Chapter 916: Knowing the Male, Guarding the Female — It’s Only the Heart
Huai Shu glared at Huai Bi and said angrily, “Why don’t you release Senior Sister right now!”
Xu Yourong’s gaze suddenly shifted upward, landing on Huai Bi’s face.
Huai Bi felt as if two beams of light with real heat were shining upon her. Her vision turned blindingly bright, unbearably piercing.
With a thunderous roar, a fierce wind howled through the thatched hall. The white straw danced wildly in the gusts, and a pair of fire wings spanning over ten zhang seized everyone’s sight.
Xu Yourong had revealed her True Phoenix form!
Infinite radiance spilled outward in all directions, the temperature skyrocketing, and the entire thatched hall seemed on the verge of bursting into flames.
Huai Bi felt an unimaginable pressure. Shocked and furious, she retreated, but she did not release Huai Ren.
Suddenly, Huai Ren’s face turned deathly pale. With a *puh*, she spat out a mouthful of bright red blood!
Huai Bi was momentarily stunned. She looked down, a flicker of caution rising in her heart.
But it was already too late.
From within Huai Ren’s seemingly frail body burst a power so vast, so pure, as if it had been washed by the Southern Stream for centuries!
The pitch-black sword, cold to the extreme, was sent flying directly.
Huai Bi felt as though a green mountain had slammed into her chest and abdomen. With a sharp shriek, she shot backward.
Huai Ren turned. Her figure moved like smoke, like the fragrance of flowers, pressing forward with relentless intent.
Her hands descended. The motion seemed casual, yet it concealed the ultimate principles of heaven and earth, leaving no room to evade.
A dozen faint sounds rang out among the flowering trees of the Southern Stream Nunnery.
They were the sounds of her fingers striking Huai Bi’s body.
A muffled thud followed, then the gale howled and gradually subsided.
Among the flowering trees of the Southern Stream Nunnery, a pit about three feet deep had appeared.
Huai Bi stood at the bottom of the pit, drenched in blood, her face pale.
“How is this possible?”
She muttered to herself, half-crazed.
Huai Ren stood quietly before her and said, “Knowing the male, guarding the female, thus becoming the stream of the world. Junior Sister, you have never practiced this finger technique correctly.”
Huai Bi let out a sharp shriek and turned to flee.
A sound of wind breaking rang out. A figure descended like thunder, slamming into her.
Huai Bi cried out in pain and tumbled deep into the flowering trees.
The figure revealed itself—it was Huai Shu, whose temperament was as fierce as fire.
Deep among the flowering trees, there was not only fragrance but also sword intent.
A dozen strands of sword intent rose with chilling sharpness.
Huai Bi screamed in agony. Her figure faltered, and she could no longer hold on. Forced back by the sword light, she fell.
Flowers fell, forming a grave.
She landed right back in that pit.
Her left arm was broken, her body covered in sword wounds, blood streaming everywhere—a truly miserable sight.
She looked at Huai Ren, struggling to climb out, and cried out tearfully, “Senior Sister, please spare me.”
Huai Ren looked at her quietly, saying nothing.
The tearful cries, laced with pain, gradually faded—a sign of utter despair.
Huai Ren was silent for a long time. Then she turned, bowed to Xu Yourong and Chen Changsheng from the thatched hall, and walked away.
Huai Shu glanced into the pit once before following.
The disciples of the Southern Stream Nunnery entered the pit, dragged Huai Bi out, and carried her toward the back of the cliff terrace.
Thinking of the miserable fate awaiting her—lifelong imprisonment, a fate worse than death—Huai Bi was filled with boundless venom. She screamed hoarsely, “The Dao Sovereign will come to save me! When that happens, none of you little **** will have a good end! I’ll make you all kneel and beg me!”
The disciples of the Southern Stream Nunnery exchanged uneasy glances, unsure what to do. After all, she was their Grandmaster’s junior sister. No matter how angry they were, they could not treat her too harshly.
