The next day, before dawn.
Luoyan City was still asleep.
The snow on the long streets remained unswept.
Gu Yiyou stood in the arch of the city gate, carrying that sheathless rusty sword on his back, still looking as thin and slovenly as ever.
Were it not for the sword on his back, no one would have guessed that this unremarkable-looking old man was a Martial Arts Grandmaster who possessed half of a Sword Immortal's sword intent.
Xiao Chengyan led his piebald horse behind Gu Yiyou, wrapped in a blue cotton robe gifted by Manager Zhou. His collar was turned up high, revealing only his eyes.
He looked a bit nervous, yet also somewhat excited.
Chen Zui and Ye Zhibai stood on the stone steps inside the city gate, seeing them off.
“Brother Chen! Miss Ye!” Xiao Chengyan turned and shouted before mounting his horse. “Until we meet again!”
Chen Zui waved his hand at him, saying nothing more.
Ye Zhibai merely nodded slightly, her gaze fixed on the rusty sword on Gu Yiyou’s back.
The city gates slowly opened.
The heavy, iron-bound wooden doors pushed outward amidst the creaking of hinges, revealing the white, boundless snowfields outside the city.
A sliver of pale light was just beginning to appear on the horizon. The leaden clouds hung low, breaking into countless tiny grains of snow that hissed as they fell.
Gu Yiyou stepped out of the city, his pace neither fast nor slow, making a crunching sound as he trod upon the snow.
Xiao Chengyan rode his horse behind him, glancing back from time to time until the two figures at the city gate grew smaller and smaller. Finally, he gritted his teeth and turned his head, looking back no more.
“To the wall,” Chen Zui said softly, already heading toward the stone steps.
Ye Zhibai followed behind him, and the two of them ascended the city wall.
The soldiers guarding the city seemed to have already received orders; they ignored the duo’s arrival and even proactively moved aside to give them the embrasure with the best view.
Standing on the wall and looking north, the snowfield was visible in its entirety.
Chen Zui leaned his long spear against the battlements, pulled out his wine flask for a gulp, and then offered it to Ye Zhibai.
Ye Zhibai did not take it. her eyes were locked onto the two figures receding into the distance on the snowfield.
“Do you think someone from Grand Shuo will really come to stop them?” Ye Zhibai asked softly.
“If Senior Gu says they will, then they certainly will.”
Chen Zui hung the wine flask back at his waist.
“We’ll just watch.”
The snow fell thicker and thicker.
Gu Yiyou and Xiao Chengyan’s figures gradually blurred in the curtain of snow, turning into two small moving dots.
They had already traveled about 3 li. Further ahead was the buffer zone between Grand Shuo and Grand Zhao.
Nominally, it was a region beyond the jurisdiction of either side, but in reality, undercurrents surged there. Spies and border patrols from both countries were active in this area.
Right then, Chen Zui’s brow furrowed slightly.
At the end of the snowfield, five figures appeared at some unknown point, fanning out to block Gu Yiyou’s path.
Those five moved extremely fast, as if they had been lying in ambush for a long time, waiting for their prey to enter the net.
Their movement techniques were all different, but each carried an aura that could not be ignored.
Even across 3 li of wind and snow, Chen Zui could feel the oppressive force rushing toward them.
Ye Zhibai’s hand tightened around her sword hilt.
“They’re here.”
“Five Grandmasters... Grand Shuo is really going all out,” Chen Zui muttered, squinting his eyes.
3 li away.
Xiao Chengyan’s expression had already changed.
Though his martial cultivation was low, he was born into the royalty of Grand Shuo and had seen countless experts.
The aura these five people radiated just by standing there was already fundamentally different from that of ordinary Second Rank experts.
Those were true Martial Arts Grandmasters, each a top-tier figure capable of serving as a Provincial Protector.
“Senior Gu...” he whispered, his voice trembling slightly.
Gu Yiyou did not respond, nor did he even pause his steps.
He merely tilted his head slightly and spoke in a voice only Xiao Chengyan could hear.
“Stay close to me.”
There was not a single ripple of emotion in his voice.
