Desperate Zhao Xuhe

Outside the marketplace of White Bone Cave on Skull Mountain.

Dharma light hid among the mountain forests, revealing three figures. Two of them were none other than Wu Zhichong and Duanmu Yuan, who had previously attacked the marketplace and fled back in utter disarray.

As for the third person, he was a white-haired, elderly man.

"Elder Ouyang."

Wu Zhichong spoke with extreme caution, terrified that the Qi Refining Great Perfection elder before him might do something irrational. Ahead lay a veritable tiger's den and dragon's pool.

"Rest assured, this old man knows the stakes."

Ouyang Feng wore a stern expression. Though his eyes blazed with bone-deep hatred as he looked toward the marketplace, his tone remained extremely calm, without the slightest ripple.

"That fiend is a Ninth Grade Formation Master who has laid down both internal and external arrays across this marketplace, something ordinary people cannot break. No wonder he has roamed free to this day and carved out the formidable reputation of the so-called 'Blood Garment Pavilion Master'. Yet he is not a true Qi Refining Great Perfection cultivator; ultimately, it is just a pavilion in the air."

"But Elder Ouyang, the Taixiao Mirror also fell into that person's hands."

Wu Zhichong hurriedly chimed in, then lowered his voice. "The Taixiao Mirror is unfathomably mysterious. If that fiend can manipulate it, I fear it won't lose to a Qi Refining Great Perfection cultivator."

"I have naturally considered this matter as well."

Ouyang Feng sneered. "The Taixiao Mirror is, after all, a spiritual treasure of my Divine Martial Sect. How could it be something a fiend can just pick up and use? If he dares to use it, all the better!"

"I have already invited Master Yang Yezi, the very person who initially refined the Taixiao Mirror. He is also furious that the Taixiao Mirror has fallen into the hands of a fiend, and has already agreed to come to Skull Mountain to reclaim the spiritual treasure and set things right. With him here, if that fiend dares to use the Taixiao Mirror to fight me, he will be courting his own death!"

Although Ouyang Feng was furious, he had not lost his reason.

Furthermore, with Ouyang Haoze's cautionary precedent before him, it was impossible for him to charge into the array again. After much thought, luring Lu Yang out of the array was the better option.

"When does this person usually leave the marketplace?"

"Uh—"

Faced with Ouyang Feng's inquiry, Wu Zhichong and Duanmu Yuan exchanged blank stares and were actually left completely speechless.

Seeing this, Ouyang Feng immediately knitted his brows and expressed his dissatisfaction. "Didn't the two of you stake out the marketplace for a long time? How can you not even know such a small matter?"

" Reporting to the Elder, this person has never left the marketplace to this day."

".None?"

Ouyang Feng froze. "Could it be that you didn't spread the news of the Witch Ghost Secret Realm inside? Does he not know that Skull Mountain is practically brimming with opportunities right now?"

The two wore aggrieved expressions. "We spread it long ago."

"Then the Chusheng Demon Sect's reinforcements haven't arrived yet, and the demonic path is weak, which is why he dares not leave?"

"In truth, the Demon Sect's reinforcements arrived three months ago and have been acting wildly throughout Skull Mountain. Only this person has never left from start to finish."

"Ah?"

Upon hearing the report, Ouyang Feng finally revealed a dazed expression.

"Leave? I am not going out."

Inside the Blood Garment Pavilion, Lu Yang and Fairy Feixia sat opposite each other. While declining Fairy Feixia's invitation, he poured a cup of spiritual tea and handed it to her.

"Junior Brother is truly..."

Fairy Feixia looked at Lu Yang, her pretty face suddenly growing somewhat hazy.

There was a time when she had felt disappointed and dismayed by this junior brother's timidity, yet in the end, it was he who had moved step by step to forge the resounding reputation of the Blood Garment Pavilion Master.

One must know that all cultivators contended against heaven for their very lives; if one took a step too slowly, the end result was death from exhausted lifespan.

Even if the so-called wheel of reincarnation existed, firstly, one was not guaranteed immortal affinity after reincarnation, and secondly, one might not even remain oneself, making it difficult to rely upon.

Yet meeting him again now, Lu Yang remained just as he had always been.

detached, tranquil, seeming to hold nothing in this world to heart.