Huai Bi continued her curses, her words growing uglier and uglier. A stream of foul language poured forth, vicious and venomous.
Tang Thirty-Six and Zhe Xiu stood in a pavilion outside the thatched hall. Watching the scene, Tang Thirty-Six couldn’t help shaking his head repeatedly.
Just then, Xu Yourong glanced at Chen Changsheng.
Chen Changsheng was momentarily startled, then looked at Tang Thirty-Six.
Tang Thirty-Six sighed with emotion, “What a perfect pair…”
Then he looked at Zhe Xiu.
A cold wind suddenly rose, and fallen leaves danced wildly in the pavilion.
Zhe Xiu stepped among the flowering trees. With a sharp *clang*, the Demon Marshal’s Banner Sword shot into the air, blazing with a dark, heavy sword light.
Huai Bi’s venomous curses came to an abrupt halt. She clutched her bleeding throat, her eyes filled with disbelief, and slowly collapsed to the ground.
…
…
Twilight came much earlier among the clustered peaks than on the plains.
Though the hour was still early, the sun had already neared the upper edge of the mountain ridges. The light grew faint, and the flowering trees seemed on the verge of catching fire.
On the mountain path before the Southern Stream Nunnery, Ping Xuan and Yi Chen led over a hundred direct disciples, seeing off Grandmasters Huai Ren and Huai Shu. Though the distance was considerable, faint sounds of weeping could still be heard. The atmosphere was heavy with sorrow.
“I never expected your Grandmaster’s cultivation realm to be so formidable.”
Chen Changsheng stood at the edge of the cliff, watching the scene.
Earlier in the thatched hall, Huai Bi had launched a sudden ambush, using the World Stream Divine Finger to seal Huai Ren’s meridians and Nether Palace. No one had expected Huai Ren’s temperament to be far fiercer than usual, her cultivation realm unfathomably deep. She forcibly mobilized her true essence and divine sense, broke through the restraints with ease, and subdued Huai Bi with a single move, leaving her utterly powerless.
The World Stream Divine Finger she used was countless times superior to Huai Bi’s technique—exquisite, transcendent, even carrying a hint of sacredness. If she had refused to follow Xu Yourong’s wishes and had chosen to resist with her cultivation, no one could have predicted how things would have ended.
“Our Southern Stream Nunnery has stood for countless years. Though we keep a low profile, our foundation is deep. Grandmaster Huai Ren has devoted her entire life to the Dao, and sacred attainment is within reach. Naturally, she is formidable.”
Xu Yourong said, “I just wonder how your teacher managed to persuade her.”
Chen Changsheng watched her from the side. Her small, incomparably beautiful face was perfectly calm, yet it carried its own authority—perhaps because she stood with her hands clasped behind her back at the cliff’s edge?
By now, he was certain that the faint warning he had sensed atop the Saintess Peak yesterday had come from himself.
In other words, he was Xu Yourong’s biggest problem. If he had not come to Saintess Peak, Xu Yourong might not have been forced to break through her barrier and emerge from seclusion prematurely.
Thinking of this, he said, “I’m sorry. I’ll try to be calmer in the future.”
Xu Yourong turned to face him and said with a smile, “If even my affairs couldn’t break your calm, wouldn’t that be something you should apologize for?”
Chen Changsheng thought for a moment and said, “That makes sense. Then I won’t change.”
It had been years since they last saw each other, and their correspondence had been cut off for two years. By all logic, there should have been some awkwardness between them.
But in truth, they had faced life and death together too many times. Their blood had mingled; they were intertwined, each within the other.
As the world saw them, they were a true match made in heaven.
So now, being together again, it was as calm and natural as in years past.
Xu Yourong closed her eyes, lost in thought.
The mountain breeze from beyond the cliff gently brushed her face, making her eyelashes tremble slightly.
With it came the twilight glow.
Looking at her face, Chen Changsheng’s heart stirred faintly. Slowly, he lowered his head.
Xu Yourong still had her eyes closed, but the slightest change flickered across her expression.
Perhaps she had sensed something.