Chapter 3: I Want Your…
The Luoyang Sect was an extremely unique sect on the continent, belonging to neither the Southern nor Northern branches of the state religion. This was because the cultivation techniques of this sect were not based on star-light marrow cleansing, but rather used earthfire as their energy source. The sect’s mountain gate was located beside a remote volcano in the far southwest, and its cultivators rarely appeared in the world. Unexpectedly, this year, with the Zhou Garden opening, they had also sent people.
If she were an ordinary cultivator, she would likely have never even heard of the Luoyang Sect, just as the old man had said. But she was no ordinary cultivator. As the next generation’s Southern Holy Maiden, whether in the Great Zhou capital or later at Nanxi Zhai, besides cultivation and interpreting the Heavenly Book, she had also studied and learned a great deal about the various sects of the continent. So she knew of the Luoyang Sect.
She also knew that this old man named Bai Hai was an elder of the Luoyang Sect, formidable in strength and… cold-blooded and ruthless by nature.
“So it’s… a senior from the Luoyang Sect.”
Her voice paused briefly in the middle, making it seem as if she were an ordinary sect disciple unfamiliar with the Luoyang Sect, repeating the name out of politeness.
The Luoyang Sect elder, Bai Hai, looked at her with interest and asked, “Which sect are you a disciple of?”
Xu Yourong bowed respectfully and replied, “This junior is of the Xiuling Clan, with no sect affiliation.”
Bai Hai’s expression shifted slightly, as if surprised that this young girl was actually from the Xiuling Clan. Then he said, “Let’s go.”
With that, he walked toward Xu Yourong, naturally, as if he intended to help her lift Chen Changsheng, who was lying in the fallen leaves.
“Alright, senior.”
Saying this, Xu Yourong picked Chen Changsheng up from the leaves and walked toward the opposite side, equally natural, like an obedient young girl following a senior’s orders.
Neither she nor Bai Hai noticed that Chen Changsheng’s eyelids trembled slightly, as if he were about to wake, but in the end, he did not.
A rustling sound arose from the fallen leaves—the crunch of footsteps. With each sound, the distance between them shortened.
Suddenly, Bai Hai stopped and said calmly, “You’re badly injured. Hand this fellow cultivator over to me.”
Xu Yourong replied calmly, “Thank you for your kindness, senior. My injuries are not severe; I can still manage, so there’s no need.”
At this point, there were still over ten zhang between them.
But neither took another step forward.
The sound of leaves breaking ceased, and the forest fell utterly silent, even deathly still.
After a long time, a sigh finally broke the silence.
Bai Hai looked at her with regret and sighed, “From the moment we met until now, there hasn’t been a single flaw. Perfect.”
Xu Yourong looked at him calmly and said, “You as well.”
Clearly, she no longer addressed him as “senior,” and the respectful “you” had become the casual “you.”
Bai Hai raised an eyebrow slightly, puzzled, and asked, “Earlier, from over a hundred zhang away, you could have shot me with your bow. Why didn’t you? Don’t tell me you hadn’t seen through me then.”
Naturally, he no longer assumed the role of a senior, and his “you” shifted back to the respectful form.
Xu Yourong did not explain, because she didn’t want him to confirm that her true essence was depleted, making it impossible for her Wu arrows to kill a peak Tongyou realm expert at long range.
If they were closer, like now, and he took one more step forward, she would have tried to shoot him. Unfortunately, he didn’t.
So, in truth, she was also feeling regretful.
Bai Hai looked at her and asked, “Did you see through my intentions from the start?”
Xu Yourong remained silent, which was as good as an admission.
Bai Hai asked, “Why? I thought I acted quite well.”
Xu Yourong’s answer was simple: “Instinct.”
Bai Hai sighed with emotion and said, “This must be what they call talent.”
With that, he struck out with a palm from a distance, aimed at Xu Yourong’s face.
Dark red flames appeared at the edges of his palm.
As the palm moved forward, it multiplied into dozens of palms, enveloping Xu Yourong from all directions.
The sky in the forest turned dark red.
These dark red flames seemed heavier than ordinary fire, as if they had a tangible quality, like the seemingly dim but intensely hot magma deep underground.
The green leaves on the branches instantly curled, the bark cracked, and the temperature soared.
The next moment, this dark red flame would engulf Xu Yourong and Chen Changsheng.
Just as Bai Hai struck, Xu Yourong stomped her right foot on the ground. With a soft crack, the fallen leaves around her and Chen Changsheng flew up from the ground, swirling wildly.
The leaves couldn’t block the countless palm shadows wreathed in dark red flames. With a roar, they ignited, turning into a raging sea of fire.
But it was this very fire that blocked Bai Hai’s vision and the killing intent hidden within those countless palm shadows.
This was the principle of using fire to counter fire.
Taking advantage of the blazing fire’s cover, Xu Yourong grabbed Chen Changsheng and, like a blur, flashed into a cliffside outside the forest.
That was the only area Bai Hai’s fire palm couldn’t reach, and it was also the spot she had already scouted. If the cliff were solid rock, she couldn’t have entered, but there was a cave in the cliff face.
Before this deadly conversation began, she had already spotted the cave and calculated her options. If she couldn’t seize the initiative in the fight, she had prepared an escape route.
This cave was that escape route, but it had no back exit.
The sea of fire in the forest churned slightly as Bai Hai broke through the air, his expression grim as he struck again.
Countless palm prints wreathed in dark red flames suddenly condensed into a single straight line of fire, blasting directly toward Xu Yourong’s back inside the cave. This elder of the Luoyang Sect knew exactly who the girl he intended to kill today was. How could he dare hold back? He left himself no retreat, unleashing his most powerful Luoyang Palm with all his lifelong cultivation.
