“Oh? A woman?
That World's Number One Strategist whose intellect bordered on demonic actually took a woman as his closed-door disciple?
That truly is unexpected,” Qi Tianchen said, somewhat incredulous.
Ling Xiaozi nodded slightly as well.
“Indeed, who could have guessed it?
Then again, if anyone could guess his intentions, he wouldn't be called Wen Zhuo.”
“Then why did this closed-door disciple of Wen Zhuo ask you to come down the mountain?” Qi Tianchen asked with a frown.
Ling Xiaozi shook his head with a soft sigh.
“The girl merely wrote a letter asking me to make a trip to the capital.
As for what exactly is to be done, her style matches her master Wen Zhuo's entirely—she didn't disclose even half a clue.”
“The capital?”
Qi Tianchen’s brow furrowed even tighter.
“It seems there must be quite a stir in the capital to make an Earthly Immortal like you move your nest.”
“A stir that's likely far from small.”
Ling Xiaozi tucked the horsetail whisk into his belt, tilted his head back, and took another swig of wine.
“Very well,” Qi Tianchen said suddenly.
“We are not far from Jinyang City now, so this sword can be considered delivered to their doorstep.
In that case, this old man will accompany you on a trip to the capital.”
Ling Xiaozi raised an eyebrow slightly.
“Have you truly made up your mind?”
Before Qi Tianchen could respond, Murong Qingnü spoke up first from the side.
“Qi Tianchen, did you think that having entered the Earthly Immortal Realm means you can act as if you never spoke those words earlier?”
Murong Qingnü stepped forward, fury reigniting within her amber eyes.
“You said earlier that you would undergo martial release and Dao dissolution, and only then would I let the people of Furnace-Listening Pavilion pass.
Now that you haven't dissolved your Dao, I will not agree to let your Furnace-Listening Pavilion convoy pass through the territory of Mirror Water Villa.
Do not think that having a higher realm to back you up gives you the right to renege on your word.”
Qi Tianchen turned around, looking at Murong Qingnü’s face, which was slightly flushed with anger, a faint, bitter smile surfacing at the corners of his lips.
He did not speak, merely shifting his gaze to the old Daoist beside him, who was currently using his horsetail whisk to dust wine stains off his clothes.
Noticing Qi Tianchen’s gaze, Ling Xiaozi halted his whisk in midair, tilted his head to look at Murong Qingnü, and then glanced at Qi Tianchen, the corner of his mouth curling slightly.
“Little girl.”
His voice was not loud, nor was his tone particularly harsh; it even carried a hint of languor.
“Do you really think this old Daoist is easy to push around?”
Before his voice had even faded, a presence as vast and boundless as an abyss surged forth from him, sweeping over everything.
It was not the dazzling spectacle Qi Tianchen had displayed upon breaking through, with ten thousand rays of resplendent light and saber shadows filling the sky.
Instead, it was a deeper, more restrained resonance with heaven and earth.
There was no blade light, no sword qi, no multicolored glow, nor any visual anomaly visible to the naked eye.
Yet within a radius of dozens of li, all sound vanished in that very instant.
The bamboo leaves ceased their rustling, the mountain stream stopped its babbling, and even the night wind seemed seized by the throat by an invisible hand, freezing in midair.
Moonlight turned exceptionally heavy at this moment, pressing down like a lead weight on everyone's shoulders.
Murong Qingnü bore the brunt of it; that mountain-like pressure bore down on her alone.
Her face went deathly pale in an instant, a fine sheen of cold sweat beading on her forehead, and the hand gripping her sword began to tremble uncontrollably.
Yet she gritted her teeth, keeping her spine straight as an arrow, holding her ground stubbornly without retreating half a step.
She was at the peak of the Boundless Realm, the number one female Grandmaster across the Two Realms.
All her life, she had only ever suppressed others; when had she ever been suppressed like this?
Yet right now, facing this dust-covered old Daoist with patched cuffs, she could not muster even the thought of drawing her sword.
