Chapter 5

The gray, overcast sky of the Xuanxu Realm was already drizzling rain before anyone knew when it had started. Yin Xianyu woke to a stabbing pain in her sea of consciousness.

The spiritual power inside her had gone berserk during her breakthrough to Nascent Soul, leaving her senseless. She had no idea how long she had been unconscious before she finally came to.

The moment she opened her eyes, she felt spiritual fluctuations all around her. Beneath her feet was still the same dark brown earth; she was still in that very place from before.

Only now, the familiar wandering cultivators around her seemed to have vanished. She was wrapped in a soft sphere of spiritual light, and beside her stood a tall, upright figure facing away from her.

For some reason, Yin Xianyu found that back oddly familiar. It felt as if she had just seen it not long ago.

The long sword in that person’s hand gave off waves of cold gleam, and Yin Xianyu found it even more familiar. She squinted at it for a while before realizing that it was actually her own Hanguang Sword.

Yin Xianyu scrambled to her feet, about to step forward and demand an explanation, when she discovered dense sword lights raining down from above. Clang after clang, they slammed against the barrier outside the sphere of light, sounding like countless wind chimes being struck by the wind.

“What’s going on?”

Yin Xianyu’s mind was in a jumble. She hadn’t even thought about whether this person would answer her; the words just burst out instinctively.

The person turned her face. Those cold, detached eyes merely brushed past Yin Xianyu for a moment. “You’re awake.”

“I was surrounded and attacked; the pursuers followed me here, and I’ve implicated you.”

After Xie Qingrang finished, she turned back around. Yin Xianyu’s heart jolted; so everything just now had not been an illusion.

She first checked her body for any other problems, then found that her cultivation had actually advanced. A faint little human figure now lingered in the sea of consciousness where her Golden Core had once been; only then did she realize that she had broken through Golden Core and entered Nascent Soul.

However, in the Xuanxu Realm, to keep the disparity in realms from becoming too great, the higher one’s cultivation was, the more heavily it was suppressed. A Golden Core cultivator could display full strength, while a Nascent Soul cultivator could only use fifty percent; the higher one went, the more severely one’s strength would be restricted.

That was why she hadn’t realized at first that she had already broken through her bottleneck.

But the spiritual qi here was thin. If Yin Xianyu wanted to break through, she would need a great deal of spiritual energy. She rummaged through the magical items in her sleeves; the pills and spiritual energy she had originally prepared had already been completely used up. That was nowhere near enough.

So who had helped her? The answer was obvious. Yin Xianyu turned her gaze toward Xie Qingrang’s back.

The Xuanxu Realm suppressed a cultivator’s own cultivation, and of course it also suppressed the use of magical treasures.

In this place, Xie Qingrang’s Chiling had very little room to exert itself, and it was even more difficult to drive. Combined with what Xie Qingrang had just said, Yin Xianyu immediately understood: she had borrowed her sword and, in passing, protected her. The two of them had simply taken what they needed.

Yin Xianyu barely managed to restrain the urge to draw the sword back.

Having one’s life-bound sword held in another’s hand felt awful, even if that person was Xie Qingrang.

Getting it back would not be easy either. Even though she had broken through a realm, she still would not be able to beat Xie Qingrang. She could only coexist peacefully for the time being.

At that moment, voices outside drifted in.

“Xie Qingrang, come out! Hiding in there—what kind of skill is that? If you’ve got the guts, come out and fight me fair and square!”

“Hand over the Bone-Engraving Stone, Xie Qingrang, you petty thief! Sneaking around and stealing while we weren’t looking—what kind of ability is that!”

“Immortal Lord Qingrang, this junior urgently needs that immortal stone. Would you kindly yield it? I will definitely repay you handsomely once it is done!”

There were all kinds of voices. Yin Xianyu listened carefully for a while and realized that most of them were actually speaking rather politely. On the one hand they were begging her to discuss things properly; on the other, their hands never stopped moving, as if they wished they could pierce this tiny sphere of light straight through.

Yin Xianyu looked outside in some bewilderment. Remembering those wandering cultivators from before, she thought that money and treasure really could move people’s hearts. This Bone-Engraving Stone that had driven them so mad must be something very good indeed.

