Chapter 637: Chivalry (Part 1)

The two Hengxing cultivators whispered for a while in the void. Elsewhere in the void, firelight glowed dimly. A young man in black sat cross-legged, a small golden hammer clutched in his palm. He looked up and nodded slightly.

On the other side, frost and snow gleamed brightly, whistling sharply. A middle-aged woman stood in the void, quietly watching him. Below, Li Xijun had already departed, riding the searing wind. She watched him go, shook her head, and chuckled:

"How formidable."

Tu Longjian wasn't sure if she was mocking Guo Hongyao or praising Li Xijun. He simply said in a deep voice:

"Greetings, Senior Tian Wan."

"There's no need."

True Immortal Tian Wan's tone was truly as cold as frost and snow. With each breath, the frost in the void vibrated, and she replied icily.

She was the wife of Guo Shentong, a direct descendant of the Golden Feather Sect in her youth. She had eloped with Guo Shentong in Douxuan Heaven, leading Crimson Reef Island to its peak and establishing its current foundation. She was also the only Purple Mansion cultivator openly active on Crimson Reef Island today.

Tu Longjian's voice was clear and very sincere. He replied:

"The Li clan was not targeting your island; they merely retaliated out of necessity… Fortunately, Hongjian is unharmed. I implore you, True Immortal, to show some understanding."

As Tu Longjian initiated the conversation, frost and snow swirled around True Immortal Tian Wan, and she said icily:

"Guo Hongyao acted impulsively and was killed by Li Xijun. Since Junjian owes the Li clan a favor, and in deference to the True Immortal's prestige, we can let that matter pass. But he killed Guo Hongkang and made off with the treasure. How do you propose to resolve that?"

Tu Longjian knew in his heart that Li Xijun's act of killing and seizing treasure was, in all likelihood, orchestrated by Heng Zhu, merely to force him to intervene. Which of the Purple Mansion cultivators present, or observing from the side, didn't know this? Moreover, Heng Zhu was operating under the guise of helping the Li family, making him difficult to accuse.

If he were to point this out, it would be a clear rejection of Heng Zhu's faction and an explicit siding with Crimson Reef Island, a sect from the Eastern Sea. How could he agree to that? He merely whispered:

"Your island's actions are fierce; in his panic, it was unavoidable that he…"

"Panic?"

Tian Wan was not about to give up. She shook her head and said:

"Fellow Daoist, you speak empty words… I only ask one thing: since you, Junjian, want to save Li Xijun's life and also protect the Mingfang Heavenly Stone, where is there such a good deal? Just hand over the Six Ding Fused Fire Token to me, and this matter will be completely dismissed. From then on, Fellow Daoist will be an honored guest of my Crimson Reef Island, and the Li clan and our island will also be cleared of any entanglement—a win-win situation for both."

Tian Wan had specifically sent Guo Hongyao and had also told Heng Zhu to "add fuel to the fire" while she would "add more flames"—all for this one sentence. How could Tu Longjian not know this? His handsome face turned towards Tian Wan, and he finally replied:

"The Six Ding Fused Fire Token is of great use to me, your junior. I cannot return it to you, Senior, for now."

As soon as he spoke these words, True Immortal Tian Wan's expression turned cold. Tu Longjian quietly confronted her. This woman possessed four divine abilities at the late-stage Purple Mansion realm, while he was only at the early-stage. Yet Tu Longjian showed no fear whatsoever.

The reason was simple: as long as Tian Wan made a move, Heng Zhu, who had been single-handedly fanning the flames, would undoubtedly stand behind Tu Longjian. This was precisely the outcome Heng Zhu had long anticipated!

True Immortal Tian Wan continued to observe him carefully. She spoke softly:

"Years ago, I sent Guo Hongyao to Moonlit Lake to investigate Xu Xiao. I had thought to use his fate to elevate this unpromising junior. Unexpectedly… Xu Xiao was harmed by some fellow Daoist before she could act, and the situation was thrown into disarray… The Six Ding Fused Fire Token… ended up in your hands instead."

