The northern frontier!
The tribulation clouds slowly dispersed.
The eighty-one Golden Core tribulation bolts had been weathered successfully. Sunlight pierced through the clouds and once again shone down upon the earth.
The oppressive aura of the heavenly tribulation vanished completely. Within a radius of a hundred li, the living beings that had survived all felt as though a great burden had been lifted, collapsing limply to the ground in exhaustion.
Luo Yuheng’s feathered robes fluttered, and her lotus crown bound up her smooth azure hair. Her whole body was completely unscathed. The Golden Core floating above her head, after enduring the full eighty-one bolts of tribulation lightning, slowly began to melt.
The Golden Core melted into golden liquid and poured over Luo Yuheng’s body.
In an instant, her whole person transformed into a resplendent golden body, bursting forth with boundless golden light.
The body that could survive myriad calamities was finally complete!
From this day forth, no magic could corrupt it, and it would neither die nor perish, roaming freely between heaven and earth.
Buzz!
The divine sword in Luo Yuheng’s hand erupted with terrifying sword light, eager to try itself, as though it longed to rush straight into battle and kill the enemy.
She turned her gaze towards Xu Qi’an in the distance, his whole body drenched in blood as he struggled bitterly to hold on.
“Still not making your move?”
Baidi’s tone was cold as he said lightly, “Can’t you tell? His stamina had already weakened badly. How long can this sort of ‘Dao’ born from drawing off hidden last? Its upper limit cannot possibly exceed first rank. If you still do not help him, he is as good as dead.”
Baidi was provoking Luo Yuheng into taking action. So long as Luo Yuheng dared join the battle, she would lose the reserves she needed to stabilise her cultivation and face the second stage of the heavenly tribulation.
After going through a life-and-death battle, how could she still undergo tribulation?
If Luo Yuheng chose to retreat and hide herself away to stabilise her cultivation, that would naturally be best. Xu Qi’an, al-Asura, and the other beyond-mortals would undoubtedly die.
He and Agaruka Bodhisattva would not let them escape.
“Ignore me, keep going with tribulation!”
Xu Qi’an licked his cracked lips and said in a deep voice:
“Act according to the plan. Continue the tribulation!”
The plan? Baidi’s brow twitched. It was no dumb beast; hearing those words, it instinctively became wary and began analysing and considering in its mind what hidden trump cards the Great Feng’s beyond-mortal experts might still possess.
Driven into such a desperate corner, if they wanted to turn things around, they certainly could not rely on their own strength. Most likely they had allies. But in this tribulation battle, all the beyond-mortals of Jiuzhou were watching. Everyone was on the board. It was hardly likely that some miraculous surprise force would descend from the heavens.
Then again, it was also possible that the boy was bluffing and trying to frighten it.
Luo Yuheng took a deep breath, took out several medicinal pills and swallowed them. Then, she split out four female-shaped Aspects.
They were respectively an earth aspect covered in stone armour, a fire aspect burning with blazing flames, a water aspect wreathed in black vapour, and a wind aspect formed from air currents.
Before anyone noticed, the surroundings grew gloomy. Tribulation clouds once more gathered overhead, blocking out the sunlight.
A terrifying pressure swept across a hundred li.
That wind aspect formed from air currents floated upwards and shot towards the sky.
During the process, gust after gust of astral wind swept in, and several times it nearly scattered the aspect apart.
Boom!
A thick bolt of lightning crashed down from the tribulation clouds.
The first layer of the Four Aspects Tribulation, the Wind and Thunder Tribulation!
She’s giving up the chance to stabilise her cultivation, actively drawing in tribulation clouds and starting tribulation early?
Agaruka Bodhisattva’s face grew grave as he looked towards the peerlessly beautiful half-step Land Immortal.
Where does Luo Yuheng find such confidence?
…
Through the Huntian Divine Mirror, Xu Erlang had searched aimlessly and managed to catch sight of the movement of Qi Guangbo leading Yunzhou’s central army as they assembled at Xunzhou City.
He had already sent men on fast horses with the intelligence to Xunzhou City to warn the defending troops stationed there.
After that, he immediately gathered his cavalry and prepared to ride to Xunzhou’s aid.
He had already vaguely guessed Qi Guangbo’s true aim, a surprise attack on Xunzhou.
Although the battle line centred around Xunzhou had already been smashed to pieces after days of fighting, that did not mean the Great Feng army had abandoned the line. There were still many roaming cavalry units encamped near the front, sending out scouts on patrol.
If the city walls were gone, then so be it, they would fight field battles instead.
The line would not retreat just because the city fortifications had been lost, because behind it lay Yongzhou City, and along the way there were countless common people.
The forces along the line were mixed and complicated. There were elites led by Yang Yan and the others, irregular troops led by the likes of Chu Yuanzhen, and also followers of the Wulin Alliance.
Because the quality of the troops varied greatly, victories and defeats were mixed. For example, the force under Xu Xinnian’s command consisted of elite cavalry, and with the abilities of the Huntian Divine Mirror added on, they had won battle after battle and had done an excellent job holding the section of the line under his responsibility.
But for Yang Qianhuan, Li Miaozhen, and some of the Wulin Alliance units, once these irregular troops encountered Yunzhou’s elite cavalry, no matter how many heads they had for the Yunzhou army to chop, it was still not enough.
It was worth mentioning that the reason Yang Yan had remained in Yongzhou was because Luo Yuheng was undergoing tribulation in the northern frontier, and her presence could deter the Yao and barbarians.
Although the northern Yao and barbarians were currently allies of the Great Feng, the two sides were still ancient enemies, and there were no absolute friends in the world, only absolute interests. The Great Feng could not possibly lower its guard completely against the Yao and barbarians.
Just like the two Gold Gongs, Jiang Lyuzhong and Zhang Kaitai, who had already returned to Yuyang Pass to hold the north-eastern border, preventing the Church of the Warlock God from sending troops while the Central Plains were in chaos.
As the defending side, the Great Feng was relatively passive and was often led around by the nose by the Yunzhou army.
Yang Gong had also once tried to make use of the Huntian Divine Mirror to launch a surprise attack on Yunzhou’s main force.
But Yunzhou’s main army had vanguard camps scouting the road ahead, scouts patrolling the outer perimeter, and the Vermilion Bird army surveying the skies above.
For a large army to attempt a surprise attack was almost impossible to succeed. By contrast, people like Li Miaozhen, who used Arcanists’ teleportation formations to burn grain depots, found it easier to carry things out without anyone knowing.