This was not merely a disparity in realm, but a fundamental difference in essence.
Beneath an Earthly Immortal, all were mere ants.
Watching her force herself not to bow her head, a barely perceptible trace of appreciation flashed through Ling Xiaozi’s eyes, yet his words did not yield in the slightest.
“Little girl.
This old Daoist has lived for many years, and others often say I have a soft temper and am easy to talk to.
But that is only on ordinary days.”
He rested the whisk in the crook of his arm and took a step toward Murong Qingnü.
As that step landed, the bluestone slabs within three chi around Murong Qingnü sank a cun into the ground without a sound.
The cracks did not spread outward; instead, they neatly formed a complete circle, trapping her in the center.
“Regarding today’s matter, let this old Daoist speak a fair word.
What Qi Tianchen owes your Mirror Water Villa is a private grudge.
Whether the Sheiru sword can be delivered to Jinyang City is a matter of public righteousness.
Private grudges can be settled slowly, but public righteousness cannot be delayed.
If you insist on blocking the carts at a time like this, you are failing to separate the private from the public.”
He paused for a beat, his voice suddenly deepening.
“For someone who cannot separate public from private, this old Daoist doesn't mind disciplining you on behalf of Miss Xie.”
Murong Qingnü gritted her teeth tightly, humiliation and defiance churning within her amber eyes.
Never in her life had she been suppressed in public like this, let alone reprimanded in the tone of an elder lecturing a junior.
Yet the old Daoist before her possessed unfathomably deep cultivation; even if she staked her life, she would not be able to harm a single hair on his body.
After several breaths of silence, she whipped her sleeve back abruptly and sheathed the cicada-wing soft sword in her hand.
“Fine.”
The word was squeezed from between her teeth.
“Today, I, Murong Qingnü, concede defeat.”
She turned around, her back straight as a sword, the moonlight casting her moon-white dress like an unsheathed, chilled blade.
“But remember this: the score between Mirror Water Villa and Furnace-Listening Pavilion will not end just like that.
One day, I too will enter the Earthly Immortal Realm!”
With that, she walked deep into the mountain gate without looking back.
That moon-white silhouette receded in the moonlight, eventually vanishing amid the eaves and pavilions at the end of the stone steps.
Ling Xiaozi flicked his whisk behind his shoulder, withdrawing that suffocating, all-encompassing pressure.
All sounds within a radius of dozens of li returned at once.
Bamboo leaves rustled once more, the stream babbled anew, and the night wind resumed sweeping through the valley.
The moonlight also regained its original softness, no longer heavy enough to suffocate a person.
He turned around and tapped Qi Tianchen’s shoulder with the handle of his whisk.
“Let’s go. The road to the capital is not short. We can talk as we walk.”
Qi Tianchen looked back at the solitary grave. Without saying a word, he turned his head to look down at the group of people waiting beneath the mountain gate.
“It won't be too late to set out after I give them a few instructions.”
...
Beneath the mountain gate, the others were waiting anxiously.
A-Tong crouched beside the wheel of the baggage cart, resting his chin in both hands, his eyes fixed unblinkingly on the mountain gate.
Though the eight martial artists in tight attire stood straight, they gripped their weapons tightly, the veins bulging on the backs of their hands.
From the carriage, the bronze bell occasionally let out an extremely faint, crisp chime. Every time it rang, everyone’s heart skipped a beat.
They had clearly seen the earth-shattering clash above the mountain gate from the foot of the mountain: sword aura crisscrossing, blade intent filling the sky.
And later, the Daoist who descended from the sky, exuding a presence as vast as an abyss and as heavy as a prison, had made it hard to breathe even from afar.
They did not know what had transpired up there, only that Qi Tianchen had faced the number one female Grandmaster across the Two Realms, followed by the arrival of an unfathomable old Daoist.
When Qi Tianchen’s figure descended the stone steps, A-Tong was the first to leap up.
“Grandpa Qi!”
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