"Although divine abilities, once cultivated, are generally not held against one, the Six Ding Fused Fire Token is an ancient spirit artifact, no small matter. There's no rush; Fellow Daoist should consider it carefully."

Although True Immortal Tian Wan's tone was icy, her words were not overly forceful. Clearly, Crimson Reef Island's situation was not favorable, and this True Immortal, who cultivated the Cold Qi divine ability, did not intend to completely alienate him.

'She still has something to rely on…'

Tu Longjian paused slightly. His eyes, burning with dim flames, gazed through the void towards the real world. Li Xijun had flown for hundreds of miles, but could no longer suppress his injuries. With the fire qi attacking his heart, he collapsed onto a sea island.

True Immortal Tian Wan also looked towards the real world. She said softly:

"Tu Longjian, my husband also possesses a special fate. People like you are inherently noble, with the spare capacity to act righteously and chivalrously, and you receive good fortune in everything you do. I am curious, though: do ordinary people receive good fortune when they act righteously?"

Tu Longjian frowned. He said softly:

"Senior, are you implying…?"

True Immortal Tian Wan quietly looked at him. She said softly:

"My divine ability shows me that two rogue cultivators will subsequently arrive at this island. Both are from Jiangnan and have received many favors from the Li clan members. Neither of us will use our divine abilities to influence them. Will these two save him?"

"This…"

Tu Longjian pondered this several times in his mind. Tian Wan's imaginative move was truly unexpected, making him fall silent.

Logically, he cultivated the Ostral Fire path while Tian Wan cultivated the Cold Qi path; neither was adept at divination. Their divine abilities were clashing in the void, and with Li Xijun right beneath them, he was already beyond divination. He thought it over carefully, secretly musing:

"I am not the only Purple Mansion cultivator close to the Li clan. Moreover, I have backup and do not fear her."

"If these two recall old favors and do not harm him in any way, I might still hold some initiative…"

Having made up his mind, he nodded and said:

"Then let's wait."

The Eastern Sea.

The constant cycle of descending water and rising lightning perpetually enshrouded the area. After a brief period of clarity, the weather turned gloomy again, with dense thunderclouds and misty rain.

Li Xijun had flown for hundreds of miles. The fused fire had already penetrated through his eyes, and the effects of the Bright Frost Pine Ridge were gradually being overwhelmed. Only his strong will allowed him to keep flying until he was beyond the observable range of the farthest island reef in the Light Boat Archipelago.

Upon reaching this point, he realized that the persistent dark energy entwined around him seemed to have been disturbed by something and finally vanished. The taut string in Li Xijun's mind snapped, and he plummeted headfirst towards the sea.

Just as he was about to hit the surface of the sea, he suddenly awoke. The seabed was a dragon's domain, where shrimp soldiers and crab generals swirled. If he fell into the sea in his current state, he would, in all likelihood, be captured by these minor demons. He had no choice but to brace himself and fly for a while longer.

Unfortunately, there were no islands nearby. In his dazed state, he spotted a patch of reef. He unleashed a wave of magic from his sleeve onto it, and with a soft cracking sound, a solid block of ice instantly formed.

As he fell, he barely managed to flick out a talisman, protecting himself within its aura. Li Xijun finally lost consciousness and slumped onto the ice with a thud.

Misty rain filled the world, tapping steadily onto the ice.

After a moment, two streaks of escape light, trailing faint black plumes, flew from the north. Two rogue cultivators in Daoist robes approached on the wind, circled twice, and cautiously stopped nearby.

They revealed themselves. One, appearing over seventy, was hunched and held a long wooden sword, his face somewhat sinister. The other, a burly man slightly younger, held an axe in each hand and had bushy eyebrows and large eyes, as he cautiously surveyed the scene.

