tang Shikou. “You know me?”

Tang Shikou curved the corner of her mouth. By now, she had straightened her attire. Her magnificent long robe swept the ground, a complete contrast to the simply elegant Feng Xiwu.

“It seems you also know me. Now that is interesting.”

A strange atmosphere spread between the two. Liuli suddenly remembered something, tugged on Feng Xiwu’s sleeve, and said urgently, “Shizun, she’s a reborn person! Be careful, she might cheat!”

“Reborn?”

Explaining the concept of rebirth to someone who hadn’t read rebirth stories seemed somewhat difficult. Tang Shikou gave a light laugh, having no intention of letting the master and disciple chat so leisurely.

In the interval of speech, a blade of True Qi tore through the air, rushing at them violently!

Tit for tat. In this duel that spanned a major realm, the speed was so fast that Liuli’s eyes blurred, unable to see how many moves these two had exchanged in the beginning.

By the time the smoke and clouds stirred by the True Qi dissipated, there was nothing left between Tang Shikou and Feng Xiwu.

Trees and grass had all been reduced to fragments. Birds and beasts had fled for their lives the moment Tang Shikou descended.

Liuli shrank behind Feng Xiwu’s back, stealthily poking her eyes out over Feng Xiwu’s shoulder. She saw that Tang Shikou’s expression was a bit unsightly.

Observing carefully, however, neither of them seemed injured.

Liuli seized the moment, her lips flapping rapidly up and down: “Being reborn means having lived once, then dying, and having your soul return to a point earlier in your life to live again!”

Feng Xiwu: “Mm, I understand now.”

In the original book’s plot, Tang Shikou had already killed Feng Xiwu once. Although her methods weren’t exactly honorable, after being reborn, Tang Shikou should be even harder to deal with…

Liuli’s brow furrowed tightly. How did it go in the book? How did Tang Shikou ambush Feng Xiwu…

It seemed she used some mysterious technique, and she also manipulated Long Jingxing. Although Long Jingxing was dead now, what was that mysterious technique… Oh no, oh no, why can’t I just remember it!

The more anxious she became, the more flustered she got. Liuli scratched her head in distress and said to Feng Xiwu, “Shizun, be careful! She has dirty tricks!”

Tang Shikou didn’t like looking up at people, so she came to a height level with them. Smiling at Liuli, she said, “Good little sister, why only talk about big sister? Why not talk about yourself?”

Liuli: “…Demon Woman! Don’t try to slander me!”

If she were truly the reborn Xue Liuli, she might not be afraid. But she wasn’t. If she tried to bluff her way through, it would only reveal holes in her story. The more Liuli understood the common knowledge of the cultivation world, the more deeply she realized how hated Possession was within it.

Feng Xiwu, through the smooth, slightly cool fabric, patted the back of Liuli’s hand. Such a tiny gesture instantly calmed Liuli down.

Feng Xiwu looked at Tang Shikou. The other party gave her a smile full of malice, yet deeply wary.

“I didn’t expect to encounter Sect Leader Tang today,” Feng Xiwu spoke, neither quickly nor slowly. “Let us settle it here and now then.”

“Very well.”

Facing an opponent not easily dealt with, Tang Shikou finally brought out her true skill. A semi-transparent Black Silk Fan was lightly shaken, hiding her lips behind it.

And in Feng Xiwu’s hand, she grasped a simple, unadorned long sword.

“Feng Xiwu, before you die, this Seat wants to know how you discovered it?”

Liuli’s face was full of confusion: Discovered what? What just happened?

Feng Xiwu answered: “You shouldn’t have relied so heavily on experience.”

The moment her words fell, the sword transformed into a thousand myriad flakes of shattered snow, sweeping through a space spanning a thousand miles like a storm. Tang Shikou, however, was like a wisp of smoke, indistinct and ghostly beyond belief.

Caught in the turbulent air currents, Liuli’s skin turned cold and painful. Unable to bear it for a moment, a stifled groan of discomfort squeezed out of her throat.

It was hard for Feng Xiwu, yet in this rapidly changing battlefield, she still managed to look after Liuli, pulling her closer with a backhanded motion.

Like a little kitten, Liuli clung entirely to Feng Xiwu’s back.

However, just as Liuli breathed a sigh of relief, before she could even feel embarrassed about being so close to her Shizun, she watched in horror as her hand uncontrollably drew the Autumn Water Sword.

