Chapter 491: Revenge

“My brother is family, after all, much more obedient than those few in the sect.”

Situ Chen emerged, riding the wind, and looked at the sea, where red and green light shimmered. He felt no suspicion. Situ Mo had grown up with him and had always been cautious and well-behaved, a sight he was long accustomed to.

Riding the wind, he first headed south, towards the famous Qunyi Strait. The Qunyi Strait was an elongated archipelago formed by numerous small, fragmented islands. He continued riding his fiery red-and-black wind, accurately pinpointing his direction, intending to travel the strait from north to south and admire the scenery. However, just as a large island appeared before him, Situ Chen’s heart pounded, his breathing quickened, and he was suddenly filled with intense doubt.

“Arise!”

He quickly pulled out a red crystal shield from his storage bag. Before he could even think, pain shot through his chest and abdomen. He channeled his spiritual power, made a hand seal, and thick red-and-black smoke billowed from his body.

“Bang!”

Situ Chen groaned. The red crystal shield he had just put up clanged and flew diagonally outwards, deflected more than ten yards. Wincing, he withdrew his hands from the hand seal, and a small bead of blood slowly emerged from his right index finger, glowing a striking crimson. He then looked down at his chest, where a faint crimson stain was slowly spreading. His close-fitting armor shimmered, gradually neutralizing the metallic energy it had just absorbed.

‘What was that?!’

As the young master of the Tangjin Sect, Situ Chen possessed exceptional strength. Even caught off guard, he vaguely perceived a golden flash. His expression turned grim. Crossing his hands, he made a sealing gesture. The crimson-black flames on his body immediately erupted, rapidly spreading across the sea, obscuring the sky and sun, and blocking spiritual perception. His face remained relatively calm:

‘This person is most likely using some kind of sacrificial nail, or a flying sword from within his body… First, I need to become invisible to him…’

Originating from the Tangjin Sect himself, he understood these traditions. He made a swift decision, using the smoke to conceal himself. He then pulled out a spirit veil from his storage bag, draped it over his back, and completely vanished.

After doing all this, Situ Chen took a slight breath. His heart inexplicably began to pound again. He was instantly horrified, exclaiming, “How is this possible! How can he see me?!”

Yet, all his doubts had to be suppressed. He once again activated the crystal shield for defense. His mind felt empty, his brows furrowed, and he resumed making the hand seal.

“Hngh!”

This time, he was prepared, but he felt the force was even greater than before. A sweet, metallic taste filled his mouth. His eyes widened, and he finally saw the golden light clearly, suddenly realizing: “It’s an arrow!”

Those who used arrows in Yue Kingdom were few and far between. He didn’t even need to think, simply exclaiming in alarm: “It’s that Elemental lackey, Li Xuanfeng!”

Although he had never fought this person, he already understood the formidable power of those two arrows. He also knew that the opponent's skill extended far beyond just one or two arrows, cursing, “What grudge or enmity do I have with him?! Why does he want to harm me?!”

Situ Chen’s cheek tingled faintly. He knew his opponent was charging up another attack. As he fled north on the wind, he secretly took out a jade pendant from his sleeve and crushed it.

“Fortunately, I was extra cautious and left a jade pendant on the island. When my sixteenth brother sees it, he will surely rush to my aid. He has a deep grudge against this person. If my brother and I join forces, we can just get rid of this scoundrel!”

He rose on the wind, yet every part of his body ached. His expression changed drastically. He gripped the twin blades on his back, drew them, and crossed them in front of him for defense. Situ Chen felt utterly humiliated. He possessed formidable blade skills, perhaps no worse than his opponent’s, yet he couldn't even find a shadow of his enemy. All his spells and blade techniques were useless, leaving him only able to passively defend.

Just as he thought this, five golden lights suddenly flew from afar, tailing each other closely. He broke out in a cold sweat. Situ Chen was not skilled in defense and felt a slight panic. He actually conjured a talisman, raising several white lights.

“Buzz, buzz, buzz…”

He heard a buzzing sound all around him. Four of the arrow lights exploded beside him, emitting a powdery golden mist that not only swept away his smoke and fire but also clung to his spiritual power like maggots, making his body feel instantly heavy. The last arrow light shattered his spiritual shield. Situ Chen quickly raised his blades, their crimson glow deflecting the attack as he swung them towards the arrow light. However, this arrow light was an inch shorter than the previous ones but far more agile and unpredictable. It subtly shifted in mid-air, piercing between his hands with lightning speed. Situ Chen was instantly terrified and trembled, a bloody hole already appearing in his palm.

“This arrow…”

His expression was blank. He finally abandoned all thoughts of resistance, realizing that this person was beyond his ability to contend with. He plunged forward, riding the wind northwards, but his speed was hampered by the golden energy, making him significantly slower than before.

Golden lights arrived one after another. Situ Chen, feeling frustrated, used his talismans, but Li Xuanfeng was extremely cunning, mixing real attacks with feints. He was struck repeatedly, spitting blood, pursued and fleeing for a full day and night. His body was covered in wounds, showing signs of exhaustion.

