Li Xun felt a tight, suffocating pressure in his chest. This blatant rogue attitude of Gu Yin’s was sothing he had already witnessed more than sixty years ago.
But when he was the one on the receiving end, it felt completely different from watching it as a bystander.
Even so, he quickly seized on a flaw in her words and let out a cold laugh.
“You just said the Alliance can’t afford to split apart. And now you’re talking about falling out with the Demon Phoenix and Qing Luan, and even dragging into it. That’s a flat-out contradiction. How am I supposed to believe you?”
“When did I ever say I wanted to fall out with them? Bringing you in as backup doesn’t an I’m planning to go to war with them, does it? Sure, you might be the fastest-advancing cultivator since Zhong Yin. Give it another one or two hundred years and you might even beco the next Zhong Yin. But right now, using you to hold off Qixia and the others… heh. Sorry. I really shouldn’t be laughing.”
Li Xun took a deep breath and forced down the anger boiling in his chest. Then he fixed his gaze on Gu Yin’s eyes, trying to understand how the dignified master of a great sect could, deep down, be more despicable and shaless than a street thug from the mortal realm.
But as he kept looking, his eyes slowly drifted away.
In the dim light of the room, Gu Yin was leaning slightly against a cushion. Her clothes were simple, unadorned. The snowy white skin visible at her neck and wrists caught the soft gleam of her jewelry. There wasn’t much overt allure to it, but damn if it didn’t still hit him like a quiet punch to the eyes.
And that calm, elegant poise... like she had everything firmly in her grasp, was even more captivating than her looks.
Of course, Li Xun had not forgotten the “stories” about Gu Yin that he had heard from the Palace Attendant just before coming upstairs.
He also could not forget what he had seen just a month earlier, beneath a layer of ice sowhere in the Northe Polar Yemo Heaven, when fragnts from Tianzhi’s mories had unfolded before him...
And he sure as hell hadn't forgotten that fragnt he'd "seen" just a month ago from Tianzhi's mories...
Without even realizing it, he swallowed.
Gu Yin’s gaze flicked over his bobbing throat, and she let out a slow sigh.
“It seems neither of us has adjusted very well to the change in roles. But I’m sorry, we really don’t have ti to ease into it anymore. I only need one answer from you right now. Can we ‘work together’?”
Li Xun felt it. Sowhere downstairs, a chilling killing intent had already locked onto him.
He knew that presence all too well. Aside from that disgusting thing, Net Throat Demon, there was no one else in the world like it.
A cheap, overused trick… but he had to admit, it worked.
Even if his cultivation had improved by leaps and bounds, he still had no confidence that he could survive Net Throat Demon’s terrifying, explosive assault long enough to last until Yin Wanderer arrived to save him. Of course, he could choose to go down together with Gu Yin. But in his eyes, that was a losing deal.
“Living with a freak like this, how much incense do you have to burn every single day?”
Li Xun tossed out the jab in a flat, halfhearted tone. It was clearly still within what Gu Yin was willing to tolerate. When Gu Yin showed no reaction at all, Li Xun could only steer the conversation back to sothing practical.
“Fine. What do you want to do?”
“No. You don’t need to do anything.”
eting Li Xun’s gaze, Gu Yin looked completely at ease. “Go take care of your business in the Star River. Compared to here, things over there aren’t really that bad. I’ll have the Palace Attendant help you out. As for this side, all I want is for you to get used to the shift in where you stand. When things truly co to a head, don’t hesitate or try to play both sides. You need to understand that right now, we’re standing on the sa line, for our own lives.”
Li Xun let out a cold chuckle and neither agreed nor objected. By now, he no longer felt the need to hide certain feelings in his heart. Or maybe, he thought, that counted as progress too.
He had to admit it. He was starting to believe that Gu Yin really did need his help right now.
Of course, he believed even more firmly that once his usefulness ran out, Gu Yin would get rid of him without the slightest hesitation.
“Oh, right. I guess it’s not true that there’s nothing for you to do after all. There is one thing that actually needs your help.” Gu Yin seed to have genuinely just rembered. She gave a light clap of her hands. “It has to do with your old nesis, Hundred Ghosts. Do you have ti in the fourth month?”
“I’ve got the ti. What is it?”
“If you can make room in your schedule, that would be best. On the second day of the fourth month, go to Razor Peak on Mount Beiqi. There’s a eting there that’s extrely important. One side will be us. The other side will be your enemy.”
Mount Beiqi. Razor Peak.
The two familiar place nas hit Li Xun like a pair of sledgehamrs, leaving his head ringing. Even with his usually solid self-control, he couldn’t keep his face neutral. For a mont, he just stared, stunned and speechless.
Of course, his reaction didn’t escape Gu Yin. The woman raised an eyebrow. “What, surprised?”
