The cave was filled with a heavy chill. A strange fragrance of rouge and powder permeated the air, mixed together with the stench of corpse water. Scattered across the ground were fragments of human bones, pieces of cloth, and even some uneaten human hearts and eyes piled inside a shallow white porcelain dish in the corner.
Yet contrasting with this gloomy and horrifying scene was a pile of large red cushions and colorful butterfly-patterned golden curtains deep within the cave.
Behind the curtain, a woman dressed in almost nothing was curled up, sobbing miserably. Her mind was already in a daze, and even when other people entered the cave, she showed no reaction at all.
Yue Chenqing was startled.
“How is this flower thief a woman?”
Just after Yue Chenqing said this, a hand suddenly shot out from beneath the pile of soft red pillows and quilts, grabbing the woman tightly around the neck!
Before she could even scream, she was dragged into the sea of red fabric. Immediately afterward, a pale-faced man rose from the bedding and pressed down on her, fiercely biting her lips in front of everyone.
In the blink of an eye, the woman’s soul seemed to have been sucked away. Her hands went limp and fell to her sides, her eyes wide open in confusion.
She was dead.
The man absorbed her soul, then slowly lifted his head.
He had a thin, refined face. His eyes were long and elegant, his cheekbones slightly sunken, and several strands of black hair hung beside his face, making him appear extremely gaunt.
He was the true “flower thief.”
After a moment of silence, Mo Xi spoke.
“…It’s you.”
The man licked his damp lips and smiled.
“Lord Xi He has seen me before?”
“…Yes.”
They had met before.
Many years ago, on the battlefield of the Northern Border, Mo Xi had ventured alone into a dangerous situation and was surrounded by thousands of demon wolves raised by the Liao Kingdom. He had been unable to escape.
At that time, a young cultivator dressed in green robes arrived with a sword in hand. His sword techniques were ethereal and exquisite. Together with Mo Xi, whom he had never met before, he fought back the thousands of demon wolves.
Before leaving, Mo Xi had wanted to keep him behind to express his gratitude. However, that young cultivator only turned back and smiled.
His brows were gentle, and the green ribbon binding his hair fluttered in the wind.
“Passing by and offering help was merely a small effort.”
A faint smile appeared on his face.
“Why would General bother remembering it?”
Pure as the first snow, righteous as a sword master.
—That was the Li Qingqian Mo Xi had personally seen back then.
Therefore, although traces of the Duanshui Sword Technique had been found on the corpses after the Hongyan Pavilion massacre, Mo Xi still could not be certain until he saw Li Qingqian himself.
As for Mu Rong Lian, he had seen Li Qingqian’s portrait in The Record of Heroes, so he immediately recognized him. His expression changed as he shouted:
“How could it be you?”
“Who else did you think it was?” Li Qingqian stood up and casually kicked Lan the girl’s limp corpse aside. His tone was full of mockery.
“Could it have been that escaped cook?”
He sneered.
“That useless fool was nothing more than a chess piece in my hand. If he had even half my ability, would you have been able to imprison him for so many years?”
When it came to sarcasm, Mu Rong Lian had never been willing to lose.
After his shock faded, the corner of Mu Rong Lian’s lips curled into a mocking smile.
“Haha, how strange. Li Qingqian of the Duanshui Sword, a renowned expert of Yunye, has always been famous for his pure reputation. Yet today I see that he is nothing more than a flower thief who enjoys drinking human blood, eating flesh, and digging out hearts.”
“Truly eye-opening. Impressive. Very impressive.”
Unexpectedly, before Li Qingqian could reply, Yue Chenqing suddenly froze.
“Wait, that’s not right.”
“What’s not right?”
Yue Chenqing pointed at him.
“He isn’t Li Qingqian. He… he clearly is a—”
He hesitated, as if he was not entirely certain of his own judgment. But in the end, he still said:
“He isn’t a living person. He is only a sword spirit!”
The moment those words left his mouth, the faint smile on Li Qingqian’s face suddenly froze.
Slowly, he turned his eyes toward Yue Chenqing.
The smile had not completely disappeared, but the murderous intent in his eyes had already surged like a drawn sword.
Yue Chenqing felt uneasy and instinctively moved behind Mo Xi.
Li Qingqian, however, slowly revealed a sinister smile.
“This little brother truly hides his abilities. May I ask your honored name?”
“I-I-I’m Yue—”
“Why are you answering him?!” Mo Xi kicked him hard and scolded angrily.
“Do you think you’re still a disciple of the academy, answering every question you’re asked?!”
Yue Chenqing shook his head like a rattle drum and hurriedly said:
“I’m not Yue—”
Li Qingqian threw his head back and laughed loudly, interrupting him.