‘Situ Mo hasn’t arrived yet!’

Whether Situ Mo was skilled at deception or Situ Chen was simply poor at discerning loyalty, to this day, he still harbored no suspicion towards his sixteenth brother. Instead, he said ruthlessly:

“It seems… the Elemental people have surrounded my sixteenth brother. Fleeing straight to Jindou Island might not be any better…”

But by now, he had no other recourse. Out at sea, Li Xuanfeng would slowly wear him down to death. His only hope was Jindou Island. After much thought, he took out a deep golden talisman from his storage bag. This talisman was granted to direct descendants and was no ordinary Foundation Establishment talisman, but an ancient one, a last-resort life-saving method. The true immortal of the Situ family had been missing for many years, and all good items had long been used up. As a recently promoted young master, this talisman was all the life-saving artifact he had.

He immediately recited an incantation, activating the talisman. A semi-transparent light shield slowly emerged. Situ Chen instantly breathed a sigh of relief, lowered his head, and rode the wind north, no longer worrying about arrows at all. Indeed, six or seven more arrows followed, but they only left ripples on the light shield. Situ Chen let out a long breath and, with a grim face, continued flying forward on the wind. He didn't utter any harsh words of revenge, but his sinister expression said it all. With twin blades in hand, he moved forward amidst the gray-red smoke.

Situ Chen flew for a while, and Li Xuanfeng seemed to grow increasingly urgent. Arrows pursued him, causing the spiritual shield to constantly ripple. Situ Chen continued north, carefully calculating the distance, and secretly sighed in relief.

“At this rate, I can at least hold out until Jindou Island…”

Night had gradually deepened. After flying for a while, he suddenly glimpsed a man in golden armor standing ahead. The man appeared to be in his fifties or sixties, with brows like blades, deep-set, grayish-black eyes, and white hair fluttering in the wind. Though his face showed little emotion, it sent shivers down one's spine.

“Li Xuanfeng—!”

Situ Chen, instead of being surprised, was filled with hatred. He fiercely shouted, gripping his twin blades. But then, the old man before him took a step forward and struck his protective shield with a palm.

“Huh?”

Situ Chen froze for a moment, feeling an immense force. He, along with the light shield, was sent flying, rapidly plummeting like a heavy stone dropping into water, breaking the surface. In that brief moment of bewilderment, he had already sunk into the sea. He looked up to see five golden lights, like meteors, falling towards him, growing larger in his vision.

These five golden lights, having accumulated power, struck the same point on the light shield one after another. The ancient talisman finally couldn't bear it and emitted crisp, glass-like shattering sounds.

“Boom!”

Situ Chen felt a sharp pain in his chest. The large shield before him had shattered, and a fist-sized hole had appeared between his chest and abdomen. The intense pain quickly jolted his mind awake.

“He had already shot these five arrows, just waiting for me to arrive!”

But it was already too late. Golden lights flashed repeatedly in the sky. He had no space to even use his blade techniques, and slowly dissolved into thick, blood-red ashes at the bottom of the water.

He struggled to regulate his breathing, but then a golden light appeared before him—it was Li Xuanfeng, whose expression was terrifying as he stared intently at him.

Situ Chen, ultimately fearing death, pleaded: “I have no grudge or enmity with you, fellow cultivator, why are you doing this?”

Li Xuanfeng gave him no chance to rest. He slammed a palm onto Situ Chen's dantian, crippling his cultivation, then seized him. He flew to a nearby small island and silently tied him to a tree. Situ Chen was bewildered, but then he saw Li Xuanfeng take a short knife from his storage bag, lift Situ Chen's clothes, and slowly slice off a piece of flesh from his chest.

Situ Chen howled. Tiny beads of blood seeped from the wound on his chest. But no matter how he wailed or questioned, Li Xuanfeng maintained his terrifying expression, meticulously stripping away the flesh from his chest, scraping the deep white bones with a grating sound, leaving only the frantically beating heart. Only then did he speak:

“Still can’t understand? Situ Mo also wants to kill you. If it weren't for the fear of unforeseen changes from a prolonged affair, he wouldn't let you die so easily.”

Situ Chen’s eyes were wide with terror, but Li Xuanfeng was swift. He cleanly sliced off all the flesh from Situ Chen’s arms and legs, then with a single stroke, severed his head, which rolled several times on the ground.

Li Xuanfeng stood silently on the island. The underwater volcano rumbled, its telluric flames erupting, stirred by this man's immortal foundation. He tidied up the ground, wiped the blood from his hands, and softly said:

“Xu San, I have avenged you. My blade work surpasses that of mortals; the pain was only more, not less.”

