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Edited by RED

Xu Qi retreated speedily into the forest, concealing his aura and hiding next to a tree. Due to his small size, it would be difficult for anyone to spot him in the night, even if they were to stand right before him.

Just as he had fully hidden himself, a white silhouette drifted to the ground, scouting along the path Xu Qi had just quit.

I was indeed being followed, and I didn’t even notice their presence. Who exactly is it possessing such strength?, Xu Qi thought, as the white silhouette showed itself.

The silhouette stood on the spot and scanned its surroundings cautiously. Then, its gaze fell on the tree where Xu Qi had hidden himself at. It raised its knee and launched a flying kick toward the tree.

Before the white silhouette’s kick landed on the tree, it suddenly turned and zipped over to another tree, concealing themselves.

Hmm? It was actually a woman. Interesting. Xu Qi, who had kept his cool and remained still during all this, picked up a faint fragrance as the white silhouette flew over. He was sure this fragrance came from a woman; such a smell definitely wouldn’t belong to a man.

Then, a bloody smell wafted over. Xu Qi furrowed his brow in displeasure upon noticing it. The next moment, he felt a sinister aura approaching the forest.

As expected, very soon, a black silhouette landed next to the tree where the white silhouette had hidden herself at.

“Shui Qingyu, are you going to show yourself on your own volition, or would you rather I ‘invite’ you out?” the bloody-odored black silhouette demanded.

Then, the hidden white silhouette walked out of hiding and said plainly, “You people from Shadow Wind Sect are as detestable as ever. I only came out to take a breather, and you actually followed me here.”

The white-robed person who had followed him out here was as he’d expected; the voice he’d just heard was a woman’s voice.

Xu Qi was surprised at what he just heard. The Shadow Wind Sect of the nation of Ghosteem? No wonder there’s such a heavy odor of blood. Unexpectedly, he had randomly come across someone from the top cultivation school of Ghosteem just like that. Against such an expert, Xu Qi didn’t dare to be careless in the slightest, and remained still.

The black silhouette cackled, and said, “Shui Qingyu, you’re not qualified to berate our Shadow Wind Sect. That aside, what are you people from Misty Tower of Waterdusk doing out here at this remote place; what are you up to?” His laughter was one that made one tremble at the sound of it.

Misty Tower.. of Waterdusk? God damn it, why would I run into two top cultivation schools just by coming out of the city? How unlucky, Xu Qi cursed inwardly.

“What, Yi Jiu, are you saying that your Shadow Wind Sect is allowed to be here, but we Misty Tower isn’t? What nonsense are you spouting?” the lady named Shui Qingyu retorted.

“Hur hur, I didn’t say that; I’m only curious as to why Miss Shui would be out here taking a walk alone. That was why I couldn’t help but follow along to the wilderness. It would be bad news if anything were to happen to Miss Shui,” the man called Yi Jiu replied eerily.

“Hmph! Stop beating around the bush, Yi Jiu. If you have something to say, say it; I don’t have time to waste on you. Don’t spoil my mood for walks.” From the way Shui Qingyu spoke, it was obvious she was irritated.

“Don’t be angry, Miss Shui. Isn’t it fine if I leave now? But before I go, I would like to ask about my eighth brother, Yi Ba. Five years ago, he took on a mission from Waterdusk and headed there. We haven’t heard of him since; did an accident befall him? Misty Tower’s status in Waterdusk is in a class of its own. You people are bound to know something about it; please do tell,” Yi Jiu continued unflinchingly.1

Hearing this, Shui Qingyu ceased to reply further and stood there unmoving.

A moment later, Yi Jiu smiled, saying, “Seems like the rumors were true; my eighth brother was surrounded and slain by you people from Misty Tower, am I right?”

Shui Qingyu pointed her finger at Yi Jiu and retorted, “Yi Jiu, your brother Yi Ba came to the nation of Waterdusk and killed over thirty disciples of our Misty Tower. We tried dissuading him from continuing his wicked acts, but he wouldn’t change his vicious ways. We had no choice but to take him down to prevent further losses of innocent lives. However, we did not kill him; he chose to kill himself in the end.”

Xu Qi could sense that after Shui Qingyu finished her sentence, there was a slight fluctuation in Yi Jiu’s aura. He thought that things were about to take a turn for the worse. Shui Qingyu is such a silly girl to be speaking of such matters here; isn’t she just agitating this guy?

“Oh, so you’re admitting to Misty Tower killing my eighth brother, eh?” Yi Jiu said plainly.

Shui Qingyu turned her head around and said angrily, “That’s right, you can say that our Misty Tower is the cause of Yi Ba’s death. He was evil through and through; anybody had the right to kill him!”

When Yi Jiu heard this, he actually clasped his hands and said deliberately, “Many thanks to Miss Shui for telling me the truth today. Words alone cannot express my gratitude for you. I shan’t disrupt Miss Shui any longer; I’ll take my leave now.”

He actually didn’t make a move? Such a pity, I was hoping to watch two experts cross swords. Xu Qi watched as Yi Jiu unexpectedly bade farewell to his enemy after knowing the truth. It came as a surprise to him, and he was feeling some self-pity inwardly for missing out on an opportunity to see experts going at each other.

“I shan’t see you off; good bye!” Shui Qingyu immediately turned to leave, her voice cold as ice.

Crap, this lady is in danger! Xu Qi cursed inwardly.

