Chapter 33#

Killing Across Realms#

Shi Tang quickly gave them their location.

The masked men in the Guarding One realm didn’t expect this ordinary young girl to be carrying such items. Their minds shifted, and they planned to eliminate her first. Ah Tu, standing in front of Shi Tang, saw their intentions, stepped forward, raised its head high, and let out a long cry.

Fuzhu is a divine deer, naturally possessing the ability to confuse others’ minds. Even though its cultivation was suppressed to the Guarding One realm by Yan Wushu, the sound it made could not be underestimated. The masked men were caught off guard, their steps faltering in shock. Xiao Man and Mo Juntian took this opportunity and struck with their swords.

Sunlight glanced off the sword blades, condensing into a point of cold light, aimed straight at the brow of one of the enemies!

This wasn’t the first time Xiao Man had killed someone; it was the second. The first was just now, when he fired an arrow first and killed the person hiding in a tree who was aiming a bow at them.

The feeling of a weapon piercing flesh wasn’t pleasant, but the killing intent the opponent revealed was too strong.

The wind rose, swords fell, and sword shadows scattered on the bluestone path.

Xiao Man’s cultivation was in the Upper Embracing Void realm, and Mo Juntian was in the Embracing Void realm. The defensive formation beneath their feet deflected most of the damage for them. But after all, the opponents were a major realm higher than them and were numerous. Ah Tu, the only one on their side with a comparable realm, had to protect Shi Tang. After ten or so moves, the opponents reorganized their formation. Xiao Man and Mo Juntian stood back-to-back again, trapped in the encirclement.

“I killed one in the Guarding One realm,” Mo Juntian let out a breath and laughed.

Xiao Man flicked the blood off his sword, glanced at the corpses on the ground, and said, “I got two. Including the one from before, that’s three.”

“As expected of Brother Man,” Mo Juntian said, imitating Qu Hanxing.

There were five opponents left. The leader was dealing with the Fuzhu divine deer, while the rest stood on four sides, surrounding Xiao Man and Mo Juntian.

“The one on the left has an injured hand, his grip on the saber isn’t very steady. Kill him first?” Mo Juntian suggested.

Xiao Man glanced to the left, nodded, and said “Okay.”

The moment his words fell, he struck. Simultaneously, the four in the Guarding One realm launched their attacks together! They didn’t leave any chance to break the situation at all. Their moves were risky and ruthless, forcing Xiao Man and Mo Juntian to turn their offense into defense.

A sign of defeat appeared.

Just then, a sword light approached—

This strike came from east to west, taking the head of the person in front of Xiao Man, clean and decisive, and full of momentum.

It was Wei Chuyun.

He wasn’t the only one who came; Qu Hanxing followed behind, along with Qian San, Ma Wu, Zhao Liu, and several other fellow disciples. The group turned the street corner, swords in hand, their robes blown by the wind—all of them youths.

Qian San investigated the realm of those masked men and was startled: “Good lord, Guarding One realm?”

“So what if it’s the Guarding One realm? Killing enemies across realms is what’s truly satisfying!” Ma Wu kicked him and sent him into the battle, “You can go back and brag for a year!”

They were all Gushan disciples, practicing swordsmanship together every day. Their cooperation was quite tacit. Together they faced one masked man. Although they were injured before long, their three swords rose and fell, forcing the masked man to retreat step by step.

Qu Hanxing went to help the Fuzhu deer, using both hidden weapons and open moves. Wei Chuyun stood on the same side as Xiao Man and Mo Juntian, dealing with the remaining people.

“I want to try again to see if I can kill someone across realms alone,” Mo Juntian’s fighting spirit was ignited, a light shining in his eyes.

Xiao Man said okay, stepped away from his side, and went to assist Wei Chuyun.

Above the clouds, Yan Wushu occasionally turned the folding fan in his hand, his eyes fixed on the battle below.