But the Yunzhou army had not given them that opportunity.
Li Miaozhen and Xu Erlang walked to the riverbank. The former crouched down and said:
“Even riding at full speed all the way, we still have to rest for a quarter of an hour. Otherwise, even if we reach Xunzhou, we’ll still just be a force of exhausted troops. Xunzhou’s defences are tight. If Qi Guangbo wants to take it quickly, he can forget it.
“As long as Yang Gong holds on until reinforcements arrive, the Yunzhou army will naturally withdraw.”
Xu Xinnian nodded lightly.
This sort of situation had not been uncommon in Qingzhou. He himself had once gone through it. Songshan County had been surrounded by the Yunzhou army and had almost reached the point of exhausting both arrows and grain.
If they held out, reinforcements would naturally come.
Now he himself was playing the role of reinforcements.
Xu Erlang took out a handkerchief and wiped the dust from his face, then carefully washed the handkerchief clean.
Not without worry, he said:
“It was only by relying on the convenience of the Huntian Divine Mirror that we discovered in advance the trace of Qi Guangbo leading the central army. Yang Yan and the Wulin Alliance people probably will not react that quickly. And they are very likely to encounter obstruction from Yunzhou cavalry.”
Qi Guangbo wanted exactly to exploit a gap in timing and seize Xunzhou City in one stroke. So long as he took Xunzhou City, he could split Yongzhou with the Great Feng army and push the war into its next stage, the struggle for Yongzhou City.
That being the case, in the plans of this Yunzhou commander-in-chief, there would certainly be detailed arrangements, including troops sent to pin down the Great Feng forces at various points along the line.
As he spoke, Xu Xinnian turned his head and saw Li Miaozhen lying by the riverbank, gulping down water noisily, then scooping up a handful with both hands and slapping it hard onto her face.
The cool water wet her beautiful face, dampened the hair at her temples, and soaked the armour over her chest.
The free and unrestrained Lady Flying Swallow.
No, do you really not care about hygiene? Drinking raw water will make you ill. Oh, right, you’re a fourth rank expert, never mind… Xu Xinnian silently withdrew his gaze, quietly hid away his own handkerchief, and also scooped up a handful of water to slap on his face, making himself look rough and rugged.
Li Miaozhen glanced sideways at him and said with narrowed eyes and a smile:
“Keep using the Huntian Divine Mirror to observe along the way. Given Qi Guangbo’s methods, if the other armies are being pinned down by enemy forces, there is no reason we would be exempt.”
When she smiled, she looked both handsome and carefree.
Xu Erlang nodded slightly. His gaze swept across the army, over those young men secretly looking at Lady Flying Swallow, and he said with a smile:
“By the way, where did you find all these experts?”
The combat strength of Li Miaozhen’s private troops was extremely high. They were all cultivators, and most of them were young people.
“They’re all old companions from the past.” Li Miaozhen spoke in the tone of a jianghu wanderer and said:
“Did Xu Ningyan never tell you? Back when I was in Yunzhou, I was suppressing bandits. I built up my own private force. Its members were friends I met from all corners of the land, or people who came because of my reputation.
“They’re all righteous and chivalrous folk.”
More like they’re lusting after your body… Xu Erlang muttered inwardly.
Come to think of it, Li Miaozhen and big brother seemed to have an unusually close relationship. He wondered whether they were close confidants or whether she was one of his romantic interests.
Xu Erlang had always been quite critical of his eldest brother’s flirtatious and amorous ways. Romantic debts were the sort of thing that harmed both others and oneself.
As for Xu Erlang himself, he was very devoted and only liked Wang Simu. What? Jiaofangsi? When scholars went to Jiaofangsi, they only spoke of the wind and moon, never of true feelings.
Xu Xinnian pondered for a moment, then lowered his voice and asked:
“Daoist Li, do you think my big brother has any hope of winning in the tribulation battle in the northern frontier?”
Li Miaozhen frowned.
Xu Xinnian said:
“Although my rank is low, I know how great the gap in strength is between the two sides. It could even be said that there is no chance of victory at all.”
Li Miaozhen was silent for a moment, then slowly nodded:
“You’re right. Under normal circumstances, there is no chance of victory at all.
“But the problems you can see, Xu Ningyan can see as well, and beyond-mortal experts like al-Asura and Zhao Shou can also see them.
“What I can tell you is that before Luo Yuheng underwent tribulation, those beyond-mortal experts gathered together and talked deeply for a full day and night.
“Trust in their wisdom and wait for the result. Though even I have not guessed the method by which they intend to break the deadlock.”
Xu Xinnian nodded lightly.
At this moment, a young man suddenly walked over and forcefully inserted himself between Xu Xinnian and Li Miaozhen. He said flatly:
“Sir Xu, move aside!”
As he spoke, without caring in the slightest how Xu Xinnian might react, he squeezed him aside, neither lightly nor heavily.
This young man was called Li Shilin. He came from Jianzhou, the holy land of martial arts. Orphaned from childhood, he had been taken in by a third-rate sect called the “True Qi Sect”, and was currently at the Refining Qi stage.
Within the sect, he was already considered a remarkably outstanding young talent.
Influenced by the strong jianghu spirit of Jianzhou, Li Shilin had dreamed since childhood of upholding justice and punishing evil, longing to become a great hero of his generation.
In his heart, the perfect partner was a celestial maiden who likewise upheld justice and roamed the jianghu.
After meeting Li Miaozhen, Li Shilin had become certain that the celestial maiden of his dreams had appeared.
But his master had only taught him to train in martial arts and Refining Qi, not how to pursue the woman he admired. That was probably also because his master himself was a bachelor, and could not teach such advanced knowledge.
On top of that, Li Shilin was introverted. Usually, just saying a few more words to Lady Flying Swallow would make his heart race and leave him stammering, so to this day he had never revealed his feelings.
So he had followed in Lady Flying Swallow’s footsteps and gone with her to Yunzhou, living every day on the edge of a sabre, silently keeping the celestial of his dreams company as they roamed the land upholding justice together.
Li Shilin was not someone who was good at hiding his feelings. Back in Yunzhou, the brothers in the legion had joked:
“Probably only Lady Flying Swallow doesn’t know how you feel. Such a fine young lad, and yet you’ve gone and fallen for a block of wood.”
But Li Shilin had felt that even if he never confessed for his whole life, that would still be fine. As long as he could follow Lady Flying Swallow, roam the jianghu with her, and rid it of traitors and evil, that would be enough.
It really would be enough.