The autumn water condensed into the sword, a single shimmering point, aimed at the back of Feng Xiwu’s heart.

Right, if Tang Shikou could control Long Jingxing, why couldn’t she control her?

Liuli was dazed for a moment. Whether it was too much fear or something else, everything that happened in this fleeting second was completely forgotten. When she came back to her senses—

She saw the sword tip still steadily aimed at Feng Xiwu’s heart. A bloody, mangled hand, however, was gripping the front section of the sword. Fresh red blood continuously flowed down along it. Further forward were two other slender, fair fingers clamping the sword tip.

Liuli subconsciously looked up. In Feng Xiwu’s slightly dilated pupils, she saw her own dumbfounded face.

She looked down again, at that bloody, mangled hand… Holy crap! That’s my hand!!!

The two fingers clamping the sword tip were naturally Feng Xiwu’s. In a slightly awkward posture, she had twisted half a shoulder and backhandedly caught the Autumn Water Sword.

Liuli: “Ow ow ow! Ahh! It hurts!!! It hurts so much ahhh!”

With a yelp, Liuli let go. The sight of her bloody, ravaged palm made her vision go black, and twin streams of golden tears shot out.

Feng Xiwu’s fingertip trembled lightly, and she snatched the Autumn Water Sword from Liuli’s hand.

At this moment, Liuli still couldn’t control her right hand. As if possessing its own consciousness, it continued to attack Feng Xiwu.

In a duel between masters, a hair’s breadth of distraction could lead to completely different results. A soft laugh seemed to come from all directions, making it impossible to pinpoint the source of the voice’s owner:

“Feng Xiwu, did you like this welcoming gift I sent you?”

Feng Xiwu’s response was a light flick of her single hand. The Autumn Water Sword spun in the air, changing direction. As the sword fell, she grasped its hilt, half-turned her body, her arm already encircling Liuli.

Liuli felt as if she were bound by invisible ropes, unable to move. Then Feng Xiwu struck her lightly on the back. In an instant, a surge of soreness and numbness dissipated from within her body, as if blown apart by a great wind. A speck of black mist was forced out of Liuli’s body.

Liuli only felt as if all the strength in her body had been drained. Weak and soft, she tumbled into Feng Xiwu’s embrace.

This intimate contact, without a single gap, made Liuli the first to bear witness to Feng Xiwu’s transformation.

By now, the bleeding from Liuli’s left hand had stopped. However, the wound caused by the Autumn Water Sword, channeling its full power, was not so easily healed. The wound still throbbed with a dull ache. Liuli averted her eyes, pretending she wasn’t injured.

A trace of doubt crept into Tang Shikou’s voice: “Feng Xiwu, who exactly are you?”

Feng Xiwu answered: “The one who will kill you.”

Liuli half-leaned, half-rested in her arms, surrounded by a chilling aura. From her angle, looking up diagonally, being this close, she could see more clearly.

It was really hard on Liuli, having the mind to think of other things in this situation.

“Shizun, you’ve lost weight!” Her chin was pointy, her already small face even smaller. Liuli felt a pang in her heart. “And you’ve gotten paler!”

She was already pale enough, but now she looked even paler than before Liuli left the mountain. Pale as if she were sick.

Liuli blamed herself: “It’s all my fault. I didn’t prepare enough food to leave on the mountain for Shizun, causing Shizun to—starve so badly, wuwuwu…”

Tang Shikou: “…Tch.”

Feng Xiwu’s hand paused a half-beat late. A single drop of blood congealed at her fingertip, and she pressed it to her own brow.

Let alone Tang Shikou, whose whereabouts were as elusive as smoke. Even Liuli had no idea what Feng Xiwu planned to do.

But seeing that Feng Xiwu had avoided the injury she was supposed to sustain in the plot, Liuli’s confidence soared. She didn’t care about anything else. Shrinking softly in Feng Xiwu’s embrace, her two little paws drooping limply as they raised to her chest, her eyes sparkling as she looked up at Feng Xiwu.

Her uninjured hand made a fist, pumping up and down.

“Shizun, you can do it! Shizun, you’re the best!”

Shizun wanted to throw this little pest down.