Li Xun knew this was bad. At this point there was no way to play it off, so he decided to lean into it. Gritting his teeth, he said, “Hundred Ghosts? When did you start working with him?”
Gu Yin gave him a long, aningful look, then smiled. “You really have a deep grudge against him, don’t you? That’s fine. This ti is actually a perfect opportunity. If you can’t stand him, then when the ti cos, just kill him along with the others attending the eting. Just be careful. Hundred Ghosts has been riding high lately. If you’re not completely confident, don’t expose yourselves.”
Li Xun had no idea what to say anymore. His mind was a ss, thoughts colliding one after another, but in the end they all ca down to just a few words.
Madam Yan, how are you...
He took another breath, stood up, and clasped his fists toward Gu Yin in a formal salute before turning to leave. But just as he reached the stairway, Gu Yin called out to him from behind.
“Take so ti and think about it. What price would you want to pay before we can have even a basic level of trust? Or to put it another way, I want you to be honest with about where our interests actually overlap. I won’t lie to you. Seeing through what you’re really thinking is no easy thing.”
Li Xun stopped. After a brief pause to gather himself, he turned around. “Does that include you?”
The question didn’t surprise Gu Yin much. It only brought a radiant smile to her lips. “Honestly, I wouldn’t mind one bit. It’s just a sha... you'll all get sick of eventually anyway. And more importantly, I have no idea where that ti limit actually is.”
You people?
Li Xun turned the word over in his mind as he slowly went down the stairs. For reasons he couldn’t quite explain, the anger churning inside him began to fade, little by little.
Just after midnight, the moon had already sunk below the horizon. The stretch of water where Li Xun stood grew darker by the mont, but the open view worked in his favor. By the faint starlight alone, any subtle change within several li was still impossible to hide from his eyes.
Beside him, Madam Palace tilted his head, gazing up at the dark, endless star-filled sky. He hadn’t spoken for nearly an hour, and Li Xun felt no impatience at all.
In fact, for that whole stretch before, Li Xun had been busy digesting the new information he had just learned, completely oblivious to how ti was slipping away.
When his attention shifted back to other matters, a ripple of primordial qi stirred in the distance. The person the two of them had been waiting for finally arrived.
Both of them turned their eyes toward the night sky a few li out. There, a lone figure skimd just above the surface of the water, flying toward them.
From afar, their gazes t. Li Xun could clearly see the undisguised shock in the man’s eyes.
Thinking back to his own reaction not long ago, which had been no less intense, Li Xun felt a flash of sympathy. Even so, nothing showed on his face. He rely glanced at Madam Palace, and almost instantly received a confirming response.
With a flick of his thumb, Li Xun sent a pearl soaring over thirty feet before it dropped toward the man on the other side.
In the darkness of the night, the pearl glowed softly and was impossible to miss. The man reached out and caught it, then halted about ten feet in front of Li Xun and his companion. He studied the pearl for a long mont before nodding. “The token checks out. Madam, it’s been a long ti. And this is… Spirit Bamboo of Mingxin?”
Li Xun locked eyes with the newcor, letting just the right hint of a wry smile tug at his lips. He cupped his fists in a salute. “Master Bi Xiu.”
The newcor was wrapped in a dark indigo robe, a little on the plump side, with a sword slung across his back. The hilt was capped by a striking purple orb that caught the starlight like a signal flare. Clean-shaven, fair-skinned, his eyes flicked around with that unmistakable glint of a guy who’d seen every trick in the book and probably invented a few himself.
Li Xun had seen this man before. He was Bisu, known as the “Turning Wheel Star,” one of the four personal disciples of Old Tianyuan.
Truth be told, up until now, Li Xun never would’ve dread that Gu Yin had planted a piece this high up in the Xingji Sword Sect.
Unfortunately, that piece had recently forgotten what it ant to be a piece on the board...
Last ti they had t, Li Xun had been a rising star of the Mingxin Sword Sect, a prodigy with a limitless future ahead of him. Bisu, anwhile, had been one of the strongest contenders to inherit the position of sect master of the Xingji Sword Sect. No one could have imagined that they would et again like this.
An awkward tension hung thick between them. Thankfully, Bisu was not dumb enough to blurt out, “How the hell are you here?” That restraint at least gave both of them a mont to collect themselves.
The Palace Attendant understood how they must be feeling and spoke up from the side. “You’re late.”
Bisu clearly held the attendant in so respect. He hurried to apologize. “I’m on duty tonight and ran into a small matter along the way. That’s why I arrived late. I hope you’ll forgive .”
Li Xun imdiately picked up on the tone. The Palace Attendant was far from polite to Bisu, especially when compared to how she treated Li Xun.
From their earlier contact, Bisu already knew what this trip was about, so the Palace Attendant did not elaborate much. She only gave a brief explanation of what was at stake, then asked, “What ti will we be able to enter the Star River?”
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