So when Li Miaozhen disbanded the legion back then, he had been upset for a long time.
Some time ago, Li Miaozhen had recruited the old members again and reorganised the legion. As soon as he received the news, he had immediately taken leave of his sect and travelled all the way from Jianzhou to Yongzhou.
Many of the brothers from the Yunzhou legion had come too, all because of a single word from Lady Flying Swallow.
Li Shilin liked this sort of brotherhood and loyalty of the jianghu.
Just as Silver Gong Xu had said in that poem, “With loyal heart, with just hand. With words of iron, life or death, a promise is worth a thousand tons of gold!”
Back to the matter at hand, with encouragement recently from several brothers who had fought bandits with him in Yunzhou, Li Shilin had finally mustered the courage to confess to Li Miaozhen.
It was not that Li Shilin had suddenly seen the light, but that he had sensed a threat.
The threat came from Xu Xinnian.
Li Shilin could hardly be blamed for becoming wary. This Sir Xu was simply far too handsome, and from Lady Flying Swallow’s attitude, she seemed quite familiar with him, chatting and laughing with ease.
How could that be allowed?
Although he had always comforted himself before by thinking it was enough just to stay by Lady Flying Swallow’s side, that was because Li Miaozhen was a chivalrous soul with no interest in romance, and because there had never been any worthy “rival” around her.
Ever since Xu Xinnian had appeared, Li Shilin had been filled with danger sense.
So, egged on by Zhao Bailong and Gui Tongfu, he had decided to bare his heart to Lady Flying Swallow.
After squeezing Xu Xinnian aside, Li Shilin looked at Li Miaozhen’s flawless profile and hesitated. The words he had rehearsed in his heart for so long simply would not come out. In the end, he could only woodenly wash his face and hands.
Li Miaozhen said:
“I’ll go and check the grain and supplies.”
Ah, this… Li Shilin watched her retreating back, making the gesture of reaching out to stop her only in his heart.
Xu Xinnian also watched Li Miaozhen’s back, then glanced at Li Shilin, who had just treated him rudely, as well as the two boors beside him, and said lightly:
“You all like her, don’t you?”
“Cough, cough, cough…”
The two men behind him seemed to have choked on their own spit. Their faces flushed red as they coughed violently.
Li Shilin turned back in astonishment and stared straight at them, his gaze full of confusion and suspicion, having lost all trust between people.
Those two were Zhao Bailong and Gui Tongfu.
…
After resting for a quarter of an hour, the army packed up its baggage and supplies and prepared to set off.
Xu Xinnian and Li Miaozhen decided to leave the infantry behind to guard the supplies, while taking the faster cavalry ahead first. That way, they could fully make use of the cavalry’s mobility and rush to support Xunzhou.
“Daoist Li, passing on messages takes time. In the current situation, the sooner reinforcements arrive, the greater the chance Xunzhou has of surviving the crisis. You can fly by sword, so go and inform Yang Yan and the Wulin Alliance experts.
“Tell those fourth-ranks to head to Xunzhou first.”
Xu Xinnian galloped at full speed, one hand gripping the reins and the other using his sleeve to block the wind rushing at his face, as he shouted loudly.
Li Miaozhen nodded, agreeing with Xu Erlang’s suggestion. No matter how fast cavalry was, it could not match fourth-rank experts. And if those fourth-ranks left the army to support Xunzhou on their own, they would be harder to detect and could more effectively evade the enemy army’s notice.
“Check where they are first,” Li Miaozhen said.
Xu Erlang immediately took the Huntian Divine Mirror from his robes and inspected the locations of experts one by one, including Yang Yan, Fu Jingmen, Xiao Yuenu and the others.
He had not only marked enemy forces, but allied forces as well.
Li Miaozhen silently memorised the positions of the fourth-rank experts. From the sheath on her back, a flying sword rang out as it leapt free and danced through the air.
She was just about to leap onto the sword and depart when she suddenly heard Xu Xinnian cry out:
“Stop!”
He immediately took a flag from his saddlebag and signalled “halt the march” with military flag language.
Cries of “whoa” rang out as the entire cavalry force pulled hard on their reins. They stopped in haste, but without disorder.
Li Miaozhen frowned.
“What is it?”
Xu Xinnian spoke very quickly:
“Fifteen li ahead, an enemy force has been spotted, around two thousand strong.”
If it’s only two thousand, that’s not too serious… Li Miaozhen had barely relaxed when she heard Xu Erlang add grimly:
“Part of them are heavy cavalry!”
Li Miaozhen’s expression changed slightly. On a land battlefield, heavy cavalry had always been an unstoppable killing weapon. Under iron hooves, all enemies were crushed.
Only heavy artillery, said to turn everything within range into scorched earth, could counter heavy cavalry.
Xu Xinnian said in a deep voice:
“Your guess was correct. Qi Guangbo really did deploy men along the route to Xunzhou.”
Skree!
A sharp cry came from the sky as an eagle glided low overhead. It had spotted this cavalry force of the Great Feng and cried out a warning.
Li Miaozhen’s brows rose. She shaped her fingers into a sword seal and pointed at the soaring eagle.
The flying sword shot out with a howl and pierced the eagle through.
Xu Xinnian immediately looked towards the Huntian Divine Mirror, and his heart tightened. In the image, the enemy light cavalry suddenly accelerated, charging rapidly in this direction.
“They’re coming!”
Xu Xinnian’s mind swiftly turned over countermeasures. In a situation like this, the best response would have been to wheel out the cannons and smash the enemy head-on.
But the ten cannons they had brought had been left with the baggage and the infantry.
Li Miaozhen recalled her flying sword and spoke rapidly:
“Erlang, take the two thousand cavalry and go first. The Flying Swallow Army and I will hold them off from the rear. Supporting Xunzhou matters most, don’t waste all our strength here.”
Xu Xinnian was a decisive man, not one to waver, and he trusted Li Miaozhen’s ability. He nodded at once:
“All right, Daoist Li, take care.”
He waved the signal flags, turned his horse round, and led the cavalry under his command off across the wasteland to the right.
The elite cavalry of the Flying Swallow Army numbered one thousand five hundred. A large portion of them were veterans from the old anti-bandit campaigns in Yunzhou, made up of jianghu men like Li Shilin.
Whether in individual combat or group combat, this cavalry force could be called outstanding.
Li Miaozhen had the confidence to remain behind and block the enemy because she had the strength to back it up. She might even be able to swallow this enemy force on the narrow road in a single bite.