“Enough. Knowing that your surname is Yue is enough.”
“The Yue family of Chonghua is one of the greatest artifact-refining clans among the twenty-eight nations of the Nine Provinces. No wonder even Lord Wangshu and Lord Xi He failed to notice the truth, yet a little boy like you saw through it.”
On the battlefield, Yue Chenqing was usually the one hiding behind others.
Now there were only three people and one bamboo warrior inside the cave, and suddenly he had become the focus of attention. He became extremely nervous, shrinking like a quail.
“I-I-I…”
Mo Xi kicked him, but after doing so, he still pulled Yue Chenqing back and protected him behind himself.
Turning his face slightly, he asked:
“The person who fought you at the tavern was him?”
“Yes… yes.”
“Why didn’t you recognize him as a sword spirit back then?”
“At that time, I only felt that there was a familiar aura around him…” Yue Chenqing murmured.
“Lord Xi He, do you remember? I told you before. Thinking back now, that was the aura of a sword spirit. It’s just that—”
“Just that I deliberately suppressed it at the time.”
Li Qingqian took over his words and sneered.
“And this Young Master Yue only exchanged a few moves with me. He is still young, and he probably has not fully mastered the Yue family’s artifact identification techniques.”
“So naturally, he could not figure it out immediately.”
He paused, then licked the corner of his lips.
“But Young Master Yue, I think the thing your elders most need to teach you is not artifact refining.”
“It is another lesson.”
Yue Chenqing stared blankly.
“Ah?”
“That is, even if you know certain things, it is better to pretend that you…”
Before he finished speaking, he had already shot into the air, summoning an iron sword and thrusting directly toward Yue Chenqing.
His final words came out coldly:
“…don’t know—!”
Seeing the sword tip approaching, Yue Chenqing screamed:
“Lord Xi He, save me!”
Mo Xi grabbed Yue Chenqing and shoved him toward Mu Rong Lian, then stepped forward himself.
A flash of red light appeared.
Ruoran transformed into a long blade and collided with Li Qingqian’s sword with a sharp clang.
Sword spirit…
A sword spirit…
So that was it!
No wonder the wounds on the corpses contained both traces of evil energy and ordinary weapon injuries.
Ghosts usually did not use weapons to harm people. They also could not maintain such clear awareness, nor could they write words on walls.
But if it was a sword spirit, everything made sense.
In the Nine Provinces, some artifact refiners sought to make weapons stronger and more adaptable. Besides ordinary spirit attachment methods, they would also use living people as sacrifices to forge swords.
However, this method was far too cruel. The twenty nations led by Chonghua had abolished this sword-forging technique long ago.
Nowadays, the method was mainly used by the Liao Kingdom.
A soul entering a weapon could either fall into eternal slumber through the passage of time, never awakening again…
Or, if its obsession remained too strong, it could slowly reform itself into human shape.
Sword spirits that successfully transformed into human form were almost identical to living people in appearance and behavior. The only difference was the overwhelming evil aura surrounding them.
Because maintaining human form required enormous spiritual power, sword spirits with insufficient cultivation, like Li Qingqian, could only achieve their goals by eating cultivators’ hearts and flesh, and absorbing the souls of weaker beings.
These transformed sword spirits were often extremely powerful, with every move surpassing their former selves.
But they also had a fatal weakness—
This was exactly why Li Qingqian became furious after Yue Chenqing exposed him and urgently wanted to kill him.
Their true bodies could not fall into the hands of enemies.
In other words, as long as one obtained the weapon that served as the sword spirit’s vessel, whether by sealing it or destroying it, then no matter how powerful the sword spirit was, it could only surrender.
Mu Rong Lian clearly realized this as well.
Taking advantage of Mo Xi and the sword spirit being locked in battle, he dragged Yue Chenqing aside and asked:
“You said this Li Qingqian is a sword spirit. Do you have a way to find his original body?”
“I’ll try!”
Yue Chenqing closed his eyes and formed a hand seal.
After a while, he opened his eyes and turned to look at Mu Rong Lian with a stunned expression.
Mu Rong Lian was puzzled.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“…”
Yue Chenqing said in disbelief:
“Brother Mu Rong… his true body… his true body is on you!”
“You’re talking nonsense!”
A tobacco pipe immediately struck Yue Chenqing on the forehead.
Mu Rong Lian angrily said:
“Are you saying I’m working together with a Liao Kingdom traitor?!”
“I’m not! I’m not! I only meant his true body is, is—”
“It’s not on me!”
“…Okay.”
Mu Rong Lian pressed down on his head irritably.