With such a temperament—one rarely found among cultivators—Fairy Feixia suddenly thought of a phrase: Water benefits all things and does not contend, thus nothing can contend with it.

Yet throughout a lifetime of living, if one does not contend, how does one seek the Dao?

The next life?

Thinking of this, Fairy Feixia could not help sighing. "...I am ashamed. This concubine fears she will never attain Junior Brother's sublime state of mind in this lifetime."

"Senior Sister flatters me."

Lu Yang smiled faintly. "Didn't we say before coming here that this time we would not discuss major affairs, only the Dao? I will teach Senior Sister formations, and Senior Sister will teach me talismans."

"This concubine will naturally impart everything without reservation."

Fairy Feixia's red lips parted slightly as her delicate hand pulled back her veil, revealing a breathtaking, peerlessly beautiful countenance. Beneath a thin robe of rosy clouds, mountain peaks rose steeply, her hip curves resembled the moon, and even her voice involuntarily grew tender. " Speaking of which, I have yet to thank Junior Brother for his previous saving grace—"

The next day, the sun hung high in the sky.

Within the marketplace, a down-and-out youth was pacing back and forth inside his cave dwelling, his face full of struggle. He was none other than Lu Yang's old acquaintance, Zhao Xuhe.

"How could this be? How could this be?"

At this moment, Zhao Xuhe had been driven to the absolute pinnacle of urgency. "The news of the Witch Ghost Secret Realm is known to everyone now. If I don't make a move, I won't have any chance left!"

Thinking of this, Zhao Xuhe's aura suddenly exploded. He was shockingly no longer at the Qi Refining Sixth Layer from when he first arrived at the marketplace, but had broken through to the Qi Refining Seventh Layer, the late stage. It was precisely because he had broken through the bottleneck that had trapped him for many years that he harbored the thought of heading to the secret realm to explore and gamble for a stroke of fortune.

Yet having the thought did not mean having the strength.

Without the fortune of Coiling Dragon Island, he could only cultivate Mending Heaven Peak's Yin-Yang Great Joy Ode. His true qi was merely Fifth Grade, and his divine abilities and magical treasures were inferior in every aspect.

Under such circumstances, going to contend for opportunities was tantamount to seeking death.

After much deliberation, Zhao Xuhe finally gritted his teeth, retrieved a long-dust-sealed jade slip, injected his dharma power into it, and contacted a person he had not seen in a long time.

The jade slip shimmered with a halo, and after a long while, a voice drifted out. "Who is it?"

The voice carried laziness and a trace of parched dryness, yet it made Zhao Xuhe feel an extraordinary nostalgia, prompting him to speak in a low voice. "Feixia... It's me, Xuhe."

That was right; he and Fairy Feixia shared a past.

Yet to call it a shared past—in reality, they were merely former acquaintances. However, after he was chosen as the son-in-law by the Peak Master of Heaven Mending, he severed all contact to avoid suspicion.

He had assumed the two sides would have no further intersection from then on, never expecting that he would now be begging at her doorstep once more.

Zhao Xuhe clenched his jaw tightly and spoke in a low voice. "Feixia, I want to ask you for a favor... My Dao path is currently hopeless, and I intend to leave the marketplace to make one final desperate gamble."

He knew that Fairy Feixia most admired acts of burning one's boats to seek the Dao.

Therefore, only by speaking thus could he touch her heart.

"Yet I currently have no contribution points, and lack the power to purchase magical treasures and divine abilities. Under such circumstances, even with the heart to burn my boats, I fear I will only walk to a futile death."

"So... so... For the sake of our past affection, lend me some."

As he spoke, Zhao Xuhe could not help recalling the bits and pieces of his past with Fairy Feixia in his mind, and a sliver of indescribable anticipation welled up in his heart.

Yet the next second, a basin of cold water poured down.

"Apologies, I do not know what you are talking about."

The tender voice, which had still carried intense warmth a moment ago, instantly turned ice-cold and indifferent. "Furthermore, please do not contact me ever again."

"I am currently discussing the Dao with Junior Brother Lu, and I do not wish for him to misunderstand."

Crack!

The next second, the jade slip shattered.

Zhao Xuhe stood blankly in place, failing to recover his senses for a long time. After a protracted moment, his expression gradually twisted, and a roar burst forth from between his teeth:

"No—!!!"