The sinister-looking old man glanced at the red-robed man lying on the ice. He swallowed and whispered:

"Fellow Daoist Rui, look at this…"

The burly man, surnamed Rui, frowned. He squinted at him, then observed the flames on the red-robed man, and replied:

"What powerful flames! This cultivator seems gravely wounded, on the verge of death… Look closely. I reckon in ten or so hours, he'll be in serious trouble!"

The sinister-looking old man swallowed again. He whispered:

"Fellow Daoist Rui, your insight is truly superior. How can we just stand by and let him die? Why don't we quickly save him?"

The two exchanged glances, both seeing the greed in the other's eyes. The burly man, surnamed Rui, replied:

"Don't you see the talisman's glow on him? If we don't deal with that, how can we 'save' him?"

The sinister-looking old man hesitated for a moment. He whispered:

"But the Open Clear Art Talisman is very expensive… it's a life-saving item, and I only have three left…"

He was glared at by the burly man, surnamed Rui, and had no choice but to take the talisman from his sleeve. He performed spells and recited incantations, finally squeezing a beam of green light from his fingertips and commanding:

"Go!"

The green light shattered with a 'bang'. Yet the magic shield on the man's body only dimmed slightly. Both were stunned and thought to themselves:

"What a good item!"

The two had no idea what kind of talisman it was. Seeing that it hadn't broken, they were initially startled. But the red-robed man still lay motionless, which made their eyes light up. The sinister-looking old man said:

"We're rich now!"

Both knew that the man before them must be incredibly wealthy. The sinister-looking old man quickly took out two more talismans and borrowed two from the burly man next to him. All four were activated simultaneously, converging at his fingertips.

Still uneasy, he quickly looked up and exchanged glances with his companion. At the same time, they both took out their magic artifacts, concentrating their spells, and simultaneously shouted:

"Strike!"

This magical light, representing both their combined assets, smashed onto the shield, emitting a resonant thud. The light shield dimmed to its extreme but remained unyielding. Both were greatly alarmed and immediately raised their magic artifacts, wildly and frantically smashing at it.

The two struggled for quite some time. Both were breathless and their magical power was exhausted. Only then did the light shield shatter with a crack. The sinister-looking old man was drenched in sweat and slumped to the ground, sighing:

"Confound it."

The burly man, surnamed Rui, swept his spiritual sense across, but his hair stood on end. He leaped up, wailing:

"Damn it! Foundation Establishment!"

He looked as if he had been stung by a scorpion and desperately fled backward. The sinister-looking old man, meanwhile, froze for half a breath, his legs trembling like chaff, and managed two desperate leaps on the wind. The two, one after the other, fled north.

The sea wind blew. After fifteen minutes, the two figures stealthily approached on the wind. Landing not far away, one of them said:

"If he still had strength, killing the two of us just now would have been as easy as breathing."

Having emboldened themselves, the two moved forward again, landing close by. The sinister-looking old man tremblingly extended his magic artifact to poke at the storage bag. His long sword trembled as if about to fall, but after hooking at it twice, he finally managed to retrieve it.

He squinted and took a careful look. A familiar large lake appeared on it, along with a large character:

"Li."

"The Qingdu Li Family!"

The two had been overseas these past days and did not know that the Li family had already unified Moonlit Lake. They were suddenly speechless, looking at each other. The sinister-looking old man mumbled a few words, then looked hesitantly at the burly man, surnamed Rui:

"The one who wielded lightning by the riverside and saved us was Li Qinghong… and the one with the bow in the sky was Li Xuanfeng… At any rate, they did us a favor."

The burly man, surnamed Rui, frowned, but the sinister-looking old man had already made up his mind. He whispered:

"Let's help him back to the lake now. How could the Li clan treat us poorly?"

The two once again approached on the wind. This time, they landed more confidently before the ice. The burly man, surnamed Rui, glanced at him, then suddenly stopped, a look of dread on his face, and whispered:

"You've forgotten what cultivation method we practice!"