Only dozens of breaths after Xu Xinnian left, the ground began to tremble. The chaotic thunder of hoofbeats grew nearer and nearer, and about one thousand five hundred riders came into view.
The two sides caught sight of each other from afar, but that thousand-strong force suddenly yanked on the reins and came to an abrupt stop, halting in a manner that was hurried but orderly.
“Li Miaozhen!”
The leading general held a great halberd and wore dark gold armour. His skin was bronze, and the lines of his face were hard and cold.
The silver-armoured, red-cloaked Lady Flying Swallow stared for a moment, then said:
“Where did this rat crawl out from?”
Wang Chu, wielder of the great halberd, flew into a rage at once and shouted sharply:
“Last time, you and Xu Xinnian chased me for thirty li. Today I’m here for revenge.”
He was, after all, the commander of the Cavalry Battalion, a dignified fourth-rank martial artist. In Li Miaozhen’s eyes, was he really nothing more than some insignificant clay dog?
Li Miaozhen gave an “oh”.
“So you’re a defeated general.”
She had killed too many people on the battlefield and rarely bothered remembering what her enemies looked like.
But Lady Flying Swallow’s name in the Yunzhou army had not been the slightest bit inferior to Xu Erlang’s. The Flying Swallow Army under her command was brave and battle-hardened, with exceptional combat strength. Even the elite cavalry of the Yunzhou army would feel apprehensive if they ran into the Flying Swallow Army.
By contrast, the rabble led by Li Lingsu, Chu Yuanzhen and Yang Qianhuan usually only worked as support for the Flying Swallow Army, cleaning up scraps and gaps.
It was not that the members of the Heaven and Earth Society were incompetent, but that an elite unit had to be fed with head after head.
Only a hundred battles made an army.
Wang Chu with the great halberd sneered.
“But today, someone else has come to deal with you.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the ground trembled once more, and a loud, chaotic thunder of hoofbeats sounded again.
A cavalry force clad in black iron heavy armour appeared in the Flying Swallow Army’s field of vision. The warhorses beneath these heavy cavalrymen were far taller and stronger than ordinary horses, draped in thick armour plates.
The riders on horseback were armed to the teeth, wearing black iron heavy armour, their faces covered by visors, with horse-chopping sabres in their hands.
Those sabres were said to shatter both rider and horse with a single blow.
Wang Chu raised his left hand and slashed it down forcefully. The one thousand five hundred light cavalry under his command split into two groups and spread out, moving to envelop the Flying Swallow Army from left and right. This was a very typical coordinated tactic between heavy cavalry and light cavalry.
Light cavalry was faster than heavy cavalry. If the former wanted to flee, the latter could only watch helplessly.
To make up for the lack of mobility, any heavy cavalry force of decent size was bound to be equipped with even larger numbers of light cavalry for support.
Just like now, the light cavalry led by Wang Chu was responsible for encirclement, pursuit and harassing the enemy.
“Do you know what kind of enemy you’re facing?”
Holding his painted halberd, Wang Chu looked utterly assured of victory.
“This is the Black Warrior Heavy Cavalry!
“A trump card force personally trained by the National Teacher. Like the Vermilion Bird Army, it is elite among elites, an invincible army meant to cut off the Great Feng’s final breath.”
Wang Chu’s confidence was justified, by no means blind arrogance.
The National Teacher had two major forces under his command. One was the Tianjigong, which focused primarily on gathering intelligence. The other was the Twenty-Eight Mansions, Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird and Black Warrior.
White Tiger was the secret guard, responsible for protecting Yunzhou’s upper ranks, originally led by the great Yao White Tiger.
However, it was said that great Yao had died several months ago at the hands of the Wulin Alliance in Jianzhou.
Vermilion Bird was the flying cavalry, swift as the wind, and had long since proved its strength and terror through actual battlefield achievements.
Azure Dragon was the navy, and had not yet been put to use.
Last came this Black Warrior Heavy Cavalry, invincible in land warfare. Oh, and the five hundred heavy riders present were only one battalion of the Black Warrior Iron Cavalry.
The Black Warrior Heavy Cavalry numbered five thousand men. The armour they wore and their horse-chopping sabres were all magical artefacts. Ten riders could crush fifty elite light cavalrymen head-on on the battlefield. Supporting a heavy cavalry force on such a scale was no easy matter, and the military expenses were all borne by the National Teacher himself.
Over the past twenty years, the National Teacher had used hidden agents such as Zhou Xianping, Vice Minister of Revenue, to erode the Great Feng’s national strength and seize money, grain and iron ore. Part of that had been used to forge this heavy cavalry force.
During the Qingzhou campaign, the Black Warrior Heavy Cavalry had kept its blade sheathed, hidden away by General Qi Guangbo as one of his final trump cards.
At that moment, the lead rider among the Black Warrior Heavy Cavalry raised his horse-chopping sabre high and let out a heavy, low roar.
The five hundred heavy cavalrymen all raised their war sabres and shouted in response.
The Black Warrior Heavy Cavalry launched its charge and thundered towards the Flying Swallow Army.
Seeing this, Wang Chu shouted:
“Crossbows, ready!”
The one thousand five hundred cavalrymen all took down their military crossbows and aimed at the Flying Swallow Army charging to meet the Black Warrior heavy cavalry.
“Fire!”
More than a thousand bowstrings sounded at once. With a single “twang”, the sound made hearts tremble.
Li Miaozhen slapped one palm against the horse’s back and rose gracefully into the air. Her flying sword automatically supported the soles of her feet.
Lady Flying Swallow’s pupils turned transparent. Her face was expressionless, carrying a chill of indifference.
She spread her arms to either side and clenched fiercely.
In an instant, arrow after arrow betrayed its course. Some veered left, some drifted right, some floated upward, some sank downward, perfectly avoiding the Flying Swallow Army.
During this process, the Flying Swallow Army and the Black Warrior heavy cavalry had already come into close combat.
Bang!
Dozens of Flying Swallow cavalrymen in the front row had their warhorses smashed to death on the spot by the heavy cavalry. Men and horses tumbled over each other.
The riders who lost their horses pitched forward, but fortunately they were all fairly capable. They rolled on the spot and steadied themselves.
The Black Warrior heavy cavalry behind them swung their horse chopping sabres, and heads flew up in response, cutting down these Flying Swallow riders who had lost their mounts on the spot.
Only a few Refining Spirit experts the danger sense to avoid the powerful, heavy strikes.
The black iron heavy cavalry were like a huge awl, boring into the Flying Swallow Army formation. The sounds of impact rang out without end. Savage and violent collision was the art of heavy cavalry.