Not far away on the opposite side, the leader of Qian San’s team stood on a flying sword and gave a distant bow to Yan Wushu.

Neither had intervened, nor was it time to intervene yet.

Gushan was indeed one of the top sects in the world. The disciples they taught killed enemies with great ferocity. Additionally, since Xiao Man and Wei Chuyun already had the ability to kill across realms, the situation gradually turned. Xiao Man intended to leave one masked man alive to question him and said to his fellow disciples, “Don’t kill them all.”

However, as soon as his words fell, the masked men who were still alive exchanged glances.

The change happened unexpectedly. In just an instant, these people’s faces turned blue-purple, their eyes rolled back, and they kicked their legs and died.

“What’s going on!” Qian San’s sword missed, and he cried out in surprise.

Wei Chuyun knelt to examine the bodies, looked up after a moment, and said to everyone, “They took poison to commit suicide.”

“I’ve heard of this. Are these those dead-soldiers who hide poison under their teeth to prevent being captured and interrogated!” Qu Hanxing walked over, wanting to pry open these people’s mouths to check, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it, his expression particularly conflicted.

“Are they here to snatch the Unheard Bell?”

This question came from the corner. When they started fighting, Shi Tang had shrunk into the corner and didn’t dare to look up. Hearing Wei Chuyun and the others coming, she became a bit bolder but was still covering her face, fearing blood would splash over.

“Unlikely.” Xiao Man went over to help her up. “The first group we met were all in the Returning to Origin realm, not masked or concealed. Their suicide was also a choice to reverse their internal spiritual energy, not hiding poison in the gaps between their teeth. After that…”

Xiao Man’s voice lowered. The ones after were all secretly dealt with by Yan Wushu, indicating that the people sent out were not those they could deal with. And this group were all in the Guarding One realm; presumably, they didn’t have the same purpose.

Thus, a new speculation emerged.

“We can’t find anything on them that could identify them; they aren’t even wearing Qiankun Rings!”

Qu Hanxing and the others had already started searching the bodies. Mo Juntian was especially unafraid of dead people. He was even more careful with the two he personally killed. After stripping and checking them, he helped them dress and said, “Thank you for letting me practice.”

After speaking, he bowed to them.

“The Unheard Bell is your mission target, right?” After turning everyone over, Ma Wu spoke in a low voice, “Since they aren’t here to snatch it, then as for what this group came for, we have some idea. But this isn’t the place to talk; we need to return to the inn.”

“But how will Senior Brother Xiao and Little Mo get in?” Qian San asked.

No one knew exactly how many fellow disciples were performing missions in Shenjing. To avoid being seen walking on the street, Xiao Man and Mo Juntian had changed back to their original attire before going out. Hearing such concerns, they could only say, “We have a way. You guys go first, we two will follow shortly.”

Qian San didn’t doubt him: “Alright, be careful.”

After several fellow disciples contacted people to handle the aftermath, they went back to the inn first. Wei Chuyun and Qu Hanxing stayed to accompany Xiao Man and the others. Shi Tang’s eyes darted around, and she thought of an idea: “How about this, Little Mo, you lend me a set of your clothes. All three of us will wear men’s clothing, and then we can just tell Sister Qin that we dressed as boys to go out for fun?”

“Shi’er, why didn’t I realize you were so clever before!” Qu Hanxing was full of emotion.

“Alright, alright, let’s go.” Shi Tang urged; she didn’t want to stay any longer in a place full of dead bodies.

Xiao Man took Shi Tang to the nearest inn to change, and then they returned to the official inn to find Qian San and the others.

The courtyard they lived in was the quarters for the inn’s workers. It was currently daytime, and the workers were busy with their tasks and weren’t in their rooms, so it was very quiet.

The afternoon sun in Shenjing City was extremely intense, so only half a window was open. The table was placed in the shade on the inner side of the room, cushions were prepared, and tea was being brewed.