The sinister-looking old man frowned and asked, somewhat confused:

"What's wrong with that? Even if we are in the Eastern Sea, there are those in Jiangnan who secretly practice demonic arts…"

The burly man, surnamed Rui, said fearfully:

"What do you know! The Li clan is an orthodox cultivation family, and under their rule, they despise cannibalism the most. We practice blood qi demonic arts and have consumed over a hundred people. How could such a powerful figure tolerate us? You think you'll return him for a reward? He'll just kill us both with one sword!"

The sinister-looking old man was thus terrified. He hesitated for a moment, then replied:

"Then… then we can only leave him here… Let's flee quickly!"

The burly man, surnamed Rui, secretly glanced at him and said mournfully:

"We broke his magic shield and touched his storage bag. Grand cultivation families have countless immortal arts; how could they not know? If we don't save him, and he truly dies, how could they spare us?"

"You!"

The sinister-looking old man suddenly felt caught between a rock and a hard place. He mumbled:

"What are we to do!"

Seeing his hesitation, greed resurfaced in the burly man's heart. He gritted his teeth and said:

"Why don't we steal his storage bag, go all the way north, and try to establish our Foundation? Wouldn't that be a stroke of luck…?"

The sinister-looking old man was somewhat swayed. Holding the storage bag, he was in a dilemma. He whispered:

"Then! Then, according to you…"

The burly man, surnamed Rui, stepped forward. He carefully looked at Li Xijun, then stared blankly for a moment, and felt a chill run down his spine. He said almost imperceptibly:

"Look at him, born like a banished immortal… If he looked foolish, it would be one thing. But such a dashing figure must be a swordsman of the Li family. His swordplay must be divinely masterful…"

"What exactly do you intend to do!"

The sinister-looking old man felt apprehensive and questioned him. The burly man, surnamed Rui, merely whispered:

"His swordplay must be divinely masterful. Anyway, we're going to offend the Li family, so we might as well gamble on Foundation Establishment. You and I will die sooner or later. If we kill him, we'll have one less enemy later…"

"Moreover, he's almost burned to death by the flames. If you and I secretly deliver two more sword strikes, no one will be able to tell what happened later. As long as he ultimately dies by fire, they can only deduce that a fire user killed him. On the other hand, if we let him recover, he might just come after us for the storage bag."

This burly man, surnamed Rui, had only half-baked knowledge; half-guessing and half-bluffing, yet he spoke with such conviction that he completely intimidated his companion.

He had always followed the burly man, surnamed Rui, up until now, and for a moment, he was thrown into disarray. Watching the burly man pick up the ice-like long sword from the ground, he lowered his head and cowered in a corner.

The burly man, surnamed Rui, tried to draw the sword twice, but Hanlin refused to leave its sheath. Its cold light flared intensely, cutting his palm and making it bleed profusely. He cried out in agony, immediately dropped the azure sword, and glared furiously while clutching his palm.

"Damn it!"

He snatched the sinister old man's long sword and plunged it into the man, but it was blocked by the magical robe's main body and couldn't penetrate. His hands and feet began to tremble. His words were decisive, but his actions were shaky and fearful. He exclaimed:

"What is this!"

He stabbed three times in a row, all to no avail. He took a deep breath, found a gap at the edge of the magical robe, and drew his sword to stab the young man in the abdomen.

The man only felt as if he were stabbing into cotton. The sword left no bloody mark; he only heard a series of scraping and clanging sounds, as if there were something hard beneath the flesh.

"Ah!"

The old man beside him saw clearly that beneath the opening, the heart and lungs were glowing reddish, revealing a stony texture. It made his eyes sting. He leaped up like a toad, wailing:

"Stone… All his internal organs are made of red stone! Fellow Daoist Rui… let's run… forget the storage bag… forget Foundation Establishment!"

The burly man, surnamed Rui, flushed crimson, as if blood would drip from his face. He whispered:

"Old man, you have no ambition. It's just death! How glorious is Foundation Establishment!"