Even without the enhancement of armour and weapons, the Black Warrior heavy cavalry’s combat strength might not have been inferior to the Flying Swallow Army’s. A force that Qi Guangbo regarded as a trump card was bound to be elite among elites.
Flying Swallow cavalrymen were constantly being cut down from their horses, or losing their mounts. Those who fell were usually unable even to hope to slow the Black Warrior heavy cavalry’s charge amid the unceasing collisions of such a dense cavalry formation. Waving their horse-slaying sabres, the Black Warrior heavy cavalry harvested heads with ease.
At the very first clash, the Flying Swallow Army lost over a hundred men.
Once the two armies had entered a full head-on clash, the Yunzhou cavalry on the left and right wings stopped firing.
Li Miaozhen slapped the sachet at her waist, and black command flags flew out one after another, embedding themselves in the ground. The surrounding temperature instantly turned several degrees colder.
At the same time, wailing yin spirits drifted out of the sachet one after another and pounced at the Black Warrior heavy cavalry.
One after another, the yin spirits dissolved against the armour of the Black Warrior heavy cavalry, evaporated into green smoke by the power of the magical artefacts. But they still inflicted negative effects on some of the weaker heavy cavalrymen, such as stiffness throughout the body and a swelling head.
Raising ghosts was a minor path, classed among the Daoist schools as clever but unorthodox tricks.
This was because spirits were far too weak in attack. Even a high-quality spirit could not deal with a low-rank cultivator.
Daoist cultivators did not raise ghosts to attack people, but to drive and command.
Li Miaozhen had never expected the damaged souls she had only gathered a few days ago to deal with these cavalrymen overflowing with blood qi and steeped in baleful ferocity. Her purpose was only to interfere.
Battlefield souls were the most useless of all. After a person died, the heaven soul and human soul left the body, but they were exceptionally fragile and very easily blown apart by the battlefield’s baleful and violent energies.
Even if preserved, they were incomplete, and souls like that were nothing but puppets.
With the spirits’ suicidal attacks, the Flying Swallow Army recovered a little from its disadvantage. Relying on superior numbers, they spurred their horses into the fight and cut down more than a dozen heavy cavalrymen whose bodies had gone stiff.
Li Miaozhen formed a sword incantation with both hands and let out a light cry.
With a buzz, the flying sword quivered and turned into a white rainbow that shrieked away, piercing one black-armoured heavy cavalryman after another.
Clang!
After piercing through eight armoured soldiers in one go, the flying sword was knocked away by a heavy cavalryman swinging his sabre.
The sabre in this heavy cavalryman’s hand was stained with blood, and the blade was filled with qi that twisted the air.
The leader of the five hundred Black Warrior heavy cavalry.
A martial artist with considerable cultivation.
He raised his head. Behind an iron faceplate, he stared coldly at the valiant and graceful female general, then fiercely clamped his horse’s belly and charged towards Lady Flying Swallow.
Li Miaozhen drew over a war sabre lying on the ground and rode it into the air. Then her Yin Spirit floated out from above her head and dived down.
As everyone knew, one must not engage a martial artist in close combat, but Daoist Yin Spirits were an exception.
Martial artists lacked the means to deal with Yin Spirits, while Yin Spirits could deliver a heavy blow to their opponent’s primordial spirit. Of course, at such times, Li Miaozhen’s physical body became a weakness.
That was why she flew on the sabre, keeping her body at a relatively safe distance.
Li Miaozhen’s Yin Spirit passed through the Black Warrior heavy cavalry leader’s body without the slightest obstruction, emerged from behind him, and seized the neck of a primordial spirit in her hand, dragging it out of the body.
This martial artist’s primordial spirit had been dragged halfway out of his body, while the lower half stubbornly refused to come out.
Being so easily dragged halfway out meant this leader’s cultivation was fifth rank, one rank below Li Miaozhen.
At this moment, the muscles in Wang Chu’s legs exploded with force. His foot stamped on the stirrup, and the warhorse beneath him gave a mournful cry and dropped to its knees. Riding the wind, he rose into the air, swept over the battling cavalry, and viciously brought the great halberd in his hand down at Li Miaozhen.
Whoosh!
The flying sword shot over and knocked the halberd’s edge aside.
Li Miaozhen decisively gave up wrestling with the Transforming Force martial artist’s primordial spirit. She spread five fingers towards her body and clenched sharply.
Her body flew over, “riding the sabre”.
Like a gust of wind, she swept towards her body, and her Yin Spirit returned to its place.
She glanced at the fiercely contested cavalry battle, resolve flashing through her eyes, and her primordial spirit began to burn fiercely.
…
Clang!
Li Shilin swung his sabre and hacked heavily at a heavy cavalryman’s armour, sending sparks flying, yet he failed to break the armour.
He had poured his qi fully into that strike, yet it had only left a white mark on the opponent’s armour. Ordinary mortal iron would never have withstood his blow.
What kind of monster… Li Shilin cursed inwardly, then immediately lashed out with a kick that sent that Black Warrior heavy cavalryman crashing from the saddle.
Behind him, Zhao Bailong and Gui Tongfu galloped past, and together they cut down that Black Warrior heavy cavalryman.
Li Shilin had just been about to cheer when another Black Warrior heavy cavalryman slammed into him from the side. Relying on the sheer difference in weight, the man brutally smashed Li Shilin’s mount to death.
What it meant to lose one’s horse in a cavalry clash was something Li Shilin, already a veteran of many battles, knew all too well.
“Get on!”
Zhao Bailong clamped his horse’s belly hard and rushed up from behind, reaching out a hand towards Li Shilin.
Li Shilin grabbed his hand and swung himself up onto the horse. There was no time to catch his breath, and no time to speak. He just kept charging and killing.
Whoosh!
The gleaming flying sword tore a gap through the heavy cavalry, and Li Miaozhen’s voice rang across the sky:
“Break through, then withdraw!”
She was immediately entangled by Wang Chu, yet still stubbornly refused to recall her flying sword, letting it continue to help the Flying Swallow Army kill the enemy.
The one thousand five hundred cavalrymen who had been outflanking on the left and right wings had, at some point, already gathered together and assembled five hundred feet directly in front of the Flying Swallow Army.
This force of light cavalry, all in excellent physical condition, would replace the Black Warrior heavy cavalry and launch the second wave of the charge.
But the Flying Swallow Army, with fewer than a thousand riders left, had only just bored through the Black Warrior heavy cavalry, and now they happened to face the Yunzhou light cavalry, whose running speed had risen to its very limit.