He narrowed his eyes, seemingly not gaining much relief from the act, but rather an increase in his unease. With a gentle flick of his left hand, a tattered armored robe flew up. Attached to it was a dangling storage bag, made of black and red cloth, emitting a faint glow. Beside him, a golden profound arrow pulsed continuously, full of spiritual energy, darting back and forth in the air. Li Xuanfeng had crafted three more profound arrows, bringing the total to eight. This particular arrow was smaller than the other seven; it had been refined by Binghuo and Zhige back then, with intricate patterns, making it exceptionally agile.

Li Xuanfeng naturally took the storage bag, pulled out the jade talisman given by the Elements from his bosom, and tied the storage bag to the talisman to prevent it from being traced. He breathed slightly and flew northward.

Qingdu Mountain.

The scorching sun hung high in the sky. Today's duel should have favored Xiu Yue. The dazzling sunlight bathed the mountain in a golden hue. Li Yuexiang looked up, silently gazing at the fiery sun in the sky, her face pale, her lips tightly pressed. Her mother had been in seclusion for a long time, and the jade pendant Li Yuexiang always carried close to her body grew dimmer day by day. She watched it, yet was powerless to do anything. Success or failure in Foundation Establishment often lay in a moment of oversight. It was rare for one's aura to weaken day by day like this. The Li family's foundation was steadily deepening now, and Li Yuexiang, of course, knew why this was happening.

“Mother cultivates the Clear Evening Rain technique, a Dao foundation of the Lushui lineage. The original celestial phenomena perfectly aligned with her breakthrough, but a stream of Blazing Fire from the Xiuyue Sect came over and directly clashed, likely disrupting her spiritual qi.”

If the scorching sun had remained, it would have been fine, but the two sects' continuous tug-of-war, with alternating rain and sun, even affected Li Xijun on Yuting Mountain, causing his jade pendant to flicker on and off. Xiao Guiluan was in an even worse state, her aura weakening day by day. Li Yuexiang could only watch the light of the jade pendant in her hand grow dimmer each day. She knelt helplessly before the entrance of the cave dwelling until today, when the Xiu Yue sect gained an advantage in the duel, and the scorching sun beat down for seven hours, finally causing the jade pendant to shatter into powder.

With hands like mutton-fat jade, she cradled the fragmented jade pendant in her palms, a hint of bewilderment in her eyes. She knelt blankly on the bluestone ground, watching the scorching sun in the sky fade and a bluish wind and rain begin to fall.

“Mother…”

Li Yuexiang didn't even know what expression to wear, or how to comprehend her mother's death. She simply rose in silence, fumbled with the stone door before her, and gently opened it.

“Click-clack…”

Strands of green mist wafted out from the crack in the door, completely sinking Li Yuexiang’s heart. This phenomenon was clear; judging by its appearance, it was likely not a matter of one or two days—her body had already begun to dissolve.

“Mother…”

Li Yuexiang silently entered the cave dwelling. On the jade bed, there were only a few pieces of emerald green spirit stones, like cold ice, emitting wisps of light blue mist. She struggled to form a hand seal to seal the spirit stones. On the jade bed, only an empty black robe remained. She vaguely remembered that her mother didn’t like black, but her father did.

Li Yuexiang was calmer than she had expected. She put away the storage bag that was on the table; there was nothing else. Xiao Guiluan had failed her breakthrough, not achieved Foundation Establishment and passed away, so the spiritual items left behind were pitifully few. She looked around the clean cave dwelling and finally spotted a wooden talisman, two fingers wide, on the ground. It had jade beads strung on a red cord and seemed to have fallen from her mother's person.

Li Yuexiang bent down and picked it up. It was indeed an ordinary wooden talisman, a palm's length and two fingers wide. On the side facing her, four characters were inscribed in sharp, flowing ink, like a dragon and snake dancing: “Fortunate to have met.”

Li Yuexiang gently flipped it over. The handwriting on the back was delicate and beautiful, graceful and moving—clearly her mother Xiao Guiluan's small script, appearing gentle and charming. It also had four characters: “Waited for you for a long time.” Other than that, it was just ordinary wood, more like something casually written during a sweet moment between a couple, treasured by Xiao Guiluan and always kept with her.

Li Yuexiang tucked it close to her body. She then took out a jade box to store the emerald green spirit stones and walked out of the cave dwelling alone. Outside, the scorching sun was still dazzling, causing the trees to smoke faintly.

***

**Summary:**

Mysterious and bizarre swords scattered across the land await their renowned sword masters. Who can comprehend the ancient and unique profound techniques that have been passed down for eons? In the hundreds of districts of Chang'an, people who can "hold fire and swallow the sun" secretly lurk. The central plains are home to vast, decaying millennium-old aristocratic families. In the northern territories, silent, fierce barbarians are sharpening their blades. Among the southern states, there is peace and revelry, yet underlying deceit and intrigue…

And high above the distant, azure sky, a pair of ancient eyes, covering the world, are slowly opening.

Pei Ye raised his head and drew the long sword from his abdomen: “Taiyi True Dragon Immortal Lord… let’s see who truly is whose prey.”