It was at this moment that Yi Jiu, who was about to make his exit, suddenly turned to launch a sneak attack on Shui Qingyu. Two daggers had unknowingly appeared in his hands, instantly enveloped by blue aura.

“How despicable, Yi Jiu. You dare sneak attack me?!” Shui Qingyu hurriedly turned and yelled upon hearing the sonic boom behind her. Blue aura burst forth, and Shui Qingyu brandished her sword, prepared to take on Yi Jiu’s attack.

In this world, a cultivator’s strength could be roughly gauged based on the color of their aura. An Essence realm cultivator would project a green-colored aura, a Qi realm cultivator a yellow aura, Spirit realm cultivators a blue aura, Void realm cultivators a red aura, and Reprisal realm cultivators a violet aura. As for the near non-existent Saint realm, their aura would be white.

He’s a Spirit realm expert as well. That scared me, I thought I ran into a Void realm expert, Xu Qi sighed in relief after seeing their auras.

As the two battled on in the forest, a wide vacant space soon appeared, with the two as the center. The nearby trees were all destroyed by their spiritual qi, and Xu Qi had long since found another hidden spot slightly further away. Otherwise, he would have been exposed.

After some time, both of them retreated backwards, each standing atop a tree facing their opponent. Xu Qi noticed that the white-robed Shui Qingyu, was now decorated with multiple injuries, while he couldn’t tell the condition of Yi Jiu, since the latter was wearing dark clothing.

However, from the auras each of them were emitting, it seemed like Shui Qingyu was the one in a worse position from their battle.

“You’re despicable, Yi Jiu. Why would you ambush me? Do you wish for Shadow Wind Sect and Misty Tower to commence a full-scale war?” Shui Qingyu roared. Her voice immediately resounded through the forest.

In response, Yi Jiu slowly brought up one of the dagger to his mouth and licked on it, saying eerily, “Miss Shui’s blood is delicious, as expected. Don’t you think it’s laughable when you mention Shadow Wind Sect and Misty Tower starting a war against each other? The feud was already planted the moment you people from Misty Tower ganged up on my eighth brother, causing his death. The news wasn’t confirmed; that’s all that was stopping it from happening! Our Shadow Wind Sect is not scared of your puny Misty Tower in the slightest!”

“Since it’s like that, don’t blame me for not giving your Shadow Wind Sect any face!” Shui Qingyu sounded even angrier. An object appeared in her hands, and with a whoosh, a streak of light shot to the skies, illuminating the entire forest with a gigantic ‘Mist’ word hanging mid-air.

Damn, there’s actually such tools. Xu Qi was shocked as he watched the scene unfold. Using the light generated, Xu Qi managed to take a good look at Shui Qingyu’s condition. Her snow white robe was stained with blood in numerous spots, and blood was trickling down the corners of her mouth. It was obvious she had suffered an internal injury.

As Yi Jiu watched the illuminating ‘Mist’ word in the skies, he humphed, “Hmph, Shui Qingyu, consider your life safe for today; there will be people coming for your head in the future!” He immediately turned around and flew into the sky.

After Yi Jiu left, Shui Qingyu fell from the tree she stood on. Seeing this, Xu Qi was somewhat unwilling to let her crash to the ground and was about to step forward to provide help, before sensing an aura had entered the forest. He quickly halted his steps, and Shui Qingyu naturally hit the ground without his help.

After a brief moment, a white silhouette similar to Shui Qingyu gracefully floated down to the tree she was under. The white silhouette quickly brought Shui Qingyu into their arms upon discovering her.

“Senior Disciple Shui, Senior Disciple Shui, what happened to you?” a young woman’s voice called out anxiously.

Another woman. Could it be that the people from Misty Tower are all ladies? Xu Qi suspected upon hearing her voice. Then, he quickly refocused his attention on the girl.

Seeing as her calls went unanswered, she gently laid Shui Qingyu on the ground again. Then, she stood up and crossed her arms, mumbling something softly. Yellow colored energy shone on her arms, slowly forming a yellow colored lotus. The girl operated the energy lotus, lowering it to Shui Qingyu, where it entered her body.

Qi realm Healer! Xu Qi exclaimed inwardly as he watched her perform her actions. He’d heard of highly skilled Healers before, but this was the first time he witnessed one healing someone else.

Soon, Shui Qingyu coughed lightly and said something softly. Xu Qi was too far from them to hear anything.

Seeing that Shui Qingyu had regained consciousness, the girl hurriedly helped her up and said, “Senior Disciple Shui, how are you feeling? Who was the one who hurt you?”

Shui Qingyu stood up with difficulty, holding onto her longsword. She said softly, “I’m fine, Junior Disciple Di. Is there anyone else from our school rushing here?”

“Senior Disciple Shui, I was idling alone by the edge of the city earlier. I rushed over once I saw our school’s signal for help; the others shouldn’t know about this yet,” the lady addressed as Junior Disciple Di by Shui Qingyu answered gently.

Hearing this, Shui Qingyu nodded her head lightly and continued, “Earlier I was amb.. Junior Disciple Di, be careful!”

Junior Disciple Di hurriedly turned around at Shui Qingyu’s sudden call, but she immediately found herself impaled by a longsword; half of it penetrated through her chest and blood flowed along its length.

“Senior, you.. why..” before she could finish her words, the young girl swayed and fell to the ground, her eyes full of unwillingness and astonishment.

TL Note:

1: Yi Jiu and Yi Ba: Yi is their family name, and Jiu is literally nine and Ba eight.