One side had just gone through a brutal fight, with both speed and momentum declining. The other was surging like a rainbow, right at its peak.
The Flying Swallow Army had no chance to catch its breath at all.
We can’t get away… The hearts of the Flying Swallow Army all tightened.
Li Shilin, who since childhood had been praised by his master for having a rigid fate, tightened his grip on his curled-edged sabre. His gaze swept over the companions around him, their faces full of ferocity but their eyes full of despair, then over the already approaching Yunzhou light cavalry.
At last, he could not help turning back to look at Li Miaozhen, who was charging into the Black Warrior heavy cavalry under the pressure of Wang Chu’s great halberd, and he saw the grief in her eyes.
At the moment of life and death, Li Shilin’s mind wandered. For no reason, he thought of the scene when they first met. It had been an afternoon bright with sunlight. The girl, who had only been in the jianghu for less than a year yet was already famous throughout it, leaned on her sword, heroic and graceful, and said with a smile:
“You want to follow me? Fine. But I, Li Miaozhen, have rules.
“Remember this, just do good deeds, and ask not what the future holds!”
Li Shilin came back to himself. Lofty fighting spirit burst from his eyes, and he roared:
“Kill!”
“Kill!”
The Flying Swallow Army roared in unison.
Just do good deeds, and ask not what the future holds.
…
Yongzhou City.
In the courier station, pale-faced Li Lingsu held a bowl of medicine in his hands and pushed open Master Hengyuan’s door.
Chu Yuanzhen was also in the room, sitting cross-legged on a soft couch on the other side, breathing out the old and drawing in the new as he nursed his injuries.
Wrapped in white bandages, Hengyuan sat propped against the head of the bed, his complexion ashen.
To survive a concentrated barrage of muskets and military crossbows, endure a beating from a whole crowd of fourth ranks, and then, in order to save Li Lingsu, voluntarily take a cannon blast head-on and still live, Master Hengyuan really was tough enough.
A truly hard monk.
Li Lingsu was deeply grateful. Over the past few days he had served the Master tea and water, and he felt that the Master was the kindest and most honest person in the Heaven and Earth Society.
After Master Hengyuan finished the medicine and swallowed another pill left by Yang Qianhuan, he let out a long breath:
“Speaking of which, fellow Daoist Li Miaozhen was also badly injured. It is not suitable for her to continue fighting. This poor monk is worried about her.”
Li Lingsu said helplessly:
“That’s just her temperament. No one can stop her. I’ve always felt she was born into the wrong place, ending up in our Heaven Sect.”
After saying that, he saw Master Hengyuan and Chu Yuanzhen looking at him at the same time.
…
Li Lingsu defended himself:
“I formed broad romantic ties for the sake of Supreme Detachment from Emotion.”
Chu Yuanzhen said:
“Wasn’t it just being loose?”
Li Lingsu said solemnly:
“Can the affairs of a Heaven Sect disciple be called loose? It is questioning the heart in the mortal world.
“Sigh, Master, have a good rest. Before the evening meal, I will bring you more medicine.”
He picked up the empty bowl and got up to leave.
Li Lingsu walked to the door and opened the lattice door, then froze for a moment. Neither hurriedly nor slowly, he closed the door again, standing with his back to it.
Chu Yuanzhen asked:
“Something else?”
Li Lingsu said in a low voice:
“I must have opened the door the wrong way. Let me do it again.”
He turned round, opened the door again, fell silent for a few seconds, then shut it once more. His face went pale, and he looked as if a great calamity had arrived.
“Daoist Li?”
Master Hengyuan stuck his head out from the bed and asked.
Li Lingsu took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, steeled his heart, and opened the door once more. Before the two people outside could speak, he dropped to his knees in one fierce motion like a tiger pouncing to the ground, hugged one of their legs, and burst into loud tears:
“Master, your disciple missed you so much.
“In the three years since descending the mountain to travel, your disciple thought of you day and night.”
Daoist Xuancheng and Bingyi Yuanjun looked down at him expressionlessly.
Chu Yuanzhen poked his head out for a glance, then silently withdrew it again.
Had Li Lingsu spent so long in the jianghu that he had forgotten the proper way for his sect to greet people?
Forget it, better not get involved.
Master Hengyuan clearly had similar thoughts. He silently withdrew his head back under the covers, closed his eyes, and went to sleep.
…
Li Miaozhen shook her flying sword, flicking off a streak of scarlet blood.
Behind her was the remnants of the Flying Swallow Army, only two hundred riders left. In front of her were four hundred riders of the Black Warrior Army. To both flanks were the Yunzhou light cavalry, already reduced by fully half.
They had overestimated themselves, and underestimated the Flying Swallow Army.
The cavalry under Wang Chu had indeed been elite, but compared with an ace force like the Black Warrior heavy cavalry, whose equipment and individual combat strength were both outstanding, they were as different as cloud and mud.
It was only natural that the Flying Swallow Army had suffered badly at the hands of the Black Warrior heavy cavalry, but even a starved camel was bigger than a horse. Even though the Yunzhou light cavalry had enjoyed every advantage of timing, terrain, and support, the Flying Swallow Army had still taken half their force down with them.
Now, fewer than eight hundred riders remained.
Zhao Bailong moved closer, his eyes red-rimmed, and said in a low voice:
“Miaozhen, Li Shilin is dead.”
He glanced at expressionless Li Miaozhen, hesitated for a moment, then said:
“That lad always had something he wanted to say to you, but he was too thin-skinned to ever get it out. I figured, now that he’s gone, as his brother, I ought to say it for him.”
Li Miaozhen said softly:
“I know. I always knew.”
Zhao Bailong, whose eyes had merely been red a moment ago, suddenly gave way to grief. A full-grown man seven foot tall, now with tears streaming down his face:
“Good, good… then it was worth it…”
At that moment, the Black Warrior heavy cavalry adjusted their formation, slowly turning and circling to the left side of the Flying Swallow Army.
Because between the Black Warrior heavy cavalry and the Flying Swallow Army, corpses blanketed the ground, men and horses alike.
It was no longer fit ground for a charge.
Li Miaozhen withdrew her gaze and looked towards the veterans behind her, the old soldiers who had once followed her in Yunzhou to suppress bandits. She cupped her hands and said:
“I’m sorry. It was I, Li Miaozhen, who got you into this.”
A refining spirit martial artist smiled and said:
“This time, when we returned to the battlefield, it was for family and country. To die following Lady Flying Swallow, I have no regrets!”