“Try again.”
Yue Chenqing had no choice but to try again.
But after testing three or four times, every time he opened his eyes, he only stared timidly at Mu Rong Lian without daring to speak.
Mu Rong Lian’s face slowly turned dark.
His lips moved slightly. He wanted to take a puff of Floating Life Like a Dream to calm himself, but then he remembered that during his battle with the female corpses, he had used the pipe to stab one of their mouths.
He immediately felt disgusted.
So he rubbed the pipe repeatedly against Yue Chenqing’s clothes.
As he rubbed, he suddenly thought of something.
His expression froze.
The movement of his hand gradually slowed.
“Wait.”
He murmured:
“…It really is… possible that it is on me.”
After saying this, he glanced at Li Qingqian and Mo Xi fighting fiercely.
Seeing that Li Qingqian would not be able to break past Mo Xi anytime soon, he quickly pulled Yue Chenqing and tried to move behind the rocks to hide.
Li Qingqian was not stupid.
Seeing their movement from the corner of his eye, he snorted and turned his sword, attempting to chase after them.
But before he had moved several dozen feet, Mo Xi’s cold voice sounded behind him.
“Ruoran, manifest your spirit!”
Li Qingqian’s heart tightened.
Behind him came the sound of an explosion.
Red light illuminated the entire stone cave like a sea of fire.
A spirit serpent three people tall emerged from the blazing red light and shot toward Li Qingqian, blocking his path.
Li Qingqian turned around angrily.
“Mo Xi, don’t push me too far! Others may not know about your disgraceful affairs with that man surnamed Gu, but I know everything!”
“I know what you said and did with him in Luomei Courtyard after you returned!”
“If you continue stopping me, I will destroy your reputation completely!”
Unexpectedly, Mo Xi only looked at him coldly.
Holding the whip that resonated with Ruoran’s spirit, he flicked it once through the air.
Then he said one word:
“Attack.”
Ruoran lunged toward Li Qingqian.
Li Qingqian shouted:
“Mo Xi! You really don’t care what I reveal?!”
“I care about what you say.”
Mo Xi narrowed his eyes, his expression filled with disdain.
“But will anyone believe you?”
“You—!”
However, Li Qingqian knew Mo Xi was right.
Since his youth, Young Master Mo had always been upright and disciplined. He never acted recklessly.
Whether facing handsome men or charming women, he had never shown the slightest interest.
In this world, perhaps only Gu Mang could become the one stain and scandal on this man’s reputation.
As an evil spirit himself, even if he spoke the truth with countless proofs, who would believe him?
And even if they did believe him, what could they do?
Clenching his teeth, Li Qingqian turned back and fought against the Ruoran serpent.
The bamboo warrior ran around noisily, wanting to help.
Mo Xi glanced at Gu Mang, who was still bound to it and sleeping soundly.
He raised his hand and created a protective barrier around him.
The bamboo warrior:
“Da-da-da! Ah-da!!”
Mo Xi said:
“Stay inside. Don’t move.”
The bamboo warrior seemed depressed that it could not contribute.
Its head drooped down, and Gu Mang’s head drooped along with it.
After a while, it stretched out both arms, straightened its body weakly, and began standing like a scarecrow.
Behind the stone forest.
Yue Chenqing was crouching on the ground, staring dumbfoundedly at the pile of miniature weapons before him.
Tiny swords, knives, staffs, whips—everything was only the size of a fingernail.
They all poured out from Mu Rong Lian’s Qiankun pouch.
“These were confiscated from the prisoners of Luomei Courtyard,” Mu Rong Lian explained.
“Although their owners had their spiritual cores destroyed, their weapons may not willingly accept a new owner. Their resentment is extremely strong.”
Yue Chenqing was shocked.
“Brother Mu Rong, carrying so many ownerless divine weapons with you is extremely dangerous! If they develop spirits, it would become a disaster!”
Mu Rong Lian rolled his eyes.
“I’m not an idiot.”
“This Qiankun pouch was made by your master before he died. It carries his seal. Forget hundreds of weapons—even thousands could be contained.”
“Besides, I already had your father extract all the weapon spirits and suppress them in the Clear Spring Pool at Luomei Courtyard. There are also forty-nine spirit-suppressing golden carp raised in the water.”
“Not to mention Luomei Courtyard itself has a barrier preventing evil spirits from escaping. Normally—”
He suddenly stopped.
Then, as if he had thought of something, his expression slowly changed.
He murmured:
“I understand…”
“Brother Mu Rong, what do you understand?”
Mu Rong Lian said:
“I understand how the sword spirit Li Qingqian escaped from Luomei Courtyard.”