But if she really threw her down, she’d probably be minced into meat paste by the surrounding Ice Flowers. Shizun had to reluctantly keep holding her.

That tiny bit of Essence Blood sank deep into her brow. But it wasn’t just her brow. Once the vast, majestic True Qi exceeded a certain magnitude, it was all the same to the weak. But to the strong, it could not be ignored.

Tang Shikou said incredulously, “This is impossible!”

Subconsciously, her figure was revealed. The Black Silk Fan fiercely waved. A deep fissure, as if about to tear heaven and earth apart, carrying a terrifying suction force, rushed towards Liuli in Feng Xiwu’s arms.

This was bullying the weak.

Liuli also saw that Tang Shikou’s target was her. She was trying to distract Feng Xiwu by attacking herself:

“Shizun, she’s bullying me!!!” Liuli loudly tattled.

Feng Xiwu released her brow. Her clear, lucid eyes looked forward. Grasping the Autumn Water Sword in her empty hand, she gave a light wave ahead.

The same sword, yet Feng Xiwu used it to produce a completely different effect from Liuli.

The Ice Flowers filling the sky and earth were involuntarily drawn by this sword aura. Spiraling, they condensed into a “sword,” pointed in front and thick behind. The temperature plummeted abruptly, making Liuli involuntarily shiver.

Liuli stared nervously, eyes wide, unblinking, as the Ice Flower Sword clashed with the fissure. Illusory meeting substantial. The Ice Flowers flew all over the sky again. After tearing the fissure apart, their momentum unchecked, they charged directly towards Tang Shikou!

Liuli’s eyes ached. She blinked lightly.

In the time of a blink, Tang Shikou had crashed to the ground. Her long hair was disheveled. As wretched as could be, she coughed up a mouthful of blood.

She raised her finger, slowly wiping the bloodstain from the corner of her lips, and said with ambiguous meaning: “Feng Xiwu, you are not at the Nascent Soul stage.”

Feng Xiwu remained silent. Raising the Autumn Water Sword, she slashed down from above, intending to kill Tang Shikou here and now once and for all!

Tang Shikou threw out her Black Silk Fan. The fan surface rotated, growing larger as it collided with that sword aura, only to be torn apart.

Just as it seemed the Black Lotus Sect Leader would be buried here, she gave a cold laugh. At some unknown point, the ground beneath the fallen leaves and shredded grass had been covered with the shadows of black lotuses.

Feng Xiwu’s expression remained unchanged. Sword strike followed sword strike. The surroundings grew colder and colder. Ice and frost had already covered the earth. Drawn by this awe-inspiring chill, the clouds in the sky coalesced, and it actually began to snow heavily.

Under Feng Xiwu’s assault, like towering waves stretching for miles, Tang Shikou tightly pursed her lips. Just as she had shattered Liuli’s counterattacks time and time again before, that bone-chilling sword aura also tore apart her counterattacks again and again.

To fight, she couldn’t win. To retreat, there was no path. This was already a certain-death situation.

Yet at this moment, Tang Shikou shifted her gaze to Liuli. Smiling, she said, “Little sister Liuli, you truly have a good Shizun!”

Following this, she struck her own left eye with a palm strike. Gushing blood streamed down the enchantingly beautiful face. With a bizarre, faint smile, her intact right eye stared at Liuli. Her body collapsed onto the earth, thus breathing her last.

But what Liuli didn’t see was a black shadow following the flow of blood, intertwining with the shadows of the black lotuses, seeping underground together…

The final sword aura had no more obstructions. It cleaved straight down onto Tang Shikou’s body, splitting this beauty’s corpse into two halves. Before the thick blood could gush out, it was frozen and sealed by the chilling aura.

Gazing at Tang Shikou’s strangely and tragically dead corpse, Liuli murmured, “She’s dead? Just like that… dead?”

Feng Xiwu sheathed her sword. Supporting Liuli, she landed on the ground before releasing her.

Liuli staggered two steps. Steadying herself, she wanted to go inspect Tang Shikou’s corpse, but felt somewhat afraid.

Just at that moment, a muffled sound came from beside her.

Liuli turned back to look. It had come from Feng Xiwu. Feng Xiwu moved her hand away from the corner of her lips. A trace of blood quickly vanished. When she raised her head to look at Liuli again, the first thing she spoke was reassurance:

“No need to worry. I am unharmed.”