Another said:
“Once we stepped onto the battlefield, we were ready to be wrapped in horsehide. It’s only a pity we won’t see the final victory.
“When the court defeats the Yunzhou rebels in future, Miaozhen, remember to let us know.”
Li Miaozhen bit her lip until blood came. She had done her utmost. She had burnt her primordial spirit at the cost of her life, and still she could not save them.
Her gaze swept over them all, and she smiled:
“I won’t let you brothers go lonely.”
Boom boom boom!
The Black Warrior heavy cavalry launched their charge.
Wang Chu raised his halberd and shouted:
“Loose!”
Amid the twang of bowstrings, arrows fell like rain towards the Flying Swallow Army.
Li Miaozhen leapt up gracefully, using the Heaven Sect heart magiv to alter the arrows’ trajectories, shielding the last two hundred of the Flying Swallow Army.
Zhao Bailong clamped his legs to his horse’s belly and roared:
“Kill these bastards!”
The two hundred riders sped away in a cloud of dust, gone and never to return.
Li Miaozhen did not look at the Flying Swallow Army’s end. Stepping on a war sabre, she rose into the sky and faced Wang Chu, who was charging over with halberd in hand. She opened her palm.
In an instant, the armour, clothes, and shoes on Wang Chu’s body all betrayed him and defected to the enemy. Some tried to entangle him, some tried to strangle him, currying favour with their new master.
Only Wang Chu’s halberd, infused with qi, remained as loyal to its master as ever.
“With the combat strength you’ve got now, I can kill you myself!”
Wang Chu’s qi shook, ripping apart the armour and clothes.
From their earlier exchange, he had delightedly discovered that Li Miaozhen’s injuries had not healed. Last time she had hunted him down, she had even been able to control the weapon in his hand.
After breaking free, Wang Chu ran wildly through the air, each footstep exploding with qi, letting him tread on empty space as though it were level ground.
He threw a punch through the air.
Li Miaozhen stood on a war sabre and controlled her flying sword to block before her. Sword and woman were both blasted backwards.
She used the momentum to crash into the Black Warrior heavy cavalry ranks. Her flying sword became like a streak of silk, weaving through the heavy cavalry, piercing armour and killing men.
The armour of the Black Warrior heavy cavalry was hard enough that each time she killed one heavy rider, her strength was diminished by a fraction.
And the magical power of a Daoist cultivator could not be mentioned in the same breath as the stamina of a martial artist.
Especially not when she was already hurt.
Fortunately, the Flying Swallow Army had already whittled down most of the Black Warrior heavy cavalry, greatly easing the pressure on her. Otherwise, against five hundred heavily armoured riders with excellent artefacts, even if she staked her life, it would have been hard to meet their edge.
“Clang!”
The flying sword struck the leader of the Black Warrior heavy cavalry, piercing three inches into his armour, only to be seized tightly in both hands. This fifth rank Transforming Force martial artist, relying on his Bronze Skin and Iron Bones body and the support of his heavy-armour artefact, managed to pin the flying sword down for a moment.
Even with the Flying Swallow Army present earlier, she had been unable to defeat them. Now, alone, how was she to deal with the remaining three hundred riders of the Black Warrior Army, plus the light cavalry led by a fourth rank martial artist?
But she would not leave.
She would not let her brothers go lonely in the underworld. Since she had promised, how could she break her word?
Everyone in the jianghu knew that Lady Flying Swallow was righteous and eager to help the needy. Lady Flying Swallow… her word weighed as heavily as a mountain!
A fierce light flashed in Li Miaozhen’s eyes. She spat out a mist of blood, dipped her fingertips in it, and drew a twisted talisman on her brow.
Her face rapidly withered, but her primordial spirit returned to its peak in an instant!
“Go!”
That flying sword, pinned after piercing only three inches into armour, suddenly erupted with towering killing intent.
One sword through the heart!
A burst of blood mist exploded from the chest of the Black Warrior heavy cavalry leader, and he crashed to the ground.
At the same time, while Li Miaozhen was straining with all her might to strike down the enemy, Wang Chu had already closed in soundlessly. He was never going to let such an opportunity pass, and at the same time, seeing Li Miaozhen squeeze out her potential at any cost, his momentum surged.
As expected, Wang Chu abandoned the halberd, lest he suffer backlash from his weapon.
Thud thud thud… Wang Chu stamped across the ground, turning into an afterimage. He successfully closed in and smashed a heavy punch into Li Miaozhen’s back.
A thrill of vengeance flashed in his eyes. This punch might not kill Li Miaozhen outright, but now that he had succeeded in closing the distance, he had every confidence of making sure she died without a burial place.
But at the very instant before his cruel, flower-destroying fist struck Li Miaozhen’s back, yes, in that very instant, Li Miaozhen threw back her head and let out a shrill scream.
Wang Chu’s mind buzzed, his primordial spirit shook violently, and he fell into a brief daze.
Li Miaozhen was blasted flying by the force of the punch. Her internal organs ruptured, and she vomited mouthful after mouthful of dark blood.
During that process, the flying sword swept across the battlefield with unstoppable force, harvesting one Black Warrior heavy cavalryman after another.
Blood for blood, tooth for tooth!
Only eighty Black Warrior heavy cavalry remained.
Li Miaozhen’s primordial spirit was already close to collapse.
Wang Chu’s primordial spirit quickly stabilised. With the physique of a fourth rank martial artist, he was not afraid of Li Miaozhen using her flying sword to assassinate him in that opening. But after one glance at the catastrophically reduced Black Warrior heavy cavalry, Wang Chu was shocked and enraged.
Of five hundred Black Warrior heavy cavalry, nearly ninety per cent had been lost. Even if he took Li Miaozhen’s head, the Great General would probably still make him pay dearly for it.
“Since you, Li Miaozhen, want to die so badly, then I’ll grant your wish!”
Wang Chu’s face twisted savagely.
Li Miaozhen stood in the air on her flying sabre. Her eyes suddenly turned transparent as she looked down at him with cold detachment.
“I still have one more sword.”
Her hairpin exploded apart, and every strand of her hair spread wildly upwards and outwards, each one distinct.
Her primordial spirit burnt fiercely. Every second consumed her life and carried her closer to death.
The flying sword came of its own accord and hovered before her.
Li Miaozhen spat a mouthful of essential blood onto the blade, dyeing this artefact passed down by her sect in a tragic, brilliant red glow.
“Go.”
she said softly.
The flying sword shot away with a howl. Li Miaozhen, however, closed her eyes and did not look at the outcome.