Xie Qingrang’s brows were faintly furrowed. She still held the Hanguang Sword, unmoved, though the protective halo around the magical item grew smaller and smaller. After enduring such a long barrage, it looked like it could no longer hold much longer.

These people had actually come to seize treasure. Xie Qingrang might have profound cultivation, but she had been chased all the way here by people from every path; no matter how powerful she was, there were times when two fists could not defeat four hands.

Still, she didn’t look like someone who couldn’t escape. She merely frowned at Yin Xianyu and asked, “How do you feel? I’m leaving.”

The qi inside Yin Xianyu’s body was still unstable. If the barrier broke now, the people outside wouldn’t care who she was; a flash of blades and swords would be enough to hack her in two.

Yin Xianyu shook her head. “I’m not doing well. Senior Sister Xie, can you return my Hanguang Sword to me?”

It looked like she had no intention of staying here any longer. Yin Xianyu naturally could not keep her here, and could only try to ask for her life-bound sword back.

Xie Qingrang looked at her for a long time, then asked, “You’re coming with me?”

Yin Xianyu almost thought she had misheard. But Xie Qingrang met her eyes seriously, showing that she had not.

If the other woman had not been holding her Hanguang Sword, Yin Xianyu would have even suspected that the things Ye Yinian had said before had some truth to them. How could the notoriously lone-wolf Xie Qingrang, who didn’t even follow the main force, possibly ask her to go with her?

Yin Xianyu instantly understood what was at stake. Xie Qingrang had been delayed in one place for far too long; right now, shaking off these tails was extremely troublesome. To be safe, she still needed to bring along the Hanguang Sword, or else once her spiritual power was exhausted, these people might swarm over and skin her alive.

If it were her, she would have made the same choice. Unfortunately, Yin Xianyu was standing opposite her at the moment, and could only hold out a hand in quiet refusal. “I can’t go with you. I’ll return the spirit materials you gave me when we get back to Lingzhan Mountain. I can’t deal with the people outside.”

She wasn’t stupid. Why should she follow Xie Qingrang out there to die? Even if she and Xie Qingrang had once had a good relationship, that didn’t make it okay.

Besides, she didn’t remember any of it now. What their relationship had even been was still unknown.

Such a huge trouble should be solved by Xie Qingrang herself. Yin Xianyu still remembered the especially worshipful look in Ye Yinian’s eyes when she mentioned this Immortal Lord.

And looking up again at the people overhead, some of them had already taken out banners and flags and begun setting up a formation. If she followed Xie Qingrang, wouldn’t she be dead for sure?

Xie Qingrang clearly had not expected her to refuse so straightforwardly. She merely tilted her face slightly, a smile like spring wind melting snow appearing on her features.

“This isn’t up to you, Junior Sister Yin.”

As she spoke, she wrapped one arm around Yin Xianyu’s waist, swiftly broke the barrier, and the two of them shot across the sky like streaks of light.

The pursuers followed like shadows, tightly clinging to them; magical treasures and techniques were hurled after them without regard for cost. Xie Qingrang held Yin Xianyu close in her arms, so tightly that she could barely move.

With her left hand, she wielded the sword until afterimages bloomed, blocking the treasures behind them with steady, precise force.

Yin Xianyu vaguely felt that Xie Qingrang might have been angry. As expected, all those people had been lying. How could she possibly be Xie Qingrang’s sworn friend? They fought the moment they met and never got along; how could they be the kind of relationship people gossiped about?

“Senior Sister Xie, thank you for saving me just now. Once we return to the sect, I’ll return all the spirit treasures. Please let go.”

As she spoke, a sword light sliced through her hair ornament. If not for the magic artifact on her head blocking part of the blow and then shattering, she would have already been seriously injured.

It was obvious they were all aiming for her. Yin Xianyu was truly angered, and her words turned sharper as well; even the Hanguang Sword in Xie Qingrang’s hand trembled slightly, venting its displeasure.

“Xie Qingrang, let go!”

Xie Qingrang said nothing. She only tightened her grip on Yin Xianyu’s waist by another three parts, a trace of restrained irritation gathering in her eyes. “Hmm?”

Xie Qingrang’s emotions clearly hadn’t fluctuated this much in a long time. She still had to guard against the pursuers behind them, while the person at her side was like a rabbit stirred up into a frenzy; she was really quite troublesome, and gave her a headache.

