Qingping Sword Sheath

"Yan Lingji."

The name was like a flickering flame, carrying the unique cadence of the Witch Clan.

Cheng Xi withdrew his hand, and the light of the Jianmu Fragment receded as well. He looked at the woman before him, who called herself Yan Lingji and possessed the bloodline of a Fire Witch, his thoughts racing. Zhongnan Mountain, a Witch Clan Remnant, being hunted... and the flame-eye witch script on the tree trunk behind her... None of this was a coincidence!

"Cheng Xi." He gave his name, his gaze swept across the black-clad corpses on the ground. "Who was chasing you?"

Yan Lingji braced herself and sat up, tearing off a strip of her ruined red robe to roughly bind the wound on her shoulder. Her movements carried a wild efficiency. She looked at the corpses, flames dancing in her eyes, hatred sharp as a blade. "Dogs from the Yin Yang School! And... Demonic Creatures wearing human skin!" She pointed at the half-charred corpse of the scaled monster. "These 'Mountain Specters' are lackeys they created with evil arts and demon blood! They wanted to capture me and use my blood... to open the 'gate' to some place!"

A gate? Another gate! The "gate" guarded by the remains in the stone cavern, the "gate" Yan Lingji spoke of... Cheng Xi's heart jolted as he immediately thought of the Jianmu Fragment bearing Spatial Coordinates in Ying Xi's box!

"What gate? Where is it?" he pressed urgently.

But Yan Lingji shook her head. A trace of confusion and deep hatred flashed in her flame-like eyes. "I don't know... They never got the chance to tell me. I only remember... fire! A huge fire! And an altar... the blood of my clan members..." She clutched her head in pain, as though she had stirred fragments of bloodstained memories deliberately buried away.

The lead seemed to have gone cold again. But the Yin Yang School, Demonic Creatures, Witch Clan blood, opening a gate... these fragments were enough to piece together the outline of a massive conspiracy.

"This is no place to stay long." Cheng Xi suppressed his thoughts and looked at the direction where the Sky-Piercing Sword Mark had vanished. Though the sword intent that had severed space had dissipated, the energy fluctuation unleashed here had been far too startling. There was no guarantee it would not Summon other beings. He also needed to rendezvous with Ying Zheng as soon as possible.

He reached out to help Yan Lingji up. Yet she stubbornly pushed herself to her feet, supporting herself on the ground. Though she staggered, her eyes were exceptionally resolute. "I... can walk."

The two had barely left the devastated clearing and walked less than a hundred paces.

[High-dimensional energy residue locked! Direction: straight ahead. Distance: thirty meters... Attributes: lingering sword intent / Spatial Coordinates... Energy level: weak...]

The system prompt made Cheng Xi halt. Lingering sword intent? Something left behind by Lord Tongtian?

Following the system's guidance, he discovered something at the roots of an ancient pine whose crown had been sliced away by the aftershock of sword qi.

It was not a Divine Weapon or a sharp weapon, but a... sword sheath?

Its entire body was the warm, lustrous color of green jade. About two feet long, it was ancient and unadorned, without a single decoration. Only at the mouth of the sheath was there a naturally formed cloud pattern, like rippling water. The sheath itself possessed no sharpness, yet it emitted an aloof, chilly Dao aura utterly out of place with its surroundings, as though it could shut out all worldly clamor. Upon its surface lingered a faint yet incomparably pure... Heaven-Connecting Sword Intent!

[Target scan: unknown sword sheath (empty)... Material: Innate Azure Jade Marrow... Attributes: Spatial Anchoring (single use) / sword intent carrier / weak protection... Associated law: Supreme Clarity Immortal Light... Internal scan: trace Spatial Coordinates imprint detected (destination: East Sea · Golden Ao Island)...]

The East Sea! Golden Ao Island! Lord Tongtian's Dao Field!

Cheng Xi's heart gave a violent leap! This sword sheath... had it been left behind by Lord Tongtian? Spatial Coordinates leading to Golden Ao Island? An opportunity? Or... a test?

He carefully picked up the Green Jade Sword Sheath. It felt warm and faintly cool in his hand. The lingering Heaven-Connecting Sword Intent seemed sentient; not only did it not reject him, it sent forth an incredibly faint ripple, like a breeze brushing past him.

Just then!

"Buzz!"

The Jianmu Fragment and Xirang Crystal he kept close to his body both gave off a slight tremor! It was as if they had formed some kind of subtle resonance with the Green Jade Sword Sheath!