Xu Yourong turned, looking at the line of fire filled with terrifying energy, her expression still calm. She twisted her wrist and drove the Tong Bow into the ground.
The cave floor was hard. With a sharp crack, the stone surface shattered inch by inch as the base of the Tong Bow sank deep into the ground, standing taller than her.
In an instant, countless branches sprouted from the Tong Bow, and green leaves emerged at their tips, swaying slightly in the space distorted by the fire line, bringing a fresh aura that filled the entire cave entrance.
This process was hard to describe in words.
A long span of time condensed into a fleeting moment.
A century-old tree—how many years would it take to build a palace?
This was the growth of a solitary parasol tree and the completion of a palace.
The Tong Bow became a parasol tree, and it also built a Tong Palace. Yes, the very same Tong Palace in the Great Zhou imperial palace, the one that had trapped Chen Changsheng for a day and a night.
The parasol tree, as the unique dual divine artifact on the Hundred Artifacts List, had such a hidden use. The previous Holy Maidens of Nanxi Zhai had actually attached the Tong Palace to the Tong Bow.
The Tong Palace was a formation, extremely powerful for trapping enemies and incredibly resilient for defense.
With a roar, the fire rapidly expanded, colliding against the stone wall like a wave.
At the cave entrance, flames surged skyward, and the emerald parasol leaves seemed about to ignite. Yet the fire line could not cross this parasol tree by even a single step.
This was the parasol tree where the phoenix perched. The phoenix was fire—its blood was fire, its body was fire. After countless millennia together, the parasol tree was filled with fire essence and fire spirit. How could it fear fire? Not even the flames from the Luoyang Palm, nor even if this longbow were thrown into the Luoyang Sect’s Earthfire Ravine, could harm it in the slightest.
The green branches stretched out, dividing the cave into two worlds, blocking the blazing earthfire and Bai Hai outside.
Through the flames, Xu Yourong looked at Bai Hai, her expression calm, saying nothing.
Bai Hai’s expression was grave, but he felt no frustration that his summoned flames couldn’t break through her Tong Bow’s defense. He looked at her and said, “My Luoyang Sect is built in the Darkfire Valley. Besides the terrifyingly hot earthfire, the most abundant thing there is miasma. That miasma and the earthfire mutually generate and counteract each other. I’m very curious whether your longbow can withstand it.”
With that, he withdrew his Luoyang Palm, walked up to the parasol tree, and without hesitation struck down with another palm.
This time, no blazing flames appeared. Instead, a faint, eerie aura, accompanied by countless dust-like particles, sprayed from his palm onto the tree trunk and leaves.
In an instant, the emerald parasol tree seemed as if it had spent years in a windblown, sandy northern desert, covered in a thick layer of gray, losing all its former vitality.
The gray was composed of extremely fine dust particles, each one a fire-miasma essence Bai Hai had gathered over centuries of breathing and cultivating in the Darkfire Valley.
The external dimming wasn’t important. What was terrifying was that these particles were constantly eroding the Tong Bow’s body. Tiny gray spots had already appeared on the emerald leaves, visibly expanding. The bark also showed many frightening cracks, deepening inward.
Under normal circumstances, with her vast reserves of true essence, Xu Yourong could keep the Tong Bow free of even a speck of dust, let alone let her true phoenix blood be tainted by mere miasma.
But now, she could only rely on the Tong Bow itself to resist these darkfire miasmas from the depths of the earth. How long could the Tong Bow hold out?
Through the parasol tree’s branches and leaves, she looked at the Luoyang Sect elder and asked calmly, “Why are you doing this?”
Bai Hai said, “Everyone entering the Zhou Garden is after profit. I’m no exception.”
Xu Yourong asked, “Are you sure… the profit you’ll gain from me outweighs the risk you’re taking?”
Bai Hai smiled and said, “I’m very sure.”
Xu Yourong said calmly, “I can give you endless benefits—benefits you can’t even imagine.”
In the current continent, there were many cultivation sects, each with its own secrets, especially esoteric ones like the Luoyang Sect. But she was absolutely qualified to say such words, and he had to believe her.
Bai Hai said, “Earning the gratitude of both the Holy Maiden Peak and the Great Zhou dynasty is certainly rare. But if I hadn’t driven you into this desperate situation, how could I obtain such benefits?”
Xu Yourong said, “You’ve known who I am all along?”
“Yes, Heavenly Maiden… am I right? I’ve heard that all the disciples of Holy Maiden Peak, whether from Cijian Temple or Nanxi Zhai, address you by that title.”
Bai Hai looked at her with a smile and said, “Last night, beneath Muyu, I saw the fire wings you spread.”
Xu Yourong said, “Knowing it was me, you still dared to show disrespect? You’ve cultivated for over two hundred years—can’t you control your greed, to the point of madness?”
As she said this, her expression remained calm, as if she felt no anger, but there was a natural sense of superiority.
Bai Hai said calmly, “Greed drives people mad, but I’m not truly insane. If we were outside the Zhou Garden, I’d be kneeling before you now, kissing the ground at your feet. But… this is the Zhou Garden, and you’ve already been severely wounded by that demon princess. If I miss this opportunity, I’d be punished by heaven.”
Xu Yourong looked at a green leaf before her and asked calmly, “What do you want from me? This divine artifact? Or something else?”
A strange smile appeared on Bai Hai’s aged face: “I… I want… I want your blood.”
(That last line almost turned into a song lyric for me. In fact, as I wrote it, I did sing it out loud. See you all tomorrow. Oh, and tomorrow is Monday—the stock market opens. Be careful! Also, friends who don’t play stocks, don’t forget to vote for The Legendary Selection.)