Because it no longer mattered.
She only had one regret, that she could only go this far. She couldn’t kill all the enemy troops.
At the very end, she did not open her eyes, but turned her face to the north.
Those of the jianghu die in the jianghu. There was no need for sentimental farewells.
Wang Chu’s eyes widened. A martial artist’s danger sense screamed frantically at him, warning him to flee for his life.
This was the sword of the Heaven Sect’s Holy Maiden, burnt from the last of her life, the final splendour of her existence.
Wang Chu retreated again and again, the flying sword following all the way.
When he had fallen back a full thousand feet, the flying sword caught up to him.
Wang Chu frantically mobilised his qi. Beneath his Bronze Skin, muscles bulged in ridges. Bringing both palms together with all his strength, he caught the flying sword between them.
Clang!
The flying sword was not as unstoppable as imagined. It was easily caught by the brute force of a fourth rank martial artist, unable to advance another inch.
Only, from the tip of the sword, a wisp of blood mist spurted out and touched Wang Chu’s brow.
Wang Chu, commander of the Xiaoqi Battalion, suddenly stiffened and froze in place.
He died.
His body was completely unharmed, but his primordial spirit had been scattered to nothing.
The remaining eighty Black Warrior heavy cavalry, and the eight hundred light cavalry, were scared out of their wits.
They did not even dare look at Li Miaozhen’s condition. Leaving behind the field of corpses, leaving behind their commander’s body, they spurred their horses and fled, terrified that if they were even a moment slower, that dreadful flying sword would come back to life and slaughter them all.
…
Li Lingsu, tearful-faced, stood obediently on his flying sword behind his master and Senior Uncle Bingyi, as they sped towards Xunzhou.
He knew which stretch of the line Xu Xinnian and Li Miaozhen had been responsible for, and before long he found the infantry left by the river.
After questioning them, he learned from the infantry that Xu Xinnian and Li Miaozhen had already led the cavalry ahead to reinforce Xunzhou.
So Daoist Xuancheng and Bingyi Yuanjun brought Li Lingsu with them and chased after them all the way.
Not long after, the three of them saw the bloody and tragic battlefield, saw the corpses strewn across the ground, saw the blood of men and horses staining the earth a dark red.
The Flying Swallow Army has been wiped out… Li Lingsu’s face instantly turned deathly pale.
On this battlefield where a brutal cavalry battle had once taken place, only two people remained standing.
One was Li Miaozhen, her black hair hanging loose. The other was Wang Chu, still frozen in the posture of catching a sword.
But Li Lingsu knew that both of them had already died.
He could not sense the slightest fluctuation of primordial spirit from either.
His body swayed, and he nearly lost control of his sword. Standing on it, he rushed like mad towards Li Miaozhen.
Before the flying sword had even steadied, he leapt from it and stumbled to Li Miaozhen’s side. He stared blankly for a few seconds, then suddenly his knees buckled. He dropped to the ground, pressed his head against the earth, and burst into loud, bitter sobs.
“Miaozhen, Miaozhen! Senior Brother came too late, Senior Brother came too late…”
Like a man possessed, he beat the ground as he cried himself hoarse.
Li Lingsu and Li Miaozhen had grown up together from childhood. Because of their exceptional talent, both had been named Holy Son and Holy Maiden before reaching adulthood.
They had cultivated together, recited ancient texts and classics together, sparred magic together, and kept each other company through childhood and youth.
Li Lingsu was such a romantic by nature, yet he had never harboured improper thoughts towards his beautiful junior sister. He had truly treated her as his own little sister.
The moment he saw that the Flying Swallow Army had been annihilated, he had already guessed Li Miaozhen’s fate.
Her brothers, with whom she had lived and died together, had all remained on the battlefield. With her temperament, there could only be mutual destruction.
She would never have run.
Bingyi Yuanjun stepped before her disciple and looked her over coldly for a moment, then said:
“The Heavenly Venerable her deadly calamity. I did not think it would come true so quickly.”
Her tone was calm, as though the one who had died was a stranger, not her disciple.
Bingyi Yuanjun pondered for a moment, then formed a spell with one hand and began muttering an incantation.
A moment later, the wind around them stilled, yet the air grew colder and colder. One shattered military soul after another appeared.
Among those remnant souls, Bingyi Yuanjun saw Li Miaozhen. Her expression was blank as she silently remained among the many military souls.
“She burnt away her Earth Soul.”
Daoist Xuancheng shook his head, showing little expression.
Within the Daoist system, this already counted as having one’s soul scattered. With one soul missing, even if they wanted to piece her back together, they could not.
Li Lingsu looked at Li Miaozhen’s remnant soul with bloodshot eyes.
Clearly, when Li Miaozhen died in battle, she had used a forbidden spell, trading the scattering of her soul for a temporary increase in cultivation.
“She can still be saved.”
Bingyi Yuanjun drew over Li Miaozhen’s Heaven Soul and flicked it back into her body with a finger.
Then she took out a porcelain bottle from her sleeve and pulled out the wooden stopper.
A strange fragrance spread out, filling the air. Though Li Lingsu was overcome with grief, when he smelled it, he still could not help but feel “hunger”, hunger from the primordial spirit itself.
“Purple Gold Pill!”
Daoist Xuancheng remained expressionless, his tone indifferent. “This is the pill for your advancement to second rank. Is this your last trace of mortal feeling?”
If the Supreme detachment from Emotion was divided into “early, middle, and late” stages, then they, as third rank cultivators, were in the early stage.
At this stage, the Heaven Sect’s Yang Spirit retained an extremely tiny fragment of mortal feeling, directed either towards a Dao partner, or children, or a disciple.
Li Lingsu was both shocked and overjoyed, hurriedly wiping away snot and tears.
At the same time, he glanced at his own master. Senior Uncle Bingyi’s mortal feeling lay with Li Miaozhen, so did his master’s mortal feeling lie with him?
Following his instinct for self-preservation, he did not dare ask that aloud.
Bingyi Yuanjun’s face remained cold. She did not answer Daoist Xuancheng. She prised open Li Miaozhen’s mouth and stuffed the Purple Gold Pill inside.
The Purple Gold Pill was a tonic for the Yang Spirit, Yang Spirit being another name for the perfected Yin Spirit.
Even the Yang Spirit could benefit from it, let alone the Yin Spirit.
Using the Purple Gold Pill to repair a soul was truly using a butcher’s knife to kill a chicken, but it was the only way to save Li Miaozhen.
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