Even stranger, the natural cloud pattern at the mouth of the sheath faintly lit up with a hazy blue-green glow. As the glow flowed, it vaguely pointed toward... Yan Lingji?

Yan Lingji seemed to sense it as well. She looked at the sword sheath in hand, confusion Flashing through her flame-like eyes.

"Take it." Cheng Xi held the Green Jade Sword Sheath out to Yan Lingji, having already made his decision. This sheath containing Spatial Coordinates was also a vessel for Heaven-Connecting Sword Intent. Perhaps it could temporarily conceal the fluctuations of the Witch Clan Bloodline within her.

Yan Lingji hesitated, but ultimately reached out and accepted it. The instant her fingertips touched the Green Jade Sword Sheath—

"Ding..."

An extraordinarily soft, pleasing chime, like jade chimes ringing gently, emanated from within the sword sheath!

Yan Lingji's entire body trembled! She felt a cool, pure aura surge into her body in an instant, and even the burning pain from her shoulder wound seemed to lessen. The faint Heaven-Connecting Sword Intent upon the sheath actually formed a strange... fusion with the purer, blazing white witchfire that had just been awakened within her!

There was no rejection. Instead, there was a subtle balance!

A gleam flashed in Cheng Xi's eyes. Witchfire and Sky-Severing Sword Intent... This combination seemed promising?

"Go! Let's leave this place first!" He wasted no more time and led Yan Lingji swiftly toward the camp.

The bonfire at the temporary camp burned fiercely, while the elite soldiers stood guard vigilantly. Ying Zheng stood beside the fire, his black robes like congealed shadows beneath the firelight. He raised his head to gaze at the cyan sword mark in the western sky, gradually fading yet still shocking to behold. His expression was calm as water, but beneath those deep-pool eyes, stormy waves churned.

When he saw Cheng Xi return with an unfamiliar woman in red, Ying Zheng's gaze immediately locked onto Yan Lingji like a hawk's, lingering for a moment in particular on the Green Jade Sword Sheath clenched in hand.

"Royal Brother." Cheng Xi stepped forward and spoke concisely. "We were attacked on the way. I saved someone. Those pursuing her were from the Yin Yang School and Demonic Creatures."

"The Yin Yang School? Demonic Creatures?" Ying Zheng's voice revealed neither pleasure nor anger. His gaze swept across the wound on Yan Lingji's shoulder and her flame-like eyes before finally settling on the Green Jade Sword Sheath. "Where did this come from?"

"I found it where the sword light fell," Cheng Xi replied frankly. "It seems connected to the sword immortal who destroyed the demon star."

Ying Zheng fell silent for a moment. He did not question Yan Lingji's origins further, merely telling the commander of the elite soldiers, "Treat her wounds. Prepare a horse." Then he turned and walked toward his mount, his black cloak rising in a cold, hard arc in the night wind.

"Return to Xianyang."

His voice was not loud, yet it rang like clashing metal, carrying the resolve to cut through every obstacle. The blood-red demon star hanging beside the imperial star was no longer a celestial warning in his eyes. It was... a stain that had to be erased!

The party set off through the night, galloping toward Xianyang.

Inside the carriage, Yan Lingji leaned against the wall and fell into an exhausted sleep, still clutching the Green Jade Sword Sheath tightly in hand. Its cool glow intermingled with the faint witchfire within her.

Cheng Xi, meanwhile, closed his eyes to regulate his breathing. In his sea of consciousness, the system screen flowed as he repeatedly deduced the Spatial Coordinates within the Green Jade Sword Sheath pointing toward Golden Ao Island in the East Sea.

Suddenly!

The black wooden fragment obtained from Ying Xi's wooden box, embedded with Space Witch Script and kept close to his body, began to burn intensely without warning!

[Warning! Spatial Coordinates resonance detected! Source: unknown Witch Script Wood Fragment... Target coordinates: secluded valley east of Xiaoshan... Resonance intensity: rapidly increasing!... Warning! Signs of a Spatial Tunnel being forcibly activated!...]

What?!

Cheng Xi's eyes flew open!

Almost at the same time!

The Jianmu Fragment In His Arms erupted with emerald green radiance! And the cloud pattern at the mouth of the Green Jade Sword Sheath in hand lit up abruptly!

Buzz!

Inside the carriage occupied by the three of them, space violently distorted without warning! Light stretched into bizarre, multicolored strands! An irresistible tearing force descended in an instant!

"Not good!" Cheng Xi only had time to let out a short cry of alarm!

Darkness fell before his eyes! The world spun!