After everyone sat down, Ma Wu pointed to the tea on the table and said, “Let’s start with this pot of tea.”

Then he looked at Wei Chuyun and Xiao Man: “Senior Brother Wei, Senior Brother Xiao, you two are so smart, you must have discovered something already.”

Xiao Man nodded: “The water in Shenjing is rich in spiritual energy.”

“Yes.” This time it was Qian San who spoke. “We’ve been in Shenjing for a while now. Initially, we weren’t helping in this inn, but in the yamen responsible for coordinating the performance troupes and diplomatic missions from various places. At that time, we accidentally overheard a sentence saying that this festival would definitely have trouble.”

Even though sound-isolating talismans had been placed in advance, Qian San still alertly lowered his voice when he spoke the last part.

Xiao Man pondered for a moment and spoke his suspicion: “In the city today, Little Mo and I talked about the abnormal spiritual energy. Presumably, that’s what brought on this assassination attempt.”

Several fellow disciples exchanged glances and said solemnly: “Shenjing City is lively now, with cultivators and ordinary people mixed together. It’s extremely difficult to either distinguish or guard against them.”

Qu Hanxing found it very strange: “But most cultivators can distinguish that there is spiritual energy in the water. Does that mean if they find one, they kill one?”

“It’s our fault for being too unnatural when we were discussing it.” Xiao Man lowered his eyes.

The room was quiet for a moment. The water on the stove began to boil, and Qian San lifted the lid and threw in some tea leaves. While pouring the tea, Xiao Man asked: “Do you plan to investigate?”

“Of course we want to investigate!” Qian San said. “Our mission is to help with the festival. If the festival is ruined, won’t our mission be ruined along with it?”

Ma Wu’s tone was especially emotional: “At first I thought this mission was just a good task that could be handled by doing odd jobs, but who knew it was this dangerous.”

But his tone quickly changed: “But it probably shouldn’t be our turn to investigate. There are so many officials in Shenjing City, and the festival is a big event; they must have been worried about it long ago.”

“That makes sense.” Qu Hanxing nodded.

“There’s also nothing to investigate. Look at that group of people just now, how clean they were, not a single clue could be found! This one sentence and the discovery of spiritual energy in the water is all we know now.” Zhao Liu shrugged, then spread his hands, his tone helpless:

“But spiritual energy being born in the water, although strange, can’t be classified as a bad thing! What if the Emperor wants to show off Beicang’s strength as a great power to other countries and deliberately set up such a scene!”

But if that were the case, one wouldn’t bring about an assassination attempt because of a comment that something wasn’t right. Xiao Man didn’t say these words out loud. He lightly adjusted his sleeves, lowered his eyes, and said:

“Let’s focus on our own mission first. The affairs of Shenjing City are too big and not suitable for us to get involved in. But with today’s lesson as a warning, everyone must be careful.”

“And don’t talk about spiritual energy outside anymore.” Ma Wu warned, then said earnestly to Shi Tang: “Especially you, little girl.”

Qian San echoed: “It’s best not to run around anymore!”

After some conversation, Xiao Man, Mo Juntian, and Shi Tang took their leave. Mo Juntian had gained something from the battle just now and didn’t return to the room with them. He went to the open space where they practiced their swordplay, thinking things over and over again.

The small room at the end of the west wing was still dark and damp. Xiao Man lit the lamp on the table.

“So sleepy, I’ll sleep for a while first.” Shi Tang covered her face and gave a yawn.

Xiao Man said okay. He still couldn’t let go of the matter of the spiritual energy, so he took out the map Mo Juntian had obtained and unfolded it for a closer look.

Within a moment, a dull thud came from behind the screen—

Thud!

“Miss Shi?” The person behind the screen could only be Shi Tang.

Xiao Man’s expression changed abruptly. He strode over and saw Shi Tang fallen on the ground, her eyes tightly closed, as if she had fainted.