Yin Xianyu saw those chasing cultivators drawing nearer; the world before her eyes had already turned into a white blur. In the end, she could only wrap her arms around Xie Qingrang in resignation, burying her face fiercely in the crook of Xie Qingrang’s neck. Her tightly pressed lips even brushed against the other woman’s skin as she sniffed wildly.

“So you cultivate the Heartless Dao? Then I’ll have you cultivate it!”

“You!”

Xie Qingrang only had time to let out a short cry before she felt a heavy impact from behind. It turned out that one of the Daoist cultivators who had just been begging her had actually offered up a magical treasure, driving it at full force. The weapon was ruined; sword light shattered at once, breaking Xie Qingrang’s spiritual item at the waist, and that sparkling Bone-Engraving Stone actually flew up.

The eyes of everyone behind them lit up in unison, and they frantically surged forward to snatch the spirit stone.

Yin Xianyu had a flash of inspiration and opened her eyes, reaching out to seize the Bone-Engraving Stone that was about to fly away.

But before the stone had even flown far, it vanished from her hand without a trace. Yin Xianyu felt some heat rapidly drill into her palm, tightly binding the chaotic spiritual power in her body; the human form that had been indistinct in her sea of consciousness now solidified into substance.

She felt her sea of consciousness split in two. A pain far more difficult to resist than the Chongyuan Pill instantly tore her entire person in half.

Yin Xianyu lost consciousness at once, limp against Xie Qingrang’s shoulder.

The Bone-Engraving Stone was a whetstone she had sought out for Chiling to wash sinews and cut marrow, yet at this moment it had somehow entered Yin Xianyu’s body by chance. There was only one such stone in the entire illusion; it was unknown whether it could still be taken back out of Yin Xianyu’s body.

The people behind them were stunned by this sudden turn of events. They watched, dumbfounded, as Xie Qingrang turned around expressionlessly; a jade sword slowly rose behind her.

One sword, as though it could destroy heaven and earth, came riding in on the wind. All the cultivators who had chased after them and struck with killing intent were cut to pieces, their souls scattered.

The remaining cultivators fled in panic, finally realizing that Xie Qingrang was an existence to which all others looked up. If this trial were ranked, she would absolutely be among the foremost powerhouses.

Why had these people been so overreaching, so unwilling to let go once they had gotten even a little profit in front of such a person? Dying for it was entirely what they deserved.

Xie Qingrang tightly gripped Yin Xianyu’s wrist. She had already not lost her temper like this for a long time. Closing her eyes, she steadied her breathing; people were bound to lose control at times, and she needed to completely resolve the troublesome factor before her.

The cultivators scattered and fled, and the world between heaven and earth immediately fell open and empty. Ye Yinian crouched behind a hill in the distance, not daring to step forward. She could only look at the two of them from afar, her heart inevitably anxious.

Her turtle-breath concealment treasure could hide a person completely. When not under attack, it was the best kind of concealment magic item.

Just now she had vaguely heard Senior Sister Han’s voice drifting over, so she had followed along behind the crowd. Along the way, she gradually realized that the person ahead turned out to be Immortal Lord Qingrang.

The little girl excitedly clutched the magical item in her hand, secretly cheering for the two of them, only to see that Immortal Lord Qingrang resolved all the trouble with one sword strike.

All the wandering cultivators around had backed away to watch from a distance. She held her breath even more tightly, savoring the sword technique from that strike just now.

Yin Xianyu slowly woke up. This time, her head was unusually clear; facing Xie Qingrang’s pair of icy eyes, she felt none of the disgust from before.

Xie Qingrang let go of the hand that had been holding hers and sent the Hanguang Sword back in reverse. “Go.”

While her emotions were still fairly stable.

Yin Xianyu’s gaze held a trace of blankness. Her lips parted slightly, and all she could smell was a familiar, cool fragrance at the tip of her nose.

She asked, “Where am I supposed to go?”

Xie Qingrang suddenly felt that the figure before her overlapped with someone from many years ago.

Yin Xianyu took the sword from Xie Qingrang’s hand, then used the chance to pull her up by the hand. The gloom in those eyes once again sparked with a hint of life; that long-unheard way of speaking no longer sounded as gnashing as it had just now.

Yin Xianyu seemed to have become once more that shadow who often followed at her side and could never bear to part from her.

“Senior Sister, where are we going?”