The gazes of the five men opposite them were cold as knives, all falling upon Gu Yiyou.
A bald man in black iron heavy armor spoke first, his voice like a resonant bell.
“Old man, it’s been thirty years. Why aren't you staying in your own courtyard to live out your days? What are you doing at the border?”
“Leaving the pass.”
Gu Yiyou’s reply consisted of only three words.
“Leaving the pass? Gu Yiyou, you’re just a servant who spent most of his life carrying Sword Immortal Shen’s sword. What right do you have to leave the pass and enter my Grand Shuo’s territory?”
A thin old man in green robes, tall as a bamboo pole, spoke in a shrill voice.
His words were extremely disrespectful.
Xiao Chengyan frowned, took a deep breath, dismounted, and took a step toward the five men.
“Everyone.”
His voice was a notch higher than usual, carrying an innate dignity—a royal air etched into his bones. Even dressed in a coarse cotton robe and with his nose running from the cold, it did not diminish in the slightest.
“I am the Prince of Grand Shuo, Xiao Chengyan. Today, I am leaving the pass to return home with Senior Gu. I ask that you all grant us passage.”
He thought that as long as he revealed his identity, these warriors of Grand Shuo would give him some face, however reluctantly.
But he was wrong.
The five men exchanged looks. Far from showing any respect, their faces were filled with undisguised mockery.
“Prince? What prince?” The bald man sneered.
“Prince Xiao is staying safely in his palace. Why would he appear in a place like this?”
“Thinking you can impersonate the Prince with just words? I think you’re tired of living,” the thin old man in green added sinisterly.
Xiao Chengyan’s face paled.
He was no fool; he understood the crux of the matter in an instant.
These people didn't fail to recognize him.
On the contrary, they knew exactly who he was.
Yet they still dared to say such things.
There was only one reason: the person behind them did not want him to return to Grand Shuo alive.
“Kid, save your breath.”
A middle-aged scholar among the five, who had remained silent until now, finally spoke. He wore a crane cloak and held a folding fan, looking completely out of place in this icy world.
“We are under orders to guard the border. Anyone suspicious is to be killed without exception. If you truly are the Prince, the Royal Court of Grand Shuo will collect your corpse. If not... then it’s just one more nameless body.”
He snapped his fan shut and casually uttered two words.
“Attack.”
Before the word had even faded, the auras of five Grandmasters erupted simultaneously!
The accumulated snow was kicked up by their energy, turning into a vast white mist.
The five men each utilized their unique techniques, lunging at Gu Yiyou and Xiao Chengyan at once.
3 li away, on the wall of Luoyan City.
Ye Zhibai’s whole body was tense, her hand on her sword trembling uncontrollably.
She couldn't see the five men’s moves clearly, but she could feel the overwhelming killing intent with absolute clarity.
Five Martial Arts Grandmasters striking at once—what a terrifying display that was.
“Is he... still not drawing his sword?” she whispered, her voice filled with anxiety.
Chen Zui said nothing, his eyes fixed intently on that thin figure in the distance.
On the snowfield, Gu Yiyou still hadn't stopped walking.
He didn't even reach for the sword on his back.
He simply shifted his body slightly, using an extremely ordinary footwork to pass right through the bald man’s punch.
His movements weren't fast—one might even call them slow—but every step landed perfectly in the gaps between the five men’s attacks.
One man was three feet to his left, his punch hitting nothing but air.
Another soared over his head, a long sword sweeping past his hair, yet failing to cut even a single white strand.
The middle-aged scholar’s steel needles grazed his sleeve and struck the snow, exploding into five pits the size of bowls.
The five of them joined forces to besiege him, yet they couldn't even touch the corner of his clothes.
“A bunch of cowards.”
Gu Yiyou finally came to a halt.
Standing in the center of their encirclement, he slowly lifted his eyelids. His cloudy old eyes became crystal clear in that instant.
He reached out and grasped the hilt of the rusty sword on his shoulder, exhaling a long breath of turbid air.
“Old friend, it’s been a long time since you were last unsheathed.”
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